Uriel circulated his essence throughout his body, maintaining a constant and balanced flow. He needed to refine his essence and make it more complex, something he had found difficult to achieve.
Although his control over essence was very good due to his dark manifestations, he still had a long way to go to achieve Ascension.
"What are you doing, creature?" asked Eurys with interest, watching the boy sitting in a meditative posture.
"Improving essence control to achieve Ascension naturally," he explained, which made Eurys smile.
"Oh, that's interesting. I can feel you're an Awakened. And you possess good control over essence for someone with such vast reserves in your Soul Core."
"If you know the path of Ascension, why are you interested in challenging these nightmares of Weaver's Spell?"
"I have my reasons. If I had time, I could ascend naturally, but time is what I lack. The world I come from is beginning to be devoured by the Forgotten God."
"So, you know the Forgotten One. Though it doesn't surprise me that a creature like you wouldn't know one of your own."
"What exactly do you mean?"
Somehow, the skeleton smiled mysteriously but said nothing.
"It seems you are unaware of many things, child, about your own nature."
"I'm surprised a Godslayer knows so much and is so stingy as not to say anything he doesn't want to."
"That is true. History is meant to be forgotten anyway. What I did, what we did..." Eurys's voice grew lower until he fell silent.
Uriel didn't know much about the Nine, other than what he told Sunny within a decade when they meet in the Shadow God's realm, revealing some ancient secrets.
Uriel was sure of two things: first, regardless of how he arrived in this universe, world, or whatever it was, it was through the God of Dreams or the Forgotten God. For what purpose? Uriel didn't really care.
And second, it seemed the Earth he came from had some connection to the unknown. He wondered if it was truly a web novel written by someone, or if someone had dreamed and depicted what they saw about this world.
After all, the stories were strange and too detailed and vivid.
He remembered a theory he had read that people never really dream; their souls leave their bodies when they sleep and wander between different worlds, experiencing others' lives as their own, which they interpret as dreams.
If this theory turned out to be true... Uriel shuddered. Wouldn't that mean his world had been created by the God of Dreams in his eternal sleep, sealed by the gods?
Would the Spell eventually infest the world of the Forgotten God? Why did it consume divine realms into an amalgamation of whole realms? What was the Dream Realm itself? Why could gods die, and more importantly, who had created death?
If the Forgotten God's awakening destroyed creation, what would remain in the end? And even more important: Where did the original Flame of Desire that gave life to the seven most powerful and omnipotent gods come from?
All these questions and more crossed Uriel's mind, making it impossible for him to focus on improving his essence control.
Uriel opened his eyes as the sun began to rise on the horizon, causing the immortal skeletons to disappear again, along with the white sand and the chaos of battle.
"It seems you've finished your meditation, Creature," said Eurys, who had been watching the endless war all night with disinterested eyes.
"Yes," replied Uriel.
"And what is this nightmare you're looking for?" asked Eurys. "It's to know what I'm looking for."
"Well, it has the scent of the demon of fate, and there's a sort of call," he explained.
Eurys made a thoughtful noise.
"I see. I can feel at least several dozen of these nightmares you mention within a considerable range of each other. Some are strong, others are weak," he explained.
"Look for one that's level two."
"There are four that you can more or less enter without dying, from what I can sense of your power," said Eurys, then pointed east toward the Hollow Mountains.
"There's one beneath the Nether Chain, on the shore of the Underworld river. There's another, but its location is dangerous, and going there would be a path of death for you," said Eurys.
"Finally, there are two others. One is in the White Hell."
"You mean the Nightmare Desert?"
"I guess that name fits a place like this better," murmured Eurys.
"Finally, there's another that's about one to two months' journey from here."
"Take me to that one."
"Alright, Creature. Follow me." With that, the skeleton began to advance, with Uriel following, both moving away from the tree.
...
The journey over the next two months was intense. They traversed the endless Nightmare Desert, escaping from Corrupted Terrors, great Tyrants, and even from a Great Demon that took the form of a huge sand creature with countless spirits that constantly screamed. It was 50 kilometers away and yet had sensed them.
Uriel, under Eurys's guidance, learned a new method to refine his essence, which greatly increased his progress. In exchange, Uriel told him about how the only survivors left were descendants of the war and a bit about the Nightmare Spell, which surprised Eurys.
Finally, they arrived at an unexplored area of the Dream World—a forested region. According to Eurys, this part of the Dream Realm belonged to the Heart God's world, so he didn't know what kind of corrupted beings might be inside.
The duo was inside a large ruined city, in front of a great ruin where Uriel could feel the call of the nightmare. It was an immature level two Seed, which, if passed, would make him a Master.
"Well, Creature, this is where I stop. I hope you achieve whatever you're seeking," said the skeleton.
"And what will you do?" asked Uriel.
"Me? Oh, I don't know. Now that I'm down from that damned tree, I don't have much life left. Perhaps I'll try to find what remains of the Shadow Kingdom for a dignified death. Maybe I'll go back and bother Azarax for a while, one last time. That guy was really unbearable, you know? Spending an eternity in his company was the greatest punishment of all. A piece of advice, Creature: choose your eternal companions well."
"Thanks for the advice. Goodbye." Uriel turned around, entering the ruins and disappearing from Eurys's sight.
Eurys turned around, somehow humming a tune.
Uriel stopped, feeling the call of the nightmare more intensely. Removing his mask, he regained his original body after two months. Sighing in relief, he entered without hesitation.
Immediately, his world changed, becoming an absolute black.
[A brave one. Prepare for your second trial.]