A step towards Freedom

Chapter 140: A step towards Freedom

Walking along the island was strange. There would be long stretches of silence, with nothing at all around him, before violence suddenly came crashing in. The nexus seemed to favour hordes, sometimes conjuring creatures which even tore each other apart, and the longer Mercury walked, the stranger they got.

First, the creatures had entire limbs become entirely blades, then it started spawning in more and more grotesque creatures. Things lacking basic sensory organs, ones with too many or too few limbs, often replaced with barbed hooks, or sharp claws. And as time went on, the creatures became much more aggressive.

It got to the point where Mercury could identify that something was going on from afar by the screeches and howls of whatever hid in the jungle, only heading out once it was quiet again, and stumbling onto bloodbaths. He started finding disconnected limbs rather than full creatures, and grass splattered with blood.

All of it was revolting, of course, but then again, it was a test of will, so he simply marched on, seeing as the volcano came closer and closer into view. Occasionally, some of the creatures would find him, but they were all strangely fragile. Sure, the things were fast and dangerous, but their bones lacked stability, and they seemed sometimes entirely devoid of internal organs.

Things only got weirder from there. When he found the sites of carnage now, he'd find creatures still roaming, most of them completely faceless, lacking even holes to breathe through. He once cut in between one of the creature's ribs, and found himself only encountering muscles. There seemed to not be lungs or a heart present.

Even as the shapes changed, from lemurs to ferrets and flying weasels, oversized squirrels and rabbits with sharp teeth, they began becoming less distinct. None of them could even survive for longer than a few minutes. Not that it mattered; they simply launched themselves at him.

It felt bizarre and unnerving to Mercury, honestly. Life being twisted just to try and kill him... but he pushed those concerns aside. All that mattered was the volcano.

[Level Up!]

Well, maybe that too, at least. He'd killed maybe another handful of lemurs before the notification rang out. He hardly used his strength against them, mostly just dodging a few swipes would leave them winded. If it didn't, he'd throw a web or a rock, or hit them with his rijn. Getting close was too dangerous with all their bladed limbs.

But he was getting closer, rapidly.

The more he focused on getting forward, the more it felt like the distance between him and the volcano was disappearing. And, not too long after, he had reached the foot of the mountain.

Mercury could feel the pressure in his head growing. A voice, which had once whispered and was now screaming at him to stop. Well, less a voice and more a feeling of something commanding him. But he could also feel it failing.

Trying to grip onto his mind and slipping off. He was winning, slowly but surely. But whatever he was winning against was fighting back.

Shaking his head to clear it, Mercury simply focused on his resolve. There were too many reasons to count why this was necessary. This dream had done enough harm, to him, and to anyone else who'd ever been dragged into this place. He frowned again as he remembered the disjointed fever dream he'd gotten after dying four times.

"No mercy," he told himself, scaling the dark stone.

The fake sky above him was darkening now, the red of sunset sickeningly resembling the crimson of the ashen plains. Something hammered against his head but Mercury had endured worse pressure. He breathed deeply, and compressed his mind down to give even less to hold onto.

Beneath his feet, the stone began to dissipate. Step by step, he was carried closer to the top, and while the world seemed so desperate to stop him, it couldn't. The nexus was surely attempting to reshape things around him, to trap the mopaaw in a prison of stone, left to rot for eternity. Tried to get a grasp on his mind, but Mercury simply fortified it further.

He was <Unbroken> and <Unrestrained>, anything attempting to tie him down simply slid off, any attempt to harm him was faulted. The world around him, too, began to become like that. Instead of the rough stone of the mountain, he was walking on soft earth. The dream no longer bent to the whims of the nexus.

Distantly, he could feel the clawing on his mind grow more and more manic. A dying dream which had made it through starvation for so long finally saw death coming. Perhaps, depending on how much the nexus could think, Mercury was the one that looked like a reaper.

Once again, he shook his head, recollecting his thoughts to the task at hand. None of that mattered, it was simply moving forward now.

With a last push of will, Mercury leapt over the edge of the mountain, seeing the nexus in the middle of roiling lava. It hung in the air, its shade of crimson a little darker than the liquid stone around it. Perhaps, some time ago, he would have felt scared, but no longer.

Slowly, the mopaaw stepped forward some more, a horrible screech diggin at the edge of his ear, but he could ignore it. When he descended into the caldera, he could feel the heat shrinking away from him. It was strange, taking a step forward and feeling his fur heat up, before the atmosphere became comfortable again.

Sparing it only a small thought, Mercury continued walking, until he reached the edge of the lava. For a moment, he hesitated, and it toiled again, but then he hardened his mind. He took a breath of the cool air and felt himself fall into a familiar ihn'ar.

Like an old companion, a <Breath> in gave him the confidence to move forward, and with a <Breath> outwards, the caldera shook for a moment. The lava calcified, returning to inert rock, and the volcano became a regular mountain. He could feel his will press down on the nexus.

It felt... like a starving animal, backed into a corner. Screaming and kicking and biting at whatever came near. But it was, at the end of the day, tired and starved, barely clinging onto life as it was.

Watching it like that, a red dot hanging over a sea of black stone, Mercury almost felt pity for the thing, but his mind returned to peace a moment later. His heart was steady.

He stepped forward, and the screeching at the edge of his mind turned to a whimper instead. He could almost feel fear towards himself, which was a strange sensation, but another <Breath> later it had passed.

And he was, finally, face to face with the mind of the heart of a dying dream.

From up close, its surface was smooth, and its glow had ebbed. He could see his own reflection in it, his fur dirty with ash and blood and grime. But his eyes were clear, and for a moment Mercury was surprised at their intensity.

Then, he reached out with his mind, compressed down as hard as he could with rijn, its surface smooth and without blemishes. He accelerated, and slammed it into the crimson nexus in front of him.

For a moment, his mind touched something alien, something ancient, and something that had degenerated so far past what it had once been. Memories lost to the ages as it was eroded by time and hunger. It had been starving for so, so long, it could hardly remember what being filled was like again.

With that desperation, it had reached out and drawn in victims, sent out its servants. It held starvation at bay, fought desperately for every single inch, and even now it was not giving up.

All that dwindling power the nexus still held, every shrapnel of will it had leeched from everything that died within those dreams, it brought all of it to bear against Mercury. Heck, he could even feel a tiny sliver of himself in there.

And every bit of it broke against Mercury's will. He didn't feel malicious against it in those last moments. The nexus barely held a will of its own, it was more a tool, a manifestation of its purpose to maintain a realm. No matter how much purpose was imbued in that thing, to Mercury it felt more like he was administering euthanasia to an old, wild dog from the street.

It was on its last legs, and all that awaited were a few more years of suffering, now cut short.

The nexus broke against Mercury's will.

He could hear its howl taper out into a whimper, then into a last breath, and then it was over.

[Killed a Nexus. Get: 25 000 Exp, 5 000 Gold, <Nutritional Preservation> Skillstone, Nexus Fragment.]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Your Skills and Abilities have levelled up: <Sneak lv. 9 ->10>, <Steady Heart lv. 9 -> 10>, <Footwork lv. 6 -> 8>, <Reinforcement Dash lv. 1 -> 2>, <Unbroken lv. 1 -> 2>, <Unrestrained lv. 1 -> 2>, <Throw lv. 17 -> 18>, <Astral Body lv. 3 -> 4>, <Dreamwalking lv. 5 -> 7>, <Intuition lv. 2 -> 3>!]

[The "Nexus Fragment" has been automatically consumed by the individual. Their dreamscape is experiencing growth. It may be inaccessible for a few nights.]

[<Sneak> has met the necessary qualifications for evolution. Evolve?]

[<Steady Heart> has met the necessary qualifications for evolution. Evolve?]

As the notifications rolled in, Mercury's eyes swept the landscape around him. He could see it all crumbling apart. On the horizon, the ocean was beginning to fracture, cracks running along the waves as they dissipated into what he recognized as <Nothingness>.

First it was slow, but soon it sped up, and within seconds, the destruction was upon the island. The shore disappeared, then the jungle fractured apart, its grasses waving a sad goodbye to Mercury. Then it spread throughout the center of the island, eventually racing up the volcano.

When it reached Mercury, the destruction was still speeding up, but he knew, instinctively, that it wouldn't hurt him. When he saw it rushing towards him, he instead took the moment to get a deep glance at it, trying to peer into its secrets. Then the moment was over.

Darkness consumed his vision for a moment, before he awoke, back in his physical body laying on a bed of pelts in a tent in a field of ash.

For a brief bit, there was silence, until another notification rang out in Mercury's mind.

-

[Main Quest: "Heart of a starving Dream" completed!

Reward: <Talent> Skill, <Bloodlust> mastery increase, 3500 Gold, choice of bound item from suitable list.]

-

[<Bet> completed!

Reward: 1 level (Skill), <Adaptable> Skill, <Bet> mastery, <Dracoleather Cloak> proficiency milestone.]

-

[Levels have been added to the count.

Character Levels: 5

Skill Levels: 1

Distributable Levels: 1]

And immediately after the notification, there was an ear piercing scream from the mansion, loud enough for Mercury to recoil and feel like throwing up.

He could feel the ground shake for a couple moments before it calmed again. Taking a few deep breaths, he calmed himself.

That was the first step done, now he just had a little bit left to go. Which still wasn't going to be easy, so he should probably take a look at the rewards, well, after giving a quick update. Luckily for him, with the screaming and shaking, all his allies gathered very quickly.

Jirluc and Juno had still been there anyway, with Ruvah and Larash joining fairly soon. The sipisc, who usually went out hunting, just kind of stared at Mercury, while Juno's eyes were much softer. He'd met all expectations, to say the least.

When Larash and Ruvah came by, the water blob was already gurgling along words only Mercury could understand. "See, I told you he was going to do it, it was just a matter of time!" she said, seeming very happy with herself. Mercury didn't doubt for a moment that she'd held full faith in him.

The crafter, on the other hand, was much more aghast, looking at his admittedly smug smile. "You son of a bitch," she simply muttered, at a loss for words. Then her face twisted into a grin wide enough for her fangs to dig into her skin. "You son of a bitch!" she repeated, half-yelling this time before slapping her hand onto his shoulder.

With the noise, Jirluc seemed to finally regain some of his composure, shaking his head slowly. "Let him speak," he said, "I would like to hear this story."

So, Mercury gave a rather fast summary of what had happened. Finally reaching the nexus, climbing up the chains, attacking the thing, and then crushing its residual will. It felt strange trying to explain how it had felt up against his mind, getting the fact that he kind of pitied it across was hard.

All of them had been tortured by that thing, and it'd attempted to kill them, so he didn't feel any remorse about striking back, but the thought was still a little strange. Especially when he explained that the nexus wasn't even really alive, more just... a thing with a directive to accomplish? It did have strong feelings about that directive though.

"It's done now though," he ended the explanation. "No more dreams of the bog. Unfortunately, that also means no more sustenance from the dream, so the servants might become more active, trying to hunt down and bring food to whatever lives inside the mansion."

The others nodded. "That much is predictable. I'll do my best to set up more traps and alarms, then," Larash said, already getting up.

"We still have enough supplies to last us for a few days," Jirluc said, his voice returned to a neutral tone. "I'll try to get us some more meat before the servants start roaming more. Juno, would you come along?"

"Certainly," the wolf agreed, and the pair headed out, leaving Mercury and Ruvah alone again.

"Well, I have quite a couple notifications to go through," the mopaaw admitted, and the blob of water nodded along.

"I'll go fill up some of the water reservoirs, then," she said cheerily, and headed off into one of the tunnels.

Which left Mercury to take another look at his numbers.

"Status."

- - -

Status:

Mercury Rainfall Starlight

Level: 14 -> 21

Species: Leyfal

Titles: <Trialist>, <Patient Learner>, <Mountain Usurper>, <Tenacious Genius>, <Forest Usurper>, <Tutorial Completer>

Alias: Beast, Mittens

===

Hp: 525/525

Mp: 717/717

Sp: 442/442

===

Strength: 76 (+5)

Vitality: 110

Dexterity: 85 -> 90(+1)

Agility: 85 -> 91(+1)

Intelligence: 101 -> 104

Wisdom: 91 -> 99(+2)

Willpower: 113 -> 124

Luck: 75 -> 84

===

Ability points: 60

World points: 542

Skill points: 1010

===

Gold: 11353

Beast familiars: 1/2

- - -

He was happy about the levels healing him back up. He didn't get hurt badly, but it was still good to feel better already. His mind had been battered by the nexus, after all, no matter how much he fortified it.

Ticking off that part, Mercury focused on the quest rewards.

[Acquired the Skill <Talent lv. 1> through a quest. Skill already owned. Fusing Skills.]

[Acquired the Skill <Talent lv. 4> through fusing Skills.]

[<Bloodlust> has levelled up! <Bloodlust lv. 4 -> 6>]

[<Bet> mastery granted.]

[Bound items list generated. Call up the list to initiate granting of reward.]

The fact that nothing happened to <Bet> despite the mastery gain was a bit annoying, but also somewhat expected. He'd only ran a single <Bet> on difficulty 2, after all. The item notification interested him much more, but he decided that one could wait for a little while. First, he wanted to see the changes which had already happened.

[<Dracoleather Cloak>: Proficiency: 1000/1000. Grade: Unique D. New Blessing: <Muffled>]

[<Muffled>: Any equipment with this passive blessing makes your steps quieter, and your tracks less deep. The wind will assist you in remaining silent. Go forth and be unseen.]

[<Dracoleather Cloak>: Proficiency Milestone met. Grade Evolution initiated. Stat increases enhanced. New Blessing: <Maintenance>. New Grade: Unique C.]

With the last message, a blanket of light descended onto Mercury's shoulders, and the usually green cloak became glistening white. It heated up against his back, going above the point of comfortable to being hot to the touch, before the glow faded, and the cloak returned to its green colouring.

Now, it looked a little different. It was no longer simply tied around his neck, but held in place by a connecting strap attached to the main cloak with a set of buckles. Its edges were embossed with silver, a trim of it all around the cloak itself. On Mercury's back, the inside felt softer, while he outside seemed more hardened, and resistant to cuts. Additionally, it now sported a faint image on the back, where one could make out the shape of a dragon in a faint shade of green.

Its stat increases were now much, much higher, providing 15 to both Agility and Dexterity, which pushed him over the 100 mark in both, yet no threshold bonuses rang out. Mercury sighed. He'd probably need to reach a natural amount in the ability scores for those, then. It made sense, losing the bonuses from unequipping something would be kind of silly.

In any case, he still had something to look at.

[<Maintenance>: This blessing is always passively in effect, but can be activated by channelling mana or stamina into the equipment. The piece will repair itself when damaged, and keep itself clean.]

It really was turning into the perfect piece of utility clothing. Mercury smiled at that. He could cover up his issues in survivability with Skills, but the blessings he'd gotten on the cloak were hard to reproduce otherwise. He was really glad to have it. With that, he called up its updated status.

[<Dracoleather cloak>: A cloak made from the leather of a young lesser dragon. It channels leftover magic from the dragon to increase the wearer's Agility and Dexterity (+15), protects them from bad weather, and has slight protective qualities. In addition, it is "growing" equipment, meaning that it will grow alongside its wearer and become more powerful as it is imbued with stronger Magic and the user earns new Blessings. Blessings: <Drake's Wings>, <Shelter> , <Muffled>, <Maintenance>. Proficiency: 0/1000. Grade: Unique C.]

The description had changed slightly, and now included a list of his blessings, which was nice. The proficiency requirements not increasing was also quite nice, though he was unsure which amounts would count as milestones this time. He'd see, in the end.

Moving on from that, Mercury took a look at his new Skills.

[<Adaptable>: This Skill allows the individual's body and mind greater freedom at adapting to extreme situations. Examples include: increased hair growth in cold environments, increased shedding in warm environments, possible creation of sweat glands powered by stamina, stronger mental tolerance to extreme situations, greater resistance to terror effects.]

It was a passive and active Skill, which slotted firmly into his increasing skillset for adventuring. Being able to shift himself depending on what environments he was in was priceless if he ever wanted to travel somewhere cold or had to trek through a desert. He didn't exactly know what his current species' native environment was, but he'd guess it wasn't on a glacier. At the very least, he'd be grateful for the Skill during winter and summer.

Then, before using it, he checked the Skill in the skillstone.

[<Skillstone: Nutritional Preservation>: This skillstone can be used to acquire the <Nutritional Preservation> Skill at level four. The Skill contained herein is a somewhat rare evolution of Skills such as <Iron Stomach> and <Enhanced Digestion>.

The individual becomes much more resistant to the effects of starvation, as their body becomes able to absorb and store nutrients much more efficiently. The Skill itself offers a storage for nutrients outside the physical body. Additionally, it allows the individual to digest substances which would otherwise be harmful to them. Examples include: Carrion, blood, small amounts of caffeine, larger sugars, fibrous fruits and vegetables.]

Mercury gawked at that. Sure, the first part was great and all, being less likely to starve was already awesome, even when it usually wasn't an immediate concern. But that last bit was where the money was at.

He could properly digest sugars and fruit now, not just tolerate them. He could eat proper, full meals! Mashed potatoes, sandwiches, Salads, grilled veggies, he could have it all back!! Mercury almost cried at the thought. "Proper food..." he muttered to himself.

With his body being what it was, he hadn't felt at all repulsed by eating raw meat. But the fact was that he had a human mind, and while he never minded, its taste was nowhere near close to the delicacies of earth and the many dozen spices he'd used there. Mercury'd been a competent chef, courtesy of living on his own, and he finally might have a chance to enjoy some good fucking food again!

Not a second later, he'd activated the item.

[Acquired the Skill <Nutritional Preservation lv. 4> through a skillstone.]

Neither of his new Skills were extremely suited for direct combat very much, but Mercury didn't mind in the slightest. Of course, <Adaptable> might make him think better in a combat situation, and <Nutritional Preservation> could allow him to go for more bites, without worrying about poison as much, but that was far from their main point.

Mercury was happy about them because they'd make his life far, far more comfortable, which he was perhaps even more grateful for.

Besides, he still had two evolutions and an item to go. One of those was bound to grant him some more frontloaded power, right?