Entering the Dreamflow consciously left Lidien completely asleep, and if ever he got hold of his consciousness inside the dream, he would try to forcefully wake up, which could sometimes lead to his sleep paralysis.
Gasping, he hardly held his head from his sleep-depriving experimentation.
"What seems to be wrong with my procedure..."
Closing his eyes again, he tried to relax his body... breathing softly until he could only hear his heart alone beating like a drum.
He felt his body itching with its every part, tempting him to scratch it.
'Discipline... I need to discipline myself not to move...'
However, a sudden flinch from his finger woke him up completely, starting back at square one.
For the remaining afternoon, Lidien continued his experimentation, making himself the test subject.
The problem is, if he woke up from a short sleep, he sometimes forgot what he was doing...
Without a sheet to record, without a clock to know how much time had passed, Lidien could only rely on his mind for what he was doing.
This continued until morning when Nyomi knocked on the door requesting to enter to read him books.
'I'm so in a trance that I forgot to have my dinner...'
After accepting Nyomi's request, he told her to bring him some breakfast, and requested plenty of it.
'Why does it seem everything is worthless... trying to enter my Dreamflow for the whole day and night didn't even give me a glimpse of it... I haven't even studied what blood is...'
After a few minutes of internalizing, Nyomi brought the food Lidien requested... Eating like a wild beast, disregarding the pain from his limbs.
'It's been two weeks since my Sparkline got like this... I wonder when I would be fully healed?'
Nyomi continued her agonizing reading session, but Lidien wasn't listening to her as his focus was on entering his Dreamflow.
He even used his Incite of Blood, making him conscious of his own body getting numb.
When suddenly... Lidien felt the pulling sensation of his mind descending into a dream, only for his body to jolt awake in a panic... a primal instinct, as if falling from a great height, violently rejecting the surrender of consciousness.
'No... there's too many variables... my body is in so much pain from overused Sparkline... my mind is too anxious thinking everything is dangerous... I need to find a way to fool my mind that I'm not going to sleep as my instinct thinks of it as a threat--but just travelling going to Dreamflow.'
Lidien once again relaxed himself, repeating the words that he would just be going inside the Dreamflow and not going to sleep like a mantra, hopefully thinking it consciously would stop his instincts thinking of it as a threat--jolting him awake.
Yet, without a warning, the same feeling put him back to wake.
'Damn it! I cannot afford to waste another week experimenting on this while my goal remains out of reach... If I couldn't enter it with Meditation, I'll try it by force.'
Lidien sat, this time... he didn't care about his body screaming from the pain.
As his eyes glanced at Nyomi, she stopped reading and instinctively a shiver ran down her spine.
"M-My Prince... I'm sorry... I-I'm really not good at reading... I-I don't want to die..."
Hearing Nyomi's plea, Lidien sighed and smiled at her... yet, it didn't stop Nyomi's shivering for she knows that Lidien's smiles are sometimes harmful, especially if she doesn't know what he was thinking.
"Relax... I won't do anything to harm you... just stand there and don't move unless I tell you to..." He pointed at the wall near the door.
Nyomi's small frame shivered with every step she took, proceeding toward the wall where Lidien had pointed.
As she silently stood at it, her tears welled up from forcing herself not to cry.
Lidien slowly stood, as he walked draggingly disregarding the pain he felt in his Sparkline, as he stood in front of Nyomi, he smiled... making her grip her hands from the uncertainty of what the Prince was thinking.
Though Nyomi had been with Lidien for two weeks, her status as a slave made her doubt their "harmonious" relationship. Especially, when she heard the rumors regarding the Prince eating his reader's heart.
"Calm down... and just follow my instructions... believe me I won't do something like pulling your heart out."
Lidien smirked, deeply instilling fear in Nyomi paralyzing her completely.
"Do what I instruct you to do... don't fail me Nyomi..."
As the thought of her brother still struggling outside to be a soldier flooded her mind, Nyomi could only steel her resolve, hoping that Lidien wouldn't really pull her heart out of her chest.
Seeing Nyomi was ready, Lidien told her to just do some simple exercise...
Nyomi jumped, making her chest bounce erratically... yet she forced herself not to pant, as the space between the wall, her, and Lidien was too narrow, since Lidien stood in front of her too close just enough for her breast not to touch his face.
Lidien watched Nyomi sweat, as he added new instructions.
"If I tell you to stop jumping, stop... then take a deep breath and hold it until I tell you to exhale, got it?"
Nyomi nodded once again, making Lidien smile and watched her small lips release some air as she panted.
'Good... make your heart pump more, so I could clearly see the path...'
Lidien activated his Incite of Blood, using its ability to detect blood, he watched Nyomi's heart pumping its blood like a wild horse.
"Stop!"
Nyomi abruptly stopped, then took a deep breath and held it.
When...
Lidien smirked and pressed his fist on her chest against the wall.
Nyomi's eyes widened as she stared at Lidien's crimson eyes, before glancing down at her chest.
He held his fist there, ignoring the weak struggle of her hands against his wrist, until he felt the precise moment her muscles went slack and her consciousness fled.
Despite the pain, despite mind-breaking agony, Lidien forcefully activated his Incite of Blood to its limit.
As the time seemed to stretch, he watched the blood flowing in Nyomi stopped, from her chest... to her lungs, going to her brain, and every part of her body.
"The principle is correct... Now, I must replicate it alone."