Nightmare Realm Summoner

“It’s so dangerous that we need to ban entry?” Orchid asked, looking from Alex to Claire and then up at the massive bone tower rising up behind them. “Wouldn’t it be better to let people try their hand and just focus on the strong ones? You can’t hold the pack back for the good of the few.”

Alex shook his head. He and Claire had headed right over to the Forsaken Grounds as soon as they’d finished their conversation to find that there was still a small crowd gathered around the base of the tower. Orchid had pulled the two of them aside a short distance away from everyone else so they could speak in private.

“It’s not about that,” Alex said. “I’m all for letting people that know what they’re getting into take the challenge. But this isn’t just a fight. It’s like a potential improver. Letting people go in here without making sure they’re actually ready for it is as good as wasting possible power that they could have had. It’s not the same as letting them fight monsters with supervision. Nobody can bail them out if things go bad, and then they’ll have to live with that weakness forever. I can’t think of any fate worse than knowing you’re forever stuck as a shadow of what you could have been. That’s not happening to anyone from my town. Not on my watch.”

Orchid studied Alex for a few moments. Then the corners of her lips pulled up into a faint smile. “I never would have thought that you actually cared that much. You didn’t strike me as the type. Honestly, I always thought the town was more of a tool to you than anything more meaningful.”

“Look, let’s just call it secondhand embarrassment and leave it at that, yeah?” Alex coughed into his fist. “I’m not trying to get sappy here. I just don’t want to watch someone have to get stuck with the knowledge that a momentary mistake completely screwed their future over. I’d rather they get mauled by a monster or something. At least you can come back from that.”

“That you can,” Orchid said. She inclined her head. “I’ll make sure nobody enters the tower without knowing exactly what it entails. I’ll also filter out anyone that just doesn’t have the skill or ability to succeed, even if they think they do. The town has a few people whose ambitions are larger than their abilities. More than a few of them.”

“Must be something in the water here,” Claire said with a dry smile. “That seems to be a running issue with people from Earth.”

“We’ve always been a group of dense mother fuckers,” Alex said with a one-shouldered shrug. “Thanks for the help, Orchid. We appreciate it. I didn’t exactly mean to subject you to town-duty constantly, but—”

“Town-duty?” Orchid arched an eyebrow. “You make it sound like a bad thing. I’m getting all the practice I want in against Mirrorlands monsters while having the safety and comfort of a proper bed every night. Do you have any idea how convenient that is? Don’t forget that I’m an Outworlder, and not one with the backing of a powerful family. My advancement is still limited by the System. I don’t think there’s a better spot in 274-50 for me to train and get stronger than Mirrorwane. Most other Outworlders would kill for this. Literally.”

“Huh. Well, that works out,” Alex said. “You don’t mind keeping an eye on things for a bit longer then? Claire and I are going to head to the Mirrorlands for an excursion. There’s something we want to do before the auction that Wess scammed his way into.”

“So long as it isn’t too long, I don’t think there should be much trouble,” Orchid said with a shake of her head. She leaned against her staff. “Especially if you’re leaving everyone else behind. Between Alyssa, Derek, Wess and all the other actually competent warriors we’ve been training up, not to mention the Town’s defenses… honestly, I’m not too worried about most threats. I don’t think you realize how absolutely ridiculous it is that a group without backing from a Great Family has managed to get this far this early.”

“Don’t salivate too hard. We’re still leagues behind the Great Families. If one of them found where we are and attacked, we’d be in some serious shit,” Alex said. “And I don’t know how long it will be until the System drops the restrictions against Outworlders. That will happen at some point, yes?”

“It will,” Orchid confirmed. “But I don’t know when. Not exactly. The System is pretty consistent in such regards. It isn’t dropping those restrictions until it feels that the balance has been regained. And it’ll be some time until then. If you knew the true power of people like Absolution when they aren’t held back and forced to rebuild their strength from the ground up… well, you’d realize just how fucking ridiculous it is that you’ve managed to get this far.”

Unlawfully taken from NovelFire, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“How strong, exactly, are we talking about?” Claire asked, her head tilting slightly to the side.

Orchid’s features turned grim.

“Absolution is infamous for singlehandedly destroying entire family branches. He’s acted as a mercenary and under his own interests alike. As far as everyone knows, he isn’t even affiliated with anyone.”

“A while back in the Outworlder Assembly, somebody called him Crestless,” Alex said. “Is that what that means? He doesn’t have a family crest or something?”

“Precisely,” Orchid confirmed. “That really should tell you everything you need to know about him. Anyone able to stand up to the Great Families, not just once, but throughout multiple different worlds… that’s not someone to be dismissed. The fact you were able to challenge him and come out alive means you’re either luckier, stronger, or more skilled than he was at this stage. But if the restrictions come off and he gains access to his true strength…”

“Right. We get squashed,” Alex finished. Then he blinked. “Hold on. I don’t know how I’ve never asked this, but you’re an Outworlder. What’s your actual Stage? Like if the System isn’t holding you back?”

“Sage 8,” Orchid replied after a moment of hesitation. “I’m nothing compared to Absolution, though. Rumor is that he’s at least at Immortal.”

“Okay. New problem has arisen,” Alex said. He cleared his throat. “I do not remember what happens after Expert. Can you remind me?”

“Adept, Expert, Master, Sage,” Orchid said, ticking off her fingers as she went. She paused to send him and Claire a sharp look. “Ascendant, Immortal.”

“Shit,” Alex said. “That’s fucking strong. The hell do you even get when you’re that powerful? Getting to the peak of Adept means you can get your whole Soul Manifestation. Do we keep getting more of those or something?”

“Or something.” Orchid shifted uncomfortably. “It’s not a good idea to dig too deep into what future stages hold. The less naturally you get that information, the worse it is.”

“Why? It’s not exactly challenge,” Claire said. “It’s just information, isn’t it? We can’t even use it for an advantage beyond not being lost.”

“Honestly?” Orchid cleared her throat. “Superstition. Free information is never a good thing. Not under the System’s eyes. If you don’t earn it… well, it isn’t yours. I don’t mind saying that there’s only one Soul Manifestation. But there are a lot of other ways you can grow more powerful. Some you probably haven’t even considered yet. If you want more than that, buy it from Finley. At least that way it’ll be a transaction.”

“Is it really that big of a deal?” Alex asked.

“Probably not,” Orchid admitted. “To be honest, I think half the reason the tradition of not talking too much about it exists is to keep your focus on the present. If you were focused on unlocking your Soul Manifestation as a Novice, you might have passed up on some foundation stuff in your haste to get to what you saw as a more useful ability.”

Alex paused for a moment. That was a fair point. If he knew he would get Jedi mind powers or some equivalent after reaching Sage, then he’d definitely be at least a little bit more motivated to grind upward as fast as possible. If that ability was really far out… there was a decent chance he might have hurried toward it a bit faster than he would have had he not known what was waiting.

“That’s kind of stupid,” Claire said. “Who would do that? Measured advances are always the smartest. Knowing what’s coming just means you can prepare for it better.”

“Right,” Alex said. He nodded. “Of course. Logically.”

Both Claire and Orchid looked to him. Then they exchanged a glanced.

“Okay,” Claire said. “Fair point. Maybe we should look into figuring out exactly what else we should be preparing for, though.”

“From what you’ve said, that seems to be the purpose of the Forsaken Grounds.” Orchid turned to look over her shoulder at the tall bone tower. A note of awe entered her voice as her hands tightened around her staff. “It’s a tempering building. That’s the kind of thing that Great Families can be built around if it’s strong enough. A way for people to constantly push and improve themselves beyond the means of what you can normally achieve. I doubt we have anything to worry about until you completely outgrow the tower... and that’s going to take a long, long time.”

Damn. Shawn really did us a solid, didn’t he?

“Then it sounds like we’re good,” Alex said. “For now, at least. I still want to know more about what’s coming, but I don’t mind focusing on getting stronger and building up my Soul Manifestation first. I still don’t have the full thing yet. And, speaking of which, we’ve got a mission to get to.”

Orchid rolled her eyes. “If anything, I’m surprised you managed to sit still for this long. We’ll keep things under control. Don’t worry. Just get back soon.”

“Shouldn’t be more than a few days,” Alex said. He glanced at Claire. “Right?”

“Roughly,” Claire confirmed. “If that long.”

“Then I wish you the best of luck,” Orchid said. “Don’t die.”

“We’ll do our best,” Alex said with a grin. “Thanks again.”

Then he and Claire were off.

The Cracked Steps were waiting for them — and he was eager to see just how much stronger they’d gotten since the last time they’d attempted the challenge.