Dreamland: Freedom (Terror Infinity, Ultimate Evolution)

Eden had long suspected that mastering Cursed Energy would be much faster when experiencing combat than training alone in his room, but those Intellect Devourers were harmless to him and provided little experience.

Not that Eden expected much in Act 1 to be much of a threat to him. Although there might be some exceptions.

Imbuing his eyes with Cursed Energy, Eden observed the three new Evil Spirits floating around him and noted that they were weaker than normal. This was to be expected.

The strength of an Evil Spirit was determined by how strong their negative emotions were, meaning that intelligence had a direct impact on the quality of an Evil Spirit. However, an Evil Spirit was not only made of the mind, but also the soul.

But Intellect Devourers, like Illithids, or Mind Flayers, did not have souls, so although they were beings of great intelligence, the Evil Spirits formed from their were lackluster.

Meanwhile, Sylfine looked down at her palm, flexing and relaxing it repeatedly as she explained herself, "I'm not sure what that was… It felt natural to strike like that."

Eden glanced at her, observing her troubled features. Shadowheart, on the other hand, merely mocked, "Or you're just bad."

The corner of Sylfine's mouth twitched, "Big words for someone incapable of aiming a spell properly."

Seeing he was about to retort, Eden intervened, "You all are useless right now. Sylfine, throw proper punches. Shadowheart, next time, don't reveal our location to everything within a kilometer by making an explosion."

Shadowheart turned away, huffing, while Sylfine blurted, "I didn't give you my name."

"I know all of your names, and more. Now, stop asking questions, and follow. There is another nearby."

Not leaving them any chance to refute, he walked deeper into the crashed Nautiloid, and soon heard a voice cry out, "Hello? Over here! I need some help!"

They exited through another opening, on the other side of the Nautiloid, where an Illithid pod had crashed. Next to it was a white-haired Elf shouting for their help.

[Name: Astarion]

[Title: Vampire Spawn]

[Talent: ?]

[HP: 140/140]

[MP: 130/130]

[Strength: 8]

[Agility: 17]

[Physique: 14]

[Intelligence: 13]

[Wisdom: 13]

Seeing them approach, he bent his body forward, ready to spring for an attack as he whispered just loudly enough for them to hear, "There, in that bush! I cornered one of those freaks! Help me kill it."

Eden looked at the vampire spawn, unimpressed, and seeing this, Astarion leapt at Eden, his left hand raised high and glowing, while his right hand sneakily drove a dagger towards Eden's throat.

Narrowing his eyes, Eden decided it was as good a time as any to finally try out his Title, and activated Omen of Death.

The moment he did, a dark aura spread out from Eden, latching and weighing down on everything and everyone in his surroundings. Astarion, in the middle of his attack, suddenly froze, his eyes widening and his pupils constricting to the size of a needle.

This aura was actually invisible to the naked eye, but imbuing his eyes with Cursed Energy allowed Eden to see many things.

Curiously, while Astarion and Shadowheart stood frozen, Sylfine looked… orgasmic?

Retrieving his aura by deactivating the Title, all three of them took a deep breath, though for different reasons.

A little disturbed, Eden turned back to Astarion and said, "I do not seek to harm you, spawn, but to recruit you."

Shaken by Eden's earlier show of power, Astarion barely reacted to Eden's hint at knowing his true nature, stepping back cautiously as he forced himself to calm down, "Recruit me?"

Eden nodded when Astarion and Sylfine suddenly clutched their heads, groaning in pain.

"What are you doing to me?!"

Eden explained, "Your tadpoles are communicating with each other. You are seeing what the other saw." He kept to himself that this 'communication' was in fact being triggered by the mysterious artefact, or rather, the Emperor within.

Manipulating the tadpoles might be next to impossible for even the greatest of wizards, but for an Illithid, it was all too simple.

The link between the tadpoles was broken after a few seconds, and Astarion looked at the two women, exclaiming in realization and anger, "I knew I had seen you somewhere; you were on that ship! And you just passed by my pod, doing nothing to help me."

He turned to Eden, his anger diminishing considerably, 200 years of deference to those stronger than him long ingrained into his very bones as he said, softly, "What do you want with me?"

Eden gave a pointed look to the nearby pod, explaining, "Those who abducted you were not just Illithids; they are part of something bigger. Something known as the Cult of the Absolute. They represent a threat to the entire material plane, and I need help to put an end to them."

"You want me to help?" He looked at Shadowheart and Sylfine, asking, "Is this some sort of game?"

Crossing his arms, Eden reasoned, "The tadpoles sapped your strength, but it will soon return, and some more."

A glint of hardly covered greed appeared in Astarion's eyes as he asked with a charming smile, "How much are we talking about?"

"Enough to deal with Szarr."

Astarion's expression changed dramatically, the Elven vampire spawn failing to keep his emotions in check as he asked, or even demanded, "Who are you? How could you know about- about him!"

"Ozymandias, and I know far more than you could imagine. Now, will you follow us, or would you rather bask in the sun? I'm sure it has been a while."

Astarion was obviously still guarded, but he eventually nodded, relenting, "Fine, I will join the flock. If saving the world is what it takes to deal with Cazador."

Eden finally smiled, assuring, "Do not worry, Astarion. I am assembling a party of companions, not picking up prisoners."

Astarion hummed softly when Sylfine suddenly warned, "Careful, there's one of these monsters!"

Everyone turned to look as out of the ship came a lithe figure, hovering a few centimeters off the ground. While humanoid in shape, its hands and feet ended in sharp claws, and its face was adorned with a set of four long tentacles.

[Name: Illithid]

[Title: N/A]

[HP: 120/210]

[MP: 330/330]

[Strength: 19]

[Agility: 21]

[Physique: 21]

[Intelligence: 33]

[Wisdom: 30]

Eden frowned at the aberration and its unexpected power. He had methodically reviewed the entire game in the past month, and he was certain there were no such enemies at this point in the game. The only plausible link would be the normally injured Mind Flayer that the Player would come across inside the Nautiloid, which was supposed to be Level 5.

But this… not only was it relatively healthy, but its attributes were high, much higher than expected. Not enough to represent a true threat to Eden, but enough to be an unstoppable force to his three new companions.

Unsheathing the Rosa Estrellada, which he kept at his side always, Eden reinforced his body with Cursed Energy, kicking up dirt as he leapt forward. The Illithid tried to float up, but Eden fired a Dismantle right above it. It somehow sensed the attack, stopping its ascent as it blasted the area in front of it with psychic energy.

[Wisdom Check…]

[Wisdom Check overruled by 'Soul Overlord'!]

[Intelligence Check…]

[Intelligence Check overruled by 'Soul Overlord'!]

Eden's Cursed Energy absorbed a part of the blow, but Eden still felt a mild headache as his psyche was assaulted by the attack. He had felt it coming, but it was not something that could be dodged so easily.

Properly annoyed, Eden's Cursed Energy flooded his sword, concentrating along its edge as he swung it at the Illithid.

The Mind Flayer tried to dodge, but Eden was already faster than it without Cursed Energy, so the sword easily reached its mark, thrusting into its chest.

The aberration released a shocked gasp as it felt the blade tear into its heart, and tried to land one final strike with its tentacles, but Eden retreated just as fast as he had attacked, the lash inevitably missing as the monster perished, and its powerful mind was turned into an Evil Spirit.

There was a moment of silence as Eden's Cursed Energy calmed down, before he heard some slow clapping from behind. Turning around, he saw that the source of it was Astarion. The vampire spawn was smiling smugly and said, "Very impressive."

Sheathing his sword, Eden looked down at the Mind Flayer, saying, "Soon, you will be able to do the same, and some more."

Eden took out the Necronomicon Copy from his Inventory, and cast the last spell he had mastered.

"I cast Undead Servant."

A triple-layered concentric circle appeared in front of Eden as necrotic energy seeped into the fresh corpse. However, even after a couple of seconds, nothing happened.

Although disappointed, Eden had expected the result.

It was not so much that Illithids were impossible to turn undead, at least not to Eden's knowledge, but rather a change stemming from Eden's Binding Vow.

Evil Servant and Undead Servants alike required a mind, or at least a fragment of their soul, to be brought back to life.

Before, when Eden had turned Don Rafael into an Evil Servant, the Evil Spirit he had turned his mind into had been temporarily given back to his body, and once he died, it returned to Eden.

However, because Eden had made a Binding Vow limiting the use of his Evil Spirits, once taken, they could no longer be lent back to animate their undead bodies, as it was technically a side effect of his Evil Possession spell.

Eden was not sure it would be affected before, but he was now. This meant that if Eden wanted to turn a body into an Evil Servant, he could not kill them with his Cursed Energy.

Fortunately, Eden did not rely only on his Cursed Energy to fight, so it was not really an issue.

As the magical circle disappeared, Shadowheart observed, "Are you a Spell-blade?"

Eden shrugged, "In a sense, I suppose."

The group, with the addition of Astarion, continued moving forward, once more passing by the Nautiloid ship. As expected, they did not see any injured Mind Flayers, but instead passed by a trio of what seemed to be fisher-men. The back of their skull had been punctured, their brain devoured.

"Was this the doing of these creatures?"

Eden nodded at Astarion's question, explaining, "Illithids, more commonly known as Mind Flayers, are soulless creatures that feast on the mind. The brain is a delicacy to these aberrations."

Not far ahead, they found three more bodies, goblins this time. These still had their brains, their flesh rendered by a sword instead. Strangely, their wounds had also been burned.

Seeing this, Sylfine exclaimed, "That Githyanki must be alive!"

Shadowheart confirmed, though there was little joy in her voice, "We killed a powerful cambion back on that ship, and the Gith took its flaming sword. We should be careful, she might ambush us."

Eden shook his head, having picked up a Minor Health Potion from one of the goblins, "No, she also has a part to play in this. But for now, there is another one, closer. Follow me."

They soon came upon a strange sight, that of a purple runic circle etched into the stone. Said runes were barely visible, however, as a torrent of arcane energy exuded from a hole in space.

Seeing it, Astarion warned, "That looks dangerous. How about we go the other way around?"

Shadowheart and Sylfine seemed to agree, but Eden approached it fearlessly, saying, "No, someone important is in there."

Approaching the unstable magic, Eden felt his own mana start misbehaving, pulling towards the anomaly. It got stronger as Eden approached the runic circle, but Eden easily got it under control and placed a hand on the side of the symbol.

Eden felt the wild magic surge through his hand, threatening to lay havoc to his body, so he closed his eyes, quickly tuning into his Talent as he got the energy under control.

Then, using that strand of energy as a bridge, Eden carefully controlled the erratic magic, forcing it back into order as a voice came from inside, "Yes!"

Eden ignored it, his Talent requiring his full concentration. The warped portal gradually stopped greedily sucking in the surrounding mana, the sigil recovering to its appropriate form.

Finally, as the spell was stabilized, Eden opened his eyes and saw a man step out, the portal closing behind him.

He was dressed in a well-made purple robe, carried a long quarterstaff in his back, and had this look of self-confidence that bordered on pride.

[Name: Gale Dekarios]

[Title: Magical Prodigy]

[Talent: ?]

[HP: 150/150]

[MP: 170/170]

[Strength: 8]

[Agility: 13]

[Physique: 15]

[Intelligence: 10]

[Wisdom: 17]

Smiling, he greeted gratefully, "Hello! I am Gale of Waterdeep. Apologies for the mess, I am usually better at this."

Eden nodded, taking his hand off the sigil, "I know you are."

Gale raised an eyebrow at that, before checking the faces of his companions, and commenting, "I know you. You were on board the Nautiloid, weren't you?"

Sylfine was the only one to grace him with a response, coming in the form of a nod, and Eden said, "Yes, you were all implanted with an Illithid tadpole, but you do not have to worry about ceremorphosis for now."

Something glinted in Gale's eyes as his smile receded ever so slightly, "What a mysterious personage you are. Here we are, all stranded and infected, and you come to our rescue… You are powerful too, I can feel it. Too powerful for this to be a coincidental meeting."

This earned him impressed looks from his fellow infected, while Eden confirmed, "This is no coincidence indeed. I was sent here on a mission to stop the Absolute. I am gathering a party, you see. And you are part of it."

"I am? I doubt I could help you stop anything you could not in my present form. Or are you after my expertise in everything magical?"

Eden smiled at the slight tone of cockiness he heard in that second phrase, and admitted without hesitation, "I do happen to want to further my magical studies, and who better than an Archmage for this?"

Gale smiled, appearing genuinely happy as he asked, "You've heard of me?"

Immediately, Shadowheart shut it down, "You're not special. He knows a lot about all of us. Probably more than he lets on, and definitely more than we would like to."

To press on her point, Eden pressed on his own chest, an action that may seem innocent to the others, but carried a deep meaning to Gale, and said, "You all have something precious to offer, and a past I understand you would prefer to keep to yourselves."

He turned, addressing the whole group, "As Shadowheart said, I know a lot. Probably more than any of you. And I understand and respect your desires for secrecy. I assure you all I shall not reveal anything about you, your past, or your conditions to the others. This is something you will all have to do, whenever you feel ready."

Silence stretched on, with some feeling relief, and others confusion. It was Sylfine who broke the silence, asking softly, "Do you know about me, too?"

Eden looked at the Half-Elf of cursed blood, and having already expected the question, nodded, but warned, "I do. However, it is not something for me to say, for it would do you more harm than good."

Sylfine looked troubled, but she did not contest his words.

Fortunately, Gale was there to lift the mood as he said, "Well, allow me to accept your most gracious offer then. I was not aware I was in the presence of such esteemed individuals. Say, you seem to know a lot about our condition. Would you be open to revealing more about it, or is that also something we are supposed to discover by ourselves as well?"

Eden considered his options for a moment before opening his palm towards Shadowheart, asking politely, "Miss Shadowheart, may I have the artefact for a moment?"

Shadowheart bit the inside of her cheek and reluctantly took out the artefact. She clearly was not comfortable with doing this, but she also understood that she needed this group, and someone had to make the first step. Also, it was hard to refuse something to someone who could kill you in a blink.

Still, as she placed it in his palm, she warned, "Drop the Miss. If we are meant to be companions, then call me Shadowheart."

Eden smiled, nodding, and laid his palm flat, explaining, "The tadpoles you were infected with were not normal ones, and have been tampered with a special kind of magic. Netherese magic."

Gale, the only one who knew what it was and was intrinsically linked to said magic already, was the only one to react, looking shocked.

Eden continued, "That is why you will not undergo ceremorphosis the normal way. But since you are bound to go against the Absolute, who controls your tadpoles, they will try to turn them against you. Fortunately, this artefact has the power to protect you from the Absolute."

Astarion hummed softly, "So you are saying we don't have a choice but to follow you. If we don't, we will be turned into those monsters?"

Eden handed the artefact back to Shadowheart, admitting, "I'm afraid not. Well, you do have the alternative of serving the Absolute, but this is something I would strongly advise against."

Shadowheart, meanwhile, asked, "You said earlier there was a Grove nearby that could help us, but since these tadpoles are not normal, can we really hope for help there?"

Eden shrugged, replying lightly, "The Grove is led by Archdruid Halsin. If anyone can help, it's him."

Shadowheart pressed on nonetheless, "But do you think he will be able to help?"

Eden pursed his lips for a moment before revealing, "I think the only way to do so is to kill the Absolute."