Chapter 72 - Former Skills

"Tom! Tom!" A distant voice called, filled with grief and anxiety.

"Just let me sleep," Tom thought, feeling the overwhelming weakness of his body reaching all the way to the deepest point of his soul where his mind took refuge to enter a slumber.

"Wake up! Please!" The voice continued, introducing a new feeling to Tom's mind, who finally found a way to relax.

'Never a moment of peace, huh?' Tom thought, shaking his head a bit... But then, he shook his head harder. And harder. And by the time he felt the tendons in his neck snapping, he finally managed to shake himself awake. 

"Ah!" Tom shouted as soon as his consciousness returned. But the pain of his neck that was behind the shout disappeared as soon as the young man opened his eyes. 

"Tom!" Once again, the voice spoke. With vision slowly reaching his mind, Tom saw a wet face of Claudia, filled with tears. 

"Don't cry," Tom asked the girl, raising his hand to wipe the tears off her eyes. "You should smile instead," he added with a calm voice. 

"You are alright," Claudia said in a silent voice before falling on top of Tom's chest. Her entire body shook as she cried right on his breast, appearing to be more fragile than ever. 

"Everything will be okay," Tom said, placing his hand on the girl's back and moving it up and down. Normally, Tom wouldn't dare to just caress the girl's naked back like that, but this situation was quite special. 

"Morpheian Memoriam..." Tom suddenly said, raising his eyes to the ceiling. "Do you have any idea what that could mean?" Tom asked, hoping to force Claudia's attention onto another topic. 

"Huh?" Claudia raised her messed-up head up, revealing how her face was covered in tears and snot. Her reddened eyes started at Tom's face with confusion. "Morpheian Memoriam?" She repeated Tom's words as if unsure if she heard right. 

"Yeah, any ideas?" Tom confirmed before pulling the girl back on his chest. Even though he felt perfectly fine, the fragile body of this girl somehow called out to him to let her relax for a little longer. 

"Morpheian... Morpheian... Morpheus?" Claudia spoke with her voice muffled due to the girl pressing her lips against Tom's chest. "Isn't that a mythical god of sleep?" she suggested. Then, her body froze, only for Claudia to suddenly push against Tom's chest, bringing her upper body up.

All for the sake of staring down into Tom's eyes. 

"Morpheus is a god of slumber and dreams. Memoriam refers to a memory of something or someone..." Claudia spoke, clearly voicing her thoughts out to help herself figure out the connection between them. "Wait, this is just a guess, but can you try something out for me?" Claudia shook her head before asking. 

Strange sparks flashed in her eyes, proving just how exciting that concept of her was. 

"Sure thing?" Tom replied, confused by the girl's sudden enthusiasm. Once Claudia got off him, Tom tensed his body before jumping back on his feet. 

For some reason, his body felt lighter, as if some kind of weight was cut away from it.

Or rather, as if his strenght suddenly rose by a noticeable degree, without giving the young man time to adapt to it. 

"What now?" Standing on his feet, Tom looked at his partner and asked. 

"Do you remember any of the skills you had on your avatars?" Claudia asked. But while this wasn't a direct explanation of her guess, it was a hint big enough for Tom to figure out what was going through her head. 

"Huh?" Tom breathed out in exasperation before suddenly squinting his eyes. "If that's the case..." he said passively as he sank deeply into his thoughts. 

This momentary lapse of concentration lasted only for a short moment. Tom opened his eyes again, cast a quick glance at Claudia before turning around and pushing his hands forward.

"Everblaze," he whispered, closing his eyes for a moment. 

"Woah!" Claudia shouted as soon as Tom intentionally deprived himself of his vision. And her shout alone was more than enough for proof of her concept. 

Whatever this Morpheian Memorian was, Tom didn't know. Maybe it was some kind of new ability that he simply didn't understand and thus had no idea how to use it. 

But there was also a huge chance that this new ability unlocked access to all the powers Tom ever had in his avatars!

Then, he slowly pried his eyes open. For exploring the dungeon, the skills of his former avatars would be more than handy. In fact, Tom couldn't think of any skills better for exploring the dungeon, given how they were all created and chiseled for his sake and usage. 

That was also the reason why he was so reluctant to actually open his eyes. After all, if he did so and there would be no flames, the disappointment would be worse than overwhelming. 

"Huh?" Tom exhaled the air as soon as his eyes opened up a little. Then, as if there was no time to waste, he pulled his eyelids all the way up, finally revealing the full picture to himself. "What the heck is that?!" he shouted in surprise a moment later. 

"Isn't this fire... A bit bigger than when I first saw it?" Claudia asked with a hesitant voice.

Tom turned around to cast a glance on the girl. Her face was filled with amazement as if she suddenly discovered a new side to adore in her partner. 

"I wonder if..." Tom unintentionally started to voice out an insanely important question that appeared in his mind. But as he continued to look at the girl, a devastating premonition struck him. 'I wonder if I will be able to use all those skills outside the dungeon... But if I could, what does that mean for everyone stuck in the village?' Tom asked himself.

In a single flash, he saw the entire village burning. His friends, brothers, and sisters all burning away under the intense flames created by the people of the Online hub. 

'No, they shouldn't go all out like that,' Tom told himself, forcibly washing this devastating vision away. 'If they had powers like that, they would seize the control of the entire world long ago,' he thought, trying to remain as calm as he could. 

"What's wrong?" Claudia asked as she touched Tom's shoulder. His fire was roughly three times as massive as when he last used it in his main avatar. But as this skill was nothing else but a tool to clear out the weak mobs way below one's level, there was no danger in those flames at all. 

As such, Claudia didn't risk her health by touching him like that. 

"Ah, don't mind me," Tom quickly attempted to change the topic. "I just thought of something unpleasant," he twisted his lips into a sour smile before turning around. "How about we go and get the rest of the stones?" Tom's smile returned to its normal, slightly cheeky nature.

"Do you want to absorb them all?" Claudia asked, casting a slightly worried look at the stones still waiting for someone to pick them up by the wall.

"I don't really think I need to," Tom countered, shaking his head in denial. "Obviously, it would make me stronger, but since I can use my old skills..." Tom didn't finish his sentence, but the cheerful smile that appeared on his lips did it for him. 

"So you want me to absorb those?" Claudia asked as if she didn't dare to even approach the stones without a written notice of approval. 

"That's right," Tom said as he nodded his head. "I'm already plenty strong, but I can't help but worry about you," he explained. "It would be better if you would have the power to defend yourself in case of our rifles suddenly stopping working for some reason," Tom stated, averting his eyes towards the gate. 

What he saw as a source of insane danger and the start of the lethal part of their journey into the dungeon no longer hold any menace in Tom's eyes. With all of his skills apparently returning, he could breeze through the floors. 

Especially if he could use the skills of all the avatars instead of his main one alone. 

"Well, here goes nothing, then," Claudia smiled wryly as she encouraged herself with her words. She then moved forward and grabbed one of the stones. A flash of light and several seconds later, the stone disappeared, sinking into the girl's flesh just like the tier-three one that Tom absorbed before. 

"Go on," Tom encouraged the girl when he saw her alternate her eyes between his face and the remaining stones. 'Is she shy about absorbing those stones?' Tom thought, instantly turning around. 'I know we already fucked and should be more or less comfortable with being naked around each other... But it doesn't have anything to do with absorbing the stones, I guess,' Tom thought, not even attempting to figure out what the girl was thinking. 

Rather than that, while she was still busy consuming the remaining tier-two stones that he extracted from the wall, Tom pulled his spear out. 

'The skills of my last avatar were all oriented about using the spear, weren't they?' he asked himself, taking a few swings and thrust with his weapon. 

And just like back in the dungeon when he first tested the ability of spearmanship, the weapon seemingly came alive in his hands. 

Each of his movements, even the tiniest ones, had a purpose. While his attacks were way slower than what he could achieve while using Haste ability, nothing stood in Tom's way of using both his spear and that overpowered ability at once!

"I'm done!" Claudia announced in a happy voice filled with relief. 

"Great," Tom replied, too excited to look away from the gate to another floor. "Let's get going then!"