Elias yawned, letting himself fall onto the bed as he faced the ceiling above.
Already in his night clothes and just out of the shower, it was time to get a night's rest.
However, Elias had two options right now. He could choose to challenge another Red Graded Mirrorth, and who knew, he might even be able to amass just enough Echoform fragments to break through and become an Apprentice.
However, he had already challenged one just a night ago. And after arranging his stuff, he was already quite exhausted.
So that only left another option, one that made him curious, no doubt.
"Activate the Dreamscape."
He felt something surreal, but he couldn't define the feeling exactly. It was comparable to having an itch but having no idea exactly what spot was itching, if that made any sense.
But the skill was active, and that was what he needed to know.
He smiled, thinking about the entire events of the day with a yawn escaping his lips. The moment with Mr. Ferborn, meeting with Lizzy, coming across the candidates of the Concordia Labs, and even the test taking place tomorrow.
He yawned again, his eyes slowly dropping closed.
He didn't remember when he drifted off to sleep.
***
When Elias opened his eyes again, he was standing...
Wait, where the hell was this?
He blinked his eyes rapidly, looking around him with a little bit of wariness.
He seemed to still be in his night clothes. Everywhere he looked was covered in darkness, well... almost everywhere.
In front of him was the system interface, flashing with blue light that chased away the surrounding darkness.
Numerous lines of text lit up its surface.
[Choose Dreamscape Setting]
[Options:
Wasteland
Frozen Lake
Molten Fields
Rocky Desert
Rainfor...]
Looking at the interface finally made him take in a deep breath of realization.
"Right, how could I forget."
He was already in the Dreamscape. This entire thing was all in his head, even when it felt no different from reality.
It was quite weird.
He scratched the side of his head, turning back to the screen, his eyes now narrowing curiously.
There were numerous settings available, but he decided to go with the first and take things steady. He was particularly wary of settings like Molten Fields and Blizzard Expanse. There was no way he was crazy enough to attempt somewhere like that.
The moment his fingers brushed over the setting, Wasteland, the darkness suddenly receded, a barren land stretching for miles around suddenly coming into existence.
Because his feet were bare, he could feel the heat of the scorching black sands, the sun shining overhead with startling intensity while a warm wind blew across from the west, brushing some dust against his face.
Elias took a step forward, then backward, his lips curling into a grin.
"How the hell does this feel so damn real?"
He took a deep breath, bottling down his excitement. He would test all this out later; for now, he was particularly curious about something else.
Caelum, the first Combat Master. He wanted to meet this person.
The System Interface flickered in front of him, almost as if it seemed to hear his thoughts.
[Proceed with teleportation to the Edgebearer's Domain?]
Elias smiled, shaking his head vigorously.
"Proceed!"
Before he could even blink, he was already gone.
***
When he appeared again, before he could even look around him or access his surroundings, something else took his attention immediately.
It was a distraught voice resounding from... everywhere. It was filled with such biting pain that Elias felt it cut straight to his heart.
"Dead! Dead! Dead!"
"DEAD dead! DEAD!"
"DEAD DEAD DEAD!"
"THEY ARE ALL DEAD! DEAD!"
Elias blinked rapidly, looking at the outline of a man sitting on a throne that seemed carved from quartz, numerous swords and blades with edges shining with sharp radiance stabbing right into its surface.
He sat above a flight of stairs, his dark hair covering one of his eyes, the other eye glowing a bright crimson. Intermittently, he held both sides of his head with his hands, his eyes rolling back as he yelled over and over again.
"DEAD!"
"DEAD!"
"DEAD!"
Elias winced, the sound of that sorrowful voice rattling him. The surrounding space was covered in white fog, obscuring the place and leaving his vision limited.
He took a deep breath, gritting his teeth. Wasn't this guy supposed to tutor him or something? There was no way that this guy was right in the head, so had the system by any chance made a mistake?
"Hey... uhh, can you by any chance hear me?"
The man only began to laugh at the sound of his voice, then Elias felt the weight of his crimson eye as he turned to look at him.
"HAHAHAHAHA! DEAD! DEAD! DEAD!"
Elias had had enough.
He began to walk towards the screaming man that sat atop the throne of swords, his face twisting into a tight grimace.
"Listen up, I did not just get my hopes up for you to trash all of my expectations. You better pick up your pathetic ass and do your fucking job, you bastard."
Ever since Elias had stepped in here, he had been trying to feel for his Harmonic Core, or even his Lament, but no matter how hard he tried, it always seemed to exist outside his perception, as if the space here had severed his connection.
So while he was here, he probably couldn't use any of his abilities.
That meant that if he was by any chance to fight the man right in front of him, he could at least ascertain that using the capabilities of his Harmonic Core and even his weaves was outside the rules.
So does that mean that he was meant to fight this guy using an ordinary sword or a mundane weapon?
Elias couldn't help but stop walking now, and that was because the screams that usually resounded from the man like a damning lullaby had ceased.
An amused, mocking chuckle escaped from his lips instead.
His exposed eye was now looking in his direction, shining with a bright, dazzling crimson, burning like molten flames.
"YOU SHALL ADDRESS ME WITH RESPECT. YOU SHALL CALL ME BY NAME! EDGEBEARER, THE BLADE OF A THOUSAND CUTS."
He had barely finished talking before Elias saw a flash of bright, sharpened light heading in his direction from the throne of quartz.
He didn't even get the time to scream, curse, or even feel the pain when it happened.
The world suddenly inverted, his eyes widening as his head flew into the air. The last thing he witnessed was the unforgettable sight of his headless body, with blood spurting right out of his neck.
There was only one thought now moving through his mind.
'Did I just fucking die?'
Elyndra's mocking voice boomed right in his mind.
"Challenge failed. Five hundred Mission Points deducted."
The entire place shattered like glass.