Chapter 1290 Current State of Initial Heart City <TOC> Chapter 1292 The Puppeteer Behind the Scenes
Translator: SumTLMan
Upon hearing Freud’s inquiry, a sudden bewildering stillness took hold of Angel.
Bringing them to the Wilderness of Dreams? Could… such a notion truly bear fruit?
“Freud isn’t mistaken. Indeed, you can venture to bring them into the Wilderness of Dreams. Given that its inhabitants are aggregates of spiritual light, unbounded by the confines of flesh and soul, perhaps there lies a sliver of hope for them here,” voiced Sanders, emerging leisurely from one end of the street.
With Sanders echoing Freud’s suggestion, Angel was compelled to deeply contemplate its feasibility.
If their prospects in reality were bleak at best, wouldn’t sustaining life within the Wilderness of Dreams be a semblance of continued existence?
Lost in profound reflection, Angel pondered, if they could truly persist in the Wilderness of Dreams, who’s to say that one day, with deeper insights into the dream realm, its inhabitants might not influence reality? Maybe even manifesting in an alternate existence?
Such thoughts imbued Angel’s gaze with an unwavering determination, “Very well, I’ll endeavor right away. Conveniently, I had previously promised Freud to usher Tulas in.”
With these words, Angel departed from the Wilderness of Dreams.
Upon exiting, his eyes met those of Sanders’, who sat opposite, his head bowed, palms cradling his face, breathing rhythmically, seemingly still immersed in the dream realm.
Choosing not to rouse Sanders, Angel swiftly retrieved the Cathedral of the Dead from his bracelet. Seemingly weary of his confinement, Tulas was promptly cast into the Wilderness of Dreams.
Subsequently, Angel exited the underground Ice Chamber, traversed the eerily desolate corridor, and found himself standing before a door within the mansion.
Not so long ago, he stood at this very threshold. However, back then he refrained from pushing open the door. This time, Angel paused for a brief moment before decisively opening it.
The instant the door swung open, an overpowering stench assaulted his senses.
Inside, a gaunt figure donned in a maid’s attire turned her head. Her eyes radiated a blood-red glow, and with a spine-chilling roar, she lunged at Angel.
Yet, after only a few determined strides, she suddenly found the living being she had set her sights on had vanished. Instead, she found herself engulfed in an abyss of darkness and chaos…
Angel observed the woman, now frozen within this illusionary domain. She was Head Maid Mana.
Within the illusory realm, as Mana could no longer sense any signs of life, the crimson gleam in her eyes gradually dimmed, and she once again retreated into a dormant state.
From outside the illusion, Angel gazed deeply at the dormant Mana. With a heart heavy with mixed emotions and sorrow, he transported her to the Wilderness of Dreams.
Simultaneously, a notification from the “Gate of Dreams” emerged. It was an elusive and profound sensation, almost like a spiritual epiphany. If one were to articulate it, it would be: “Beware, an outsider has entered the Wilderness of Dreams!”
With this warning, a miniature sandbox representation of the Wilderness of Dreams materialized in Angel’s mind. He now had the ability to place Mana anywhere within this sandbox.
However, as Angel was about to select a spot within Initial Heart City, an unprecedented notification from the “Gate of Dreams” surfaced.
“An anomalous energy detected; Gate of Dreams automatically shutting down.”
As this alert permeated Angel’s consciousness, he felt as if a gargantuan gateway loomed before him and, with a deafening crash, it shut tight.
Mana, who was previously lingering outside this monumental gateway, was thrust back into reality.
Head Maid Mana blinked open her eyes at the opportune moment, a scarlet gleam flitted across her gaze, seemingly baffled by her recent experience.
She cast a glance around; darkness was all she could discern. Assuming her earlier experience to be nothing more than a mirage, she opted for repose without any further action.
However, standing aside was Angel, his face etched with astonishment. This was the very first instance the “Gate of Dreams” power had ever shut its doors, barring entry to the newcomer.
Angel, taken aback momentarily, seemed to have an epiphany and promptly departed.
He arrived at Old Pat’s underground cellar, sneaking inside without alerting a soul, eager to test if he could pull the dormant servant below into the Wilderness of Dreams.
“An anomalous energy detected; Gate of Dreams automatically shutting down,” repeated notifications sprang into Angel’s mind.
He endeavored ten times, yet not once met with success.
A realization dawned upon him — could it be that the servants affected by the Scarlet Sovereignty were incapable of accessing the Wilderness of Dreams?
Upon Angel’s return to the Wilderness of Dreams, both Freud and Sanders were still present. Freud stood with a bowed head, while Sanders perused the —Observations of the Wilderness of Dreams—.
“Where’s Tulas?” As Angel approached, his first query was about Tulas, who had been initially guided into the Wilderness of Dreams right outside the Ocean Theatre.
Freud responded, “Tulas is quite familiar with Initial Heart City. As soon as he entered, he departed on his own.”
Nodding in understanding, Angel thought that given Tulas had been stifled for several months, his current unrestrained behavior was to be expected.
“It seems your experiment was in vain; those servants likely can’t enter, can they?” Sanders momentarily set aside his reading, looking up at Angel.
Angel’s face was awash with deep contemplation. Without him voicing a word, both Sanders and Freud already discerned the outcome of the experiment.
“What precisely transpired?” Sanders inquired.
Without any obfuscation, Angel recounted the events in all their meticulous detail.
“An intrusion of anomalous energy?” Sanders pondered for a brief moment, “It seems this energy is incongruent with the present laws governing the Wilderness of Dreams, hence its unrecognizability.”
“Incongruent with the ‘current’ laws of the Wilderness of Dreams?” Angel responded, taken aback, “Do you imply that it might be accommodated in the future?”
Sanders shook his head gently, “I cannot affirm that. However, you once mentioned… ‘that individual’ could bring their power into the Wilderness of Dreams, suggesting that it isn’t entirely resistant to high-energy powers. So, this is merely my conjecture.”
The ‘individual’ Sanders referred to was ‘Shava,’ the very one who had vanquished a colossal beast outside the realm of dreams when the Wilderness was in its nascent stages.
Sanders continued, “However, I do harbor a hypothesis.”
Angel fixed his gaze on Sanders, awaiting further elaboration.
“You mentioned the ‘Gate of Dreams’ sounded an alert due to the anomalous energy’s inability to enter. Does this indicate that the servants couldn’t access the realm perhaps because of an energy that pervades their beings?”
“And the reason this energy is so peculiar might be because they hail from the Mysterious Object——The Scarlet Sovereignty.”
As Sanders delved into this train of thought, Freud, as if struck by a sudden epiphany, interjected, “Indeed, during my prior research into the lore of the Dream Conch, I stumbled upon a record stating that the Dream Conch cannot drag a Mysterious Object into dreams. The birth of the Wilderness of Dreams is intrinsically linked with the Dream Conch.”
Freud’s revelation enlightened Angel instantly.
If the Mysterious Object can’t enter the Wilderness of Dreams through the Dream Conch, and the Scarlet Sovereignty is indeed such an object, then the fact that the servants, with mysterious power created by the Scarlet Sovereignty within them, are repelled by the ‘Gate of Dreams’ does indeed stand to reason.
“In other words,” Angel discerned with a gleam of understanding in his eyes, “if we can dispel the mysterious power within them, we could usher them into the Wilderness of Dreams?”
“That seems to be the case.”
From what Sanders had previously elaborated, those servants are currently caught between a rock and a hard place. If they don’t rid themselves of this energy, they’d remain in their maddened state indefinitely. However, expelling this energy would grant them clarity, but the cruel twist is that such lucidity would be followed by an imminent death.
This implies that the window of opportunity to pull them into the Wilderness of Dreams is merely that fleeting moment of their awakening.
However, another conundrum arises: How can one extract this energy from within them?
Angel and Sanders exchanged a knowing glance. “It seems,” Angel murmured, “we must await results from Suis.”
If it can indeed be confirmed that there’s a puppet master pulling the strings behind the Scarlet Sovereignty, then capturing this true mastermind might be the key to purging the energy from the servants.
…
The scenery was of an endless expanse, devoid of any landmarks.
This place was leagues away from Initial Heart City. To put it poetically, it would take a lifetime for a mortal to traverse this distance on foot.
Yet, against this desolate backdrop, two figures emerged — Angel and Sanders.
Hovering between them was an orb, its luminescence pulsating rhythmically. A flicker of surprise passed through Sanders’ eyes upon seeing it.
In truth, Angel had mentioned earlier that the Wilderness of Dreams was, metaphorically speaking, a vast Nightmare Domain.
And this shimmering orb? It represented the very essence of that domain.
This means that the culmination of all the powers and abilities is encapsulated within this very orb in front of them.
“Mentor, is it possible?” Angel inquired.
After a contemplative pause, Sanders gently shook his head and said, “I can distinctly sense a powerful rejection from the very essence of this Nightmare Domain directed towards me. Moreover, within the vast expanse of the Wilderness of Dreams, I am but a mere mortal, and it’s uncertain whether I can harness any intrinsic power from it. Perhaps, for now, I should refrain from claiming such powers. Let’s revisit this once you possess the ability to bring one’s real-world power into the Wilderness of Dreams.”
The reason Angel brought Sanders here was to explore the possibility of a power distribution.
This idea of sharing power had germinated in Angel’s mind quite some time ago.
To perfect the Wilderness of Dreams, it was imperative that a broader spectrum of powers manifest.
Angel, constrained by his current capabilities, was momentarily incapable of attaining such powers. Even if he were to ascend to the realm of a legendary wizard in the future, the volume of power he could acquire would likely be limited. Merely attaining half of such power, he presumed, might be an unattainable feat.
Thus, for the evolution of the Wilderness of Dreams, a strategy for power distribution was crucial.
Of course, the essential prerequisite was that prior to any distribution, Angel needed to secure the most fundamental power from the Nightmare Domain’s core — the Supreme Authority. Only with this in hand could he maintain a balance in power distribution.
While he had yet to obtain this core power, Angel still decided to bring Sanders here.
At the heart of this decision was Angel’s profound trust in Sanders.
However, to Angel’s slight surprise, even after witnessing the embodiment of the Nightmare Domain, Sanders chose not to merge with its power. Sanders’s reasoning seemed logical on the surface, but without making an attempt, how could one truly know if they can acquire such power?
“Let’s leave the matter of power for another day. We should head back; I surmise that we might soon have some results from Suis’s end.” Having said this, Sanders’s silhouette vanished from the Wilderness of Dreams.
Deep in thought, Angel pondered, could it be because of something he did?
He had mentioned before his intention to search for a rune scroll to enhance his luck attribute, with the ultimate goal of obtaining the core power. Could it be that Sanders, being aware of this, chose to refrain from merging with the power and instead decided to wait for Angel to attain that core power?
While Angel was uncertain if this was the real reason, given Sanders’s keen and intricate insights, it seemed quite plausible.
Chapter 1290 Current State of Initial Heart City <TOC> Chapter 1292 The Puppeteer Behind the Scenes