Chapter 839: The Uninvited Guest of Fool's Village
Fool's Village.
When I arrived atop the Starlight Tower, I witnessed with my own eyes the darkness in the sky above Fool's Village that obscured the starlight.
This was the gap created after my soul descended upon Fool's Village, which triggered a large number of dream creatures to discover the existence of Fool's Village.
Once countless dream creatures transformed into a dream tide and attacked Fool's Village, this dream state of Fool's Village was anchored with actual dream coordinates by these dream creatures.
If the existence of Fool's Village could not be located within the Primal Dream State before, it was now equivalent to being completely exposed.
Consequently, its coordinate concept could be anchored, to the point that I had to utilize the Domain Prototype to cover the entirety of Fool's Village, using Knowledge Power to complete the blockade of Fool's Village.
Actually… if one were to ask how I ultimately intended to "handle" an existence like Fool's Village, I had always been very conflicted.
After all, I could not predict how things would develop afterward.
If the process of shaping life for the Fool's Dreams was successful, all of them could come to reality.
What if it didn't go smoothly?
Would they remain in Fool's Village… and be left alone like that, continuing to repeat this kind of life within the Primal Dream State just as they had in the past?
Was that possible…
So I thought of another method.
Or rather, it wasn't that I thought of it, but that I "observed" such a possibility.
Because I observed that Fool's Village was constantly undergoing "displacement" within the Primal Dream State along the anchoring between me and reality.
Logically speaking, it should have been impossible for me to move a "dream world" as massive as Fool's Village no matter what.
It wasn't until I learned from the Village Chief what kind of existence Fool's Village actually was, and how the Sacred Object maintained the existence of Fool's Village.
Only then did I understand… Fool's Village was the Dream Picture Scroll, and the Dream Picture Scroll was Fool's Village itself.
Of course, the Fool's Dreams themselves were not aware of this.
This was a guess I finally gave based on the Village Chief's description and my own exploration.
The Dream Picture Scroll appeared to be "recording," but in reality, it was "performing."
Every Fool's Dream constituted a scene within the Dream Picture Scroll.
The reason the dream consciousness of the Fool's Dreams was not tainted by Nightmares was because the Sacred Object was not tainted.
Fool's Dreams who were forced to be tainted by dream creatures would trigger the repair mechanism of the "Dream Picture Scroll," and they would spontaneously leave Fool's Village to preserve the other Fool's Dreams.
However, I had intervened in this.
This was the primary reason for the Village Chief's hesitation at the time.
In the end, my means of stripping the Nightmare did not cause an ultimate disaster.
And precisely because the Dream Picture Scroll was a part of the Sacred Object, after anchoring with me, it began to spontaneously move toward the Tree of Wisdom's Enlightenment anchored in reality.
This also resulted in Fool's Village constantly "surfacing" from the Primal Dream State within the Primal Dream State.
I was also borrowing this characteristic to strengthen this anchoring.
Furthermore, I reinforced the order of my domain to strengthen the relationship between the two.
All of this I did… was for the purpose of making Fool's Village accelerate its descent into reality.
Even if it could not descend into reality, if Fool's Village could at least reach the shallow dream, it would not encounter any danger afterward.
After all, in the shallow dream, even I could directly guide the order of reality into the dream.
Those dream creatures would have no qualification to act arrogantly before me at all.
And given the relationship between the essence of Fool's Village, the "Dream Picture Scroll," and the Tree of Wisdom's Enlightenment, wanting to anchor it in the shallow dream of the Expansion Realm for a long time was also a very simple matter.
So this preliminary plan appeared very perfect.
As for the matter of the life experiment… at worst, I could just slowly research how to shape the Fool's Dreams into true lives later.
Making Fool's Village accelerate its escape from the deep layers of the Primal Dream State was in itself a very beneficial plan that conformed to the current situation, but it also carried great risks.
The most important point was that… the "displacement" of the concept of Fool's Village within the Primal Dream State would itself stir up unknown existences deposited within the Primal Dream State.
Although this probability was small, it was not non-existent.
Furthermore, this behavior would attract a large number of dream creatures to raid Fool's Village.
The Village Chief called me over precisely because of this matter.
Those dream creatures had already begun to break through my Domain Prototype with a massive order of magnitude!
"It's fine. If it's only like this, those dream creatures still cannot break through my blockade. Moreover, I have conducted characteristic screening on the dream creatures. The massive net woven from Knowledge Power that encloses Fool's Village can intercept them in a more targeted manner."
I looked at the somewhat uneasy Village Chief and spoke to comfort her.
"Really? No… I mean that… there is a dream creature there that may have already broken through your blockade, Sage…"
"Broken through my blockade? How is that possible?"
My eyes widened slightly in disbelief, but once I confirmed that it was indeed so, my expression also became somewhat unsightly.
The plan to guide the Dream Picture Scroll to the shallow dream had not been executed for long, yet such a thing had been encountered…
Then my estimation of my own power might have still undergone a serious deviation.
In that case, I could not be as "leisurely" as I was before, and I needed to be alert for the intrusion of dream creatures at any time.
After all, if even a single dream creature got in, it would be a wolf-in-the-sheepfold ending!
"Don't move… I'll go resolve that dream creature."
As I finished speaking, a staircase guided me upward toward the top of Fool's Village.
At this moment, I was already thinking in my heart about how to reinforce the order of the domain.
To reach the shallow dream according to the original plan, I had divided the blockade and order maintenance of Fool's Village into at least three stages and backup plans.
But looking at it now, three did not seem to be enough.
Then how else could I reinforce the order?
Rely on… the Space Sense prototype that I hadn't mastered for long and wasn't very familiar with yet?
Just as I was thinking about these matters, I also arrived at the blocked area where the "dream creature" had broken through.
"Wait… this doesn't seem like a dream creature?"
I looked at the figure before me; it was clearly distinct from those eerie and unstable forms of dream creatures.
Moreover… the information displayed by the "existence" before me also gave me a very familiar feeling.
She made me recall a somewhat distant memory.
Nightmare Demon!
"Nightmare Demon?"
I frowned in some confusion, then recalled the external information I had learned while communicating with Big Sis Bai over these days.
Currently, all Transcendent academies in the Main World with the ability to research the Primal Dream State had arrived in the Expansion Realm and conducted "cooperative research."
Then, as a special existence of the Abyssal Demon Academy, there was indeed a reason for a Nightmare Demon to appear here.
But for her to appear here was truly abnormal!
This was the deep layer of the Primal Dream State!
How did these Nightmare Demons find their way back?
"Hehehahahaha… To think the culprit who triggered the Dream Calamity was actually this special dream world? Such special dream rules… But while it can block those dream creatures, it cannot block me! Hehe… I wonder after going back—mhm?"
This Nightmare Demon clearly had not figured out the current situation yet.
With my help, she suddenly tumbled into Fool's Village, her mouth still crazily muttering something or other.
Until she saw my figure.
"Don't you know that being carried away with yourself leads to a very ugly death?"
I met her gaze; anyway, the one who would ultimately be embarrassed was definitely not going to be me.
"You… You! How can there be a person in this dream world?! And… the language of the Main World! Who are you!"
After seeing me, the Nightmare Demon instinctively shuddered, not only because she was frightened by the figure before her, but also because she was shocked by this existence that defied common logic.
"You don't recognize me?"
I looked at the Nightmare Demon before me and suddenly wanted to laugh.
In the Transcendent academies of the Main World, people with some status shouldn't fail to recognize me, right?
After all, I am so identifiable—for example, this head of white hair?
Currently, it's only slightly popular in the Witch Academy.
Seeing white hair in other places, shouldn't everyone think of me?
Furthermore, the grudge between me and Nightmare Demons isn't just once or twice.
From the beginning in Ninglan New City, then to that assassination attempt… even if the Abyssal Demon Academy doesn't have a high sense of presence, they should know a few people, right?
After all, I am currently on the kill list of other Transcendent academies.
However, this truly wronged this Nightmare Demon.
Their existential positioning was not as students of the Abyssal Academy; they weren't even lives, but rather served as one of the tools for Primal Dream State exploration.
Naturally, she was not clear on some figures of the Main World.
Looking at it from another perspective, I similarly didn't recognize students of other Transcendent academies either.
This could be considered barely breaking even.
"Should I recognize—ugh…"
Before this Nightmare Demon could finish, she was suddenly subdued by me.
Entering a place like Fool's Village, which was dominated by my domain order, she actually dared to try and fight me?
As long as one has not understood the rules of the Primal Dream State and does not have means to utilize them, one is uniformly classified as an "ordinary person" within the Primal Dream State.
Even a Nightmare Demon was no exception.
The uniqueness of a Nightmare Demon lay in its ability to perform transitions between the dream and reality, but having dived into such a deep layer of the Primal Dream State, she could not achieve an instantaneous transition, and Fool's Village would not give her such an opportunity.
Her primary role was to help adapt to the environment of the Primal Dream State and serve as a tool for collecting more data.
The degree of applicability of her abilities was, in essence, about the same as the range of application for the Nightmare Spell.
Perhaps it was by relying on the characteristics of a Nightmare Demon that she was able to enter such a deep layer of the Primal Dream State.
It might also be related to the anchors I left behind.
The anchors I had left currently were of three types—the three foundations of my domain: the two Grand Spellbooks and the Body Cultivation strength.
The domain order shaped the staircase used to anchor the "channel" concept, representing that I could travel between the dream and reality.
The two portions of [Transcendent Knowledge] completed the communication between the dream and reality using their own power.
And the Tree of Wisdom's Enlightenment served as the correlate for the "Dream Picture Scroll," the prime mover for pulling Fool's Village to surface from the Primal Dream State.
I didn't listen to more of this Nightmare Demon's nonsense and directly packed her up and took her away.
I didn't expect this "dream creature invasion incident" to be just a false alarm, but it was fortunate that it was just a false alarm.
I briefly checked the order of the dream domain and the massive net woven from Knowledge Power.
The resistance of this order's power against dream creatures even exceeded my expectations.
So everything was still within the plan!
Now the main thing was to go find the Village Chief, tell her this good news, and incidentally interrogate this Nightmare Demon to see if I could pry out some useful information or intelligence.
"I'm back."
I greeted the Village Chief, who was still very worried atop the Starlight Tower.
Only then did I see her expression soften slightly, but soon her gaze was attracted by the Nightmare Demon behind me.
"Sage, you are back? Then this behind you… did you not eliminate these dream creatures on the spot?"
The Village Chief inquired with some confusion.
"This fellow is not a dream creature, you know. Moreover, she herself doesn't have a Nightmare."
"Not a dream creature?"
The Village Chief tilted her head slightly, not quite understanding.
Was there an existence other than dream creatures outside the Primal Dream State?
"Yes. They are called Nightmare Demons, a type of creature created by a Transcendent race in the real world called Abyssal Demons. They can dive into the Primal Dream State. Just now, this fellow dived into Fool's Village and almost became a stray who escaped the net."
After all, the screening mechanism shaped by my order targeted the "Nightmare" characteristic.
Regardless of what it was, the Nightmare was the concept harmful to the Fool's Dreams.
Coincidentally, a Nightmare Demon itself was not a dream creature, nor was it a Nightmare, which was why it almost passed through my order blockade.
"Nightmare Demon?"
"Yes. You can understand them as existences similar to you. Like you Fool's Dreams, they are not true lives. But they are very bad and are working for a group of even worse fellows. So if you encounter them, you must tell me, and I will go handle them."
I taught the Fool's Dreams bit by bit how to handle these matters and also tried to tell them how to evade danger.
Since the first Nightmare Demon had appeared here, there might be a second!
The awareness of precaution absolutely had to be established first.
"I understand!"
The Village Chief nodded and responded to me very seriously.
"Right, should I tell everyone about this too? I think it is also very necessary for everyone to know. That way, everyone will be wary of this fellow."
"Of course you should. It's best to notify every Fool's Dream. These Nightmare Demons breaking into Fool's Village truly caught me by surprise. It might be a bit difficult for me to modify the identification and screening mechanism of the blockade right now, so these Nightmare Demons are very likely to intrude in unexpected places."
I also deeply agreed with the Village Chief's reminder and handed this heavy responsibility to her in passing.
As for me?
I naturally intended to interrogate this Nightmare Demon here to see if I could pry some useful news from her mouth.
And I also intentionally intended to send the Village Chief away.
After all, the process of interrogation was still a bit too "not suitable for minors" for a Fool's Dream.
Although a Fool's Dream's age might be larger than mine even in its fractions, I was referring to the psychological cognitive age.
And my choice to conduct the interrogation right here at the Starlight Tower was similarly considering the need to stand at the highest point of Fool's Village.
This made it convenient for me to overview the abnormal conditions of Fool's Village at any time and discover and resolve them at the first moment, to prevent more Nightmare Demons from appearing in Fool's Village and causing large-scale turmoil.
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