[Congratulations!]
[You have leveled up.]
[Your Hollow Core grows stronger.]
[Hollow Core Level: Level 8.]
[Your Dream Catcher has leveled up!]
[Dream Catcher Level: Lvl 24.]
[You have accumulated more grudge.]
[Grudgekeeper is growing stronger.]
After a while in the satanic ritual room, Somnu accumulated a bunch of levels for both his Hollow Core and Dream Catcher.
Naturally, most of the effort had been put forward by Fala, the dependable crow companion. She had kept on hunting the dozens of Horned Cockroaches coming and going through the cracks in the rocky walls.
Occasionally, along with the usual Terror Cores, the Horned Cockroaches even came with Ego Particles. And since his Dream Catcher was somehow able to consume both Ego Particles and Nightmare Creature corpses, it allowed Somnu to level up Grudgekeeper far faster than himself.
At the moment, the scarecrow could clearly feel the boost in power he had gotten from the recent level ups. He had tested himself by punching the rocky wall, and was surprised to notice the outcome.
Not only had he barely felt any pain, but he had left a semblance of damage on the surface of the rock.
“Huh, I guess the boost from both the general abilities and Grudgekeeper are making me stronger fast.” He had commented with a cheeky, proud smile.
Being able to take a breather and gain a little strength before heading out again made him appreciate the moment of peacefulness, despite the feeling it gave him, like the calm before the storm.
Nevertheless, the new level ups he had received confirmed Somnu’s theory about the exact number needed to level up for his current rank. Both he and Grudgekeeper needed 10 cores for every level, and most likely a total of 990 to the next rank.
With that, he was able to work out a plan to reach one of the requirements of passing through the First Layer of the Nightmare Realm, the Abyss of Lethe. For now, he made a mental note that he needed 3 more Terror Cores for his next level up, and 5 more Ego Particles and/or Cores from Nightmare Creature corpses for Grudgekeeper’s next level up.
“Caaw!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Somnu responded to his impatient companion. “Give me a second.”
While Fala was busy hunting the Horned Cockroaches around the small room, Somnu focused on the occasional summoned creatures from the bloodied hexagram on the ground. At one point, he had used his skills too much and exhausted himself.
It served as a teaching moment to be more frugal and use his skills wisely from then on.
Similarly, he had slowly drank the boiled water, which didn’t seem to have any side effects. Whether it had always been clean water or if the boiling process had purified it, Somnu couldn’t know now. At the very least, Grudgekeeper had continued to munch on the cockroach barbecues, satiating both itself and Somnu’s stomach.
Despite all his current progress, the only disappointing factor for Somnu was the lack of new skills or abilities neither he, nor Grudgekeeper received.
It seemed like the only upgrade he had been bestowed with was the boosted general abilities, which beside the obvious advantages that gave him, additionally allowed him to use his skills more often and for longer.
“Speaking of… I should go through those one more time.” Scrolling through his stats one last time before heading out, Somnu reminded himself to read his skills again so he’s better prepared. He couldn’t afford to be lazy now.
After all, the System had warned him that lethargy was the primary cause of inability.
[Crow’s Call: Summon a friendly crow as a familiar.]
[Silent Step: For a short time, you can walk or run in complete silence.]
[Rooted Vigil: Immediately roots you to the ground. In this state, you gain increasing core strength, heightened awareness, and faster reaction speed.]
[Hollow Gaze: Your empty, eerie eyes paralyze foes with fear when they make direct eye contact or sense your ominous presence, leaving them vulnerable for a short period of time. The more fear you have accumulated, the stronger your hollow gaze will be.]
[Straw Strike: Call forth and manipulate hardened straws to your whim.]
Those were the main five skills he had at his disposal so far. While not as flashy or strong as he would have hoped for, they could still come in handy in their own way, just as they had done so against the Specter that threatened his life, the Slowing Bunny.
He had read these skills before, but he was able to notice something new this time around.
“Hollow Gaze might be connected to the passive Personal Title [Fated Terror]...” Somnu considered, then pulled up his Personal Titles one more time too.
[Personal Titles: {The Last Unrested}, {Fated Terror}]
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[Title Description: {The Last Unrested}: No rest for the wicked! You are unable to sleep!]
[Title Description: {Fated Terror}: You have a natural ability to make others fear you! The more fear you cause in this scary world, the stronger and more terrified you'll feel yourself!]
“[Fated Terror] seems to be a passive ability that makes others fear me… as well as use that against me to make me more afraid…” He swallowed, not looking forward to what that could entail. “At the very least, it could make [Hollow Gaze] stronger…”
With a better understanding of how his various skills worked and what he was able to do with them, he finally got up.
“Caaw!”
“!”
As soon as he stood, Fala flew up and landed on his left shoulder. Ever since the level ups, she seemed a little bigger, perhaps even more evolved.
Not just that, but Somnu had felt even Grudgekeeper become tighter on his skin, as if slowly becoming a part of him.
“Well, at the very least, I got you two here, huh?” He let out with a soft snicker.
“Caaw!”
Fala responded with vigor while Grudgekeeper seemed to thrash about as if a strong wind had gone through it.
“Alright then, let’s see what awaits us on the other side of this portal, shall we?”
He had naturally briefly considered if this could be the exit of the First Layer the quest had mentioned, but he gave that up. It seemed too easy, and Fala had been teleported out despite him not having met the other requirements just yet. He was sure it was leading to some other place on the First Layer too.
He could only hope that it didn’t lead him to another horrific sight, but even if it did, Somnu had determined himself to fight from now on. To not run away out of fear anymore.
“!”
The moment he broke his one rule and stepped into the summoning circle, a light emerged and covered his entire body.
[Relocating Sleeper…]
[ERROR!]
[Processing…]
[Sleeper is defective!]
What?!
[Unable to relocate Sleeper to the designated location.]
[Losing control of the relocation process…]
Wait! What do you mean?! Take back control, dammit!
[ALERT: Step out of the summoning circle immediately!]
Crow-shit!
However, just as Somnu went to step out of it, his vision blurred.
“!”
Instead of the small room he was just in, he now found himself in a wide, dark room. It was filled with open, empty coffins piled up in the smaller protrusions carved into the surrounding rocky walls.
“Where am I now…?” He mumbled as he scanned his surroundings. “Some kind of mausoleum?”
For some reason, even Fala flew down and landed between his feet, crawling into herself as her eyes darted around.
“What? Scared all of a sudden-?!”
Looking down at her, Somnu noticed what he had been standing on. A giant summoning circle that covered almost all the way to the rocky walls and the empty coffins.
Thankfully he saw at least one exit out of the eerie crypt and took a step towards it, Fala hopping on his heel while still anxiously looking around.
On his way, the System finally shed some light on the situation… or not.
[Sleeper falsely relocated!]
[ALERT: Please return to the previous location immediately!]
“What’s your problem? Why?” For all Somnu knew, this was just another place he needed to get through to level up. To push himself closer to the requirements of passing the First Layer of the Nightmare Realm.
However…
[Sleeper has left the Abyss of Lethe!]
[Sleeper has been relocated outside of the Nightmare Layers!]
“What?! Where the hell am I then?!”
[ERROR!]
[Unable to access information!]
“Crow-shit, here we go again!”
[Unable to estimate ranks of present Nightmare Creatures!]
[REPEAT: Please return to the previous location immediately!]
“Dammit, it seems like I have no choice but to go back for now…” Somnu turned back. As much as he wanted to explore this place, he would rather not end up dead if it's filled with Nightmare Creatures of the Specter rank, or higher. “Let’s just hope it actually does take me back now.”
THUD! THUD!
CRACK! CRACK!
“?!”
Just as Somnu stepped back onto the summoning circle, a noise from above stopped him in his tracks.
The ceiling that seemed almost like a chapel’s round design with unfamiliar murals on them suddenly cracked under a constant barrage of pummeling.
And then…
THUD! THUD!
CRASH!
“Dammit! Run!” Not waiting for the ceiling to crash and fall on him, Somnu took off running towards the exit of the room.
Not only did the teleporter seem to be on some kind of cooldown, since it hadn’t worked again ever since he was on it, but it had been directly under the ceiling. There was no way for Somnu to rely on it anymore.
He needed to take his chances with this new place he found himself in now.
“Caaw!”
With Fala jumping on his shoulders again, the two barely escaped the collapsed ceiling by running through the exit into a bright hallway.
“...”
Looking back, the two could only see the gate they had just crossed through, now completely blocked by boulders and debris.
Crow-shit! Just my bad luck!
However, Somnu’s luck didn’t seem to have been done with him just yet.
“Arghh!”
“Grughhh!”
“?!”
Upon turning around, Somnu and Fala were faced with multiple rotting corpses walking towards them with their arms reaching out. Somnu naturally recognized the sight…
“Seriously?! Zombies?!” The scarecrow blurted out, trying his best to swallow the sense of despair forcibly being dug up from deep within him.
A moment later, the zombies stopped walking, then took off running towards the new prey.
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