When he came out, wrapped in a complementary bathrobe since he couldn't bear putting his dirty clothes on again, he positioned himself in the center of the bed with his Book spread out in his lap.
Dex rolled his eyes at the way Hugh pointedly kept his attention on the Book and retreated into the bathroom for his own shower. Once he was gone, Hugh took the opportunity to empty out his inventory across the bed and try to bring some semblance of order to the mess. It wasn't easy. The weapons went right back inside, as did the gear he'd worn through the day. He left out everything he intended to wear tomorrow, but that still left all the junk he'd packed in his bug-out bag.
After a little thought, he decided it made no sense to keep it all separated. Sure, it'd be easier to summon that way, but only if he remembered every tiny little item he had stashed. Packing it all back into its original backpack alongside the gems from the treasure chest made far more sense. If he needed something, he could just summon the bag and dig it out.
Then he went to his Tech Equip page and organized those. It wasn't easy since he wasn't actually wearing any of the equipment at the moment, but he eventually managed to get two load-outs settled in his mind.
Once all that was settled, Hugh turned to his Magic Equip page and started playing around with the load-outs on there, trying out some of the scrolls he'd pulled from his Vault. Some of the combinations were completely mind-boggling, such as how Apparate Apparition combined with Summon Water to give him Summon Nymph. When merged with the combination spell Fever, he received access to the Ultimate Spell Flush, which he could use on sleeping individuals to make them piss themselves.
On the other hand, if he combined Apparate Apparition with the spell Manipulate Earth, he received the combined spell Animate which allowed him to place spirits in household objects. When that spell was merged with Fever, he received the ultimate spell Purify that would allow him to expel any foreign substance from a person, whether it was poison, disease, bacterial infection or, surprisingly, Glamours.
He definitely needed to get Frankie copies of those spells, although he'd save it for a time when he couldn't find anything else to bring back.
He kept himself focused on the bigger sections of the Spell Trees, doing his best not to let himself be distracted with the variation spells that blossomed into existence after an Ultimate Spell was unlocked. There would be time enough to study those later as he familiarized himself with all the different combinations. For now, he kept his attention focused on the root four, the two resulting combination spells, and the Ultimate Spells themselves.
It didn't take him long to realize the root spells alone gave him more combinations than he could ever hope to memorize. Adding in Ultimate Spells and the blossoming tree of lesser spells? He was better off sticking with spells he liked, whether because they were easy to use or offered an effect he fell in love with.
With that in mind, he kept Heal and Quick Summon Kekkai Barrier, which led to the combined area-of-effect spell Blessings of Gaia. Blessings gave everyone struck by the spell a fifty point boost in all stats. He also kept Apparate Apparition with Manipulate Earth along with their combined spell Animate. When Blessings of Gaia combined with the combination spell Animate, it unlocked the Ultimate Spell Summon Reinforcements. The details on that one didn't make much sense to Hugh, but the title suggested it could be seriously helpful for those 'I'm about to die' situations.
He'd keep Colossal as a Switch option for when he needed to make something in front of him grow, as well as keeping Summon Fire and Summon Water for situational needs. He did happen to notice Water and Fire combined to make Summon Mist, which could also be helpful in times a tactical retreat was needed.
Hugh yawned, feeling his eyes grow heavy, but there was still so much he felt he needed to do. He needed to check on his Engineer's progress, see if Dex was ready to be leveled up, look through the pages he'd unlocked to see exactly what they did, and update a few things in his NPC pages.
Dex gently pulled the Book out of his hands and pushed on his shoulder to make him lay down on the bed. "There's no rush," he said softly. "It'll still be there in the morning. Get some sleep so you don't make silly mistakes because you're too tired to see straight. I'll wake you up at six. You'll have plenty of time to look it over before your nine o'clock meeting."
Hugh must have slept, because when he opened his eyes again the counter over his head said six hours had passed—the amount he normally slept in the real world. He didn't feel rested, though. His entire body was trembling like he'd just survived a nightmare he couldn't remember.
"I was afraid of this," Dex whispered, rolling over next to Hugh. "You're carrying a spirit sword. The spirit won't let you rest until you either face it or expel it."
Hugh huffed and sat up in the bed, throwing the covers back as he said, "Lich Sword." It worked, even though he didn't use the precise wording on the sword's tooltip. The sword appeared in front of him at the perfect angle for Hugh to grab the hilt. He did so, laying the haunted hunk of metal on the bed between his legs.
"Let's talk, sword," he said to it. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm assuming you can. I'm in Nexus, so I can't use Apparate Apparition to summon your spirit. When I do, you're probably going to attack to see if I'm worthy. Right? That's how these things usually work. Well, fighting in the city is bad and I really don't want to get arrested. You shouldn't want that either because it means you'll be stuck in lockup as evidence for at least a year. So let's make a deal. I'll summon you as soon as it's safe to do so, but you have to let me get some sleep. If I screw up tomorrow, I'm not going to need a sword because I won't have a reason to throw myself into dangerous situations. Understand? This meeting tomorrow is less about the money and more about giving my character some purpose."
Hugh froze once the words were out of his mouth, realizing it was true. He didn't need a sponsor anymore for the money—selling the three properties and having his video go viral would have provided enough funds to keep him happy for several years. Possibly longer. But having purpose? That was far harder to find and the idea of helping Frankie with his clinic gave him the type of satisfaction he only usually felt after tanking a game Boss with hundreds of Raid members counting on him to keep aggro.
He liked having people rely on him. How was that for self-reflection?
"Anyway, quit haunting my dreams for now. I'm not abandoning you and I haven't forgotten about you. I'm actually counting on you. Your spirit has to be really experienced in using a sword. I'm hoping you'll be willing to teach me a few things so I don't accidentally cut off my own foot. If you're not willing to do that and you cause me a bunch of problems, well—I know the spell Purify and I bet it works on haunted objects. I really don't want to use it, but I will if you push me. Dismissed."
Once the sword disappeared back into his Inventory, Hugh laid back down and yanked the blankets back up to his shoulders. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but it was impossible with Dex breathing next to him on the bed and his mind racing with everything he needed to do before his meeting. It took only three minutes before he threw the blankets back again and got up with a grumble to start his day.