Dreamland: Freedom (Terror Infinity, Ultimate Evolution)

Blending into the crowd, Eden looked in the direction of the Training Grounds, before shaking his head with a slight smile, and headed for the opposite direction.

The first time Eden had arrived in the Nexus, he had spent nearly the entirety of his time in the Training Grounds, and remembered feeling confused, and to be honest, a little disdainful, when he saw that others 'wasted' their time in place like the Nightmare Realm.

However, Eden now understood why they acted the way they did. It was not because they had so much time between missions that they got bored, but because they were tired.

Eden was tired.

It was a kind of mental exhaustion that sleep could not solve, and right now, training was about the last thing he wanted to do. Forcing the issue did not sound very wise either, as he would be going at it half-heartedly, and it would most probably end up in a burnout.

So, Eden headed for the Nightmare Realm instead.

The Market Place was busy as always, if not slightly more, and Eden noticed a few interesting items being sold. Most were Common and Uncommon, but there were Rare items here and there.

Eden wondered whether he would manage to buy something, if he tried. There was that ban from the Holy Order, but the sellers would have needed to memorize his face to enforce said ban, and considering it was a week old, he might manage to pull it off.

Fortunately for whatever unlucky seller who would have made the mistake, Eden's attention was brought away from the items sold as he received a notification. It was a message, from Drakon.

[Drakon: You're one fucking madman.]

[Ozymandias: I'm glad to see you survived.]

[Drakon: No thanks to you! I had my arm ripped off by one of those demons!]

[Ozymandias: I did warn you to escape.]

There was a pause of several seconds, before another message was sent.

[Drakon: I guess. Well, I'm glad you survived too. You should watch out though, you caused the death of like 90% of the Players present at the battle. Most of whom were from Tier V or IV guilds.]

[Ozymandias: I'll be fine, but thanks. I'll be at the Nightmare Realm, if you're interested.]

[Drakon: I'll sleep, maybe later.]

Eden closed his message tab, and arrived at the limit to the Upper Zone.

Where the Market Place looked like a large town center with stalls, the Upper Zone was a sprawling city of buildings. Some of the largest ones were towers, and probably belonged to Tier V Guilds.

Eden only stopped at the very edge of it though, where the Nightmare Realm was. Having been inside several times, Eden knew that it was deceptively small. From the outside, it looked just like any bar, with a neon sign saying 'Nightmare Realm' above.

Stepping through the entrance, the familiar light scanned him silently, and he was granted access inside.

The place looked busier than usual, and some Players looked agitated. Eden's arrival also drew quite a few glances, which was surprising. Although he had earned himself a smidgen of reputation with his bounty, he no longer looked like a newcomer.

Moreover, some of the glances were hostile.

Eden ignored them, and not seeing anyone he was familiar with, meaning Guts, he walked up to the war. As he sat down, Mad Maggie appeared in front of him, greeting with a grin, "You survived! First round's on me!"

She got herself busy, and started making a cocktail before him. Raising an eyebrow, Eden asked, "You're not asking me what I want?"

Although he had been here before, he never ordered anything, thinking it was a waste of Points. He still did, but since it was offered…

She did not pause, merely saying, "I can tell."

Eden shrugged, and still feeling the hostile glares, he changed the subject, asking, "So, any idea why these guys look at me like they want to rip me apart?"

Maggie momentarily glanced up, and Eden instantly felt half of the glares disappear, before she resumed her work, reassuring him, "Don't take it to heart, they bet quite a few points you would die."

"What?"

At Eden's question, the Player next to Eden, who had been drinking by himself, pointed at a blackboard and explained, "Mad Maggie holds a Deadpool. We get to bet on anyone in this bar, to see whether they would survive or not. A lot of people lost money today."

Eden glanced at the guy, and pointed out, "You look happy. Not part of them, I suppose?"

He raised his drink, smiling as he confirmed, "A newbie with a 20k contract on his head? You wouldn't believe the odds. I made a lot thanks to you. And so did Maggie."

Eden looked back at Maggie, who finished his drink, sliding it over to Eden as she said innocently, "Business is business."

Eden snorted, and grabbed the glass, tentatively taking a sip.

It was like nothing he had ever tasted, with hints of mango and blueberry. The liquid was thick, and made Eden feel like he was on a cloud.

[You have recovered 100 HP and 100 MP.]

Eden put down the drink, and Maggie was looking at him with a confident, 'I told you' look. He conceded a small smile.

Beside him, the Player introduced himself, "I'm Stitch, by the way."

Eden shook his hand, "Ozymandias, though you knew that already."

Stitch chuckled, and a knife appeared in his hand. He twirled it with a force of habit, and asked, "So, how was your first mission world? Made any allies? Enemies? Stood out in any way?"

Eden carefully looked at his expression, looking for any sign of nefarious intentions, but saw nothing.

"It was fun. Thrilling. I probably made a few enemies too."

Stitch nodded understandingly, as if he had gone through the same experience, "If you were good enough, you might get an offer from a big guild. It would considerably increase your chances for next week."

"Next week?"

Maggie, who was moving to another customer, laughed and informed over her shoulder, "Ozymandias is already Tier I."

Stitch's eyes shot wide open, though he was careful enough to lower his voice, "After a single world?"

Eden looked at Maggie, who winked at him, before turning back to Stitch, nodding, "My stats were quite high already."

"Well then, allow me to formerly invite you to join the Hall of Perfection."

A few people turned their attention their way the moment they heard the name.

"No thanks."

Stitch rolled his eyes, having expected this response already, and reasoned, "I know independence is nice, but didn't this first world show you how much having a guild and a team is? Since you've been promoted to Tier I, you must have been quite successful, so you must have met with guild teams."

Eden nodded, "I did. There were a few."

"See? And I can bet you all my Dream Points that some members of their teams were weaker than you, but they completed more missions than you."

Eden's lips thinned into a small smile, and he disagreed, "I doubt they did."

Stitch looked exasperated, thinking Eden was just contradicting him in bad faith, and decided to change his angle.

"If you join us, you would also get advantageous rates on our product."

"Your product?"

Stitch looked confident as he asked, "You are friends with Guts, right?"

Eden nodded, and Stitch said, "Don't you think he looks suspiciously like Guts? That's because he is Guts. Or at least, it is his body."

Eden frowned, and took another look around the room. Something he had noticed was that a few faces had looked familiar, but not enough to actually recollect where he had seen them. He turned back to Stitch, and asked, "The Hall of Perfection… sells bodies? For possession?"

Stitch grinned, mistaking Eden's expression as interest, "That's right! You may not know since most NPCs in low level worlds don't have one, but some of them can have Talents, just like Players, and powerful ones too."

Eden did know that, actually. When he had attacked Jack Sparrow and Lady Esmeralda, he had taken a look at their status, and discovered that the main protagonist of that world did indeed have a Talent. He did not know what it was, but it had showed him that NPCs could indeed have one too.

Taking a sip of his drink, Eden asked, "So what? They exchange one Talent for another?"

Stitch shrugged, explaining, "Depends. Some Talents are physical, while others are bound to the spirit, or the soul. Taking over a body whose Talent is related to their soul would result in the loss of said Talent, but if your Talent is related to your spirit, and you take over a body with a physical Talent…"

"Then you get two Talents."

Stitch's eyes twinkled as he confirmed, "Exactly. The advantages don't stop there either. As a general rule of thumb, important and powerful characters are more talented than most Players. Some can even have multiple Talents. But even ignoring the Talents, it is also a good way to acquire a power system."

Eden said nothing, so Stitch continued, "The Force from Star Wars, Chakra in Naruto, Haki in One Piece, Nen in Hunter x Hunter… all of these are powerful, and have immense potential. However, they are also unique to their universe."

"And taking over a body from that particular universe would give you access to it?"

"Exactly. Of course, it's not the only way. Certain special items can do that too, or if you get sent to that particular world, you could get access to that power system as a reward."

The value of the VIP Pass once again went up a notch as Eden heard that. It was already an amazing reward, but having it meant Eden could essentially choose to have a chance at acquiring a particular power system.

"And how exactly do you take over a body?"

Stitch's eyes narrowed as he smiled shrewdly, "You can't expect me to give you all of our secrets for free, can you?"

Eden smiled back, and decided not to pursue. After a moment, Stitch said, "Doing it by yourself requires very specific spells and skills far beyond your level. The Hall of Perfection has made it available to all though, allowing Players to directly buy bodies to possess, or kits to capture a body, which they can bring to us to help them possess it."

Eden nodded politely, but went back to his drink, and demurred, "Sounds interesting, I should take a look someday. But I'm still not interested, thanks."