Chapter 1727 Poker Time <TOC> Chapter 1729 Testing
Translator: SumTLMan
After handing the poker cards to Shirley, Angel fulfilled his initial promise. He left the hall for Shirley to research alone, and he returned to his study.
The next day, after resting for the night, Toby once again entered the House of Hearts to continue the tribulation. However, after his previous success, entering the House of Hearts was no longer a challenge for him. It was more about refining the details and accumulating experience.
Even though Shirley had researched the “Bizarre Poker Cards”——a name she coined herself, for the entire night, she wasn’t overly exhausted. Her spirit remained high, and she had no problems maintaining control over the magic formation.
Because the upcoming challenge was like a warm-up before facing a tribulation for Toby, both Angel and Gloria set aside their tasks to solemnly accompany him. However, while Gloria was present in the physical world, Angel ventured into the Wilderness of Dreams, constantly monitoring Toby’s condition.
On the first day in the Wilderness of Dreams, besides accompanying Toby, Angel took the opportunity to observe the entire expanse from a godly perspective. This observation played a crucial part in planning for the new city——selecting the site.
In the real world, many factors need consideration when choosing a site for the New City, such as warfare, environmental impact, availability of water sources, fertility of the land, and potential hidden natural disaster risks. But in the Wilderness of Dreams, these factors are momentarily irrelevant. Angel’s requirements for the site weren’t extensive, with the primary one being: It should be as far away from Initial Heart City as possible.
Initial Heart City is a city of the Dream Realm’s inhabitants. Over 99% of its residents have fully transformed into native denizens of the Dream Realm, and even within the Dream Realm, they are the most basic, powerless natives.
In essence, Initial Heart City is filled with ordinary mortals.
The New City that Angel plans to construct is intended to be a dwelling for those who transcend ordinary beings in the future. The nature of such transcendent beings is hard to test, and to avoid any conflicts that might harm the mortals, Angel plans to keep this New City at a distance from Initial Heart City.
In the future, when the Wilderness of Dreams is established and the laws become more refined, reaching a balance between the natives and newcomers, it won’t matter much even if New City and Initial Heart City set up teleportation formations. However, in the early stages, it’s best to avoid it as much as possible.
Apart from the site-selection requirement of staying away from Initial Heart City, the second requirement is to be distant from places where the aura of the Nightmare Plane is dense.
Although the Wilderness of Dreams is an extension of the Dream Realm, it’s also a special kind of Nightmare Domain.
It lies in the intermediate zone between the Nightmare Plane, Dream Realm, and the real world.
The reason Angel was able to sever the Wilderness of Dreams from its connections to the Dream Realm and Nightmare Plane, using a method that cut off the Nightmare Domain, is due to this fact.
However, because this particular Nightmare Domain is vast, with Angel’s current power, he’s unable to integrate the core of the Nightmare Domain. He can only slowly consume the Wilderness of Dreams by reducing its power. And because he hasn’t integrated the main core of the Nightmare Domain, the aura from the Nightmare Plane within the Wilderness of Dreams is something Angel can only borrow and not fully utilize.
To prevent the aura of the Nightmare Plane from affecting newcomers, Angel’s second site-selection requirement is to choose a place where the Nightmare Plane’s aura is faint.
Combining these two conditions, Angel began searching for a location within the Wilderness of Dreams using the godly perspective.
He was ultimately satisfied with the outcome and finalized the location for New City. Without teleportation, it would take at least half a month to fly from New City to Initial Heart City, and that’s without getting lost. Given the current situation, this distance should suffice.
As the curtain of night unfolded, Angel’s first day accompanying Toby came to a fruitful end. He found the site for New City, and Toby entered and exited the House of Hearts eight times.
Of those times, Toby defeated the Tribulation of Resentment three times and failed five times. In the three victories, Toby still missed some details, but compared to yesterday’s win that was filled with “good luck”, these three times already showed signs of Toby starting to outpace the Tribulation of Resentment.
In the Wilderness of Dreams on the second day, Toby confidently stepped into the House of Hearts again, illuminated by the radiant glow of the rising sun.
That day, Angel didn’t have any significant plans. He spent his time at the top of Azure Tower with Toby and took the opportunity to discuss with Freud some of the topics he was researching about the Wilderness of Dreams.
In the afternoon, Angel caught up with Jon. Lately, Jon had been living comfortably. He enjoyed his role as a teacher and in his free time, he even designed blueprints for the New City. Occasionally, he would collaborate with scholars to organize books and engage in knowledge exchanges, discussing everything from myths, history to culture, humanities, and languages, leading a fulfilling and busy life.
Jon had recently moved back to Pat Manor within Initial Heart City, living with Head Maid Mana, Maid Ollie, and others, which brought back a sense of nostalgia for him.
Furthermore, Jon had ample personal time to delve into some unique items that Angel had brought to him. For instance, documents and publications about the Wizarding World and several Mysterious Objects.
While Jon would occasionally comment on the artistic nature of Angel’s alchemy works, he wasn’t particularly intrigued. On the contrary, he showed immense interest in some of the alchemical potions Angel introduced. So much so, Jon even requested Angel to bring specialized experimental tools to analyze these potions.
As for the outcomes of his analysis, Jon didn’t disclose much. However, judging from Jon’s mysterious smile, perhaps he had garnered some research insights or maybe… he was just playfully mystifying Angel. After all, when Angel was younger, Jon often teased him in this manner.
Regardless of the results of Jon’s research, Angel found solace in hearing him talk. The joy Jon currently exudes is genuinely heartfelt. For a fleeting moment, Angel felt as though he had been transported back to a time when Jon was in the pink of health…
And as the day progressed, nightfall gradually enveloped them amidst their conversation.
Angel seemed to have gained little, but seeing Jon regain his former vitality, he felt more fulfilled than ever before.
As for Toby, he still entered and exited the House of Hearts eight times that day. His performance was slightly better than the previous day, with four victories and four losses.
The time came to the third day.
In the morning, Angel had intended to discuss the Sin Monster experiment situation with Freud. However, when Angel entered the Wilderness of Dreams, he couldn’t sense Freud and seemed to have returned to reality.
Angel then discreetly observed the situation inside the Sin Monster laboratory through the godly perspective. After secretly watching for a while, Angel felt a bit relieved. Even without Freud’s supervision, the researchers in the lab continued their tasks methodically and with great professionalism.
Assured there were no oversights, Angel shifted his full attention to Labu.
Labu was currently the only one in the Wilderness of Dreams with the qualifications to inherit the Sin Fog power. Angel hadn’t had the time to observe him before, but now with a rare moment of leisure, he naturally wanted to see Labu’s situation.