Dreamland: Freedom (Terror Infinity, Ultimate Evolution)

Eden did not expect the foul book to be the famous Necronomicon. Although it was just a copy of it, it was still the best item Eden had gotten his hands on, and its Rare rank showed for it.

And with the effort Eden had to put in to get it, it ought to be the best reward Eden could get his hands on in this mission world.

Actually, the item was even a little too strong for someone of Eden's level. Its last attribute, the Cursed one, should have made it impossible for him to get the book. It probably required a certain amount of either Wisdom or Intelligence to be used without suffering from the contamination.

But Eden's Talent countered it perfectly, allowing Eden to get hold of an item he should not have been able to get. And it really was a powerful one.

Just the boost it gave to Intelligence and Wisdom would make it invaluable to any mage, and adding to that the massive increase of 35% in magical attack, mages would probably kill to get their hands on it.

It even came with two skills that seemed to be high-level and that convinced Eden that the item really was not for someone of his level. Even with the boost from the book, Eden did not have enough MP to cast either of the skills, as they required 200 and 300 MP to use, while with the book, Eden's MP was boosted to only 190.

Moreover, Eden's Intelligence was far above what a Newbie's should be. The average value of humans for all stats was 5, regardless of gender, and Eden had started with 12, which was more than double the average value. Then, he had also gotten specific rewards that enhanced it, plus the book.

But even with their high costs, the two skills seemed to be very strong. Eden did not know how strong a lesser demon was, but since it was the more expensive spell of the two, and Dark Bolt was already very strong, he guessed a lesser demon had to be quite strong.

As for Dark Bolt, it dealt a theoretical value of 100 damage and further lowered Strength, Agility, and Physique by 5. With Eden's current stats, he would only need to be hit by it once to die. And even if he somehow did not die, his stats would be reduced so much that he probably would not manage to remain standing.

So even though Eden could not use the spells yet, he was very happy about getting the book. All he would need would be one more point in Intelligence to be able to use Dark Bolt and thus receive a powerful trump card.

Of course, the equipment was gearing him into becoming a mage, but Eden did not mind that. His magical stats were much higher than his physical stats in the first place, so he seemingly always had a talent for magic, though it had been locked on Earth. Moreover, his Talent, Soul Overlord, seemed to be suited for magic as well, so Eden had no problem turning into a mage.

Something interesting about the book as well was its attack. Guns had solid values that dealt fixed damage, his machete added 30 damage to his swings, and the book worked using percentages. That meant that no matter how strong his spells got, the book would always benefit him.

But most importantly, the Necronomicon was not just a weapon. First and foremost, it was a book that contained knowledge. It had been blurred before, but now Eden could see what was written, and it was not just gibberish. There were actual words, alongside diagrams.

From the looks of it, it was filled with actual spells. All of which Eden should be able to learn.

The only problem was that it was not written in English. Eden could not even tell what language it was, or if it was even one from Earth, or some magical language from the mission worlds. Still, at the very beginning of the book, there was a short introduction written in English. By the looks of it, it had not originally been in the book and had instead been written down by one of its owners.

It was a short introduction, but it spoke of the book's great power and equally terrible price. Apparently, anyone using it should be ready to lose their soul to the darkness of the book. This warning was directly ignored by Eden, who had the Soul Overlord Talent.

Now, all he needed to access the knowledge contained inside the book was to find a translator of some kind.

But that would have to wait for later, as Eden saw his surroundings blur, the colors merging into one, until Eden found himself back in the immaculate white room.

[Congratulations on passing the tutorial on Nightmare Difficulty! You have-]

Eden was surprised to see the Dreamland message stop, but quickly another appeared. The blue box containing the message was more intricate and elaborate, with soft golden lines on the edges.

{Quite the interesting player, aren't you?}

"Excuse me?"

{Your Talent, Soul Overlord. It's interesting. It is blocking Dreamland's probe. Must be powerful. And you certainly did not disappoint; your results are impressive. If you don't die early, you may go far.}

Eden scratched his cheek, not really sure what to make of this sudden attention placed on him, and asked, "Who are you?"

{I am a Dreamland Operative, but you don't need to worry about that just yet. Now, since you have cleared your tutorial, you have officially become a Player of Dreamland and have earned access to most of its functions. But first, you will have to choose a username for yourself before interacting with anyone. It can be anything, even your real name if you want, although I would advise against that.}

Another empty prompt appeared in front of Eden. A username… He definitely was not going to put his real name in there; it would make him feel uncomfortable, but he did not want to put something that was completely random. After a moment, he made his choice.

{Ozymandias? Interesting name, I suppose it fits. With that done, you now have access to your Inventory, it's very simple to use. It has a space of 2x2x2 and no weight limit. Am I forgetting something? Probably not. Well, go on then.}

Eden looked at the message with a tilted head, curious about this Dreamland Operative. He was far from the robotic agent he expected. He was about to pass on to the next thing when another prompt appeared, this one even more decorated than the one before, and all in bold.

[SYSTEM OVERRULE!! Operative 666, do your job seriously, or you shall receive your third strike!]

{Fine, you tyrannical b-}

[What was that?!]

{Fine, go away, I'm working here… So, Ozy, what did I forget… Ah, right, your rejuvenation. I'll give it to you free of charge this time, so don't file a complaint.}

The next moment, Eden felt a strange shiver spread through his body. It only lasted for an instant, but when it was over, Eden no longer felt any pain.

{When you pass through the door to your room, you will enter a place called the Nexus. It is the gathering place for all players of Dreamland. The Nexus is essentially a city, and like any city, it has rules, so watch yourself.}

{Also, Players cannot return to Earth unless they complete the game, which is very far away for you, so don't rack your mind over it.}

{Lastly, as a Tier 0 Dreamland Player, you have to complete at least one mission per week. Now, you are free to go.}

The fact that he could not return to Earth was not much of a surprise to him, since he doubted Dreamland would have remained unknown for long if Players could return. Not that it bothered him; it was not like he had much to return to anyway, or he would not have accepted in the first place.

What Eden really wanted to ask about was what made him a Tier 0 Player, and what it meant, but he was ignored. This Operative 666 was gone, and the system did not answer any of his inquiries. So, he turned to his Inventory.

As he had been told, it was very easy to use. All he had to do was think about it, and he would be able to get access to it. After quickly filling his four 1911 mags with ammo, nearly emptying his box of .45 ACP in the process, Eden placed them all into his inventory. Unfortunately, he had lost the Mossberg rifle.

Eden also placed the Necronomicon and Jason's Machete into his Inventory, but he kept Jason's Hockey Mask on to mask his face.

Once he was done with this, Eden immediately headed for the door and opened it.

It opened in a city that looked quite similar to any other large city on Earth. There were skyscrapers and plenty of other buildings, small and tall. Most of them had logos as well, although they were not from any of the ones Eden knew from Earth.

People, whom Eden assumed were Players like him, walked along the roads, some alone, others in groups. There were more of them than Eden expected. He was a tad surprised he had never heard about any strange waves of disappearances on Earth, with so many players present, but he figured plenty of people disappeared even without Dreamland.

Walking out of the door, Eden spotted a sign on his left. It was a large holographic arrow, with the words 'Market Place' written on it. On his right was another similar sign, but on this one was written 'Training Grounds'. After deliberating for a moment, he decided to first take a look at these Training Grounds.

It was a short walk away and looked like a giant modern complex, with hundreds of Players coming in and out.

Following the crowd, Eden walked through a gigantic door and saw the path split off into six, each leading to a different hallway. All of them had a long line of players that moved rapidly, as well as a sign above each one.

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Personalized.

It was pretty straightforward. If Eden guessed right, then the first five were specialized training grounds for each attribute, and the last one was customizable, possibly to train several attributes at once, or maybe to train things other than specific attributes.

Interestingly, Personalized had the most people.

As for Eden, he decided to head for the Intelligence path, since it was his highest Attribute. Which hallway he chose did not matter in the end, since he was only here to take a look, not actually train.

Eden had decided to come here first before the Market Place because the latter was pretty straightforward and should be the place where Eden would spend his Dream Points. However, before spending any, he wanted to visit other places and check whether his Dream Points had other uses.

The Intelligence Hall led to yet another room, this one much smaller. It had several small circular platforms, where Players would go and stand before disappearing.

Eden watched on curiously when he suddenly heard a voice next to him.

"Hello there, looking for something?"