The academy buzzed with silent fear.
Professors whispered of strange happenings. Students reported recurring dreams they didn't understand. Entire dorm wings occasionally stirred at midnight, filled with muffled moans or screams. No one could explain the silver-eyed figure haunting their sleep.
But Jimmy knew.
He watched from the top of the astronomy spire, silver eyes reflecting moonlight and dominance. Below him, the academy shifted restlessly—his garden of minds slowly bending to his will.
[Dream Parasite Targets: 52 (Latent)]
[Subjugated: 5]
[Dream Throne Evolution: 56% → 59%]
Lana stepped out of the shadows beside him. "Master, we have a problem."
Jimmy turned slightly, eyebrow arched.
"There are whispers of a group forming in secret. A resistance. Students and faculty who've noticed the pattern of corruption."
Jimmy's smirk didn't falter. "Let them whisper. I deal in dreams. And dreams... are louder."
Lana hesitated. "This group... they call themselves The Dreamless."
His expression shifted.
"They wear dream-nullifying amulets," she continued. "Blessed by high priests. Wards that shield their minds."
[System Alert: Anti-Dream Faction Identified – The Dreamless]
[Warning: Direct Dream Infiltration Blocked. Physical and Emotional Manipulation Required]
---
That night, Jimmy entered the academy archives—publicly.
He moved like a student researching for a paper, but in truth, his goal was buried deep in the forbidden indexes.
[Skill Activated: Dreamweaver - Passive Cloaking Protocols Engaged]
He slipped past the automated wards, brushed by patrolling sentinels with barely a ripple, and entered the restricted wing where truth slept in dust.
There, among blood-bound tomes and cursed journals, he found it:
The Veil Codex – a book on forbidden defenses against mental intrusion.
[New Skill Learned: Null Threading – Create temporary bypass channels through mental wards by simulating emotional memory loops.]
He grinned.
"No mind is unreachable. Not even the Dreamless."
---
The next day, he began to hunt.
He observed from shadows, marked targets, analyzed behaviors. The Dreamless were few, but dangerous: immune to dream manipulation, but not to seduction, pressure, or fear.
His first target: Hira Veilborne, a fourth-year priestess with a pure aura and suspiciously neutral expression.
He bumped into her in the chapel garden, offering a soft apology and a spark of [Charm].
She stiffened—but her guard didn't rise.
"Your name?" she asked.
"Jimmy. Sleepless Novice," he replied, smiling.
She frowned. "They say you walk dreams."
"They say a lot of things."
She walked away—thoughtful.
[Target Marked: Hira Veilborne – Resistance: High | Emotional Weakness: Doubt in Faith | Obsession Potential: 12%]
---
Over the next week, Jimmy played a slow game.
He infiltrated Hira's friend circle. Befriended her allies. Whispered doubts through social manipulation. Spoke against the academy's hypocrisy, the cruelty of the gods, the loneliness of blind faith.
And she listened.
Until one night, he found her in the old observatory, staring at the stars.
"I used to believe dreams were divine," she murmured. "Now I wonder if they're just shadows trying to speak."
Jimmy stood beside her. "Maybe shadows are all we ever were."
She turned.
And kissed him.
[Dream Parasite Attempted: Blocked]
[Null Threading Engaged: Loop Construct Formed... Bypass Success]
[Target: Hira Veilborne - Corruption: 6% → 18%]
She gasped, blinked—and stepped back.
"What was that…?"
"Nothing," Jimmy whispered. "Just a dream."
---
Elsewhere in the academy, more Dreamless began to fall—not through magic, but through charm, deceit, pleasure, and promise.
[Dream Parasite Targets: 58 (Latent)]
[Subjugated: 7]
[Dream Throne Evolution: 62%]
But Jimmy knew the real threat was coming.
A true Dreamless—someone who had never dreamed.
Not even once.
A mind immune.
An enigma.
And that was the mind he needed most.
Because every throne needs a challenger.
And every god needs a shadow.