Nightmare Realm Summoner

Time ground on. There were moments where it felt like there was far too little of it, and moments where it felt like there was somehow too much. The campers fought. They grew stronger — and so did Alex and Claire.

Twice, they returned to 274-50 to meditate, recuperate, and prepare. There was only so long they could push without cashing in their levels so they could fight against stronger monsters and continue advancing at the same rate.

The strategy was a brutal one. With the limited time they had before the Region Boss arrived, there was no room to do anything but push ahead at max efficiency. And so that was exactly what they did.

Their trips back to 274-50 only lasted for long enough to eat, drink, and meditate to advance their bodies and levels as much as possible. Everyone — even Alex and Claire — took advantage of the moments to stay at the peak of their strength.

One of the trips ended up pulling a Riftwarped monster’s attention during their arrival. Alex and Claire dispatched it, and Alex fed its Soul Flame, along with all the others he’d gathered during the fights that he snuck away to take, to Princess.

She was rapidly approaching the point where she’d be able to evolve, but the Dredge wasn’t quite there yet. Alex doubted they’d make it before the Region Boss arrived. She hadn’t quite yet reached the first threshold to evolve, much less the point where she would be 100% over the required limit.

As intense as the training was, it was effective.

Aaron, May, and the other campers advanced at an incredible speed. Even Alex and Claire gathered a fair amount of power. They were able to set off on their own more as everyone else grew stronger and more capable of defending themselves.

The campers weren’t alone in their advancements — which was why Alex found himself back in his Mind Palace, kneeling at the top of the stairs that led up to his marble basin.

He’d already spent a fair amount of the magic he’d gathered reinforcing his body. His pulsing veins were still adapting to the icy energy that had rushed through them, but his mind was completely focused.

There was no time to waste. His task was far from done.

Most of the basin still remained.

The power coursed up in a river of brilliant blue, pouring into his outstretched hand and entering his soul. Alex drank greedily. He absorbed every drop of freezing power, his fingers clenching into a fist as if to grasp the very magic itself.

Come on. I’ve got three units of soul energy left. If I can just push to Initiate 4, that’ll give me one more and I’ll be able to upgrade Requiem to the King again. We need every damn advantage we can get to beat the Region Boss.

The water level in the basin receded rapidly. A droplet of sweat rolled down the back of Alex’s neck. He’d been pretty sure he’d left more than enough to get a single level, but things were starting to get close. More and more of the water evaporated as it poured into his palm.

Come on. Just a little more!

The last of the glowing blue water lifted off the surface of the white marble and slithered up like a snake to pour into Alex. His back stiffened — and glowing letters carved through the air before him.

Your Stage has advanced to Initiate 4.

You have amassed 4 units of soul energy.

Please select an Auxiliary Skill to upgrade.

Two of the three blue gems on the on the mantle of his basin glistened as they lit with glowing magic. Black letters bloomed across the stone like splotches of ink to form into new words.

[Requiem to the King] (Novice 4)

[Monster Medley] (Novice 4)

[Riftwalk] (Novice 8)

A relieved breath exploded from Alex’s lips and he slumped, shaking his head.

”Shit,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair as the last of the pain from absorbing the magic faded from his body. ”That was way too close. Probably smarter to level up first and then pump the rest into my Mind Palace instead of doing the inverse. I didn’t even spend that much on the Mind Palace this time around… but there’s no point fretting now.”

He didn’t even hesitate in making his decision. Monster Medley was for making his monsters more powerful in the long run. It was a fantastic skill, but what he needed right now were more cards to play in the fight against the Region Boss. Requiem to the King was his best option.

Golden letters sliced through the air before him as soon as his mind was completely made up.

(4 Units) Armament Elegy: Permanently deepen the connection between the King and his summons. When they perish, a portion of their power can physically manifest themselves as a piece of the King’s Armaments. However, the time it takes fallen monsters to naturally regenerate will double.

(4 Units) Rallying Cry: Fallen monsters temporarily grant any remaining summons on the battlefield a boost in the fallen monster’s main attribute. The duration of this boon depends on the strength of the fallen monster.

(4 Units) Harmonious Trade: Strike down one of your own summons in order to transfer their remaining energy into another one of your monsters, healing them. The amount of healing done depends on the relative strength of the monsters and the amount of life force the slain monster possessed at the time of its death.

Alex scanned over the abilities, his heart thumping in his ears as a huge grin pulled at his lips. Requiem to the King never failed to disappoint. The ability was just consistently incredible. As usual, all of the options felt like they would be impactful, but there was one that immediately stuck out to him over the others.

Just to be sure, Alex read over the abilities a second time to avoid missing anything important.

Harmonious Trade was for when he absolutely needed to keep one of his summons alive in combat. However, he already had two ways to bring his monsters back after they died. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go around cutting down his own monsters just to get some healing. It wasn’t a bad option, but it wasn’t his first choice.

Rallying Cry had some considerable benefits to it. In addition to the most obvious boost in strength his monsters would get when the other ones went down, there was also the option of killing all but one of them to give the final remaining one a huge temporary boost in the fight.

The problem is I also have to go and kill my summons for this ability to work. If I’m in a situation where they’re getting killed, a temporary power boost might not be enough to sway the tides in my favor. It’s definitely a strong option. I’d probably have gone with this if it wasn’t for that first option.

Armament Elegy just stuck out a little too much. One of Alex’s greatest weaknesses was the fact that, when his monsters truly did go down, he was relatively exposed. He hadn’t found any weapons that he truly felt fit him yet.

Lengthening the time it takes the monsters to respawn is definitely annoying, but it means this ability has to be really damn strong to justify that weakness — and I do have a way to bring my monsters back permanently if I can kill enough enemies myself.

I don’t know what type of armaments the skill will give me, but they’re going to be good at the cost they come at. Armament Elegy seems like the ability that will give me the biggest card to play, now and in the long run.

Alex nodded to himself, his grin setting itself in his features. His decision was made.

The glowing words vanished, and the last of the power drove into Alex’s body. He drew in a sharp breath and let it out slowly. His fingers flexed. Then he rose to his feet and made his way down the basin’s steps.

His soul was scattered with bricks and building materials that had emerged from beneath the surface of his lake during his latest meditation. He didn’t have the slightest idea of what to do with them yet.

This has to be the bit where that Vizualization thing Finley was talking about becomes important. The blueprints to making a powerful Mind Palace. I’ll definitely have to find one of those for myself… but there’s something else I need to do first.

Alex made his way over to the first of the marble pillars looming over his Mind Palace. The indent in its center sat waiting, and he made it wait no longer. Alex retrieved the Nightmare Aspect Gem.

Then he pushed it into the slot.

The gem clicked into place easily, as if it had always been meant to be there. And that was that. Alex blinked. He gave the gem a small tug. It didn’t budge. The gem was stuck fast, but he didn’t feel any different.

Tilting his head to the side, Alex made his way over to the second of the three pillars. He slid the Ruler gem into it and received the exact same results as he had the first time. The gem locked into place, but he felt no different than he had.

A small laugh slipped from his lips. ”I guess I was waiting for nothing. I need the third gem to get this to work, huh? I suppose that makes sense. Fair enough.”

He took one last glance around his Mind Palace, but his fingers were already twitching in anticipation. There was so much more to get done if they were to be ready for the Region Boss’ rapidly approaching awakening.

Alex’s eyes closed.

When they opened again, he was back on 274-50.

Claire sat beside him, one leg stretched out before her and the other one pulled close to her chest. Her arm was draped over it and her fingers tapped against her knee impatiently.

”You took your time,” Claire said with a grin. ”I was getting bored.”

”I think I’m rubbing off on you in all the wrong ways. Did you manage to level up?”

”Initiate 2.”

”Nice.”

Damn, I wish I knew what her Qi was. For that matter, I wish I knew what half her abilities were. She needs to finish this damn Trial already. I hate having to wait for cool stuff. It’s so lame.

”It’s nice,” Claire agreed. She hesitated for a long second, then pursed her lips. ”But…how long do you think we have before the Region Boss really wakes up?”

”No more than a day,” Alex said without a moment of hesitation. He could feel the pulses from the monster coming more and more frequently. They were definitely running out of time. ”I know what you’re thinking.”

”We aren’t ready,” Claire said with a nod. ”The campers are getting to the high Novice ranks and their Mind Palaces are really far along… but we need more.”

Her assessment was similar to Alex’s own thoughts. It wasn’t that the campers weren’t strong enough. They were doing great for the time they had.

It was simply that he, Claire, and Orchid weren’t going to be enough to take a mid-level Adept monster down, even with the help they had.

”We need one more push,” Alex said. ”Something that gives us that final advantage.”

He and Claire exchanged a glance.

”Do you remember when we met Invictus?” Claire asked.

A small smile pulled at the corners of Alex’s lips. ”When he crushed those monsters with the water attack from Valley Ford? Yes. I remember.”

”Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

”I think I am. This seems like as good a place as any. It’s quite secluded, and if it gives us the advantage we need to take this thing out, the enormous boost in strength everyone here is going to get will be one for the ages — not to mention we’ll get access to portals, so we can finally spend some Credits with Finley.” Alex said with a nod. His grin grew to cover his features. ”It’s time to use the Town Token.”