Chapter 877 Jon's Inquiry <TOC> Chapter 879 Wilderness of Dreams
Translator: SumTLMan
Over the following days, Angel carved out a portion of time every day to communicate with Jon within his dreams.
As Angel unfurled a corner of his world through narration, Jon’s curiosity about the world of wizards grew, particularly concerning the inherent power of wizards. He spent considerable time each day lost in contemplation.
This half-month was probably the most relaxed and enjoyable time Angel had experienced since returning to the Pat Manor.
However, complacency often leaves one unprepared for sudden interruptions.
Before long, Angel realized that the positive effects of the Lifedrawn Water on Jon were beginning to diminish. In a few more months, Jon’s physical condition would once again take a turn for the worse.
The alarm bells in Angel’s heart were set off once again.
One day, Angel entered the Dream Realm and began sharing his experiences in the Fairytale World with Jon.
“The Fairytale World is a subsidiary world… It is divided into three realms – the outer, middle, and inner – much like parallel universes…”
This was the first time he had mentioned the existence of subsidiary worlds and used the Dream Realm as an example when discussing the overall structure of the Wizarding World. It was also the first time he revealed the existence of the Dream Realm to Jon.
After Angel finished recounting his experiences in the Fairytale World, Jon fell into deep thought. The clash of worldviews was too much for a man born into a technological civilization to digest at once.
By the time Jon snapped out of his reverie, Angel, after much deliberation, decided to discuss his current physical condition with him.
These days, Angel had been avoiding discussions about his physical health. Jon had been accommodating, not pressing for answers, but this issue was something that had to be confronted eventually. He couldn’t keep it a secret forever.
Angel took some time to explain the predicament of Jon’s physical condition.
After Angel finished, his expression was somewhat solemn. Jon, however, laughed nonchalantly, “I initially thought that the letter I left on the holographic tablet was my final farewell to you. I never expected to have the chance to sit and chat with you again. I feel content.”
Jon waved his hand, and the figures of many people he knew appeared before him: Old Pat, Angel, Leon… His gaze eventually settled on Xia Haiwei and Jo Mu.
“I’m grateful that along the way, I’ve met people who’ve helped me immensely and given me beautiful memories.” Jon’s eyes finally fell on his wife and daughter. “Although there are still some regrets, most people’s lives can’t possibly be perfect in every way.”
“If I don’t mind, why should you worry?”
Angel paused for a long while, “Although your physical condition is precarious, Mentor, there might still be a way to save you. However, this involves a secret that could send shockwaves throughout the entire Wizarding World.”
Under Jon’s bewildered gaze, Angel shifted the conversation towards another topic: the origin of humanity.
“Within all the planes explored by wizards, only the Wizarding World has pure-blooded humans. Hence, it’s an established fact that no other worlds could possibly have humans. But your appearance, Mentor, has shattered this consensus…”
For Jon, a pure-blooded human not from this world, if discovered, could indeed shake the whole Wizarding World, even rewriting the history of human origin theory. The ensuing turmoil could ripple not only through the present but potentially into the boundless future.
After revealing Jon’s unique identity, Angel also informed him about Eureka and Redhead Suis appearing at the manor.
“Eureka may not seem very interested in you, Mentor, but that’s primarily because she’s currently a fugitive and has no room to worry about anything else. But Suis is different, his interest in you is unusually strong.”
Angel’s revelations were incredibly dense, taking Jon even longer to digest this time.
Once he managed to disentangle the complex revelations, he seemed to grasp Angel’s predicament, looking at him with worry in his eyes, “So what do you propose now?”
“Since your information has already been exposed, Mentor, I’m thinking that if I can’t save you, I plan to take your message back to the Savage Grottoes and ask others to rescue you,” Angel paused for a moment, “However, if you are saved, you might not have much freedom left.”
“Would I become a lab rat?” Jon frowned.
“Non-native human, to other wizards, is a valuable experimental specimen.” Although Angel didn’t answer directly, Jon understood his implication.
Jon pondered for a moment, hesitantly saying, “Surviving is, of course, preferable. But the idea of being a guinea pig for someone’s research makes me uneasy.”
Angel pondered for a while, then said, “Besides that, there’s actually another way.”
…
Once again, Angel left Pat Manor on the Gondola, heading towards Sea Moon City.
Previously, the methods he suggested to Jon were either revealing his existence or becoming a resident of the Dream Realm.
Neither of the methods was something Angel was completely confident about. The first option would be to send Jon’s information back to the Savage Grottoes. While this might save Jon, once the information is out, it would be challenging for him and Jon to be together as they are now. Moreover, Jon himself had many secrets he didn’t want to be revealed.
For instance, Jon was worried that wizards might locate Earth through him, which could bring disaster to the planet.
Indeed, Angel deemed the probability to be infinitesimal, tantamount to crying wolf. After all, even within this universe, wizards have yet to explore every nook and cranny, let alone alternate universes.
However, Angel harbored worries about this method as well.
If Jon were to be entrusted to Sanders, it wouldn’t be too bad. After all, Sanders might treat Jon kindly out of respect for Angel. But when Sanders would return from the Abyss remained an uncertainty. It could be decades, even centuries. Entrusting Jon to others, Angel couldn’t bear to imagine what might befall Jon.
Thus, Angel was actually more inclined towards the second method: becoming a resident of the Dream Realm.
But to become a resident of the Dream Realm, while easy to say, is difficult to accomplish. Angel couldn’t possibly let Jon exist aimlessly in the vast Dream Realm. At the very least, he had to control a territory within the Dream Realm. If he could, as Freud suggested, use the Dream Conch to craft a paradise, he wouldn’t mind Jon living there.
But if that proved unfeasible, then the first method would be more appropriate.
Angel outlined the pros and cons of both methods to Jon. Regardless of Jon’s choice, Angel now had to compress time to cultivate a stronger sense of urgency within himself.
Therefore, Angel could only bid Jon a temporary farewell and return to his experiments.
When he arrived in Sea Moon City, it was during a misty, rainy night. The distant city held a delicate beauty within the rain, appearing as if it were a painting.
Yet Angel had no time to appreciate it. He returned directly to his previous campsite. The camp was silent, the remaining inmates all in slumber.
Angel took advantage of the cover of night and without rest, entered their dreams.
Worth mentioning was that among the first ten inmates Angel entered, four had successfully entered lucid dreams within this half month. As they indulged in their dreams, a silent blade was already hovering over their necks.
Having obtained data from four more individuals, the results were completely consistent with his prior assumptions.
Among the remaining inmates, only one was in a lucid dreaming state. To Angel’s surprise, this person was experiencing a “true lucid dream”, similar to Jon’s state, having full consciousness within the dream, even their logical thinking was unaffected.
After killing this individual, Angel’s experiment was essentially concluded.
The other inmates no longer mattered, the current data was enough to support the completion of the first phase of his results.
Angel returned to his room and began recording the findings of this experiment in his notebook.
Firstly, death in a state of lucid dreaming is silent and unnoticed, and the dream state does not disappear. This suggests a high possibility of transformation into a resident of the Dream Realm.
Once more, Angel contemplated the subtle alteration that occurred in the dream state when one perished in silent oblivion. The dreamer would find themselves incapable of freely manipulating their dream.
The data supporting this came from an actual lucid dreamer, a convict from whom Angel acquired the information. Just before his death, the convict was “crafting” within his dream. However, once he died, he was unable to alter his dream to continue the “creation”.
This crucial piece of information was revealed amid the incessant self-doubt the convict expressed in his dream, prompting Angel to form a hypothesis:
Ordinarily, dreams are a product of brain activity, merely a phenomenon reflecting the subconscious.
Yet, there exists an enigmatic place in this world: the Dream Realm.
If the Dream Realm is considered one magnetic pole, then when a person dreams, their dream state could be seen as a miniature anomalous pole, attracting the Dream Realm. However, at this point, this miniature pole is distinct from the Dream Realm. Once the dreamer awakens, this small anomalous pole dissipates.
However, if a person were to die soundlessly within their dream, their dream state might merge fully with the Dream Realm. Hence, they can whimsically alter their dream state while alive, but once they die, their dream state essentially becomes a part of the Dream Realm, making it impossible for them to bend the rules of the Dream Realm.
This, however, remains Angel’s conjecture. The specific circumstances require further study by those versed in dream-related matters, who might provide him with answers. Furthermore, Angel believed those dream wizards might already have tangible answers.
After stowing away his notes, Angel sunk into deep thought.
From the current perspective, the outcome of the experiment was fairly satisfactory. The only regrettable aspect was that upon the death of the convict, the Dream Bridge ruptured too swiftly, precluding any continued tracking of the convict’s activities in the Dream Realm.
If it could be ascertained that a convict, after death, could persist in the Dream Realm for an extended period, only then could this experiment be deemed a resounding success.
Regrettably, the continuation of tracking these convicts’ activities within their dreams presented a considerable challenge.
After a moment’s deliberation, a flash of insight suddenly darted through Angel’s mind.
After a convict dies, their corpse would be considered a dead object, correct? Could he not then utilize the Dream Conch to pull it into the dream, then enter the dream of the corpse, to investigate the possibility of continuing to track the convict?
Chapter 877 Jon's Inquiry <TOC> Chapter 879 Wilderness of Dreams