AN: Yo, another chapter here, brothers,

  I had a pretty exhausting week. The company I work for changed my boss, and the new one wants to show work, so he has been driving me and my coworkers like sves, which, considering we are all interns, is still not far from the truth.

  It’s still kinda sad, as my previous boss was a total homie and a badass to boot. The guy had a master's degree in Systems and more than 30 years of experience in the area, not to mention he even worked for the company who developed the system that we used, and he was let go for a person who didn’t even know the system’s name. Yeah, company politics 101.

  So to “compensate”, the new guy has been pushing us hard, to the point we didn’t even have lunch breaks this week(that was usually where I wrote a good chunk of the chapters).

  I also had to install some new cooling fans I bought for my computer. (Gamdias 4-Fan Kit.) It was a retively fun experience, as I never had to install RGB Fans before(Most of the computers I worked with are office PCs, so they rarely, if ever, have anything different). Took me a couple of hours, but I eventually figured it out, and now my cumper looks like a Christmas tree.

  Now, to more interesting matters:

  If you could bring one fictional aspect to our world [Magic, Ki, Superpowers, Karma (Cultivation Style), or some Super Tech], which one would it be?

  Here is the chapter:

  ~ Razen Antares Gremory ~

  It was sudden; one moment, the fog blocked their vision, and the next, they were inside a forest –the forest was thick and extremely dark, a sinister gray fog rose half a meter in the air, almost completely obscuring the ground; an unknown type of tree possessing a dark bark infused with starlight spread far in every direction, dark green leaves almost the color of pure ink, tall shrubs with unknown dark grey flowers, and a strange swooshing sound of wind that seemed to spook even ancient ghosts.

  Antares concluded it would be quite a sinister sight—if they weren’t Devils and thus could see perfectly in the dark. But while his gaze had wandered to the environment, his companions were looking at quite a strange creature.

  She, for it was unmistakable a she, was a small little thing –with a body strangely curvaceous for someone so small, burnt orange hair the color of fme, bluish-grey skin, with bck markings that seemed to cover both her breasts, arms, the left side of her torso and her left leg. The edge of the bck marks had a strange wispy and swirly pattern, almost giving the impression they were living shadows, engraved on her bckened arms there seemed to be some strange blue glyphs akin to a circuit, with a simir pattern on her right tight, left shin and the top of her elf-like ears.

  Her ears were long and pointed, with their edges a little serrated, almost like a parody of elf ears that tried their best to maintain the original shape. A small triangle-shaped nose that looked surprisingly delicate on her more rough features, eyes with pupils as orange as the sun, and a sclera of a yellow color, her small delicate mouth was filled with sharp teeth with one of her fangs protuberant forward.

  Her upper face was covered by a strange, stone-like mask. It was filled with mystical-looking engravings and two straight, stone-like horns pointing upwards. The mask was slightly broken, exposing her right eye. Her left eye, on the other hand, was still covered.

  Spoiler

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  [colpse]As little as Antares pyed Nintendo games—he mostly pyed Pokémon—he still could recognize the small floating girl before him.

  “Midna?” Neptune and Antares excimed simultaneously, surprising the floating imp and the clueless Eu.

  “Das rite.” She answered with a fake thick accent; “Still…quite surprising.” Midna smirked while she strutted in the air. “A bunch of clueless Devils knowing me.”

  Antares made a so-so gesture with his hand. “Kinda.” Neptune nodded, following Antares' lead.

  “Ow, bummer.” Midna defted mid-air, almost touching the fog. “Almost thought I- that doesn’t matter,” the floating imp shook her head. “What matters is that I am your guide.”

  “Guide?” Eu asked, confused.

  “Yup.” Midna nodded her head. “I’ve magnanimously selected myself to bless your new adventure with my dazzling presence.” The floating imp expined smugly.

  Before any of them could ask a question, Midna continued in her smug tone, “Your poor selves are in what is known as the Misty Forest, the transitional biome between the fog and Maremist City.”

  “As your guide, it is my job to, well, guide you, duh.” Midna rolled her eyes before her smirk widened a bid; “While you three dumbos were skulking inside the fog, poor me was waiting for you all here.” She then shook her fists in fake anger. “How dare you let my sparkling self be struck and bored to death here, waiting?”

  “Ah, yes. Because it is very wise to follow a strange and mysterious voice calling you from inside the nightmarish fog.” Deadpanned Neptune, trying to pierce the smug imp with a gre.

  Midna stopped and froze for a moment. “Okay, now that you put it that way….” Midna cpped her face. “Weird first meeting aside, any questions?”

  “Several.” Grumbled Neptune.

  “I am not talking with you, purple.” Midna dismissively waved at Neptune, making a thick mark appear on the purplette eyebrows. “I am talking with…” Midna approached Antares, making a very obvious gesture of ogling him. “ Mr. Stud here.”

  “Mr. Stud? Really?” Neptune rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen polka dolls with more vocabury than you.”

  “Why I am not surprised you py around with polka dolls.” Midna teased back, a slightly malicious smirk on her face.

  Neptune gritted her teeth, ready to shoot an insult in response, but when she felt Antares' hand resting on her shoulder, she defted.

  “Before we start with the questions, I think we should introduce ourselves.” Suggested Antares while extending an olive branch; “I am Razen Antares Gremory, a Devil.”.

  “My name is Eu Lawrence, a Devil as well.” Added the bluenette with a pin voice.

  “Name’s Neptune.” Added the purplette with a grumble, before gritting out; “Also Devil.”

  “And I am Midna Twili,” she smirked proudly. “Your fabulous and beautiful guide.” Then she did a little spin and flourish with her tiny hands. “Now, what are your questions, handsome?” she asked Antares.

  “Okay, first, where are we?” Asked Antares, doing his best to remain focused on the task at hand.

  “This is the misty forest-” Before Midna could continue, Antares gently interrupted her. “I am not talking about that,” he shook his head. “I am referring to this world, this pce in general.”

  “Oh, yeah, you guys are newbies,” Midna mumbled while cupping her chin. “Didn’t the Big 4 tell you about this pce? The First Dreamers? Anything?”

  Antares, Eu, and Neptune shook their heads negatively.

  “Damn, that is rough.” Midna winced a little. “If I am not mistaken, there are a few Devils who managed to climb The Tower and exit this pce, for them to not tell you…” Midna sighed and gritted out, “Politics.”

  “Okay, guess I will have to expin things from the beginning.” Concluded the floating imp a little enthusiastically. “I don’t know your preferences, but a creepy forest is not my favorite pce for conversation. So, let’s walk and talk.” Midna then started floating ahead at a rather moderate pace

  Looking at the girls, Antares shrugged and started following the imp; Neptune and Eu did the same.

  “This pce is a little complicated,” started Midna in an almost rehearsed way. “To be completely honest, even I, a magnificent guide, am still far from grasping it fully.” She then shook her head. “The truth is no one truly knows nor fully understands this pce… bar Morpheus, probably.”

  “Morpheus?” asked Antares incredulously.

  “He is the supposed creator of this pce.” Midna shook her head with a scoff. “Or at least that is what his cult cims.” Antares had so many questions, but he could see the more prudent course of action was to let Midna expin first.

  “Now how should I say it…” Midna mumbled in a low voice, before snapping her fingers with a grin; “This,” Midna signaled to everything around her; “Is what we call a Dreamscape, an entirely new pne of existence that exists only in the realm of dreams.”

  “Morpheus, or whoever else, found a way to use Dreams as building blocks of reality, and this is the result.” Midna spread her arms towards the surroundings.

  “So this realm is not made of matter but of dreams?” asked Eu in wonder.

  “Kinda.” The imp made a slightly constipated face. “Like I said, no one knows for sure. That’s just what they tell us, but the Cult of Morpheus loves to exaggerate. So I always make the very prudent decision of taking everything they say with a grain of salt.”

  “What is a fact, however, is that from time to time,” Midna pointed at Antares and the girls; “People will be abducted by Morpheus’ Backyard, and appear from the mist. Then a guide-,” the imp pointed at herself; “Will be assigned to a team of 4 people.”

  Midna then stayed silent for a moment, content to continue floating ahead in the dark forest. Antares briefly exchanged gnces with Eu and Neptune, and both girls indicated with their heads that he should continue speaking. Shaking his head with a smile, Antares turned towards Midna and opened his mouth-

  “You know… It's really convenient that you guys are Devils.” spoke the floating Imp with some smugness; “I was escorting this redhaired girl earlier, quite the shy thing that one,” Midna then put a hand before her mouth, doing her best to hold back ughter; “She couldn’t even walk 10 steps before hitting a tree or stumbling or a root.”

  Midna chuckled before her tone turned a little bit more serious. “Take care of her, alright?”

  “What do you mean?” Asked Neptune with a small frown.

  Rolling her eyes, the Twilight Princess looked at Neptune sharply; “If you were paying attention, I mentioned Guides, guide a team of 4 people.” she then signaled her head towards the trio; “I don’t know if you have learned how to count yet… but you have just two companions, purple...” Midna added in a slightly condescending tone.

  Neptune gritted her teeth, a tick mark throbbing on her forehead; “Listen here you little shi-” Before the purplette could continue, Eu fake coughed loudly, interrupting her mid-sentence and earning a gre from the gamer girl.

  “Is it necessary to be in a group of four?” politely asked Antares. Ignoring the silent dispute between Eu and Neptune.

  “Yup.” Midna instantly confirmed, before adding, “If you want to climb The Tower and get out of here, you need a full party. It’s not only a necessity but a requirement as well. You can’t even enter Morpheus’ Garden if you don’t have a full party.”

  “You know,” Neptune started while narrowing her eyes, “You keep talking about tower this, tower that? What do you mean?”

  “It's The Tower, purple,” the mischievous imp corrected. “You need to say it with capital letters, if you don’t, people will never understand what you mean.” Midna harumphed haughtily. Neptune just rolled her eyes but ended up nodding in agreement.

  Smiling, Midna continued talking; “You saw it before, no?” she asked with none of the usual levity in her tone; “That magnificent structure, that impossibility made form, the invisible turned real, and your dreams come true.” the imp drew a sharp breath; “All in one single structure.” She added in an almost manic tone.

  Before Midna could expin, the group finally managed to exit the forest, the trees giving way to a pteau filled with low, dark-green grass. And on the horizon was the subject of their talk until now.

  “And that, my dear friends, is The Tower.” Midna spun and opened her hands as if she were a dramatic hostess. She then smiled and added, “Behold, The Core of Morpheus’ Dream, and the objective of all who find themselves dragged into the Backyard.”.

  “Now, before I begin my csses in full.” The imp continued in her almost trademarked smug tone, “I want you three to meet someone.”

  Pointing at a small orange light near some rock formations in the distance, Midna continued, “You see that light over there?” The trio nodded their heads, prompting the Twilight Princess to continue, “That’s your st team member, let’s go meet her.”.

  Before any of them could give input, Midna swooshed forward, flying at quite impressive speeds for someone who looked so small and chubby.

  “She seems rather enthusiastic,” Eu commented diplomatically.

  “Tell me about it.” Neptune sighed, the tension leaving her body for a brief moment.

  “Hmmm, might as well meet our new teammate, no?” suggested Antares with a comforting smile while walking forward. “And I don’t know you guys. But I am dying to know more about this pce.”

  A little slower than Midna, the trio approached the light source, which turned out to be a campfire. Flying around the fire was Midna, who seemed to be unable to stop babbling to a poor girl sitting on the ground next to the fire.

  The girl was extremely beautiful, to the point Antares could see many Devils losing to her when it came to appearance alone. Her hair was soft like an Arachne’s silk, its color a vibrant red that was akin to the Gremory’s own in many ways –it flowed from her head to her shoulders, forming a beautiful arc.

  She wore a red, neon green, and gold jacket that covered her upper torso. The jacket hugged her frame so tightly that one could easily see the bountiful curves of her breasts, and her shoulders seemed to spot small red-colored pauldrons that shone a little bit in the low light. On her hands, she wore bck and red gloves with a green jewel embedded on the back of her hand. Dropping his gaze a bit, Antares could see she wore very short shorts that seemed to struggle like a cultivator against the heavens just to maintain their structure and not burst due to her abundant rear. On both sides of her waist followed a red and golden belt that helped the poor, struggling shorts to survive. Tight-high, red-colored socks with a metallic sheen gripped her ample, thick tights like a vice, perfectly showing the curves of a pair of quite beautiful legs. On her feet, she wore boots made of red colored hard leather that seemed to cover her foot to the middle of her shin.

  She appeared to be roughly the same age as Neptune, her curvaceous figure, shapely wide hips coupled with a big well-proportioned pliable ass that was wider than her shoulders, an ass that you could literally bounce a coin of. Generous, plump, soft, estic, gravity-defying breasts that were the envy of many women around the world and the target of many men. Rose-colored, attractive lips that looked as fragrant as they seemed delicious, coupled with light red eyes and a button nose that made for one of the most beautiful faces and women Antares had ever seen.

  So beautiful was this girl, in fact, that Antares could count on one hand the number of women who could even be compared to her, and all of them were of a supernatural species.

  Spoiler

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  [colpse]Of course, he is not counting Eu and Neptune in such a parameter; with their reincarnation as Devils, who have the innate shapeshifting ability to always grow into their ‘Ideal Self’ appearance-wise, coupled with the perks provided by the company, to call the duo transcendentally beautiful was the minimum. So it wouldn’t be a fair comparison.

  “Heya Slowpokes,” teased Midna with a light smirk. “Finally decided to grace us with your presence?”

  “We just had a short talk before continuing,” Expined Eu in an aristocratic polite tone, something that made Midna flinch and drop any accusations. “... no worries.” Answered the imp, a little subdued for a moment before looking at the red-haired girl and perking up again. “Now, allow me to introduce your new team member: Pyra!” Excimed the Twilight Princess with a lot of fanfare, dancing around the shy red-haired girl like she was some kind of carnival attraction.

  Pyra seemed to want to hide inside her small jacket at the sudden attention, but she still managed to gather enough courage to look at the trio, get up, and bow. “H-Hi, please take c-care of me,” she added shyly with a little stutter.

  Antares smiled warmly. “Nice to meet you, Pyra.” he then stretched his hand for a handshake. “My name is Antares, I hope we can get along.” The girl nodded demurely and shook the Devil’s hand. Her hand was incredibly soft and delicate, but she had surprisingly firm grip strength.

  Eu then stepped forward and half bowed; “My Name is Eu Lawrence, and I am Antares’ Knight, nice to meet you.” Smiling softly at the shy redhead, she continued, “Please take care of me as well.”

  After Eu came Neptune with a welcoming smile. “I am Neptune.” She greeted warmly; “Antares’ Queen and his biggest gaming rival, nice to meetcha.” she tilted her head towards the redhead. Who answered with a modest, “Hn”.

  The trio then sat around the bonfire and looked at Midna, who was nodding approvingly at her newly formed team. “Nice, now that everyone is together, I can properly expin stuff.” She then made a strange motion and sat cross-legged in the air.

  “I’ve already given some snippets here and there for both of you, but as your guide, it's literally my job to info dump-” Midna coughed on her hand. “I mean, properly expin stuff.”

  “You are already aware this is a Dreamscape and that The Tower, aka Morpheus’ Spire, is the core of it.” Midna signaled with her arms towards the unimaginable Tower the distance; “What you still do not know is just how much this tower means to your foreseeable future,” she added a little somberly.

  “The only way for you to wake up from this Dream is to climb The Tower,” Midna continued, a sense of unease growing inside the four. Most of them had already figured out the words coming next but were still awaiting confirmation. “You are stuck here, potentially forever, if you do not climb The Tower,” added the imp solemnly.

  Antares clenched his fist, his mind whirling through thousands of scenarios. Neptune gritted her teeth, the feeling of being at the mercy of some unknown God grating at her nerves. Eu stood frozen, her smile strained, but otherwise, she showed no other outward reaction. Pyra seemed to want to sob momentarily, but the girl quickly schooled herself.

  “If you want to go back to your world, to see your family or loved ones again,” Midna gulped, the imp herself feeling quite frustrated, “You need to conquer each and every single floor of the tower. And your reward will be freedom.”

  “W-What if someone doesn’t want to go b-back?” asked Pyra while looking at the ground, her features briefly obscured by shadow.

  “That’s…” Midna was briefly stunned; this wasn’t the first time she had met someone who didn’t want to go back. She was one of them, after all. But that always threw her for a loop. “It’s possible to remain at the tower if you want to; nothing is forcing you to climb.” Midna shook her head. “But eventually, your body will die, and your consciousness will quickly follow through.”

  “B-but you s-said time passes d-differently here?” Asked Pyra, a little flustered.

  “It does, but eventually, your body won’t be able to support you anymore.” Midna then looked at the three Devils. “Even if you are from a supernatural race, eventually, a body without consciousness will fail.”

  “That’s n-not a problem then.” Pyra softly supplied. “I am n-not a h-human, so-”

  “But even then,” Midna interrupted lightly, “A body without a consciousness will degrade with time.”

  “You don’t understand,” Pyra interrupted the imp, shaking her head, her voice turning surprisingly firm, and her eyes emitting a mysterious golden hue. “I am not human, I am a Bde. My species does not age with the passage of time. We surge from the Titans at full maturity and only ‘age’ when we complete a life cycle, where our data returns to the Trinity Processor, which then processes our data and sends it back to our Core Crystal, so it can resonate with us again. Properly acclimated, we are sent back to the world, starting the cycle all over again, which results in a continuous process of evolution.” Her eyes now fshing bright golden, Pyra continued in a even firmer tone; “When we return enough times to the processor, which may take from a few centuries to a few millennia depending on the Bde, we become a Titan, and in turn start producing our own Core Crystals, who will then become Bdes of their own.”

  Everyone froze, looking fbbergasted at the previous shy Pyra demonstrating an eloquence they didn’t even associate with the demure girl before.

  Antares narrowed his eyes when he saw the sudden changes in the redhead before him. Her previous timid posture, almost as if she was trying to hide inside her own clothes, disappeared; she now looked confident, borderline arrogant even, her posture was straight and firm, showing tenacity and determination that were previously buried under shyness.

  She now matched everyone’s gaze as an equal and rarely, if ever, avoided her bzing golden stare. The air of confidence and strength Pyra emanated at this moment could even be compared to a high-level powerhouse.

  “ ...has anyone ever told you your species is weird?” added Midna, breaking the silence and interrupting everyone’s thoughts.

  Pyra did a spit take, the strange sound coming from her mouth sounding almost like a chortle, then her eyes stopped glowing and returned to their normal red color, prompting the girl to retreat inside her own self.

  The change in the Bde’s behavior was so intense and abrupt that everyone stopped what they were doing just to look at the girl doing her best imitation of a turtle. All the confidence, posture, and presence that had been emanating from her were gone, like soft sand in the harsh winds.

  “N-no.” stuttered Pyra back in her shy tone; “B-back there…” she paused and closed her eyes briefly; “it was the norm.”

  “Yeah, figured as much.” Midna nodded with a smirk. “Not that I should be the one talking. Twilight Elves, aka the Twili, aka my glorious species, are weird.”

  “Now, where we were at?” Midna pondered aloud, her voice tallying off for a moment.

  “You were talking about staying at the tower.” Supplied Neptune with a deadpan.

  “Thank you, weird voice inside of my head, you are very helpful.” Excimed the imp while completely ignoring Neptune, who just rolled her eyes. “Like I was saying, you can stay inside the tower, but your body will eventually wither away. There are some exceptions, of course, and no one wants to leave their real body defenseless.” Everyone looked at Midna, deadpan when she still insisted on that fact, but choose a more reasonable point. “So unless you manage to bring your real body here, you are out of luck.”

  “Is it p-possible to b-bring our real body here?” asked Pyra with a very intense gaze, her eyes fshing golden for a moment.

  “Dunno.” Midna shrugged with a ‘what can I do expression’ before continuing, “But I’ve heard some rumors it's possible. Not that you would know if someone managed to accomplish it, like, our real bodies are indistinguishable from our dream ones, so good luck with that.”

  “Can you expin more about this tower?” Asked Eu with an analytical gaze.

  “Sure thing, bluey.” Midna instantly agreed with her trademark smirk. “The first thing you need to know is that the tower has 100 floors-” Midna then went on to expin, doing her best to go into as many details as possible.

  The quartet mostly stayed silent, letting the imp expin things to her heart’s content. But they didn’t forget to ask questions when prompted or when they had some doubts.

  Pyra didn’t slip into her more serious mode again. She spoke very few times, opting to let the others ask questions in her stead.

  Hours passed, and Midna continued talking and talking, showing her veritable encyclopedic knowledge of the dreamscape. And while the quartet was pretty impressed with the floating girl’s knowledge, the imp wasn’t so much.

  “… And that concludes the basics.” Finished Midna with a tired flourish, her seemingly bottomless energy having finally run out.

  “That was just the basics!?” Neptune excimed, her face a mix of constipation and resignation. Midna smiled evilly. “Yup, this is a world of its own. Obviously, it will be a tad bit complicated, but no matter, as your fabulous and beautiful guide, it is my job to make sure you are all well informed.” Her smirk widened before she plopped her floating body on a rock, seemingly too tired to continue floating. “But now I just want to sleep.”

  *Growl* x5

  Almost like they were waiting for such a moment, five stomachs decided to protest the fact that they were empty.

  Sighing, Antares waved his hand and summoned a little bit of food he had in storage. He had filled it with a few dozen takeouts, drinks, and a few other trinkets he thought he might need. It should st the group for a while, but it's no way a permanent solution. If they need to stay on this dreamscape as much as the Devil thinks they will need to, proper resources are necessary.

  “You have food!?” Excimed Midna, surprised. She then stopped and narrowed her eyes at Antares. “Where did that come from?”

  “From my Pocket Space, of course.” Replied the Devil with a smirk, earning a haughty huff from Midna.

  Putting the takeouts on top of a ft stone Antares had found, he looked at the others. “No need to be shy. Let’s eat something so we can start pnning how to proceed.”

  Midna stopped and smiled a little awkwardly. “So you will climb the tower then?”

  Antares exchanged gnces with Eu and Neptune, and the two girls nodded. “We will.” Antares firmly answered.

  “What about you, Pyra?” pressed Midna with a knowing look.

  “I-I really don’t w-want to go back,” mumbled the red-haired girl in a soft tone. “There is nothing l-left to me back h-home. Nothing.”

  “I can say the same.” Added Midna in a more subdued tone, earning a surprised gaze from everyone present; “Much like Pyra over there, I have nothing left, there is really nothing, so why would I go back to ruins, corpses, and rivers of blood?”

  Pyra gritted her teeth and lowered her head; the parallels between her situation and Midna’s were way too close for comfort. Way too close.

  Neptune pursed her lips, frustration almost palpable in her tone. “So we are stuck here?” The purplette anger seemed to be rising; “You don’t want to climb the tower and now we have to swallow it? How is that fair?” Antares felt the gamer girl was jumping to conclusions way too soon, but before he could stop things from escating, Midna replied.

  “It is not,” replied Midna in a serious voice, “But so is life.” Tension rose in the campsite, Neptune’s sharp gaze jumped back and forth between Midna and Pyra, the imp preening smugly at the attention while Pyra seemed to shrink inside herself even more, her expression a mix of panic and guilt.

  “You said the tower is… pretty Miraculous, no?” asked Eu, breaking the tension with the subtlety of a leopard.

  “Yup, I just expined it not even 10 minutes ago,” Midna replied seriously.

  “So, who says there aren’t other solutions to your problems?” Eu briefly looked at Antares from the corner of her eyes. “Perhaps there is some kind of artifact that can provide this miracle if we are creative enough?” She added diplomatically. Pyra seemed to ponder for a moment before giving a hesitant nod.

  “You aren’t wrong, Bluey,” Midna conceded. “The tower is indeed miraculous, but not easy.

  So, while possible, the possibility is still very small. Like trying to find a single small needle in a mountain-sized haystack.”

  “But it is possible,” pressed Eu with a slightly Machiavellian smile. “And we do have time in spades,” she added.

  “Yeah.” Midna agreed with a nod, her gaze a bit distant for a moment.

  “Besides,” Eu continued, her evil smile softening and turning into a scheming one, “There is nothing explicitly saying that you need to exit the tower when you finish it.” Neptune whipped her head towards her sister, an expression of disbelief pstered on her face. Antares just shook his head and chuckled.

  Speechless, Midna couldn’t help but smirk. “… Never thought of it that way before.” She fully admitted, earning a questioning gnce from Pyra.

  “I was already thinking of at least partially climbing the tower so we could have better living conditions,” admitted the imp with an equally evil smile. “But I guess your solution is not bad as well.” Pyra seemed to rex, all the tension she was building up suddenly leaving her body.

  Seeing everyone finally getting along, at least for now, Antares smiled. “Good, let’s eat then.” Everyone nodded and picked one of the takeout boxes and a water bottle. There was still plenty of stuff to talk about, as Midna and Pyra just dropped a bomb on the trio’s p, but right now, it was time to eat; questions and discussion could come ter.

  While he ate, Antares navigated his HUD and pulled up his mission.

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  Mission: Tower of Dreams, Kidnaping the Sleepy for Strange Purposes Edition

  World: Highschool DxD AU - Dream Realm             Scope: Standard

  Description: Congratutions!! You just found a unique easter egg! Your reward is your kidnapping, isn’t it fun!?

  Now, in a strange nd made of solid dreams, you find yourself lost as–

  Okay, you aren't here for some silly narration but to get your quest.

  Looking at the horizon, you should see an impossible Tower. That is your objective.

  Your task is very simple and straightforward; you just have to beat the tower, that’s it. Reach the 100th floor and defeat the final boss, and you’re golden.

  Reward: 150c

  Conditions:

  .You must not be above Tier 6.

  .You must climb the tower and beat the st floor.

  .You must finish the tower with your full cohort.

  .Your time limit is 5 years.

  .You must not kill any members of your cohort.

  .You must help at least three other teams climb the tower.

  Additional Objectives:

  .No one in your cohort dies. |R: A Demipne Perk of your Choice. (Max 100c in value).

  .Defeat all the main Bosses of the tower. |R: 5 Tempte Stackings I and II of your choice. (The rules of your Patron still apply.)

  .Find 10 Unique Ranking Artifacts. |R: A bnk Sacred Gear Seed.

  .Find all the Legendary Colored Rings. |R: 150c and The One Ring

  .Discover a secret of the Devil Race. |R: One Heritage Perk of your choice. Only avaible ones.

  .Finish the “Sky Floors” without getting hit. |R: One Ride of at least Medium size of your choice and the ability to freely move through 3D space.

  .Stop your Cohort from splitting up. |R: 10c [OK]

  .Bring Midna’s and Pyra’s body inside the dreamscape. |R: 1 Tempte Stackings I and II of your choice.

  .Discover the great mystery behind the Dreamscape and stop The Mantling. |R: 2000c and 3 Demipne Perks of your choice.

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  Looking at the additional objectives, Antares wanted to sigh. Just by the rewards alone, he can already see how difficult an objective will be. The main objective is a given as he was already going to do it anyway; it’s just Macroz's conditions that made it more challenging, principally the one about helping three other teams.

  Antares knows that dealing with people always brings a new element of difficulty, and for Macroz to put the condition there, it should be difficult enough for the main mission reward to be worth it.

  The Additional Objectives were a little bit more manageable, albeit there are some quite scary ones there. Antares honestly doesn’t know what kind of madness warrants a 2000c + 3 Demipne Perks as rewards. It wasn’t anything absurd like an IMG Ticket, but it was definitely above the Devil Heir’s paygrade.

  The one about clearing those floors without getting hit is definitely bait, and if Macroz is feeling a little bit asshole-ish, he could consider getting ‘hit by the wind’ as a failure of this additional objective, and Antares bets if there is one thing the Sky Levels have in abundance, it’s wind.

  Finishing his food, Antares took a few sips from his water bottle. “What do you guys want to do?” he politely asked the girls.

  “ ...Sleep honestly.” Answered a slightly tired Neptune. “I just had a ton of new info dumped on top of my head, and I feel pretty exhausted.” Eu nodded at the purplette, agreeing with the girl’s words.

  “I have a few sleeping bags if you guys want to doze off a bit,” suggested the red-haired Devil while gathering the trash with one hand and summoning five sleeping bags with the other.

  “D-Do we take turns?” Asked Pyra after finishing her food.

  “That seems to be the wisest course of action,” hummed Eu while getting up to help Antares. “We are in 5, so everyone should have a decent time sleeping if we split things right.”

  Neptune got up and did a few slow stretches. “Who will take the first watch?”

  No one answered the purplette for a moment. Midna was still mostly focused on her food while eying the quartet with a hidden analytical gaze, while Pyra seemed to be dozing off already.

  “Can I take it?” Antares raised his hand, a pn already forming in his mind. Neptune shrugged and nodded, while Eu gnced at her lover for a bit before nodding her head as well. Pyra just stuttered out an agreement, and Midna grumbled an acceptance while she finished eating her food.

  While the girls were getting ready to rest, Antares found a good pce where he had an excellent field of view and nodded, marking it as his future vigil spot.

  Approaching Eu, he gave her a goodnight kiss, which made the poor Pyra stammer and blush redder than a tomato while Neptune briefly avoided her gaze while still looking at it from the corner of her eyes.

  Midna just looked at the kiss with a rather scivious smirk, and when Antares looked at her, she sent him a flying kiss and a wink, earning a slight smile from the taller Devil, who just waved back.

  After saying goodnight to everyone, Antares returned to the spot he had found earlier and sat in the fabled lotus position. One of his Goetia vigintly stared at the outside, analyzing the girls and the dark surroundings, while the other focused on sleeping and resting.

  He knows this way he won’t be resting his body much, or at least that would be the case if he didn’t have a Ki Circution technique, which he has been abusing to help his body stamina recover as much as possible while one of his Goetia focuses on sleeping.

  Tomorrow, Antares will see about letting his Main Goetia sleep while the Gravity one takes the reins for a few hours. This way, he can theoretically function “without” sleep, not to mention his Time-Savers, which also help make him “fully rested” even if he does it this nonstandard way.

  The night was retively peaceful; no one even came close to the camp, not even the few small critters Antares had detected in the forest back there.

  In the end, the male Devil decided to let the girls sleep, and while he knew he might get an earful from Eu due to another foolish self-sacrificing habit, he felt it was still worth it to give them the needed rest. Besides, the method he just created seemed to be functioning well enough. Although the Devil Heir knew he couldn’t be skimping on true sleep like this too much, he still felt he owed the girls a rest day so they could digest the new info.

  Shaking his head, Antares got up and went about feeding the fire with another piece of log from his Pocket Space. It wasn’t much, but it was more than enough to keep the fire running for a few more hours.

  Doing a few stretches, the Devil momentarily stopped; he was getting a weird feeling from his body.

  ‘It’s the same?’ he grumbled inwardly to himself; ‘A whole night using my Ki Circution technique, and I didn’t progress even a small bit?’ Closing his eyes, Antares tried to get a better feel for his body and ended up frowning soon after.

  ‘At least my control seems to still have improved?’ he sighed inwardly, knowing his stay in the Dreamscape would be far from simple.

  “What are you thinking about, handsome?” Asked Midna right beside Antares’ ear, almost making the Devil flinch in surprise.

  “… you know that if I hadn’t detected you before, I could’ve attacked you, right?” replied the male redhead with a sigh, making Midna smirk. “As if the moment I got up from my bed, you already knew I was there.” She then hummed in appreciation. “Very sharp senses you got there… Now, spill.”

  “… we can’t get stronger here, can we?” asked Antares in a serious tone, his eyes briefly focusing on the sleeping girls.

  Midna's smile faltered for a moment. “Define strong.” She almost demanded. “Because I know plenty of adventurers who got ridiculously strong.”

  “I am talking about raw attributes here,” affirmed Antares while clenching and unclenching his fists. “Increasing strength, speed, durability…” he then took a long blink, taking a feel for his body who stayed the “same” during the night; “Improving our physique.” He concluded.

  Midna sighed and slumped a little. “Unfortunately, you are right.” She floated around Antares for a bit, taking in his muscur form. “You, technically, aren’t here with your real body. So no matter how much you exercise or strain yourself, your body will stay the same.” Midna then shrugged and smirked. “Albeit you can still get tired if you strain yourself. But you won’t be improving from it like you would outside.”

  “Magic, on the other hand, can be improved.” She added, almost like an afterthought, “You won’t be growing your reserves much, if at all, but you can improve your control and your skill with the art.”

  “So we can only improve and refine our skills then?” asked Antares in the same serious tone, already knowing the answer.

  “Yup,” Midna confirmed with a nod.

  “…how does someone climb the tower then?” Antares shook his head with slight disapproval. “I can’t even imagine how someone out of shape would even begin to undertake this challenge.”

  “Though luck, in that case.” Midna agreed with the boy. “But the main way you gain strength in the tower is through Dream Equipment.” The imp did a dramatic flourish; “…Both stuff the monsters dropped or someone created for you. So it’s not like they are hopeless; they will just have a harder starting point than others.”

  “So we can only improve skill and equipment, huh.” Antares shook his head. “That sounds annoying.”

  Midna snorted. “Tell me about it.” She then looked at Eu from the corner of her eyes and sighed; “Albeit bluey there reminded me of an interesting point.” The imp closed her eyes for a brief moment, as if searching through a gallery of memories; “The tower has many treasures, and a rare few of them, are consumable.”

  Antares narrowed his eyes, his mind already conjuring up many new scenarios.

  “Such Unique consumables’ rarity is only rivaled by their exceptional usefulness.” Continued the twilight princess in a serious tone; “We do have simple stuff like potions and whatever, but I am not talking about those, I am talking about the Immortal Herb or The Mortal Cup kind of thing, these types of treasures are the only ones that can affect our real bodies if we consume them.”

  “Items and equipment have cssifications?” asked the Devil curiously, trying to fish for more information about his situation.

  Midna nodded. “They do, from weakest to strongest we have: Trash.” Midna made a slightly disgusted face. “As its name implies, it's literal trash. Only useful for its raw materials and sometimes, not even that.”

  “After Trash, we have Common,” Midna rolled her eyes. “Names is pretty self-expnatory; it’s a common item, and that is it. Think a good Steel Dagger, or a Small Buckler, or a Health Potion that only accelerates your natural regeneration by a few percent. That kind of stuff. Well, Common items may have interesting effects if they are made in special ways or simply using an equal special method, but the creator would have to be very inexperienced to not raise its grade.”

  “Passing Common, there are Magic Items,” the imp scratched her head; “Those items are just Common items who had enough mana absorbed or infused into them in a skilled way, and thus gained a,” Midna made a quotation mark with her fingers; “Magical effect.” The imp then cracked her fingers. “Those effects can be anything, be something as simple as extra sharpness in a sword or extra durability on a shield. Standard and straightforward stuff.”

  “Surpassing the Magic tier, we have the Rare Tier.” Midna greedily rubbed her palms together. “As the name implies, they are pretty rare. The kind of stuff that required exceptional crafting skill, good skill with magic, and a generous quantity of mana infusion to produce.” The twilight princess smiled greedily; “Stuff like a Mithril Sword capable of changing its weight and length, or an orichalcum armor capable of making someone resistant to fire and lightning. They usually have more than one magical effect.”

  “Superior to Rare, we have the Epic Tier, which is basically a Rare tier dialed up to eleven.” Midna hummed happily. “Better materials, better skill from the maker, and better mana being infused. They generally have 3 magical effects and are the usual equipment of anyone on the high-floors. Most Epic rank Dream Equipment also have some kind of absurd Active or Passive ability you can use.”

  “Better than Epic tier, we have the Legendary Tier.” Said the imp with an undertone of awe. “As its name implies, all equipment and items of this tier are legendary. They all have proper names and legends attached to them, something like Aerondight or Excalibur, if you will. The number of magical effects in these items varies from a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 10, albeit finding anything with more than 7 is considered a night-impossible thing of an equally night-impossible thing. Extremely rare.”

  “Superior to the Legendary Tier, we have the Unique Tier.” Midna greedily licked her dry lips. “This Tier is not better or worse than Legendary in terms of power, but all Items of the Unique Cssification have a really unique or miraculous effect.”

  “Like the item you want to bring your body here?” asked Antares, earning an affirmative nod from Midna. “Exactly, handsome.” She then shook her head. “But if a Legendary Item is already almost an impossibility to find, a Unique Item is at least ten times worse.”

  Antares winced, knowing the thing he already thought was difficult revealed itself to be even more so.

  “Do these high-level items only drop on higher floors?” Asked Neptune, who had just woken up and was listening in on Antares' talk with Midna from the sidelines.

  Midna tsked under her breath before replying, “No, purple. Theoretically speaking, you can even get a Unique item on the first floor.” the Twilight princess sighed. “But the rates are abysmally low… generally, the higher your floor, the higher is your chance of getting good items. Items also get stronger the higher your floor; a Common item of the 90th floor is exponentially better and stronger than a common item of the 20th.”

  “… So drop rates and item level increase as we go up?” Neptune mumbled under her breath before narrowing her eyes. “No… more likes a bonus or buff to drop rates as we go up. Which is just saying the same thing but differently…” she shook her head.

  “As weird as you may sound purple, that made a strange amount of sense,” Midna admitted.

  Neptune sighed. “This is just like Sword art Online meet Shadow Sve, isn’t it?” Antares almost did a spit take.

  .

  .

  .

  AN: I hope all you guys liked the chapter.

  Due to how exhausting my week was, I literally slept thrice while editing it. But I think it turned out alright, hopefully.

  Well, since I started writing, I’ve been thinking about this Tower idea. Originally, I wanted to do a full-on Isekai, but after mulling it over for a few weeks, I decided that getting out of DxD so early(Without a good and reliable world-traveling ability) would be wasting a lot of potential the verse has to offer, and I now have a pretty good moment for Antares to jump verses, it will take quite a while and probably a few dozen chapters, but its retively pnned.

  The Tower is also a good opportunity for me to introduce more about the rger world(Other verses, multiverse, etc) and other interesting people from DxD. It’s also an incredible opportunity to develop the characters' retionships more.

  Originally, I had pnned to go throught every floor of the tower bit by bit, but even I found that an absolute slog and totally counter to my future pns, it could be fun if done right, but at the end of the day, The Tower is supposed to just be another chapter in Antares and the Girls’ lives, not the whole thing. So don’t worry; I am not going to go through every floor bit by bit. They will still take a few chapters to enter the tower, though. As I want to properly introduce them to the world and a few characters I have in mind.

  I just hope you guys end up liking the end result, I sure as hell have been liking writing it.

  Now I am gonna finally py Baldur's Gate 3, it's been on my list for quite a while.

  Answer:

  I think I would bring Harry Potter Magic to the wide world, I can’t help but think just how absurdly op Humans with the ability to hack reality would be. All the wacky and absurdly overpowered stuff we would create on the daily as we try to speedrun reality like its some kind of crappy game. It sounds equally terrifying and fun.

  ~ClearSkySage.