Noted. I was hungry enough that I was planning on taking food if there was no one to ask for the food. But that doesn't sit right with me. So the best compromise in my hurting brain was to pay for it.

Do I think that she brought enough food to sate my hunger for a while?

"Thank you for bringing the food to me, Novice.  I was really hungry and got up to get food."

It’s definitely enough food to sate you for a while, but you don’t have a grasp yet on how much you’ll end up eating a day as you recover from healing. You suspect you’ll be ravenous before lunch however if the previous day was any metric.

She smiles back after curtsying and replies “It was my pleasure Master Eli. Eat well and recover wholly.”

I'll let her leave and then eat all the food. After I am done I'll talk a walk to relax and help clear my headache.

You eat and have to actively slow yourself a few times as you realize you're eating far too fast. But you finish and feel the ravenous hunger abated. You still feel weak however, but it's hard to tell whether it's exhaustion from pushing yourself in the dreamworld or the recovery process from the healing.

You walk out and begin wandering the Tower. You eventually find your way to a walkway that overlooks the gardens and in the distance one of the training grounds. You see that the warders are beginning to train the recruits/warders in training in some basic sword patterns. You don't recognize the group they are training, so you suspect they are a new class.

Sigh...
"I guess I should return and rest."

I'll head back to my bed and try sleeping some more.

You head back to your room without any problems or running into anyone. Drifting off to sleep you have images of Susan dancing across your mind before you slip into a deep slumber and find yourself sitting lotus style on your bed in the dream world.

You do not see anyone else here, and the world appears muted in colors as you've come to expect from this pale reflection of reality.

I'll stand up, focus on Light and teleport to him. Like I did before.

You stand up and focus on Light. You begin trying to teleport to him but struggle with not knowing where to go. But then you think to try and envision where he is. You focus for a good two minutes or so and end with a splitting headache as the veil to see him just seems to be too thick to pierce.

Another minute passes as the headache clears, and you hear in your mind Back so soon curious one? Come, join me. and you feel a sense of Light's location form in your mind.

You focus and teleport to him, twisting reality about you, and appear to see Light crouched in some bushes stalking a deer.

In the Awake world I am forced to rest and recover from the healing that was performed on me. So they are expecting me to sleep a lot.

So what are we going to do now Teacher?
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:25, Sat 06 June 2020.

We hunt, quietly

He approaches the deer crouched low in the grass and gets incredibly close before lunging in a blur of motion as he takes down the deer, mouth to throat. It's an incredibly violent yet graceful act. To your surprise however, once he has taken the deer down he backs off, letting the deer get up and run away.

He then finds a soft area of grass and settles down to talk, resting his head on his crossed from paws.

Sleep and rest are different, it is important to remember that. Not only the body rests when one sleeps, but I suspect your curiosity isn't sated yet, for better or worse. Today we will talk about nightmares, and their dangers. Why should you be afraid of nightmares? and how can you avoid their dangers?

I unconsciously change my cloths to forest camouflage and camouflage face paint as I adopt the mindset needed to try to sneak. I have been on a hunting trip or two when I was a little kid. So I have a very rough idea of what I need to do to sneak in a forest and grass. Move slowly and try not to step on anything that would make a sound. And only try to move when it isn't looking at me.

I try to sneak but Light easily outpaces me and gets in range to strike before I am in position

------------------

I've... Only encountered Nightmares twice. And in both instances I barely escaped with my life. As far as I can tell, They warp the Dream World like we do. They use that power to put dreamers into a position where they lose confidence in themselves. Often using the Dreamers own Dreaming nature against them by turning their imagination against them... And Eventually maneuver them into a Position where they die. Or their might be worst possibilities. According to... Archer EMIYA(?), The Nightmares can create hooks into my mind that would allow their Master to influence and control me.

The simplest method for one that doesn't exist here all the time would be to choose not to come into the Dreamworld...But Sometimes I need to use the Dreamworld anyway. Before I sort of lost the Nightmare by teleporting around a lot and then I accidentally teleported to some weird area of darkness. Then I formed a knife to cut my hand and focus on the pain to wake myself up

In the second instance I was so hurt from their attack and my defense that I was forced out of the Dream World and was rendered unconscious for several days.

There is a certain amount of truth to this. If you allow the nightmare to influence you, it becomes harder to resist, and it can warp your mind. I do not know if it is a thing of chaos or controlled by the shadow, but the result of those controlled is madness.

Leaving the dreamworld is a potential way of avoiding the nightmare, but that just leaves it waiting for other poor fools to stumble upon, and they are likely not trained. I understand that is a common way for your kind to die. They never return, after being stuck in a nightmare cloud.

If you were able to wake, you actually were only on the periphery of the nightmare itself. It gets worse inside. Once you're inside all knowledge that you're in the dream fades away, and reality is rewritten for you. The only escape at that point is for someone to pull you out, or for you to manage to exert your force on the nightmare, strongly enough to convince it it's not real. It's a struggle though, as it's working to convince you it IS real. Every step towards the nightmare being real makes it harder to contemplate it not being real, perpetuating the cycle and making climbing out harder.

He pauses for a bit to give you time to absorb and respond.

Yeah. I was Lucky to get out.

I Don't like leaving them to roam around in here. I would like to Learn how to fight and destroy them.
... I never did figure out exactly what Archer Is. If he is a figment made by me, then how did he know about the Nightmare trying to subvert me.

He was hit be the Nightmare and And I think it infected him. But I pulled him into my mind and put him into stasis. When I pulled him out later, he started to fade like something I made. And when I tried to analyze him, it just produced weird results. Like he is simultaneously Corrupted and not Corrupted or he is both full of Mana and empty. Depending on whether I think he is or not.

I wanted to try to save him. But I haven't had any success with that.

All this suggests that he is just something I made. But I am not sure.

A nightmare that has been allowed to roam for long enough is best to avoid in my experience, I do not enter them. I do not believe I could train you to dispel them once they are formed strongly. It is best to unravel them when new and yet unbound to this world.

As to this Archer you mention, you say you made him? I think it would be best to avoid such actions, I've not heard of anyone doing that, and only of Moonhunter doing things like that.

hmmmmm...Well I could go after the little ones first. The Nightmare I accidentally made was a singular being. I need to kill him him before he causes too much trouble.

I'm not sure if I made Archer or not.
I Still got Archer stored in my mind.
Light, If I pulled Archer out, Could you take a look at him and tell me what he is?

If Light says he is willing to look, I will go ahead and pull Archer out of my mind.

He looks uneasy at the concept and pauses for a few minutes, long enough that it's actually awkward but you can tell he's thinking.

Then, slowly, I am uncomfortable with the concept of what you have done, but I am willing to look at it, out of concern that it may be a danger to you if I do not.

Thank you Light. I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. If he is a Danger to me, I will let him fade.

I'll focus on the sealed ball of Spiritual Energy that is Archer that I stored in my mind. And then pull him out to manifest in the Dreamworld. I will undo the seals and then focus on returning the Spiritual energy into Archers body. Then I focus to maintain Archer's existence.

You focus on the process of extracting Archer from where you've stored him and manifest him in front of Light.

Archer appears surprised and begins looking about as Light is studying him, and Light nods, apparently having a theory. Archer seems to be coming to and realizing where he is as Light is talking.

Quick, I need you to leave and come back in 10 minutes, quick before anything more happens

Assuming you listen, you twist the world about you and teleport far away. I suppose the one important question there is whether you teleport far enough away that you have no line of sight, or if you try to observe what happens.

I'll listen since Light is my teacher
I concluded that since Archer is awake he can probably maintain himself. I also conclude that Light needs me away so my perception doesn't mess with his observations despite how much I want to observe.

Contact me like you did before if you want me to come back sooner or if you need something from me.

I will teleport a few miles away so that I don't have line of sight to Light and Archer.

You teleport away to a non descript farmland and wait for the time to slowly pass. Waiting for 10 minutes that stretch out as you wait to have questions answered you eventually receive a though from Light You may return now.

Light is sitting in the brush, observing Archer who is moving around, scouting the area.

You have formed something very similar to a nightmare. In the sense of it only exists because you think it does. When you were far enough away, I was able to dismiss it as one that does not exist without issue, but you seem to have convinced yourself it exists, and as such it does while you subconsciously feed it. I would not trust it, that is too close to how nightmares work, and if it turns sour and your mind is convinced it exists it may be impossible for you to dismiss it alone.

The words sound wrong to you as something inside convinces you it’s impossible, it has to be real otherwise how could it have been stored. Your mind comes up with a million reasons, but eventually your mind gives way to hear what Light is saying. It exists because you believe it exists, and because you believe it exists you can’t observe it not existing.

I mull over this information and advice

...Let me think on it. It doesn't feel right to destroy him because he might turn on me. And I could use his help to fight the other Nightmare that I accidentally made. Archer's nature is that he will seek to destroy things that threaten Humanity's survival. Or save the people that he can see. If you talked to him, I think that he would also regard wolves as people.

His story was a favorite of mine when I was a teenager. Honestly I don't  want to destroy him.
 

I will not tell you what to do, but just know it is a danger, it's very close to how nightmares take hold of you, and as such susceptible to their influence.

You get the feeling that while Light considering himself you're teacher, it's more from the perspective of providing information, but not making you make specific decisions.

Is there anything in particular you want to train while there? If not Light would likely want to focus on practicing moving without tiring as quickly.

I will consider your words


My goal with training is to learn how to fight Nightmares. And that does sound useful to that end. So I wouldn't object to that course of training.

He nods, and then instructs you on a movement practice.

I want you to move in a large circle at the very edge of where I can see from here, but do not use your previous method. Just focus on being in the new place, and talk a step forward.

You practice what he's saying and you find that it takes you much much longer to travel this way, and you feel you would never be able to keep up with Light if he were running and you tried this. However, you notice that you don't seem to be accruing fatigue using this method.

When you're done:

I want you to practice using only this method for now. Feel free to explore some, but don't do anything too risky.

I nod in acknowledge to Light and then step next to where Archer is currently.

"Hey Archer. Would you like to explore with me for a while? I think you could easily keep up with my slow teleports with your Agility. "

Assuming that he is willing to follow me, I will practice this far step like Light instucted and look around and get familiar with this area.

Aftet about 30 minutes to an  hour of exploration. I will stop and talk with Archer.

"You are very clever. I suppose that you have figured out where you are and what kind of situation you are in."