Eric was an incomprehensible figure to Giovanni.
From their very first meeting, when the boy had taken it upon himself to approach for no clear reason, to their reunion in the Dream Realm, he had no idea how the giant's mind worked.
But one thing could not be denied: he was strong.
Among the entire class that year, Eric by far possessed the best equipment overall, not to mention whatever investment he must have received in Soul Shards to make him as powerful as possible before even setting foot in the other world.
Having him as an ally on that journey was a top priority.
All that remained was to learn whether he wanted allies as well.
"We're looking for people to form a group and conquer the closest citadel. We've already located it, after all. Would you be interested?"
Eric's gaze lingered, weighing every word that had been spoken.
"Located it how? What's guarding it?"
Eric didn't waste words.
"I can share my memories with someone I trust who has an elevated vantage point over the region. I've been using a notebook to communicate with her and...we don't know its guardian."
A method of communication with no range limit... That sounded far too absurd to be true.
"Prove it."
That was the giant's way of showing interest.
Giovanni reined in his nervousness.
He couldn't guarantee Sofia would answer immediately, so all he could do was pray she'd be alert for possible messages.
"Then ask something you want to know."
"You said she can see the region from above. I want a description of it."
Offering a detailed description would be a headache for the poor girl… but there was no harm in asking.
Carefully, he traced the following words in the diary:
"D-E-S-C-R-I-B-E, R-E-G-I-O-N, Y-O-U, S-E-E"
The memory fell apart into golden particles immediately afterward.
Giovanni stared at the runes, waiting for them to take on a grayish hue.
He'd look ridiculous if the diary stayed silent.
Fortunately, Sofia didn't let him down. The runes turned gray, and after a few minutes, the memory became available once more.
Opening it to the last page, he read the words and turned the diary toward Eric.
"B-I-G, C-R-A-T-E-R, A-B-Y-S-S, B-E-L-O-W, C-A-S-T-L-E, A-B-O-V-E.
N-A-T-U-R-E, S-U-R-R-O-U-N-D-I-N-G."
The entire process unfolded right before Eric's eyes. Even he looked mildly impressed by the efficiency and advantage it provided.
"Convenient. What's the limit?"
"I didn't test enough to discover it. So far, it hasn't failed."
The giant turned his gaze toward the horizon, searching for any change in the towering ocean-walls that might indicate how close they were to this so-called crater. There was no sign of it.
Having already made his decision, he rested the hammer on his shoulder.
"We can travel together. Don't slow me down."
The message was simple: The giant would tolerate them so long as they could keep up.
Shelly, who had remained silent until now, avoiding interaction with the colossus, frowned at the comment.
"We can handle ourselves just fine. Don't worry." Giovanni answered.
The hardest part seemed to have been solved successfully, but Giovanni still needed to secure something even more important.
"Speaking of that friend… she's currently isolated in a mansion. It's in our interest to reunite before the assault on the citadel. That's why I'm asking that we make a detour there."
Eric, unfortunately, seemed to have little interest in rescuing strangers.
"What value would she add to the group, and how much time does it cost us?"
Giovanni clenched his fist, holding back the anger that kind of remark stirred in him.
"Her Aspect allows her to discover the usefulness, weaknesses, and properties of things. We're in exotic territory, and I believe you understand what I mean. I can't give you an exact estimate."
His smile was flawless, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"I see...let's retrieve her."
For now, things seemed settled, which was a relief for both Shelly and Giovanni.
"Come here, Gaius!"
Shelly shouted, calling her Echo, which had been standing guard at a certain distance.
Using the same dirt road the boy had created, the golem rejoined the rest of the group, carrying several Soul Shards within its body, all of them Awakened-tier.
To locate the giant, all they had to do was follow the wide trail of slain nightmare creatures left behind like breadcrumbs.
As they tracked him down, the pair noticed none of the corpses had been dissected the way a Sleeper normally would.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity, they collected what they could along the way until they caught up to Eric.
"One last question. You don't seem interested in them, but I still wanted to know if we can collect your kills during the trip."
Eric answered immediately, indifferent.
"They're useless to me. Do as you wish."
Giovanni held his breath, trying to imagine the abyss of strength between them.
He had expected large quantities of fragments, but to fill it before the first trip to the Dream Realm?! Was this the power of being a true heir to something?
"Finally! You're such a pain, Giovanni."
Shelly exclaimed impatiently, taking her portion of seven Soul Shards. She had told them to consume them immediately, but Giovanni had insisted on asking the one responsible for the kills first.
Giovanni took his share as well, crushing the other eight between his fingers.
The sensation was invigorating, flooding the boy's soul with renewed power. Even so, it felt like a mere drop compared to the ocean he still had to fill.
Soul Fragments: [66/1000]
'Someday I'll fill this thing…'
One step at a time.
Eric took it as the end of the conversation and resumed his march toward the edge of the Ivory Forest.
The rest followed behind.
***
The three Sleepers and the Echo advanced without rest through the Ivory Forest at a brisk pace. With Eric added to the party, things had become so trivial that it was genuinely laughable.
The boy's armor, weapon, and shield were all Awakened-class. Because of that, even the most serious threats in the area died easily to his attacks if struck directly.
If they kept this up, the group would be back in the waking world within a week or two.
'I never thought I'd say this… but this is actually easy.'
In exchange for Eric helping them hunt and collect Soul Shards, an unspoken agreement had formed: he would have priority in receiving the Memories of defeated opponents.
Even the knight seemed interested in expanding his arsenal.
As Giovanni finished carving open a furry creature covered in bony plating, the voice of the spell in his head stole his attention.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Tidelord Manor's Perfumist]
[You have received a Memory: Wondrous Incense]
'Sofia got a Memory?'
Lately, she'd been killing fewer creatures.
The reason was simple: the weak creatures had been exterminated, and only powerful threats remained in those corridors.
Summoning the runes of the new equipment, Giovanni was fascinated by what he saw.
Memory: [Wondrous Incense]
Memory Rank: Ascended
Memory Type: Tool
Memory Description: [When a brokenhearted dragon sought the aid of a humble perfumist, yearning for the finest of scents to rekindle his inspiration, she consented. Night after night, she received the playful beast, presenting unto him her newest invention.
Only after a thousand and one nights did the prismatic creature render his verdict.
"Among all aromas, thy hand hath wrought the sweetest of all seas."
As recompense, the perfumist was granted a pearlescent thurible. Overcome with emotion, the young lady spoke:
"My gracious lord, I am not worthy of such a gift!"
Yet the dragon gainsaid her, whispering from the darkness:
"Once did the best of my friends possess it, even as thou dost now. Make good use of it, my lady."]
There was an entire dialogue inside the Memory.
Up until now, the descriptions he had read were straightforward or carried a simplified narration of their origin, but this was something completely new.
Not only that, but somehow the Memory was a rank above the creature that had been slain!
Giovanni tried to summon it for analysis, but realized the rune was already gray.
'Julius would lose his mind if he saw this… I should start writing down what I discover here.'
He really should investigate this anomaly later.
Deciding to leave his tests for later, he turned his attention to his two companions arguing in the distance.
"That golem… where did you get it?"
Eric seemed fascinated, in his own way, by the creature. After seeing its ability to forge lethal weapons out of pure earth, his interest had been piqued.
Shelly, who had been distractedly humming, eyed Eric with suspicion.
"Tch… keep your eyes off Gaius, got it? He was one of the creatures roaming those desolate lands back there."
"I see…"
He isn't thinking about going to hunt golems there, is he? What a lunatic.
He was about to join the conversation when he sensed something strange in the environment.
"There is something wrong here."
Eric and Shelly, despite appearing distracted, reacted instantly to the warning. By this point, both had witnessed firsthand just how reliable Giovanni's sharp sense could be.
No monster was charging toward them, no catastrophe was emerging, and yet the vibrations around them felt… strange, unlike what Giovanni had grown used to during the journey.
The metallic smell of blood seemed stronger, and the sound of the wind grew still.
Then he finally pinpointed the cause with absolute clarity.
The branches stopped swaying.
As if listening.
The trees.
"Get away from the trunks!"
Two trees, identical to the others until now, upon realizing they had been noticed, split open gaping maws in their bark and tore themselves free from the ground, using their roots as dozens of legs.
Their long, dry branches snapped and moved in unison, trying to impale the girl and the knight.
Shelly, already alert, dodged without difficulty, accelerating beyond what the creature could follow and out of its reach.
Eric chose a simpler method.
Raising the massive shield, he blocked the heavy strike; his body was dragged a few meters back without losing balance. In response, he brought his hammer down upon the Ivory branches.
The impact, which should have already been devastating, seemed to shift abruptly. Space itself warped at a certain point, scrambling the vibrations Giovanni felt.
The hammer surged into the distorted space.
The weapon answered his grip, and a wave of purple mystical energy enveloped it, shattering the branches of the massive Awakened nightmare creature as though they were cardboard.
"Shelly, help Eric deal with one of them! Gladius and I will handle the other!"
"No need to say it twice, let's turn this crap into firewood."
The girl shot toward the monstrous tree, accompanied by the armored giant.
Meanwhile, the two earth-shapers joined forces to raise an avalanche of rocks against the other specimen, trying to halt its movements and hold it in place long enough for the group to finish the first.
But in the middle of the maneuver, Giovanni felt it again.
One of the other trees nearby, perfectly ordinary until then… Changed.
Then a second. A third. A fourth…
Giovanni's eyes widened in shock as he watched the entire forest shift.
***
Sofia had spent hours eliminating the corrupted maids that wandered the halls of the enormous mansion, one by one.
Thanks to the attribute [Innocuous], most nightmare creatures struggled to notice her presence, allowing her to strike consistently from ambush.
Even so, the weapon was what had been doing the hardest part of the work.
For some reason, the first blow it landed was always monstrous compared to the rest… so the dormant aberrations simply died before the fight even began.
That earned her a respectable amount of new Soul Shards and access to more rooms of the residence, now that fewer threats were roaming the corridors.
Her [Master Key] was the perfect Memory for the situation, since it allowed her to unlock sealed rooms, granting her entry to more places to hide from the armored guards patrolling the halls.
However, what truly mattered was the Memory she had just gained.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Tidelord Manor's Perfumist]
[You have received a Memory: Wondrous Incense]
The creature that had been holding it wasn't particularly dangerous, considering it had been chained up in its room, simply waiting to be finished off.
'A Memory, finally!'
She didn't even bother opening Giovanni's runes, immediately summoning the Memory instead.
"How beautiful…"
The item was a thurible that looked as though it had been fashioned from the most radiant, exquisite pearls in existence.
Runes symbolizing erudition and devotion were engraved upon its surface, and though it was large, it was strangely light.
Wanting a safe place to test the new tool's abilities, she retreated to the highest room where she had been summoned. After making sure nothing was nearby, she invoked the item's runes.
Memory: [Wondrous Incense]
Memory Rank: Ascended
Memory Type: Tool
Memory Description: [When a brokenhearted dragon sought the aid of a humble perfumist, yearning for the finest of scents to rekindle his inspiration, she consented.
Night after night, she received the playful beast, presenting unto him her newest invention.
Only after a thousand and one nights did the prismatic creature render his verdict.
"Among all aromas, thy hand hath wrought the sweetest of all seas."
As recompense, the perfumist was granted a pearlescent thurible. Overcome with emotion, the young lady spoke:
"My gracious lord, I am not worthy of such an object!"
Yet the dragon gainsaid her, whispering from the darkness:
"Once did the best of my friends possess it, even as thou dost now. Make good use of it, my lady."]
The reading left Sofia deeply intrigued for a few minutes.
Her curiosity about the events surrounding that civilization grew with every new contact with the texts and artworks scattered throughout the mansion.
If she could, she would be prying into every hidden secret.
The only problem was that Sofia was having serious trouble using her Aspect. Ever since she entered the Dream Realm, its potency has spiraled out of control.
The first sign of it had been right when she woke up and stared at the painting on the ceiling of the room.
It seemed that regardless of what it was, her consciousness simply sank into whatever she contemplated, and in this case, Sofia didn't know how to swim.
"It doesn't seem to be doing anything right now…"
She murmured, experimenting by swinging it, spinning it, and striking… she could definitely bash someone over the head with it.
There was only one thing left to try: lighting it.
Sofia summoned [Vermin Head] from Giovanni's Memories and, full of anticipation, watched as colorful smoke spread through the room, painting the world in shifting hues.
"Voila!"
Then she smelled it.
In the same instant, the young woman's pupils dilated like a cat's. Her mind was drowning in an ocean of sensations.
The walls and ceiling, once dark, now seemed radiant, psychedelic, and her body… why was it so hot in there? No matter how much she tried to fan herself or cool down, she was hot. Too hot. Burning.
Alone in the room, staring at absolute nothingness, the girl broke into an ecstatic grin.