Dinner was actually quite nice, especially after eating travel rations earlier. And, most importantly, I was reminded of how we normally act with each other. So, I should be ready for tonight. Do your worst dragon! But not actually! Please…
I yawned, then said. “Good night, Melly.”
“Yeah. Are you sure you will be fine?”
“As fine as I can be. Like, what else could I even do? Staying up will just delay the inevitable and make me tired in the dream.” I shrugged. “I believe in Hansen’s analysis, tonight won’t be as bad.” I comforted.
“Okay. Goodnight, and good luck.” She relented. Haa. While I’m glad she cares, sometimes that makes me more worried.
Haa, well, it’s time to go to sleep. I made sure to snuggle up with Melly though, as while that won’t actually help me with my nightmare, it will help me face it.
Anyway, here goes nothing.
______
I once again woke up in my room. Alone as usual. Honestly, the dream isn’t even trying to be deceptive. Well, that’s good for me, at least.
And, the door is still too small for me. Because of course, it is. So, I, once again, broke through the door and alarmed my companions.
Hmm, this is alarmingly similar to last time. Whatever, it’s not like I can do anything about it but keep going, anyway. While keeping an eye out for any differences, of course. Wouldn’t want to blindly stumble into some trap, after all.
So, annoyingly, I once again entered another bedroom. Haa, I even made sure to choose a different path, yet I still ended up in the same place. Well, let’s just burn my way out again. It’s not like I have any other way to escape…
As a result, I’m back at the church. And would you look at that, it’s The Same Paladin As Last Time!
Wait? Don’t, don’t tell me. It can’t be.
I quickly started running around, and like clockwork, everything was repeating.
YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! I thought it was a bit similar, but an exact replica!? Really!? Haa, this core is lazy.
WAIT! Do I have to spend another few hours being harassed!? NO WAY! That’s, that’s just evil! I refuse. I won’t do it! Screw you dream! Screw you dragon! I refuse! I won’t do it! I won’t!
ARG! This is so stupid! I want to beat up my stupid core! This is so unfair!
Haa, complaining won’t accomplish anything. Is there anything I can do? Other than, you know, blindly running around, searching for an exit. Hmm, is there even an exit in the first place? Last time I flew out, so I didn’t see one. Well, this is a dream, so that might actually be the only way. Haa! This is annoying! It’s a dream made from mana right? Can’t I just destroy it with my mana? Like in my battle of wills, or how my mana normally deals with things. Can’t it just, tear apart this dream? And deal with the dragon mana while you’re at it!
Shake
Uh, was that an earthq-
Shake
Huh wha-
Shake
Ah, it’s co- Shake -ng. The dream i- Shake -psing! Burn dream, bu- Shake
As the dream kept shaking, it started to fall apart. As I looked up at the sky while laughing, though, I saw something unbelievable.
The sky… It, it was, well, also collapsing. Bits kept falling off and falling towards the ground. It looked, magnificent. The day sky now had chunks missing that revealed the stars of the night sky, it was breathtaking. I couldn’t do anything else but stare in wonder. You know, maybe this dream wasn’t all that bad.
“AAHH!” Haa, I jinxed myself.
I looked towards the scream to see my companion being crushed by a chunk of the sky. What? Sadly, before I could guess what the chunk of sky could even be, more screams distracted me.
ARG! You stupid dream! I was going to let you off because of the magnificent sight. But no! You had to continue harassing me. WHY!?
Haa, I, am, going, to, destroy, you! I thought as I suddenly woke up.
You stupid dream, it’s over now! I won’t rest until I’ve defeated you, foolish dragon!
______
Once I was certain that I was actually awake, I carefully got up and started to meditate, focusing on defeating my annoying mana. I will not let this slight go!
“Mm” Haa, that surprised me. I guess the mana war would hurt. Whatever! Keep going, my natural mana! I will heal any damages! Mm, okay, I should use my pain technique as well.
Ow. Hmm, I guess it doesn’t really work for mana vein damage. Well, that just means I need to try out different spells until something finally works.
Anyway, that’s how I spent the next hour or so, focusing on my little war so much I started to sense it. Haa. Anyway, while I can easily find my own mana, I still can’t really differentiate between the two traits. I can tell where they are fighting though, and I’m even starting to figure out who is winning!
Eventually, though, I ended up falling asleep, though I don’t know when. I only realized that I even did by waking up. While also lying very strangely at the end of the bed. “Huh.” I slowly got up.
“Morning Eli. You had an… interesting way of sleeping.” Melly said as she got dressed.
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“Ah, yeah. I guess I did.” I say as I cast a healing spell to relieve the soreness I got from my odd sleeping position.
“So, why were you up so late?” She asks. Haa, I did wake her up! “I thought you said staying up would just make things worse for you?”
“It would,” I confirmed. “I didn’t though, I actually woke up after experiencing my nightmare this time.”
“Oh, how did you do that?”
“Shear annoyance. The stupid dream dropped the sky onto you guys!”
“What? But the sky…”
“I know it is made of air, Melly. It was a dream, anything can happen. Anyway, it was pretty interesting this time so I’ll tell you guys all about it after breakfast.”
“Okay. Speaking of, we woke up a bit late today, so it’s already time for breakfast.”
“Oh, we need to hurry then,” I say as I rush to get ready.
______
Breakfast was decent as usual, though I’m really missing the Hero, even if I kinda want to stab him. Stupid core causing me problems, grumble grumble.
“So, you wanted to tell us about your dream?” Rapunzel confirmed after we returned to Melly’s room. I was fine with telling everyone at the table, but they refused.
“Yeah. So, tonight’s dream was the same as last time. Identically, even.”
“What! That’s really bad. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I was able to force myself awake before I was dragged into the several hours of harassment that was planned for me.”
“I see, that is good. And quite interesting,” Greg commented.
“Yeah, but that’s not what I meant. What I found interesting was the sky falling as the dream collapsed.” I smiled. It really was interesting to see. Ah! If only I could draw, I could have shown it to them. Haa, oh well.
“The sky, fell? How would the sky fall?”
“Simple, the day sky that’s normally there just shattered like it was made of glass, with the cracks and missing chunks showing a night sky beyond it.” I sighed. “Sadly, such a lovely sight was interrupted by part of the sky landing on you guys, so I could only enjoy it briefly.”
“Eli, the sky is incapable of landing on people.” Greg started to explain.
“Yes, I know. It was a dream, though, so actual physics didn’t matter. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you guys about the magnificent scene I saw during my dream.”
“Oh, well, that would be interesting to see.” Melly agreed. “Though I’m more concerned about you waking up in the middle of the night. What were you doing?”
“Ah, so after I was interrupted from witnessing such a beautiful sight, my anger was reignited, so I decided to actively attack the dragon’s mana. That’s why I ended up staying up late. Speaking of, can you check the state of my mana, Rapunzel?”
“Sure.” She said before infusing me again. Hmm, I couldn’t really notice the different sides this time. That’s odd.
“So, how is it?” I asked nervously. Yeah, my mana usually has the advantage in direct conflict, but this wasn’t a normal situation. Did I… mess up?
“You seem to have won.” She stated. What!? “Your manas are no longer fighting. They are, instead, starting to combine.” She reported.
“I… won? I did it. Yes! I won! I can finally relax!” I celebrated.
“You are not quite finished yet, Eli,” Greg informed me.
“What? There’s still more!?” Why can’t I just get a break?!
“Correct. Your mana now needs to combine properly. The process, while far milder than everything previously, sadly will still affect you. This time, though, it will mainly strain your mana veins, with the occasional burst of conflict.”
“Will it be bad?” I worried.
“Unlikely. Such experiences have historically been described as nothing more than an occasional annoyance, with the straining of the mana veins even being seen more as a blessing than anything else. Though such benefits will likely be meaningless for you.”
“It, will just be an occasional annoyance?” I worriedly asked.
“Most likely, similar to an insect deciding to bother you a few times a day for a few minutes at worst. Annoying, but quite manageable.”
“Oh, that, that’s good.” I cried. “That’s really good.” I’m done. I’m finally done! Well, for now, at least. But I should be good for a decent while. “Thank you,” I said through my relieved tears. Everyone then gave me a hug.
After a bit, I calmed down and everyone separated. “Haa, that was nice,” I said.
“So, what are your plans now? Are you going to fetch your robes?” Rapunzel asked.
“No. Besides, I doubt I even could until I’ve completely combined my traits. So, while I wait for that to happen, I guess I’ll finish learning my last vein spell. And probably practice my spells some more, as I don’t know how much my mana might have changed my spells.” Ah, and it will probably affect them more as my trait grows! Haa. Well, it should have at least improved my healing capabilities, so I’ll accept it without complaint.
“In that case, do you want to join me at the training grounds?” Melly offered.
“Sure.” I agreed. “Oh, what about Pallet?”
“Oh yeah, he wanted to fight, didn’t he? Well, we can always just ignore him. It’s not like he can try anything problematic. Not after last time.”
“Are you sure? While I would need to check on my preMilo spells, we could accept his challenge again. If you wanted to, of course.” I offered.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah! He really annoyed me that time, and while I know we won’t win now, I at least want to better understand our goal and how far we’ve grown.”
“Our goal?”
“Pulverizing him, of course! I won’t let him get away with what he did. Not without him experiencing the same thing himself!” I declared.
“Haa, there you have it, our saintess is once again proving why she’s the Thug Saintess.” Rapunzel joked with a sigh.
“Hmpt.” I pouted. “I’m not a thug…” I muttered. My anger is justified!
“Haha, that’s fine with me. Let’s try some stuff out in a training room. If we are satisfied with the results, we can try fighting Pallet again.”
“Okay, let’s go! I’m curious if there have been any changes.” I said excitedly.
“Good luck Melly,” Rapunzel said as she patted her shoulder.
“Indeed,” Hansen said, patting her other shoulder.
“Please do not push yourself too far. You can always try again later should you need to.” Greg advised.
“Haa, yeah. Please go easy on yourself.” I requested.
“Yeah yeah. I will, don’t worry. I know the consequences of pushing myself better than anyone.” She sighed as she agreed.
“Thank you. Now, let’s check if anything’s changed.”
______
“So, overall, my spells are effectively unchanged. For now at least,” I report.
“Yeah. There was a hint of your dragon mana interfering though, so things should start changing as your mana keeps on combining.”
“Yeah. So, I guess we should do this every day then?”
“Let’s try for twice, once in the morning, and once at night. That should make it easier to notice and adapt to any changes.” Melly suggested.
“Okay, that works for me.” And it hopefully will make things easier for her should there be a particularly noticeable change.
“Well, at least this will work as a decent benchmark. Besides, we never really got the chance to fight Pallet properly before, so I’m curious how we would have fared.” Sorry about that.
“Yeah, it will. Hmm, it could be interesting to use Pallet to document our growth. He isn’t exactly getting stronger at his level.” I agreed.
“Well, let’s start properly training then.”