Chapter 170: Breeding in the Shadows

Gawain wandered in this lucid dream realm.

He didn’t know the theory behind such a change, but he guessed that the reason for this change most likely had to do with that heretic of the Eternal Sleepers —— in the process of engulfing those remaining shards of consciousness, he came into contact with the gleanings of Eternal Sleepers. Those gleanings weren’t as simple as mere memories. As ‘knowledge’ of the Beyonder realm, it itself was a form of power.

They brought Gawain the ability to be active in such a lucid dream realm.

Gawain walked while molding some items in his hands according to what he had in mind from time to time and discovered the limitations of such molding in this process. Probably because he had not acquired the true power of the Eternal Sleepers, the items that he molded in the dream realm were still ‘imaginative’ in every sense. They merely had appearances that could be passed off as real ones but had no true function.

The drinks that he created were absolutely tasteless; the cellphone that he had molded according to his memory couldn’t be switched on and used either.

And even the appearances of those imaginative items that didn’t exist in the real world at all were difficult to maintain permanently.

However, it was from this incomplete and useless ability that he continually comprehended the nature of Eternal Sleepers, this unique heretic sect, as well as their possible aims.

Immersed in an eternal dream realm, attempting to seek relief in an illusory world —— this was probably the pursuit of the Eternal Sleepers. In Gawain’s opinion, their ability to shape illusions in the dream realm was already at the level of a perfect fake. As a matter of fact, if not told about the truth in advance, any person who entered the Eternal Sleepers’ dream realm would instantly get lost in that deceptive world, and for people of weak will, even if they had learned the truth in advance, they would still easily wallow in the beautiful things of the illusory world.

Although the outside world’s evaluation of Eternal Sleepers was ‘experts in making nightmares’, after Gawain swallowed the remaining consciousness of that heretic, he somewhat realized that what those believers who wove wills were pursuing was actually a wonderful dream —— and making nightmares was only a certain means to help them achieve their objective.

Gawain walked through long corridors. In this unfamiliar place, his mind was calm like water, and his thoughts were especially sharp.

Quoting a saying from his previous life, people who lose themselves in the virtual world more often than not do so to escape reality, and the Eternal Sleepers, in Gawain’s opinion, were like fanatics of a virtual world who were collectively escaping reality. However, specifically which part of the real world were they running from?

Was it the collapse of society and deterioration of their living environment caused by the Dark Wave? Was it the changes in religious structure and ostracism by the other sects? Or… the truth that the gods were already dead?

The corridor ahead of him reached an end. A heavy oak door stood before him. Gawain frowned; he saw a slightly familiar emblem on the oak door. It was the emblem of the Kant Clan.

Was it because he had been paying attention to matters of the Kant Clan recently, so their clan emblem appeared in a scene in his dream? Or… was this really the Kant castle?

Gawain surveyed his surroundings with knitted brows. He was sure that he had never come to this place before, and in normal circumstances, things that exceeded one’s memories or cognition would not appear in one’s dreams. Even if strange and unusual things appeared, they were most likely distorted in their subconscious from the things that they saw usually. However, all the scenes in this dream realm were stable and orderly; even the patterns on the walls and glows emitted by every single magic crystal lamp were completely flawless. Associating this to the Eternal Sleeper’s consciousness that he had engulfed, Gawain suddenly suspected that this scene was probably born out of that heretic cult believer’s memories.

That heretic cult believer had been active in the Kants’ castle?

After hesitating for less than a moment, Gawain reached out and pushed open the big oak door in front with force.

There was a cellar-like space behind the big door — spacious, deep, and shrouded in dim light. As an underground structure, the scale of this ‘cellar’ had far exceeded what was necessary such that it was as if a banquet hall had been moved underground. And in such an unusually vast space, Gawain saw many upright pillars connecting the ground to the stone ceiling. There seemed to be writing on the surfaces of these erected pillars.

Gawain moved closer to one of them and saw that they weren’t writings but countless deep dents carved out using fingernails.

Upon seeing these dents, Gawain felt the vision before his eyes abruptly blur. Following that, large amounts of water-like ripples appeared in the space that was dim everywhere. Within the poppling of the ripples, numerous shadowy things left the ‘disguise’ of the subconscious and appeared before Gawain.

They were faint shadows shaped like humans, with translucent, grayish-white forms and blurry faces that indistinctly revealed numbness. They loomed in layers upon layers here; those hollow eyes gazed emptily at the center of the ‘cellar’.

These shadows’ emergence gave Gawain a scare, but the latter quickly realized that these figures weren’t aware of his existence at all —— or these shadows probably didn’t possess the ability to think at all.

After collecting himself, he followed in the direction that these shadows were focusing on and looked over. He found that a stone platform had appeared in the middle of this ‘underground hall’, and on that platform, a huge and magnificent coffin was set.

Gawain frowned. Passing through the countless vague shadows, he headed towards the huge coffin. However, midway through, an indistinct and unreal sound appeared by his ears. It seemed to be two people conversing but was so disjointed that it was difficult to distinguish. Gawain perked up his ears attentively before he caught some slightly clearer contents:

“…How I wish this was only a nightmare. After waking from the nightmare, everything would still be fine…”

“…dreams and reality, what’s the difference…?”

“I… don’t know what to do. I’ve lost them…”

“The Eternal Sleepers will help you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t believe those rumors that slander us. Just like 700 years ago, we’re still devoted to saving all beings from suffering. Only, 700 years ago, we got all beings to keep clear of nightmares, but today, we get all beings to get away from the nightmarish reality…”

“You just have to place it here, provide ample nutrients for it. Trust me. Everything will get better.”

“That which has passed away will ultimately return, return not only in the dreams, but also in reality…”

This conversation was soft yet fuzzy and was heavily distorted such that Gawain was unable to determine the genders of the speakers. However, there was one thing that he could almost be sure of, one of them speaking was the heretic of Eternal Sleepers that he had engulfed!

After awakening from the dream, Gawain immediately called for Heidi and Pittman.

“Ancestor, we’ve finished questioning that mercenary Mage.” Heidi thought that Gawain had called her here to ask about the interrogation progress of the prisoner; thus, she reported once they met. “They were indeed working for the Kant clan, but they do not know what their employer got them to capture refugees for. There’s only one point that can be confirmed —— they’ve never seen the refugees that were captured subsequently appearing in the Kant territory as slaves, nor have they seen slave traders taking those people away. The captured refugees vanished from that land like they’d evaporated.”

Gawain frowned. “As expected…”

“As expected?” Heidi faltered, not understanding what Gawain meant. “Do you know something?”

“I’m afraid I have to immediately head to the Kant territory.” Gawain had made the decision before this and bluntly informed them at present. “The earlier, the better.”

This time, Heidi was really startled. “Head to the Kant territory? What are you going there for? Are you going to personally inquire about the refugees from Viscount Kant? Such matters…”

“It’s more serious than that,” Gawain said solemnly. “I came into contact with a portion of the fragments of his consciousness when I defeated that heretic of the Eternal Sleepers previously. Just earlier, the contents of those fragments emerge. I saw that heretic cult believer hand an item to someone from the Kant territory —— it is highly likely the current Viscount Victor Kant. And that item is a heretic item. It has been on that land for many years, more than ten years, even decades. All this time, it’d been absorbing the souls of living humans and growing!”

“Heretic item that absorbs the souls of living humans?” Pittman was startled. “Don’t tell me those refugees captured to the Kant territory…”

“They’ve mostly been fed to it.” Gawain frowned. “That thing has grown to a very critical point, but it has yet to complete the final transformation. But once it does… I’m worried that all areas — including Tanzan Town, the New Cecil territory, and the more northern Carol territory — would be enveloped in its power.”

Gawain wasn’t being alarmist. Before that dream realm was about to end, he clearly sensed the existence of this ‘item’ that supported the dream realm and was continuously growing.

He could sense the power creeping out of that item; he could sense its influence on all human minds within a considerably large range. Perhaps because he had engulfed the fragments of consciousness of the item’s original owner, Gawain had built a certain subtle connection with that item. This had him almost a hundred percent certain: once it had absorbed enough energy, that cursed object set in the Kant Clan’s old castle by the heretic cult believer would burst out with a significant and frightening power. And the laymen of the Cecil territory and Tanzan Town would be embroiled in it, with no one spared.

Since the threat was already upon him, he could not sit by with indifference.

Gawain’s solemn attitude had also influenced Heidi; the latter grew nervous as well and felt a hint of worry. “Ancestor, you’ve already tempted fate once at Tanzan Town. This time…”

“No, on the contrary, it wouldn’t be as dangerous this time.” Gawain shook his head. “So long as I find it in time, then it would be completely non-threatening to me —— I have a way of controlling it.”

His answer was rather confident, and this had Heidi slightly relieved, but she still could not help but be concerned. “If Viscount Victor Kant has been completely bewitched and controlled by that heretic cult believer, wouldn’t he be dangerous to you?”

“In this entire event, only one person has the ability to threaten me.” Gawain looked at Heidi, who wore a look of concern, and smiled. “But that person has already been destroyed by me in the space of consciousness.”

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