Dreamland: Freedom (Terror Infinity, Ultimate Evolution)

Eden wanted to smash something.

Now, he remembered a warning Maggie had given him the first time they met. To enjoy the Training Hall while he could. Only now did he understand why.

One could use the rooms to increase the effectiveness of increasing a particular attribute by 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 150 and 200%.

The corresponding price for those had been 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 Dream Points per hour.

Now?

30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105 and 120. The prices had tripled!

It might not seem like much with his nearly 30 000 Dream Points, but attributes were harder to raise the higher they went.

If Eden decided to use all of his Dream Points on it, that was just 250 hours, or just over 10 days of time. Assuming he got 6 hours of sleep every night (he needed less thanks to his enhanced attributes), and used the rest of his time on it, that was slightly less than 14 days of use before he would run out of Points.

Truly tragic.

The only good thing about it all was that Eden had discovered an interesting way to use the Specialized Training Hall, and that was to modify the time flux.

By paying 120 Dream Points per hour, Eden could slow down time by half, making a day last 48 hours. This worked with the countdown to his next mission too, and were he to have enough points to keep it maintained for thirty days, Eden would essentially get 60 days instead.

The only caveat was that attribute gains would be halved while inside, meaning that it was a waste of points if used solely to increased attributes.

Eden learned this from Maggie, and she said most people use it to train skills and spells, but Eden intended to use it for something else: his alchemy.

Eden had decided not to make any expenses for the first week, so as to leave himself more options for when the Tier II wave would end. He had flagged down multiple spell books he had found interesting, along with some equipment, but there would undoubtedly be many more once the Players returned.

And so, Eden spent his week on his alchemy, which was a very interesting discipline.

Alchemy could have varying abilities depending on the universe it was taken from, and Eden had apparently been quite lucky as the one he had gotten was quite comprehensive.

In a few words, it dealt with altering the physical world. This was mainly done through potions, the simplest of which would be health potions, and some others could grant temporary or permanent buffs.

It was a kind of ritual magic, so it required ingredients, but the Nexus happened to have pretty much anything one could dream of.

All things considered, it was a quite rudimentary form of magic, but it was one Morgan had worked on for decades, and that could be improved upon. Morgan himself had been limited by the world he was in and his own means, but if he mastered everything taught inside, Eden could push the art much further.

The week Eden spent on it was focused on the theoretical notions only, since he did not buy any materials, and while Eden was impatient to test these, he waited.

Something else Eden worked on was mastering the last spell he had created, and the only one he had not mastered. It had gone a little slower than he was used to because he no longer had the Skull of Mictlantecuhtli to increase his MP Regeneration, and he also spent a lot of time on his alchemy, but Eden's attributes had also drastically increased, being in the thirties, so he only took a few days.

[Undead Servant (3rd Circle): Fill up a corpse with necrotic energy and bring it to unlife. May only bring back corpses with attributes under 25 (35). Cost: 330 (90) MP.]

The spell was quite good, although it could unfortunately not bring back Morgan, who would have made quite the excellent servant. The man's attributes were too high, once more showing how strong he had been.

He could not be brought back by the Evil Servant skill of the Necronomicon either, as it required the person to have been killed by necrotic damage, which would fill them with necrotic energy. Eden also suspected that if too much time passed, it would not work. Besides, although it was not written anywhere, Eden strongly suspected the spell also had a limit on the strength of the corpse brought back.

Eden still kept the corpse though, so as to study it.

Speaking of servants, Rafael had died at the end of the last mission, and when Eden brought him back, his attributes had fallen far too low. His Agility, Strength and Physique had fallen to 16, 15 and 14 respectively, and his Intelligence and Wisdom even more.

Although he still kept his Tier I Perks, Eden was no longer in immediate need of a servant, especially now that he had the Undead Servant spell, and so he had severed the link with Rafael.

He had not dared to do it back in Pirates of the Caribbean because he was scared he would lose the spell, but since he no longer had to rely so heavily on it, he accepted the risk.

As expected, the Necronomicon returned to its old description, and the Evil Servant skill disappeared, being replaced by the old one.

[Summon Lesser Demon: Summon a random lesser demon from the realms of Hell to do your bidding. If the demon has a stronger will than the caster, it will free itself from its bindings. Cost: 300 MP.]

There were no indications of the Evil Servant spell anymore, but there had been none when it first appeared either, so he would have to experiment during his next mission.

What he got to experiment on, though, was what exactly a Lesser Demon was.

As it turned out, what appeared was not what most people would traditionally picture a demon to look like. It was not a horned humanoid, or red skinned. Instead, it was a gaunt creature, that almost looked like an emaciated gargoyle.

Its skin was a scaly dull black, bat-like wings on its back, and four limbs that ended with claws.

[Name: Oona]

[Title: Lesser Demon]

[Perks: Tier I]

[HP: 110/110]

[MP: 100/100]

[Strength: 20]

[Agility: 20]

[Physique: 11]

[Intelligence: 10]

[Wisdom: 16]

[Skills: Frightful Gaze (2nd Circle)]

It was a bit disappointing, as its stats were not what he wished they were. It was decently strong, stronger than Rafael's last form at least, but being a mage himself, what Eden needed was a tank. Something with a strong physique.

This Oona was more of a nimble fighter than anything. Also, it only had the Tier I perk, which he did not think was possible. Did that mean some Players also did not earn any additional Perks during their graduation? That would make the two he had even more valuable.

Still, he decided to keep it, as it was decent enough, and would make for a good fighter. It also had a great advantage, which was flight.

Lastly, Eden also got quite a few offers for the Fruit of Life and Death, most of which were Dream Points. The lowest someone had gone was 100 000 Dream Points, which Maggie told him was an insulting offer.

To Eden, who was in need of points, these offers were quite attractive, but he followed Maggie's advice, and waited.

So, a week passed, and on the day of the Tier II wave, Eden found himself back at the Nightmare Realm.

The bar was much emptier than usual, as a good part of the clientele were Tier I and II. Only those of a higher Tier, or the few newly promoted Tier I, as well as a few Tier 0, were present.

Eden sipped on a bear, the alcohol being completely eliminated by his 21 Physique, waiting. He was alone, as Guts was busy training a skill, and Drakon, whom he had met a few times in the past week, was just not there.

Then, Maggie exclaimed, "The wave II is over! Gentlemen, your bets!"

Every screen suddenly switched to the Deadpool, and after a few seconds of heavy silence, the bar was filled with sighs, laughter and screams of all kind.

Looking at Maggie, who was cleaning glasses in front of her, Eden asked, "So, how's the haul?"

Maggie grinned, and Eden could swear her eyes turned into money signs for a moment as she replied, "Good. Not as good as last week with you, but good."

Eden himself had not bet. Not because of an ethical problem, but because he did not want to gamble with his points. He did not know anyone well enough to do it anyway.

Eden then sent a quick glance at his friends list, and was happy to see that Stitch was still there, meaning he had survived.

Much to his surprise, as he closed the tab, he saw Maggie take out a cigarette. Leaning forward, he said, "I didn't know you smoked."

Maggie took a long drag out of it, and exhaled with a relaxed expression, "Only on happy occasions, which is usually when I win a lot of money. Or well, Dream P-"

She was suddenly interrupted by a loud bell, and every screen moved away from the Deadpool, to show a list. There were ten names on the list, most of which Eden did not know.

There was one he did, however. The one at the very top.

A robotic voice echoed through the bar, "New entry on the Top 10 Most Wanted! New Number One!"

The screens zoomed in on the number one spot, and showed a familiar face, along with the bounty.

[Wanted – Stitch]

[Bounty: 20 000 000 Dream Points or 1 Ascended Artefact]

[Issuer: Hall of Perfection]

[Remark: Stolen item must be returned, or the bounty shall pass on to you!]

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at the screens, counting the zeroes. Then, there was mayhem as people spoke, and a few rushed out of the bar, more than likely already on the hunt. Eden saw quite a few of the older members that were either Tier III or Tier IV among them.

What could have Stitch done that would warrant such a bounty?

Eden looked at Maggie, but noticed she was staring at the air in front of her, and understood she was messaging, so he did not say anything, quietly sipping his beer.

Then, he opened his friends list, and sent a message.

[Ozymandias: 20M on your ass, I'm fucking jealous. I didn't even know the Top Ten Most Wanted was a thing.]

A few seconds passed, and Eden received a response.

[Stitch: I need help. This is life or death. Please help me with Mad Maggie, you're close to her.]

Eden looked up, and noticed that Maggie was no longer staring into space, and frowning instead.

Pushing his glass forward, Eden earned her attention, and asked, "You received a message? Asking for help?"

Maggie looked at him, her cigarette stuck at her lips but she was not smoking it, and asked, "Did he send you one as well?"

Eden shrugged, "I initiated the conversation. Is he asking something outrageous?"

Maggie kept frowning, and took another glass. She needed to do something with her hands. She said, "There are… things at stake. Important things," she looked at him, her expression softening considerably as she added, "But you should be more worried about yourself."

Eden, surprised at the sudden concern, asked curiously, "Isn't he asking for your help?"

Maggie sighed, shaking her head, "No, not exactly. But this is not a place to speak of this."

Maggie suddenly reached forward, touched his shoulder, and in the next moment, Eden found himself outside, in front of what looked like a small warehouse. They had teleported to the residential area, he realized as he felt a wave of nausea assault him.

Reigning it in, Eden watched Maggie knock onto the door.

It took a few seconds, but Eden heard a distinct unlocking noise. Personal rooms could only be accessed by those who had been authorized to, and Eden guessed that was it.

Eden entered with Maggie.

The room was, as expected, Stitch. Just as the exterior promised, it was a warehouse that had been arranged into a living room. Considering Players could style their rooms to be whatever they wanted, allowing them to live in the most luxurious places possible, it was an odd choice on the opposite of luxurious.

Stitch himself was sitting on the mattress laid against the ground, all four of his limbs missing.

Yet, Eden only gave a glance to it all, before his eyes locked onto one element of the room. A rectangular white pod containing a body. An unmistakable body.

Gojo Satoru.