After a while, Orion couldn't take it anymore.
His consciousness slipped, and he fainted.
Ember finally stopped pouring her soul into him. She gently lowered Orion onto the ground and looked down at him with an unusually soft expression.
If Orion could see her face right now, he would definitely call her a milf.
She knelt beside him, carefully resting his head on her lap, and gently patted his hair.
"You really are a strange guy…" she murmured. "For someone so weak, you managed to endure quite a lot of my soul."
A faint smile curved her lips.
"Well… you can sleep for a while. You've earned it."
After saying that, her figure slowly faded, vanishing from his side.
Orion found himself drifting once more into that familiar, strange dream.
He was floating in the middle of endless space.
The four ladies surrounded him again.
This time, however, when he tried to look at one of their faces, he didn't feel any pain. Slowly, little by little, her features began to take shape.
Just as he was about to fully see her face, she whispered softly,
"We are waiting."
Even though her face was still hazy, Orion could clearly make out the loving smile on her lips.
When he tried to say something—
His eyes snapped open.
He was awake.
But unlike before, there was no splitting pain in his head. Instead, a strange sense of ease spread throughout his body.
"…What was that?" Orion muttered. "That can't be just a dream anymore. What does it even mean?"
He pondered for a moment, but no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't come up with an answer.
So he decided to let it go—for now.
Looking around, he realized he was still at the bottom of the podium's interior.
"Ember—are you there?" he shouted.
"Yes, yes. You don't have to shout," Ember replied lazily.
"Or did you have a naughty dream about me and couldn't wait to see my face?"
She appeared with her usual teasing smirk.
This woman…
"So what happened?" Orion asked.
"Well, you passed out." she said casually
"Okay," he said. "How long was I out?"
"A couple of hours, I guess." She shrugged.
Orion realized she wasn't in a mood for any serious talk.
"And… was it a success?" Orion asked carefully. "The soul consumption?"
"Yes," Ember replied. "You did much better than I expected."
She even gave him a rare, encouraging smile—one that completely caught him off guard.
"So what now?"
"Well, you only consumed a tiny portion of my soul," she explained. "You need to harness it first. After that, we'll repeat the process. Again and again."
Orion sighed. "So… how long will it take to fully consume your soul fragment?"
"Why?" she asked softly. "Do you really want to escape from me that badly?"
There was a hint of genuine sadness in her expression
Orion froze, unsure how to respond. He understood how lonely she must have felt, trapped deep within this dungeon.
Heck—Orion himself had started feeling lonely after the system went into a forty-eight-hour upgrade. He couldn't even imagine how much worse it must have been for her.
So after meeting him, she had begun to see him as a friend.
"It's not like that," he said after a moment. "My life back on Earth was boring as hell. Reincarnating into a magical world was like a dream come true… so I'm just excited to explore this world."
Ember smiled faintly at his words.
He's still just a kid, after all. She thought
"Then we shouldn't waste any time," she said. "Are you ok to train right now?"
"Yes," Orion replied without hesitation.
"Good. For now, we'll focus on stabilizing the soul inside you."
She stepped closer and placed one hand on top of his head.
"Close your eyes," she instructed. "Stop thinking about everything else. Focus only on the unfamiliar presence inside your body."
Orion tried—but his thoughts kept wandering. Either he thought of something stupid, or he became too impatient to focus properly.
"Tch. You're quite troublesome," Ember said, clearly annoyed.
"Let's try again."
This time, Orion still couldn't fully focus—but instead of forcing himself, his mind drifted naturally.
He thought of Ember's smile.
Her laughter whenever she successfully teased him.
And somehow—it worked.
He felt a presence inside his body.
It felt similar to Ember.
Violent. Vast.
It clashed with his own soul like a raging tsunami.
"I—I think I can feel your soul," Orion said, breathing heavily. "It's clashing with mine."
"Oh? Finally," Ember said. "Now try to command it. Calm it down."
"Okay, but… how?"
"Focus on it," she replied. "Strongly imagine it calming down."
After a while—after countless failed attempts—Orion finally succeeded.
"Alright!" he shouted. "It calmed down!"
"Good. You can open your eyes now."
Ember removed her hand.
"Haaah…" Orion collapsed onto the floor. "That was exhausting. I think my mental power is drained."
"So… are we done?" he asked, already knowing the answer. "Did I harness the soul fragment?"
"No," Ember said flatly.
"Figures."
"What we did was simply stabilize the soul inside your body," she explained.
"It's now dormant, adapting to its new environment. "
"Ugh… so annoying," Orion groaned. "Why can't you just give me your soul fully harnessed all at once?"
"Ha ha ha," Ember laughed casually. "Because you'd die."
"…Fair enough."
"Then when do we actually start harnessing it?"
"First, we need to make your body much stronger," she said, scanning him from head to toe.
"So… a lot of exercise?" Orion asked. "That sounds boring."
Ember's lips curled into a dangerous smile.
"You won't need that," she said. "I have a far more efficient—and faster—method."
Oh no… I have a bad feeling about this.
Orion swallowed. "And what would that be?"
She pointed her finger to the red energy that was her soul fragment filling this chamber
"A soul contains our inner power and our memories. But since I was dead, the memories within this soul were wiped away. Now, it is nothing but pure soul energy," she continued proudly.
"Remember when you first came down here? You were being crushed by its aura. That was because the soul was awake back then. Now, you don't feel anything—because it's dormant."
"Wait… if the memories from the soul were wiped, how are you talking—and how do you know so much?" he asked, genuinely curious.
"Because I'm not actually part of this soul. I'm just a recorded memory embedded in this dungeon… but that's not important right now."
She leaned closer.
"Exposing yourself to its full aura forces both your body and soul to endure constant pressure. As you adapt to that pressure, your resistance to pain will increase, and the tiny portion of the soul fragment within you will begin to resonate with the aura. It will absorb that energy, strengthening your soul and making it more robust."
Orion stared at her. He still remembered how agonizing it had been when he tried to consume the soul fragment.
Merely standing before the soul fragment while it was awake had been enough to make him collapse, his consciousness drowned in unbearable pain.
…This sadistic bitch. What kind of torture is she planning for me?