as a pr

with that he had ended up here. Scholar cleared his throat: "But I've never said that..." "Whatever! Shouldn't we get rid of him just in case?! He can't go on for much longer anyway!" Scholar gave Sunny a strange look. Perhaps Sunny was getting paranoid, but there seemed to be a bit of calculating coldness in the older slave's eyes. Finally, Scholar shook his head. "Don't be too hasty, my friend. The boy might prove useful later on." "But..." Hero finally spoke, putting an end to their quarrel. "We're not going to leave anyone behind. As for how much longer he'll be able to endure just worry about yourself." Shifty clenched his teeth, but then just waved a hand. "Fine. So what do we do then?" The four of them looked at the broken road, then down the slope of the mountain, and finally up, where a sheer cliff wall was broken apart by the falling rocks. After a bit of silence, Scholar finally spoke: "Actually, in the old days, there used to be a path leading to the peak of the mountain. It was sometimes used by pilgrims. Later, the Empire had widened parts of the path and built a proper road on top of it -now leading to the mountain pass instead of the peak, of course." He looked up. "The remnants of the original path should still be somewhere above us. If we reach it, we should be able to find our way back to the undamaged section of the road." Everyone followed his gaze, shifting uncomfortably at the prospect of climbing the treacherous slo

t possibly the most important: after completing their trial, Aspirants were bestowed with the ability to perceive, and interact with, Soul Cores. Soul Cores were the basis of one's rank and power. The stronger your Core was, the greater your might would grow. The same went for Nightmare Creatures, with a deadly caveat that, unlike humans, they could possess multiple cores a lowly beast had just one, but a tyrant like Mountain King had five. Coincidentally, the only way to improve your Soul Core was to consume Soul Shards scavenged from the corpses of other Dream Realm inhabitants. That's why Awakened went out of their way to battle powerful Nightmare Creatur

ond imagination. Armed with the power of their Abilities, Awakened had been able to save the world from the flood of Nightmare Creatures. However, that power came with a catch. With their first Ability, every Awakened also received a Flaw, sometimes called the counter. These Flaws were as diverse as Abilities, ranging from comparati

e has ever seen the last - one. 'With the amount of crap it had put me through, the Spell - if it has any conscience has to give me at least an Awakened Aspect. Right? Or maybe even an Ascended one!' Finally, there was a tiny possibility of receiving a True Name - something like an honorary title bestowed by the Spe

dering that he was destined to spend half of his remaining life in the Dream Realm - if he even survives long enough to get there, that is. However, Sunny's mental escapade was not completely useless. Looking up from the s