[All rewards calculations are complete.]
[You have obtained a Gray Terror Core.]
[Note: Gray Terror Cores are worth 10 Transparent Cores each.]
[You have obtained 1 Additional Transparent Terror Core due to Slowing Bunny’s level.]
[Randomizing percentage of obtainable Ego particles…]
[You have obtained 117 Ego Particles based on Slowing Bunny’s level.]
[All rewards have been sent to your inventory.]
|Current available Terror Cores in storage: 11 Terror Cores.]
[Would you like to consume available Terror Cores now?]
Again, Somnu was barraged by an onslaught of pop-up screens. He stood calmly, reminding himself of how important it is to learn the basics now so he can understand or ignore them later.
“Okay, let’s quickly review. I got 1 Terror Core from the Hopping Turtle, but 1 Gray Terror Core from the Slowing Bunny, which is worth 10 normal ones.” He paused, then proclaimed his hypothesis. “So, Lurkers, the first rank of the Nightmare Creatures, give 1 Transparent Core, while the Specters, the second rank, give 1 Gray Core, or the equivalent of 10 Transparent Cores.”
He was sure to need this information going forward, so he made a mental note to remember them. Then, he moved on.
“I gained another extra Transparent Terror Core because of the monster’s level, but I have no idea what it is based on. I won’t complain though.”
While he didn’t know about that part, he had an inkling about the last reward.
“117 Ego Particles based on a random percentage of the total number the Nightmare Creature had consumed?” Somnu paused, not liking his own line of thinking. “Does that mean it had at least consumed 117 Ego Cores so far? As in… other people?”
The moment he uttered the words, Somnu felt his throat tighten up.
Since the System failed to give him an Ego Core, he could easily guess other Sleepers were running on them. And if he’s gaining Ego Particles from defeated monsters, that could only mean that monster had already defeated and consumed Sleepers.
Without knowing the exact percentage, he couldn’t calculate how many were consumed, but realizing that it was at the very least 117 Sleepers like him made Somnu clench his fists to the point of drawing blood.
117 poor souls who likely found themselves suddenly transported to this rotting swamp, entered the crypt for safety, only to be chased down by the hideous Slowing Bunny…
And Somnu had come too close to joining them.
“If I had known this before…” He started to say through his teeth as he glared at the corpse he somehow managed to beat with one hit. “I wouldn’t have made it so quick…”
[Your Grudge grows stronger.]
“You bet it is.”
Thinking about it, Somnu realized that the turtle hadn’t even consumed a single Ego Core either. Just a little, he felt somewhat bad for what happened to it. Perhaps it had truly been a pious deity of some sort, fasting to not hurt others.
Wait, then why did it jump on me?! Never mind, it was definitely a Nightmare Creature causing absolute fear into anyone who saw it… definitely… The memories of his first encounter with it came rushing back, the rapid heartbeat a simple turtle gave him. He wasn’t about to accept any theories trying to paint the Hopping Turtle into a better light.
“Anyway, let’s move on to the next step.” He said as pulled up the recent message he was yet to respond to.
[Would you like to consume available Terror Cores now?]
Yes, consume one.
[You have consumed 1 Terror Core.]
[Your Hollow Core grows stronger.]
“Hmm, no level up?” Somnu raised an eyebrow. He didn’t feel any different either.
The message popped up again.
[Would you like to consume available Terror Cores now?]
After consuming them one by one, Somnu finally got the message he was waiting for after a total of 10 Terror Cores.
[You have leveled up.]
[Hollow Core Level: Lvl 2.]
“So, it needed 10 Cores for 1 level. I’ll keep an eye on it in the future to figure out how that works.”
After consuming his last remaining Terror Core, Somnu finally noticed the change he had undergone.
All his wounds had healed. Granted, the wound the Hopping Turtle gave him by biting his ear had already pretty much healed by the time he was fighting the Specter.
However, now the wounds on his arms from the Slowing Bunny’s teeth, along with the recent nail imprints in his palms, had all healed after his level up. Similarly, he no longer needed to worry about the wounds the scarecrow monster had inflicted on him either.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“I wonder if this is because it was level 1, if the wounds were just too minor, or if it’s because we are still on the First Layer where the System might try to keep people alive and learn…”
Before Somnu could move on to the Ego Particles to see what they were for, he got a different alert.
[Your Dream Catcher has leveled up!]
[Dream Catcher Level: Lvl 2.]
[You have accumulated more grudge.]
[Grudgekeeper is growing stronger.]
“...”
“Caaw!”
Looking to the side, Somnu watched his crow companion bend his wing forward and aim it at its chest as if proudly proclaiming being the contributor to the latest pop-up messages. It almost looked like it was mocking him.
Little… Somnu stopped himself and released a long breath. Calm down… they hold a generation grudge… remember that.
“Good job.”
“Caaw!”
After the crow flew up and landed on Somnu’s shoulder, he finally noticed that any scratches and rips his sleeve had received earlier were completely mended too after the Dream Catcher level up.
“Sweet! Now that’s a good deal!”
For some reason, the scarecrow was more happy about his outfit being whole than his actual wounds being healed.
“Now then…” He narrowed his eyes, conflicting thoughts running through his mind. “Let’s see about these Ego Particles, shall we?”
Bring up the Ego Particles details. He commanded using his inside voice.
[Ego Particles Available: 117]
[Ego Particles are used to increase the level of Dream Catchers and Mementos.]
[No Mementos detected.]
[Would you like for Grudgekeeper to consume available Ego Particles?]
“...”
For Somnu, that decision seemed to be harder than any other one he had made so far since finding himself in this place.
Consuming the Ego Particles of the ones that failed before him, people who were scared beyond their wits after finding themselves in this place too, it felt as though he would be consuming their very essence.
He would’ve much rather buried them somewhere instead, but that wasn’t a sensible option anywhere in this rotting swamp.
Instead, he needed to consume the Ego Particles and promise their previous owners he would carry on their will, and their grudge.
Yes, feed 1 Ego Particle to Grudgekeeper.
With a heavy heart and a difficult decision made, Somnu began to feed the Ego Particles one by one to his Dream Catcher.
After a while, he figured out how the levels worked for the current rank.
[Your Dream Catcher has leveled up!]
[Dream Catcher Level: Lvl 12.]
[You have accumulated more grudge.]
[Grudgekeeper is growing stronger.]
With every level up, he felt his outfit come alive for a second as the surface of the texture seemed to dance with excitement.
He couldn’t ignore the slight difference he felt while wearing the level 12 Grudgekeeper, in comparison to Level 1 or 2. It seemed like he was once again faster, stronger and more durable while wearing it.
“So, every 10 Ego Particles is 1 level up. That means, after consuming 117 of them, on top of consuming both monster corpses so far, and reaching level 12, Grudgekeeper only needed 2 more Cores or Particles for level 13.” He calculated.
That meant Grudgekeeper was somehow leveling up from both consuming corpses that counted as cores for it, and Ego Particles, which Somnu could only guess was the main leveling system for a Dream Catcher.
And based on the information he had gathered and the familiar results from his earlier test, Somnu guessed the Hollow Core was following a similar structure of leveling up, but only relying on Terror Cores obtained from defeating Nightmare Creatures.
With all that information, it was simple to guess the total number he needed for his rank up from his current Hollow Core rank, Halfshade.
“10 for 1 Level should mean that’s 1% of the total number, assuming the rank up is at the typical level 100.” He paused, doing a quick double check in his mind. “The total number of Terror Cores I need is 990 since I started at level 1 instead of 0. I currently only have 11 out of that.”
Figuring that out wasn’t quite necessary, but knowing it gave Somnu a proper goal to aim for now. After all, ranking up his Hollow Core was one of the requirements to pass through the First Nightmare Layer.
As if having waited for him to finish consuming the rewards, the System sent another message it had been waiting to send.
[Congratulations!]
[You have taken the first step towards facing and overcoming your fears!]
[You have successfully overcome the fear of Stagnation, Stagnophobia.]
[You have successfully overcome the fear of Speed, Tachophobia.]
[You have successfully overcome the fear of Running, Trechophobia.]
“...”
Watching both messages from the Hopping Turtle and the Slowing Bunny show up, Somnu felt a slight sense of accomplishment for it all. It wasn’t much, but he had progressed just enough to improve himself a little.
And what better could he ask for than that?
There was simply one more issue that he made sure to remember.
He was still under the effect of the enhanced active fear, Claustrophobia.
While he didn’t know what rank or where the Nightmare Creature could be, he was sure it was watching him from somewhere deep within the long hallway.
“Let’s go!”
“Caaw!”
To his surprise, he wasn’t as hungry, but he was very thirsty. His migraines were beginning to get worse from lack of sleep, or more specifically the lack of the ability to sleep.
He would need to take care of that Nightmare Creature fast, then rest his mind a little.
And so, he got up and walked down the hallway.
Even though his body was still reacting to the fear of being in a hallway that continued to narrow till the very end where another door awaited, Somnu never stopped walking.
He had determined himself to not run away anymore.
He made a promise to the Sleepers that fell before him.
He looked at the door with different holes that he guessed the crow had previously pushed through during its scouting, both the sight and stench of rotting iron gave him an ominous vibe.
Steeling his mind for whatever awaited behind the door, Somnu reached for the knob and opened it.
CREEK…
“?!”
In front of him was another small room, however, this time, instead of an altar…
“A satanic summoning circle?! Are you kidding me?!”
“Caaw! Caaw!”
The crow made sure to refute the last question. This was real.
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