(Written while listening to: "Suzume(feat. Toaka)" by RADWIMPS on Youtube
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Laito didn't hesitate.
'Yes!'
The Nightmare Spell also didn't hesitate.
It took over and automated the process that was inherent to Laito's own Aspect. He witnessed the events that took place in his Soul Sea.
First, the Tome of Radiance manifested itself above the platform on which the dormant Gate stood.
The tome positioned itself above one of the six symbols that encircled the Gate.
Guided by the Nightmare Spell's influence, the tome realised a steady stream of golden energy towards the symbol it was above off.
Under the influence of said energy the symbol lit up. Shining with the same yellow-gold glow.
Laito felt something awakening within himself, some sort of new sense started to form, but it was still incomplete.
It was anchored, but lacked form… and substance.
The Spell extended itself to search for proper form.
Laito experienced a strong vertigo sensation as his mind was suddenly filled by fast changing images. There were so many of them, moving so fast that even his current Sleeper mind couldn't keep up.
Then, it suddenly stopped.
The sentient lightbulb saw a very familiar image:
An aged and imposing white wizard, with his transcendent form of giant white eagle overlapping with each other.
Font of Wisdom. Gandeon Olorfnir.
Laito felt the Spell guided the process of inspecting and analyzing his old commander's very being…
'Wait… what? Does that mean…' Laito considered how something like that is even possible.
'Does the Spell can do that with my memories of him? Or…' He wondered and then made a realization, while mentally faceslapping himself.
'If I devoured the entire fragment of the realm… that also means it included all the people there… and not only people… damn. Are they frozen in time somewhere in my soul or something? That would be quite creepy.' He reminded himself how Sunny's kills ended up as silent shades within his own dark soul.
At that point Laito felt the Spell withdraw as if unable to proceed, it tried to reach for something, but was unable to.
In the end it resigned and spoke dejectedly.
[Creation of an Avatar requires a sacrifice.]
[Choose.]
And with that it went silent, seemingly leaving Laito with how to proceed.
—
—
'Huh? A sacrifice? Of course good things never come free… I have a feeling that I shouldn't cheap off on that.
He wondered what exactly the process required him to sacrifice… and realized that the easiest things to use were his Memories and Echoes.
—
'Ahh I hate it… it better be worth it.'
First he turned his thoughts towards his Echoes, but instantly felt something is not right.
'That won't work… the Avatar I am creating is made from Tome of Radiance and both my Echoes are undead… they are not compatible.'
Resigned, Laito turned his thoughts back to his arsenal of Memories.
While after so long a time within his Nightmare he didn't own much in terms of quantity, for a Sleeper, the quality of them was quite nice.
Few awakened Memories, an amazing ascendant one and even a supreme!
'We goin big dick. As they say "go big or go home".'
Laito focused on [Memory of Abundance], technically the highest rank Memory he owned, one that he never even used, nor was even sure what it did.
'Meh. Out of sight, out of mind.' He directed chosen Memory towards the forming Avatar.
'It feels a little bit like I am cooking, or doing alchemy. Funny.'
It disappeared as soon as it touched the gold-yellow rune on the platform.
[You sacrificed a Memory.]
The Spell helpfully announced… but then it continued.
[The chosen template Rank: Transcendent Beast.]
[You have sacrificed a Supreme Memory.]
[Current predicted Avatar's Aspect Rank: Transcendent.]
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—
'Whoa, whoa… Wait a sec. So the way I am crafting this Avatar influences its quality. Noted. I knew it was a good idea to go big dick. But also... my Avatar is going to have it's own full blown Apect!?! That's ridicolous!'
Laito got excited and wondered if he could up the Rank of his creation a bit more.
He tried to read into the process and gained some sort of understanding that he could, but needed to hurry and sacrifice even more.
The higher rank of used Memories and Echoes, the better the outcome.
Another thing that influenced the process was the compatibility between all ingredients.
If he accidentally tossed there something incompatible, like Apollyon for example, the created Avatar would end up "polluted". Whatever that meant.
Lait didn't have any more unusually high quality Memories on him, so he threw in the next best thing.
[You have sacrificed a Memory: Disciple's Robe.]
'It's possible that attributes of what I am making will be influenced by what I toss in. It would be soo cool to have innate soul and mind resistances. Besides, I can tell that this Robe was superbly compatible and an overall good choice.' Laito was willing to risk his most useful Memory for a potential gain.
But it was not yet enough.
[Predicted Avatar's Aspect Rank: Transcendent.]
'Damn… what's next. I am only left with Awakened and Dormant Memories… and that suspicious [Seed of Darkness], but I have no idea where it is and there's no way I would use it for my precious baby.'
Laito already got somehow attached to his creation even though it wasn't done yet.
His attention shifted towards the next fairly compatible Memory. The [S-WORD]. But Laito hesitated.
'I don't wanna use it… now that I will be able to actively use its enhancements it's just too good! I will only use it if there's no other option.' He decided and went further with selecting Memories.
There was not much of a choice left.
He had Misericorde, Boner, Cold Grave Casket and Rusted Spear left.
Two Ascendant Memories and two Dormant ones.
He instantly threw in Misericorde. Although it was useful, he could always find something similar later, as its enhancements weren't that unique, like S-WORD's.
It was still not enough.
But Laito felt it was close.
Just a little nudge.
He discarded the idea of using Boner as its situation was similar to Bona's and Apollyon's. Question of compatibility.
Laito focused on his last chance.
Rusted Spear was literal garbage so he didn't even consider it…
But the Cold Grave Casket was different.
As it was a grave related thing, one could think it was also related to death(or undeath) but it was not.
In fact, Laito felt it was somehow very compatible with his current creation.
And yet, he still hesitated.
That's because of caskets's description:
Memory name: Cold Grave Casket
Memory description: [In the end, the hard working carpenter found his solace through the mercy of kind knight's blade.]
And Laito knew from the original novel…
That Solace was a Sin.
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[1,5 years left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet
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