Chapter 147: Within The Dream

[You have successfully finished the Optional Quest]

[The rewards will be automatically transferred to your inventory]

[A shard of the Ancient Spell has been acquired]

[Completion rate for the Ancient Spell has progressed – 50/100]

"Well, at least there are a lot of benefits that came out of this." Zeke said to himself, feeling sore all over but still, he seemed to be doing just fine.

Rain began falling over his location. The gamer stood on top of the water using [Water Walk] as he browsed through the missions that finished and, the ones that added up. He then looked at the state of his body, moving the notifications to the [Blaze of the Fire God].

[The gamer has used a taboo skill owned by a god. Damage will be applied to the gamer's body based on his overall attributes and stats.]

As Zeke saw this notification, his heart couldn't help but skip a beat. He could literally die after making use of one of His skills but, Zeke was also sure that he would sustain no damage. This was a calculation made by through the help of [Gamer's Mind] that further strengthened his computing abilities.

[Damage sustained – 1%]

[The damage is permanent and will reduce your current lifespan].

"Perfect." Zeke said, smiling. The outcome was actually better than he anticipated making him think that, using the skill would actually be possible a couple more times. Ninety-Nine more times to be exact.

"Ahh it's a good thing that I actually leveled up this much." Zeke stretched his body, feeling all his joints, bones and muscles still perfectly intact,

The move he used would have broken his body a few days ago. But because he already reached level [99], there was only a minimal amount of sustained damage involved. Of course, he still needed to meditate again but, he allowed his [Gamer's Mind] to do this for him.

"Okay time to head back." Zeke continued, not planning to rest just yet as he went back to the hideout. He didn't want to waste any time and proceeded to fixing Sylph's distorted memories.

As soon as he arrived, he saw both Heron and Sylph inside a room. Sylph was still asleep of course which wasn't healthy but, health was at the bottom of the list of concerns right then. What they needed was to fix her memories and to know exactly what occurred.

"Is everything ready?" Zeke asked, seeing the equipment within the room. In the middle of two plain beds was a large crystal and, various other materials were placed at the side of the beds. One of these were the binders which would prevent Zeke to run wild. They didn't know what would happen and so, it was better to be sure.

[Cloud of Dreams] was also spread thinly; covering it entirely. Zeke looked at the blue mist and thought how the skill had a lot of applications and uses; saving them from a lot of hassle on multiple occasions.

"Everything has been set as you ordered master." Heron said in reply, knowing that Zeke would never be late when it came to mission progress. If he gave a specific time for a task then, that task would either be done on time or even earlier.

"That's good, we begin immediately." Zeke said, changing clothes into something which he forged to include effects that would help him trespass the dream.

"I just want to remind you of the possible effects and implications master. Within the dream, there are a lot of factors that could potentially harm your mind and, even your body depending on the intensity. If things get even worse, your memories could be distorted by the dream." Heron said, worried about Zeke and the task he was about to undergo.

On the other hand, Zeke was actually excited because that would be his first time entering within a dream. And not just this, he could actually interact with the things within the dream which made him even happier.

After all, the gamer never had a dream in his whole life. Because of his ability to remain in the [Subconscious] the gamer never felt what it was like to enter the state of a dream. To allow the mind to run wild instead of always being in control. He didn't know what creatures to expect and what other things the dream would hold but, he still had the thought of saving Sylph as his top priority.

"Just extract me when danger comes." Zeke said, pointing to the [System Window] offered to Heron. It computed and calculated the state of mind of Zeke and, if it ever turns into a critical condition, then Heron would stop the skill immediately.

"Be careful in there master." Heron said, with Zeke patting her head again as he finally went to sleep and thus, the operation began.

The [Cloud of Dreams] within the room started creating a dream like atmosphere, swirling silently with both a tinge of coldness and a soft warmth touching Zeke and Sylph's skin. The mist slowly entered within their bodies, covering them both while a link was created through the large chunk of [Mana Crystal] in the middle to regulate the skill. Heron didn't' need to operate the skill herself, she just needed to start the engines and the skill would get going all on its own.

Thus, the [Dragon Morpher] finally began the skill, teleporting Zeke to a realm which didn't allow him to use much of the [System's] powers. There was a moment of stillness and, nothing but darkness covered Zeke but, this didn't last long and he was soon within Sylph's dream.

"Well, this is actually quite interesting." Zeke said, finding himself in the middle of what seemed to be a meadow. It felt like springtime; the moment just after the snow has melted down and life has once again sprouted out of slumber.

He moved around and examined the area. Everything felt real. The sound of the humming birds, the dancing and rustling of the leaves on tree branches. The water pouring down on a nearby spring and, everything else.

"So she actually had a calm head. Who knew?" Zeke said, seeing a thick mist form before him.

This created multiple doors that stood perfectly still. Nothing was behind them. Just doors, with engraved numbers on them. There were no indications, no writings, nor any warnings. That was all which these mist-created doors offered.

They were just doors, with different textures, colors, and age. Zeke came close to them but didn't touch a single one, knowing that it may automatically trigger an effect which would be troublesome for him.

"[Analyze] doesn't work and my [System Window] doesn't show up even if I call it. So all I have are my innate skills…perfect." Zeke thought that the challenge was actually exciting, feeling nothing but boredom from how easy the past enemies were to defeat. And ever since he got [Gamer's Mind] things became even easier.

There was a total of [100 Doors] but, some caught Zeke's attention. One was a bloodstained door, with screams that could be heard and a knocking that followed. One was a plain looking door, no designs, no sound nor smell. It was just a wooden door, plain and simple. Then there was one which was adorned too beautifully, like it was made for a princess in a fairytale.

Zeke took a moment to think about things. Again, he knew that the doors would create different effects but, what if he could enter each one? This thought intrigued Zeke as much as he enjoyed it. When only one choice was available, he thought of the possibilities of actually choosing three and so, he went within the woods and took two large branches from the trees.

There wasn't much difficulty because there were already a lot lying around. He tried swinging both and measuring how hard they actually were and, with the two other sticks with him, he tried something out. He called the numbers which the doors had engraved on them.

"One"

"Seventy-Three"

"Ninety-Nine"

The dream heard his request, with the mist swirling around the doors and erasing the other choices. It left the three doors in front of him, standing side by side which made Zeke smile because everything was going according to what he thought.

"Okay then, let's try our luck, shall we?"

With the two branches on each hand, Zeke pushed the left and right door open and, with his right foot, he kicked the middle door open. This created a strong harsh wind and the sound of thunder closing in, with the streaks of lightning appearing on the sky.

"And the dream is angry of course." Zeke said, getting sucked in by all the doors at once. But, because there was only one body, they all shook like crazy; wanting to take the Zeke for themselves but having two competitors on the act.

Instead of Zeke getting sucked in by all the doors at once, something weird happened. Based on the content of the door, Zeke's age was also changed accordingly. A child version of Zeke was placed on the bloodied door. An old Zeke was placed on the dreamlike door while, the young Zeke was placed on the plain door. These all took his actual appearance and, as Zeke saw the other Zeke's standing side by side, the doors finally pulled him in.

Thus began the adventure of three versions of Zeke entering within three entirely different dream stages. All of these held a portion of truth and, in order to figure things out, they needed to all meet at the end of their route.

And everything began…with the aged Zeke.