CHAPTER 356 – DEFIANCE
On the wall in front of him, the details of the skill that he had requested were displayed.
Skill: True Dreaming - Tier 9
This skill allows you to dream from the perspective of a sapiant creature that has observed a past event that has relevance to the dreamers’ aims or the potential to enrich him or her. Additional senses may be overlaid to highlight key features. This ability will evade most forms of warding.
The undirected skill can activate up to three times during the night for non-critical information.
A directed dreaming kill can be used proactively on a topic of the user’s choice.
Effectiveness is driven by relevance, proximity, level of opposing fate and the dreamer’s static fate pool minus class levels.
Restrictions. No other oracle skills can be utilised by someone with the True Dreaming Skill.
The following specific effects are added whenever the title True Breaking Vision is activated.
* The barrier breaking power is increased by 5 times.
* If the target is hostile, and breakthrough occurs it will suffer 3 times the normal damage.
* Neutral and allied targets will now suffer no backlash.
* Mental and physical exhaustion caused by the dream is removed.
* One use of directed and undirected true dreams can be refunded each day.
* The impact of the user’s above base line fate pool is doubled.
* The efficacy of subconscious embedded knowledge is quadrupled.
It was not included in the basic text but he could get a feel for which of the dot points were improved by the two extra tiers, the four extra levels or both, but honestly he was not sure the cause mattered until he either levelled the skill or upgraded it. Both of which felt like they would be a long time coming.
Still, he had some interest in the split. That last point, the subconscious knowledge gain, was driven purely by the four levels he had received. If he evolved the base ability to tier ten, that component would not change, while some of the other bonuses like the extra damage would double their impact to six times.
With a thought, he accepted the invitation that was still available.
The plain metal walls vanished, and he was back in Everlyn’s cozy system room.
She had been snoozing on the couch, but she jumped up immediately as he appeared.
“Are you okay? Did you?” She stopped talking and smiled tentatively. “You’re good? You don’t look traumatised at all…” she concluded with mounting excitement. “Did you get any fancy titles?” She appeared to be uncertain about how to approach him, wanting to help but a little unsure of how to do it, so she defaulted to talking about facts rather than emotions.
He nodded, touched by her concern. “But given where they came from they’re in a hidden state and I’m not sure I should be talking about them.”
There was a slight hesitation and a worried crease of her brow. “That sounds… um… Were they any good?”
“Two mythical and two legendary.”
She whistled impressed. “I guess you’re winning the title race.” Her bow appeared in her hands, and she held them up. “Not all titles are equal, but relative to this how do your new ones compare?”
He shrugged. “They’re all more specialised. The one created by having GODs shout at me is incredibly powerful against the right opponent. Another boosts my True Dreaming and the other two…” he frowned. “One I don’t see the benefit of and the second is mostly useless unless I’m in a certain specific type of trial.”
“Can you be any more vague?” she teased.
“Yes, I absolutely could of. My skin’s crawling at conveying as much as I have. I probably should have just shut up. Did you really want more?”
“No! Nope! Not if it could cause problems.” She grinned. “If I have a choice, I’m not touching anything to do with the GODs. I’m more than happy to stick by the rules we decided before and never discuss anything about this again. Hopefully, whatever you got will help you similarly to how my bow has aided me.”
He stared at her hesitantly.
“Seriously, it’s okay. I really don’t want to hear anything more about this. It’s too dangerous. As for you, Tom, you should get some sleep. I can’t imagine how much this experience must have wrung you out.”
With a sigh and his head swimming at the implications of everything that had happened, he returned to the real world. His brain throbbed with exhaustion and not even the adrenaline from the dream and the titles could touch him. Lying next to Everlyn was comfortable. Logically, he knew he should get up and move in order to not send mixed signals, but his body was shutting down and moving felt impossible.
A lot had happened. Titles, GODs, Everlyn the thoughts blurred together, and he slipped into sleep without even realising it. His mind chewed on the latest experience. Reliving fragments of the True Dream but DEUS must have done something because, the impact of their anger, frustration, gaze was no longer reducing him to a bubbling mess or possibly it was just the titles but the whole event seemed more distant. It was like instead of being there he was now viewing the scene from a far and not through a single screen but rather a video recording of a TV in a chain ten deep where every step halved the soul impact.
The events of earlier in the evening were replayed dozens of times as he flittered from dream to dream. Miraculously, he was not interrupted by his skill.
For the first time in weeks, he slept without being disturbed and awoke feeling almost refreshed.
In the morning, everyone gathered looked at him suspiciously. Especially the wador and chosen.
“Blessed one, can you elaborate on what happened last night?”
For a moment, Social Silence stumped him. Mentioning a True Dream was bad, as was any allusion to DEUS. “I will not.” He answered simply.
“Blessed one, I don’t understand?”
“I will not talk about it. The whole thing is embarrassing.” And it was. If he had possessed a body, he would have lost control of his bowels if not something worse. He had been completely helpless and reacting to DEUS’ tone when he knew she was not actually upset had been mortifying.
The touch of multiple parties assessing the sincerity of his statements made his skin crawl, but he pushed away the feeling. The only reason there was even a veneer of civility is because the different groups were using motive and truth sensing spells to ensure there were no double crossing. At least none of that was too blatant. Tom was sure the giant, and the wador had an evil plan in their back pockets.
“Largest one, Is that all?” Tom asked.
The elder had registered what he said and wobbled there for a moment clearly trying to decide whether to press for more information or not. Then it bobbed in the air and moved away.
Tom sighed in relief. With the aliens near, none of the humans would confront him. Instead, they would wait to get the gossip directly from Everlyn in the safety of her system room. As for the wador, it would not broach the subject. It knew that if he was willing to reject the chosen so bluntly, it would have no chance of getting any more information.
They all collectively focused on their missions and pretended the strange events at night never happened. Ahead of schedule within four days, instead of the admittedly conservative allowance of five, they returned to the giant’s fortress.
The moment he stepped onto the marble floor it started to flash.
The entire party paused, and then they all looked at him.
Tom grimaced. It didn’t take a genius to interpret what it meant. “It looks like I’m being summoned.”
Clare patted him on the back. “Everlyn go brief Michael. I’ll accompany Tom. There’s no need to travel in larger groups within the fortress.”
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The scout nodded and accepted the order. It took him a moment to realise that there was more to the instructions than a simple allocation of responsibilities. It was not a power play as such, but it was close to one. In practice, Clare was using the moment to make sure that she was actually in command as opposed to just a token decision maker. She was taking her new role seriously, which was probably leadership potential DEUS had identified, but he personally would never have guessed at.
With only Clare accompanying him, they started jogging. The lights responded by flashing faster and soon they were travelling at just under a sprint.
“Tom, I don’t think I need to say it, but the giant doesn’t appreciate forthright communication. Answer his questions in as few words as possible.”
“I won’t make that mistake.” He replied frankly, reading the subtext behind her statement.
Clare smiled at the response and said nothing more.
The giant was waiting for them in the same location as previously, and Clare jogged over to the circular sheet of metal the observers had been forced to stand on in the first session. Tom ran right up to the giant and stopped within club range. The positioning made his skin crawl, but anything else would show weakness and significantly reduce his team’s autonomy and status.
“Have you satisfied your personal quest?” the giant asked without any pretence of politeness or small talk.
“Yes.”
The giant smiled at the short answer. “Good, has there been any further dreams about our target?”
“No.”
“But your skill can be directed at a precise outcome? My understanding is accurate?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to direct it every night. We need as much information on their layout, levels, attributes, strength.” A crystal the size of his head but tiny next to the giant appeared and then floated over to him. “Record everything you discover into this. I will review the information and contact you if I need anything clarified.”
Tom took the artefact and sent it into his storage. It was the size of a basketball, but its weight was closer to that of solid metal than anything else. Tom waited for a moment and the giant seemed disinterested in him. Figuring those orders was all he had been summoned for he turned to jog away.
“You were not dismissed.”
He froze and spun to face the creature. He did not like what he could see in its eyes.
“Before you go can you tell me more about your oracle trait?”
“True Dreaming?”
“No.”
He gulped when he understood the direction the giant wanted to take this conversation. Tom immediately felt the weight of those thirteen questions. He should have spent them before returning here.
“Do you mean DEUS’ chosen?”
The giant nodded. The perfect way it pulled off the human centric motion sent chills down Tom’s spine. Despite its physical capabilities, it clearly possessed something to let it understand different species’ body language and them use them like a native.
“To the best of my knowledge it can answer anything asked, but it may only respond with yes or no answers.”
“Any unasked questions are now mine.”
Tom remembered how fast the giant could move. How it had effortlessly subdued the wador, Jenny’s death, and when it had struck him once. Yes, he had survived the strike, but in hindsight he wasn’t certain that was something to be overly proud of. He was sure it had checked its blow. He stood there with no support, and he was very aware that it could kill him at any moment. With him this close to it, there would be no hope of escape.
Then he recalled his latest True Dream. He had kept himself together, at least some of the time, against the very GODs.
He lifted his head and stared the giant in the eye. “No. They’re a human resource.”
It blinked and then tossed its club between its hands. A thoughtful expression on its face. “I want half the questions.”
His mouth was dry. Social Silence blocked his words. Once, twice, and then a third time. “No. I’ll give you only a single one.”
It shifted slightly, bending its knees to let it explode forward with absolute power if it had to. “Is this really worth dying over? You’re aware that we’re a united team until the dragon dies. Does it matter if it is you or I who use the questions.”
“If that’s the case, then you’ll have to trust me. I intend to utilise them to defeat the dragon and help humans survive.”
“Are you sure your desire to keep them is not a ploy to weaponise them to kill others?”
“I’m not going to use them for that purpose.” It moved its fingers on the club. “I won’t allow them to be used for that.” Tom clarified hurriedly.
“hm… I guess I believe you. I still want three.”
“No, they’re a human resource—” he started to argue.
Alarms screamed at him, and time slowed.
The club was coming straight at his head, and there was no way to avoid it. Lightning Dodge was still available, but that could only work twice and he had no doubt it could chain its strikes.
He leapt backward to try to establish distance, even while everything told him the effort was pointless.
Time snapped back to normal, and he almost stumbled at the sudden cessation of the dilation. Then, wind buffeted him with sufficient force that he needed to take two hurried steps backwards to avoid tripping over. He hated the weakness that those extra steps represented, but he forced himself to not get angry.
He had seen the GODs, and they were unmeasurably more powerful than he was. The giant was not on that level, but one versus one he was helpless against it, and he had to accept that fact. Given time, a team around him and a plan bolstered by fate the gap between him and it could be overcome. But right here, right now, he had none of those advantages, so he had to bend the knee so to speak or at least accept the power differential.
The club had stopped centimetres in front of his eyes, but his slight retreat had opened up a metre between him and it. The intention and accuracy of the swing, however, could not be doubted. It had more than proved the point it wanted to make.
“Are you sure this is worth dying over?” The giant asked him mildly.
Tom said nothing, but his thoughts were defiant. You did not give into bullies, because while the first request might be small, they would take more and more each day.
“You’re brave. Stupidly courageous, but I can admire the conviction of purpose. You and I are not enemies.”
He didn’t believe that for one second.
“Our species are not foes. Just because we are in a competition it does not mean we need to be at odds and at each other’s throats.”
Tom had intended to provide no commentary, but the giant waited for him to respond. He had no choice but to react. “I’m glad to hear that.”
“I’m glad you understand. Now two questions may be sufficient depending on the answer to the first. Is that acceptable?”
The giant was staring at him and he went to repeat his offer of a single question but Social Silence stopped the words from escaping.
Tom froze.
He had ignored the skill before and had survived, but should he gamble again?
The thought of verbalising a refusal was sufficient to force him into a coughing fit. He wondered if that was a stronger response than earlier? He didn’t know. He reckoned it had been, but couldn’t say that conclusively… but the doubt, the thought that it might have been, was probably enough.
The giant was staring at him.
What should he do? He had made his point already. Two questions were not a bad outcome. Both Social Silence and his subconscious were screaming at him. Another refusal would be too much of an insult, and the giant, despite its prodigious intelligence was also a beast of emotional action.
Spitting in its face again was not sensible. Last time it had swung and then halted the blow…. Would it show the same restraint again?
He licked his lips, cleared his throat. “Two will be fine.”
The way too intelligent opponent in front of him nodded. “Smart. A wise man knows when to launch into a swing with complete wantonness and when to pause and reconsider such a strategy. What I want to ask is, ‘if we continue with the current approach will I the giant survive materially uninjured.’”
Tom hesitated. “To be clear I’m to ask this immediately and not closer to the battle?”
“I want to know that the current tactical trajectory is sound. Providing the reply is yes, I’ll only need one more question once the plan is settled to ensure there have been no unexpected deviations in outcomes.”
Tom stepped into his system room and asked the question.
Then he was back, looking up at the giant. “The answer was yes.”
“And this is a GOD driven ability. I’m assuming that t would take into account any hidden plans and backstabbing that a rogue element, if such a person exists, was intending.”
He gulped at that phrasing. “Yes, it does.”
The giant didn’t smile, but it did roll its shoulders and subtly shift its facial muscles. Afterwards, Tom felt like it was looking down upon him. A boy with a magnifying glass on a sunny day regarding an ant. A claim of absolute superiority that he could not dispute.
“You may go.”
Without a word or any change in his own expression, he left with Clare falling in next to him.
When they had exited and turned the corner, Clare, with an exaggerated act, checked his temperature. Then quirked a smile. “No fever. I had to check that you weren’t delirious because that was crazy.”
Tom said nothing.
“Almost suicidal? Why would you do that?”
Because giving him extra questions would have doomed us all, Tom thought, but was not stupid enough to say it out loud. The giant might or might not be currently monitoring them, but it could, and that was the problem. He was not going to verbalize that and potentially give it ideas. It was not their friend no matter what it claimed. If it could leave this trial with the inventor, wador and humans dead, it would.
He glanced at Clare. DEUS had said she needed to be the leader for a reason. He knew she was brutally pragmatic as how else could she have taken the bloodline, not to mention the organising of the murder of one of her patients. Pragmatic and, from what he could tell smart. “Do you actually want me to answer that?”
Clare shook her head. “No, I don’t. I really don’t. Despite everything, sometimes I forget I’m in Existentia.” She laughed and waved at the ceilings that were literally over a hundred metres above them, which was probably larger than any similar space on earth. “As impossible as that might sound. I fall back into earth thinking. There is no one within sight of us, so it must be safe to talk. I understand it’s stupid and probably means I shouldn’t have been promoted like I was… But it is what it is.”
“And what’s the plan now? Did that change anything?”
“You know it didn’t. As for your time, I think you need to do what the giant ordered. You stay here and prepare for the coming fight. If you can organise a meeting with the inventor and quiz it about crafting techniques and methods, that would be useful. See if there is an army of golems or…“ she looked doubtful, “Another specialised one that can help against the dragon. Don’t worry about this zone. I and the fighters will take steps to ensure everyone meets the requirements to leave this place.”
Tom nodded and thought about the coming fight and what golems could be crafted to impact it. Over a week of crafting gave him a lot of freedom, especially if he got a chunk of the freed up credits.
But what should he create?
Maybe an army to distract the dragon or a force to hard counter the insects hopefully by slaughtering them …
Then an alternative path occurred to him. His golems were not part of the plan they had put together. They just weren’t required. Which meant maybe the best use of his time and resources would not be to create something for the battle but the immediate aftermath. An army to help the humans survive once the dragon had been dealt with.