Nightmare Realm Summoner

Alex spent just around thirty minutes in the Cultivation Array. He didn’t want to go knocking himself out again, but the effects of the building were incredible. It was like the world’s most effective acupuncture.

There was absolutely nothing comfortable about the experience. Guiding the magic into his body to fix up the imperfections and impurities that were practically riddling every aspect of his physical being was incredibly painful.

Kicking a bee hive and sitting down to take the punishment probably would have been a far more enjoyable way to spend his time. But no good massage was ever comfortable. The more it hurt, the better everything felt once it was over.

Alex just focused on his breathing. He let the magic pierce him and release the tight knots in his muscles. The prickling burning covering his flesh told him that his body was strengthening. And, better yet, he could feel it.

In the time since he’d last been in the Cultivation Array, he’d gotten a lot stronger. That also meant there was quite a bit more residual power just lingering within his flesh. There were literal pockets of energy just floating around in his muscles, unused, until the array got to them.

He would have liked to remain within the array for longer. Unfortunately, even he had his limits. As the half an hour ended, Alex was forced to rise off the cushion before he passed out.

Claire had joined him at some point. Strain creased her features and the clenched muscles in her jaw were so tight that she probably could have bit straight through a steel bar.

It was oddly beautiful.

Alex found his hand halfway toward reaching for her before he caught himself.

The hell am I doing?

Wait. This is fine, isn’t it? She’s my girlfriend. Technically. I’m allowed to poke her, right?

Claire’s eye cracked open.

She stared at his outstretched hand. Then her gaze flicked up to meet his. Her eyebrow arched. “What are you doing?”

“I was just trying to figure that out myself.” Alex said through a wince. “You were looking very…”

“Touchable?”

“Please don’t put it that way,” Alex said through a choked cough.

Claire shifted off her cushion. She let out a relieved breath as the pressure from the Cultivation Array relented, then pushed herself to her feet.

“So are you going to just leave your hand floating there?”

“I’m still debating. You want to give me a few more minutes to figure it out?”

Claire let out an amused snort. “You’re an idiot. How are you putting more thought into whether poking me than you do into plans on dealing with Outworlders?”

“Hey. I put thought into those too. But I care about one of these things a lot more than the other.”

The Dhampir blinked. A flicker of red danced across her countenance as her cheeks heated ever so slightly. Then she had control of her emotions once more, her features returning to their normal state in an instant.

“That was… uncharacteristically forward.”

Alex coughed into his fist and glanced away. “My head is a bit tenderized from the Cultivation Array. Sorry. Does that mean I can—”

“Only when you manage to do it without asking me,” Claire said with a smirk. She strode past him and pulled the door open to step outside of the building. Then she glanced over her shoulder. “You coming? We can’t stay in here for too long. It’s better to take a break and come back soon than to kill yourself staying in the array for as long as possible.”

Alex sighed. Then he followed after her.

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“I need to meditate,” Claire said as they walked through the beaten dirt roads of Mirrorwane. “I’ve got a good amount of energy from the Ancestry that I haven’t cashed in yet. Quite a bit of it, actually.”

“Me too,” Alex said. “Might as well do it now, before Mite finishes his building and somehow summons another eldritch creature down on the town.”

Claire grimaced. “True enough. I’d like to say that there’s no way he’s dumb enough to do that again… but he might have a little more in common with you than either of us would like.”

“Hey,” Alex protested. “What’s that meant to mean?”

The only response he received was a laugh. The two of them continued into the Town Hall. It seemed like the best place to head for some peace and quiet given the fact that — at least as far as Alex was aware — they didn’t actually have a room in the town at the moment.

“This should do fine,” Claire said, sitting down in the main room of the hall.

Alex sat down beside her. “I think Mite is building some more lodgings right now. I’ll have to make sure we get a room so we don’t have to meditate on the ground every single time. It would be nice to do it on a bed.”

“A room?” Claire asked. “Are you sure?”

“I — well…” Alex trailed off. His eyes narrowed. Claire was screwing with him. “Yes. A room. Unless you’d prefer to sleep separately?”

Claire grinned. “Nope. Just making sure. Have a good meditation.”

Then her eyes drifted shut and she was gone.

Alex blew out a huff. This was his fault. He’d gone for a Dhampir that found fun in playing political death games. All things considered, this was almost certainly what she considered going easy on him.

His own eyes closed. Alex sent his senses deep into himself, and his Mind Palace rose up to meet him.

Everything was, unsurprisingly, exactly as he had left it. The three marble pillars he’d formed during the Initiate Stage sat equidistant from each other on the far ends of his soul. A fourth had just poked up past the surface of the water, only a few feet in height. It was perfectly centered between two of the other pillars.

Two more pillars lurked beneath the depths of the water, as did a number of distant, hazy marble specks. Alex still couldn’t even hazard a guess as to what they might have been beyond building materials.

Before him rose the stairwell leading up to his massive basin. The enormous marble palm stretched above it, fingers raised toward the starry skies above in preparation for the next star that dared fall toward it. Motes of energy shimmered within the hand. As far as Alex had been able to determine, they represented the stars that he’d already caught.

Power churned in a thick cloud of misty blue above the palm of the hand. There was a lot of it. That much was certain. Enough to make quite a significant difference no matter how he used it.

And at the back of his soul was Berith.

The demon looked as dour as ever. He said nothing, and Alex returned the favor.

Right now, I’ve got one real question. What do I do with all that magical energy? Do I put it toward advancing my Mind Palace? That might get me closer to unlocking the true form of my Soul Manifestation so I’m not just using the partial version.

On the other hand, I could try to get some levels so I can get closer to unlocking a new ability. All that matters is I don’t go up past the Adept Tier without maxing my Mind Palace out beforehand. The actual order I distribute the magic doesn’t matter too much.

Alex’s lips pursed in thought. He had 2 Units left over at the moment. If he wanted to upgrade anything, he’d need a total of either 4 or 8, depending on the skill. Both Riftwalk and Requiem to the King were at Novice 8, while Monster Medley was Novice 4.

I kind of want to improve Riftwalk or Requiem. That means I’d need 6 whole levels. Damn.

Maybe I should actually take up hunting Anomalies. The Unmaker Title straight up gives me a skill advancement after I kill two Anomalies, and I got one ages ago, when I first got to 274-50.

That’s actually ridiculous, especially as you get higher up in level. Then again… doesn’t that mean the later on the kill is, the more value I get for that title? The next tier will probably require a lot more than just 2 kills.

He tapped his foot on the ground in thought. There was no point holding out forever — and while he had no plans of going around murdering people willy-nilly just because the System didn’t like them, there was one Anomaly in particular that he had every plan of killing.

The River King’s days were numbered.

Not only was he a pain in the ass, but he was also one of the Subsector Leaderboarders. Killing that prick would net an enormous amount of rewards… and he had it coming. Anyone who betrayed an ally for such a stupid reason was worse than scum.

I’ll deal with him soon. For now, I think the best way to use my power would still be to pump up my Mind Palace. I probably won’t be able to get enough levels from this energy to make it worthwhile right now. If I manage to call another star down through my Visualization, that’ll probably result in a pretty big overall power boost. Each one has made me feel a hell of a lot stronger, faster, and tougher overall. Can’t sleep on it at all.

Alex shook his head. No wonder Finley had put so much focus on a strong Visualization. New skills and abilities were awesome, but having a method that just steadily made you stronger just by doing what you were going to do normally was insidious.

Even if his Visualization was only slightly better than a normal one — which Alex doubted to be the case — the rewards would rack up rapidly. Using it was like getting paid to eat tasty food.

Alex made his way up to the edge of the basin and sat down with his legs hanging over the lip. Then he blew out a slow breath and let his eyes drift shut. His path had been decided.

Right. Let’s see how much progress I can make.