Despite the previous ordeals, the days flew by like regular.
Nephis and Caster behaved exactly as they had before, their behaviour perfectly normal- as though that entire, ugly conversation had never happened.
That was completely fine with Yoru though, he had no interest in stirring still waters if it meant surviving a little longer. He'd rather focus on his preparations for the Dream Realm and preparing he was.
He couldn't call himself an expert but his spearwork had gone from clumsy to respectable, his proficiency somewhere between between novice and competent - thanks to [Tyranny].
Tyranny didn't teach him technique but it made the world more wiling to let him learn it, and for that, he was thankful.
His wilderness survival lessons were similarly paying off as well. As mind-numbing as the lessons were, Yoru couldn't deny that he benefited a great amount from them, and that Julius was truly a marvel in his profession.
Yoru had learned how to navigate the dream realm using various methods like celestial and coastal navigation, he learned how to secure food in even the harshest of lands (Though that wasn't necessary), and he could now be considered bilingual after learning a couple of dead languages - which was vital, as the spell communicated in these dead tounges, allowing him to glimpse the meaning of numerous runes and understand what they truly conveyed.
Such as Nephis' True Name which could be interpreted as "Star of misfortune", depending on which connotation of runes was used.
Even his own True Name possessed a different meaning as the runes for "Wish" could imply desire, and the runes for "Star" suggest invocation. So the more accurate translation of his True Name would be "Distant Dream of Prayer."
It sounded cool and made Yoru sound like some holy figure. Who knew? Maybe one day he'd conquer the path of ascension and truly become a divine being. Although according to himself he already was one, so he'd simply be more divine than most.
But his improvements didn't stop there. He was also diligently working towards his monster core, by devoting himself to his wish market. Most of his customers only came over to take their minds off the Winter Solstice and entertain themselves; with any luck their wishes may come true. Of course, Yoru couldn't grant every wish he was presented with and so he had to become resourceful and think outside the box. He used ingenious methods and loopholes in the wording to fulfil certain wishes.
One of his customers wished "to become stronger", but they hadn't specified exactly what they wanted to be strong in, so Yoru…improvised. He spent the next hour, berating and belittling the Sleeper who was not allowed to refute back, consequentially making them emotionally stronger; technically delivering on the wish. The Sleeper could've walked out and left at any point but for some reason they stayed and looked to be enjoying it!
Another Dreamer wished for "luck." Yoru bestowed him with a rock and whispered nonsense into it, deemed it an ancient artefact of fortune, and handed it over. The next day the boy's crush confessed to him. Yoru allowed the wonders of the placebo effect and his attribute to grant the wish and they did.
After all, what was a miracle, if not a clever lie that people desperately wanted to believe?
His most recent customer wished to not be afraid. Yoru was simply going to click his fingers and make them emotionally stronger but found that that didn't work. It was an interesting observation. He realized, slightly annoyed, that he couldn't impose a granted wish on someone else unless they had asked for it themselves. Tyranny could bend reality, but it didn't override the free will of others - at least, not directly.
Still, it was an easy fix. He had the girl wish to be stronger and then attributed the emotional resilience wish to her. He then went on to giving the girl a therapy session of sorts, which he he had a strange talent for, weirdly enough. This satisfied the requirements and earned him another wish fragment as well as the ability to placate himself and others.
So now his counter sat at a humble [19/1000].
The amount of Wish Fragments he received seemed to depend on the amount of meaning tied to said wish. Trivial wishes were only worth 0.5 fragments, whilst moderate wishes gained him anywhere between 1-10. He was still yet to receive more than ten fragments from a single wish so for now, that was the maximum.
Previously, Yoru struggled to come to terms with his daunting task of granting wishes, but soon realised that as along he was in the vicinity of people, there would be plenty of fragments to go around.
This positive outlook on his abilities made him realise another thing.
His Aspect was truly limitless in every sense of the word!
After collecting a decent arsenal of wishes, and gaining a much better understanding of his Dormant abilitiy, he recognised the boundless potential he actually possessed.
He didn't think it was wrong to say that his Aspect was the ultimate utility Aspect. More so than even Mordret's . This was because [Genie] possessed two functions.
The first was to externalise a wish, which meant to give it form outside of his body. The second was to internalise a wish: Have the wish tethered to his soul and attributed to his being, thus giving him abilities/effects, such as, Placating himself.
Not all wishes could be externalised or internalised however. If he were to grant fire, he couldn't internalise it and become firey, and if he were to activate the "Placate" wish he couldn't will it and give it form outside of his body. He also couldn't force someone to internalise a wish either, they would have to wish for him to do so.
But his ability to internalise a wish implied that he could copy other's abilities. If he were to bring an injured person with the wish to be healed to Nephis, then woukd he gain Nephis' healing ability? Of course, this was all just speculation, he'd need to actually test and find out if it was possible but he was certain that it was.
So, overall he was kept stupendously busy and exhausted at basically all times. But it was all worth it. Surviving the Dream Realm wouldn't be as easy as…Ah whatever! It was too tiring to think of a good analogy.
So as he was preoccupied with this abundance of things, the winter solstice crept closer until eventually… it arrived.
A/N: Sorry for the ridiculously short chapter but this was just meant to showcase what Yoru had been doing and how he was preparing for the dream realm. And also to give better insight to how his aspect actually works.
The next chapter is basically the end of the academy arc so thanks to all those who have read so far. thanks for the power stones and the great criticisms everyone has given me!