Sullen Edge.

[You have slain a Transcendent Human: Leucosia, Priest of the Nightmare Spell]

As the head of the woman fell, a small amount of confusion entered Baldr eyes.

'Transcendent huh...'

He didn't know what a Priest of the Nightmare Spell was, but someone able to find devotion in something as destructive as the Spell had to be special.

He tried marching towards her, only to stumble and fall to the floor. His body was drained, a sensation he had become completely unaccustomed to, but he didn't even have the time to ponder on it.

[Wake up Baldr! Your nightmare is over.]

[Prepare for appraisal...]

The world dissolved, leaving only Baldr standing into a black void filled with distant stars illuminating it. He sighed in relief, soon his First Nightmare would be over.

before the Appraisal of the Spell could be given, it notified him of a boon the woman had given him.

[You have received a Memory: Formless Toga]

'That is nice of her...'

He thanked the woman in his mind, even in her last moment she simply offered her neck to him, he had no trouble understanding she was his jailer, as for the reason she let herself be killed?

Baldr had no idea.

'Maybe my sword dance was that pretty heh.'

He jokingly thought of such possibilities, of course that couldn't be right but it was funny imagining such scenarios.

From how thin she was the woman was probably incredibly weakened, maybe she didn't have long to live and simply let herself be taken by him to give him a Memory.

Surely as a Priest of the Spell she knew it's inner workings.

He didn't have time to summon the runes and observe them as the Spell called out to him once more.

[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]

[Trapped in a prison of white for all of eternity the Swordsman didn't cry out at the unfairness of the heavens. Picking up a piece of wood the Swordsman danced, and danced, so on for a decade, entranced by his performance, even his jailer willingly gave their life to be part of his history.]

[You have defeated a Transcendent Human: Leucosia, Priest of the Nightmare Spell]

[You embodied the concept of swordsmanship]

[You have achieved the impossible!]

[Final Appraisal: Glorious. Your love truly know no bounds]

He smiled, it seemed the Spell recognised his emotions and acknowledged them, that Final Appraisal was simply applauding his performance, something he truly appreciated.

'Now with that achievements a number of things should come...'

[Dreamer Baldr! Receive your boon!]

The Spell voice sounded more excited than he expected for some reason.

[You have been bestowed a True Name: Son of Earth.]

A lot of pride filled Baldr, of course while he had enjoyed it all, ten years truly was a long time to only swing the sword. It deserved some recognition.

[Your Aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?]

'Yes of course.'

Such an obvious question, while he did wonder what would happen if he said no, he preferred not to risk it.

[Dormant Aspect Unknown Swordsman is evolving...]

[New Aspect acquired.]

[Aspect Rank: Div#%3.]

A small jolt of excitement passed through Baldr body, his rank was bugged, hinting at something above the divine. As he understood it, it meant the Spell either refused to translate it or couldn't.

'This ought to be good.'

[Aspect Name: Swordless Swordsman.]

'...what?'

A fear took hold of his mind, quickly summoning the runes, Baldr read through his Aspect description.

Aspect: [Swordless Swordsman].

Aspect Rank: Div#%3.

Aspect Description: [Your swordsmanship is above the divine, you are numinous in not only your prowess but also your understanding of it, the world awaits for you to express it.]

Innate Ability: [World's Favorite].

Ability Description: [The world favors you, showing the unfairness of it's will as it respond to yours.]

For now everything seemed good, the description of his Aspect was rather straightforward, not too dissimilar with his [Peerless Talent] attribute, the Innate Ability description was rather cryptic though...

More than that, the name of his Aspect was like a damocles sword above Baldr head, he could already figure out what his Flaw was but it repulsed him to even think about it.

[An Attribute awaits evolution. Evolve Attribute?]

He accepted it, hoping to distract his mind from what was to come.

[Attribute Cursed Body is evolving...]

[New Attribute acquired.]

[Attribute Name: Radiant Body.]

[Attribute Description: Tempered by the trials of your Soul, your Body adapted to it's size as it evolved into something beyond mere flesh.]

A smile appeared on Baldr face, it seemed like he wouldn't have to worry too much about becoming lethargic now.

[The First Seal is broken.]

[Awakening dormant powers...]

As his body got tempered into an even better version of itself, Baldr let the warm heat of the Spell suffuse his being with power.

As the transformation become more profound, reaching down to set even his Soul aflame he smiled, Now he could do something.

Not simply being a spectator but acting to his whims and have his actions reflect hos conviction, more than that he could now explore the Dream Realm!

A giddy feeling spread through Baldr body.

'So much things to do now...'

He had to test his newfound powers, understand how they worked and readjust his swordsmanship to fit his new body.

After a while, the flames were replaced with a certain euphoric feeling, indescribable joy crept up his feets until it reached his eyes.

Then Baldr witnessed his Soul Sea.

The sky of it was filled with distant stars, and as Baldr stood up from the ground he witnessed the first difference compared to other Soul Seas.

It wasn't a sea at all.

His inner self was standing on solid ground, the most bizarre thing was that other than himself, there wasn't much in his Soul Sea, the ground he was standing on was the only thing present, along with a mysterious stream of water in the sky.

That's when he understood it looking down at the ground he pondered for a bit. And came up with a conclusion that, while the only possible result seemed impossible in insight.

'I'm standing on it!'

It wasn't that his Soul Sea didn't exist he was just not standing on it, instead he was currently anchored to his Soul Core due to the gravitational pull it had. The visual representation of his Soul Core was a planet.

Massive enough to stand upon it and only see the horizon while looking forward.

'Then the ring of water in the sky...' That had to be his Soul Sea then. The completly bizarre and alien representation of his Soul Sea gave enough shock to Baldr thar his mind only focused again when the Spell spoke.

[Awakening Aspect Ability...]

'There it is...'

Baldr frankly wandered what it could be, he awaited in bated breath to see just what Fate had in store for him.

[Aspect Ability acquired.]

[Aspect Ability Name: Venerable Hands]

In Baldr mind, such a name could only be the harbinger of good news, he quickly gave his runes a look over to see what it looked like currently.

Name: Baldr

True Name: Son of Earth

Rank: Dreamer

Soul Core: Dormant

Soul Fragments: [0/1000]

'A normal path of progression huh...'

That was good in his opinion, Baldr had seen how long it took for Sunny to almost fill his Core and frankly he didn't want to have the same problem as him.

He quickly looked over the rest, stopping at the memories to read the description of the one he had just obtained.

Memories: [Formless Toga]

Memory Rank: Transcendent

Memory Type: Garment.

Memory Description: [When the time came for the three sisters to leave for war, Leucosia was the only one allowed to stay home, full of sorrow she plunged deeper in her study of the weave. Until finally, she made a Memory that could be called her legacy.]

The description had a lot of information, first what was weave? Something probably related to Weaver, an art that allowed to make Memories just like the Valor Clan could, possibly. Baldr didn't know much about the entity but it was one drapped in so much mystery that obtaining information about them was always welcomed.

He didn't summon the Memory yet, preferring to study the rest of his runes.

Echoes: —

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

Aspect: [Swordless Swordsman].

Aspect Rank: Div#%3

Aspect Abilities: [Venerable Hands].

Aspect Ability Description: [You cannot lose your calluses and therefore, cannot lose your grip on the world]

'Cryptic as always... I'll figure it out soon enough.'

Once he got out of here, it would be pretty easy to test his abilities, he didn't think he could master them in one go, but he had to familiarise himself with them as a start, and include them in his swordsmanship.

[All power has a price.]

'It's here...'

[You have received a Flaw.]

'Please for Spell's sake—

[Your Flaw is: Sullen Edge]

Flaw Description: [You cannot hold a blade.]

■■■

Sunny had woken up no less than a day ago. He was still at the Police Station as Master Jet had promised to take him to the Awakened Academy, but for now she still had to watch over the other infected, at least until an Awakened came to take her place.

'Hope he dies in there...'

He cursed the sleeping beauty in his mind, because the man was indeed beautiful and not only that but rich and famous too.

Master Jet had recognised him as Baldr one of the two lead singers from the idol group NDG, and she seemingly wasn't the only one that recognised him.

A grim look arrived on Sunny's face as he looked outside the police station, a swarm of fans awaited with bated breath to see if their favorite idol would perish in the claws of the Nightmare Spell.

Sunny hoped that they would be disappointed.

Unfortunately it seemed like the world had other plans. Master Jet entered the Cafeteria followed by a young man. Sunny looked at him and his jealousy only got stronger as he looked at him again.

Before the Nightmare he had briefly seen the man when Master Jet entered the room he was contained in to watch over him, he had a face that could put most Awakened to shame and black hair that was much silkier than his own.

Now though the man hair was of a pale blonde along with his eyebrows and possibly the rest of his bodily hair, would it include—

"What are you thinking about with such a focused look?"

"Is it blonde down there too?"

Sunny blurted it out without thinking, the time it took for him to process what he said, Master Jet was looking at him dumbfounded.

'Curses... I still haven't got the hang of this damn Flaw.'

Fortunately rather than take offense at it, the man laughed. His voice was clear and melodious as he responded to Sunny, wiping tears off his rainbow colored eyes.

'Talk about fancy too...'

The man looked like one of those Pompous idols. Sunny then remembered that he WAS one of those Pompous idols.

"Yeah, that's actually the first thing I checked after looking myself in the mirror." His smile was inviting and warm and as they seated next to Sunny in the Cafeteria, he put a hand over his eyes, blinded by the man's joy.

"So, Sleeper Baldr huh? Got a nice ring to it."

"Can't wait for you to become an Awakened boy, I can say even Masters will be all over you."

Master Jet offered Baldr a smile, what she said wasn't that different to what she told Sunny, but it seemed she already considered the former a flower boy.

"So concerning your Nightmare, you are entitled to receive free psychological counseling. No matter what traumatic experience you have encountered, there is no shame in asking for help. Your mind is as important as your body. It's only right to keep it healthy. Are you interested?"

Sunny saw as the Radiant young teen shook his head, the smile still plastered on his face.

"As you wish then. You can also talk to me. Was it very hard?"

It seemed she knew those lines by heart, having repeated them one too many times.

Baldr pondered a bit before responding.

"It was both the most enjoyable and most lonely experience I ever had."

Sunny didn't know what to think of this. A Nightmare? Enjoyable? What kind of stroll in the park would have you say such things?

'Even the Spell favors him...'

It was decided, if they ever crossed path in the Dream Realm as ennemies, he'd take care of him.

After all it was back to the rehearsed speech he had heard himself.

He zoned out of it until Master Jet asked the question that mattered.

"So what do you say? Do you want to me to take you to the Academy?"

The man smiled with the same warm expression he had since entering the room.

"No."

■■■

Heyyyy info dump is out, lots of thing in here to unpack in the next 2~3 chapters or so!

Cliffhanger at the end! But really it's nothing.