Various images flowed into his mind and Souta felt his mind being clear. The cloudy feeling was dissipating and his eyes slowly regain their luster.
"I remember now... I exited the Dream Realm and..."
Souta's expression turned dark. The things that happened after he exited was the worse thing. Thousand of years had passed in that place yet only a few hours had passed in the real world.
He turned his head and glanced at the windows. He found that this house was inside the city of merfolk.
"What am I going to do...?"
Souta was doing all of this just to survive in the calamity but after experiencing that horrible thing. He grew numb to death. He wasn't afraid of it. It felt like it doesn't matter if he survived or not.
He experienced millions of death at that moment.
'Souta, are you okay?' Saya asked worriedly when she saw his expression.
"Oh," Souta snapped out of his daze. He looked down and asked, "Saya, do you have any goals?"
'Me?'
"Yeah, I want to know if you have any goals." Souta nodded.
'My only goal right now is to watch you succeed and reach the apex. I will always be here watching you.' Saya said.
Souta smiled when he heard her words. He said, "Okay, I will reach the apex no matter what."
Bang!
The door was slammed open, causing Souta to immediately turn his head.
It was Eilish.
Eilish had concern painted on her face as she stared at him. She opened her mouth and asked, "S-Souta, are you okay? Does your body hurt? Do you need me to help you?"
Souta stared at her first before he smiled, "I'm fine... The situation before is just a little bit problematic."
'It seems that I can't die yet.' He said inwardly.
There's also Yenxa. He would find her no matter what. Even if he fought the entire Imperium, he wasn't afraid. Invading the soul realm and disrupting the cycle was a huge deal. It would cause chaos in the entire world.
"Are you sure?" Eilish asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine now," Souta assured her.
"Sigh... I'm glad." Eilish breathed a sigh of relief.
Souta stared at her for a few seconds before he asked, "Are you that worried about me?"
"Of course! It's only natural that I would be worried about you!" Eilish raised her voice.
"Hmm... I see... I will rest here for an hour then we'll head out." Souta said before he closed his eyes.
"Okay, I will prepare a meal for you. I hunted sea monsters so I will cook it. Eat first before we depart." Eilish said before she left the room.
Souta opened his eyes and stared at the door. He could still hear the faint voices in his ears. There were changes in his body.
He realized that his stats had increased to a higher level.
Stats...?
Does it mean...
Souta widened his eyes. He moved his eyes and glanced at the system.
This...
"What I experienced was the side effect...?"
He saw that the souls in his [Soul Blood Earring] were tremendously high. The amount of souls needed for his next stat enhancement was astronomically high. It needed tens of millions of souls.
So in other words, while his consciousness manifested in the Dream Realm, his body started to move uncontrollably and consumed all the souls from the boundary that he destroyed.
This wasn't the game so all the grief and hatred of those souls were poured into his body instantly.
Damn!
It was an experience that he wouldn't ever forget.
Souta sighed. He asked Saya about what happened and just like what he expected, he really consumed the souls and went berserk.
Sigh...
That experience only made him used to death. He was numb from it.
Souta stretched his hands and felt the changes in his stats. His physical body right now was comparable to the body of a fourth shackle. He didn't need any boost or enhancement to rival their physical strength.
"I'm strong..."
He said in a low voice.
'That's the strength you gain from consuming all those souls... You know, I tried to forcefully control your body at that time but I was forced out as soon as I control your body.' Saya said. 'You are lucky, I managed to expel a huge number of souls in that split second, or else you will not be able to handle the consequences. The grief and hatred will be too much for you, especially the karma. You can't instantly consume tens of millions of souls. It's like eating food. You can't eat something that exceeded your stomach. The same thing happened to you.'
Souta grew silent. That wasn't his intention, his body automatically moved after he manifested in the Dream Realm.
'Your mind will be crushed and you will kill everyone in sight until you died of exhaustion. That girl Eilish is there and she is trying to stop you from causing trouble on this planet. If a word gets out that you are losing control of your instinct then you will be hunted down. A lot of monsters died like that. They are prone to losing control, especially before reaching the monster lord. If they couldn't control their instinct they will be placed under subjugation. You are still at the fourth stage yet you are experiencing something that monsters mostly experience at the peak fifth stage. Since I'm not a monster, I can't help you with this.'
"I understand..." Souta nodded at her words. He looked around and asked, "What about the two books that I've stolen?"
'There, in the cabinet. That girl Eilish placed those two books there.' Saya replied.
"I will enter your inner consciousness first. I want to familiarize myself with my current body. It feels like a lot of time had passed since I moved." Souta said as he stretched his arms.
He entered Saya's inner consciousness and spends his time there familiarizing himself with his current strength. He only got out after some time since he had to depart soon.
When he exited Saya's inner consciousness, Souta packed his things but Eilish forced him to eat his meal first. He had no choice but to comply with her. After that, the two went back to the surface.
"Are you sure we can go now? If you want, we can stay here tonight." Eilish said. She was still worried about Souta.
"I'm fine. I can move now. What happened before is just an accident." Souta said to her.
It was really an accident. He never thought that the [Nightmare Mask] would activate on its own and start the trial.
It was beyond his expectations.
Souta stared above. Unlike before, right now, he wasn't afraid of the future. He became indifferent to it.
"It seems that you are awake..." A voice sounded beside them.
Souta and Eilish turned their heads and saw an old merfolk.
This old guy was the Grand Elder of the merfolk tribe on this planet.
"Sorry for the damage that I've caused," Souta said to the Grand Elder before he glanced at the surroundings.
He could see that there were dozens of space cracks around the city. There were more above and it was causing a strange effect on this land.
"Don't bother it," Grand Elder shook his head. He turned his head and stared at the city. "I don't know why the ancestor passed down that tradition. But now, I realized that we've been keeping a legendary creature under our noses. It's been said that it is a guardian but the question is what is it guarding?"
"Just a small world..." Souta answered calmly.
"Hmm... Have you found what you want in that world?" Grand Elder asked.
"Yeah..." Souta said plainly.
Grand Elder turned his head and looked at him. "It seems that you are lost. You've possessed great strength better than anyone in the world."
Souta shook his head and replied, "There are still stronger beings out there. The legend of Divine World in your books... It's real. I'm from that world called Imperium."
"Divine World... Does God really exist?" Grand Elder asked calmly.
"Yeah, they are beings that I wanted to surpass." Souta nodded.
"Is that so... I can see that your mind is in a mess. I don't know anything about the Divine World but you have to know yourself and conquer yourself. I can see that you've experienced a lot of hardship. Don't let your obstacle change you, young man." Grand Elder said.
"Thank you and let me apologize once again," Souta said.
"Don't bother. Our tribe needed this. I'm observing them for dozens of years yet their attitude didn't change at all. They all think that they are better than anyone from the surface. It's time for them to accept the reality." Grand Elder said.
"I understand, then goodbye Grand Elder... I will leave now." Souta smiled and shook his head. The Grand Elder of this tribe was still the same. He was like this in the game too.
The Grand Elder stared at Souta's back before he whispered, "Hardship prepares a man for an extraordinary destiny. The harder the obstacle, the more extraordinary your destiny is. Endure it and you will find the truth that lies in your journey."
