For a time, I laid still. My eyes were closed, and yet the vividness of the spiritplane continued to rattle in my mind. Images flashed and indescribable feelings assaulted my senses. But I kept my eyes closed and welcomed the sensations.

The new perk settled in, lessening the pain and fear.

I wonder if anyone would keel over and spit blood if they saw my status. I should be reaching a record, right?

No one answered my thoughts. That was fine. I rolled to my right and squeezed the pillow close to my chest. It crushed underneath my strength but not before bouncing back into shape as I released the pressure.

I remembered the questions, even if it felt like a long fever dream.

Stripped down to nothing, I had answered a question I didn't know I wanted an answer to.

I groaned and sank into the bedsheets.

No more existential questions. Only sleep.

Thankfully, it took me surprisingly little to drift off.

-----

Morning came, and I stayed in well past noon. When I finally made my way down, the others were already having lunch. I ignored their stares and grabbed a plate.

Crunch after crunch, I slowly came to and sloughed off the drowsiness of oversleeping. Finally, I finished the last of the orange juice and glared at the others who quickly averted their gaze.

"What do you want?" I asked, my voice exhausted.

"Nothing. Just wanted to know if you're okay," Teddy responded.

"So I take it none of you are curious about my new perk and two new skills? Neither of you wants to meet my new summon? Interrogate me on my trip to the spiritplane? Not to mention being told a story with more details?"

And there it was. The facade fell away, and Celenae practically foamed at the mouth.

"Yes, we want to know all of it," she admitted while enthusiastically nodding.

I closed my eyes, inhaled, and then exhaled before opening them.

"First, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you last night."

"Cyrus, it's fine. We understand it, even if we can't relate," Teddy said softly.

"Yeah, just cool it and fork over the details," Isaac cut in.

Eodyne zapped him, but she nodded, as did Igas.

"Right. Well, full disclosure, I can't show you my full status sheet," I said. Celenae gasped in outrage, but I shook my head. "There's a perk related to my fusing with the dungeon that you guys cannot learn about for a few reasons. And I'm gonna side with the divine beings on this one."

Now, it wasn't only Celenae with fire in their eyes, but I pushed on and accepted the hesitant smile from Teddy.

"Before I share my status sheet, I'll answer whatever questions you have, but you have an hour and that's it. And if I can't answer it, I simply wont. Got it?"

They nodded and I dived into the storytelling for the next hour. By the end, none of them looked happy.

I swallowed another bite of something that tasted surprisingly like turkey sausage and swallowed slowly. Again, I couldn't tell what they were thinking.

"Cyrus..." Eodyne whispered.

"If you want to offer me pity, then save it. I don't regret anything."

"You think that's what we'd do? You-" her voice got heated, but Teddy held out his arm and shook his head.

"We're angry, Cyrus. We could have helped. Done something other than cower and hide. We're not tier three, but we are strong together. You didn't have to suffer through all that alone."

I met their eyes.

"That's shit. Of course, I didn't. I could have sacrificed you all. You're right. But then what? Willingly get my friends killed in a battle where I couldn't protect them? Lower my own chances of winning to help with hyped-up egos?"

"Hey!" Isaac shouted while knocking over his chair.

"No. For all that you guys are strong, there is shit beyond you. You're not me. You're not forced to deal with it, not directly. I already made a mess by bringing you into Helio. Getting you killed because of my carelessness? Fuck that."

Slowly, I calmed down and found myself breathing erratically. As soon as I noticed, I stopped and stood up.

"I'm going into the sparring room. If something important comes up, you'll know where to find me."

Like pinpricks, I rushed out of the room and into the hallway. My heart thumped, beating fast as adrenaline spread..

What the fuck is going on?

I heard footsteps. The door was open. Instincts screamed at me to move, so I did. Down the stairs and into the hall, I turned for the second training hall and entered, locking it from the inside.

Teddy could open it, but he wouldn't unless it was something important.

Good.

The assurance helped, I needed it before I summoned the beanbag and crashed. My emotions were erratic; I wanted to escape from my own skin.

The familiar comfort of the beanbag helped me settle, and I tried to sort through my thoughts. In the twenty minutes I spent sitting, the only thing I could think of was that the trip into the spirit plane had messed me up.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Or you're having a panic attack and going crazy.

I paused and waited to see if that revelation helped at all, but it didn't.

Nah.

Thankfully, the other's didn't bother me. Even after an hour passed, the others didn’t barge in.

I was glad they didn’t, but I needed something to focus on.

Emotional instability aside, I pulled up my status sheet and read through the changes, letting it distract me.

STATUS

Name: Cyrus

Race: Reborn (Felkin)

Age: ??

Tier: 0

Active Skills:

* (T:0 R:9) Summon Familiar: Verdant Healer: (Áine)

* (T:0 R:9) Summon Familiar: Resplendent Inferno: (Zharia)

* (T:0 R:9) Racial Skill: Dimensional Storage: (Chomperz)

* (T:0 R:9) Spirit Lord's Invocation

* (T:0 R:9) Summon Familiar: The Dead Will Provide (Erebus)

* (T:0 R:9) Summon Familiar: Reflective Coat of the Mirror Beast (Magnus)

* (T:0 R:9) Summon Familiar: Storm King's Tempest (Sturmrorex)

* (T:0 R:0) Summon Familiar: Shroud of the Astral Archon (Galarion)

Passive Skills:

* (T:0 R:9) Etherious Blood

* (T:0 R:9) Sovereign-Threaded Soul

* (T:0 R:9) Chaotic Resonance

* (T:0 R:9) Spirit's Lord's Echo

* (T:0 R:1) Split-Mind Cultivation

Perks:

Legacy of the Obsidian Crown

Scion of Calstrax

Demonic Blood

Child of Mana

Dread Guardian's Apology

Crystal Synthesis

Devourer of the Deep

Whisper of the Tempest

False Dungeon Core

Unleashed Soul

Astral Lotion

Astral Lotion

* A boon granted by the entity -UNKNOWN-.

* The Astral is a wondrous place filled with dreams and nightmares. Underneath the infinite possibilities lie the void. And sometimes all you need is some extra protection.

* Minor resistance to the void, spatial, and astral-aspected mana.

A snort escaped at the idea of rubbing starmilk over my body like some kind of sunblock. It made for a funny image, and I found the last of my tension drained away.

There was a lot to process, but another change called my name more than any perk did.

Galarion. I barely remembered the naming process, but saying the name in my head and out loud felt right. It felt good.

New familiar, a new spirit to join my family.

It was time to summon.

I dived into my soulspace and waited on the island. With a healthy mana pool, the realm looked normal and alive.

Slowly, I called out for the new familiar, feeling the connection to them even though I've yet to meet him.

Actually, I guess that's not true. I did meet him, I was just too out of it to remember.

Slowly, a wisp bobbed across the lake. Its mana felt strange against my avatar's skin. It tickled and danced while constantly snaking its way up to my neck, where it reached my ears.

Chimes and music, along with the hungry rumble of a creature far larger than what I saw, played in my thoughts.

And for some reason, I tasted strawberry milkshakes.

They reached my fingers, and I flattened my palm so they could rest.

"Hello, Galarion. Are you ready to be summoned?"

Footsteps: drumming, the screams of the damned, and the choir of angels. They assaulted my thoughts at the same time.

The barrage of emotions and sounds continued until they stopped. I blinked and found Galarion's wisp flashing with pulsing purple and pink light.

This time, when the sounds entered my thoughts they were gentle, relaxing even. They carried excitement and joy, as well as a deep desire for something, but I couldn't place what.

"Much better. Alright, if you're ready, I'll begin."

Slowly, the mana from the lake in front of us began to float upwards and spin together. Once more, the mana threaded itself, becoming a thick cord rather than the gushing stream it normally was.

A change from the time as a dungeon core, perhaps? I watched it carefully as it constricted and condensed It simply compacted itself under the braiding.

As it reached my hand I felt it cut with a deep cold that flowed through my fingers and into Galarion's wisp. It pulsed, and I opened my eyes and waited.

One mote of light, two, then five, and eventually hundreds within a blink. They condensed and became more until they split into ten arms that became thicker and more skin-like.

A bulbish head formed but it retained an arrow-like shape. Two glowing white eyes that spin with the cosmos inside came next. Eventually the lights were set, and I stared at Galarion floating in front of me. He spun without gravity, and slowly drifted away before I reached out a hand.

Galarion extended his tentacles and stretched, his shape becoming more fluid as the glow underneath his skin brightened like a flare.

"Hey, calm yourself. That might hurt people's eyes," I chuckled.

In a low thrum that tickled my ears, Galarion laughed. "Alright!"

Galarion spun underneath my chin and I booped him in the head, his skin depressing until it stretched like a pancake before snapping back into place.

"Go ahead, pick a spot. I'm sure the others have told you what's theirs."

He spun and shifted to my neck and hung lower like a necklace as his main body rested against my chest. But I felt dissatisfaction, and he jumped towards my nose and then my forehead.

I waited patiently. It was an important decision after all.

"I know! I claim here!" he declared.

His arms looped around the top of my ears as he swung around and flattened along the back of my head. Before I could react, a soft squish invaded my skull.

The feeling settled and I reached up and felt the back of my head. Only hair. I caressed my ears where his tentacles were still solid enough for me to physically feel, but the rest of his body was absent.

"Uhm. Galarion? Are you inside my skull?"

"Yes! Delicious thoughts! Can I have some?"

Huh.

I crossed my arms and tapped into the connection. Eventually, Galarion squeezed himself out of my head and bent his body forward so his eyes were directly against mine.

"What do you do with the thoughts? And do I keep them, or do you eat all of them?"

His eyes darted back and forth and I realized he meant to say no.

"No to which?"

"I eat thoughts. Why would you keep thoughts? They mine. Do you share food after eating?"

Right. Should have thought about that.

"What exactly counts as thoughts?"

While slightly disturbing, I wasn't going to starve my familiar. And I really should've guessed that the mental familiar ate mental-related things.

Everything! Feelings, emotions, memories. Mmmmngh, memories are good. Can I have your memories?!"

I shook my head. "I don't have a lot of those left, so probably not... Wait, you said feelings and emotions? Do you experience them? Like if I fed you anger you'll become angry? Because if so, that could be bad."

Again, his eyes darted back and forth, but this time, they became spinning stars with their own shooting trail of sparks.

This will take some getting used to.

"No. Emotions are tasty, but I would need a lot to change me. I don't actually know what emotions taste like. Give me some!"

I was about to tell him no, but then I thought about it some more.

"You know what? Here you go, Galarion. Feast up."

As Galarion bubbled with joy in my head, I felt stress bleed away—well, slurped away as Galarion feasted.

“Oh, I could get used to this..."