Yuulvan took a deep sigh as he returned to his quarters, his heart more at peace that it had been in a long time. It was the next day, and since he had eaten breakfast, he was now thinking about his next move. While he wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to do next, ultimately, his basic priorities hadn't changed one bit.

  He had simply lucked out big that the first subject of research had worked out very well. Not quite merely luck, he reasoned. It certainly pyed, but grasping the opportunity at my disposal and managing to connect the dots were both important as well.

  I could have not done it alone either. Both Xajymzia and the Warden had been pivotal in the success of the operation. Staying here had already proven one of the best decisions he had made in at least the st decade.

  For now, however, he was taking a small break. He didn't have that much margin to work with, but his magic told him to try the gaming device out, the one the Warden had gifted him, to use it some more.

  So he did, picking up the device and looking around at the various colorful pictures. Do each of them represent a different game ? If that was the case, how were these even made ? He had no clue how that device even worked. Maybe I could ask the Warden at some point. Something told him she was the better person to ask.

  There were quite a few pictures, whether it be the one of the man in red sitting in some form of vehicle, the game with the rainbow in space, or the one of a blue-haired, imposing woman with a crown and an eyepatch overlooking two other women seen from the back.

  This second one had a somewhat strange style, utterly unfamiliar to him, being composed of what appeared to be squares, that reminded him a little of mosaics, but only using same-sized squares. Another picture drew his attention, of what appeared to be a stylized, crying child sitting on their side.

  He rose an eyebrow as his magic told him to try it out, so he pressed the button and a voice came out of the device. "Isaac and his mother...", a voice said, Yuulvan raising an eyebrow. Did they... store someone saying those words ? That's interesting.

  As Yuulvan watched the small sequence, he got a sinking feeling. This is clearly referencing cultural elements alien to me. It did not bother him, but it was certainly strange. Yuulvan had lived a long time, he knew the world and its immensity better than most. Where is the Warden from, however ?

  He shook his head as the sequence finished and he moved into the game proper, a combination of a bit of magic and looking around leading him to start a new game properly, and promptly found himself staring at a basement room. Hearts, money, keys, and... bck spheres ? He ignored it for now, getting a feeling for the character's movements instead.

  What is he even shooting ?, he thought as he got somewhat confident with the basic movement. I see. Let's change rooms, he thought as he moved to another room and was promptly thrown into a fight with evil clones of his characters among sewer-appropriate obstacles. Who made this ?, Yuulvan thought, slightly questioning the sanity of the persons involved as he destroyed one enemy.

  Hmm. Getting hit lowers my hearts, he noted. I assume losing them all is bad. After killing the enemies, he entered the gold-rimmed door, and promptly fell upon a red and white mushroom floating above a piece of stone. I am pretty sure you shouldn't eat those, young man, Yuulvan thought as he collected the mushroom item. Then again, I have a spell for mushroom toxicity.

  This item seems to have made him quite strong, Yuulvan thought as he cleared much more easily most of the rooms on the floors, save for the one with a skull above. There was one st room he had to clear, and it was on the other side of the starting room. As he entered, however, he was thrown into another fight. Versus... Wrath ? I take it Wrath is that person in grey.

  As he started to maneuver through the rock-filled room, it threw at him one of those bck spheres, that exploded after a bit. Ah, that's what these do. He dodged a second explosion, which blew up a bluer-colored rock in the room, dropping two grey hearts. Hmm. Can I... I'll take those, he thought as he collected the hearts. I take it I cannot refill these.

  After finishing the fight, he entered the skull door. Monstor, huh ? Certainly one ugly fellow. After quickly finishing the fight, and collecting a belt item, he moved into the trapdoor. A belt that increases speed. Unpleasant implications.

  He started the second floor next to another golden door, and entered it. This requires a key now. Thankfully I got lucky. The item this time was a strange, rectangur monocle-like object with a grey frame and. What does this do ? Do I not... Ah, I see, he thought as his character shot a rge red ring as a projectile.

  This is very strong, he thought as he started tearing through the enemies, the ser quickly dealing with the floor without losing any hearts. After finishing th second skull room door, he obtained what appeared to be a slice of moldy bread. Kind of disgusting, he thought as he entered the eerie bck door that had appeared. One item for two hearts.

  He thought about it for a short while, looking at the bck statue-like entity for a bit. Let's try it, he said as he picked up the complex red-and-bck symbol, exchanging two hearts. He then fired another ring. These are much bigger now, he noticed as the thin red ring had been repced by a much thicker red beam.

  He descended the trapdoor. Caves, now, he thought as the gold-framed door was once again next to him. Entering it showed a rge, beige fly-like creature floating above the stone. Large Fan ? It... gives me a fly that spins around... Wait.

  He entered another room and quickly checked something. This fly can deal damage... This is giving me an idea, but let's finish this game first, he thought. Shouldn't be too difficult, I think, with how powerful this setup seems to be.

  And indeed, the rest of the run was not worth going over in detail. Hmm. Defeating her ended the game. Won't start another for now. It had been decently enjoyable. Hreijinda would likely enjoy this game a lot, however, he thought with a smile, remembering his student. Assuming she can tolerate its... peculiar aesthetic.

  He couldn't bring her over, that would be a massive breach of the Warden's trust, but he was confident she would enjoy this game. Maybe next time I come here, I'll bring her along. She'd probably want to meet the Warden anyway, if only to thank her for avenging her ancestor. Northerners took that quite seriously, and it was one of their few traditions that Hreijinda still held on.

  Zoemie woke up the next day kind of tired. She quickly looked over her dungeon, confirming the presence of both Xajymzia and the old man. Damn. Yesterday was something. "Let's hope today's calmer."

  She teleported to the kitchen and conjured herself breakfast, before eating it. After breakfast was done, Zoemie left the room. Normally, she'd have teleported back, but the old man was wandering in the corridors again and she wanted to catch him. After putting on the mask, of course.

  It didn't take long for Zoemie to find the old man, who looked at her. He did seem to be calmer than before, but Zoemie wasn't quite sure. "Hi there, old man. Feeling better than yesterday ?" He closed his eyes and smiled.

  "Yes, thank you. 2-7-4 is no more, and I have plenty to study still. I daresay I am quite content right now." Zoemie nodded frankly as the old man went to the kitchen and Zoemie to the bathroom, to handle her subsequent routine.

  The day before had been rather... explosive. Zoemie was looking forwards to a bit of peace and quiet. Game a bunch, maybe do my training as usual, is what she was pnning to do for the day as she opened up her computer and booted up a game, but she didn't really manage to py, and ended up falling into a nap without really realizing it.

  Zoemie swore to herself as she realized she was once again dreaming. God fucking damnit. She looked down from her flying position, and saw the mauseoleum she had visited yesterday from above. There was a young woman at the entrance.

  "You idiot ! That's why I didn't want you to take that job !", she screamed into the void. "I was studying this ! Just, you should've let me handle it instead of risking it ! Now I'm all alone and there'll be a 31th time..."

  There was a head shake, and the fog-covered woman's eyes lit up. "No. I'll figure it out. For your sake, you idiot.", she said, her voice fierce.

  The dream greyed out at this moment as the voice piped up again.

  "heroism success v i c t o r y

  hollow and ridiculous notions ?

  for some it depends on the c o s t

  but they who win w i n all the same

  whether or not they believe they did so

  do not mistake pride for arrogance

  because only one is earned"

  Zoemie woke up, her head slightly heavy. "Fucking dammit..." She had had a nice week or so without those dreams, and now the nuisances came raging back to annoy her. She shook her head, slowly getting out of bed again. I need to go take my bath...

  Zoemie shook her head and with herculean effort threw off the bnket before teleporting to her bath. Maybe this'll clear my head, she thought as she dipped into the warm water and let the heat work out the shakes and the knot in her stomach. "Uuuurgh..."

  After she finished her bath, a slightly more clear-headed Zoemie left the room, thinking about what to do before heavy steps drew her attention to Xajymzia. "Are you alright ?", Xajymzia asked, to which Zoemie crossed her arms.

  "I'm... not sure. I hate those fuckin' nightmares." Zoemie sighed. "Not sure what I am gonna do right now. I'm still kinda out of it, so training will be ter, at the very least..." It wasn't an activity Zoemie could do mindlessly, after all. Sounds like a good way to hurt myself. "I think I'll go game for a bit ?", she decided after a short while.

  "That sounds reasonable", Xajymzia answered as Zoemie teleported back to her room, feeling up for a bit of gaming. She started up an emutor, having an idea of what she was going to py as she selected the hacked ROM file. Doing this without Internet would've been awful... Thank fuck I did it before getting dragged here. "Besides, ain't my fault the devs are assholes that have a bunch of event-exclusive monsters !"

  I fucking hate it when they do that. What's even the point other than pissing me off personally ? "They knew the games were going to be hacked to enable fusing monsters you can't get normally anyway. Couldn't they just have spared everyone the trouble ?", Zoemie grumbled, before shaking her head. Urgh. Tiredness is making me grumpier than usual.

  She focused on the game, instead, letting the enjoyment of py take over as she did some mindless level-grinding. That was something that was welcome when she was already tired and out of it due to the nightmare.

  Then, Zoemie felt movement into her dungeon as the old man entered the training room. Fuck. She checked the time. 6PM. Urgh. I had forgotten to do that... fine, guess I'll skip. "Probably ain't the best idea with the nightmare, anyway. These fucking nightmares are really draining... it basically ruins the whole damn fucking day."

  She still put on her mask, wondering what the old man was doing as she left the room and teleported at the door, before knocking and entering. He was standing, immobile, his eyes closed as Zoemie could feel magic spinning around him. "Whatcha doing, old man ?", she asked, and he smiled.

  "I have pyed another game, and it gave me an idea for a spell.", he answered as Zoemie realized he was making rocks spin around. Huh. Didn't expect that, Zoemie thought as the old man conjured three small boulders and started making them spin around himself.

  "That's... Hmm. With small rocks it ain't too scary, but with big boulders that could be quite a move...", Zoemie rambled. "What game was it, even ?", she refocused, curious.

  "Isaac's Sacrifice, I believe the name was ?", the old man answered. Urk, that game. "It was interesting, but definitely rather disturbing, and I clearly was missing some cultural references.", he continued. Cultural refe... right, yeah, makes sense.

  "Didn't even think about the cultural part... Yeah, it does a ton of religious reference, according to the guy who told me about it. Never pyed it myself, though, it's way too gross for my taste.", Zoemie said. Yeffrey was his name ? The problem with him wasn't that he disliked Zoemie. It's that Zoemie disliked him ! That guy would've been much more tolerable if he wasn't a huge pervert !

  "I can definitely understand why you'd find it disgusting.", the old man answered, bringing Zoemie back to the conversartion. "One thing I was wondering about, is this... gaming device functions. I have never seen anything like it before."

  "Not surprising... I could expin a bit about how computers, but today's... not the day. I... slept like shit and don't have my whole head.", Zoemie expined, to which the old man nodded. "If my dad was here, he could do that easily, he's really good at it."

  Zoemie stopped and watched for a bit as the old man spun the boulders, before she came back to earth, having had an idea. "These boulders, they're made of what ? Just raw stone, right ?", she said.

  "Yes, that is correct. Is there something on your mind ?", the old man answered, seemingly slightly curious.

  "Isn't there anything like, heavier or more dense than stone ? So it can do bigger hits ?", she asked. "At the same time, it might get too heavy, so... I don't know ?", Zoemie said, doubting herself.

  "It's worth investigating, if nothing else.", the old man said, Zoemie nodding as she got up and started to leave, the old man refocusing on his spell practice. She didn't want to train with the old man in the room. Maybe make him a practice room ? I'll bring it up it tomorrow, Zoemie decided.

  Zoemie left the room at dinner time. She knew that Xajymzia had prepared something special for the Apocalypse kill, and was kind of curious what it would be. Zoemie wasn't normally one for surprises, but it didn't bother her as much here.

  After leaving the room, she went to the dining room, smelling something unusual on the way. Smells good. She had gone to her workshop beforehand to remove the jaw part of the mask, so she could eat without removing all of it. She was still kind of uncomfortable with the idea of showing her face to the old man.

  She entered the dining room, and sat down, conjuring cutlery herself, and starting to do the same for the old man before stopping herself. What do they even eat with here ? Whatever, he can probably figure it out, she thought and finished setting the table.

  It was the old man who entered second, and he quickly took a seat in front of her, but before Zoemie could actually start saying anything, Xajymzia's footsteps started to walk from the kitchen, before she entered th room, a circur pte in her hands. "Oooh, pizza.", Zoemie said.

  She had eaten pizza with her dad, but she hadn't been too impressed. The st pizza she had eaten here was much more to her taste. Then again all dad could afford was those industrial pizzas, and the ones here look a lot better. "That's... salmon and... ?", Zoemie asked, not sure.

  "Smoked salmon, mozzarel, creme sauce.", Xajymzia answered with a smile as she put down the cut-in-eighths pizza on the table. Sounds good. She wasn't the biggest fan of tomato sauce.

  "This does smell quite good", the old man said as both picked up a slice, Zoemie starting to cut her pizza slice and eat it. Yep. This is much better, she thought, pleased by the taste. "And taste quite good too.", he continued.

  "I had pizza before, back when I lived with my dad, but those were nowhere near as good as the ones here.", Zoemie said, Xajymzia nodding in satisfaction as Zoemie said that. Still, I'm not eating all of it. It would be far too much for her, although she didn't really know how much the old man would eat.

  The rest of the meal went in retive silence, Zoemie quite satisfied after eating her fourth slice. Yup, that'll do. Might have been a bit much, even. "This was really good.", she said.

  "Indeed.", the old man agreed. "A pleasant dinner to end the day". Well, not end for Zoemie, as she would likely stay awake until te in the night, but it was still welcome.

  "Yeah, true." Zoemie suddenly remembered something, feeling her sweat run cold before forcing the words out of her mouth. "Is tomorrow fine for the expnation on how the gaming console works ?", she asked.

  The old man smiled. "Perfectly fine by me.", he answered, Zoemie instantly feeling her body calm down, and nodding in answer. She hoped she wouldn't associate pizza with this kind of difficult questions. That would suck, the pizza was good.

  The two eventually went their separate ways for the night, Zoemie returning to her room and pnning on gaming for the night before Zoemie eventually went to sleep.