Chapter 190: The Experience of Bullies in the Dream World
A new day.
I glanced at the time and double-checked the location.
In the end, I opted for habit and arrived a bit early at the agreed-upon spot.
It might be an unchangeable flaw; even though the dream equipment here was available from nine in the morning, it was only a little past eight now. Plus, I seemed to have overlooked the speed of the broom’s flight, so I ended up waiting outside for a while.
“Hmm… huh? Are you Xiao Han?”
A sudden voice drew my attention, but when I looked over, it turned out to be a senior I didn’t know.
“Hello, senior. Is there something I can help you with?” I politely responded since it was an unfamiliar senior.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m in charge of overseeing and maintaining the dream equipment here. I’m the one who opens the door, and I didn’t expect it to really be Xiao Han! Can we take a picture together?”
“Sure,” I nodded with a smile, and she happily took out her phone and snapped a quick photo.
“I didn’t expect you to come so early. I didn’t see you here yesterday and thought you wouldn’t come today. According to the academy’s notice, we only open at nine. You’ve arrived too early, haven’t you?” This senior casually struck up a conversation with me.
“By the way, how about I make it easier and open the door early for you?”
“Oh, no need. I’m still waiting for someone, so it’s unnecessary to trouble the senior. We can talk later, right?” I politely declined her suggestion, and to be honest, I had arrived quite early.
“Waiting for someone? Are you waiting for someone, Xiao Han?” This senior was clearly very curious about my situation, even asking about such things instinctively.
“I’m waiting for Tan Han; I arranged to meet her.”
“Who are you waiting for?” At that moment, the senior’s voice rose a little, as if she found my answer hard to believe.
“Tan Han?”
“Huh?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Oh, no problem. I just thought your relationship with Tan Han wasn’t very good, considering the… false information on the academy’s website is truly harmful.”
“It’s fine; online information needs to be discerned. I won’t trouble the senior anymore.”
After bidding farewell to the senior, she went inside by herself. It looked like she was probably conducting final checks before opening. By the way, I didn’t know if the dream equipment brought by Teacher Ji could be used for combat adaptation; it should be, just not sure how to use it.
After waiting a bit longer, around eight-thirty, I finally saw someone; Tan Han arrived right on time.
“Xiao Han, you came so early? Sorry to have kept you waiting.” Today, Tan Han was dressed in casual clothes, looking much cooler compared to the more formal outfit from yesterday.
“It’s fine; I just arrived not long ago,” I immediately replied.
“By the way, since we’re here a bit early, did you run into the senior who opens the door? She should allow us to go in early.”
“Yeah, I think I saw her, but I didn’t mention I wanted to go in yet. She went in first; would that be too bothersome?”
“It’s fine; I come here often and have some rapport with her. Follow me.” Tan Han seemed quite familiar; after a couple of exchanges, she led me through the door.
The previous senior was still inside, adjusting the dream equipment, which looked very similar to the dream chamber brought by Teacher Ji.
Upon seeing Tan Han, the senior greeted her warmly, indicating that Tan Han was indeed well-known here.
“I didn’t expect you two to be friends! Alright, Tan, you’re still at the usual spot, right? What about Xiao Han?”
“Yeah, I’m at the usual spot. Xiao Han, why don’t you come over next to me?” Tan Han turned to ask.
“Sure, I’m flexible.”
Then, I was led by the senior to a designated spot inside, where Tan Han skillfully opened the equipment chamber and sat inside.
“Xiao Han, is this your first time? Do you want me to teach you how to operate it?” the senior warmly offered.
“I’ve tried it once elsewhere, but I don’t know how to operate it. Could you please show me?”
“Oh, really? Then it’s fine. After you lie down, your consciousness will be transported into the dream. The dream equipment here is all linked together, so once logged in, you’ll be in the same space. These things are easy to figure out; if you get stuck, you can call up the menu or panel; there are explanations and help. If you still don’t get it, you can ask Tan Han; she should be inside now.”
“Okay.”
I glanced over at Tan Han, who had already closed the dream equipment chamber. I relaxed my body and lay back down, and soon the chamber door was shut.
The last time I experienced this was in the laboratory; now I wondered whether this experience would be the same as before.
As I pondered, a wave of drowsiness suddenly overtook my consciousness, arriving so quickly that I didn’t have time to react.
When I finally became aware again, I was left in shock.
At this moment, instead of lying down, I found myself standing, and the surrounding environment had changed dramatically.
It was a pure white background, even the ground beneath me was the same, but not the kind of glaring white.
Not far away, I saw Tan Han, and just as I was about to walk over, a main menu screen suddenly popped up in front of me.
It seemed to be used for various functions; just a glance revealed various options, like starting a room, setting up an independent space, challenge areas, and a prominently displayed “Help” icon.
In addition, there were several layers of pop-ups for various emergency measures and quick ways to cut off the dream connection if one felt unwell.
“Hi~ Xiao Han, didn’t expect you to enter a dream for the first time without any discomfort?” Tan Han walked over with a smile, though her current outfit of tight leather pants and a cropped top was even cooler than what she wore today.
“Well, this isn’t technically my first time. There is a dream chamber in the lab, and I’ve tried it once, but that’s all,” I explained while checking my own condition.
My sense of touch, perception, and spirit vision all seemed to be normal, almost as if I were in reality.
When I activated my spirit vision, I could clearly feel that I was indeed in a dream; the sense of unreality was quite an experience.
However, in the dream, there seemed to be a correction, a type of adjustment to conform to one’s own cognition, ensuring that everything in the dream was “perfectly replicated” from reality, including every detail of myself. If this were a virtual reality game, it would be impossible to achieve, but here in the primordial dream world, it didn’t seem so far-fetched.
“Oh, so this is how it works. But even if it’s your second time, adapting this quickly is impressive. By the way, have you created any personal information here? If you have, this information will be bound to you, and you’ll be able to engage in various fun activities here, like changing outfits.”
As Tan Han spoke, she demonstrated her attire, and the next moment, her outfit was seamlessly replaced by another one without any glitch—so seamless that not even my spirit vision could detect any flaws.
“How fascinating,” I instinctively marveled.
“Indeed, it’s fascinating! Plus, I heard that every academy participating in this exchange will have its own outfits. During the dream battles, our matches will be live-streamed, and not only from the Witch Academy, but other academies participating in this exchange will also have broadcasting rights for these matches.”
“Is it that grand?”
I raised my eyebrows in interest, but then again, it did make sense. Even though the exchange was held at the Witch Academy, so many academies had come; they couldn’t just not watch, could they?
“Of course! Let me teach you how to bind your personal information. Although the Witch Academy can’t assign a specific dream equipment to someone, the academy has a lot of dream equipment available for rent, much like a net cafe. Dream battles in the Witch Academy are also very entertaining, and not everyone gets to experience such advanced dream equipment during the freshman stage.”
“Is that so…”
I nodded, continuing to listen to Tan Han explain this aspect. I didn’t expect the Witch Academy to have such a setup; it seemed I had underestimated the dream world.
Binding personal information in the dream was simple; a few operations, and my student card information was registered. I could also change my nickname and avatar.
However, during academy exchange competitions, personal social media avatars and names couldn’t be used—they had to be formal representations with one’s real name and face.
Once bound, the dream also gifted me an initial outfit, a classic witch ensemble, somewhat resembling the four-piece witch set but more refined. After all, dreams are virtual, while reality has to consider costs.
So, I quickly changed into this new outfit. The outfit change felt like a one-click transformation from a low-quality online game, but in the dream, such a capability was terrifying. I felt the sensation of the garments shifting, and they fit my body perfectly!
“How does it feel to adapt? Do you want to try fighting in the dream?”
“Where do we fight? Is it created from a room?” I asked curiously.
“That’s for creating a new private room, usually for personal use. There are many functionalities inside, like personal meditation and practicing combat skills. You can also invite friends for battles directly in there.”
“But formal dream battles are held in arenas, where you can choose various scenes—city, desert, wasteland, forest, or the land of d*ath—and you can adjust the weather, whether it rains or shines, or even hail.”
“Oh, I see… But what if I don’t have friends to battle with? Is there a random match?”
“Random matching is another feature. If it’s just a simulated battle against fake enemies, that’s the challenge mode, where you can engage in various styles of challenges or customize challenges against virtual opponents, etc.”
Tan Han patiently explained to me, and it was clear she understood much more than I did.
But I figured I wouldn’t take too long figuring things out myself.
“Have you decided which one you want to try?”
“I’ll go against a virtual opponent first,” I said.
After all, since it was my first time, I wanted to start with something simple.
“Alright, you try that first. By the way, let’s add each other as friends. Do you want to test the battle between us today?”
“We’ll see.”
I didn’t rush to refuse but gave a vague answer while still adding Tan Han as a friend.
“Okay, I’ll look forward to your performance.”
Tan Han didn’t press further and disappeared from the public area, I presumed she had entered her created room.
There was no need for me to hesitate.
Challenge, start!
Soon, my surrounding environment was completely replaced. The “teleportation” effect didn’t have that awkward feeling; it was more of a scene change centered around me. This design felt great, at least friendly for those who get dizzy from teleportation.
In front of me appeared the information for the challenge level; this was a pre-designed regular challenge, saving me from the hassle of custom setups.
After about half a minute of preparation, the first opponent appeared before me.
It was a man clad in iron armor wielding a sword, reminiscent of a medieval knight’s armor, somewhat ornate.
“Illusionary Clone.”
I simply cast a spell at the opponent, using an illusion; I wanted to see if this fake opponent would be fooled by it.
The result was that he was quickly deceived and reacted as if startled.
So, in the dream, this guy truly seemed like a “living” entity and not merely some set piece?
Things suddenly got interesting. I instinctively reached for my wand, but quickly realized this was a dream; I had no weapon and no storage equipment. I couldn’t pull anything out, but I could cast spells empty-handed.
With one Fireball Spell, he was unable to dodge and was obliterated by the explosion, even his metal armor turning black and cracking, with the poor soul inside surely dead beyond recovery.
Curious, I walked over to inspect the power of my fireball, wanting to see if it equated to reality. I wasn’t trying to doubt the dream’s authenticity, but it was still hard to believe.
What if there was an error? It was better for me to know beforehand, but the stage wouldn’t give me much time for that.
As I examined, the second stage opened up.
In the second stage, I was faced not with one opponent but ten.
The change in numbers even surprised me; is this what challenges are supposed to be?
Did the level designer know what they were doing or not?
But soon, they were struck down by my Lightning Strike; wearing such thick metal armor, not using lightning spells would be a disservice to my research on these flexibly-dynamic spells.
As the third stage began, instead of the iron-clad knight, out came a towering giant that seemed to be completely distanced from human form. It was nearly three meters tall, and its massive, grotesque muscles showcased terrifying strength as it dragged a weapon that resembled a meteor hammer, coming at me with a show of force.
Even my deflected energy shield was shattered by this blow, while the weapon merely got deflected to the side.
Did the level designer realize the first stage was too easy? Were all ensuing enemies going to be this terrifying?
Was the fourth stage going to involve battling ten of these brutes?
Though I thought this, my spells didn’t stop. This big guy was essentially a living target; as long as I didn’t let him close in and seize advantage, he was blown apart by my modified Fireball.
Meanwhile, I contemplated the significance of such battles; once simplified, it turned into nothing more than a race to strike first.
The damage output of my attack far exceeded their defensive limits. No matter how terrifying they looked, it felt like nothing but a slaughter.
There was no thrill at all. Of course, the first k*ll on this creature was entertaining, but I could foresee that after a few more rounds, I would grow tired of it, losing the fun aspect.
I didn’t even feel like this was a genuine battle.
While I mulled over this, another wave emerged, but unlike my expectations of ten, there were three. They were quickly annihilated by my various spells.
The same spellbook has usage limitations, equating to a “cooldown time,” even when I sped up the next use limit through modified means. Plus, this was a basic spellbook, with a short cooldown, reducing it to an absolute minimum.
However, I found having more spellbooks had its advantages; as long as I mastered multi-casting, I could unleash a lot of spells in an instant. For instance, taking out these three opponents took even less time than defeating the previous ten armored foes.
A key point is that multi-casting needs to be practiced; without practice, one couldn’t use it.
Therefore, I temporarily realized one utility of this challenge: it was good for practicing multi-casting.
Later stages featured foes who could also use spells, but it seemed they didn’t rely on spellbooks; instead, they used mental power to replicate rituals and energy operations akin to what’s within spellbooks, which was fascinating.
Moreover, they controlled the distance between us and the enemies. To observe them before defeating them, I had to expend a fair bit of effort.
Not relying on spellbooks to cast spells?
That seemed interesting. If a person’s mental power was strong enough to cast without a spellbook, this method would definitely be scarier than using one!
But at this current stage, it didn’t seem feasible; after all, my studies on spellbooks hadn’t led me to any such possibility.
The result was that I couldn’t achieve it, and I had to attribute the reason to not having enough mental power; it seemed my mental strength wasn’t enough to condense rituals, guide extraordinary energy, and successfully release spells.
I suppose reaching the level of an Extraordinary Witch would make such feats possible?
Thinking this, I waved my hand, and those spell-casters before me were entirely crushed and left on the ground, yet again enjoying a round of bullying the weak.
