Cassie was washing up in the river while he and Nephis were sitting across from each other. His face was a feverish red from embarrassment.
It was a nice reunion despite the odd circumstances. Nonetheless, now that the three of them were together, they could finally put their plan into action. Sunny, over the week they had been in the nightmare, had collected some of the oil and sap from the trees. Now they just had to find a way to use it properly.
Taking a look at Nephis, he noticed her eyes were locked on something — that something being his right arm, which was now made out of obsidian. Letting out a nervous smile, he squeezed its fingers open and closed before trying to give her a sense of comfort.
"You know it's much more durable now! I'm sure it won't be getting cut off any time soon, at least... haha..."
She shot him a look. It wasn't a glare, but something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Still, despite that, it was scolding as her silver eyes grew deep.
"Weren't you the one who told me to stop putting my body in peril without thought?"
Recalling the time from the forest simulation at the academy, his words practically squeaked out,
"This time I didn't have a—!"
"Then what about next time? You're not only sacrificing your body but also something much greater. You should know that best after all — you experienced it firsthand."
It felt like a mother scolding her child after he broke one of the house rules. Still, doesn't that mean she cares for him in her—
"I dare you to finish that thought."
Scary.
---
They were sitting around a makeshift campfire, roasting a nightmare creature they had managed to find. What point was there to let yourself go hungry when you could just hunt? Maybe they were treating this realm too lightly, but so far it wasn't too extreme. Actually, maybe he could only say that due to already experiencing an amplified version of this so far in his first nightmare. Still, so far it was smooth sailing.
"Ah! It's like watching my daughter grow up! Look at how rabid you look — like a rabid dog! You may even be able to contend with me when I was in the outskirts!"
Nephis threw him a look that was unmistakably a glare, chewing her food quickly before her haughty tone spilled from her lips.
"You dare try to lower her to your standards? Seeing as how you are now, I'm sure you were no less than a mutt when you were in the outskirts... actually, you're a mutt now. That means you must have been akin to a roach when you were in the outskirts."
A fierce grin spread across his lips. After all, last time she won their little routine — he couldn't let that repeat, could he?
"Don't you know roaches are the most resilient animals alive! Well, I'm sure you don't know that since... you... uh..."
In the end, he couldn't think of anything, and once again he had lost. The sounds of suppressed laughter came from another side of the fire — Cassie had her face buried in her hands, peeking at him in between her fingers.
A smile unwillingly spread across his face without his knowledge at the sight. A random thought came to him.
When was the last time he had smiled without being aware of it? Well, he supposed that was now. But also, it stopped happening when he met these two.
"It seems you're back to your old self. That means I can take my anger out on you now..."
Between laughter, her voice spilled out from in between her hands,
"Please... pfft!... don't... for your own sake... pfft!"
It was quite nice, despite being in this hellish land.
Happiness bloomed.
---
"We can use the intestines of nightmare creatures, couldn't we?"
Trying to figure out how to use the tree sap strategy they had been preparing for, they were all dishing out ideas.
"Where do you even store it anyway? You said you've been collecting it for a week, right?"
Sunny smirked with pride before summoning a memory — the memory was a skeletal head that he had received when he killed one of the Awakened that day in the first nightmare. Morbid? Yes. Gruesome? Also yes. Helpful? Once again, yes.
It wasn't infinite; it could only hold liquid up to the size of its skull, but unlike normal, the liquid didn't spill out from it and stayed put until he desired for it to pour.
"Ew."
Nephis shot him a look of disgust, seeing him gleefully holding the remains of a human.
"What is it? It can't be that bad, right?"
Cassie reached out to touch it, rubbing her hand over it before jumping back after she felt its shape.
"Damnation!"
Did... she just say...
"Pfft! Ahaha! It seems I rubbed off on you quite— actually, that sounds wrong, doesn't it?"
Nephis shot him another disgusted look.
"It only sounds wrong because you made it wrong, you perverted mutt."
Sadly, he couldn't deny that one. It's 3–0... but next time he won't lose!
"Wait... why don't we just use the skull?"
"Huh?"
Cassie placed her chin in her hand. He could almost see a light bulb above her head.
"If we just throw the skull and let the liquid out, you can summon it back, right? Of course, we have to collect a lot of it and find another storage unit, but that's viable, right?"
Nephis nodded her head before she spoke.
"For the storage, we could make a water-skin out of nightmare creature hide and skin. Though it wouldn't be a memory and would most likely take some time to make, it would kill two birds with one stone as we eliminate the need for a river whenever we need water."
Sunny was shook. Out of the three of them... could it be he was the dumbest?