Nightmare Realm Summoner-Chapter 192: Star

Alex wasted no time once he got to the Town Hall. He quickly summoned all three of his monsters, gave them orders to keep guard over him while he meditated, and then sank straight into his Mind Palace.

A familiar dark lake stretched out toward the horizon. The marble components of his Mind Palace rose all around Alex, a massive ball of churning blue mist twisting above his basin and casting its light dancing across his soul to illuminate the building materials scattered across and beneath the lake’s surface.

The hand that he’d formed to snatch the star falling from the sky still rose above the basin, its marble fingers wrapped around the churning ball of mist.

Distant stars dotted the sky to shimmer down upon him. Within those stars rested the pitch black vortex that Alex knew to house the odd cube that had appeared when he’d first made his Visualization.

Between two of the massive marble pillars rested the sealed gate. The plain marble sat there as always, the only adornment upon it being the trio of lines that ran up from the bottom of the door to form three circles around a clear gemstone situated in the center of the door at eye level.

And resting in the water without leaving so much a ripple in its wake was the final Aspect Gem Alex needed. The white gemstone sat there innocently, as if unaware as to just how significant it was. It would have been easy to mistake it for just a small fragment of particularly shiny marble had Alex not known what it truly was.

He strode over to the gemstone and scooped it up, ignoring the words that glistened to life above it as he snuck a glance in Berith’s direction. The demon had yet to do anything. He just sat in his corner of Alex’s soul, unspeaking. It was hard to tell if Berith was even paying attention to him right now.

Maybe that’s for the best. I did kind of just rob and force him to watch an excessively long rom-com. Keeping a little space right now is probably a good idea.

Alex’s fingers tightened around his third and final Aspect Gem. He approached the only one of the marble pillars in his soul that didn’t yet have a gem slotted into it, then paused. There was still a positively ridiculous amount of magical energy waiting to be harvested. The size of the mist orb was so big that Alex was pretty sure it was close to filling his basin twice over.

Should I use that first? Or will unlocking my domain also need energy somehow? I’m not sure. Now that I think about it, improving the foundation of my Mind Palace before I go messing with the gems is probably smarter. The gate to Soul Manifestation came up from the lake. That means the strength of my soul determines how powerful it is.

Alex tucked the gem into his pocket and walked over to the large basin in the center of his soul. He ascended the stairs until he stood at its top, then lowered to sit with his feet hanging over the edge and into the basin.

He was nearly confident he had enough energy to level all the way up to Adept tier at this point… but that wouldn’t do much for the strength of his soul. He couldn’t risk advancing without making sure his Mind Palace couldn’t get any stronger, either.

Let’s see. It’s been a long time since I last actually looked at my full status.

Alex summoned it forth with a thought.

Alex Vaya [Human]

Class: Evoker [Mirrorlands]

Stage: Initiate 4

Active Titles[4/5]:

Unbound Mirrorlander

Unmaker

Ascending Forerunner

Anomaly

Inactive Titles:

Soul Manifestation:

[Spatial Mirrors] (Initiate 1)

Auxiliary Skills:

[Requiem to the King] (Novice 8)

[Monster Medley] (Novice 4)

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[Riftwalk] (Novice 8)

Titles:

Ascending Forerunner: Attune with the fluctuations of power on your plane caused by the awakening of powerful monsters. While this Title is equipped, you will be able to sense the location of monsters at the rank of [Region Boss] or higher as they awaken.

Unbound Mirrorlander: Slip past the limits of your Mirrorlander Class, improving its core skill while this Title is equipped.

Unmaker: Granted to those who rid the system of an Anomaly. While this title is equipped, slaying anomalies saves a portion of their power inertly within your soul. At the next milestone, consume this power to permanently improve an Auxiliary Skill. [1/2 Anomalies slain].

Anomaly (FORBIDDEN): You were successfully marked as an Anomaly by the System. This Title cannot be removed.

Title Fragments:

Top Ranker: Granted to those who placed among the top 10 spots of a leaderboard in a Trial.

Lone: Granted to those who clear a dungeon at their rank entirely on their own.

Cataclysm: Granted to one whose actions have directly caused the complete and utter destruction of a Town on the Global Leaderboards.

Spawncamper: Granted to one who claimed a world’s first kill on a Region Boss before it can finish harnessing its army.

Abilities:

[Spatial Mirrors] (Initiate 1): Spatial Mirrors contain the Evoker’s bonded creatures. They can only contain bonded creatures that originate from the Mirrorlands. The creatures stored within Spatial Mirrors can be summoned at will. Upon death, the creature’s energy will return to the Spatial Mirror until it recovers.

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Available Spatial Mirrors: 3

Domain Energy [Illusory]: Riftwarped Qi

[Requiem to the King] (Novice 8): Even in death, all must serve. When a bonded creature is slain in battle, a portion of their energy and abilities will empower their summoner. This effect will remain until the bonded creature reforms in their Spatial Mirror.

[Monster Medley] (Novice 4) — Combine an existing monster with the energy gathered in your Spatial Mirrors. The results of this combination are variable and depend on the quality of the monster and energy as well as their synergy.

[Riftwalk] (Novice 8) — Gain limited control over the Rifts that connect the Mirrorlands and the rest of the Infinitum.

Soul Energy Units: 0

Alex took a moment after he finished reading through everything. It had taken longer than he cared to admit. The most important information was that his next skill upgrade would come in 4 levels and would be for Monster Medley.

He hadn’t advanced the ability in some time now, having focused on his other two powers for the more combat-related advancements they gave him. Bringing Medley up to their level would be a good move, but 4 levels of energy was quite a bit.

I think the best move is to push my soul until it can’t go any farther. If I max the Mind Palace out for this level, then I’m all set to advance to Adept whenever I want to. It’ll also mean my Soul Manifestation will be as strong as it can be — and if I’ve got any power left over, that can go into my levels.

Alex nodded to himself. He dismissed his status from the air before him and then let out a slow breath to center himself and bring his focus to bear.

He extended his senses to the enormous ball of energy he’d gathered from the fight against the Region Boss.

Then he got to work.

It didn’t take long for Alex to determine that his earlier estimations of the power held within the mist were true. By the time he’d drained around half of the ball of mist, the water within his basin had already risen past his legs and was nearly at its edge.

He’d never tried stopping meditating while there was still energy left to condense into energy-filled rain. There was a very tiny chance the excess power in the mist could just… evaporate if he didn’t finish condensing it.

That might not have been a very likely possibility, but Alex wouldn’t put it past the System. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a choice. His Basin was about to start spilling out into the lake below.

Alex reluctantly let himself slip from within the meditation.

He squinted up at the swirling ball of mist above him. Fortunately, his fears proved to be unfounded. It made no move to do anything but continue dancing through the air in wait of his call.

Relieved, Alex sent his thoughts down to the brilliant blue water below. A tendril of it swirled up to rise before him like a snake. Alex steeled himself. There was a hell of a lot of energy waiting for him to absorb… and he wasn’t about to waste a single drop of it.

He blew out a short breath. Then he willed the tendril forward, drinking the power from within it. Icy energy tore down his throat and pierced into his chest. It wormed through his veins until his entire body felt like it had been tossed into a freezing river.

The world shuddered. Alex nearly lost his focus in surprise as he felt the ground suddenly drop out from beneath him. He barely managed to keep himself from glancing around in a panic and instead focused his full attention of keeping a hold of the stream of chilly magic.

And then the shuddering stopped. It took Alex a moment longer to realize that it hadn’t been the world that had shaken.

It had been him.

He floated in the air above his basin. Swirling motes of gentle blue mist danced around him and a faint glow enveloped his entire body. All around him curled the fingers of the marble hand that he had used to catch a star from the sky.

And, above him, between the stone fingers, he could see something changing.

The stars that twinkled in the sky above no longer felt so much like stars. They felt far more like eyes. Thousands upon thousands of eyes, all bearing down into Alex’s back like daggers seeking blood.

An immense pressure drove into him from every single direction. It threatened to squeeze his eyeballs from their sockets and choke the air from his lungs. His bones trembled and his teeth chattered. A rivulet of blood rolled down from one of his nostrils to drip across his lips.

What the hell is this? This never happened when I was drinking the magic in before!

Alex’s hands clenched as he resisted the pressure with all he had. There was no doubt in his mind that, if he let up for even a second, he would be splattered like a bug. This wasn’t some kind of test. It was real.

The sky felt like it was trying to stamp down on his shoulders and drive him into the ground below.

It must be my Visualization. You think I’ll get flattened like this? You’ve got another thing coming.

He fought back even harder. Alex wasn’t even sure what it was he was fighting back with — but the pressure started to relent. Magic flowed through his body like a raging river, but he was barely even aware of it anymore.

All that mattered was resisting the force coming down from the heavens.

Loud cracks echoed out all around him. They rang against Alex’s ears like bombs going off through his soul, but he paid them no mind. His eyes saw only the stars that dared try to stamp him out like some kind of insect.

Come on. Send another star down toward me. I’ll catch it again. I will not be crushed like this. If you want to stop me, then come down here and do it again.

But no more stars fell.

The pressure bearing down on Alex slowly started to relent. Something cold pressed against his backside, and he suddenly realized that the fingers of the marble hand no longer surrounded him. He sat at the edge of his basin once more.

Sweat dripped from his forehead and soaked his back. Every breath came from his chest in a ragged gasp, and his limbs felt like jelly. He had no idea how much time had passed while he’d been in the air, but it felt like he’d just completed a triathlon.

Holy shit. What the hell was that?

Alex swallowed between breaths. He wiped his mouth with a shaking hand and slowly rose to his feet.

Then he froze.

His soul had changed.

“Whoa,” he breathed, exhaustion momentarily forgotten.

A lattice of white marble hands, each easily as large as him, rose all around the edges of the marble basin. They interwove with each other as they reached up toward the heavens, trying to tear down the offending stars within it on their own.

Many of the building materials that had littered the lake of his Mind Palace had been consumed in the creation of the new part of his soul, but many more now lurked beneath the water.

Each of the hands looked identical to their massive counterpart that still loomed above the basin, its fingers wrapped around the swirling ball of blue mist.

Alex swallowed again. Something about the sculpture set him on edge. It was like walking into the tomb of some ancient evil. Awe and unease danced hand in hand, as if screaming a song of warning into his ears.

But this power did not belong to another.

It was his.

Alex could feel it. His fingers clenched into a fist, then relaxed again.

Something was different. His body felt denser. Like it was more… him. He wasn’t sure how else to describe it. A conviction so strong that it had taken physical form.

He rubbed his fingers together. Then he looked back up at the ball of mist. The corners of his lips twitched up into a smile.

Alex sat back down at the edge of his basin and got back to meditating.

Some time later, he had condensed every single droplet of the mist back into water within his basin. He’d nearly filled it a second time by the time he’d run out of rain. Alex let himself pause for a moment as he looked out over the results of his work in satisfaction.

There were still more materials in the lake. Perhaps it would have been safer to distribute the rest of his energy into levels and make sure not to overdo it.

But the stars had just challenged him, and he’d be damned if he was going to back down from that.

I already feel so much stronger. Let’s see just how far I can get.

Alex stared up at the shimmering sky. He drew in a deep breath. A tendril of magical water twisted up from the lake.

Then he reached up toward the heavens. His fingers clenching around one of the stars is if he could grasp it from where he sat…

And the star blinked out from its spot in the sky.

Pressure drove down into his shoulders as a distant roar marked the star plummeting straight toward him.

The marble hand looming over him trembled. Its fingers clenched into a fist, then opened once more as the huge statue begun to twist. Freezing magic poured into Alex. He was lifted into the air once more.

He passed through the statue’s fingers as they turned skyward, then lowered back down to find himself sitting in the very center of the huge, upturned palm. Its fingers rose all around him as if grasping an invisible ball.

Alex smiled.

It was time to catch a star.