𝕾𝖕𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖘𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖉

Chapter 2: The Great Sage

Seconds after I close my eyes, I find myself opening them once more. Only, what I see isn't my campsite, the morning sun shining through the canopy, but rather, my modest apartment.

After inspecting the room, nothing appears to be out of order. Everything is as it was normally, without the faces or dates on your posters blurred. There's the bed beside the far wall, the footlocker at the foot of it, your dresser, desk, computer with the latest hardware, they're all as they were in my apartment, "I guess it worked after all..." huh, this is more control than I was expecting  "...but this is a bit more than a 'lucid dream'." I think out loud.

Using my unique skill, Redemption, I purchased the skill Lucid Dreaming for ₴10, which allows you to have awareness during dreams, and then upgraded it to Lucid Dreaming II for ₴20, which lets you control your dreams, as well as the skill The Great Sage for ₴40, very expensive but also undeniably useful. At least... it should be. I suppose I should ask it what the currency for them is called, exactly.

It answers any questions, regardless of their nature. It can offer advice as to your course of action, and even tell you specific things, but you need to wait until you've reached The Great Sage II to use that function, according to my skills menu. Right now, just understanding more general questions would be useful.

Somewhat nervous of the result, I focus and will the Great Sage into existence. Sure enough, an unearthly figure steps out of a portal; a skeleton draped in a frightening amount of jewelry, almost as frightening as he is. They wear robes of a faded blue color, lined with fur and gold. He also carries an ornate, almost comically large staff in tow, shaped like a sheperd's crook shaped out of pitch-black steel, a yellow hexagon suspended at the hook's precipice. I'd ask how he made it suspend itself in midair like that if I wasn't so intimidated by his mere presence; this dude has a seriously dark history, if what my skill told me is correct. 

His portal gradually dissipates, and as it does so, the Great Sage steps forward, analyzing my dreamscape for a minute. Eventually, he turns to face me, and taking me by surprise, he asks me a question, "Speak, child, how did you acquire my skill, and what is your first question? I'm waiting...", the skeletal figure speaks with purpose, an ethereal echo emitting with each word.

Gulping, I recall now the reason I picked it. It was a skill in multiple games I played, and a few anime as well, thinking it would be entirely new. When I first created, or rather unlocked the skill, however, I was shocked for it to inform me that I was unlocking an existing skill, and then went on about The Great Sage, displaying what I can only describe as a cinematic showcasing illustrating events as they occur;

"The Great Sage was the sole owner of a special skill he told not even his closest of constituents the name of, as such it became known as Great Sage, named after his title. With the knowledge it provided, his name became forever etched into the continent, becoming the king of a nation solely composed of Magicians, Sorcerers, Wizards, Necromancers, and even self-contained Warlocks, a haven for magical knowledge. But his motivation was far more twisted than any suspected; less than 10 years after the birth of his nation, he performed a ritual that absorbed the life force of his entire capital city, taking the magical power of them all and becoming the first mortal soul to gain the strength needed to bridge into what's known as the 'Spirit Plane' since the first souls who arrived in this world, and hasn't returned since, striking fear into the hearts of every nation, causing a chain reaction that ended in global conflict 28 years after his disappearance."

The most surprising development was that of the final paragraph. "USE OF EMPEROR'S WILL CONFIRMED: Heed this warning; The Sage serves himself first and foremost. Though bound in soul to provide the knowledge he once so craved and eventually acquired, he is an entity of his own with his own goals and ambitions. He cannot harm you; but do not trust that he cannot find a way. "