Chapter 180: Training with his Mouths... (xD)

Some time ago, inside the Inner Universe.

?Night began learning how to use his core abilities like Nightmare Mist, Nightmare Fire, the Wind of Desolation, and most importantly, his Nightmare Domain.

?[Dream] said, "Night, before you begin, go through all your memories that have skills or techniques demonstrated which can be used with your Nightmare Aspect."

?Night nodded. "Yes, I have already seen many of Alze-Beus’s skills that can be used by me if I change some things, though I doubt I can bring out the same efficiency as a System skill."

?[Dream] came over, rubbed his hair, and said, "You will get there as you refine and master everything. The beginning will be tough, but as you practice, you will see it become more and more effortless."

?Night nodded and sat cross-legged, and so did the other clones.

?He reduced the number of clones to a hundred, since he felt this might help him focus better on the quality rather than the quantity of a skill.

?Under the watch of [Dream] and System Girl, Night meditated, and after some time, a clone got up and started practicing.

?Night spread his Nightmare Mist around himself like a cloak and watched all the mouths and eyes closely.

?As he did so, the mouths turned to him while the eyes stared right back at him.

?Night paid close attention to each eye and mouth. Then he noticed something obvious: each eye and mouth was different from the others.

?Some mouths had small, sharp teeth in different shapes. One looked like the mouth of a snake, another looked like the mouth of a tiger, and another the mouth of a fish, the list went on.

Heck some didn’t even have teeth but just lips, he wondered what they could do... He also noticed many of them had tongues as well, which for some reason he hadn’t noticed till now.

?Meanwhile, the eyes were similarly varied, each with different colors, shapes, pupils, number of pupils, and sizes; one was even pupilless like his own eyes.

?After some time, he understood that each mouth and eye had something unique about it.

And if he had enough mastery over his Nightmare Mist, then he would be able to use them, as each of them possessed some kind of individual skill or capabilities attached to it.

?The moment he realized this, he was shocked beyond belief. Because if his theory was true, then just his Nightmare Mist alone was broken enough that if he used it properly, he would not need another ability or skill to dominate the world.

?It was only then that he understood why [Dream] had made him focus more on his core set of skills. He had been blind to his most used ability making him wonder what other abilities were capable off.

Though for now he decided he would only focus on Nighmare Mist.

?[Dream] and System Girl saw Night engrossed, looking at his Nightmare Mist, and didn’t disturb him.

?Besides, they could also follow along with his progress while reading his thoughts, so they already knew what he was thinking and hence could guide him in case he got stuck or took the wrong path.

?While this clone looked at the Nightmare Mist, the other clones that were looking through his memories randomly stopped and started focusing on any eye or mouth, that is, eating-type skills.

?And thankfully, he found many.

?Night then focused on only one mouth. This mouth had teeth like a pirana. After some time, he could kind of guess what it could do.

?Following his instincts, he made it move through the Nightmare Mist, and he walked in front of a rock.

?Unlike before, when he used to let them do their own thing, this time he controlled it to bite the rock and not devour it like he always did.

?The mouth followed his control, bit the rock, and started chewing. He then started to focus on this mouth to understand exactly how it functioned.

?At first, it felt like any other mouth, but as it continued chewing, he saw the rock was ground into a paste, like a morsel of food.

?Then the mouth spat it out.

Sizzle Sizzle Sizzle

The paste-like rock fell onto the ground, and as it touched the ground, it sizzled like it was burning.

But the weird thing was that the rock didn’t become burnt like what usually happened when a rock was heated beyond normal.

?Night squatted down and touched the rock paste curiously.

?Ouch!

Pooo, pooo, pooo, pooo!

?He immediately pulled back and started blowing on his finger, which had become as red as a tomato. He almost had tears in his eyes.

?For the Goddess’s sake, he had even exchanged a blow with Razen, a Demigod, and he had won, but this little bit of rock paste almost made him shed tears.

?[Dream] and System Girl also came close.

[Dream] squatted down to look closely, while System Girl brought some cold water from somewhere, held his hand, and dipped the finger into the cold water.

?Sssssshhh!

?The water made a hissing sound as it made contact with his finger.

?Night gave System Girl a grateful expression. Though it was just a clone, it still hurt like hell.

?[Dream] said, "That mouth turned this rock into something like clay which can then be molded to any form, similar to making pots or if this had been a metal then into a weapon," after analyzing the rock paste.

?While this clone cooled its finger, another clone stood up and came near the rock paste.

[Dream] then asked Night to try it with a metal this time, and sure enough the mouth chewed and chewed the spit out metal that had been turned to paste.

?[Dream] said looking at it, "It’s an interesting ability. It’s an ability a blacksmith would dream of..."

?Night asked, "This mouth does feel useful, though how do I use it in a fight?"

?[Dream] stood up and said, "Not everything is supposed to be used in a fight. Besides you don’t just have one mouth. Instead of trying to see how to make this one useful in a fight, see what abilities the other mouths have."

?Night nodded and then focused on another mouth. After some time, he was able to understand what it could do.

?This mouth, which looked like a worm’s mouth, could swallow attacks and return them right back.

Night, ’This is a very useful ability.’

?Night remembered it and then went on to another mouth.

?This mouth looked like a Vampire’s mouth, and after some time, he understood what it could do.

?It was simple: it could suck blood, and very efficiently at that.

?Night thought, ’It can be used to collect blood samples and such.’

?Like this, he went on. Most of them had basic abilities that had nothing to do with fighting.

?Like one mouth that could swallow a huge amount of water very quickly. As in, how quick? It drained a nearby sea in a moment.

?Another mouth could spit fire. It looked like a lizard’s mouth, making him think it had some dragon-like potential. He made it spit fire, and it spat out some green-colored fire that had acidic properties.

?The fire was good, but it didn’t have the kind of effect he was looking for, so he mixed some Nightmare Fire with it, and then came the magic.

?It spat out some kind of bizarre, ghost-like fire that was grey in color. As soon as he launched the attack, it gave him the chills.

?He felt that even he, the caster, would not leave unscathed if it hit him in friendly fire.

?The place where it had hit had been scorched into nothingness, with not even dust remaining as a memory.

?He looked at the lizard-like mouth with some dread. It was a part of him, yet somehow it had the power to cause him harm, making him realize that not everything he used would automatically make him immune to it.

?[Dream] came close and analyzed it. She had gotten a pair of specs from somewhere and now looked like a model professor.

?[Dream] said in marvel, "The fire’s properties have changed drastically. It still possesses the acidic properties, but now it targets the soul. That’s why the thing it hit disappeared into nothingness since everything here is mostly made of your soul energy."

?Night, having finally found a useful ability, had an excited expression and asked, "Is it good?"

?[Dream] replied, "Good? It’s more than good... In fact, it’s dangerous if you mishandle it. Since it’s not like the Nightmare Mist, it can harm you as well if it hits you. Forget about you, even my soul would take damage if it touched me..."

?Night nodded solemnly. It was like a double-edged sword.

?[Dream] warned, "Use it carefully. Unlike me, if your friends accidentally get hit by it, they might just evaporate into nothingness."

?Night promised, "I’ll use it carefully."

?[Dream] said, "You should give the ability a name. I feel like you will use it for a long time..."

?Night agreed. Something this powerful would be used frequently in fights, and calling it ’lizard mouth’ and ’green fire’ sounded tasteless.

?Night pondered for some time and said, "The mouth can be called Acid Dragon’s Maw, and the fire can be called Soul Burn."

?[Dream] looked at him in shock at first, then had a proud look on her face.

She immediately hugged him, rubbing her cheek against his, and said, "You have grown up! Finally coming up with good names... Watching your progress in the Dao of Naming makes me feel like I am growing old."

?Night’s lips twitched, but he couldn’t refute her, as he was proud of himself for the names he came up with, too.

....

(Please vote. :))