Namrick roused me awake, it was my turn. I stood up and sit near the campfire and watched the dancing flames.

I had lowered my attention for just a second and the dream had fucked me over.

I took a deep sigh as I let the silver cube’s radar do my job while I stared at the sky slowly turning blue.

When everyone was awake we packed up and resumed our march.

The moment we set foot back in Valarest and returned the horses to the stables, the first thing I did was take a good bath and changing my clothes for not burnt ones.

The innkeeper, whose name I’ll never learn because by asking now–after all this time–I would completely lose face, told me there had been various people stopping by asking for me in the last week.

Feeling refreshed I did a quick stop at my two restaurants so I could check on both Corgas and Elaida, they’d been worried about me not coming back. I gave them the short synthetic version, sadly that didn’t seem to appease their thirst for gossip, so I promised them to reveal the details next time.

I was tired so I just grabbed a bite and then went to bed. It had been a long day.

The next morning I entered Grohm’s office. Once he saw me he stood up suddenly, his features screwed with fury.

「Grohm: Allen! Disgraced student! Where in the skraggin earth have you been?!」

He started screaming. Well, I thought worse. He wasn’t throwing stuff at me. Yet.

「Grohm: We’re behind the schedule! I’m not here to play you know?! Yes?!」

He stomped closer, ceaselessly shaking his hands in the air.

「Grohm: I even bothered Violet to find out where in the blasted earth you went! Adventuring they said! HA! You better have a good excuse! Yes?」

He stopped an inch from my face, staring at me with killing intent.

I’m glad to see you too, magic nerd comrade. I thought to myself.

「Allen: I was kidnapped by elves.」

I said with a straight face.

Grohm stared at me for a couple of seconds, then he turned around massaging his temples.

「Grohm: Kidnapped by elves he says! Hmmm… He must think he’s hilarious, yes.」

He turned around sharply.

「Grohm: Elves haven’t kidnapped anyone since the times of the Fae rule of old! Did you encounter a band of rogue elves?! Say it straight, you ingrate student!」

He hit my forehead with his blasted switch. Where had he hidden it?!

「Allen: Ow!」

I complained, looking offended.

「Allen: Fine! My presence offended their goddess, so they imprisoned me and flayed my spirit. Happy now?」

Grohm stared in silence.

「Grohm: You offended… a Goddess?!」

His brows shot up.

「Allen: Yes. It wasn’t my fault, though…」

We sat down while I gave him a quick rundown of the facts.

「Grohm: You see? This is why you should avoid adventuring!」

Grohm sighed heavily in his chair. He’s probably right, I thought.

「Grohm: Look at me. I’m alive, yes? I’ve got money, yes?! No need to offend gods and be tortured!」

I shrugged my shoulders in silence. No matter in which world I go, for some reason I keep attracting the attention of powerful wackos. A memory of my boss inviting me over to his parties flashed back into my mind. I shook away the thought.

「Allen: I just wanted to get some fresh air.」

And blow off some steam.

Grohm rolled his eyes.

「Grohm: Go take a walk then! Hmm?」

Right. Perhaps next time I’ll walk through shady alleyways and take my chances.

「Grohm: Enough… Let’s just resume the lessons. Yes?」

He swung his switch against the desk.

「Allen: I was wondering when you’d say that.」

I grinned.

* WHACK *

I yelped. I hadn’t been fast enough to save my hand.

Being over a week late had crippled my progress for this month, I knew I wouldn’t be able to clear any exam this time around. I was hoping to at least clear projecting emotion but I’m not good at focusing on specific targets and it seems that’s going to be a prerequisite.

Whatever, no need to rush, Allen. Alchemy and Telekinesis were important, the first for joining the Alchemist’s Guild securing a better income, the latter for the advanced attack spells. I too wanted to launch fireballs! Fireballs are cool.

Later that day I had dinner with Corgas and Elaida, who also brought Lena around. I told them the full version of the adventure and subsequent imprisonment. I didn’t say exactly what AnAlher’s name suggested to my perverted mind, I only downplayed it to “something embarrassing”. Which it was, so I didn’t lie.

Well, maybe I lightened the story a little because I didn’t want to worry Lena, but I’m sure Corgas and Elaida had read between the lines.

After a while, I wished them a good night and excused myself. I had a disciple waiting to receive my blessed teachings.

「Ellin: I’m ready!」

Ellin said with a determined face. She had brought a leather notebook to take notes. She looked at me expectantly.

「Allen: So…」

I made a confident face. Shit how do I begin? I browsed my mental internet for reference.

「Allen: The first step… the first step is writing down your dreams.」

「Ellin: Writing down my dreams? How does that help?」

「Allen: Well… by remembering and writing them down you tell your subconscious that dreams are important. Your goal is to… remember three dreams each night with good detail.」

That seemed to be the sweet spot for me. Remembering also helped increase awareness inside the dream.

She nodded and wrote that down.

「Ellin: Okay. What’s the next step?」

「Allen: The next step… is raising your awareness.」

I scratched my chin.

「Allen: There are many techniques like Reality Checks and Mindfulness, you should do both.」

Ellin shot me a confused stare.

「Ellin: Reality Checks and Mindfulness? What do they mean? I never heard these words…」

「Allen: Reality Checks consists of confirming every now and then if you’re in a dream or not. One test that’s effective is pinching your nose and see if you can still breath through it, but you can try many others, like reading a book and see if the contents change. But it’s important to be aware when you do the test or it becomes useless.」

「Ellin: Ah, I see. Like paying attention to recognize when you’re being manipulated by spiritual interference.」

*scritch* *scritch* She took notes.

「Allen: Mindfulness, or awareness, is simply being aware.」

She pressed her lips into a thin line.

「Ellin: Eh. That’s doesn’t really explains it. Aren’t we always aware when awake?」

「Allen: Oh, are you?」

I smiled wickedly.

「Allen: You’re now breathing manually. You can feel your clothes touching your skin. You now feel a sudden urge to swallow your saliva. You’re now aware your nose is in your vision. You–」

Ellin cut me short.

「Ellin: Stop! I get it, I get it!」

I grinned.

「Allen: You see? Most people are asleep not only in the dream but also when awake.」

It’s normal, the brain tries to suppress useless repetitive information so everyone goes into auto-pilot mode.

「Ellin: You would know…」

She stared at me with a bemused expression. I didn’t get what she was trying to say, so I just ignored it.

「Allen: To raise your awareness you have to focus on something, like your breath, and try maintaining it for as long as you can during the day, even when doing other stuff.」

「Ellin: That sounds like an exercise to multi-cast spells…」

「Allen: You should also imagine that everything you see, touch, and hear, is a dream.」

「Ellin: Eh? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?」

She asked me with a doubtful expression.

「Allen: No. What you perceive is not what’s really out there. It’s just your brain interpreting different stimulus. It’s not too different from dreaming. Being constantly aware of it can help you maintain awareness.」

I read that in a book about Tibetan dream yoga, it was basically a streamlined mix of all the techniques. I doubt anyone following it properly could fail to have at least one lucid dream.

Ellin scribbled it all down.

「Ellin: Fine, I’ll try.」

「Allen: Now then, about the night practice…」

「Ellin: Ehhh? There’s more?!」

「Allen: Of course! Did you think it would that easy?」

I could see the what-am-I-getting-myself-into expression on her face.

「Allen: I have to explain to you WBTB, MILD and WILD and how to wrap them in your nightly attempts to have conscious dreams.」

「Ellin: Wibi-what?」

And so I began a lengthy explanation about the core techniques to lucid dreaming.

Wake Back To Bed (WBTB) simply means waking up in the middle of the night, usually from four to six hours since going to sleep, staying awake for a short period of time and finally, going back to bed. This helps to enter sleep during a REM phase. It makes all the other techniques more effective.

Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dream (MILD), instead is basically reciting a mantra like “I’ll recognize the dream as a dream”, leveraging prospective memory in order to make it happen.

WILD was another beast, the infamous Wake Induced Lucid Dreams, namely slipping directly aware into the dreams. It usually consists of focusing the mind on something dreamlike while you transition into the dream. For me, it was one of the hardest techniques to accomplish, but perhaps the most satisfying. It’s said to be easier for certain people, I could only wish I was one of them.

Ellin wrote it all down diligently, inquiring every time I hit one of my acronyms. I had some difficulties explaining certain concepts for which I didn’t know the proper Arstei word, but I think I did a fair job.

「Ellin: Is this all?」

She looked at me fearing for more.

「Allen: No.」

She tensed up. Unnecessarily.

「Allen: The most important thing is intent. You need to will it. You must expect to succeed and don’t get discouraged if you fail, because it just means you’re one step closer to making it.」

I parroted the quote from some guy in some forum that had remained burned in my mind. Because it was true.

Ellin nodded, filling her face with determination.

I didn’t expect her to do it all immediately, but it was good to know about all this stuff beforehand.

「Allen: Very well. When you go to bed, begin your practice by telling yourself you’re going to remember all your dreams with great detail and try to will yourself into waking during the night to attempt MILD. It doesn’t matter if you fail. I just want you to get used to it.」

I clapped my hands.

「Allen: Aaaand we’re done!」

Ellin smiled and closed her notebook.

「Ellin: Thank you! But do I really need all this stuff just to learn spirit walking?! It’s a lot!」

I looked left and right with faked surprise.

「Allen: Welp, looks like there are no spirit walkers around to clear our doubts. I’m afraid you’ll have to learn it my way. Lucid dreaming is a prerequisite.」

It wasn’t really a lot. In the end, it’s just about remembering dreams, being more aware and actively attempting to lucid dream. The hardest part was not giving up.

Ellin poked out her tongue in defiance and stood up. Then she grinned and said.

「Ellin: I’ll do my best!」

I nodded and waved her goodnight as she walked out, eager to try out lucid dreaming in order to accomplish her spirit walking dreams.

I laid down on my bed and sighed.

Perhaps teaching people was not that bad… when they don’t hit you with a switch.