The forest around Nico was eerily quiet. He was in a frosty, swampy region near Ravenheart, so it was expected not many Nightmare creatures were around. The trees swished idly. The wet, cold ground splashed as he shifted his footing. Nothing hostile was in two kilometers of his location. Nothing, save for the Awakened Demon salivating mere inches from his face.
The monster — a black, spider-like being with human hands at the ends of its legs and strange spiky bumps all across its thorax — twitched as he reached out and dug his gauntlets into its beady eyes. The claws sank deep. His own eyes flashed with a wispy red flame. The nightmare wailed helplessly, and three splendorous roots emerged from beneath his armor, threading through the Demon in an instant and coiling around its three rotten cores like vines onto a tree.
Then, with one simple squeeze, the structure exploded into hundreds of tiny black shards, and the spider silently screamed as its life was extinguished. The essence left behind instantly purified. Death, it seemed, was a natural method for dispelling whatever corruption took Nightmare Creatures over, and before all the shattered pieces disappeared Nico had pulled at them with his Dormant Ability, bringing an overwhelming amount of energy into his system.
The buzz was intoxicating. He funneled it all into his Soul Cores — his hearts — and before long it had further transformed into the lineage-boosted soul essence he usually sported. Alongside increasing his fragment counter leaps and bounds, he had just crossed his latest threshold…
[Your soul is overflowing with power.]
Nico grit his teeth. The fourth core was forming.
[Your soul is taking shape.]
Instead of allowing the pain to overwhelm him, he took control of the process with his own [Soul Roots], manually aiding and learning from how the Spell naturally guided it. Or how his body did. He couldn't really tell if the divine force assisted in his ability to passively form more cores or not. Either way, the intangible energy flowed much more easily, and he felt the knowledge take root in his mind as his flesh, bone, and skin altered to accommodate the newly formed core.
[Your soul is complete…]
Once the new organ was successfully constructed, he sighed, leaning back against a tree and slowly sliding down its trunk to plop on the ground. There was a new root in his soul, and with it the ability to augment his strength four times.
He glanced tiredly at the dead Nightmare Creature to his left.
'That's the fifth one.'
Despite feeling stronger than ever, he was bone-deep exhausted. His control of souls was too crude for such strenuous tasks.
'All of my thoughts earlier were so convoluted.'
He couldn't really bear the mental strain to think too clearly right now after working himself to death for around three days without any sleep, but it went something like this:
'I need knowledge of souls, but not any knowledge. The way to get that isn't to practice my Awakened Ability, but my Dormant one.'
Nico frowned. That didn't really explain anything either.
'I just need to develop techniques capable of dismantling and recreating.'
Was that any better? He didn't really know, but he was still in the middle of the Dream Realm and it was rapidly approaching eight in the afternoon.
'Best not to linger,' he thought, rising to his feet and treading back towards Ravenheart.
***
An hour passed by before Nico had finally ascended from the lowlands and into the obsidian palace. He easily got through the gate, brushing past the reverent guards, other curious Awakened, and civilians. He dismissed his heavy armor, much to the relief of his sweat-damped skin, and began walking through the open streets and houses towards the interior.
People bustled quietly around the street, and the entire interior of the grand stone Citadel seemed to be preparing for sleep.
'I still have so much essence,' he internally grumbled, because while his body was aching from overexcretion, his soul was the exact opposite. It was running laps through his veins, overflowing with the excess power taken from his prey. Due to [Specter], that strength began restoring his earlier fatigue without any trouble. He felt as good as new despite lacking any rest.
In any case, when he was feeling a little thirsty, he didn't hesitate to use his newly improved Awakened Ability to construct a glass, fill it with cold water, and take a few sips. The liquid restored his parched lips. It was more than a little refreshing.
"Um, excuse me, Prince Nico."
Pausing, the aforementioned young man swiveled his head towards the sound. Despite his hair being let down and curtaining part of his face, the guard that had stopped him had to unconsciously shake himself free from a daze once the moment he laid eyes bore on his face. They held no recognition and no warmth, but they were certainly a product of some mystical power.
"Excused," he replied blankly. "Now, what do you want?"
Nervously chuckling, the man pointed at the glass in his hands. "Is that a Memory?"
Nico rose a brow. "No. I created it through my Aspect," he said.
"A-ah, I see. If… if it isn't any trouble, could you make something like toothpaste, too? I have very long shifts in the Dream Realm, and it's hard to get back home often."
Nico squinted. This guard was an Awakened. Most people were, and they, unlike him, didn't have access to the wealth of common necessities brought into the Dream Realm by the Masters and Saints of Song. He was a rather young man, too, only about a couple years older than Nico. He had short brown hair and a meager Awakened armor of the Second-Tier.
'I see," he mumbled, then replied louder: "I'm afraid my ability is currently tied to creating only things I have studied before. I have not studied toothpaste, and given the abundance of chemicals in it, I'm not confident in my ability to imagine something that is safe to use."
The soldier deflated, bowed, and said:
"I'm sorry for bothering you, Your Majesty. Please, forgive me."
Nico watched him. Then, he turned and began to walk away, saying absently over his shoulder:
"Prepare whatever you believe to be an appropriate form of payment and I will return here at noon tomorrow with your item."