Several hours passed and the sun had risen over the forgotten coast. Sitting outside on the edge of a cliff at least 20 meters high was Lumian, who sat preparing the meat of a nightmare creature.
From inside the hastily patched-up house, Asael emerged.
"Good morning, Lumian."
"Good morning," I said with a slight yawn.
"So, what are we going to do now?"
"Well, I've been thinking about it for a while, and I've come to the conclusion that we'll form a team."
Asael raised an eyebrow.
"You plan to form a cohort?"
"Yes. Do you remember my King's Brand attribute?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"It serves as an enhancer. By placing a brand on my Echos or another person, they'll get an increase of maybe 10 or 20% overall," I explained, grabbing a piece of prepared meat and eating it.
Asael furrowed his brow thoughtfully before realizing.
"The army you mentioned."
"That's right. Look at them," I pointed to the hopeless Dreamers of the forgotten shore.
"From what Effie told us the other day, many Dreamers have already lost hope and are just resigned to dying. But what happens when you give them a new reason to live and fight?"
"You'll have loyal people who won't hesitate to fight for you."
A feigned smile spread across my face.
"That's right. Gunlaug is a tyrant, and he's given up on trying to leave this place. I'm sure that when I start gaining fame in the outer settlement, he'll try various ways to get me out of his way."
"You sound pretty sure about that."
"That's because I am sure he will. No monarch likes another rising up, and for fear of being dethroned, he'll try everything in his power to kill the rival. That's how the human mind works, Asael."
"You know, I'm glad I'm not your enemy."
I gave a slight nod.
"But how are you going to attract them?"
"Pass me the Greedy Pouch," I asked. Asael touched my hand, passing me the memory, which I invoked and pulled out some soul fragments.
"I'll do it with these. If I offer them the chance to have access to fragments in exchange for their help, as well as memories and food..." I looked at Asael with a faint glimmer of amusement.
"You'll have their loyalty."
"Yes," I said, finishing the meat.
"In total, we're only missing two memories, which are the Moon fragment and the Zenith fragment. I'll go get them soon."
"What about the other two?"
"They're already in this place. One is held by Effie, and the other by a Dreamer who could be helpful to us."
"While you build the army, what am I supposed to do?" asked Asael.
"Go to the castle and gather information. You're more sociable than I am; I'm sure you'll get better results."
"Hey, I'm not as sociable as you think."
"You are," I said, leaving him several fragments.
"The Dreamer is named Seishan, by the way. Just tell her that you know the way to leave the forgotten shore, and if she's willing to cooperate, you'll tell her how," I said, walking away while dispelling the Greedy Pouch.
Asael could only blink several times, watching his best friend walk away.
He looked at the 15 soul fragments he had before simply shrugging his shoulders and eating. He was hungry, and later he would get some clothes.
---
When I went down to the outer settlement, I looked around curiously, searching for someone interesting. The ruined city wasn't very big, as the total number of Dreamers was about 600, then another 100 inside the castle, about 70 being Gunlaug's men—at least an estimate—and assuming and based on canon, there should be at least 50 maidens led by Ki Song's daughter.
'All this adds up to 810 Dreamers,' I thought, doing the calculations.
Invoking the runes, I focused on my Echos.
Both the Dolphin, the Ancient Centipede, the Shell Demon, and the Black Knight were getting close to evolving.
In fact, the Shell Demon had collected the 3000 fragments, so I dismissed it, returning it to my sea of souls.
The Knight, a monster, was missing about 1200 fragments; the Dolphin was missing about 100, and the Centipede about 2000.
Dismissing the runes, my gaze focused on a Dreamer leaning against a wall, a bit removed from the other Dreamers. His appearance was thin, his hair a deep black, and his eyes were gray and unfocused, but I could see the life and determination to live.
Taking calm steps, I stopped in front of the Dreamer.
"Get lost, Gunlaug's dog," he said defensively.
"No, I'm not one of that bastard's guys. My name is Lumian."
"And why should I care?"
'Quite a tough guy,' I thought to myself.
"You're halfway to the grave. I can change that," I said, touching his shoulder and passing him a weapon-type memory—an awakened memory of the third level I had obtained on my journey back from the Hollow Mountains.
The Dreamer opened his eyes upon receiving a memory.
Putting my hand in my pockets, I took out five fragments and let them fall onto his lap.
"If you're interested in changing and improving your life and not dying like trash, come see me at dusk at that house," I pointed to the house on the edge of the cliff.
Without saying anything more, I stood up and walked away.
After walking away, I looked for another Dreamer, whom I found fairly quickly. It was a girl in a similar state to the other guy. I told her the same thing and walked away. For now, I only needed two of them.
Leaving the outer settlement, I ventured into the ruins, invoking the Transcendent memory. I used it to kill some nightmare creatures for a few minutes before leaving the area, but not before taking their fragments.
Arriving at a quiet spot, I entered my sea of souls.
The familiar sight of the four glowing cores greeted me.
I invoked the Shell Demon, which appeared in a golden orb.
[The Shell Demon is evolving]
"Hmm. It seems that when I dismissed it and it returned to my soul, it began evolving immediately. Curious," I murmured before leaving the sea of souls.
Once I returned, I continued fighting nightmare creatures until dusk.
When I returned, Asael had already left for the castle to do his part.
Preparing a campfire, I began cooking the meat, adding salt from the dark sea to improve its flavor.
I waited and waited until I finally heard footsteps. I saw the two Dreamers from that morning.
"I didn't expect you to actually come," I said, taking a piece of meat and eating it.
"Speak. What are your intentions?" asked the boy cautiously.
"It's quite simple: to leave this place. I know the way out, but it's suicide to go alone," I explained without going into details.
"You know a way out of this place?" asked the girl.
"Yes," I said simply.
"How? How can we trust you?" asked the boy.
"Don't. Just follow me and decide if I'm worthy of your trust or not. If you follow me, you'll saturate your soul cores, obtain memories, and become strong enough to survive this hellish place."
The two Dreamers looked at each other before nodding.
"Sit down and eat. Tonight, we'll go hunting."
The Dreamers sat down and ate their first meal in days.
Invoking the Water Jug, I tossed it to them so they could drink and hydrate themselves.
"What are your names?"
"I'm Allen," said the boy.
"And I'm Mary."
"I'm Lumian," I introduced myself with a feigned smile.
After the two Dreamers ate their fill, night fell, and with it came the time for the night hunt.