Milo felt a strange texture on his feet. It felt fleshy and somewhat squishy.
He immediately summoned Dreamer's Hope, and the light from within the pearls brightened to show his surroundings.
He was standing on something red, he could also hear the rough waves crashing against whatever he was on. Milo then felt and heard something ram into the structure. The structure he was on shook from the impact.
Milo quickly dismissed Dreamer's Hope and stopped moving. Whatever was ramming into this thing was doing so with purpose, Milo let his prosthetic droop down and pierce the surface he was on as a safety measure.
After a bit, the ramming stopped, and the sound of the waves lessened.
"Okay... no light."
Milo looked around, there wasn't really much he could do. So he did what he could. He spaced out the area he found himself in. He tried his best to mark a safe point as well. After that, the only thing he could do was wait for morning
He passed the time with small things like cutting up small bits of the structure he was on and making it into tiny shapes. He created a tiny house, then a tiny bridge, and so on.
When day came, Milo noticed something strange. The water below him retreated, and Milo looked on with awe.
What was under the water seemed to be a red forest. Filled with coral that twisted in irregular ways creating grotesque patterns that went further and further up. Milo hadn't even been on the tallest piece of coral, some kilometers away he could see winding coral that went even higher then the one he was currently on.
Milo looked down, he was about 85 meters up from the ground, and the cliff he was on gave him another 30 meters to descend. Milo looked at his prosthetic, he was thankful it could change form.
'I truly created a versatile tool.'
With tears forming in his eyes from joy, he began his descent. The fingers of his prosthetic turned sharper, allowing him to have a better grip on the coral. When necessary, it would change into a chain like form with a spike at the end to allow Milo to descend certain heights. It would've been a pain to descend normally, and some shortcuts would've been impossible without the prosthetic itself.
Once Milo had descended, his first order of business was to create some clothes. He found some nearby seaweed and formed it into a loin cloth, he then knitted some more seaweed into a loose drape to put over his waist.
He now looked like a proper tribal man, he could only hope to find some armor soon. All he could do now was rely on his prosthetic the best he could.
The next step was to map out his surroundings. At the very least having a basic idea of what was directly surrounding him would be a huge help. Considering the starless sky at night, along with red coral and disappearing sea, Milo assumed he was in an undocumented area. He hadn't heard of any place like this in the Dream Realm, which meant he was either one of the first, or that no one had escaped from this region of the Dream Realm.
The former seemed possible, while the latter seemed a little too improbable. Even if they couldn't have escaped this certain region of the Dream Realm, there must have been someone who simply moved onto to another region. The only thing that would stop someone from doing that would be if this place was surrounded by death zones, which also seemed much to improbable...
'Actually, that would make a lot of sense.'
If Milo's assumption was correct, then he was stuck in a region where no one had escaped yet, surrounded by death zones, and as far as Milo could tell, no prominent structures in sight.
However, he also hadn't come across any monsters. Discounting the monster from the night, so long as Milo didn't stay in the sea at night, he should be fine. Milo explored the immediate perimeter around him, he didn't find much, just more of that same crimson coral with the occasional mound.
After nothing happened, he simply climbed back up to the pillar of coral he was on and waited.
He had a lot to do, such as collect water, find food, and make some sort of progress in this labyrinth of coral and rock.
The sea returned at night, and Milo laid down. The calm waves lulling him into a peaceful sleep...
'Calm waves?'
Milo forced his eyes open. He focused on his hearing. The waves were rough, and yet they were calm. His own senses were being messed with. Something was trying to control his mind yet again.
Milo was able to keep his cool. However, the downsides of his Innate Ability were clear as day.
He felt himself being lulled into sleep. All of it felt so peaceful and serene, how could it possibly be bad, his suspicion was appearing and being crushed in an instant.
Even worse, his flaw was amplifying this peaceful feeling, it was becoming worse. He forced himself to stand up, anything to prevent himself from sleeping. He just needed to outlast this monster's tricks.
It felt agonizingly peaceful, Milo at times forget what he was even worried about. He would've stabbed himself to prevent himself from falling asleep, but he felt no pain. It felt strange, it had only been three months since he couldn't feel pain, and yet it felt like a lifetime.
He really should get some sleep.
Milo paced around the coral surface, he kept a jogging pace to keep his heart beating.
Milo really should go to sleep.
He cut off pieces of the coral and created random shapes with them, he sculpted those random shapes into weapons and armor and buildings.
Go to sleep
Milo sat down, shaking his leg and pounding his hand against the coral surface. The faint sound of flesh dragging against something reached his ears.
Accept your fate.
Accepting one's fate wasn't such a bad thing right? There was peace in accepting one's fate. Milo looked forward, his vision was hazy. Was he seeing things, or was there some strange amalgamation of flesh and bone and shell in front of him.
Give up.
Milo snapped out of it. His Innate Ability had stopped the negative emotion coming from that damned monster. Milo quickly changed his prosthetic into a blade. He raised it as the Nightmare Creature charged at him. Milo dodged a swipe of bone and sharp jagged pieces of carapace. He sliced the appendage that clawed at him.
The Nightmare Creature let out a screech, a mix of red and blue blood oozed from its now cleaved appendage. Milo allowed his prosthetic to change. Considering he had no idea where in the hell its most vital organs would be, his best bet would be to shred this thing into paste.
The prosthetic formed into multiple serrated blades connected together by a line between the middle. A bladed whip in a sense. Milo had used this thing countless times in the Dreamscape. He never considered actually training in it, what were the chances that he would come across a weapon like that? But now he had prosthetic that could change itself.
Milo snapped the prosthetic forward. It slashed and cut into the grotesque amalgamation. Milo then forced his prosthetic to constrict around the monster. The strain on the prosthetic was clear as day. The sharp joints of the whip creaked against the Nightmare Creature's weight. Milo forced the prosthetic to cut deeper as he stepped away from it.
The sharp bits of metal that made up the blades cut deeper, and the Nightmare Creature let out a desperate shriek. Another appendage fell off. Milo pulled harder, he strained his legs.
His prosthetic groaned under the pressure. The Nightmare Creature was swinging wildly, only getting itself more tangled in the whip's embrace.
Milo pulled one last time, and the Nightmare Creature fell apart with a visceral sound of flesh tearing.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Amalgamation]
Milo let out a relieved sigh. He took in a deep breath.
He could really use some sleep right now.
Milo laid his head down.
Accept your fate.
Milo fell into a deep sleep, ignoring the footsteps approaching him. They were light and soft, like they were belonged to a creature too gentle for this realm.