Entering The Dream Realm

A few weeks passed since I had told the story of the Forgotten Shore to Nephis, Cassie, and Sunny.

Every time I visited the cafeteria, I saw the two girls sitting together.

I would join them every now and then and tell them other stories from the novel, like the story of Noctis and his madness, the Doom War, and a little about the Tomb of Ariel.

The amount of questions I got was expected, and the girls thought they were just stories, but Sunny knew something was up.

Although I refused to answer him, what's the fun in revealing everything to him?

My lore in this world was that I was a guy who lived in multiple points of history, so it wasn't really in my best interest to reveal too much.

Sunny eventually stopped asking like a hundred questions a day, but would still ask every now and then.

Over those weeks, I got a good hang of controlling Sunny's body. At the beginning, it was hard to move and do precise movements since he was so short, but eventually, I got the hang of it.

Sunny attended Teacher Julius's classes regularly and learned a lot. He was now good at swimming and also able to hold his breath underwater.

He was always annoyed when I insisted on him learning anything water-based but still did so without too much trouble.

I also persuaded him to procure some survival kits and basic supplies.

And now I was in Sunny's room, looking at a small pile of knives and other cooking utensils along with some rations and rope.

(So why did you need this?) Sunny sent to me as I looked at the things on the ground. I was in control since it was night.

[Well, why else? I'm bringing it to the Dream Realm with us.] I answered matter-of-factly, feeling the confusion coming from Sunny.

(You realize that you can't take things to the Dream Realm. It is a completely different dimension.)

[Yes, you're right, but I have something others don't.]

(And what is that?)

I smiled and summoned the [Covetous Luggage].

The chest appeared after a few seconds, its small legs clicking on the ground, and its lid opened, revealing its fangs to me.

Feeling the confusion from Sunny, a grin appeared on my face.

I picked up a knife kit and commanded the memory to open its maw.

I neatly placed the knife kit into it. I then closed its lid and dismissed it.

As it disappeared into sparks, there was no evidence left of its existence.

(…..huh)

Instead of his previous confusion, there was now utter shock.

My grin widened even further as I saw the gloomy shadow looking around as well.

The gloomy shadow looked at me in confusion before it went to the spot where the memory was only moments prior.

I then summoned the memory back and opened its lid.

Reaching further into it, I took out the knife kit. I examined it and found nothing missing.

(Thi… this is)

His shock was almost palpable. I put the knife kit back and then put the rest of my things into it.

Although I couldn't fit everything, I removed all the water bottles and just left some rations.

[As you can see, this memory of mine can store things within itself, and it can still keep them within itself even after it's dismissed.]

(How… how did you get this? Did you get it from your first nightmare?)

Looking at the description, I decided to play the part of the mysterious man.

[I received it as a reward for giving important information to a certain saint.]

(Seriously, who are you?)

[Just a sleeper, like you.]

Ignoring his other questions, I dismissed the memory and lay in his bed. I then connected to the ravens and took a look at where they were.

Throughout the weeks, I had made additional ravens, and the count of my ravens was now at twenty.

I focused on Alisto, who was perched on the beams of the dojo.

In the dojo, I saw Nephis sparring against a handsome man with gray hair and brown eyes.

She easily beat him with just her technique, and then another came.

Not really interested in what they were doing, I refocused on the other ravens.

Sifting through the POVs of the ravens, I found some gossip going around about Nephis.

Then I switched to another and found a couple of students testing out their aspects.

One of them had a healing aspect, which was incredibly potent, almost to the same degree as Elyas's.

'I didn't really try out [Impossible Thief], I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.'

Focusing on my ability, I could feel it activate.

Then I felt it: my hand stretched out, but this one was illusory and monstrous. It reached further and further until it came to the girl.

But I hesitated.

Instead of stealing her ability, I took one of their alloy swords on the ground.

The illusory hand grabbed the alloy sword and then retracted back to me.

It went further back until eventually I felt cold steel in my right hand.

Sunny's voice came to me, but I ignored it and focused on the group.

I dismissed the sword and returned it to its place.

Then, I continued to focus on the group and observed as a couple of them used their aspects.

After waiting for a few more minutes, one of them was hit on the shoulder pretty badly, causing him to fall to the ground in pain.

The girl approached him and began to use her aspect.

Unbeknownst to her, I looked intently at her using her aspect and used [Record].

Satisfied, I switched to every other raven and found nothing of interest. Hopping off the bed, I stood up and pinched my skin.

After a moment, it turned red, but since I had all my pain nullified, I only knew that I was wounded.

(Are you going to use that paper figurine again?) Sunny asked.

[No, it'll be something else entirely] I replied.

I focused on the ability and activated the healing I had just recorded.

Instantly, a pale green light emanated from my hand, and I could feel its warmth.

After the glow faded, I could sense that the wound was gone.

(Do you mind explaining what just happened?)

Sunny's voice persisted, and I let out a sigh.

[I just copied the aspect of a healer. Now I can perfectly record any aspect that is used.

My raven was looking over a group of sleepers, and one of them happened to have a healing aspect] I explained.

(And you can just do that? Is that what your aspect allows you to do?)

[No, this actually has nothing to do with my aspect. This is just a trick I learned] I clarified.

He asked me a couple more questions, and I decided it was fine to answer them.

I didn't want to cause him too much stress, so I nurtured his curiosity.

Laying on the bed, I soon drifted off. The winter solstice was only a week away, and I was sufficiently prepared.

The week passed without any problems, and it was finally the day of the solstice.

Teacher Julius was waiting for Sunny at his sleeping pod, and they began to converse. While they were doing so, an invisible raven entered the room and stood in the corner.

Since the ravens didn't require any nutrients, it was fine for them to just stay there and watch over the sleeping pod.

I also placed two in the rooms where Cassie and Nephis were, and five in the room where Caster was, just in case I wanted to kill him at any point—or at least his body.

"Remember everything I taught you. Only drink water from moving rivers, and do not eat any plants you see. Also, do—" Teacher Julius continued for a while, reminding Sunny of everything important.

I felt that Sunny was happy that Teacher Julius cared about him.

I was also pleased by Teacher Julius's sincerity, and the image I had of him was further solidified.

Teacher Julius exited the room, leaving Sunny alone.

[Ready]

Feeling his nervousness, I decided to make the raven in the room visible. The raven became visible and caught Sunny's attention.

It was none other than Alisto. He cawed and perched himself on Sunny's shoulder before pecking at his cheek.

Sunny was seemingly annoyed at Alistos pecking and shooed him away, but a smile still spread across his face.

(Yeah, i'm ready)

He sent over to me and Alisto became invisible once more.

Sunny entered the sleeping pod and i pumped myself up.

[Also, start swimming like your life depends on it… because it really does]

(what do you m-)

Sunny was cut off and the voice of the spell reverberated through my ears, however it seemed a little nervous.

'Strange'

[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Pleiades]

'Wait, Is the spell nervous? For what reason?' Not being able to finish tha ttrain of thought i felt my mind go blank, and my counciousness soon eluded me.

A/N: I Apologize for relesing this a fay later than i promised, some matters made me busy so i couldn't post it, so to make up for it i'll release a second chapter today.