Dreamland: Freedom (Terror Infinity, Ultimate Evolution)

Shoutout to Nathanael Merka for becoming a Patron!

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Stitch kept trying to convince Eden for a while, but understood after a while that Eden's position was firm, so he ended up leaving the subject altogether, although he did add Eden as a friend.

Once Eden finished his drink, he gestured at Maggie, who walked over, asking, "Another?"

Eden shook his head with a smile, "I need my Points, sorry. I do have some business for you, though."

"Shoot."

Eden accessed his Inventory, and took a screenshot of the Fruit of Life and Death. This was a feature which could be accessed inside the Nexus. He sent it to Maggie through their personal channel, and said, "I'm looking to sell this. How much do you think I could get from it?"

Maggie stared into space for a moment, before cocking an eyebrow, and looked back at Eden, showing both amusement and curiosity.

"You got sent to Pirates of the Caribbean, didn't you?"

Eden nodded, though he asked, "I did. You can see a lot, can't you?" This was the first time anyone saw past his Talent, as far as he knew, although he did not know how much she saw. He did not feel any signs of her using any sort of Analysis skill on him, so it had to be through some other way.

Maggie winked, and remarked, "Something like that shouldn't exist in a world like that. To get something of this rarity… you've pissed many people, haven't you?"

Eden shrugged, "Probably, I just unleashed a god on them. You'd have to ask them, if they survived the experience."

Stitch looked flabbergasted, while Maggie laughed, "I knew I liked you. Putting the item aside, would you be interested in selling me information instead?"

Eden guessed, "You want to know how I did it?"

Maggie nodded, "Would be worth a lot. Whatever Guild you messed up with, they'll probably come to you to buy it too. I'll give you a better price for it, and it won't come with the threat."

Eden chortled, "Sure. And you know what? I'll give it to you for free."

Maggie seemed amused by the offer, and argued, "Nothing's ever really free though, is it?"

"I suppose. Then let's say the price will be your friendship. Friends talk, give each other advice, have each other's best interest at heart…"

Maggie studied his expression with a soft smile, and after a moment, extended her hand over the counter, "To a happy friendship then."

Eden shook it, "To a happy friendship."

He spent the next few minutes detailing his experience in the Pirates of the Caribbean world, going from Morgan's query, to the cave, Guardian, the consequences of his actions, and the eventual showdown at the mysterious island.

Of course, he kept some elements to himself. He mentioned the dangers, requirements and pitfalls, but not how he had met them. Not that Maggie expected him to, as these were personal information that no one would reveal.

When he sent it, Maggie snapped her fingers, and a copy of her appeared beside her in a cloud of smoke. The clone moved on to serve the other patrons, while Maggie leaned against the counter, her eyes zoning out as she read his tale.

She showed a variety of expressions as she read the 'report' of his mission, and after a few minutes, when she was done, her eyes focused back on Eden, and said, "Seems like you've had quite the adventure. Now I understand how you got the fruit."

She sent a glance at Stitch, who smiled innocently, and added, "You were asking about possession. It's not that esoteric of a skill, actually. The principle behind it is to send your soul into a soulless body, and take it over. Success is not guaranteed, though. It requires a strong soul, a grasp of life and death, and some luck."

Maggie gave a pointed look at Eden as she said that, but he did not need it to take the obvious hint, as she pretty much recited the effects of the Life of Fruit and Death.

He had feared the fruit was useless and would not sell well, but it seemed it would be a great help to anyone looking to possess a body, meaning it should be valuable.

Maggie rested her chin on her palm, and advised, "I could help you sell it right now, but I'd advise you to wait a week."

"Why is that?"

Maggie explained patiently, "Dreamland's mission worlds work in waves. Tier 0 have a mission every week, Tier I every month, Tier II every three months, Tier III every year. There are new recruits every week, so if nothing was done, no one would have their missions at the same time, since months are irregular and don't add up to exactly four weeks.

"That's why Tier 0 missions are not aligned with higher tiers."

Eden followed the train of thought, "But the others are? Does that mean that every three Tier I missions, there is a Tier II mission, and every four Tier II mission, there is a Tier III mission?"

Maggie nodded, "Exactly. Well, not just one, there are too many Players to fit them all in one mission, we call them waves. Next week is a Tier II wave, meaning there will be Tier I and Tier II missions happening."

"Why should I wait for it then?"

Maggie explained, "The Fruit of Life and Death is Epic Rarity, which represents the peak of Tier II. Right now, all Tier II Players have been training for nearly three months, and have long exchanged everything they had acquired and intended to sell. If you sell it now, you will probably get Dream Points, which would not be best for you. If you wait, you will have far more and better options to choose from after the Tier II wave."

Eden nodded, agreeing with her logic. Reaching into his Inventory, Eden took out the Fruit of Life and Death, and offered it to Maggie, who looked at him with surprise.

"Here, could you hold onto it? I trust you with it. After all, it would be dreadful if something happened to me and it was stolen, wouldn't it?"

Eden and Maggie had not made any effort to make their conversation private, and so a few surrounding Players had been glaring intensely at Eden, ever since they had revealed he had an Epic item.

Although the Nightmare Realm and its entrance were the only places where he was not protected by the system, and there was a no aggression rule inside the bar, a higher level Player might still attempt to attack him in the few meters between the bar and the protected zone.

Moreover, there were still many things Eden did not know about Dreamland and the Nexus, and there might be ways to circumvent the rules, so he would rather not risk it.

Maggie grabbed the fruit, placing it in her Inventory as she said, "Sure, I'll hold onto it. I can still post it now if you want, to let people make offers for it. Maybe someone will have something interesting left."

Eden nodded, it did not cost him anything.

With this done, Eden asked, "About the waves… You said the next one was next week, right?"

Maggie nodded, and guessed, "You want to ask how you will be aligned with the waves?"

Eden nodded back. Dreamland had told him he had a month until his next mission, but since the wave was the next week, then the wave after that would be in a month and a week.

"No one really knows what happens exactly, but you're put in a kind of stasis for a week. In exactly a month, you will receive be sent to your mission, and you won't feel anything amiss. However, a week will pass in Nexus for the other Players, thus aligning you with the timeline. The same will happen for Tier II."

"What about the mission time? Is there a time dilation between the mission worlds and the Nexus?"

"Time stops. You disappear to your mission world, and even if you stay in there for months, you will return to the Nexus at the very instant you left. Well, in your case, you will return exactly one week after your perception of when you left."

Eden was about to continue asking, when a small group entered the bar. Eden would not have paid attention to them, but he recognized a familiar figure, and turned around.

He did not know most of the group, but the one in the back, he did. It was Evie, the assassin who had repeatedly tried to kill him, and had almost succeeded at the very end. He was not sure she had survived the injuries he had inflicted on her, but it seemed she did.

The two stared at each other, and where one might expect two people who had just nearly killed each other less than half an hour before to hate each other, there was no anger or killing intent in neither of their eyes.

Evie's look was intense, and looked at him seriously. Eden was smiling, feeling some respect for her, as she was the one who got the closest to finishing him.

All of the other Players had been easily played by him, and offered no real challenge. Evie, unlike them, had always been in control of her own situation, and proved to be a serious opponent.

The others around her also looked at him, and with more hostility, but they got ignored. As Evie went to sit in the corner of the Shadow Guild, confirming her allegiance, Eden asked, "What about the Tier I in my mission world?"

Maggie replied, "Probably raised an attribute to 19, and prepared a consumable to increase that attribute that they consumed the moment they entered."

Eden finally looked away from Evie, turning back to Maggie as he said, "Thanks for everything. Last thing, do you have some spell books for sale? 3rd Circle if possible."

Maggie wordlessly took out a small digital tablet and handed it over to Eden.

Maggie offered her services to all Nightmares, along with a few other high tiered Players, so she could not simply physically display everything she had for sale.

That was why she had these tablets. These were a system feature that came along with her shop. It allowed one to browse through all of her services and products.

Being already familiar with it, having used it before, looked for 3rd Circle spell books.

Unfortunately, they were just as expensive as the last time he looked, averaging at around 10 000 Dream Points for a single 3rd Circle Spell. This only served to show how precious the Necronomicon Copy was.

The thing was, Eden had already learned nearly everything the cursed book had to teach him. Making any more spells would now require him to expand on the knowledge he already had, to experiment with new things, but that would drastically increase the time needed to create a new spell.

Eden might have a month to prepare, but he estimated that if he worked on his own, he might only be able to create two or three new Third Circle spells, and they would all be black magic too.

Eden did not need black magic at the moment though, what he had learned was plenty enough already. The Mists of the Underworld was a powerful spell, and his Undead Servant also had good potential to become a paramount skill for him.

What Eden needed was other kinds of magic, probably elemental. Strengthened Fireball was good, great even, but it would lose a lot of efficiency against Tier I opponents. For example, back in Pirates of the Caribbean, Osmond had practically shrugged it off, and he was only a beginner Tier I.

But even if he sold the Glock 19, which was the only thing he would even consider selling among his belongings, Eden would end up with barely 30 000 Dream Points, so just enough to buy three spells.

And if he did that, Eden would find himself without any Points left for the Training Hall, or train in alchemy.

He still had Morgan's notes on alchemy, which he did intend to work on, and the practice most certainly required raw materials.

He needed money.