Seal and Demon stared in astonishment as Adrian broke through the barrier before either of them could do anything.
Demon let out an awkward chuckle before turning to Seal and smugly asserting, "Everyone laughed at me when that one got away in a few seconds but at least I made my presence known."
"I… How the fuck? What happened?" Asked Seal in an inquisitive tone
When Demon saw Seal's reaction, he eagerly added, "SEE! I told all of you he was special."
Ignoring Demon, Seal turned her head and stared into the distance before dryly stating, "Author I know you're watching..."
When Seal was met with Silence her voice became murderous as she said, "We had a deal... Why did you tell him beforehand?! …He won't grow like this."
[I… I didn't] an oddly familiar voice stuttered out an answer in a confused tone
"What?!" Seal and Demon both exclaimed in unison
[This one and his attendant are special compared to those of you who came before him. They are... special.]
When Demon heard a look of fever appeared in his eyes before suppressing his desire, cutting the void and returning to whence he came.
Soon after Seal followed suit leaving the voice with a small warning, "Support him or I take back what was mine to begin with."
Seal quickly followed suit.
[Sorry, viewers your time is up returning to normal view]
******
~Do you know what your endurance stat does?~ Sakura asked in a forcefully condescending tone
Rolling his eyes, Adrian felt annoyed but still answered seriously, "Endurance in my overall ability to survive, right?"
Sakura cheekily laughed before trying to sound like a professor ~Wrong. Endurance is how much overall damage you can take and recover as well as your physical stability~
Mumbling under her breath ~Though now… I don't think there's anything that could destroy you before you recover.~
"So what you're saying is that endurance IS my ability to survive." Adrian quipped back
~...Anyway, wisdom, like endurance, is your mental recovery and overall mental stability.~ Embarrassed Sakura quickly changed the topic
Adrian looked around before saying, "Somethings off… Normally there would be at least one message annoying us by now."
[The cost for messages has been reinstated, while due to your dramatic increase in fate value the cost has multiplied manyfold.]
[Would you like to lower the cost?]
Adrian said nothing, taking a second to look around and enjoy the silence.
"Nope!" exclaimed Adrian with absolute confidence as he inspected the barrier behind his back
"Sakura, can you tell me about this place?" Adrian asks in an uncertain tone
In the same know-it-all tone from earlier, Sakura explained, ~This is a land where your dreams and nightmares come to life. Honestly, for most this place would be a living hell but in your case, it shouldn't even hold a candle to the forest. To move on to the next area you need to find [3 Orb shards] while interacting with this area for a minimum of one year.~
In a downtrodden tone, Adrian hatefully mumbled, "Great another time sink… Let me guess, I'm going to need to confront each of my past dreams & nightmares to find even a hint of where the shards are."
Scanning the area Sakura confusedly said, ~Normally yes but… in this entire ring there are only 4 essences…~
In an utterly confused voice, Sakura added, ~I know your past was tragic, but have you been depressed since birth? I mean normally there should be hundreds if not thousands of them. Hell, you didn't even have a single childhood memory in your outermost memories.~
"I… It's complicated, just know I was… a bit different as a kid… don't judge me." Adrian said trying to hide his insecurity
~Too late~ Sakura casually remarked
Hearing that response Adrian felt slightly upset but didn't say anything else.
Adrian randomly stated, "Well, four hopes and/or dreams to destroy. What could go wrong? Let's find them and worry about that later."
Without waiting for Sakura to respond Adrian cracked his neck before jumping incredible heights shattering every bone in his lower body, but… well endurance.
[Cursed Writer sponsors 50 Fate Value and thinks you are implausible.]
From his new vantage point, Adrian could see much farther around, noticing that this ring was much smaller than the forest that came before. He also noticed that even with this new height, hundreds of metering in the air, he still couldn't see past the mountains.
Finally refocusing Adrian observed the wasteland below only to find what looked to be a nuclear waste yard. The ground was covered in gray ash with glowing patches of unnatural-looking liquids along with giant mushroom fields that spread clouds of poisons and hallucinogens across the desolate hills that populated the area.
Through the dense virulent clouds, Adrian could see a hulking monstrosity rushing towards the crater under his feet, which Adrian had made with his jump. When Adrian saw the monster he could immediately recognize it as the 'him' that had 'escaped' from the lab.
Its back was covered in the bodies of each innocent he had killed in his 'escape,' an image that had plagued Adrian's mind for many years even in his hellish apocalypse.
As Adrian started to fall he summoned Gáe Bulg to destroy that monstrosity once and for all to prove to himself that he was no longer at odds with this nightmare. Using the velocity from his descent Adrian multiplied the power and force behind the attack.
On contact Gáe Bulg pierced through the monstrous lump of walking flesh severing its causality, obliterating it, while in return Adrian also destroyed the majority of his own body.
As bits and pieces of Adrian and the monstrosity rained down, the larger chunks of Adrian shot out thousands of blood tendrils reconnecting Adrian's entire body all before the first chunk of the monster had hit the ground.
With his body rearranged back to its original form Adrian appeared slowly walking away from the blood and gore falling from the sky behind him.
[Collected 1/4 shards]
Astonished Sakura said, ~Damn that was quick… Three more to go…~