Why can’t I see his information…? Somnu wondered, looking at the last member of the party.

  “Here, let me help you with those, Almon.” Mathros stepped closer and hunched down to take the firewood the new arrival had brought with him.

  Almon had a smaller figure, below average for humans. However, Somnu couldn’t quite confirm if the mysterious person was actually human or not. No matter how much he tried, Somnu couldn’t quite see Almon’s face.

  The shorter fellow was wearing a simple deep gray sweater with the hood up over his head. Whether it was the low lighting or something else, his face seemed completely hidden underneath it with only his eyes giving off a yellow-ish glow every now and then. And below that, the rest of his outfit seemed to only consist of some sweatpants and sneakers.

  He looks completely out of place in this party… Somnu commented, seeing the difference between Almon’s more modern aesthetic, and the more adventurers’ look the others had.

  “...”

  Nevertheless, Somnu wasn’t quite sure how to feel about the last member of that party. Sure, it was weird he couldn’t see Almon’s System, but it wasn’t like he had any actual reason to suspect him of anything.

  Maybe he just has some skill to hide him and his System…? The scarecrow continued to dive into the mystery. His face is basically completely hidden, that has to be a skill of some sort.

  “Let me introduce you real quick. Almon, this is Somnu, he woke up just a while ago.” Mathros took the initiative. “Somnu, this is our scout and support, Almon. Be nice.”

  “I’m always nice.” Somnu let out, giving Almon a simple head nod as a welcome.

  He seemed to return it.

  “That’s not what your occasional naked bulldozing to the lake made us believe.” Lulu scoffed, turning her head away.

  This time around, Somnu kept his focus on Almon as he, slow and silent, put down the rest of the firewood near the fire.

  Although he had come up with a reasonable answer not to suspect the guy, Somnu didn’t help but feel a little anxious now that he wasn’t able to glimpse a look at someone’s information.

  This is how everyone else feels… Somnu thought. They can’t learn everything about the person in front of them, and have to stay on guard until they can build trust…

  As simple and straightforward as that was of a revelation, Somnu always had trouble connecting with others.

  “Caaw!”

  “!”

  Feeling the anxiousness of her master, Fala suddenly appeared out of smoke and landed on Somnu’s shoulder, alerting everyone around.

  “Wait, I didn’t summon you…” Somnu let out while looking at his crow companion. “How did you…?”

  “Oh, she’s been doing that ever since I saved you.” The green-scaled lizardman walked closer and stroked Fala’s feathers. “Although she seemed to be wearing something like you are now, I don’t see that on her anymore.”

  She’s able to summon herself, and her clones, all while having a piece of Grudgekeper on her?! The familiar’s master was narrowing his brows in confusion, but it only took a moment later to realize something. Is this because Grudgekeeper ranked up? I have to check on my own updates as soon as possible!

  Before he had fallen into the lake, during his descent from the crypt, he had made sure to level up Grudgekeeper to level 100. He had seen the rank up, confirming his suspicions about the level cap, but he didn’t have time to properly check the rest of the information that came with it.

  He had only noticed a growth in Fala’s size and strength, the addition of two new clones, and the fact that Grudgekeeper could completely liquify itself and attach itself to whatever it felt like.

  In addition to that, they were now able to summon themselves.

  And if that was the case, beside the other benefits Grudgekeeper got, Somnu knew there were a lot more updates waiting for him after a month and a half.

  Because if they could appear whenever they want…

  “Hey, for all I know, she was the one feeding you, because you wouldn’t eat anything I tried to feed you, and somehow survived for so long.” Mathros added.

  I knew it! These two have been filling their bottomless stomachs for the past 45 days straight!

  Somnu could finally confirm it. He hadn’t been fed, Grudgekeeper had done all the eating instead. Giving himself a quick inspection, Somnu could feel that he had gained some muscle and weight despite having mostly been laying around for that long.

  On the other hand, that also meant there were likely a lot of Terror Cores and Ego Particles waiting for him.

  It almost felt like a cheat…

  A cheat, huh? He scoffed inwardly, remembering those words.

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  “Alright, so what else do you know about this Dreadbeast? What can it actually do?” Bringing the topic back on track, Somnu asked the hard questions.

  “Okay, everyone! Party meeting!” Mathros clapped his hands, urging everyone to take a seat. “Now that everyone is here and has met, let’s put the past grievances behind us and focus on our main task.”

  And so, the discussions and plans to take on the Dreadbeast blocking the party’s way out of the cavern had begun.

  Somnu made sure to get every detail he could.

  ***

  A few hours later, everyone went to bed except for Mathros who volunteered to take the first watch on his own. Noticing everyone in his original party was hesitant about a certain matter, he also volunteered to keep watch with Somnu after everyone else had their turn after the first watch.

  For now, Somnu laid in bed and pretended to sleep. However, since there was no rest for the wicked, as his personal title so nicely put it, he was glad to use the time more productively.

  Starting with finally reviewing all his stats and information after a month and a half of silence. He naturally hadn’t forgotten that there had been more unaddressed progress from even before his drowsy episode.

  Nevertheless, he pulled up his simplified profile.

  [Name: Somnu ERROR!]

  [Species: ERROR!]

  [Personal Rank: Halfshade]

  [Hollow Core Rank: Chalk.]

  [Hollow Core Level: Level 35.] {With 5 more Cores to the next level up.}

  [Available Terror Cores: 627]

  That many?! I thought it would be a lot, but that’s way too much! Somnu thought, realizing just how busy his companions had been. Granted, some of those are rewards of Nightmare Creatures I killed, but they just have been eating to no end!

  Whatever the case, the scarecrow knew he couldn’t just consume all those Terror Cores at once. If his muscles and build were to suddenly get a bulk overnight, it would be too suspicious, even if he used the excuse of having had a big reserve.

  He had to split their consumption throughout days, perhaps even sneak away with the excuse of hunting so he could justify his rapid progress.

  Either way, with a deep breath, Somnu decided to keep going.

  [Dream Catcher: Grudgekeeper.]

  [Dream Catcher Grade: Honed.]

  [Dream Catcher Level: Lvl 4]

  [Mementos: {Eclipsed Dawn}, {Veilbinder’s Diadem}]

  [Ego particles: 351.]

  That’s weird… He commented again. If they ate that much, shouldn’t Grudgekeeper be a higher level than 4?

  Naturally, Somnu knew that his Dream Catcher’s level had been reset after the rank up, that hadn’t been where his confusion lied. It was with the fact that Grudgekeeper had needed 10 Ego Particles or Cores equivalent in Nightmare Creature corpses for every level in the Primal Grade. And now, despite the high number of enemies it had consumed, it was still only sitting at level 4.

  Which could only have meant…

  It needs way more for each level now… He figured. I’ll experiment after I’m done and find out how much exactly.

  That was his plan, but he knew he should prioritize getting Eclipsed Requiem to the next grade as well. He pushed those thoughts aside for now and continued.

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

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

  [Aspiration Ability: {Scarecrow}]

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

  One skill got changed and another was added… I can summon a serpent now too?

  He couldn’t help but scoff at the irony. He received that new skill just before getting saved and taken care of by another reptile.

  He truly owed Mathros a debt he was likely never going to be able to pay back. Knowing about his information made Somnu feel even closer to him, like he could understand the lizardman’s true character.

  Even Somnu realized how weird and stalkerish that had felt, so he shook the thought out of his head.

  I do not want ‘stalker’ on top of my growing list of shameful titles…

  At the end of his profile were the usual active fears and his main quest for this Layer. Except now, it seemed he had overcome some new fears.

  The fear of dry skin, Xerophobia.

  The fear of falling into a large body of water, Thalassophobia.

  The fear of bats, Chiroptophobia.

  The fear of blindness, Scotomaphobia.

  The fear of fireflies, Lampyridophobia.

  It seemed like Somnu’s two companions had been fighting some Specter bats called Blinding Bats. That was what the flying creatures that caused his blindness during the fall had been.

  Blinding Bats… what a sick combination! I don’t ever want to experience that again!

  Either way, for the time he was out of it, his self-summoned companions likely either kept attacking those bats to extinction, or snacked on Lurker fireflies named Glowing Fireflies they had come across.

  Or both. Somnu couldn’t know.

  However, beside that information at the end, there was one last new piece of information that seemed to have been added in.

  [Inventory: Dreamkeeper’s Amulet.]

  [Notice: The item in inventory cannot be equipped by Sleeper Somnu ERROR.]

  Right, Mr. Emberlyn gave me that to deliver it to his granddaughter…

  The very same girl who seemed to have spent a lot of time near his hospital bed for some reason.

  Somnu had no time to either daydream, or nightdream, about why she had done that.

  For now, he needed to focus on upgrading his kit, learning about the other party members around him, and getting ready to fight that Dreadbeast.

  Only then could he get out of this cavern and continue his quest.

  Only then could he seek out the one who had caused others so much pain, the grinning skull murderer.

  Only then could he grow stronger, defeat Nightmare Creatures and protect the crop.

  Only then could he finally try and reconnect with the people he had been neglecting…

  Only then could he finally wake up and try to live a peaceful life.

  And all that stood in his way was a giant slime monster.

  Without a second delay, he got to work.

  The fight was happening very soon.

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