Sleep, a return to the normalcy of the regular world, such a situation called out to him like a dulcet siren. However, there was one thing which barred his path of return. Blackthorne studied Scraggles' face for a moment, then nodded. "I'll get you the money."

"I believe you, but I still need it up front. I know you dreamers can be unconscious for days on end, but I have a business to run," said Scraggles.

Blackthorne inclined his weary head. "Fair enough. The guard paid for the rest of today?"

"Yes. You'll need to pay for two or three days in advance, if you want credit for an extra day," said the tavern owner.

"Seems fair. You don't actually know me, after all," said Blackthorne. "I will need to go earn the rest, but I can pay you enough for at least one extra day at the moment."

"That'll normally let you hold the room until dawn the day after tomorrow. You'll have to come up with whatever amount you need to cover the rest of your stay," replied the man, a genial expression on his face. "Given what you've been doing of late, I'll make your check-out time be noon on any given day that you haven't paid for a room."

"That's appreciated. Thank you," said Blackthorne with a tired sigh. "I do keep odd hours."

Scraggles nodded to him then turned away to attend business behind the bar. Blackthorne glanced toward the entrance to the kitchen and noticed a flash of blond hair. Briefly he wondered if he had imagined it, or if Jackie had chosen that moment to listen in to the conversation. Either way, it was a reminder that he needed to speak with her regarding his personal debt with her.

Before any more discussions were undertaken, he went upstairs and put his room in order. There was little to do, but he emptied his bags and sacks. His fruit and other oddities would be useful in the future, but for now they took up space. While he did intended to take several apples with him on his short hunting trip, what he needed most at the moment was bag space for his loot drops.

Once he completed his business upstairs, he headed off toward the kitchen. Scraggles glanced at him in passing. The tavern owner looked as though he intended to follow him for a moment but then stopped and looked down at the counter-top. A slight smile appeared, and he let the matter lie.

"Jackie," spoke Blackthorne in as calm and measured of a tone as he could muster. The blond woman continued to chop her vegetables as though she had not heard him.

Blackthorne called her name again, but she once again ignored him. He stared at her back for a moment. The subtle curve of her muscles as she worked her knife, and the nature of the thong that granted her but a pretense of covering, should have caused his inner demons to screech hatefully at him. Yet, they did not. For the moment, they were subdued. His previous victory held the voices at bay, though he could hear the tiniest hints of dark whispers whenever his eyes gravitated to her posterior for more than a split-second.

"I see that you are too busy to speak with me at the moment. We'll discuss my debt in a few days when I return," he said in a casual, slightly cold, tone.

He left and headed out of the tavern. Jackie sighed loudly and chopped a carrot in precisely measured movements. Her face reddened slightly, but then she schooled her features and continued working.

"Oh, yes. We will discuss many things in the coming days..." she said cryptically, a flicker of emotion in her eyes despite her mask of concentration.

Once he left town, Blackthorne immediately headed out into the grasslands. The majority of his apples were left behind in his room, he opted to make this an especially useful trip. As he traveled, he cut grass and stuffed it into a sack. That particular bit of luggage was nearly full before he ran across his first opponent.

Not all of his injuries were healed, but they were rendered minor at best. He'd long since regained the ability to regenerate his vitality. That fact combined with the simplistic attack style of his vegetable foes made it a massacre more than a battle.

"I wonder if there are stronger vegetables in this world?" he asked lightly. A brief flicker of a smile crossed his lips before he stuffed bits of onion into his free sack.

The great onion massacre continued for approximately two hours before he filled his sack. Blackthorne chose to take a break and knelt down near the spot of his most recent kill. A trio of them snuck up on him while he fought two others, and in the process managed to make him weep the manliest of tears with their special attack.

Tears rolling down his face, he sighed loudly. "Man I hate these little bastards."

Briefly, a fleeting memory of a certain purple onion rose up within him. "Heh, only good onion is a dead onion."

Blackthorne laughed a little as he cried. Some of his exhaustion faded as his morale improved. "I hope they're doing alright."

Thoughts of Onion inevitably brought him back to thoughts of Saelil and her oddly interesting mother. His laughter subsided then turned into a sigh. "I never should have let myself get emotionally invested. I probably sounded like a nutcase, or one of those strange uncles people talk about in Chinese novels."

He plucked a few blades of grass and began to fiddle with them. After a while he formed them into a ring. There was little else to do while he waited for his status effect to dissipate. While he was not hit hard by the effect, and it would pass in a few minutes, it was still something that would drastically reduce his ability to fight effectively.

Several minutes passed as he crafted little grass rings. The wind gently blew through the grassland in such a way that the scent of onion and fresh green grass flowed through the area. He could not help but smile at the strangely unspoiled aroma. It was nice, a pleasant time of reflection in the grassland.

His vision began to clear up after a few minutes passed, but it was still problematic. Instead of returning to battle, he opted to test his skills further.

He already knew that he could combine bracelets and rings. What he wanted to test out his synergy ability a little more, however. There was a problem that he wished to solve despite the fact that he was out in the grassland. It was a problem related to a certain little green stone which refused to provide any specific information, no matter how long he stared at it.

Blackthorne knew the name of the little shards of material, vita stone. He'd sold a few and found their value to be better than the meat or onions. What he wanted to know was whether or not he could combine them and make something even more valuable. So, he figured that he would try to combine two of them to see if anything changed.

The would-be synergist took out two of his scant number of stones then concentrated on them. He envisioned the two stones becoming one item. He was not actually certain how synergy worked. Out of all of his abilities, it granted the least insight when he first chose it. Still, he knew the basics of how to make it work.

He felt his life energy slipping away as the two small green stones drew closer together. Energy began to skitter back and forth between them. He was not certain why, but the overall effect was much stronger than when he combined grass items. Once the stones came into physical contact they melded together in a swirl of energy. The result was the appearance of a slightly larger green stone.

“Seriously...? That’s it?” He stared at the new item for a moment, but no information became apparent.

He checked his vital force then decided to try it again since it did not take much more of his life force to combine the stones than it did to combine grass items. The same results occurred.

Blackthorne ate an apple and forced down another onion then waited a few minutes for his body to recover from the stress of his efforts. "Two or three points per combination... I wonder if I can do it again with the bigger ones."

Once his vitality recovered fully he took a deep breath then tried it once more. From the moment he began the combination he felt an incredible uptick in the difficulty of the process. Within a few seconds his eyes began to water once more. Pain wracked his body, but he refused to give in to it. The effect of rapid vitality loss was not new to him, but the intensity of it at the moment was far more than he expected.

Determined not to lose vitality in vain, he persevered. Fortunately, he timed his attempt to coincide with an uptick in his regeneration. Near the end of the process a slight bit of vitality surged within him. Despite the sheer intensity of the pain and weakness that overtook him, the two stones eventually became one. The slightly larger stones were now merged into one larger stone roughly the size of a typical chicken egg.

Blackthorne checked his status then frowned. He expended eleven points of his life force in total, not including whatever he regenerated during the process. Combining the stones cost him more life force than both of his previous attempts combined. It was fine, despite his annoyance. His lack of significant injuries and ready supply of food would quickly restore his lost health. The fact that he could combine such items together at all was a discovery worth well beyond what he lost.

However, he was curious to see what would happen if he tried to combine the stone one more time, but while using a smaller stone and the new chicken egg sized version. After waiting for his health to regenerate completely, Blackthorne held the egg-sized stone in his right hand and another small stone in his left hand. He began the synergy combination process once again.

This time the effect was immediate and severe. His body temperature rose rapidly. Had anyone touched him in that moment they would have felt heat akin to someone experiencing an intense fever. Pain flared through along the pathways of his nerves like someone ruthlessly stabbed him with needles in hundreds of places. Soon, every part of his body began to ache.

The pain was excruciating, but he knew what it meant. He felt lesser versions of it before when he had imbued the jolt spell into his sword, and not too long ago when he combined the stones. He was rapidly expending a large amount of his vital energy. However, the process was working!

Another refreshing regenerative effect overtook his body, but it was short-lived. He endured his suffering for what seemed like an eternity, but then as suddenly as the pain and heat began it came to an end. The stones combined together once more. However, this time when the combination was completed the result was a perfect sphere the size of a golf ball. The much smaller item rested in his hand, only slightly warm despite the intense heat that overtook his body. Despite what seemed to be a failure on first glance, Blackthorne noted something extraordinary. The stones did indeed shrink down, but the resulting sphere felt as though it weighed more that the egg-sized version from before.

He gazed at his handiwork for a moment. The green crystalline sphere sparkled gently in the light when he rotated his hand. "Just what are you supposed to be?"

As though to answer his question a somewhat familiar voice whispered in his ear, "Your skill in synergy has increased."

Blackthorne's eyes widened excitedly. "Are you kidding? That's great!"

The thought that he could increase the skill level of a tertiary skill so quickly was quite invigorating. He received few skill increases since he began his new dream life. None of his combat skills, or magical abilities increased in the slightest. Until now, only his jewelry crafting increased on its own.

Onions were not particularly challenging opponents, so neither his armor nor swordsmanship sub-skills increased on their own. He rarely used his dark magic and jolt spells, and his basic swordsmanship ability was already rank twenty due to spending skill points in the beginning. Only his tertiary skills had the capacity to advance on their own.

"So, as long as I'm willing to nearly kill myself using it I can probably gain a rank or two per day in synergy if I simply try hard enough. The same is probably even true of my jewelry crafting skills," he said thoughtfully. "Though, that might just be because I was combining those green stones. Turning grass items into other grass items might not have done much for me."

He looked up and checked the position of the sun. "I wonder how much longer I can put things off. My real body is probably ready to pop up and dance a little."

Blackthorne considered his situation. The grass items were worthless, and the onions would not be worth much. However, there was one hope left to him. He raised up his little glittering green stone. The smaller bits of tone were worth a few Jerin each. What then, would this thing be worth?

"I'm probably well into the double digit hours for sleep back on Earth... might have two maybe three hours here at best before I wake up there whether I want to or not," he said. Between the rescue of Saelil and his previous hunting trip, He'd spent over two days in the dream world. That was easily more than twelve hours on Earth.

No choice left, not if he did not want to further risk passing out in the middle of the grassland, Blackthorne made his way back to town. On the way, he stopped every few minutes to cast his jolt spell and even enchanted his sword once. He did not gain a skill level, but he did become more familiar with the spell overall.

Just before he stepped out of the grassland and onto the road into town a sudden wave of weakness stole over his body. Blackthorne gasped aloud. His knees buckled slightly, but he managed to will himself to remain erect.

"The hell was that?" he asked before he took a staggered step down the road. His strength returned to him and he continued on.

Not long after he passed the town gate another wave of weakness stole over him. This time his eye lids fluttered. He fought back the imminent collapse once more then said, "Shit it's happening isn't it?" before he continued on toward his goal.

Blackthorne made his way to the general goods trader that he traded his crystals and horns with on his first day in town. While they still held no desire for onion chunks, they readily purchased his vita stones, and the newly crafted vita crystal for what he considered to be a substantial chunk of money all things considered.

He barely managed to make it to the entrance to the Scream Onion tavern before the biggest wave of exhaustion yet, came crashing over him. In many ways it was a familiar sensation now that he understood it. The creeping weakness and desire to nod off were highly reminiscent of the nights where he played games for twenty-four hours straight or longer and only sugar and caffeine kept him conscious. When the rush from those things wore off he always crashed hard. Many times he would simply pass out at his keyboard and wake up a few minutes later, surprised by what happened.

"Dammit. Not yet," he groused. Blackthorne pulled himself together and forced his way forward. There was not much time left.

Once inside the Screaming Onion, Jackie was nowhere to be seen. Blackthorne considered what that might mean for a moment. He had no time to think on it, however. He set those thoughts aside for the sake of his current mission. He found Scraggles instead and discussed business with the man.

"The onions aren't really worth much since we finally got in a new shipment, maybe five Jerin for the lot," said the tavern owner. "But I'm fine with that other thing you asked about."

Blackthorne rubbed his chin briefly. "Alright, I appreciate this."

"I know how it can be for you folks. It's rare to see a dreamer around here, but you never really know when you'll pop in or out," replied Scraggles.

Blackthorne paid the man fifty Jerin, then walked over to the counter registry to verify that he had his room until midnight on the final day, instead of noon. Between the remaining time for today, the two days purchased, and that extra few hours, he could stay on Earth long enough for nearly three days to pass here. Thankfully, he worked the closing shift at Archer's today and there would be no chance of it turning into a double-shift.

"Would you let Jackie know that I tried to discuss what I owed her earlier? Either she ignored me, or doesn't know I was even in the room," asked Blackthorne.

Scraggles smiled lightly then nodded. "Sure. That's no problem."

He wandered up the stairs then staggered slightly as another wave of weakness stole over him. "Probably don't have time for that bath, after all," he muttered. Blackthorne. Filthy, filthy, Blackthorne headed to his room. Soon he would leave this world behind for a time, whether he wished to or not.

Not long after he put his stuff down and crashed onto his bed, Jackie wandered into the building. She carried two overstuffed cloth bags with her. She held one over her shoulder and the other at her waist.

"Break's over?" asked Scraggles, his smile widening slightly.

Jackie snorted at the man, "Some break."

"Fresh air and exercise are good for you," replied the man.

"Damned slave driver," she said with a casual snort.

"Only when you're riding in my festival cart," quipped the man.

Jackie groaned at his tasteless humor then took their new load of fruits and vegetables back toward the kitchen. It did not take long for her to walk back out to speak with him once more. "So... those onions back there."

"The shitty looking ones only good for soup stock?" he asked lightly.

"Ah, yes," replied Jackie... "Where did they come from?"

"Your boyfriend came calling. You weren't here so he left you a message," said Scraggles.

Jackie waved her hand dismissively. "He's nothing of the sort... Anyway, someone of no great importance left a message for me?"

"Yes. He did," replied Scraggles.

Jackie waited for her owner to actually say what he intended to say, but the man seemed to be waiting for something. Eventually, she realized what he wanted and she rolled her eyes. "What did that customer have to say?"

Scraggles took a deep breath then said, "He can't possibly live without you!" before he crossed his arms near his waist, wiggled his hips from side-to-side, puckered his lips, and started making kissing noises.

Jackie slapped her palm to her face and shook her head. "Why? Why do you torment me? Haven't I been a proper slave, you asshat?"

"Asshat? Someone's taking language lessons from her boyfriend..." said Scraggles, his eyes wide and practically sparkling in the light.

"He's not my boyfriend, and plenty of people use that word..." she said heatedly.

"Really? I've only ever heard one person use it, and even that only happened once..." said Scraggles with a grin.

"It's never too late for murder and suicide, you know," said Jackie in a strangely petulant tone. She waved her kitchen knife at him for emphasis.

Scraggles laughed a little then waved her off. "He's probably back in his own world right now. Managed to scrape up enough to keep his room for a few days."

"I see..." she said quietly, "Did that particular customer have an actual message for me?"

The tavern owner smiled at her. "Since you either ignored him, or did not realize he was in the room earlier, he will discuss his debt to you when he returns."

"Ah, I see," said Jackie. She looked toward the kitchen then asked something in a quieter tone. "Was there nothing else that he had to say?"

"Well, yes. Actually there was," said the tavern keeper.

"Yes?" she asked in a calm tone that almost completely hid a certain excitement in her voice.

"He wishes for you to bear him seven children, immediately. They will be named after each day of the week." said Scraggles in a serious tone. The moment Jackie's eyes widened, he puckered his lips then started kissing at the air once more.

She growled loudly then made a disgusted noise. "You... you..."

"Asshat?" he asked her helpfully.

Jackie threw up her hands in further disgust then left her owner standing near the door to the tavern. She had better things to do than to deal with his foolishness.

Scraggles smiled at her back then sighed. "Good for her."

He glanced to the stairway. "It better be, anyway."