“ROAR*

Another behemoth fell, marking the 13th that I had killed.

Of course, doing so took hours and all the energy I had.

What had initially been morning turned into afternoon. Now, the sun was beginning to lower, bringing us into evening.

I had only left twice during the day in order to eat once and take a piss. Otherwise, I had been laying inside the central tower the entire time.

And Umara had never left my side. Operating her sound spell, while tedious and boring, wasn’t that difficult for her. If anything, she utilized this time as a training opportunity.

At the very least, I was working harder, so I could confidently say that I wasn’t wasting her support.

But I was reaching my limit mentally. I had gone through my entire Psyka pool a few times over, constantly regenerating and using any dregs of power I got when I got it. I had basically been running on empty for half the day.

And it was when I hit my 13th kill that I finally couldn’t hold on anymore, the gun disappearing from my hand as I could no longer maintain the communion.

I grunted as I felt my head throb. Thankfully I wasn’t also focused on surviving. With the tower and this many warlocks around me, I didn’t have to worry about getting hit even if spells were launched at us.

I just laid there, and a few moments later, I suddenly heard the surroundings get louder.

Now that Umara wasn’t muffling sound, I could hear everything clearly. Unfortunately, it also hurt my head to suddenly get an influx of sound.

“Come on. Let’s get you into the bunks. You’ve done enough.”

I heard Umara mutter as she helped pull my body up.

I initially wanted to refuse her help, but when I started to get to my feet, my headache multiplied until my vision blurred and the dizziness threatened to throw me off my feet.

Umara slung my arm over her shoulder as I became unsteady, using her body to prop mine up as I finally stood. Given several seconds, I started to acclimate and feel better, but my mind was still drained of all its energy.

We left the tower, making our way down the walls. And as we did so, there was a sudden shout.

“Damn, John! Where was that during training?!”

The Puppet Master appeared in front of us, marching over with a wide grin. It was uncharacteristic of him to be so excited.

“Hey! Do you know what Authority those monsters were?”

“No…”

“Authority 5! You just killed a dozen of those things! Congrats on officially becoming an Elite! Now go get some rest! Umara, take care of him.”

“Yes sir!”

Umara shouted back before continuing to carry me back down.

She spoke as we finally descended the wall.

“Killing an Authority 5 Scourge Beast earns you the title of Elite. It’s usually done as an Authority 4 and is a sign that you’re really talented since you can kill above your Authority. Normally, you need to kill it by yourself, have witnesses, and there needs to be a consensus that you unilaterally contributed to its death. But since you just killed a dozen, there’s no need for that.”

Umara explained as we crossed the field, smiling at me as she finished.

“I’ve only ever killed 7, so congrats on becoming one of the top Elites in a single day.”

“Eh, it’s just another Tuesday.”

“How humble of you.”

She giggled as we arrived at the male barracks. Directly bringing me inside, I pointed her to my room.

We entered and I was laid on my bed. After getting comfortable, I seemed to become more aware of my headache as it shook my brain.

I also felt like I was going to pass out any second. For a moment I got worried since this base was still being sieged by monsters. But I knew that I had contributed as much as I could. I just had to trust that everyone else would be able to hold on.

Before I even realized it, my body shut itself down without warning.

Everything went dark, and I no longer felt any pain.

……

…

A magic formation filled my mind.

At its center was a single orb of fleeting lights that spun fast in orbiting patterns, yet slower than they should’ve been.

I recognized it almost instantly, yet with some willpower and tricking my own mind, I maintained a suspended sort of awareness of what was going on.

I focused on the formation. Its outer edges were all bright, indicating my comprehension.

As for the dark parts that moved toward the center, I slowly started to analyze them as my focus moved along the lines.

However, unlike the first time, my analysis now was far slower. It felt like I really had to focus on understanding it in order to make progress as opposed to last time when it all just came to me.

Not only that, but some parts were indistinguishable. I felt like I could see them, but when I focused on them, they simply slipped my mind.

I moved on from those parts, focusing on what I could as I made my way around the formation.

And over time, the stars of Psyka that filled my mind began to converge. A few stars made their way into the Spark at the center, adding to its power.

With every star, I felt the Spark make my mind more sensitive. However, because of my recent battle, the Spark was drained and begging for replenishment. This made things progress slower.

But that was also an unexpected boon. If the Spark replenished itself faster, then I would have less time in this dream to work on the formation.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

On the other hand, the less energy it had, the slower my thoughts were and the slower my analysis was.

It was an equal balance between energy and speed, both of which increased over time and yet decreased the time in the dream.

I quickly caught onto this as the Spark continued to replenish itself faster and faster, my focus becoming sharper yet my dream beginning to slip away.

It got to the point where I even had awareness of my body despite still being in the dream, yet I hung on for as long as I could.

And finally, I felt the dream shut down completely. Even with my eyes closed and my body unmoving, I knew that it had ended.

My eyes fluttered open as I felt the changes.

Before, I had comprehended a quarter of the formation. Now, that was about 35%, and my speed of thought had been enhanced accordingly. Now, it was 1.5 times faster.

Everything else rose proportionally to that, like the amount of Psyka I had and its passive regeneration.

Plus, my mind now felt sharper than ever. I had recovered completely from that day of battle. Looking back, I really put everything I had into it.

The monsters had been charging with undeniable momentum, so perhaps I felt afraid for both myself and those Knights below me, but I didn’t hesitate to pour out all of my power.

Some behemoths were stronger than others. A few took an entire hour each to kill while some were easier. But no matter what, I had reached and surpassed my limits.

Turns out, that also helped put me into dreamland for longer periods. Unfortunately, it seemed that I would need to analyze the formation while awake in order to give myself material to work with while dreaming. I remembered those blurry messes blocking my progress, and it was obviously a lack of information.

Dreamland wasn’t omniscient. I needed to give it fuel to burn, but at least now I had some advantages to make use of.

At some point, I opened my eyes and looked around. I could see light stream through the window of my room, making me think that it was the next day. I had passed out around evening when the sun was setting, so 12 hours of sleep would put me around morning of the next day.

But when I stood and opened the raggedy curtains, I saw that the sun was actually setting.

“Oh.”

Lifting my wrist, I activated my Aerial and saw the time.

I had slept for over 20 hours.

*Rumble*

At that moment, I felt my stomach churn. It was completely empty, and I was starving.

I also felt my parched mouth. Quickly taking out a water container, I downed the entire thing.

“Ugh, I need food.”

I groaned as my stomach screamed for food, the water aggravating it.

Leaving my room, I left the barracks and went over to the mess hall.

Along the way, I saw people along the walls continuing to battle. The sight made me want to go over and fight, but I had to take care of myself first.

My steps were hasty as I made my way by the kitchen, swiping a tray and filling it with whatever looked edible.

I could barely even wait as I did that though, directly stuffing some smaller items like slices of bread into my mouth while grabbing more.

Nobody said anything, so I didn’t care much and turned around to find a nearby table.

Then, I heard a voice.

“John!”

I froze and looked up with a face full of bread, finding Umara sitting with the rest of our assigned squad.

They waved with a smile. Unfortunately, my hands were too full to return the greeting, so I just walked over and sat down.

Tana laughed as I did so.

“I know you just became an Elite, but did you really have to sleep for an entire day?”

“...”

I stared at her silently while chewing my bread. This took several seconds, during which everyone waited for my response.

Once I swallowed, I spoke.

“How many Authority 5’s have you killed?”

“Ouch.”

“Heh, he got you there.”

Feiden and Vetsmon smiled as they commented, making Tana lash out.

“Hey, who said we were comparing scores?!”

“Nobody. He just asked you a simple question.”

“But there was an implication!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb!”

“Hehe.”

We all laughed as Tana refused to lose. Once she calmed down, Umara nudged me with her elbow.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine. I recovered fully.”

“Good. You pushed yourself a lot.”

She spoke comfortingly, making me feel a bit warm and fuzzy.

Then, Vestmon chimed in with a nod.

“You’re really impressive John. I fought one of those things today, and while I’ve killed several before, they don’t get any easier. The most I’ve handled is four in a day. I have no idea how you killed a dozen in a single sitting.”

“From the safety of the tower is how. Compared to you guys, I have it a lot easier. You’re the impressive ones, going toe to toe with those monsters. I could never.”

“Don’t say that. Given the same circumstances, I know you would perform just as well. You’ve got the determination and the heroic spirit. So don’t belittle yourself. What you do is no less impressive than what anyone else does, no matter the position.”

“...”

I went silent for a bit, mulling over those words before nodding and sticking my hand out.

Vetsmon smiled and took it, the two of us shaking hands.

“Thank you Vetsmon.”

“It was nothing unobvious. After yesterday, I can confidently say that I would fight fearlessly knowing you’re there behind me.”

“I appreciate that. And with you guys there protecting me, I know I have nothing to worry about.”

I spoke my genuine thoughts. I was vulnerable in battles, so having someone like Vetsmon who was trustworthy and reliable gave me great peace of mind.

Knowing that he could fight an Authority 5 head on meant that the two of us could easily secure those kills. I would never have to worry about being overwhelmed.

Then, I suddenly looked over at Umara who was smiling while staring down at her plate.

With a grin, I put my arm around her shoulder.

“And let’s not forget my favorite support warlock.”

“Eh?”

“How were you after an entire day of casting that spell? You don’t talk about yourself much so I forget that you can get tired too.”

“Oh, it wasn’t too bad. I was tired, but not as much as you.”

“Still. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

I gave her a hug, patting her head once before letting go.

Despite Umara liking to snoop around my private business, she didn’t talk much otherwise. She simply stuck to herself and silently worked hard. I had noticed that over time.

I made a note to check in on her more instead of just assuming she was doing just fine.

“Look at these two…”

I heard Tana snicker, making me shrug.

After that, we all finished eating before heading back out.

The siege lasted into today as well, but by now it was close to ending. What remained was simply clearing out anything else that walked and taking care of the piling corpses.

There were even some teams that came to claim loot. These people would cart out corpses before cutting them open and extracting the Black Crystals.

These Black Crystals were poisonous to humans. Only after they were purified did they become White Crystals, so in this raw form they were worthless.

Every Scourge Beast had them as well, so they quickly piled up. I saw a large wooden crate filled with them.

What was curious was how the crate gave off a faint black fog, like it was seeping that poisonous aura into the surroundings. I had never seen anything like that before, so I asked Umara about it.

Apparently, with enough crystals or a sufficiently powerful one, the Magika within them will manifest as a fog. A bunch of White Crystals in a small space will do the same thing, except the fog would be white.

That fog represents an increased density of Magika, and it's actually very beneficial to cultivate in. But doing so is naturally expensive.

On the other hand, staying away from a poisonous black fog such as the one around that crate was generally advisable. Just being near it would make you feel sick, but figuring out how to counter that poison is also a form of training.

After walking by, we all headed back to the wall. By now, things were calming down, but there was still work to be done.

Deciding to help out while I was energetic, I went to head up the wall and pick off some strays. On the way though, I encountered the Puppet Master, who seemed happy to see me.