Streamer in the Omniverse

WinterHord (7) – Madness is something sad, isn’t it?…

Instead of going to sleep immediately like the others, I meditated to enter my spiritual landscape and see how things were there.

I wasn't going to do anything major, no big experiment or anything close to that; I was just going to see how things were and examine the "biome" of nightmare energy.

I must have spent about an hour poking the purple swamp with a stick before the Minimap beeped, sending me a notification.

I had set up the Minimap with two alarms when I arrived at WinterHord. The first was to alert me if anything entered the maximum range of five kilometers that wasn't a hallucination.

This alarm was exclusively set for the Deerclops, but if something else could move out there without being him, I would like to be notified.

Anything that could move freely out there was something I would like to know exists.

The second alarm was more focused, in case any enemy came within thirty meters of me, including hallucinations.

If it was a hallucination, I would like to know why, as hallucinations didn't seem to come closer than that; so, if one crossed that threshold, I would like to know to see what the reason was.

If they weren't hallucinations, well...

Opening my eyes, I exited my spiritual landscape and looked at the Minimap, seeing the five red dots moving quickly, but organized, through the mansion corridors.

...They were probably traitors within WinterHord, or maybe the guards who had flashed red before.

Let's see which of these options was true... Maybe there were some hallucinations too, as behind the five red dots, at the threshold of thirty meters, I could see a few more red dots clustered in the hallway.

Hallucinations, for sure.

"Did you finish your meditation?" Millia asked, looking at me from the table.

"Yes. For now, this time is good," I said to the little slime. Even without the Minimap alert, I was about to end this session.

"You need to fix your sleep; staying awake all night and sleeping during the day is not healthy." I looked at the little slime watching a movie on the cellphone I had given her. Bad idea.

At least for humans and Earthlings, staying up late was unhealthy. I had no idea if this applied to slimes, but it still wasn't a good habit.

Was it hypocritical of me to say that? Maybe, but I didn't care. I could endure the consequences of my horrible sleep habits; my body was resilient. Millia was just a child.

"Okay, geez, you sound like mom..." Millia quickly wrote before creating a little hand waving. "I'll go to sleep then, wake me up in the morning, I want to spend time with you guys :D - Good night!" Those were her last words before disappearing into the Slime Staff.

Cute little thing.

With that done, I rose from the chair I was sitting in and walked slowly through the room without making noise, the only illumination being the tiny moonlight threads passing through the storm and the curtains of the room's windows.

Not that it mattered, as using nightmare energy in my eyes gave me a kind of night vision besides being able to see hallucinations.

It was a useful energy to use, even though it was strange to use.

Actually, all the energies I had were useful; I just needed to start using them more and in more ways.

Well, another thing on my to-do list, this time a top priority.

On the short way to the door of the room, I looked at the rest of the group.

Everyone in the room seemed to be sleeping, with Gilbert and Dylan sleeping in two single beds on the left side of the room that I had taken from the inventory for them to use.

Selina, Robyn, along with the two animals of the latter, slept on the right side, on the main bed of the room which was a double bed, with Selina wrapping herself in a cocoon of blankets and Robyn hugging her two animals in a kind of improvised nest of blankets and pillows.

Damn, what a horrible way to sleep those two had. How could Robyn sleep with that plug, I had no idea.

How long had she been using that thing to be so accustomed to it?

Interestingly, even before I left the room, a green dot a few rooms away came out and confronted the other five red dots.

Melissa or Annabel, since from what I remembered, those were the two sleeping there, with Darnell sleeping a few rooms away.

It didn't take long for the other green dot to come out too. The two of them then.

Let's see what's going on before that...

[STARTING STREAM!]

Was it three in the morning? Yes, but I was "The Streamer"; if something interesting was happening, I would broadcast it.

I had really embraced this role, hadn't I?...

The moment I opened the door of the room, the noise suppression matrix I had set up for testing, in case the Deerclops screamed while everyone slept, turned off, making Annabel's angry screams heard in the room.

"ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?! WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS?! COME ON! TELL ME! WHO LET YOU COME HERE?!" She didn't seem happy at all.

The moment the sound reached the room, everyone woke up alarmed and looked at the door, where I was standing.

It was funny to see Selina almost fall to the floor trying to get out of the blanket cocoon she had created.

I waved my hand to indicate that everything was fine so they could calm down.

"I'll see what's going on, you can go back to sleep." I knew they wouldn't do that, as I knew they would follow me out of the room, still, it didn't hurt to give everyone the option.

Leaving the room, I only had to turn the corner to see the complete scene of what was happening.

As I expected, Annabel and Melissa were in front of what looked like a small squad of guards. The other red dots, as I could see further back, were hallucinations.

The atmosphere was tense; the guards were on edge, Melissa seemed on the verge of killing someone, and the only thing preventing her, Annabel, appeared to be contemplating whether it was worth stopping the nurse from starting a rampage.

The funniest part of it all was that both of them were still in their pajamas. To be more specific, bunny pajamas.

Not the sexy kind, but ones that made them look like two white balls since the pajamas were made of thick, fluffy material.

They were not tall either, making the scene even funnier, at least to me, not to the others, as everyone was tense.

The guards didn't seem to have noticed me; their eyes were red and insane, staring at Melissa and Annabel. I could literally see madness leaking from them.

That... was quite sad, actually.

Despite their intention to come here being something bad, as they wanted to steal the Humvee, probably forcing me to hand it over to them, they were still just men driven by madness, a madness that wasn't really theirs.

I shook my head and sighed before taking a step forward and speaking.

Let's end this quickly; tomorrow is going to be a busy day.

[...]

POV: Melissa Oakwood.

I didn't know what made me more ANGRY!

Whether it was the fact that these guards had woken me up, woke me up when I had the first good night's sleep in weeks!

Or their shitty plan, which was to steal the group's vehicle that had come to help us!

Damn, we had deactivated the room's noise matrix to listen in case something happened to the city barrier, but at this moment, I was regretting it.

Can I just kill them and go back to sleep? I promise I'll do it quickly; they won't even feel a thing.

"What is this? A pajama party? And I wasn't even invited?" My body tensed even more as a voice sounded behind me and Annabel.

I just didn't turn around to punch the owner of the voice because I recognized him. Devas, the leader of the rescue group.

The guy who had more mana than my mom and still insisted he was just a mere contractor. He must think we're idiots... and a pajama party?

I felt my face blush when I finally realized I was still wearing the pajamas Annabel had lent me. I didn't even need to turn around to know that the countess was mirroring my redness.

Damn, I didn't even remember I was wearing this thing; it's so comfortable and warm.

At least it wasn't my baby-doll...

I was already embarrassed enough to be seen like this by everyone, as I could see Dylan, Selina, and the other two from Devas's group watching from afar, just coming out of the room.

If I were seen with my favorite baby-doll, and everyone saw my nipples and my tattoo, I might as well leave the barrier.

Turning into an ice statue would be more acceptable than this. Much less embarrassing.

Almost unintentionally, in my fog of shame, I noticed that the man passing between Annabel and me made no noise when he walked.

"Anything else?" Gilbert asked with a playful voice as he looked at his daughter. "Something that this old man here and all the others who don't understand Mystic Symbols can help with in the case," he added. He and Robyn, in this case, since Selina and Dylan were going to help me.

Good question...

"Not much..." I commented vaguely.

Sending them wandering around the city to help the guards in the search for any information didn't seem like a good idea.

I had killed several hallucinations yesterday and intended to kill more today, but still, the atmosphere wasn't pleasant. Both the cold and the presence of hallucinations made the environment suffocating.

It was better to keep everyone in the mansion, where the presence of hallucinations was practically nonexistent after I arrived.

"You could look for information in the mansion's library. Of course, if Annabel allows it," I commented belatedly as I looked at the two and then at the countess, who nodded.

"Sure, I was planning to look there; any company is welcome," she replied after chewing.

As for the rest, in this case, Darnell and Melissa, and to a lesser extent, Annabel, I didn't ask them to do anything since it wasn't really my job, and I didn't know their capabilities.

I'll assume that Melissa will either help Annabel or join Dylan and Selina; as for Darnell, the man seemed more like the type who was more action-oriented than research, so he probably would patrol or go with the guards to see if he could discover anything in the city.

I also needed to see if I could adapt the barrier of the Humvee to block the Deerclops' scream. I had some ideas, but nothing certain, especially without being able to do any real tests since the deer decided to stay silent all night.

As for modifying the barrier covering the city, that didn't even cross my mind. Even if the modification to the Humvee worked, the matrix that created the city's barrier, besides being enormous, couldn't be deactivated.

Without it protecting WinterHord from the cold, the city would go to hell in a matter of minutes, seconds, depending on how cold it was outside.

"By the way, do you know exactly how cold it is outside the barrier?" I asked Annabel and Melissa, who seemed to be the two who took care of most things. "My temperature gauges couldn't measure accurately."

The technological temperature gauges had fried, or in this case, frozen when the temperature reached ninety degrees below zero. As for creating a temperature measurement matrix in the Humvee, it had one, but it was internal, regulating the temperature inside the car.

I didn't bother creating an external one since it would take up space that I could use for another more useful matrix.

Seeing now, I could have created that "Temperature measurement plate" later.

"The temperature is confusing," Annabel replied. "It fluctuates a lot, something that was supposed to be impossible."

I didn't even need to ask what the temperature fluctuation was before Annabel answered.

"It usually stays between a hundred degrees below zero and a hundred and twenty degrees below zero, but it has reached a hundred and forty degrees below zero," she said with a tense voice. "It varies from the location where the measurement is made; in some, the measurement goes crazy and isn't even completed." The mana that prevents communication to the outside probably should interfere with the matrix too.

Good thing I had protected the matrices of the Humvee from that, even better that the barrier around the city was protected too.

A hundred and forty degrees below zero. That was bad, but still better than I expected...

Damn, if I have to fight in this cold, it's going to suck.

"And then..." Melissa said with some hesitation. "About what happened in the prison. How did you see that hallucination?" She asked after a few moments.

Well, the question finally came.

"Innate magic." That was my answer. I had already said the same thing to my group.

After Dylan explained about innate magic a few days ago, that was the answer I would use when explaining something involving the stream.

Of course, I had explained a few more things to my own group and told them, in this case, Selina and Dylan, that they could tell Melissa if they found it necessary.

But I would avoid saying much more than that, as some information was better kept secret.

Maybe, if I invited any of them to the stream, I could say more, but for now, that was it.

"I thought you would say that..." Melissa grumbled in a cute way. "I'll change the question then. What do you see when your eyes are like that?" She pointed at me, or more specifically, at my eyes.

I had looked at myself in the mirror after Kazuma's comment about my eyes. Well, dead fish eyes were a wrong comparison.

When I used nightmare energy in my eyes, they looked like I hadn't slept in weeks, with black bags under them that made me look like a panda, one that had gone through war and returned with some traumas.

Few.

Even my irises seemed to become glazed, with an almost insane look, although I still retained my sanity and it was possible to see that within my eyes.

"It's like seeing through a filter," I described. "The world becomes more opaque, everything seems to tremble slightly as if your vision can't stay still, the lights dim, shadows become more pronounced, and everything beyond people is covered by red tendrils, as if everything is slowly cracking."

The look they gave me when I finished describing was kind of funny.

"I'm not going crazy, nor will I, don't worry," I said, joking, which made some people at the table laugh.

As for the stream, I found out that I could turn my vision on and off for them, this "texture," where the camera, in addition to showing the hallucinations, showed the world as I saw it when using nightmare energy.

It was basically a unanimous decision for me to make this option something optional, so only those who wanted more immersion in the stream would use it.

I didn't blame them; it was a strange thing to see. Although I was getting used to it, it was still kind of weird.

After that, breakfast proceeded without much else happening, only in the middle of it, where I woke Millia up to eat.

"Good morning! :D" The little slime drew everyone's attention at the table, even more with the small hat she wore as clothing to protect her from the cold.

"I... have many questions." That was Melissa's reaction upon seeing Millia, the reaction that everyone who hadn't seen her before had, actually.

"You can ask, but first, Millia, hungry?" I said to the inferner before asking the slime.

"I'm not always hungry, but whenever they ask me, I'm hungry!" An answer I expected from her.

"Here." I handed her a plate along with a knife and fork. "Help yourself." Why had she started using fork and knife? I had no idea, but it was cute.

Millia existing was cute.

[...]

After breakfast, where Millia had conquered the table, we split up to each do our respective tasks.

Annabel, Gilbert, Robyn, and her animals went to the library to look for any useful information.

Darnell went with the guards to the city to see if he could find anything.

Melissa, Dylan, and Selina came with me to try to create something for everyone to see the hallucinations.

Of course, this would happen after Dylan and Melissa returned since Selina pushed the two away to have a conversation and sort things out once and for all.

In the meantime, I was working on the Humvee, seeing if I could adapt its barriers, or at least the external barrier.

This while Selina trembled like a withdrawal addict.

"Can I help?" Her voice trembled as she seemed barely able to hold herself in place.

"Help with updating the matrices or messing with the Humvee?" I asked as I surrounded some areas and the Mystic Symbols that I needed to erase.

"Everything!" I really thought that would be the answer.

"Don't touch the engine, just where I tell you, or I'll beat that ass you like to comment on so much." I warned the steampunker. The last thing I needed was to have to fix the Humvee because she did something stupid.

"Don't threaten me with a good time." She practically purred, making the (CHAT) explode in messages.

Damn...

I was so focused on the Mystic Symbols that I had forgotten that Selina was, well... Selina.

I thought about changing my warning, or in this case, threat, but I decided not to and just turned to look at Selina as I let my eyes be taken over by nightmare energy.

I stared at the steampunker for about ten seconds before she looked away.

"Fine... I won't touch anything without permission." Her voice was a bit hoarse, and she avoided any eye contact.

"Good. Here, this area." I pointed to the area above the front right wheel of the Humvee. "Erase everything inside the circle, but be careful with the paint." I would ask her to draw the test matrix, but I found it unnecessary since I wanted to leave all the matrices of the Humvee with only my mana.

I ignored the way she pouted because she couldn't study the Humvee.

I ignored even more her legs rubbing against each other on the inner part of her thighs, and I turned the camera so it wouldn't appear on the stream.

Damn if it was thirty degrees below zero out here since I hadn't created a heat matrix around us yet.

Damn if my eyes looked like those of a maniac when I used nightmare energy.

Selina had issues.