Fortunately, Li reached high ground in time. By the time he settled, the water had risen completely, and the world was awash with the smell of salt and corruption. He couldn't start a fire anymore. Not that it was important.
Cutting out a small portion of the meat, Li held it in his hands and slowly heated it. A faint sizzle rose from the surface. He smiled as the smell of cooking meat hit his nose. As some smoke began to form, he slowly gathered all of it in a sphere of air to release it later in the morning.
He didn't want to attract too much attention, but at the same time, he was hungry, so this would do. When the meat was cooked just enough, he stopped and brought the meat to his nose and took in the scent of meat.
"Just perfect." He muttered. "Hmm— this is the life." He said to himself as he took a bite. It was a habit of his to smell his food before eating.
At first, it was to determine the quality of the food, but now, he simply enjoyed doing so. If he was going to enjoy his food, he was going to appreciate all aspects of it. Like the scent, the taste, the warmth, and how it looks to the eye.
He had carved some bowls and utensils out of the iron carapace of a Scavenger a while back. It took him a few tries to mold the iron into the desired shape, but he managed it in the end.
Now, he sometimes plates the food with whatever plants, seaweed, or anything edible he can find if he feels particularly fancy that day.
Lowering the slab of meat, he summoned his runes.
Name: Li.
True name: Almight.
Rank: Dreamer.
Soul core: Dormant.
Echoes of the dead: [5246/125000]
Memories: [Fires Might], [Eternal Night], [Nights Comfort], [Azure Blade], [Black Sun], [Wild Dream].
Echoes: —
Attributes: [World's Favor], [Vast Soul], [Echoes of the Dead], [Wondrous Mind], [Resilience].
"The number of the Echoes had increased a lot in the past days. I've done a pretty good job if you ask me." With today's hunt, his kills had reached the twentieth mark, with the other one being the memories he got in his duel with Iseul.
"I don't know why I've never realized it in the academy," he muttered, chewing slowly. "but it seems that the [Echoes of the Dead] isn't just tied to the dead… There is more to this than I thought."
When he first arrived in the Dream Realm, he felt strangely lighter; he could focus more easily, and it was as if a fog had been lifted from his mind.
"There is still the disorienting effect of the [Echoes of the Dead] attribute, but I feel much better now." Like a whisper to his ears or strange silhouettes running on the periphery of his vision.
"Wonders, Wonders." He said to himself, humming in amusement.
"I've gotten a few memories as well, one is a sword, one is a tool and one is a charm. I've been really lucky recently." He summoned the sword out of habit.
A beautiful azure-colored sword manifested itself on his left outstretched hand. He looked at it with interest and, with a nod, dismissed the memory.
Thanks to the memory, he found the name of this place: The Forgotten Shore.
'Kinda ominous, but cool sounding name.' Li was quite interested in this death zone, it was hauntingly pretty and full of new mystery.
The other two memories, tho he would rather not summon, not now, at least. One was a lamp of sorts, and the other, a necklace. One full of poison.
He still hadn't found the opportunity to try the memory, unfortunately.
He didn't know when the narrating had started. It just randomly did one night.
"Yeah, I'm clueless."
With a sigh, he dismissed the runes and continued eating; there was a lot of meat left that he had to finish tonight. With this body of his, he needs to eat quite a lot of food to sustain himself.
He rolled his eyes at the narrator, "Of course, I have to eat a lot; I've been eating mountains of food every day at the academy." He said, quite annoyed.
As he ate, a breeze moved through the coral spires. It sounded almost like a whisper. But it was just the wind. Probably.
The place he was currently staying was a jagged piece of coral. It has a dozen or so pillars of coral protruding from the edges. And hidden in the center is a decently sized flat coral surface, perfectly hidden from the outside.
Dry and shielded, And very quiet.
Too quiet.
He looked up.
There was nothing in the sky, just completely pitch-black stillness.
The sounds of waves crashing against the coral pillars outside were supposed to be relaxing, but all of it put Li on edge.
He rolled his eyes again.
After a while, he finished all his food and washed his hands with the water he had made using his Aspect.
Li lay down, looking at the sky.
Li sighed, clearly done with 'it.'
He listened to the sound of waves, his mind drifting to sleep.
.
.
.
There was a strange hissing sound just beyond his ear's reach. Li slowly opened his eyes and rubbed them tiredly. The sound intensified as though reacting to his presence.
A cool breeze rushed past him, almost whispering. Telling him to come closer. He walked through the stone bridge in front of him as the air around seemed to warm up. A rotten smell of burned corpses reached his nose.
He didn't react to it however, he was walking forward in a trance. As if mesmerized by something. Something only he could see.
He walked and walked as all around him the water receded, revealing dozens upon dozens of corpses. Some were human, while some were not.
Finally, a hint of recognition appeared in his eyes as a vast, burned area opened beneath his feet. And in the center was a ball of fire. It burned and danced as if welcoming Li.
When Li got close enough the fire started to rise and take form, a weirdly humanoid form. It grew two hands and legs as it stood before Li, looking at him with anticipation.
It suddenly smacked its forehead and lowered itself, bowing before Li. Then, it collapsed into tiny lines of light and flowed toward Li's chest.
As it touched him, however, everything grew dark.
Li thought he heard something, a whisper into his soul.
'Welcome, Lord Almi— Li's ears were suddenly assaulted by a deafening sound of screams and clashing iron.
He leaned down, grabbing his ears as he let out a short scream.
Forcing himself to look up, he saw a blade. One coming for his head. Before he could dodge, the blade just passed through him and slashed at the guy behind him.
Dumbfounded, Li looked behind as a beast passed right through and tackled the soldier at his right. He looked at the scene before him, awe written on his face.
He was on a battlefield—one between Humans and Nightmare Creatures.
'Wait, wait, wait. Why that thing called me Lord Almight?'
'…Why its voice felt… familiar?'
'It was like trying to remember something just out of reach. I could feel it, but I couldn't reach it…' he thought to himself before rubbing his forehead—"Wait, I didn't do that yet. Why are you narrating ahead of me."
Li said, clearly annoyed.
With a groan, he straightened himself and looked around. The scenery was changing.
Slowly, corpses littered the ground, leaving a tall huntress standing still. She was covered in blood.
Li gulped and slowly approached the figure. Once he got closer, the tall woman turned towards him in a flash. The sight nearly gave Li a heart attack.
Her eye sockets were empty, replaced by a pool of blood that streamed down like tears. Her body was chard and mangled, like a corpse.
She looked at Li with those empty eyes as if judging him. Before she bowed slightly, the sight left Li dumbfounded.
"Why are you… bowing to me?" he said. "Like that guy before. Wait, a guy? How do I know it was a guy?"
The huntress looked at him, equally confused. She began to walk slowly in his direction. Li couldn't feel any danger from her so he let her come.
Rolling his eyes, Li said out loud, "Oh, come on, Really? I'm shitting myself over here!!!"
Hearing that, the huntress stopped and looked at Li with pity.
"You have a long journey ahead of you, Lord Almight." Saying that, she put a hand on Li's chest and sent something towards him.
"Woahh!!" he said, quite surprised, I would have been too.
"Hey! You don't have to be such a— suddenly, he was interrupted by the spell.
[Your Memory has been destroyed.]
[You have received a Memory.]
"What th— THUD
"Owww. Fuck." Li said as he was thrown to the ground, the morning sun assaulting his eyes.
He opened his mouth, dumbfounded. It seemed as though he wanted to curse the narrator again, but he stopped when he looked around.
He was in his shelter from last night. It was all a dream.
His eyes widened as he remembered the last part of the dream, he quickly summoned his runes.
Name: Li.
True name: Almight.
Rank: Dreamer.
Soul core: Dormant.
Echoes of the dead: [5246/125000]
Memories: [Fires Might], [Eternal Night], [Nights Comfort], [Azure Blade], [Wild Dream], [Day of Reckoning].
"There is a new memory…" he concentrated on the new memory.
Memory: [Day of Reckoning]
Memory Rank: Supreme
Memory Tier: V
Memory Type: Tool
Memory Description: [A choice, a Burden.]
Memory Enchantments: [Fuel].
[Fuel] Enchantment Description: [You can burn your Memories for power.]
Li looked at his runes with a deadpan expression, then he grabbed his head and laid down with a groan.
"Agh— shut up for once." He said, "I mean, that's pretty good, I guess." Hearing that put a smile on my face.
"Really?!" Li said, "I hate how you're talking now."
He sighed as he closed his eyes and thought to himself.
'I'm beat, hunting has to wait for today.'
.
.
.
"Do you think he can handle ■ ■ ■?" a tall huntress to her companion.
"He is a good kid, I think he can…" the man engulfed in flames said, "but there will be a price to pay."