"Physical tests consist of tension," Old Dream said to William, who didn't like this conversation. "Rank 0's prominent trace is to influence the flesh they reside in bites, or big swallows, if that's it. Not too much is often zealous, lest they feel it too. Yours has been lively for years. Ten of them, in fact."

  "Your point?" William said, clutching his arm and flexing his knees to remain straight. It was worse than Kaufman. So far, it wasn't as—

  He flew to the side immediately, struck the wall, and remained there like a spread-out fly. Old Dream approached him, hands folded behind his back, and his smile was still serious.

  William's whole body was not the reason for everything. The right arm was there instead, wincing, trembling in red veins around his Emblem, which felt a new kind of agitation and sickness.

  "Pressure comes and goes, but not always. Emotions come next, but you are stubborn. All of us are. It's better. Clever. Defiant. Heavenly. Walkers are not that different from Darks, you see. We love our own Madness." Old Dream hummed. "Physical rush doesn't do much, so how about the pain?"

  "Wait... Wait. Wait." William said, feeling the tingling reach his core and mind. He wasn't sure where to go next, except to push forward.

  Old Dream still didn't care. William couldn't feel his tension and dreams anyway. He never showed anything to Mi-Yung either, even if he lost some bets or collapsed due to nasty workouts. Either Mi-Yung let it go or wasn't curious about that boundary, or everything aimed at this specific point.

  Old Dream knew it, yet it didn't work.

  William grunted when Old Dream stood before him, shredded a section of his shirt off without lifting a hand, and eyed his Emblem from a few inches away. That crimson, those sea waves of a little coin?!

  "Glossy like eyes of Bemud, hm? Tell me, are you often hearing its voice?"

  William nodded.

  "It doesn't tell much, is it? Is it me now? Or you being a problem, or it is no longer speaking because it is... fuck it. Is it fine? Fine with... what, exactly?"

  There wasn't a very painful pressure. William could breathe, watch, and even speak, but he would rather remain as silent as possible. Kaufman was more savage and on point, whereas Old Dream had the conscience not to bully him too much.

  "Very well. Cease the test. Next is the blood stimulation and screening."

  Zenya turned serious and pushed a bunch of buttons as she giggled like a little girl met with a cake.

  From the sides of the chamber, walls opened up, and a bunch of metallic pillars shot into the chamber. There were cuts in them, revealing shelves filled with all sorts of things. Cables, needles, scalpels, and numerous electronics were just a few examples.

  Old Dream grabbed wires with needles at the end. They connected to William's body. The head, neck, spine, heart, ribs, arms, and legs formed the entire formation.

  William didn't even flinch when the heat spread, and he felt all too familiar tension. His Emblem was getting hotter and crazier, and his emotions fastened, following... the stuff. A common problem came with the realization, and being stuck on the wall was next.

  Nerves started to crack, and Old Dream finished the prep in a few minutes. He continued with the pressure, of course, as pushing William to that wall was better than the chair.

  "Do you mind standing? I figured you don't stand for much, do you? Is the chair better?"

  William winced and wished to curse him. "I am fine. Fine!"

  "I see. Stubborn like your father, eh?"

  William hit the back of the wall with his head and growled as he viciously looked at this old bastard. "You—"

  And crimson flared up with vivid lines, cracking veins, and muscles contorted under pressure. The Emblem woke the fuck up and energy started to rebel.

  "Ooh, there is a keyword?!" Old Dream laughed and clapped his hands. "That is forgotten merit. How great. Usable."

  Something was very pissed right now, and William wasn't just it. Through every bit of agitation, the crimson lines converged and revolved around William's right arm, coming and originating from the Emblem that tried to push back.

  It couldn't.

  There was too much that it couldn't handle or kill. Old Dream saw it and perked up as if he saw gold. The wires kept up with the pace, but a few of them popped off, sizzling to dust.

  "Curious affinity," he said, humming. "I don't do much with it. I can't. It does and feels the same way."

  William was fine. More or less. "Alright... Is that it? Is that all?" he mumbled, hoping it would soon end as his emotions tricked even himself.

  Old Dream didn't want to push all the boundaries and let the scalpels or other tools be. He was more and more curious. What if it was seriously afraid? Afraid of anything closing, perhaps, or cracking? Old Dream thought that would be silly, yet William was still bloody conscious, even when his body was being destroyed and stabbed?

  Crimson energy stayed near him, trembling his arm, letting his muscles and veins undergo a storm, and never came close to Old Dream.

  A minute into it, a loud noise came from some machine, accumulating results or readings that Zenya had processed.

  "Is that all, sir?" she asked from the speaker.

  Old Dream frowned, then pulled his pressure off a little. William felt a moment of lightness, as if he were in space. Then, he was hot like a flame when crimson lines converged into a thick whip-like sequence, wrapped his arm, and punched Old Dream in the cheek because he was far too close. He was asking for it. Everyone here thought so.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  His punch landed and stayed on that old, wrinkled cheek. William coughed, shuddering as he fell down to his knees, feeling that his arm was no longer his because that whip wrapped his arm, cracked his skin and fingers alike, and used him.

  Old Dream grabbed that arm, a crimson snake-like whip, and judged it like a snake. "It does a lot of things, doesn't it?" he asked William, who didn't want to even speak, let alone hear him say it, as blood leaked and a heated pain started to get hold of him.

  Old Dream scuffed and pushed that arm off with a finger. It returned, pushing a finger that bled and aimed at his eye.

  "Oh, savage." He defended with his own finger and pushed it away without a problem.

  William felt helpless as his arm turned into tatters once more. It needed to feed. It needed to change or realize this was stupid, but he was not here for it. Like usual. Typical...

  He began to shiver again and imagined much worse things—memories. Perhaps not his own, or he might dream them out of his past without a second thought, because there were things out there that he never ignored. Not when he was normal or like this.

  His hand shivered, and crimson, vibrant Arcana changed. Lines convulsed and concentrated, becoming a claw at the end since William's finger turned out to be useless, so screw the flesh! The Arcana did it just fine and better, and the claw pushed forth, no longer adhering to the physical limits.

  Many strange noises echoed in the chamber, creating a series of clicks around the metal walls as the red stuff pushed against Old Dream.

  William was no longer listening, for there was too much to listen to at the moment. Old Dream smiled and, instead of deflecting, grasped that claw and wrestled with it. It winced as if afraid, like a lost, measly worm.

  Old Dream was way too powerful. "Heights are various. Sequence... this? Unique, aye? It feels weak, but it could do a lot of things to a lot of Darks and people. I can see what's up with it... yes? Accumulation is... at what level?" He asked out loud.

  "Unknown." Zenya proclaimed.

  "What? Do it over and over if it doesn't do it over!"

  "Strange patterns are why, sir. The amount is unattainable. Maybe it is out, and the body isn't?"

  "Ay, those pesky physical tests, again. It caused passivity. Not adhering to Arcana changes." Old Dream guessed, sure that the current number of links to Willia's body was far too few to matter. "Accumulation is within. Hiding. Not the body, then. William is still within the human boundaries."

  "Yes," Another voice said, coming from Mi-Yung. "But some things aren't. Emotions could change that, but... these readings are still irregular. I think Emblem is the interference."

  "You say that First Head's work of art is inefficient?!" Zenya shouted in anger and criticized Mi-Yung's manners.

  "Perhaps. Not every Rank 0 is working great with this chamber."

  Zenya could definitely find the right excuse, but Mi-Yung was more correct than wrong. Old Dream felt the same and regarded the Arcana in his hands. It felt odd, like a mix of energies and emotions that were there, defying his own and trying to escape.

  "Hm. Maybe First Head would know more. Never mind. Rank 0 of this quality is curious. I will pass it as a success." Flicking that claw away, the sheer looseness and disdain cracked the fingers, so it put forth a fist and aimed at Old Dream's head.

  Old Dream snapped his fingers, and the air changed.

  Crimson revolved and began to run out of breath like a fish out of water. William himself felt it too and fell unconscious right away. It played with time, and time was gone in a moment, like his Emblem, and one more thing.

  Old Dream pushed the round door open and walked away, leaving bloodied William alone.

  Outside, Mi-Yung already waited, worried and pissed off.

  "What? Don't tell me it's my fault. That Emblem injured him, and he didn't cooperate. Don't tell me that's what you wanted?"

  "Why have you gone so far into this? Is it because of Viktor?” Mi-Yung demanded.

  "Nah. I don't care what you think. His body and the effects of his Emblem don't come anywhere close. It's fused. Perhaps it's an incompatibility issue, as our machinations aren't everything. We are!"

  "A guess? From you?"

  "I don't think I've seen this one before." Old Dream said without shame and assured his position. "Means this is fine, alright? Don't worry, Song. He is fine with going even wilder, so yes, I accept it. The Examination and Awakening are both fine. That should push it forward and give many more choices and time. William's body will change dramatically, so take care of it."

  Old Dream patted her back as he walked around her and then away.

  It was a bittersweet end to this trial. After all those days, this was it? Mi-Yung had conflicted feelings about it. "Is that your final word?"

  "Yep." Old Dream said and waved at her before he left through a typical door.

  Confused, Rey was no better than Mi-Yung beside him, looking over the readings that Zenya was completing. Many papers were full of graphs and numbers. It was either a math problem full of precise calculations or a total mess, depending on who was reading it.

  Mi-Yung clutched her fist and smiled. "If that's what he wants, fine." Then, she turned to Rey. "How does it look?"

  Rey kept his hands full of those papers and tried his best to make sense of them. "It is a lot more than expected."

  "Which means?"

  "A lot of it is useless. I will provide a thorough report later, but the key points are currently based on guesses. A lot of his Emblem is about inheritance and accumulation, while its acts are based on story, ego, and what it did... or what he did. Is it an effect or harm?"

  "That's the same thing."

  "Is it? That crimson is like his father's, right?"

  Mi-Yung nodded. "Annihilation."

  "Yes, but it isn't feeling like it at the same time. This one is rougher and according to... well, with how things went with Viktor and his life, what can we say? William is different. Simple as that. Rank 0 is suboptimal; Rank 1 is where it shines."

  "Which is why I am still questioning your choices, Rey! And myself, for that matter, or him."

  Rey chuckled. "Old Dream does his work well. He wouldn't be satisfied otherwise. Could you live with him without that? I wouldn't."

  Mi-Yung nodded against her wishes, and her brows twitched in anger. "He is mine now. He won't change it."

  "Perhaps. Could you keep it that way?"

  "I will." Mi-Yung asserted, turned, and looked at William, who was still unconscious. Crimson kept flaring up a little, now looking like a total mess, creating markings around the right arm, walls, and floor. Dust was settling, energies were calming, and one shitty reality hit Mi-Yung too late.

  It was still bloody active!

  All wires were gone, scattered around the room in pieces or turning to dust as well.

  Rey laughed. "Now, this is curious. His physical results point to what Old Dream stated. There are lines and correlations between the state of depth sequences and this Arcana. His body does have parts that make up the whole line. Emblem affects it, but the body is keeping it at bay, and vice-versa."

  "Awakening will be quite significant if that's the case. Ten years, right?" she deduced. "With this livid Emblem, what about the readings? Zenya said it is unknown, but something must be scattered around those papers if it's at a unique grade."

  "I look at it differently. Unknown is often unique, so that simply means there is not enough data. It will change over time, as Emblem embeds common energetic arrangements; new ones, never seen before, are not implausible to be not understood forever. It will ease eventually. It might already be at ease because... look at him. He is fine with it, isn't he? He lived with it for years and never broke."

  "Are you sure about it? No bets, Rey! Or promises." Mi-Yung's voice quivered in raging disbelief.

  "Yeah? That's a guess. Sorry. It might be about acceptance. Egos are... well, that is an even bigger guess." Rey slapped the papers down and made one large pile. "I will work with it for a while. Maybe Zenya will help out, or I might look for First Head. Are you fine with it, Mi-Yung?"

  Mi-Yung was still looking at him as if he were speaking nonsense and still believed what she had learned was excessive. Maybe it changed nothing. "I don't trust such assumptions. I am over it. Goodbye."

  "Alright, I will not do it, but I will stay in touch," Rey said, turning to Zenya to begin compiling the data, since that woman was already immersed in it.