A Fantasy Mage in a Cthulhu World

Chapter 11: The Dream

He opened his eyes to an unfamiliar starry sky.

Jonathan’s mind was a complete blank. He distinctly remembered falling asleep in a guest room at the Bennett mansion, yet here he was, lying outside a cowshed. Had he transmigrated again?

Just then, voices came from inside the barn. "You useless man! I've been hungry for every year I've been married to you! You do nothing but wander around all day instead of working. When will this life ever end? Oh, God, why is my fate so full of hardship?".

"You wretched woman, how dare you complain about your husband! Let me teach you a lesson you won't forget." The sound of a man beating a woman followed, along with the woman's cries.

Jonathan approached the railing, trying to stop the domestic violence. "Stop it!" he shouted, but neither the man nor the woman seemed to hear him.

The man raised his fist and swung viciously at the woman's eye. Jonathan moved to block the blow, but the man's arm passed right through his body. The punch landed squarely on the woman's eye socket, sending her falling backward.

"Remember, you're lucky you married into the Bennett family. If you dare complain again, I'll teach you an even harder lesson," the man said, satisfied after venting his anger, watching his wife cower in a ball. He then went to lie down on a pile of hay.

Jonathan tentatively reached for them and, as expected, his hands passed through their bodies. Am I a ghost?

"Mister, you bastard! You're nothing but a wife-beating bastard!" the woman muttered resentfully, sobbing as she lay down on the other side of the cowshed.

Mister? This was the past. This was Mr. Bennett in his youth. Jonathan pinched himself hard. No pain.

Is this an illusion? Or a dream? Jonathan understood his situation now. He decided to wait and see what happened next.

In the next instant, the scene shifted. Night turned to day. Mister was fast asleep by a river. He slapped a mosquito that was feeding on his face, then got up and pulled a fishing net from the river. Inside, aside from a few small fish, was a conspicuous nobleman's jacket.

Mister picked up the jacket, looked it over, placed it on the ground, and then started a fire to cook the fish.

After some time, a lavishly dressed old man walked along the riverbank. Seeing the jacket by Mister's feet, he asked politely, "Young man, I accidentally dropped a jacket into the river that looks very much like that one. Can you tell me if it is mine?".

"Sir, I pulled this from the river. It must be yours. Please, take it." Jonathan could see that although Mister was poor, he never tried to keep the expensive garment and had even intentionally waited here for its owner.

"An honest child. Is your surname Bennett? You have the distinct Bennett family nose," the old man said happily when Mister nodded. "Excellent! I am a friend of your grandfather, Piers Bennett. I never thought I would see the child of an old friend. Take me to your home at once!".

As soon as the old man finished speaking, the scene shifted again. The old man, Mister, and his wife were standing in the cowshed.

"I never imagined the Bennett family had fallen into such dire straits," the old man lamented, then turned to Mister. "Why don't you start a small business to earn a living?".

Mister answered sheepishly, "I don't have the capital".

The old man took a bag of money from his coat and handed it to Mister. "I do. Take this. I will teach you how to do business. The Bennett family will not fall like this".

Jonathan twitched violently and woke up.

He sat up in bed and slapped himself. It hurt. This was real. So, I had a dream. A dream about Mr. Bennett's youth. The thought prompted him to check the Codex in his mind. The magic countdown had increased by two hours. It was a magical dream. Things were getting more and more complicated.

Just as Jonathan sat there, clutching his reddened cheek in thought, the loud crash of shattering glass echoed through the entire mansion.

"Damn it, Miss Lettie!" Jonathan immediately realized there was danger. Forgetting to change out of his pajamas, he grabbed the cracked snake-wood cane from his bedside and, without even stopping to put on shoes, sprinted toward the room of Miss Lettie and Mrs. Melanie.

The loud noise had woken the entire household. Jonathan could hear a clamor of voices heading toward the source of the crash, but it was in the opposite direction of Miss Lettie's room, so he didn't run into anyone.

He bounded up the stairs and had just rounded the corner to the third floor when he saw it. By the hallway window, illuminated by the bright moonlight, stood a grotesque figure. It was a hunched humanoid creature, standing on two legs but leaning forward. Its face looked like a dog's but with human features, and its rubbery-looking skin was repulsive.

"Ah!" The unexpected encounter made Jonathan cry out, but having faced the Formless Spawn before, he quickly composed himself. He assumed a fighting stance, gripped his cane with both hands, and consulted the Codex.

Mythical Creature Encountered: Ghoul

Minor Sanity Contamination Received. Sanity -1

"Just in time." Seeing that it was indeed a mythical creature, Jonathan felt a surge of excitement instead of fear. The Codex needed a mythical creature as a sacrifice to complete his mage level. But his experience of being thrashed by the Formless Spawn kept him from being careless. He quickly opened the cantrip list. The magic countdown dropped from five days and four hours to four days and four hours.

No pain, no gain. He quickly spent the magic to learn a cantrip.

Then, Jonathan opened his mouth wide and exhaled with a sharp sound. A massive wave of sound erupted in a fifteen-foot cone in front of him.

Cantrip: Lingering Canticle

Creates a sharp canticle that harms only creatures within the area of effect. The canticle deals 1 to 8 points of sonic damage. If the target has low fortitude, they are also deafened for one minute. Creatures outside the area hear only a harmlessly loud noise.

The sonic wave made the Ghoul clutch its ears and roar in agony.

It worked! Jonathan was overjoyed. He had chosen this spell for three reasons. First, it was an area-of-effect spell, making it hard to miss and difficult to dodge, and it dealt respectable damage for a cantrip, with the added bonus of deafness. Second, it was highly concealable; even if used in front of a crowd, he could pass it off as just a very loud shout. Third, he didn't know how strong Ghouls were; the loud noise could attract others in the mansion to help him fight it.

Seeing the spell was effective, Jonathan didn't charge forward. Instead, he opened his mouth again, preparing to use his remaining two spell slots. If the Ghoul wasn't dead after that, he'd engage in melee. Now that I have spells, of course I'm going to blast it. Only an i***t would rush into a brawl, he thought smugly.

But the Ghoul didn't charge him. It turned, leaped, and crashed through the third-floor window, jumping down into the darkness.

Jonathan quickly cut his spell short and ran to the window, but he could only see the Ghoul landing on all fours and disappearing swiftly into the night.