Nightmare Realm Summoner

Orchid tapped her foot on the ground, the slight downturn of her lips slowly turning into a fully-fledged frown. It had been too long. Far too long. Nobody else who'd entered the Cultivation Array could could inside it for more than a few minutes.

She was pretty sure the longest record up until this point had been her own, and that was only ten minutes. That wasn't to say ten minutes was the actual limit. Orchid probably could have stayed within the array for longer if she'd wanted to — but she'd had access to such things back when she'd been with her family.

Orchid had purified the vast majority of the weakness within her physical body some time ago. The more there was, the more difficult it was to remove it. That was why the first few dozen or so uses of a mechanism like this were so beneficial. It was like wringing dirty water from a cloth.

There was a lot more dirty water to remove when you started off, but it took more and more strength and focus to remove the dirt once most of the water was gone. She'd only been able to withstand her family's equivalent of this array for around fifteen minutes when she'd first used it. And that had been with training and preparation.

Twenty minutes had passed since Alex and Claire had entered the Cultivation Array. Orchid was certain of it. She'd been counting.

Her lips pressed thin.

It's been too long. I can't even hear anything from inside. What's going on? Willpower only takes you so far. The stress from removing so much impurity is going to wring their souls. How are they still in there?

Orchid hesitated for a second longer. Then she pushed away from the wall and strode over to the door. This was ridiculous. There was no way she could just sit around and wait when the answer to her confusion was just beyond a flimsy wooden door.

She pushed it open and poked her head into the room.

Then Orchid froze.

"You have to be kidding me," she muttered. "Seriously?"

Alex laid on his back, his legs draped over the cushion as his eyes stared sightlessly up at the ceiling above him and his tongue lolled out the side of his mouth. Claire seemed as if she'd been kneeling on her pillow some time ago. Unfortunately for her, she'd fallen forward and caught herself with her face. That, somehow, hadn't been enough to get her off the pillow. She was in the process of slowly sliding forward in a vague impression of an inchworm.

They'd both passed out on top of the cushions, trying to withstand the pressure of the Cultivation Array up until their minds had literally given in.

The dull hum of the building buzzed in Orchid's ears. It was still on — though now that there was nothing conscious to direct its power, it was just waiting around. She shook her head in exasperation.

"What is wrong with both of them?" Orchid exclaimed, striding over to Alex and dragging him off the cushion. The moment he was no longer touching it, she spun to Claire and repeated the process.

The buzz prickling against Orchid's skin faded as the Cultivation Array let itself lull back into sleep. No more than a moment later, Alex twitched. He let out a mumbled groan. Claire rolled over and flung a hand over her face as if she were trying to block out the light.

Then Claire's entire body went stiff. She snapped upright, drawing in a sharp breath as she blurred to her feet like an explosion had gone off an inch away from her head. Her eyes darted around the room and took it all in within an instant. By the time her gaze landed back on Orchid, Claire was already halfway into a fighting stance.

Orchid didn't even twitch. Not out of any lack of surprise, but from self-preservation. She'd seen reactions like that before — but only on weathered old soldiers who had seen so much death that it was all they knew.

Moving quickly in front of them when they were surprised was a great way to find oneself without a limb.

"Wha—?" Claire blinked drowsily, her word slightly slurred. "What happened?"

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"You knocked yourself out," Orchid said flatly. Alex let out another mumble at her feet and rolled over, crossing his hands over his head to block out the noise. "In the Cultivation Array."

Claire stared at her for a moment. Then she blinked. Her cheeks reddened. "You' re kidding me."

"No," Orchid said. "I am not. And I don't think I want an explanation. There's only one reason anyone would voluntarily sit here so long that they'd literally pass out. But what you and Alex do is your concern, not mine."

"Hey!" Claire protested. "I'm not—"

Alex let out a startled snort. He jerked awake, blinking furiously as he sat up and looked around. He stared up at Orchid and Claire blearily for a second. Then a huge grin crossed his lips. "That was awesome!"

This guy has some serious problems. No wonder all the Great Families are having so much damn trouble with him. How do you fight something that likes getting hurt? Does he just—

Actually, I don't want to know.

"What part of what you just experienced could possibly be described as awesome?" Orchid asked, unable to keep herself quiet. Perhaps there was a way to use this particular building in a way different to what she had experienced. Maybe there was a massage mode. That would explain how they'd both somehow managed to stay on the cushions for so long that they'd passed out instead of getting off.

"The part where I got stronger," Alex said.

Claire extended a hand to him. He took it with an appreciative grin and she pulled him to his feet before brushing a little dirt from his white shirt.

"It was pretty good," Claire agreed, a small grin stretching across her face. "And we didn't even have to fight. It's rare to get power so easily."

"Easily?" Orchid exclaimed. They'd definitely found a way to modify the settings of the Cultivation Array. That was the only explanation. She flopped down on one of the cushions, opening her senses to feel for the power. A massage actually sounded quite nice. Her muscles ached from constant work and fighting. It had been too long since she'd had a chance to relax properly—

A sharp spike of pain drove into Orchid. She let out a slew of curses and jumped off the cushion. Alex and Claire both sent her confused expressions.

"What?" Alex asked.

"It hurts!" Orchid exclaimed.

"No shit. I thought you were the one that warned us about that in the first place," Alex said, giving her a quizzical look. "What did you expect? Does it change?"

"No! But I thought it might!" Orchid rubbed at her back. "You two actually liked that? Did your parents lull you to sleep when you were children by striking your skulls with iron rods?"

"Dunno. Maybe. Been a while since I saw either of them," Alex said, dead serious. "Say, did you see which one of us passed out first?"

"No," Orchid said. "I did not. You were both equally unconscious when I got here. Exactly how long do you think you were awake?"

Alex and Claire exchanged a glance.

"Damn," Claire said. "Orchid, who'd you pull off first? Me or Alex?"

"Alex."

"Ha!" Claire exclaimed. "That means I win!"

"That's bullshit!" Alex exclaimed. He threw his hands up, then glared at Orchid. "Why'd you take me off first?"

Orchid's eye twitched as she finally realized just why the two of them had passed out. "Were you competing to see who could sit in the Array the longest? Are you both damaged in the head? I expected this from Alex. He has a death wish… but you too, Claire?"

"Certain concessions have had to be made," Claire admitted, her cheeks reddening slightly. "Spend enough time with someone and they start to rub off on you. And Alex's methodology has a point here. Pain won't kill us. If we can get stronger in a safe manner, then we'll have a bigger advantage during the next fight."

"Right," Orchid said. "Sure. Whatever you say."

"Don't look at me like that," Claire said . "I'm not like him!"

"Hey!" Alex exclaimed. "What's that meant to mean?"

"Right," Orchid said again. She stared at them for a moment, then shook her head hard before any images could even try to start forming. "I'm… glad you liked using the Cultivation Array, I guess."

"You've got the wrong idea," Claire half-begged.

Orchid just raised her hands before herself. "Don't need explanations. You've been shown the Cultivation Array. My job is done. I've got to go back to May. I promised her we'd do some hands-on practice today."

With that, she turned on her heel and strode away to leave Alex and Claire standing alone within the wooden cabin.

They exchanged another look.

Claire glared at Alex.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Nothing," Claire said with a sigh. "I think you're ruining me."

"Mm." Alex said. "We've still got a good bit of time until the Ancestry. About three days. You want to go hunt some monsters in the Mirrorlands to get stronger before we head over there?"

"Shouldn't we be careful? The… creepy thing might have followed us."

"If it did, better we show up in the Mirrorlands and lead it away from the town until Mite gets that plug made," Alex said. "It's a win-win."

Claire stared at him for a second. Then she sighed.

"Yeah. Might as well. Just give me a moment to find Finley and buy some more clothes first."