Chapter 568

Chapter 416: Awaken

On the northern shore of Conquer Sea, in Navaha.

In the late hours of the night in Navaha, the pseudo-dream pupa originally growing slowly in the underground city space was rapidly developing under the catalytic ceremony beneath the city. The dream cocoon that had not yet been fully absorbed was forcibly swallowed by the pupa. At the moment when the pupa was finally matured, the giant pupa finally cracked open, and an incredibly powerful hypnotic force radiated outward from the giant pupa, affecting the entire Navaha. All living creatures still awake in the city were forced to fall asleep due to this power, including Dorothy who was conducting reconnaissance at that moment.

After observing the strange behavior of the moth believers and the patients with Hypersomnia in the psychiatric hospital, Dorothy had become cautious. Therefore, when the strong drowsiness descended, she had a brief moment to resist. She knew she absolutely could not fall into the hazy dream, where she would be merely a pawn of the Black Dream Hunter Group. Currently, her only method to resist the drowsiness in this short time was:

“Ugh… Ahhh!!!”

In the hotel room, the girl sitting on the wooden chair hugged herself tightly, her body trembling uncontrollably. In the midst of the numbing pain, she involuntarily let out a scream. Her eyes widened, revealing the whites of her eyes.

Dorothy never imagined she would experience such a sensation one day. Although she controlled the voltage and current, being electrocuted was still not a pleasant experience. This electric shock was definitely the most severe damage she had ever sustained since her journey began.

After the full-body electric shock, Dorothy collapsed onto her chair, her mouth agape, her expression blank. Her legs hanging down and her arms twitched occasionally. Although she looked somewhat disheveled at the moment, thankfully, she did not fall asleep. The intense sensations brought about by the electric shock allowed her to temporarily resist the powerful hypnotic force, preventing her from falling into the hazy dream where she would know nothing.

“Huff… Huff… Huff… I didn’t expect that just after obtaining the ability of a Thunder Mage, I would also experience being electrocuted.”

Breathing heavily, Dorothy sat upright in her chair. Now she was very clear; it was not time to rest. She must take advantage of this brief moment of clarity to do something more important.

“Now… Using the time gained from the electric shock… I must prepare…”

Dorothy sat well in her chair, then silently closed her eyes, beginning self-suggestion in her mind to prepare for entering the dream state while remaining conscious.

A few minutes after Dorothy closed her eyes, another powerful wave of hypnotic influence surged from afar, quickly reaching her. Dorothy’s just-stimulated mind once again felt the overwhelming drowsiness.

This time, instead of using an electric shock to stay alert, Dorothy allowed herself to be hypnotized. Thus, Dorothy fell into a deep sleep while sitting in the hotel chair. However, this sleep was not a deep, unconscious slumber.

After fully falling asleep, Dorothy’s consciousness rapidly coalesced in the dream space. Soon, Dorothy’s dream entity materialized within her dream space. What appeared before Dorothy’s eyes was the scene inside the 17th Green Shade Town, her study.

Using the method of lucid dreaming, Dorothy successfully entered the dream state while maintaining a clear consciousness. If she had not prepared for lucid dreaming, she would have fallen directly into an unconscious, hazy dream. In a state of lucid dreaming, she could think normally and respond to the situation at hand.

“At last, there’s time to think. Suddenly, such a widespread extraordinary influence has appeared throughout the city, and not just once. What exactly happened? Did something happen to the Black Dream and the pseudo-moths they cultivated?”

In the dream space, Dorothy muttered as she sat in her chair, surprised by the sudden appearance of this situation while she was preparing to investigate the Black Dream Hunter Group.

Since Dorothy had seen many people suddenly fall asleep in the city surveillance earlier, she understood that the drowsiness affecting her was not targeted at her alone but at the entire city. This level of extraordinary phenomenon indicated that the source of the influence had surpassed the limits of ordinary White Chalk Tier Extraordinary Beings. According to Little Fox’s intelligence, only the pseudo-moths being cultivated by the Black Dream Hunter Group in Navaha could achieve this level of influence.

According to Little Fox, pseudo-moths at the larva stage were equivalent to apprentices, at the larval stage to black earth, at the pupa stage to white chalk, and at the adult stage to red tier. The hypnotic wave affecting the entire small town could clearly only be accomplished by an extraordinary ability close to the red tier.

‘Red tier extraordinary ability… Could it be that those guys’ pupae have successfully transformed into pseudo-moths? It can’t be so coincidental, right? They just successfully transformed while I was preparing to target them? This feels a bit unreasonable… Could my luck be so bad that I arrived in Navaha just before these guys completed their transformation?’

In the dream space, Dorothy covered her forehead, feeling somewhat depressed. If it was indeed true that the pseudo-moths had successfully transformed, things would really be serious.

‘Anyway, in this dream, I don’t know anything. I need to continue gathering information from the real world. First, try to wake up.’

Thinking this way, although her spirit was awake in the dream, her physical body in reality remained in a state of paralysis, vulnerable to others. This was extremely dangerous, so making her body move again was the top priority.

Then, Dorothy immediately began trying to wake herself up. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t regain consciousness. Faced with this situation, Dorothy furrowed her brows.

‘This is… deep sleep? Indeed, sleep affected by this ability cannot be awakened voluntarily. In that case, I need to find another method.’

Dorothy thought in her dream. Fortunately, after Vania was unknowingly deeply hypnotized last time, Dorothy had already considered what to do if she encountered such a situation and had come up with some methods and preparations.

In the dream space, sitting in her chair, Dorothy concentrated and began to invoke her extraordinary ability. Yes, in a lucid dream, Dorothy could use her abilities! As long as her consciousness remained clear, she could use her abilities.

Dorothy did not choose to use the ability of the Thunder Summoner to electrocute herself awake. She was uncertain whether a non-lethal electric shock could wake her up after entering deep sleep. Even if she could be woken up, she would fall asleep again when the next wave of ability influence came. Would she have to shock herself again? Dorothy suspected that she wouldn’t survive many rounds of such repeated shocks.

So, Dorothy did not use the Thunder Summoner’s ability but instead used the ability of the Puppeteer. Dorothy linked her own puppet mark to animate herself, manipulating her puppet form. After Vania fell into the dream, Dorothy had drawn a puppet mark on herself as a precaution.

Thus, under Dorothy’s operation, the body that had already fallen into sleep in reality slowly opened its eyes. In the dream space, Dorothy’s spiritual body saw a screen appear in front of her, showing the scene currently seen by her physical body.