Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!

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As everyone traversed the oceans and reached the island, the gentle waves of the sea water almost made them ignore the strange view in front of them. There was no tropical jungle there, but a completely alien environment, which made Maria and the rest of her group glance around curiously, if not a bit wary of the horrors it could contain.

There were strange purple, pink, and blue colored plants growing all over the place, the "grass" of this island was pitch black and blade-like, looking rather deadly to step on. There were large floating bubbles made of some purple, gooey thing, and the atmosphere and the skies twisted into various tinges of dark colors as they approached, it was as if they were having a trip after taking some sort of very strong experimental drug, hallucinations made real.

This place was without a doubt a Nightmare Field, a place where a Nightmare Realm had exploded, corroded, and merged with the ground and the sky, mixing with reality. It was a completely alien, and dangerous and corrupted environment where the real world and the one made by people's nightmares had merged, creating something that simply shouldn't exist.

"Wow, this place's creepy as hell…" Emily said, crossing her arms. "Are we really going to get there? I hope the grass doesn't just cut our legs or something…"

"It sure is dangerous…" Alma agreed. "B-But don't worry, as long as we are together here, it shouldn't be too bad. We can work together and help one another as much as we can. And it should work out somehow!"

"We should probably try to cover ourselves with some armor," said Martina. "Good thing everyone bought some equipment, but I wonder if our boots could hold back all the bladed, deadly plants everywhere… Dammit, amazing time to wear a mini skirt..."

"It looks good on you though," Sofia smiled to cheer her up a bit. "Anyways, Maria, what do you think?"

"I think the place's alright…" Maria said, squinting her eyes. "It shouldn't be really hard… To be honest you could leave it to me and Nyx, and we could do most of the job. Fifty Nightmare Cores right? Easy peasy."

"Yeah!" Nyx nodded happily. "Leave it to us, easy peasy!"

"Of course we won't!" said Sofia, crossing her arms and getting a bit grumpy. "You think I would be able to walk happily out of this while letting a child younger than me take care of this?!"

"Hahah, I agree with Sofia, I am not going to let you two take care of it, I know you're strong but nope," Emily nodded.

"I would love to take a break, I'm still exhausted from yesterday's battles, honestly…" sighed Alma. "But I have to pull my own weight too!"

"A-Ah, yeah, as they said, um, I want to show off a bit," nodded Martina.

"I guess it can't be helped!" Maria shrugged. "Hmm…"

As she saw them discussing, Maria thought for a moment that perhaps this entire environment was the ultimate goal of the antagonists of this trial, the Nightmare Demons must want the entire world to merge with the Nightmare Void Sea, bringing all these ethereal, dreamy, and magical realms into solid reality, mixing everything into a hellish, aberrant and hostile world.

As they continued talking between one another, the assigned instructor glanced at the girls and quickly brought their attention.

"Ahem! Please listen well, students. This is the Nightmare Field," the instructor that came with them said. "It is a completely alien area from what you expected, right? It is formed from the corrosion of a Nightmare Realm into our plane of reality, merging with the ground and the sky. A hostile environment where normal people cannot survive."

He walked towards them and continued his speech while taking out some bracelets from his pocket, which he shared with the girls.

"This place spawns Nightmares regularly, and the only reason we've let them be is because it is inside an island and therefore, the Nightmares can't go anywhere else." He explained. "The Nightmares of this place are also different than the ones you find inside of Nightmare Realms. Because of their composition being changed, they usually overtake whatever living being they find and possess them, merging with them."

"Damn, I had no idea of that," Emily said. "New types of Nightmares… Ugh."

"Yes. These Nightmares are called Nightmare Beasts and are more inclined towards physical power rather than strange magical abilities or curses instead. Hence some find them easier to handle without all their tricks, and we believe they're perfect for the students to try out their abilities." He explained. "Remember to not aim at their cores if possible, if they break they won't count as materials."

"Eeeh?! Why not!" said Martina, complaining. "Also what are these weird bracelets?"

"It won't count because you're practicing applying this knowledge in a real field in the future once you become Dream Warriors with licenses," explained the instructor. "The most value asset of a Nightmare or a Nightmare Beast is their Cores. Inside of laboratories they're grounded and purified, becoming a magical dust that has helped us craft powerful equipment and weapons to fight back against the Nightmares, while also providing a new source of energy for us."

"Oh yeah…" nodded Sofia. "I suppose if we bring it broken, the energy inside would have been lost already, huh?"

"Indeed, although the bodies of Nightmare Beasts are valuable. Unlike the normal Nightmares they remain and don't disappear. If their skin is hard enough, their fur has special properties, or their bones, horns, fangs, and claws are tough and sharp enough, they can also be manufactured into weapons, armor, and perhaps used as materials for technology in general," explained the instructor, readjusting his cap. "And the bracelets are the same that were once given to you before, if anything too bad happens, and one of you is in lethal danger and something you cannot handle, use it and I'll come to your rescue… but that might mean a disqualification, so be careful."

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