Chapter Forty-Four: Taking Up the Stance

"Congratulations, Dream Mender, you have completed the task: successfully accompanying the child for two days. Please choose from the following rewards."

As the system's voice faded, the reward panel split into two sections and appeared before Wu Que.

1. Random 30 attribute points.
2. Combat Skill: Golden Drop Impact. Allows the user to execute a light, high forward leap followed by a forceful downward drop using their posterior, unleashing a wide-range golden shockwave upon landing. Required attribute: Faith 20. Can be used once every 3 hours.

"The skills this system dishes out get more absurd one by one. It actually gives out a butt-slam move, and of course, they had to give it such a flashy name."

Wu Que thought to himself as he opened his attribute panel.

Name: Wu Que
Attribute ID: 1997
Attributes: Strength 37, Health 7, Immunity 3, Agility 24, Intelligence 10, Magic 0, Faith 35, Sanity 0.

Two things deeply concerned Wu Que. First was his abysmal health and immunity stats; judging by how the old woman had instantly crushed his wrist, he was a total glass cannon.

Second was his sanity level. Unlike his frequent bouts of madness during his first dream, in this "Plague" dreamscape, his sanity seemed to have maintained a relatively high level throughout.

"Perhaps this is a good thing; I certainly don't want to see those inexplicable voices in my head again."

Wu Que scratched his head and chose the 30 random attribute points.

"Please, give me health, give me health, give me health!"

As if sensing his earnest plea, a cyan-green beam of light entered his body while a fresh, herbaceous aroma filled his nasal passages.

Feeling this surging vitality, Wu Que eagerly reopened his attribute panel.

Name: Wu Que
Attribute ID: 1997
Attributes: Strength 37, Health 37, Immunity 3, Agility 24, Intelligence 10, Magic 0, Faith 35, Sanity 0.

***

Wu Que was the kind of person who would buy defensive gear first when playing online games. Now, seeing his health stats shoot straight up, he felt a wave of reassurance.

Just as he composed himself and prepared to step onto the staircase, the system's cold prompt sounded once more.

"Unity is of the utmost importance, especially for a Dream Mender team that requires collaborative combat."

"Congratulations, Dream Mender, you have completed the hidden task: unlocked all important locations without any friendly fire incidents among Dream Menders. Please choose from the following rewards."

Hearing the system prompt, Wu Que couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed.

"If Doctor Deng Ming hadn't stepped in to stop us in time yesterday, we probably would have started fighting long ago."

Meanwhile, the reward panel appeared before him once more.

1. Random 55 attribute points.
2. Ready Stance: The Dream Mender holds their weapon parallel to the ground to enter a ready stance, charging up energy. The longer the preparation time, the greater the power of the Dream Mender's next strike. Required attribute: Strength 30. Can be used once every 7 hours. (Note: During the use of Ready Stance, any form of movement or physical interference will interrupt the stance.)
3. Combat Skill: Blood Levy.
Passive: Imbues the user's weapon with the "Blood" attribute, allowing the Dream Mender to deal damage to enemies while inflicting a certain amount of bleed effect.
Active: One of the Blood Pact combat skills. After a spinning maneuver, executes a series of multiple piercing strikes that siphon the health and immunity values of the target.

Wu Que stared at the reward panel and fell into deep contemplation once again.

Although Blood Levy was a powerful skill, its passive conflicted with the black blade in his hand, and its active conflicted with the "Mark of Slaughter," so he ruled it out for now.

55 attribute points would be a massive boost no matter where they were allocated, and as a novice who had just entered the dreamscape, he urgently needed to enhance his foundational stats.

Ready Stance was also an exceptionally powerful skill, especially with teammates providing cover. It would allow him to gain strength far exceeding his own without losing his mind, and it had incredible synergy with the Mark of Slaughter.

Wu Que hesitated for quite a while before ultimately choosing Ready Stance. The reason was simple: during the final battle against the nightmare, the marginal utility of raw attribute points would likely be minimal, whereas Ready Stance possessed the ability to turn the tide of battle.

55 attribute points were undoubtedly great, but if he failed to defeat "It," everything would be in vain.

Besides, once he returned to the hub space, he could always bet against the Crybaby again—that was a free attribute pool where he could even choose stats manually.

***

Only now did Wu Que truly understand the purpose behind Zhang Deshuai's obsession with wandering around the village, while simultaneously marveling at that guy's composure.

Clearly, this was only his third dream, yet he hadn't panicked amidst the successive crises. Instead, like a completionist clearing a map, he had gathered as many clues and rewards as possible, maintaining his cool even when everyone else's emotions were compromised.

Though his personality was thoroughly unlikable, he was undeniably a trustworthy teammate.

Wu Que stepped up the narrow stairs and entered the reception room. All the members of the dream-entry team had already arrived. Downstairs, the sound of the Sweet Nurse's treatment cart wheels rolling over the floor could be heard, but Doctor Deng Ming was conspicuously late.

Chen Tianyu was the first to spot Wu Que and hurriedly waved him over.

Wu Que stepped forward and saw Wang Shuhan holding pen and paper, talking as she wrote.

Compared to her playful and cute image when they first met, she had now stripped away her exquisite makeup, donned a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and tucked her hair behind her ears, making her look intellectual and capable.

Gesturing for Wu Que to sit, she continued:

"Wu Que arrived just in time. I'll continue discussing what I was just saying regarding how to combat 'It.'"

"First, I believe everyone obtained this morning's 'Unity' reward. Facing the unknown 'It,' I think we need to coordinate our combat efforts."

She glanced at Chen Tianyu. "I apologize for some of my remarks yesterday. You are free to hold a grudge against me, but it's best to wait until the mission is over."

Chen Tianyu waved his hand dismissively, indicating that she needn't mind.

Without even looking at him, Wang Shuhan continued:

"To ensure better cooperation among us, I suggest we share our currently acquired abilities with each other. I know this might not seem entirely fair to the two veterans, so as a gesture of sincerity, I will lay out both my own and the Overseer's abilities in full."

"My first reward was chosen as random attribute points, granting me 30 Intelligence. My second reward was Ocean Magic, which can be understood as a buff with healing properties. Coincidentally, this skill also scales with Intelligence."

"For the third, I chose a reward that probably won't help with this particular dreamscape, but is undoubtedly the most suitable for me."

"This reward is a combat skill called Battle Chess."