Chapter 269
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 269
Chapter Title: Dream Haze
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Duke Randel lay there with a serene expression on his face.
Eleanor checked his breathing and nodded.
"He's badly weakened, but he didn't die."
"Good... You all did great."
As Jun spoke, the rest of the group collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion.
"We got pretty lucky all around. The duke was already in such a weakened state."
"Reminds me of when we took down that old man back at the fortress."
"Haha... We nearly died a bunch of times back then."
"Urgh. Was I really like that?"
Bern scratched his head awkwardly as he looked at the fallen duke.
"Still, that old man was a pushover compared to this. He couldn't use any divine power at all."
Of course, both then and now, they'd had to risk their lives either way.
"So, leader, what do we do with the sword now?"
Jun paused in thought at Maya's question, catching his breath.
"We can't head out in this state."
The eastern forces were probably still out there, grinding their teeth in rage.
"If we go now, we might have to fight hundreds of them."
"Can't we borrow gramps's power or somethin'?"
"You little punk... You got a death wish, talkin' like that to a guy who hasn't even come to?"
"Ah. Sorry, nearly croaked and all."
He'd been steeped in mana here for over ten years.
Even a level 8 powerhouse couldn't be in good shape after that.
"For now, we rest here. No choice."
They'd have to hole up here for at least a few days.
Jun glanced around, lit a fire, and burned everything in the area to ash.
Then he swept away the dust with a gust of wind, finally creating a space where the group could rest comfortably.
"Talk about ultimate convenience."
"We leaned on this a lot back in the day."
They'd caught flak for being just a junior mage, but handling chores like this made it easy to win over the mercenaries.
...The problem was being treated like a convenient tool to exploit.
"Brings back memories. We all lived pretty rough back then."
"Yeah."
"What's with the sudden mood? Story time from the old days?"
"We got some unexpected downtime. A little chat won't hurt."
"Not complaining. So, what was the captain like?"
When Eleanor asked Aiden directly, he smiled softly, reminiscing.
"Back then, my senior deliberately kept a low profile."
"Low profile? Nothing like now."
"Yeah. He especially hated drawing attention."
"That was all I could think about back then. I'd nearly had my heart ripped out at the Mage Tower, barely escaped with my life."
"Ah..."
"No need to get all serious. Anyway, I wasn't thinking about making big moves like now."
He'd focused solely on survival and come to Blackout, where his knowledge might actually work.
That's when he met Aiden, and from there, he started influencing this world for real.
"Well, none of us here had it easy."
"True..."
Abandoned royalty, Aiden.
Maya, who'd stepped out for revenge on the massacre of her tribe.
Even Eleanor, chosen as a vessel for the gods.
And Bern? He had his share of tragic tales too.
"Hahaha. You're definitely different from the rest."
"What do you mean?"
"People scramble to hide their scars."
"I'm no different."
"True. But Jun, once you open up, you lay it all bare."
"Not everything..."
Possessor. Or something like it.
In this world's terms, maybe an otherworlder.
Who knew if he was any different from those outer gods coveting this realm.
"Is that so? Doesn't look like you're hiding it on purpose to me."
"...I'll tell you when the time's right."
"No need to force it. It's not like we know every little thing about each other."
"Haha... Right you are, senior. I've still got plenty of secrets left."
"Me too."
A warm atmosphere settled over them.
A sense of belonging he'd never felt back on Earth.
"..."
It was just a brief moment of respite.
A short conversation born from it, and yet Jun felt a tickle in his chest.
A bit embarrassing, but not unwelcome.
It was around the time everyone had rested and fallen asleep.
Jun had closed his eyes, dead to the world from the accumulated fatigue of battle.
-Master.
He received an invitation from Dream Haze.
"This place..."
-I called you.
Dream Haze, fluffy like a sheep, floated in the dream world.
Jun was puzzled.
Dream Haze rarely called him unless it was something major.
"What's up? You calling me out here."
-Reward... I want...
"Hm?"
He'd received plenty of help from Dream Haze so far, but it never asked for much.
Still, he owed it, so he'd wanted to do something in return, and now it was bringing it up first.
"What do you want me to do?"
-A bit... a lot.
"Something I can manage?"
-Yeah.
"Tell me what first."
-Okay...
Waiting quietly, Dream Haze slowly began its story.
-I'm... from another dimension... a spirit...
Its original world had been struck by disaster and destroyed one day. Dream Haze had barely survived, sealed into the ring Jun now wore.
-But I'm... from another dimension... a being...
"So you've been trapped in this ring, unable to belong to this world."
-Right...
That limited its power, and explained why it slept so much.
Even a little exertion wore it out fast.
"I thought it was because you're a dream spirit."
-Wrong...
"Then why tell me now?"
-Master's rank... has risen more...
"Hm...?"
He'd hit level 6 ages ago.
'From these recent battles?'
Not impossible.
He'd summoned high spirits from the spirit realm twice already.
Fought grueling battles against hordes of humans for days.
And battled an unstable but still level 8 Duke Randel.
All that might have finally expanded the vessel of his soul.
'Doesn't feel that way to me.'
Anyway.
The key point was Dream Haze wanted to grow.
No reason for Jun to refuse. He'd benefited countless times from it, and its growth meant more power for him too.
"So, how can I help?"
-First... the flower with blood here... I need that...
"A flower, huh."
This place had plenty of rare herbs amid the toxic ones.
Poison and medicine were just a hair's breadth apart, after all.
"Which one?"
-Hard to say... by name...
"Ah, 'cause it's from another dimension's language."
-Yeah...
Luckily, Dream Haze had a better way.
-This one...
"Ah."
A smoky shape gathered before Jun, forming a flower like sand art.
"I know this one."
-You do? Master?
"Yeah."
A flower used in specific quests. Jun had seen it in-game.
'Though the quest's completely gone now.'
Two names naturally came to mind: Eleanor and Elahim. It was needed for their storyline quest.
The faintly glowing flower, like it held a gray aurora—its name was.
"God's Tear."
-...!
Dream Haze, parsing his words, looked at him in rare surprise.
"It's a soul fragment left by a god from another dimension."
More precisely, a regular bellflower infused with a soul shard.
In-game, there was a quest to gather them for Elahim.
To oppose Eleanor, the world-raid boss, Elahim needed them to elevate himself to demigod status.
"But don't you need a ton of these to use properly?"
It had taken months even in-game.
But Dream Haze's response was unexpected.
-Yeah...?
"What?"
-No idea... what you're getting at...
"Ah... The use I know is for attaining demigod rank."
-Different... What I want... is to build new rank... with master's mana...
"Aha."
Their goals were different from the start.
What Dream Haze sought was like a complete rebirth, in human terms.
Not exactly the same, but reconstituting the spirit's 'essence' using Jun's mana as base.
Jun tilted his head at that point.
"Hold on... So you're saying you'll bind yourself completely to me?"
-Right... Can't I...?
"No...?"
It wasn't about could or couldn't.
Spirits lived eternally. Binding to another meant accepting death with that being's end.
Wouldn't eternal life in the ring be better?
-A little different... Not from human view... Binding isn't that... Especially for me...
The talk dragged on longer than expected, but chances to hear about spirits from Dream Haze like this were rare.
Jun focused even more.
-For spirits, death is meaningless... As long as the soul isn't absorbed... and vanishes... We can always... be reborn...
"What's the difference from death then?"
-Different... Our essence... keeps going...
"Hm..."
From a human perspective, maybe like karma.
For spirits, the current life didn't matter as much as the soul's quality carrying on.
-Similar... Anyway, what I want... is that flower...
Absorbing it would let Dream Haze rebuild its body on Jun's mana. Then, when Jun died or enough time passed, Dream Haze could break free from its destroyed dimension and fully settle in this world.
"Hm. Easier request than I thought. No problem."
-Yeah... Good...
"But..."
-But...?
"Let's sleep..."
Dream Haze, having watched Jun's recent exploits up close—and as a dream spirit—could no longer disturb his dreams.
Instead, it faded quietly, infusing a gentle mana to let him sleep more peacefully.
The only one who noticed Jun's relaxed expression was Aiden, who happened to be on night watch.