And just like that, Reinhard spent the next few hours completely using up his soul essence, then replenishing it and doing the cycle over and over again.
Interesting, even without [soul essence control], it feels like I can exert some amount of control over my soul essence.
That was weird and something very unique to Reinhard.
Dormant humans couldn't control their soul essence; that was something only awakened humans and above could do, and yet due to his unique aspect ability and attributes, even without the attribute active, his innate ability had allowed him to exert some control over his soul essence.
The control was simply too little for him to use it for any kind of benefit, though.
After sometime Nephis and Sunless woke up.
Reinhard decided to take some rest while Nephis and Sunless cooked meat for breakfast.
***
Reinhard had always been a light sleeper.
That's why, a while later, he woke up from his sleep due to some commotion.
What is going on?
Just then Cassie's loud voice entered his ears.
"A… a vision! I had a vision!"
Shut the fu-
Another female voice followed.
"Are we in danger?"
Cassie replied energetically.
"No, it's not that! People… I saw a castle full of people!"
Stop being so energetic in the morning.
While she was saying that, Reinhard sat up and looked at her.
Cassie smiled at them with her finger pointed.
"I don't know how far it is, but I'm sure that it's in that direction!"
Her small, delicate finger was confidently pointing west.
Right then Reinhard noticed the other two glancing at each other with doubtful looks.
What's that about?
Noticing the silence, the smile slowly disappeared from Cassie's face, replaced by confusion. Feeling the sudden tension, she asked:
"Uh… what's wrong?"
Sunny sighed.
"No, nothing is wrong. It's just that that direction is the one we wanted to avoid."
After some thought, he added:
"That's where I came from yesterday. There's a lot of scavengers down there."
The blind girl's face fell.
"Oh."
That doesn't even make sense, Cassie's vision showed the four of us being on the stone statue west of here, that means we would have to go there one way or another.
Though, that's considering her visions are unchangeable, So I guess it doesn't really matter.
Breaking the awkward silence, Nephis spoke:
"Tell us more about the castle."
A shadow of the previous excitement returned to Cassie's eyes. With a serious nod, she began describing her vision.
"I dreamt of a vast, ruined city built of weathered stone. It was surrounded by tall, impregnable walls. Various monsters were wandering its narrow streets. In the center of the city, their was a hill, and on that hill stood a magnificent castle."
She smiled.
"But there were no monsters in the castle! Instead, it was full of people. I think… no, I'm sure that they were Awakened. Some were guarding the walls, some were going about their lives without a care in the world. There was food, safety, and laughter!"
How far is that place for there to be no mention of this region of the dream realm?
If it is a far off region which there are already records off, then how are we supposed to travel that far?
And if it is close, then that would mean that area is just as undiscovered to human's who have not come to this region.
So that raises the question, Are the people in that castle really awakened? Or just stuck sleepers like us, who are unable to reach back and have instead just settled there.
That was a very depressing and worrying thought, which Reinhard did not feel like sharing just yet.
Or is it like a super secret place for special people, so much so that there are no mentions of it in the library and isn't known to normal people like us.
Reinhard unconsciously glanced at Nephis just at that moment.
She seemed to be contemplating something as well at least before she looked back.
Before either of them could interpret what the other was thinking, Sunny cleared his throat.
"Did you see anything else?"
Cassie frowned, trying to remember. Then, her face cleared.
"Yes! I saw Sunny leading me through the gates of the castle! That means we will make it!"
A brilliant smile appeared on her doll-like face.
Why is there no mention of me!?
And Nephis too, I guess.
From the side he could feel Sunless's gaze drilling holes into him.
Why not try making it more obvious? I almost couldn't tell.
And so Reinhard opened his mouth to speak.
"Going west seems like the best choice then." He said.
That plan was finalized a moment after, when he received agreement from the three.
***
In the grey light of morning, they abandoned the tall hill and ventured west, retracing their steps from yesterday. Knowing the path, the party of four made quick progress.
Reinhard and Nephis were walking in front, followed by Sunless who now had the job of guiding Cassie with the rope memory.
After a while, Reinhard through [Echo Perception] noticed two Carapace scavengers a good distance away.
From observing the route they were following, he knew they wont be a threat to their group.
But getting two awakened soul shards sounded like a good idea, and there was a new attribute he wanted to test against nightmare creatures too.
So still walking unbothered, he nonchalantly spoke up.
"There are two carapace scavengers, around 70 meters north west. They wont intercept our route though."
The group came to a halt.
Nephis cast a gaze forward. There was a calculating look on her face.
"They're done with the carcass?"
Sunny thought for a moment and then shook his head.
"No, I don't think so. But maybe there's not enough meat for everyone anymore, so some stragglers had no choice but to leave with an empty stomach."
Nephis nodded then turning towards Reinhard, she asked.
"What do you want to do?"
She realized huh?
That's good.
He doubted Nephis was the type to leave behind an opportunity to grow stronger, even if slightly.
"Fight of course, Or else it would just be ignoring two free awakened soul shards."
Just as he had expected, Nephis quite liked that idea.
"Alright." She said.
Before they could plan on how to take that fight, Sunless realizing the conversation was going in a direction he certainly did not like, spoke up in panic.
"Wait a minute! I know both of you are very skilled with a sword, but have you forgotten that each of those things is a whole rank above us? I kind off understand one but we wont survive fighting two or more."
Buzzkill.
Reinhard deadpanned internally.
"We will. I will assassinate one, then Nephis and I distract the other while you prepare to attack it from behind."
Then after a pause, he continued.
"Carapace Scavengers have a weak spot on the back of their head, near the part which connects to the body. That is the most effective area to attack. Other than that, the joints and the part where the torso connects to the carapace."
The next words that come out of your mouth better be of agreement.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Intimidation.]
Sunny wanted to retort, but he suddenly found himself reluctant to. It felt like there would be heavy consequences if he said the wrong words.
"Fine."
Reinhard had already explained the plan to them, so they quietly traveled a few meters before finally finding a good place to hide Cassie.
Reinhard guided Cassie to the wall of the labyrinth and helped her find a place to sit.
"We will be back soon."
Cassie nodded.
"Okay, please be careful."
"I will."
With that, the three of them made their way toward the clearing where they would intercept the two Carapace Scavengers.
Since Reinhard was the one who was going to start the encounter, he asked Nephis to go further ahead.
Sunless, with his relation to shadows, could hide very well. Reinhard with [Assassin] could do the same, but Nephis had nothing of that sort.
Both Sunless and Reinhard now hid behind a coral tree.
"Are you ready? They are almost here," Sunless asked, using his shadow to scout the two scavengers.
Pointless mentioning, by the way.
Reinhard hummed in response, keeping his eyes on the silhouettes of the two creatures.
If he was himself from the time he had first arrived in the Dream Realm, he would most likely have been very against the idea of going first into this fight.
But his past encounters, and his growth in the past few days, made him quite confident in his chances.
The scavengers were almost here. He broke out of his thoughts and revised his plan once more.
Okay focus! First assassin, then enhance, precision, throw, receive, corpus and then fight along with Nephis and wait for Sunless to finish it off.
Though I could probably do it myself, but that would be quite tedious.
The scavengers entered the clearing.
He could feel Sunless's gaze on him, waiting to see what he would do and when he would act.
After the two scavengers passed their hiding spot—
Time to aura farm.
On a count of two.
1. 2. Go!
Reinhard bolted from his position with his sword in hand.
Targeting the closer scavenger might seem more logical at first, but the other one would almost always notice him before the closer one did.
In that scenario, attacking the closer one wouldn't make sense.
That was why he focused on the farther one. Not only did that allow Reinhard to position properly, since he was right-handed, but once he was finished, the other one would try to attack him.
Nephis would be directly opposite Reinhard in that scenario, allowing her to attack from its side, while Sunless would remain directly in the creature's blind spot.
A second later, when there were barely a few meters left between them, the scavenger to the left noticed him from the corner of its vision.
The scavenger screeched and threw its pincer horizontally towards Reinhard.
While the scavenger to the right was still orienting itself and trying to turn its massive body, Reinhard—already expecting the blow—dodged and slipped below it.
Straight into the space near its legs.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Soul essence control.]
Almost instantly, explosive strength unlike anything he had felt before filled Reinhard's arms and legs.
Using that acceleration, he darted past the scavenger's legs and immediately arrived at its back.
The scavenger, abandoning all precision, swung its pincer downward.
Reinhard, having already bled off his speed, jumped sideways.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Accurate Aim.]
With all the strength he could muster, Reinhard threw the sword like a spear at the back of the scavenger's head.
The aim had already been decided.
Even before releasing the sword, Reinhard had already used his aspect ability to change the attribute once again.
And so, just before the sword hit—
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Essence Stealer.]
The sword pierced straight through the weak point and killed the Carapace Scavenger.
Reinhard didn't even look back.
Instead, he rolled sideways and created as much distance as possible.
Almost immediately, he heard heavy impact behind him.
Saved by a hair's width.
The scavenger died at that exact moment.
And the Spell's voice entered his ears.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]
[…Your soul grows stronger.]
Yes, it worked!
[Soul fragments: 15/1000]
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Loyal Memories.]
The sword stuck in the scavenger's head immediately disappeared and reappeared in Reinhard's hand.
The second scavenger, however, was no longer focused on him.
The moment Reinhard had been spotted, Nephis had already dashed toward the one he ignored.
Because of Nephis's and Reinhard's positioning, the creature had almost entirely turned away from Sunless.
Before Reinhard could properly involve himself, he paused.
Well, they've got it covered.
The next moment, Sunless was latched onto the scavenger's carapace like a cockroach.
A heartbeat later, his blade was embedded deep inside the creature's head.