Dream of the Red Chamber.

Baldr dreamt of a room.

If it could even be called that, it was much more in accordance to the idea of a prison. The walls and the floor were indistinguishable from each other seemingly made of a pure white material, there didn't seem to be a source of light but even then the whole room was devoid of any shadows.

If it wasn't for the being in a corner of the room he wouldn't have been able to tell up from down or where the walls were. It was a man, it's brown eyes devoid of any traces of sapience or thoughts in general, it wasn't that dissimilar to hollows.

Those people who died while fighting in the dream realm wouldn't return to earth and instead, their body would become husks, flesh without souls. There were a few other circumstances were such a thing could happen but they were few and far between.

But something about the man was different from them...

Other than that, the man had a powerful physique seemingly built from years of torturous training, visible under the clumsily wrapped white toga, Baldr concurred that it might have simply been because there was nothing else to do here.

The only other thing present than the man was a wooden chair toppled down on the other side of the room, a few bumps were present on it so if he had to guess, it was thrown many times in bouts of anger.

The figure looked in Baldr direction, no at Baldr. He instinctively reeled back in shock, both from the fact that he was seen while in an incorporeal form and because for the first time since he arrived here, the man in front of him had moved.

His eyes were clear and while it lacked the wisdom that you would imagine come with the beard he had, Baldr could attribute it to the well of madness behind them, but even that was obscured by sorrow. Sorrow, not for himself, but for Baldr.

He saw as the man opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to impart a few words before Baldr own Nightmare started, but the Spell didn't give him the time, his breath stopped.

And everything flowed backward.

Baldr saw as the man trained, cried and even laughed in that room, he was surely crazy, living years in isolation in that room must have been maddening, years yes. Baldr saw as the impressive man reduced in size.

His beard receded back into his skin, his long hair dispersed into thin air, leaving only black short hair and as he slowly got shorter his eyes became clearer, lacking his old self madness. His impressive body dimnished in size and power until once again everything stopped.

A realisation struck at Baldr when the processus was finally complete. He had heard that the First Nightmare was tailor made for the ones challenging it, so was the body they were thrown into. But the person in the room? That was just himself.

And then the world shifted.

[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial...]

More accurately, Baldr perspective changed. He was now in the body of the man, no. He was in his body, sitting on the wooden chair, now with a body Baldr felt everything.

The room itself was warm, something he wasn't accustomated to as the NQSC while not outright cold always had a slight breeze that tended to have people wear scarf, for the ones that had a hard time with temperatures.

But he didn't ponder much on it, rather, he had to dismantle and understand all of what he had just observed. First, he didn't produce waste or needed to eat, somehow. This might have been due to some effects the room had as he couldn't see any other reasons for that yet.

Next he also somehow still grew? That one made much less sense, growth required nutrients, this could either be due to his attributes, aspect or again, the room. There was an easy way for him to verify that one.

No one really bothered to explain how to summon your runes even back in the school, the consensus reached by most Awakened was that, with it being so instinctual, there was no need to explain.

You could probably find needlessly long online videos explaining how to summon your runes but even comments under those mostly agreed that it would be just summoned when you willed it to be, and that was as easy as it gets.

'So you just think about wanting to see them that's all...' There was no need to concentratre, once he thought about it, they just manifested in front of him.

***

Name: Baldr

True Name: —

Rank: Aspirant

Soul Core: Dormant

Memories: —

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Traveler], [Rainbow Man], [Peerless Talent], [Cursed Body]

Aspect: [Unknown Swordsman]

Aspect Description: [Fresh out of your family's compound, your sword is dull and your prestige nonexistent. While your skills with a blade are above average, one could not say the same about your reputation, but sooner rather than later, this edge will sharpen itself against opponents and your fame shall rise.]

Except for a few thing this looked pretty good, if it wasn't for where he was. He didn't think he was that good with the sword as to receive an Aspect about it but again, he did like to swing his sword.

It was something so... calming? Overall, it's just something he really liked without much explanation for it. And his intuition told him that he would have to swing his sword a lot here.

Looking at the description of his runes he sighed

***

[Traveler] Attribute Description: [You are the most accomplished Traveler in not Two but Three Worlds having crossed boundaries thought to be impregnable.]

[Rainbow Man] Attribute Description: [You are a man of blinding beauty, be it in body or soul none can compete with your charm.]

[Peerless Talent] Attribute Description: [Hard work beats Talent if Talent fails to work hard. This does not apply to you.]

[Cursed Body] Attribute Description: [Unable to handle the weight of your Soul, your body slowly collapses under the strain of your metaphysical presence, may your will be strong to endure until your demise.]

You could get attributes through achievements that was something that he knew, the presence of [Traveler] showed that the Spell acknowledged and rewarded his crossing to this place. the description sounded somewhat... proud too?

Then it meant that [Rainbow Man] was his Innate Attribute... frankly Baldr knew being good looking was a boon but for it to be a part of his being as whole...

It meant the other two came from his Aspect.

The obvious gift his Aspect gave him was [Peerless Talent] It's name in itself was a description of the Attribute with the details simply explaining how Baldr was built different.

[Cursed Body] was in no form a boon, he could only hope the Attribute would change after the Nightmare was over, else he would just be another one of those "I reincarnated as the sick prodigy of XXX family" person.

The idea of being limited because his Soul was too... massive? That was laughable to Baldr.

He didn't know how long he had, but it wasn't that long before he was possibly bedridden, seepped of energy just like the man he had seen, something he would never wish to happen, his second chance, ruined like that.

So he guessed he had to conquer this Nightmare one way or another. With it being seemingly impossible by design he didn't think he should worry about the rank he would get.

"So an Aspect related to swords a room that will have me isolated for years and a wooden chair..."

Yes it seemed pretty obvious what he had to do.

Getting off the chair he studied it after sitting on the ground figuring how to go about it.

■■■

After a while, in the white room, what had once been a chair changed into four piles of debris carefully sweeped into each of the corners. In the middle of the room Baldr was studying his masterpieces.

Four crude wooden swords, if you could even call them that. Made out of the legs of the chair for him to use. The rest of the chair had been dismantles to serve as corners so that Baldr wouldn't bump himself too many times against the walls.

The room itself was vast, but since you couldn't tell where the walls started and the floor ended you could stray from the center easily when not paying attention.

Something he might not have time for if he got too entranced in what he was about to do. So the piles of wood served as cornerstones in his vision that would allow him to navigate this place, the closer he got to them, the closer he got to a wall or a corner.

Picking one of the sword up he tossed the other three to the side. He didn't know how long he had in here but he knew it would be long.

He bowed a little toward nothing in particular in the white void.

"I will now begin my decade long Sword Dance."

Baldr wide smile didn't match the weight of his words.

■■■

Good chapter I think, yes let's not talk about how impossible this sound, just let me cook for a bit.

My MC a happy fellow, pretty optimistic about most things, not so dissimilar to Kai except you'll see the difference later on. He's as selfish as it gets contrary to his friend lmao