Chapter 85: [Blaze]
Far away on another planet...
[Blaze] looked at this sudden development with a thoughtful expression.
Unlike what he had initially expected, Night had surprisingly managed to receive a legacy of a powerful God.
While that God might not have been a Primordial God like himself, the specific Aspect it awakened in Night more than made up for it.
The Dream Aspect... he pondered, rubbing his chin.
As he sat silently in his hut, millions of totems flashed across his skin.
If he was perfectly honest, this Aspect was a lot better for the boy than his own, especially looking at the planet’s dire circumstances.
While humanity’s situation on Earth was not exactly good, with all the numerous terrifying enemies both inside and outside the planet, something fundamental had shifted the exact moment Night got his Dream Aspect.
The previous flow of planetary destiny was already turbulent, but now the destiny was truly in chaos. If some one had seen it, they might have simply chalked it up to a planet now having a multitude of new possibilities.
But his experienced eyes could clearly tell that the planet was mostly doomed. Someone, or something, had taken away the already miserable chances of Earth actually surviving the Merger.
Then, he made a decision to actively join in the fun... no, wait... he was going to save fellow humans...
As he got up, you could clearly see the totems of different colors moving across his skin in mesmerizing, hypnotic patterns. Small red flames danced playfully on his hair. Looking down at the clumsy kid through his vision, he shook his head as he thought...
what a clumsy kid...
...
In Nightmare Castle
Night was comfortably lying on the bed, looking up at the high ceiling, which now featured some cute beast designs, courtesy of Lilith and Eve.
After his total victory on the chessboard, when he was just about start a new game, the others practically dragged him to the bedroom and forced him to go to sleep.
They repeatedly scolded him, telling him to go to sleep; otherwise, he might permanently remain 111 cm tall his whole life.
As for the others, they were currently busy doing their own things around the Nightmare Castel.
Death was in her room painting. He was surprised she was interested in painting; he had fully expected her to be into something, like... you know... bone collection.
Everyone had happily picked a room, since it was such a huge house. Night thought it was truly good to have some personal space for everyone.
As for Eve and Lilith, unsurprisingly, they were happily sharing a room. They both were into high-tech gadgets and complex machines.
In the System Shop, there were several components sold as ’relics of the past.’ They cost a fortune, but it was something they could afford now.
They were currently tinkering with the gadgets. Night shook his head with a smile, thinking about exactly why they were doing it.
According to the twins, machines were the best way to make his life completely comfortable. Those machines could do everything he wanted, meaning he could just lazily play around all day long without a care in the world.
Are they actively trying to turn me into a lazy bum? he mused in amusement. It would be a highly way to live, I have to admit.
As for Lucy, she was currently in Sara’s room discussing arrays and magic circles. It seems she wanted to learn to use illusions again.
The recent incidents had made her far more accepting of her past, making her not want to waste any talent she might have.
Meanwhile, Sage and Blade were in the training hall.
Sage wanted to learn to use a staff in combat. Since he didn’t have a [Staff Proficiency] skill, she would have to learn from scratch.
For now, she was just using a wooden stick for basic practice. They were planning to her a good weapon when she got down some of the fundamental basics.
Since live streaming was disabled across the entire city,
Blade would be taking her safely outside the city limits to observe some veterans who used staffs, so she could watch and learn from them.
Of course, they would all be going with her. But that would be sometime after he finally woke up.
Yawn...
Night covered his mouth tiredly.
System Girl chimed in. "You really should sleep! I am excited to finally go on a real adventure!"
[Dream] agreed. "Yes. While this house is indeed beautiful, I want to see nature and the interesting dungeons you talked about."
Night nodded sleepily as he wiped small tears from his eyes. "I want to adventure too. But the Academy will open in exactly a month, so it can’t be a very long trip."
Sara had previously informed him that the Academy was officially closed for a month.
She had been offered a teaching role in the Dream City’s Human Vanguard Academy, but she had declined.
She was really considering retiring from teaching altogether after losing a Soul Projection.
As [Dream] had informed him, by now Sara must have realized that the loss of a Soul Projection was not as simple as losing a limb.
The soul was a very subtle, if not the subtlest, concept of the material world.
Any damage to the soul was not just bad; it was enough to cripple most Evolvers.
"I will ask Sara to come with us as well, so that Blade isn’t bored babysitting us," Night murmured with a weary smile.
Just weeks ago, he was a lonely lab experiment. Now, look at him: people were worried about his well-being all the time. Maybe the [Natural Calamity Physique] was the cosmos’ twisted way of balancing things out.
Thinking these random thoughts, he finally drifted off to sleep...
....
Night strained his closed eyes and opened them when he felt a blindingly bright light.
Looking around, he saw he was suddenly standing inside a small straw hut. It featured modest woven mats on the dirt floor, but bizarrely, in the corner, he clearly saw a bucket of popcorn, some burgers and a carton of juice.
He reeled at the contrast of this scene, but then he quickly realized he was not in the Nightmare Castle anymore.
Looking around highly warily, he thought to himself, Is this another dream?
Just then, he heard a voice from behind him say, "Hello, Night," making him violently jump back into a defensive posture.
He tried to summon his Nightmare Mist to defend himself, only to fail.
Standing casually in front of him was a six-foot-tall man who wore red pajamas. His muscular upper body was completely covered in colourful tattoos. His red hair and eyes looked like they were burning.
Immediately, a name came to his mind upon seeing this figure. Shit... this must be Blaze! he thought as he panicked internally.
He desperately tried to leave the space, but he failed, thankful that he could still faintly sense System Girl and [Dream], which gave him some small shred of confidence.
[Blaze] laughed, his lips twitching slightly. "Why are you looking around like a shifty thief? There is nothing of value to steal here, just some food."
Night shook his head frantically in denial. "No! No... I was... I was just looking around!"
[Blaze] had a terrible past experience with thieves, making him think everyone wanted to steal his things. This paranoia was exactly the reason he lived like a humble pauper, wanting to make other think he was poor so they would just leave him alone.
[Blaze] seamlessly ignored his random thoughts.
"I am [Blaze]. I am the one who made the interesting Game of Chess you seem to be addicted to playing day and night. While I know for a fact it is an amazing artifact, it’s really not good for growing kids to just play around all day long and completely ignore other important things in life. It will stunt your physical growth!"
"Just look at how small you are... you look like you barely eat anything!"
"It’s just a silly little game, and it should be played in moderation! I don’t want any kid, especially my own Chosen One, to become a otaku. While it might be somewhat fun to be one, an otaku is truly boring to watch."
"Just look at how lazy my great-grandson turned out! If my granddaughter wasn’t so unruly, I would have really spanked his lazy butt and woke him up to reality!"
"Seriously, who uses blazing flames just to make fries?! I admit it’s much faster this way, but what will happen if someone saw it? My name will be dragged through the mud..."
"You understand?!"
Night was stunned by the relentless barrage of words and forgot to actively respond... Is he a chatterbox? he thought blankly.
"You understand?" [Blaze] repeated, leaning in.
Night nodded quickly, but replied, "But the game is really good for training, though!"
[Blaze] waved his tattooed hand in dismissive motion. "It still cannot compare to a real-life experience! Do you know what it actually takes to become strong like me? If I had been stuck playing one of those video games in my era, there would be no [Blaze] today!"
"The overall situation of the human race would be miserable than it already was! Though there is [The Sleepless Sword], she is too busy trying to stay awake to care for the human race’s growth!"
Night blinked. A God with massive sleeping problems?
Night still countered. "But I am getting a lot stronger just by playing the game! I am now at least four times stronger than I was right before my transformation a week ago!"
[Blaze] squinted down at him, thinking, What a tough, stubborn kid.
It was fun to watch him play in the beginning, but now he really wanted the kid to actually get out and get into some action!
Seriously, he lived in a apocalypse world, invaded by races from the universe, Devils below below, Angels from above, dangerous monsters roaming the wilds, and dungeons popping up everywhere.
And yet, what was this kid actually doing?
All he was doing was staying cooped up at home playing board games with his friends!
As a invested viewer... no... as his Patron God... he had to guide him properly...
Umu, [Blaze] nodded righteously to himself.
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