Why were those two taking so long? Shelly's irritation grew with every passing second.
She had already rested more than she wanted, and now all she desired was to leave that place, heading for the waterfalls as fast as possible.
The promise of salvation awaited her there.
She left her room, ignoring her surroundings. The artworks blurred together, undeserving of her attention.
The walls mattered only for protection. Nothing else mattered.
'Salvation…'
The thought stopped her, bitter. Could she feel more pathetic? Since she'd arrived, someone always stepped in when things went wrong.
Someone is always deciding for her.
Everything was a result of the spell dragging her into this world. How was it fair to be summoned with no escape, like a lamb to slaughter?
The image of the delicate boy invaded her mind and, with it, a boiling rage threatened to explode, but all she could do was swallow it down.
That boy seemed to exist to provoke Shelly, testing her patience.
His sanctified personality, unfair powers, and irrational behavior drove Shelly mad.
If only she had his strength.
If only she had his resources.
Everything would change.
For an instant, the corridors seemed to darken…
'Fuck it. Focus on the objective.'
Descending the mansion's staircases, Shelly reached the underground level in search of the pair of idiots.
Suddenly, what appeared before her dissolved her irritated expression, even as frustration continued to vibrate beneath her skin.
From within the chamber, Sofia and Giovanni emerged together, one wrapped in a towel, the other in his tunic.
Shelly eyed their wet hair, flushed faces, and embarrassment.
One of the wild girl's eyes began to twitch.
Were they banging?
She's about to die to an ancient terror, and they're banging?
Is this some kinky shit?!
"…"
The boy noticed Shelly, going pale as he felt murderous intent radiating from his companion, but it was already far too late to explain.
Her blades were summoned from thin air.
A black knife in one hand and a bone sword in the other.
"You're dead, Giovanni!"
She lunged down the corridor, on a collision course with the delicate youth.
"S-Shelly?! I can exp—"
The blades came down, trying to split the boy in half.
A fearful squeal, a startled scream, and a roar of rage echoed in unison.
***
Some time later, beneath a starless sky and consumed by melodic darkness, a colossal castle floated at the center of a crater, suspended above a bottomless abyss of unimaginable proportions.
To the east, four people and a golem faced the horizon, where city-sized waterfalls coursed over the land like veins.
The north.
Once-crystalline waters now looked like darkened blood, their past beauty a faint murmur lost to terror.
Days of travel still stood between them and their goal, with hostile biomes, corrupted creatures, and unseen threats blocking their path.
Nervousness, fear, indifference, anger. Different expressions surfaced among them.
There was only one certainty.
They had done everything they could. All that remained was to try.
Giovanni looked at a pair of runes, his own fragment count.
[231/1000]
Then, his companion's.
[167/1000]
There was still a long way to go, but every step forward renewed his confidence.
"Here we go…"
They climbed onto a stone platform that began to slide down the plateau's slope, descending toward the base of the massive elevation.
'Is the first part really the easiest?' Sofia murmured inside Giovanni's mind, as if it were his own thought.
The sensation was unsettling.
'It seems less deadly than those geysers, but "easy" is a strong word,' the boy replied in thought.
His Aspect Legacy hadn't granted him any new power. It was simply the consequence of finally seeing his Soul Sea in its entirety.
A new burden Giovanni had to carry.
Saying he and Sofia were one being was no longer philosophy, but fact. Sensations, thoughts, and emotions were shared.
The girl could see through his eyes, feel through his touch, hear what he heard, taste what he ate, and vice versa.
It was just as uncomfortable and unpleasant as it sounded.
It wasn't a voluntary ability, just a natural result of their spiritual connection.
Blocking excess information took constant effort, not always successful.
A single distraction lets thoughts and feelings leak freely.
If this was the state of things with just one person, he feared for his sanity should he ever gather more vassals.
At least there was one upside. They could gossip in peace without bothering anyone.
The platform finally reached its limit, leaving them face-to-face with the expedition's first danger.
"Up close, it's even more disgusting…" Shelly pinched her nose, trying to block the stench filling her nostrils.
Ahead, twisted mangrove trees stood, their trunks dripping thick paint. Light died in the black-and-gray stains around them.
Aerial roots, once living labyrinths, now looked like brushstrokes in the air, stripped of any organic texture.
Here, nature itself seemed transformed. All that remained was a dead, unfinished gradient.
The water flooding the area was opaque, still, and polluted.
Eric summoned the firefly cage and fastened it to his waist, allowing the rest of the group to see their surroundings.
"What's the diagnosis?" Eric asked Sofia, expecting her to use her aspect to analyze the perimeter.
The group's newest member was irreplaceable. With her ability to see the world's properties, invisible threats were quickly revealed.
It spared them from learning the hard way.
Sofia took a deep breath and allowed the torrent of information to assault her mind, translated in real time by her brain, as if it were a machine.
Giovanni tried to peek through her vision, challenging himself to understand it as well, but failed miserably.
It was like staring at a thousand images in a single second.
'Ow! My head…' he complained internally.
'You should be careful, Gigi.' She answered with a hint of amusement in their voice.
After assessing the dangers, concern flickered on Sofia's face.
"Okay. First, don't touch the water. It steals the colors and life from everything it touches and transforms it. Second, the air here seems to anesthetize emotions: fear, anger, happiness, the will to live. Everything disappears. If you notice the effects, stay logical. Lastly, this place messes with your sense of direction. Be careful with that, Giovanni."
A spark of pride warmed the delicate boy's chest. Shelly must be biting her tongue right now!
The three turned to Giovanni, waiting for his input. Slightly embarrassed by the attention, he added:
"I can't sense any nearby creatures… but keep your guard up. There are beings capable of deceiving my seismic sense."
"Yeah, yeah. Lead the way." Shelly jerked her chin forward. Gaius advanced beside Giovanni, initiating the first phase of the plan.
Since the first aerial reconnaissance, Giovanni had known that crossing on foot would be unfeasible. They would need to build a passage along the planned route.
'Let's go… Sofia explained everything well.' Lacking engineering skills, he struggled with anything beyond basic paths, so he needed assistance with this part.
But this time, they needed to go to and return from the expedition, so ensuring the path remained stable even after they left was just as important.
The ground trembled beneath them, responding to the will of the earth manipulators.
Compact rocks sank into the soil like stakes, and from them rose thick, vertical, evenly spaced pillars, marking where the bridge would exist.
Mud rose, stretching into plates on the stakes, then hardened and became resilient, forming girders to distribute weight.
More delicately, small stone slabs were shaped and fitted perpendicularly, locking the structure in place and preventing it from twisting or bending.
Finally, compact clay became mud once more, serving as the planks upon which they would walk.
"Let's keep moving…" Giovanni murmured, feeling the strain of expanding the bridge as they advanced.
Who could boast about having carried out architectural and renovation projects in the Dream Realm during their Solstice journey? That had to be an achievement worthy of applause!
Sofia's eyes sparkled as she watched her explanations come to life.
"Good work," Eric said, following closely behind as the boy's bodyguard.
It was going to be a long journey.
***
'Hey, Gigi, you know what all this reminds me of?' Sofia thought after several minutes into the journey. 'The [Wondrous Incense].'
The boy reflected and nodded in agreement.
'The colors affecting the environment, you mean? Yeah. It's the same thing, just inverted.'
Giovanni spoke with his eyes closed, guided by the light of his attribute, following Sofia's earlier advice. Otherwise, they would have strayed from the route at the first opportunity.
'The effect is inverted too. When I accidentally used it on myself, my emotions went completely out of control. Do you think it could work as, like… an antidote?'
He understood her intention but couldn't resist teasing her.
Uncertainty, Malice, Happiness.
'You're suggesting overdosing to treat depression?' he asked, judgment dripping from his tone.
Embarrassment, Anger, Happiness.
Sofia pinched his arm, letting out an awkward giggle.
'Stop twisting my words! You know what I mean!'
Eric and Shelly exchanged confused looks as the other pair traded smiles, grimaces, and quiet laughs without saying a word.
From their perspective, the idiot couple only got stranger by the day.
While Gaius worked to raise another section of the bridge, Giovanni noticed strange vibrations coming from the water. The surface trembled in isolated spots before settling again.
The source seemed to be very small, tadpole-like creatures. None posed a threat, but he decided to probe deeper.
"Attention. We're being surrounded."
"How many?" Eric tried to discern shapes on the surface, but seeing anything beyond the lantern's reach was impossible. Not even the castle's crimson light reached there.
The area was completely enclosed by dense vegetation.
"Too many to count," Giovanni replied, sensing more and more as his seismic sense sank into the mud below.
The inert creatures began to awaken and drift toward the surface, drawn by the noise.
"Focus on the front. We'll deal with it." Already anticipating a headache, Shelly summoned a peculiar memory.
Tentacles emerged and wrapped around her arm, forming a weapon of flesh and bone that connected to her hand. Small, sharp teeth formed at the end of a thin barrel-like appendage, glowing bioluminescently.
Acid dripped from within the memory like saliva.
She had gained the weapon as a reward for defeating the corrosive octopus, but avoided using it, just like the incident with the worm dress.
The disgust on her face was so intense that Giovanni swore she might vomit.
'You've got to be kidding me…' he thought, disturbed by what he felt.
'Is it really that bad?!' Sofia reacted, worried, hearing his uncensored thoughts.
The water began to bubble, not from air. Hundreds, thousands of small black, slimy creatures gathered at focal points, rising above the opaque surface like jets of flesh.
Sofia couldn't see them with her own eyes, so timidly, she tried something new.
Her mind offered to connect more deeply with Giovanni's, asking permission to share his senses.
The world snapped into clarity as her mind processed the surroundings at a speed beyond her own through his seismic sense.
And with this new perspective, she activated her aspect.
Her blood pressure dropped.
People.
Each of those things was a digested person, transformed into a hungry egg meant to feed and hatch into a new being.
"T-They're… people! All of them!"
That was the final warning before chaos bloomed.
The infestation organized itself, moving as one until it became waves of viscous flesh threatening to engulf the group and the bridge in a single surge.
"No more! Kill only what gets close!" Shelly aimed her weapon and fired acidic jets in rapid succession, melting massive clusters as if they were sugar.
Eric focused on the aberrations coming from the opposite side, his expression tightening with stress.
"Disappear."
Gravity became crushing where he focused it, pressing the tadpoles together until they were reduced to paste.
With each death, the necklace of teeth on his chest glowed a deeper red, feeding on the energy of its victims.
As a massacre unfolded around them, Giovanni and the golem focused on accelerating construction, repeating the taught steps with religious precision.
That didn't mean they weren't fighting. From below and ahead, tadpoles kept advancing, forcing them to shape the bridge as the infestation climbed its beams.
Without Gaius killing them one by one and turning the bridge itself into a weapon, the group would already be drowning in them.
'Get off, get off, get off me!' Sofia did her best too, wielding a pearlescent sword infused with the colors of the [Draconic Amulet] to ward off the creatures slipping past the others' attacks.
The battle remained at a stalemate for hours.
The hordes couldn't break through the group's defenses, but they were too numerous to wipe out at once.
Normally, that wouldn't be a problem.
But this was exactly the kind of fight they wanted to avoid.
If they dragged it out, they would collapse long before reaching their destination.
"Don't these things ever end?!" Shelly shouted, her hand throbbing from prolonged use of the acid weapon.
"My arms a-are already sore!" Sofia complained alongside her as she experienced her first extended, exhausting combat.
Eric wasn't exerting himself physically, but the constant use of his aspect only worsened his fatigue.
"Hold on a little longer!" Giovanni finally sensed the creatures thinning ahead, as if avoiding the region. With one last push, he broke through the horde, leaving that disgusting sea of beasts behind.
The tadpoles scattered chaotically and sank back into the water, leaving the exhausted group in peace.
They had survived for now.
***
Needing emergency rest, a cabin was installed midway along the bridge, serving as a checkpoint.
A fire was lit at its center, where slices of salted, grayish meat were roasting. Water was also distributed to Shelly and Eric, who needed hydration.
Gathered around the fire, the giant stared into the flames thoughtfully. Or rather, his focus was on the meat.
"What was the name of the lizards you killed in the mansion?" he asked.
Giovanni remembered the names of the creatures Sofia had slain. He found them striking.
"[Hueless Infant Hydra] is how the spell described it." Shelly and Eric reacted faintly at the similarity.
The wild girl explained further. "[Hueless Tadpole] is the name of those disgusting things back there."
Sofia, drooling over the roasting meat, snapped out of it at the conversation. Wiping her mouth, she added:
"Do you… think we'll find their mom here?" If the babies were already awakened beasts, none of them wanted to meet a fully mature one.
Eric looked to Giovanni, who was responsible for threat detection.
"I haven't seen any sign yet, but I'll stay alert."
The meal passed quietly, with occasional discussion of next steps that rose and fell softly. At one point, Eric and Giovanni stepped outside the cabin to discuss something Sofia chose not to listen in on, out of respect.
That left her alone with Shelly inside, in an uncomfortable silence. Sofia had tried a few times to mend their recent interactions, but the grumpy girl ignored her.
Still, it didn't hurt to try once more.
"I didn't really see you much at the academy… You weren't very social, were you?"
Shelly would normally react with anger or discomfort, but to Sofia's surprise, it was only indifference.
"No."
The reply was as dry as possible, but at least she answered.
"Oh… I see. I asked Gigi to thank you for me, but thank you again for the weapon and the clothes. It helped a lot."
"I only gave you my knife because he promised I'd get more later, and so far, nothing."
She gestured to her empty hand. She hadn't pressed the issue since the first time, but she hadn't forgotten the deal for a second.
"Do you… Want something specific? We got some things. Let me see… the wings, a cloth, this pendant, and the censer too." Sofia didn't mind giving up one of the memories, since she was indebted.
Shelly stared at her in silence for a moment.
"What does your pendant do?" she asked, interested in the rarer type of memory.
"It strengthens you depending on the intensity of your emotions and infuses weapons with magic." It was situational, but seemed fair payment, at least from Sofia's perspective.
Greed burned in Shelly's eyes.
"Perfect. I want it."
"Okay! I'll ask him to give it to you, I'll be right back…" Sofia couldn't transfer memories herself, even if she could use them. As she moved to leave, Shelly frowned, confused.
"If I were you, I'd have killed myself already." There was no contempt in her voice—just exhaustion.
The delicate girl stopped mid-step, considering how to respond.
"I'm glad you're not me then… we're all getting out of here alive." Without further hesitation, she left the cabin.
***
Giovanni stared out at the corrupted mangrove, accompanied by an armored giant. It was the first time they'd spoken alone since the initiation ceremony.
At first, Giovanni feared Eric might be uncooperative or unreliable, but in the end, he was as competent and rational as expected of a Legacy.
He was still strange.
"Do you think other sleepers were sent here?" the delicate boy asked, staring at the stagnant water.
"Possible. But I don't think any others survived." It was a simple, cold conclusion.
This wasn't a place for weak, defenseless mortals.
From hundreds of thousands of monsters infesting ruined cities, to biomes nearly impossible to traverse by normal means, and the constant song… survival was, at best, unlikely.
Giovanni's group had been incredibly lucky. The right pieces meet at the right time, in the best possible place.
The image of the slender, over-the-top Aguiar came to mind. His "rival" was the second person he'd interacted with most at the academy, even if those interactions were awkward.
If most students from his year were sent to nearby locations, Aguiar might have been somewhere in that hell as well.
'That maniac would find a way to survive… people that loud don't break easily.' At least, that's what he wanted to believe.
"Why did you come… talk to me that day?" It was a question that had simmered in Giovanni's mind since they reunited, but he'd never found the right moment to ask.
"Your tunic. Transcendent items are among the most valuable assets humanity possesses."
Had Eric discerned the armor's level at a glance? Legacies really were something else.
"It… was a stroke of luck."
Giovanni wanted to say he was alive because of his skill and intelligence, but that would be an even bolder lie. Eric, however, saw it differently.
"Luck is a farce. Even the ability to exploit infinitesimal probabilities is a talent."
It was a strange perspective… but an interesting one.
"What do you mean…?" Giovanni asked, trying to understand better.
"The improbable is always happening. Few can turn it into power or wealth. What you call humility is weakness. Lower your head enough, and others will step on you."
Giovanni swallowed, feeling the judgment emanating from Eric's tired, serious violet gaze.
"Understood…"
Eric glanced back toward the cabin where the girls were resting.
"She is your responsibility, as a leader. Do not fear, hesitate, or doubt. Every waste, every wound, every failure will be solely your fault, Light Seeker."
Silent, without words to respond, Giovanni stood at the edge of the bridge, reflecting.
Moments later, Sofia's voice called out, pulling him from his thoughts.
"Gigi! Can you help me with something here?" she asked gently.
"Oh? Sure!" Giovanni turned and hurried back with her.
Eric remained where he was, silent. His gaze lifted upward, toward layers of impenetrable leaves and branches blocking the sky.
And yet, he could swear…
That he saw shooting stars, far beyond his reach.