[Due to unforeseen circumstances, you have skipped initiation and been sent directly to the First Layer of the Nightmare Realm.]

  [Current Active Fears on this layer: {Fear of Everything - Omniphobia}]

  It was now Somnu’s time to process the information. He was still staring at the recent pop-up screens.

  From what he understood, everyone had a couple of fears, that was natural. But for him to be afraid of everything was simply absurd.

  “It can’t be… I’m not afraid of anything really. It must be a mistake.” He finally let out.

  [Negative.]

  [All provided details are accurate.]

  “...”

  He didn’t know what to say back. What could he say?

  He found himself in this swamp out of nowhere, got chased by a scarecrow monster, a Nightmare Creature apparently, and got part of his ear bitten by some weird jumping turtle nightmare.

  Chosen for a mission? Defeat all Nightmare Creatures? Give me a break… He sighed. What is with this whole gaming system anyway? It’s similar to that superhero show too. Is this some kind of a sick joke?

  [Negative.]

  [The System has proven to be the best option to fight off the Nightmare Creatures.]

  “Oh yeah? And who made that call, do tell?”

  [Unable to access classified information.]

  “That’s great. Very convenient.” Somnu rolled his eyes. “What else do you have for me?”

  [Personal System creation has been completed. Ready for Initiation.]

  [Would you like to proceed?]

  “Is this where I get the actual helpful tidbits? So, I basically just skipped the tutorial, huh?”

  [Affirmative.]

  “Well, go on. Proceed with initiation or whatever. Let’s see what you have.”

  In the end, Somnu had no choice but to play along. He didn’t know if he could go back yet, and being powerless in a swamp full of Nightmare Creatures wouldn’t help either.

  I should be glad I didn’t meet more of them while running away… Or did they run away because of that scarecrow? It must be a higher rank than the turtle… right? He wondered.

  [Affirmative.]

  [Initiating personal System…]

  [Updating information due to recent changes…]

  [Processing…]

  Somnu just waited, letting it do its thing before it went on another tangent.

  [You have already slain a nightmare creature.]

  [Nightmare Creature Rank: Lurker]

  [Hopping Turtle: A turtle based on the fear of stagnation. It typically stays unmoving forever. Once it senses the fear it was based on, it hops at it and tries to consume it.]

  [One Terror Core obtained.]

  [Automatically absorbing Terror Core.]

  [Creating Ego Core for Sleeper Somnu…]

  [ERROR!]

  [Creating Hollow Core for Sleeper Somnu…]

  “!”

  Suddenly, Somnu felt a chill in the middle of his torso. He guessed it was related to whatever that weird Hollow Core pop-up was.

  He chose to wait before asking anything.

  [Data updated.]

  [Proceeding with personal System initiation…]

  [Name: Somnu ERROR!]

  [Species: ERROR!]

  [Personal Rank: Halfshade]

  [Hollow Core Rank: Chalk.]

  [Hollow Core Level: Lvl 1.]

  [Dream Catcher: Grudgekeeper.]

  [Skipping Dream Catcher description...]

  [Mementos: None.]

  [Ego particles: None.]

  [Personal Titles: {The Last Unrested}, {Fated Terror}]

  [Title Description: {The Last Unrested}: No rest for the wicked! You are unable to sleep!]

  [Title Description: {Fated Terror}: You have a natural ability to make others fear you! The more fear you cause in this scary world, the stronger and more terrified you'll feel yourself!]

  “Huh?!” Somnu couldn’t help but blurt out. “I have so many questions…”

  He wanted so badly to stop the pop-ups and inquire about the different questions popping into his head, but the next section was the exact thing he had been waiting for this entire time.

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  [General Abilities: {Multilingual Comprehension}, {Enhanced Natural Prowess}]

  [Aspiration Ability: {Scarecrow}]

  [Aspiration Ability Description: You aspire to protect what is yours! By driving your enemies away from a distance, you are surely to preserve your crop!]

  [Skills: {Crow's Call}, {Silent Step}, {Rooted Vigil}, {Straw Strike}, {Hollow Gaze}]

  [Current Active Fears: {Fear of Everything - Omniphobia}]

  [Current Quest: You are in the First Nightmare Layer, {the Abyss of Lethe}! You must find the entrance to the Second Layer after facing and overcoming your current fears! Stay vigilant and aware of your surroundings! Lethargy is the primary cause of inability! Beware, stagnation rots the soul!]

  [Alert: Nightmare Creatures will sense the active fears and hunt them relentlessly. Be sure to grow strong and travel through the Nightmare Layers to prevent your world from falling into despair.]

  [Requirement to reach the Second Layer: {1. Hollow Core rank up}, {2. Overcome current active fears}, {3. Find the exit of the First Nightmare Layer}]

  [ERROR!]

  [Unable to identify the specific number of current active fears to overcome.]

  [Recalibrating…]

  [The number of current active fears to overcome will be updated at a later time.]

  [Personal System Initiated]

  [Welcome, Sleeper Somnu.]

  “...”

  That was way too much, way too fast! Somnu kept his outburst on the inside. He couldn’t risk shouting out loud now that he knew where he was.

  [Sleeper can access the System at any time for further inquiry.]

  “Well good, because I’ll have to break it down if I want to understand this.” Somnu sighed and pulled up the information he wanted.

  By now, he knew a simple mental command could do the trick. It’s like scratching an itch, one would automatically move their hand to do it, they wouldn’t take time to command it. Commanding this System felt similar to that.

  “So, why am I still getting these errors?” He started.

  [Sleeper Somnu is defective.]

  [Unable to access tainted data.]

  “You’re still on that? Funny when you’re the one who has been messing up for the past few hours.” He shook his head slowly, then focused again. “Am I right to assume it was way too much because I skipped the tutorial and managed to rank up before… initiation?”

  [Affirmative.]

  “Oh, goody. Time to figure this out by myself then.” Somnu made himself comfortable in the empty room of the dark crypt and cracked his neck so he wouldn't get sore. “I’ll need to do this fast, it said Nightmare Creatures can sense active fears… and I got plenty of those, all of them apparently.”

  Thankfully, a lot of the things in front of him were pretty straightforward.

  “Hollow Core is probably what I need to level up. Why I got that instead of an Ego Core though, I have no clue. Any data on that?” He half-rolled his eyes while asking.

  [Negative.]

  “Figures. Let’s see…” Somnu paused, then scrolled down the list. “I know my Dream Catcher and its description already. I’ll probably figure out what all the empty slots below it are when I get them. Personal Titles seem like passive abilities.”

  He took a moment to reread those descriptions again.

  “I can’t sleep, and I cause others fear. So, nothing really different from reality.” Somnu narrowed his eyes, then something came to him. “Wait, are you basing all these on a person’s life? Giving skills that match every person based on their… aspirations, was it?”

  [Affirmative.]

  “Speaking of, Scarecrow? I mean, you’re not wrong, it’s my job, but really? Couldn’t you give me something like Superhero with the strength to kill all Nightmare Creatures?”

  [Negative.]

  “It was worth a shot, I guess.” He let out a long breath before continuing. A slight headache was starting to creep in. “Now, these skills… What do they do? And one at a time, please.”

  [Crow’s Call: Summon a friendly crow as a familiar.]

  “That’s it? Just summon it? Do I just use the same simple command?” He guessed.

  [Affirmative.]

  “Alright, here it goes.” Somnu closed his eyes and commanded to use the skill [Crow’s Call].

  “Caaw!”

  A moment later, the noise alerted him to open his eyes.

  “I’ll be… it actually worked.” Somnu took a moment, then noticed something else. “Wait, aren’t you that crow that tried to steal my corn?!”

  “Caaw!“

  As if to respond or to greet, the summoned crow standing on the ground in front of the seated Somnu simply raised one of its wings while cawing. Beside its attitude and the nasty look in its eyes, some kind of black smoke seemed to be leaking from it, perhaps a summoning side effect.

  “And what can you do exactly? Beside flying and cawing, I mean?”

  “Caaw?” The crow leaned its head to the side in confusion.

  “Eh, probably just emergency food.” Somnu went back to the System without batting an eye.

  “Caaw! Caaw!”

  “Ow! Stop that!”

  Taking offense, the crow flew up and started pecking its summoner.

  “A-alright, I’m sorry! It was a joke!” Feeling one of his active fears quickly acting up, Somnu gave up and apologized.

  However, the crow hopped to a wall and turned its head away.

  That’s when Somnu remembered his Dream Catcher’s ability description, or its first line.

  [Crows hold grudges for generations.]

  Not good… I’ll have to fix that somehow later… He made a mental note to come back to it before resuming the browsing of his skills. “Go on with the second skill.”

  [Silent Step: For a short time, you can walk or run in complete silence.]

  “That’s pretty straight forward.” Somnu commented. “It could be pretty useful too.”

  After quickly trying it around the room, it did pretty much what it said it would do. He just needed to get used to not hearing his own steps or movements.

  “There is no cooldown to using these skills…” He pointed out, coming to a different realization. “There must be some kind of limit to using skills, stamina maybe?”

  After quickly going over the rest of his skills and familiarizing himself with them, Somnu moved on to the end of his list.

  “So, I’m in the Abyss of Lethe, huh? Where have I heard that name before?” He tried to rack his brain for all the information he had consumed during the long nights. “Wasn’t it from a mythology? Something about a river of lethargy or the like?”

  That particular information didn’t quite matter to his current situation, but his curiosity always got the better of him.

  “So, my current problems are the active fears and the different requirements I need to move to the next layer.” He reviewed, then slowly got up, alerting his new crow companion from the side. “For now, the most important thing would be to secure food and water, then try to level up before any monsters pick up my scent.”

  Should I try meeting other people, or Sleepers, in my position too…? There have to be others beside me. It would make things easier, but… He wondered inwardly, then gave up on the idea. Forget it, it would just be a headache. I have enough of that already.

  Before he did anything else though, there was one more thing he needed to do here.

  He turned around and faced the opposite wall.

  There was still one more unexplored door in this crypt. It was his best chance at potential food and water before he heads back out.

  “Anything but a Hopping Turtle, please…”

  “Caaw!”

  Deep inside him, an urge to partake in this twisted game was growing. As much as he wanted to go back home, to wake up from this nightmare, another desire was pushing its way to the surface.

  After all, it all almost seemed a little too familiar to him for some reason, like a game he had played once before.

  The nostalgia he wasn’t aware of pushed him forward.

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