As Reko took his gaze off the fallen Diver, he felt something bitter being consumed into his body. He grimaced.
'What the hell?!'
The feeling left as quickly as it came, leaving Reko frowning in the now desolate hall. He wasn't sure what caused such a sensation, and he had no time to find out. Who knows what horrors Reko's clash may have attracted? He could hear heavy stomping coming from one of the nearby connecting hallways, and he had no interest in greeting the uninvited guest.
He had to leave this place quickly. Mustering up his final bits of strength, Reko began briskly staggering back towards the rest of the squad. He went back down the hallway he'd come from and eventually made it into the hallway with the dead sea monster in a tank.
Reko moved behind cover by a nearby stack of crates piled near the walls. All his strength left him, and Reko fell to the floor. He could calmly rest here, knowing that no Voidbeasts would dare show up due to the dead leviathan. Reko felt his eyes grow heavy.
'Guess I'm officially a Gifted now. Or something like that. I wonder why Ash said pseudo...'
Reko's mind grew hazy as he slowly drifted off into the world of dreams. Hard concrete felt better on his back than his bed right now.
***
Reko felt his eyes snap open. He was in a familiar place - the forest he'd seen in his vision a little while ago. He'd returned. The same glowing trees and greenery surrounded him, along with the vibrant night sky.
'Huh, guess I'm dreaming again. Did I get sent here cause I unlocked my Ability? [Dream Wave] though... It's got a nice ring to it,' Reko thought to himself, admiring the naming sense.
Reko quickly figured out the contents of his powers. Based on the name of the Ability, which had invaded his mind the moment he used it for the first time, Reko knew his Gift had something to do with Dreams. Not to mention the Faceless nearly stumbling to the ground was another big hint. It seemed his Ability itself could make others fall asleep.
'That's quite useful, actually. Although it probably only works effectively against enemies of close rank. I could send the Famished off to sleep, but I probably couldn't do anything to the dead leviathan if it were alive.'
He sighed, lamenting his powerlessness in the grand scheme of things. He also remembered something else.
'I nearly fell asleep during my face-off with the strongest Faceless. That was definitely the drawback of the Ability. Had I not hit the target, I may have fallen asleep myself. I definitely need to plan carefully when I should use this Ability.'
He knew that in the future it may change, but for now, he had to be frugal with using this Ability. Taking a nap in the middle of a battle was not ideal for staying alive.
'Not to mention, since I've been falling asleep randomly for the past week, was that related to my Gift awakening?'
Reko ceased his pondering and took a look around the luminescent forest. There still had to be a reason he was brought here. He felt no magical pull this time, so he was uncertain of what to do. After examining the forest for a moment, Reko saw it - an ashen floating blob hiding between the trees.
'Found it.'
Reko scrutinised the mass before cautiously approaching it. Upon closer inspection, the blob was slightly pulsating, and the ashen colour shifted around on its surface, alternating between grey and white.
'How interesting.'
Reko felt a slight sense of familiarity with the blob, so he tried sticking his hand into it. The blob felt warm for a second before Reko felt a bitter taste envelop his entire being. His hand was violently propelled backwards after a moment. He'd just felt something similar a couple of minutes ago in the hall.
'The fallen Diver?'
Due to the distinct bitter taste, which somehow invaded his entire being in this space, Reko could tell this blob was related to the strong Faceless he'd killed. He couldn't quite tell how, but it definitely was. He was sure of it.
'Hmm, something to do with my power. Maybe the soul of the Faceless?'
He'd heard about Gifts, which were capable of manipulating souls, but his own Gift didn't quite match the memo. His Gift had something to do with sleep and dreams.
'Maybe a random dream he had before turning into a Faceless?'
Reko wasn't sure, and he could feel his time in the space coming to a close. Either way, it seemed he was currently too weak to handle this aspect of his Gift. Reko felt his consciousness fade again, and his body hit the soft forest floor.
***
Back in the waking world, Reko's eyes slowly fluttered open, and he let out a yawn. He felt refreshed, and his body didn't hurt as much. Reko looked at the claw marks going across his chest, only to see that the bleeding had ceased. Seems that a pseudo-Gifted physique had better healing capabilities than he'd expected.
'Speaking of... I've got some serious questions for Ash.'
He'd already come to realise this earlier, but there were a lot of problems with Ash's behaviour. For starters, since he's been on the lower floors before, Ash must've known that the room near the dead leviathan was safe, so why didn't he come to assist Reko with his battle? How did he know what a pseudo-Gifted was? Most importantly, how could he tell that Reko had become one?
Reko wasn't sure about Ash's intentions. He'd already realised most of this a while ago, but he couldn't really say anything to Ash. Reko still needed him to get out of here alive. Not to mention, would Ash really hurt him?
Still, Reko couldn't help but doubt Ash somewhat.
'Was this expedition today really a coincidence? Is the consumption even blocking our way back?'
He didn't know. He suppressed the enroaching thoughts of doubt.
'Looks like I need to pry some answers from him.'
Reko took a deep breath and firmed his resolve. He staggered to his feet and slowly tread down the desolate hallway lined with hazy blue to his right. His nerves slowly increased with each step.
After rounding the corner from earlier, Reko walked for roughly 10 minutes before reaching the metal door where Ash and Steven should be. He grit his teeth and knocked on the cold metal door. There was a moment of silence, then Reko heard the barricade being shifted away. The door swung open, and Ash greeted the scene straight out of a slasher in front of him with a smile.
"You're alive!"
Ash practically jumped into his arms, almost knocking the already stumbling Reko over. Reko felt conflicted. Could this person really mean him any harm?
"The Voidbeast meal lived! Welcome back!" Another loud voice echoed, followed by a strong impact.
Reko stood stunned for a moment before laughing, "It sounds like you two already held my funeral the moment I stepped out of the door."
Steven and Ash smirked and spoke simultaneously.
"Pretty much."
Reko also noticed that Steven was in quite good shape. Just how long had he been gone for?
Before Reko could voice his question, Steven asked for him.
"Where were you for so long? It's been almost six hours."
'Huh, did I sleep for so long? It would explain the healed wounds a bit better, I guess.'
"I took a little nap after the battle. Wasn't exactly easy to kill three Faceless by myself," Reko voiced instead, as the group moved back into the room.
Both Steven and Ash furrowed their brows at Reko.
"Are you insane?! You were asking to be eaten!," Steven scolded first.
"Bet you reeked like hell, so no Voidbeast wanted to eat you. On an unrelated note, stay a couple of meters away from me for now," Ash added, while taking an exaggerated step away from Reko.
Reko decided not to mention the dead leviathan for now and just smiled at the two.
"Also, what Ability did you get?" Steven asked. Ash also leaned in to hear Reko's answer.
"I can put enemies to sleep," Reko replied curtly. There wasn't much else to say, and no need to go into detail. Just in case.
Ash nodded, and Steven added, "Quite useful."
Reko knew they didn't have much time to linger, so he began his questioning.
"You both ready to go?"
"Yeah, Princess over there got his beauty sleep, so we should be fine to head out now," Ash mocked, while Steven only sent him a cold glare. He seemed to have grown tired of reacting to Ash's antics by now.
"Alright, but I've got another question," Reko said, pausing for a moment before continuing, " Ash, what is a pseudo-Gifted?"
"Oh, that? You know how Rank one Gifted are called, well, Gifted? Well, we're not rank one Gifted, we're Rank zero Gifted. Hence the name pseudo-Gifted. It pretty much just means we don't inherently have an Essence Core. We just have a bundle of Essence floating around inside of us with our Gift's property. Don't ask me how I know this, though. As for what caused us to awaken our Gifts, I'm not exactly sure."
That explained some of the things Reko had felt earlier. He decided not to pry why he knew these things. Still, he had one last question to ask. Reko very casually asked the thing he'd been dreading for a while now. He decided to accept whatever answer Ash gave him. Reko owed him his life after all.
"That makes sense. One more thing, however. How could you tell I was a pseudo-Gifted in the first place?"
Ash's expression subtly shifted as Reko stared at him.
Reko expectantly waited for his answer.