As soon as the sun touched the horizon, a deafening rumble could be heard coming from somewhere below.
A few minutes later, the first streams of black water appeared in the labyrinth. Their volume quickly grew, and soon an apocalyptic flood devoured everything around. The sea was returning with the approach of the night.
In an hour the coral pillar was the only thing still protruding above the water.
While Cassie went inside to sleep, Reinhard stayed up on watch; he was sitting atop the small cave in which Cassie was sleeping.
It was a good spot; he could pretty much see every part of the island from here.
Some hours later, Reinhard saw something from the corner of his vision.
Out there, at some distance, a few kilometers away, a small orange light was shimmering in the darkness.
Its reflections were rising and falling with the movement of waves.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute name: Clear Sight.]
Reinhard couldn't see anything besides the light before, but now a silhouette of a person was clearly visible in the far distance. He couldn't make out anything substantial; it was completely black after all.
But considering the shape of the hair, he assumed that the person must be a girl.
Another sleeper? I don't think the distance is that great; we could probably travel to that point in a few hours.
He decided to head there with Cassie tomorrow.
***
As soon as the morning came, Reinhard woke up first and looked at the direction where he had seen the mysterious light coming from the previous night.
A few kilometers away from the coral pillar they were on, the ground rose naturally and formed something akin to a hill. On top of that hill, an especially massive coral pillar rose to the sky.
From the looks of it, its upper branches were just high enough to stay above water at night.
Reinhard walked back to the cave and looked inside.
Perhaps hearing his footsteps and having slept enough, Cassie woke up.
Just after waking up, Cassie sat up immediately. An excited expression was on her face; she turned her head towards his direction and spoke up.
"Reinhard, I saw a vision!"
He was briefly surprised by how she had even located him before realizing she could see people's attributes. So either she just heard him, or the spell showed her his attributes in the direction he was at.
"What was it about?" he asked.
"Uh... I saw a huge headless statue; atop it were four people. Aside from us, there was a pale black-haired boy and a silver-white-haired girl."
Silver-haired, huh?
Nephis was literally the only sleeper in this winter solstice who had silver hair.
But then again, the sleeper academy where he was at wasn't the only place from where sleepers went to the dream realm.
Or she could just be from another year; who knows?
Since Reinhard hadn't replied to her, Cassie looked at him and said.
"I know the boy; do you have any idea who the girl could be?"
"I have a guess. But can you elaborate on her description? If there is anything else, of course."
Cassie looked down in contemplation, recalling the girl's appearance.
"She was tall and slender, and she seemed quite aloof too." Then, after a pause, Cassie continued. "There isn't anything else—oh yes, she was wearing a white tunic; I guess that's all."
Yup, that's Nephis.
But then he was a little confused.
Huh? Blind or not, you were in the academy for a whole month. How did you not figure out she was Nephis from what you heard in the academy?
Even if not much, Nephis was like the most popular among all the sleepers in the academy.
With the sole exception of me, of course.
"I think that's Nephis," he said.
A look of realization appeared on Cassie's face.
"Oh."
"By the way, who's the boy?"
Reinhard had a guess, but since Cassie was going to speak up anyway, there was no point in making useless speculations.
"That would be Sunless; he is the boy who sat at the same table as me in the cafeteria," she said. "You must have seen him in the cafeteria that day."
She assumed that because Reinhard was sitting with them on the day of the winter solstice.
"Yes."
That was the day I got stuck in your web after all. Of course I would remember everything that happened that day. He thought sarcastically.
Reinhard had no rudeness filter in his brain, so even if he had accepted what had happened, it still didn't mean he couldn't be internally rude about it.
Realizing something, he ignored that completely and asked.
"Do you know where that headless statue is? There is none around here from what I can see."
"Uhh, no." She replied quietly.
Reinhard sighed.
I guess that means we are going towards the other coral pillar.
Just then a question arose in his mind; he looked at Cassie and asked.
"How do your visions work? If you have seen it, is it sure to happen, or does it depend on our actions?"
Her eyebrows scrunched up a little in contemplation.
After a pause, she replied.
"I—don't know. Sometimes they are visions of the past, sometimes of the future. I never got the chance to figure that out."
That means we should head out to where I was thinking of. If it's sure to happen, then the headless statue might be after the coral pillar.
If not... then the vision should have been more descriptive.
"Ok." He replied.
But then he thought of something.
Wait. If those visions are absolute, then she must have seen my flaw in action.
Was it something simple? Someone asking for help and me being unable to refuse even when it would have been better to do so?
Or something else?
The best thing to do would be to ask her.
Reinhard didn't want to.
He was the type of person who would use any advantage in battle without hesitation. Information was power, and he had never considered it beneath him to obtain it.
But this was different.
If the future shown in those visions was absolute, then learning the exact moment of his failure would change nothing. And if he knew it was coming and still could not avoid it, that would mean he had never been in control to begin with.
And living without control over his own life was something Reinhard could never tolerate.
Besides, the vision was already contaminated. Cassia knew his flaw now. The damage had already been done.
Asking her about it would only reopen something that was better left closed.
And knowing the exact moment he would fail would be like watching a knife flying toward him in slow motion and being completely unable to move.
With that, he dismissed the thought and looked at Cassie.
It was time to give her his sword.
"Cassie, you might have to hold onto a memory for me... temporarily."
She looked at him and asked curiously.
"Okay, I will, but why?"
There is no going back now.
He thought for a moment on how he was going to say it before speaking up.
"One of my swords is problematic," He said. "It only lets me draw it against opponents it considers worthy. And while I have it, I can't use other weapon Memories."
He paused for a moment before continuing.
"When we encounter a carapace scavenger, I will try to use my sword against it. If it refuses to come out, I'll give it to you and use my other sword."
Although he knew his pathetic attempt at still owning the sword and not revealing its full capabilities to Cassie wasn't going to work. If her vision came true and they did meet Nephis and Sunless, then there would be several instances where he would have to draw his sword, either in fights or spars. At that point the only one he could have a sliver of trust in would be Cassie, mainly because she was harmless.
Unless, of course, he dealt with those situations with a sword that was still in its sheath; that would obviously raise too many questions.
After Cassie agreed, he took her to the edge of the coral pillar.
He tied the golden rope memory, to a sturdy coral protrusion and quickly made his way down. Upon reaching, he straightened the rope, after which Cassie got down as well.
Even with her weak and fragile-looking body, she was still a dormant human, so handling just her own body weight was easy for her.
After tying the rope around her hand and his own, both of them headed towards the massive hill, with Reinhard leading them.
With an attribute he had created, Reinhard could see the silhouettes of any living thing in a large radius around him. Using that attribute, it was quite easy for them to avoid any confrontation they didn't want to be a part of.
That didn't last long, though.
After walking in the dark paths of the crimson labyrinth for around thirty minutes.
Reinhard finally found what he was looking for.
Through his attribute, he saw a carapace scavenger around fifty meters away; it was all alone, and if his trajectory was going right, it would soon pass by the point Reinhard and Cassie were at.
Seeing Reinhard stop, Cassie asked quietly, her tone carrying a tinge of fear.
"Why did you stop?"
"An alone carapace scavenger will pass from here in around twenty seconds. I want to fight it. Come on."
Wanting to prepare himself mentally as fast as possible for the fight, he didn't give much attention to Cassie and turned around to the direction they came from. After going around twenty meters back, he found a good place where she could hide temporarily.
"Stay here quietly; I will come back as soon as possible."
He could clearly see her fear even though she tried to hide it.
"Please be careful." She said, still seeming like she was against the idea of him fighting the scavenger.
"I will."
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Assassin]
Reinhard had long realized a fact about his aspect ability.
It was that he should always find creative ways to encompass as many things as possible into a single attribute.
And it will work as long as all those effects don't stray too far from each other.
Titan's corpus gave his physique an overall boost, and gloom veil allowed him to either hide or stay out of attention very well.
Assassin, however, wouldn't boost his overall physique, but it gave almost an equal amount of boost to his speed and agility, as well as allowing him to hide like Gloom Veil.
It wouldn't be as effective as if he had both those attributes together, but since he could only have one, it was a far better option.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Echo Perception]
He quickly confirmed the location of the carapace scavenger and then switched back to [Assassin].
From a good distance away, he finally saw it directly in his line of sight.
Sparks of light came and went as soon after [Axiom of Virtue] appeared in his hand, the sheath still on.
He tried to draw it, but it refused to budge even a little.
Fuck.
Now he had to go back to Cassie and give her his sword before coming back.
After going a good distance away, he switched to Titan's corpus and ran back.
I have to do all this just because this sword is too proud to be drawn.
He got back and saw Cassie sitting there silently, taking up as little space as possible.
Hearing his footsteps, she looked up hopefully. A look of relief appeared on her face as she saw his attributes.
Seeing her expression, he almost felt guilty having to tell her that he had to go once again.
But he was a little disappointed as well, since his sword's rank was going to be revealed to her anyway; he wanted to at least observe her reaction.
Now he couldn't do that either!
"Give me your hand; I will transfer it now."
"O-Oh okay."
A pulse of light transferred from his body to hers before he turned back.
"I will be back soon."
He didn't wait for her reply and ran back.
When he got back, the Carapace Scavenger had already left the area he was planning to fight it at, or well, more like assassinate it.
It wasn't hard to catch up to it, though.
[Assassin] allowed him to get pretty close to it, and yet the scavenger wasn't able to detect him back.
He began to slowly close the distance between them until only a few coral trees hid him from being seen.
The size of the carapace scavenger seemed even more imposing from up close.
There's no better opportunity than this!
He was already behind it, and yesterday, with the help of another attribute, he had easily found out the most logical places the scavengers' weaknesses would be.
That was at the backside of the part where its head and body were attached as well as its joints.
Reinhard prepared to strike that weak point at the back.
With a slow exhale and a quick count to three.
He lunged.
The scavenger seemed oblivious to the charge.
The first step and the second went unnoticed.
However, the moment he took the third, the scavenger turned its body towards Reinhard in an instant; before he knew it, one of the pincers had been launched toward his position.
Instead of dodging sideways or retreating, he lunged towards the creature's body.
The pincer slammed where Reinhard had stood a moment before, missing him but splashing the mud below.
Reinhard knew he was not only slower but also weaker; his advantage, however, was his agility.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Titan's Corpus]
Since the beast obviously had far more reach than Reinhard, his best bet was to stay close.
And so Reinhard moved underneath the creature's torso, remaining near its back legs.
One of its legs sliced toward him in response.
He dodged sideways, narrowly avoiding the blade-like limb.
The scavenger attempted to turn its large body towards Reinhard; however, because of its size and the position of its legs, its rotation was slightly slow and awkward.
Reinhard noticed the brief moment of imbalance and hurriedly scanned for an opening.
His gaze fell on the creature's leg as a quick decision formed in his mind.
Please work!
He stepped onto the base of one of its legs to gain height and, using that leverage, pushed himself towards the back of its head.
Reinhard twisted his body sideways and thrusted [bright fury] into the weak point.
Due to one of the sword enchantments, which made it quite sharp. The sword had no problem in piercing the comparatively less protected spot, and it directly destroyed the scavenger's brain.
It convulsed instantly, its legs stabbing into the ground.
Reinhard, approaching the ground, rolled sideways and stood up with his sword in front of him, preparing for the worst even if he knew he had pretty much won.
He had felt the satisfying pressure when the sword had entered the scavenger's head after all.
The Carapace Scavenger stumbled and lost coordination as its brain was damaged.
After a few unstable steps, the creature collapsed onto the ground.
Reinhard's remaining caution flew out the window when he heard the spell's voice.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]
[You have received a Memory: Chitin Armor.]
Nice!
He knew the armor would be almost useless to him since the armor he was currently wearing was an awakened memory of the sixth tier; the chitin armor was a whole 5 tiers below it, but it was still nice to receive rewards.
I will just give this to Cassie.
The clock Cassie wore was of the dormant rank, so this was a good upgrade for her.
There was another reason as to why he wanted to have the dormant clock more than this awakened armor.
Because it had sentimental value.
Reinhard might not connect well or feel deeply about other humans, but he cared quite a lot about his materialistic possessions.
Not to mention the dormant clock was the first-ever memory he had received, so he had gotten quite attached to it.
As that thought ended, he cast a gaze at the corpse of the carapace scavenger and sighed.
After some time, he managed to break open the carapace and cut away strips of tender, pink meat. That was, of course, after extracting the radiant crystal from its chest—the soul shard.
Just as the shard landed on his hand, without thinking further, he absorbed it.
[Your soul grows stronger.]
He could feel the soul essence coursing through his body.
[Soul Fragments: 3/1000]
Huh?
Reinhard suddenly got confused.
A sleeper was supposed to receive 2 soul fragments from a soul shard of awakened rank, but he had received three.
There's no way I read wrong, right?
Of course he hadn't!
Must be because of [Favored By Fate], or something.
There wasn't any other reason he could think of that made sense.
Receiving three fragments instead of two was very overpowered; even if the difference looked small, if he absorbed 10 fragments, the difference would be between 20 and 30, which was already like absorbing an extra 5 soul shards. The difference would shine brighter when he absorbed something like a hundred soul shards.
Considering the situation, he didn't pay much attention to it and decided to go back.
Cassie had the rucksack he had woven from black seaweed, which meant she was the only one who could carry the meat properly. Leaving her alone for too long wasn't a good idea either.
So Reinhard hurried back, carrying the pieces of scavenger meat in his hands despite how unpleasant it felt.
It had been a little more than five minutes when he returned.
When Cassie realized he was back, a relieved smile appeared on her face.
"You are back."
Even though he wasn't open enough to say it in front of her, he still thought sarcastically.
Nope, still fighting the carapace scavenger. This is just my doppelganger—I mean, I am Reinhard's doppelganger.
"Yeah. I killed it and got some food; give me the rucksack."
After putting the meat into the rucksack, he secretly looked at Cassie, though not giving her the indication that he was done.
She was facing the direction he was crouched at.
It seemed like she was in deep thought.
Even though she acted normal when he just got back because of relief, now since that issue had settled, he guessed the rank of his sword was probably what was going through her mind.
Not to mention the description of the memory was quite unique in itself, so even if she couldn't read the enchantments of the memory, there would still be enough for her to think about.
He sighed internally, then spoke up.
"I got an armor memory from killing the carapace scavenger. You should wear it instead."
"O-oh okay."
Taking her raised hand into his, he transferred the armor memory to her.
Cassie quickly summoned it and wore it in the place of the cloak. And then transferred the cloak back.
Reinhard briefly looked at his runes and smiled.
Glad to have you back, bud.
"Uh, do you want A—the sword back now?"
"Not right now."
After Reinhard tied the rope around her hand, they once again started walking through the crimson labyrinth towards the coral pillar.
***
More than two hours passed.
With his radar-like attribute, there was little chance Reinhard and Cassie could encounter a nightmare creature, which Reinhard wanted to avoid.
Cassie, though, already knowing that, truly accepted the fact by now. The reason as to why it took her time to truly relax properly was because, till now, Reinhard had ended up fighting four more Carapace Scavengers.
Heh, a true hero, and yet my flaw doesn't stop me from assassinating nightmare creatures.
Up until now, there was only one carapace scavenger he had to fight properly.
The second battle he fought went quite similarly to his first one, as did the third.
He absorbed the soul shard of the second carapace scavenger and gave the third scavengers to Cassie.
As he was the only fighter, him absorbing all of them made the most sense, but giving her had two reasons. First of all, since he had absorbed two already, he had a total of 6 fragments, and if, as a normal sleeper, he had absorbed three, then he would have gotten a total of 6 fragments, so technically the extra saving he did went to Cassie.
Though that was just an excuse, the main reason was that he actually, simply, felt weird.
He would leave her behind worrying, go fight the scavenger, reap all the rewards, and then come back as if nothing happened.
Even he wasn't shameless enough to not point that out as if it were nothing.
So he made a decision then and there to give Cassie one fragment for every 3 or 4 he absorbed.
She was surprised, to say the least, and even tried to change his mind a bit. But he didn't like involving himself in pointless arguments and just told her to take it with a tone of finality. If she had refused, he would have accepted and taken it back, but she didn't, so that matter ended there.
But apparently, he had gotten a little carefree, having killed three awakened beasts so easily.
Remembering the battle he took part in with the fourth carapace scavenger almost made him shudder.
He had just failed to take proper advantage of his ambush, and as such, the scavenger was able to make distance between them. Then using its superior strength, speed, and reach. It made it almost impossible for Reinhard to close the distance. Whenever he tried to close in or circle the scavenger, the pincers would swing at him with so much speed that he could just dodge them all narrowly. That one fight alone took more time than it took for him to fight the three scavengers before combined.
When he returned, Cassie was worried sick; he almost thought she would start bawling her eyes out with relief.
He made sure to not tell her what happened; it was important for the image he was maintaining.
After that, he got more cautious, though.
And now, overall, he had a total of 12 soul fragments.
While Reinhard was still caught up in his thoughts, what broke him out of them was seeing something from the periphery of his vision.
It was the silhouette of a person.