The realizations that Jason had towards the end of those five days really started to mess with him. Wheels within wheels within wheels, and he had only seen the shallowest depths. Good thing this sort of mental breakdown isn't new to his old world. When prophets can control entire nations from a cave two countries over, people realize their actions may not be their own all the time. Sort of like the insanity that can come from seeing more than one's mind can handle, what in his current life would most align with the whole Cthulhu mythos nonsense.

And luckily, the solution to the prophecy dilemma is a lot easier to solve than knowing more than one can. Instead of either someone that can handle what you realized erasing the memory and all it had spread to or simply cultivating until strong enough to handle said realization. The prophecy dilemma is solved through a series of mystical chants. Half self hypnosis and half actual mysticism, the chants reinforce the belief in free will.

Though it certainly helps knowing that with enough power, you become less susceptible to prophecy shenanigans. Even gods couldn't predict what those at the top of Jason's old sect would do. Which was probably why they manipulated his friend instead of one of them.

Jason takes a deep breath and begins to chant again. Down that path was just a never-ending spiral into a new obsession. Two more days pass like this before Rosha and Courtney arrive in town.

Because of their arrival, Jason is finally able to escape the mental trap he was struggling with. Though they arrived late in the day and so any dungeon exploration would have to wait for the next day. Instead, they had a nice dinner in a private room.

Rosha was excited about retelling her adventure, though Courtney noticed Jason's mood so the two of them let the bunny girl do her thing. After that Rosha went to bed while Courtney hung back, "So what unsettled you?"

Jason looks up at the ceiling, "I've figured out a few troubling things about both NeoRealm and irl. Even better, they're tangentially connected to what I had told you about so you could test it. The next step? I don't know if it is complete, but it cures a certain unnatural obsession."

Courtney takes a moment to think before something comes to mind. "I doubt I guessed exactly what you're talking about, but that could be a problem."

Jason nods, "So yeah, I haven't really done much research on the area while worrying about that. I did get a fun new quote unquote weapon from the quest. Rest against the chupacabras make it seem promising as well. Though the chupacabras are more than just a little disappointing."

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Courtney smiles at the last bit, "Don't worry, those cryptids are more than they appear to be. The ones you fight out there are just the young. NeoRealm went with the less commonly seen version. Apparently, the original legends sometimes portray them as being the size of a car.

"That stand of trees likely hides some kind of measure that keeps a bunch of adults contained within. I haven't looked into the too much, but it seems that their species takes a long time to grow up because the adult form is so cumbersome. On the other hand, while certainly not sapient in their adult form, they're much more clever."

Jason nods, "Well that's good to know. I didn't exactly look too deeply into cryptids, but they're a fun sort of myth. That aside, though, what have you found out about the tardigroids and the dungeon in general?"

Courtney sighs, "the dungeon 'Invasion from the Deep Sky' is going to be interesting. As you might have guessed, deep sky referred to is a region that irl we would call space. The difference here is that the magical field of NeoRealm extends far enough to encapsulate more area than you would expect.

"Even the moon is within NeoRealm's magical territory. So suffice it to say, some freaky things can form up there. Tardigroids are one example of this. They're never sapient and from what people have found, even the System isn't certain why. Though it might have to do with how loose their form is.

"Not on an individual level. They're not shapeshifters, but rather on a species level. The forms they can take are numerous and have nothing to do with their parents. These forms aren't even specialized for some purpose or another."

Jason, "So a chaos species? I wonder what up there causes that."

Courtney raises an eyebrow, "Not heard that term for them before. Anyway, the only consistent thing about them is that no matter how humanoid their form ends up being, their heads stay the same. Whether they just look like giant tardigrades or look like a human with an extra set of arms, that head stays the same.

"Outside of that, though? They can take a taur form, a human with two sets of arms, and sometimes they can even end up with a set of limbs on their backs as if they were meant to be wings. Every combination of six limbs you can think of and then some.

"Out in the deep sky, you'll even find some with non-viable forms, alive simply because they're in an area with enough power to sustain them without food. Because, of course, they can live off of pure mystical power in a pinch. In the dungeon, though, things are going to be much less random. Every enemy will be perfectly capable of tearing your face off."

Jason nods, "Are they actually the only enemy in the dungeon?"

Courtney nods, "The dungeon doesn't have invasion in the name just for fun. The thing originally formed in a rock out in the deep sky and only had tardigroids to work with. At some point, it ended up falling onto NeoRealm. While the original rock broke apart and burned up, the dungeon itself managed to transfer from the largest piece that survived into the ground. So, while it now has access to more terrestrial monsters, it was up there long enough to have finished growing."

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