Super Righteous Player
Chapter 423 - 420 Nightmare: Dream within a Dream_1

Chapter 423: Chapter 420 Nightmare: Dream within a Dream_1

"Fantastic..."

Annan whispered, "I am gradually understanding everything..."

It was a very important, extremely important issue.

— First of all, it is impossible to enter a second Nightmare within a Nightmare. Because a Nightmare itself is a projection created by the dream realm with a soul. Although it seems incredibly real, even considered as an alternative direction of history... it does not affect reality.

A projection naturally cannot produce a projection of a projection.

That is to say... it is impossible to enter a new Nightmare while inside a Nightmare.

This is also the primary way to distinguish Nightmares from reality.

The reason Annan experienced many intermittent Nightmare Shards within this Nightmare is precisely because of this Nightmare’s special mechanism.

But this is an issue of "Special Nature: Phantom Dream."

And it has nothing to do with the "anomaly" that occurred.

Since an anomaly occurred, it indicates that some part of this Nightmare has quietly been replaced, undergoing some kind of irreproducible random change.

Annan even spent half a day searching for where exactly the "anomaly" in this Nightmare occurred.

He was very concerned about this matter.

The previous "reflection" anomaly should have occurred because Evelyn herself was still stuck before the Nightmare occurred. Therefore, the Nightmare itself underwent an "irreproducible" change.

In other words, the Evelyn in that Nightmare was not the Evelyn whose memories were extracted from the dream realm after death, but the Evelyn who had not yet truly become a wraith.

If Annan were to enter that Nightmare again, probably many of the traps would be different.

Therefore, investigating the location of the anomaly is an important task.

But just in the blink of an eye...

Annan belatedly realized where the anomaly in this Nightmare... had actually occurred.

— Because this Nightmare is a completely unsolvable dead end.

"Hehe... Hahaha..."

Annan suddenly couldn’t help laughing out loud.

It was genuine joy.

It was the satisfaction of solving a mystery.

— Certainly not the emotion that arises before one’s joy is devoured by a Frost Beast.

Smelling fresh "joy" and "satisfaction," the Frost Beasts became restless and scratched at the edges of their cages, and many noises emerged in the previously silent basement.

The old man’s action of releasing the Frost Beasts also suddenly stalled.

He turned around, puzzled, and silently looked at Annan.

He didn’t speak, but he had already put forward a silent inquiry to Annan.

And Annan simply waved his hand and restrained his smile.

"Teacher," she asked respectfully, "how can we become Transcendents?"

"You survive the Wolf Kiss ceremony first," he answered.

"No, what I mean is... What is the last thing a regular person does before becoming a Transcendent?"

Annan inquired.

The old man was silent for a while, then answered, "After accumulating enough power, you enter a Nightmare.

"Just like you who can pass through the blizzard, and Solomonik who has undergone special training. The two of you have already met this standard.

"Therefore, at this time, you need to survive from a Nightmare once—using the pure curse power obtained from the Nightmare, you corrode and puncture your own soul. Through the ’hole’ made by Curse Binding, you continuously draw curse power from the outside world... Only those who can restore the curse power lost over time can be called Transcendents."

"— In other words."

Annan chuckled lightly, interrupting the old man’s words.

He slowly stood up straight and spoke in a calm and composed tone, "If I want to become a Transcendent, I definitely need to pass through a Nightmare, right?"

"Right."

"But that’s impossible."

Annan calmly said.

The voice that belonged to Annan overlapped with the voice that belonged to Bella, resounding in the underground:

"—Because this place is my nightmare."

The next moment, the entire nightmare began to shake. But the magnitude was not large, akin to a very mild earthquake...

Whether it was the old man silent as an iceberg or Solomonik with his head hung low, both became stiff and motionless, akin to dolls.

Soon, chunks of the ceiling collapsed one after another, smashing open the cage that bound the Frost Beast.

But the Frost Beast did not take the opportunity to attack Annan; instead, it whimpered and hid within the cage, cowering in the corner. A very few of them ran out of the cage, trying to escape outside.

—However, outside was just a void.

Thus, Annan could never achieve the main quest of [becoming a Transcendent].

Why, upon entering this world, could Annan immediately master all the abilities of a werewolf? Just as he had the power of a detective when he became one in the Nightmare Shard?

Keep in mind, when he entered "Nightmare: White Tower", he did not know any of the original occupant’s deception abilities nor the telepathy; when he entered "Nightmare: Gallery", he also did not master the artist’s talent, he couldn’t even understand those paintings.

The real answer is only one.

Because at its core...

This place isn’t the real nightmare that Annan entered, the one truly belonging to him.

—This world is false.

"Why did you let me become Bella instead of myself? Because even you cannot comprehend me," Annan said with a sneer. "Why show me Denton’s fear of death? What are you hinting at? Mr. Detective’s Nightmare Shard, what are you trying to tell me? Warn me not to harbor unnecessary rationality? Implant it from the subconscious to make me act on the instincts of the body?

"—But whose instincts are those given to the body?"

A nightmare in which the main quest could never be accomplished.

A nightmare where the side quest itself requires one to enter into the nightmare.

And... a nightmare in which one has a conversation with "oneself".

"What are you trying to tell me? What are you trying to mislead me about?"

Annan’s voice gradually shed the voice of the werewolf Bella, returning to his own clear and transparent voice.

The face and skin belonging to Bella that were on him also began to crumble away.

The only thing remaining on his face belonging to "Bella" was the final piece.

Annan picked it up and tossed it into the air.

Bella’s last piece of skin turned to ashes in the air.

He gazed at the dissolving nightmare, gazing into the void.

—Evelyn was the "relevant element" that caused the "reflection" to distort.

So, what was the "relevant element" detected that caused his nightmare to become distorted?

There was only one answer.

Annan gazed at the void sky, calmly voicing his final question:

"So what do you want to do by trapping me here...?

"—Mr. Dream Stealer, Denton?"

In the moment the void vanished, a few lines of text obscured for so long emerged before Annan’s eyes.

That was his real main quest—

[Main Quest: Wake Up]

Following that, a large number of smaller characters emerged beneath it:

[Escape the rewritten nightmare (completed)]

[Collect at least seven Nightmare Shards (3/7)]

[Find and kill the residual consciousness of Dream Stealer Denton]