Wrath Domain, Behind the Wall, February 17, 2026
A couple of days later, Ashen could be seen sitting in the same position he'd occupied when spreading his thread.
Curiously enough, the thread itself was missing.
It wasn't that he was taking a break; his methods had simply evolved once more. Cutting the thread whenever a guard passed by was getting cumbersome, and what was even more annoying was having to do it in the middle of harvesting a new story.
This led him to brainstorm for a solution, and with his and Alice's combined intellect, it didn't take long to find one. The execution took several days, however, since the method they conceived was technically challenging on the level of imbuing Will.
The technique's initial name was Parasitic Dream Mark—PDM for short— but Alice kept calling it the dream parasite, so Ashen finally settled on that.
As for how it worked, the logic behind it, unlike its execution, was quite simple: instead of using the thread to trigger Dreamweaving, use it just to leave a dormant instance of the skill.
What really gave it its parasitic moniker was that it kept siphoning minute amounts of mana from the host to fuel its own activation upon slumber.
This meant Ashen no longer needed to use his mana to activate the skill, which alleviated a significant burden on his own pool.
The Mark also couldn't be detected normally, since it did nothing harmful and blended with the host's mana, only activating during sleep. Unless someone was specifically looking for it and possessed a mental skill that allowed them to remove outside influence, the dream parasite would live indefinitely in its host's dreamscape, feeding on scraps of mana to maintain its existence.
And that was why Ashen didn't bother extending the mana thread beyond the initial infection. This allowed him to focus solely on infecting his fellow prisoners first, then recording their stories at his own pace.
{Activated Path Skill: Lucid Dreamweaving}
⛧
When he opened his eyes, the dreamscape that greeted him was wildly different from the one he'd grown accustomed to during his stay on the frontlines.
Back then, he'd kept torturing himself in the name of training, adapting to any circumstances that might arise in reality, since physical consequences in dreams were moot.
The dividends from that suffering had been paid back in full when it actually helped him survive the Narkal tide.
It wasn't coincidence that he'd suddenly been able to endure and fight through everything they'd thrown at him—from the dizziness of poison and blood loss to the unbearable pain of each blow he took.
Speaking of that Narkal tide...
Ashen glanced to his right, and the horizon stretched black with millions of clustered Narkals.
Gorefiends and Great Beasts stood among them, including the invisible sniper and the titanic giant. They stood frozen like statues, and across from them, in the same suspended state, was none other than the Pride Army, with Rowan Vance and Morikawa Shun at the forefront.
This was basically the recreation of that fateful day when three million men had dared to charge at certain death simultaneously—without doubt, fully knowing that hope was absent with only their pride as fuel.
This wasn't hard for the Chronicler to recreate, and he used it as his current training ground. He'd throw himself alongside the Pride Army and see how much longer he could last each time.
But the highlight of the dreamscape was the recent addition.
Ashen glanced to his left, and his eyes landed on swirling black portals.
Some had signs below them, annotating names and brief descriptions of individuals, while others' signs remained blank.
Entering through the portals would allow him to phase into the dreamscapes of anyone with an active dream parasite.
The portals themselves were actually just representations Ashen had created to make the process of phasing through others' dreams easier… just like mental shortcuts for navigation.
His eyes swept across the thousands of black circles dotting the sky, and he sighed.
"The grind never stops, I guess." He entered the nearest portal with a blank sign, ready to record once more.
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[Lucid Dreamweaving^ (Masterful-)]
Ashen blankly gazed at the notification hovering before him. 'Already? But I didn't mix any conceptual powers in the skill… wait…'
He suddenly wanted to facepalm. He'd already established that to cross Skilled+ mastery, you'd need to infuse a concept into the skill, which was why the sudden upgrade had blindsided him.
Path skills already incorporated the main pathway's concept, however, so there was no need for that. In this case, it was Sloth.
That was another point where Path skills proved superior to general skills. There was no need to rack your brain and invest time learning a new concept. The skill came readily packaged with the conceptual Sin that was already chosen.
So all that was needed was good old-fashioned mastery of the skill. But if Ashen had to point to a prerequisite, it would be the ability to use the skill without the system's assistance.
From the sheer number of times and ways he'd used it, Ashen had recently been able to do exactly that if he concentrated all his efforts on that single task. It only resulted in clumsy, basic transport to his own dreamscape, but it worked nonetheless.
Ashen's skill had broken through to Masterful- the day right after, which was what made him think along these lines.
'Well, good for me then.' Soon, he sorted his thoughts and let the fuzzy feeling of reaching another milestone wash over him.
"Hmhmm ♪"
"Humming so happily? What's the occasion?" Alice's voice drifted from the other side of the cell, where she occupied the bed.
She looked at the cheerful Ashen and wondered if he'd somehow forgotten that he was, in fact, a prisoner... still in prison, and not at a picnic.
"Oh, Dreamweaving finally broke through. I'll tell you later, but now it's time for your training." Ashen grinned.
"...You call that training, but I just sit there and let you do all the work." Alice's cool voice strained with embarrassment.
Ashen waved his hand nonchalantly. "Don't sweat it. Also, did you forget all your demands? Calling 'that' sitting back and letting me do all the work is a bit..."
By the time he finished his sentence, he was already upon her on the bed. He took the pouting Alice by the hand and flopped beside her before securing her on his lap, not unlike a doll.
"A lady has her needs, Ashen." She finally muttered in her defense.
"Yes, yes, my lady. I'll grant all your needs. Please have mercy on this poor soul and ease that pout from your gorgeous visage."
"Hmph." Alice gave one haughty snort before relaxing against his broad chest. Ashen could see how her lips curled up, though.
"Well, I'm starting..."
{Activated Path Skill: Somatic Autonomy}
He first used SA to temporarily numb all her pain receptors. Afterwards, he gathered their combined remaining mana into a single point and started tempering.
The only reason he hadn't done this sooner was that Alice didn't have a skill like Vital Drift that would help with mending wounds and keeping everything together.
Even with SA, Ashen was almost certain that if he didn't have the vitality required to nourish his body afterward, he would have damaged it before any reinforcement could happen.
After that episode with affinity, though, Ashen had started thinking more deeply about their connection—and if mana could be shared, why not vitality?
Normally, it wouldn't work since everybody had their own unique life force. But Ashen and Alice made that rule obsolete.
And just like that, he'd started doing the same process for Alice that he did on his own body, with an additional step of redirecting the vitality produced by Vital Drift to her body right after the procedure.
…What he hadn't accounted for was the consequences of introducing SA to a woman, and the countless demands that would come out of it.
"Hmm... Ash... My breasts are getting heavier lately. It's annoying."
"I'm not reducing your breast size, babe. Don't bother asking." Ashen cut her off before she could even finish.
"No, it's not that. Don't I know how much you love them? Why would I want you to reduce their size?"
"What then?" He asked, eyebrows raised, even as he kept the mana point traveling down her skin and breaking it down inch by inch.
"Uhh... I don't know. Can't you make them firmer? Or perkier? I heard that helps with back pain."
"Right..." He sighed. "Baby, aren't they just fine as they are? That's a waste of mana."
"Curing my back pain is a waste of mana?"
'Will you even have back pain after I'm done tempering your body?' He wondered internally but didn't dare say it. "It's not, ma'am. I'll do it. Haah..."
"Good. And don't forget to improve skin elasticity. That's the real MVP doing all the heavy lifting."
"Yes, yes, yes..." Ashen rolled his eyes.
"..."
"..."
Time passed, and Alice suddenly looked up at him from his lap.
"Ashen?"
"Ash?"
"Darling?"
"Yes, honey?" Ashen finally answered by the third call.
"My period hurts every time it comes."
'No shit.'
"...Can't you do something about it?"
"But Alice... I don't think messing with hormones and chemicals in our bodies is wise." He tried to argue.
"I didn't say to go that far. Just make it so my pain sensitivity dulls during that period. It's not that hard."
Sigh.
"Yes... yes... your highness."
Time passed.
⛧
"Ashy? My ass—"
"Fuck your ass."
"What? That's rude." She tried to muster some anger, but perhaps she knew she'd overdone it; she relented.
But a woman on a mission was impossible to stop… especially when the mission related to her beauty.
If anger was off the table, she just had to change tactics!
"..."
"C'mon, pwetty pwease...?" She cutely tilted her head and winked, completely breaking character.
Shatter.
Ashen heard the distant sound of shattering. It was probably his rationality. "Yes, cutie? Just say the word, I'll do it!"
"Make it more balanced with the rest of my body? I think it's too perky right now. Also, focus on symmetry—I want both sides to appear harmonious. Thanksies★" She blew him a kiss and ground once on the hardening length below.
"Balanced, symmetric, and harmonious? Hehe, leave it to me."
"Really? You're the best, hon★!" She stuck her tongue out, voice victorious despite herself.
'Heh. Think you can refuse me? Still too green, my dear hon~.'
"..."
Ashen's grin was uglier than crying right about now. "I feel like a little girl dressing up a Barbie somehow..." He muttered.
Alice rolled her eyes at that. "Oh, please shut up. Who do you think I'm doing this for anyway?"
"Uhh... is it me?"
"Of course! I'm already a great beauty, objectively speaking. I don't need all of this, nor would I normally care for it."
"...Then should I stop?" Ashen tentatively asked.
A cute glare from those slanted eyes was all he needed to know the answer.
"...Ash, you have to remember that it's also my duty as your woman to make myself as desirable to you as possible, just like you do with yourself to me."
Alice wasn't even messing with him. One of the best qualities that separates them from most couples is that they both work on themselves for each other.
Something that their acquaintances always remarked about them during their teenage years… saying how mature they were.
And Ashen, of course, knew it.
"Well, can't argue with that one." He finally relented.
"As long as you understand." She nodded, satisfied, and leaned back fully.
It seemed her demands had ceased for now, letting him finally breathe in relief.
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Grrr—Ka.
The peaceful silence didn't last long, as their little space was invaded once more by the diligent maid.
This time, however, distress covered her usual vacant look.
"Mr. Hart, Lady Alice, I've just received news from the frontline..." She barely bowed to the cuddling couple before she announced.
"Miss Sabrina, bad news, I suppose?" Ashen stopped running Somatic Autonomy and asked, guessing just from her expression.
"Yes..."
'Cassius, you bastard. About frikin' time.' Ashen had to hold the grin from showing.
…But his heart beat faster despite the forced calm on his face.
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Ashen, wishing you a Happy New Year from the Pit!