Chapter 302: City and Natives
“Xiao… Xiao Han, she… went ahead?”
“Yang Yuelan, she suddenly came here yesterday and then fell into a deep sleep. I have to say, this guy is more troublemaker than all of you.” At this moment, Teacher Lina explained from the side.
For a moment, the gathered crowd was uncertain of their feelings; just a moment ago, they had been complaining about each other’s cowardice in not wanting to adventure together, and now… she had gone ahead of them.
“Okay, stop daydreaming, students, don’t forget why you gathered here today, but before that, I must remind you, the Dream World is dangerous. Any bizarre or strange events could happen, and there’s even a possibility of d*ath.”
“If you care so much about the sleeping curse, then you should know about the case of d*ath caused by sleep. Even though it has only occurred at Holy Angel Academy so far, it doesn’t mean it’s confined to that academy. You are all top students from the Witch Academy’s new student cohort. To be honest, after going crazy with you, I’m not sure if my position will be safe.”
“Teacher Lina…”
“It’s fine, even if I lose my position as grade director, I’m still your counselor. Do what you want to do, and I’ll negotiate with the Academy Head about the rest.” Lina patted Tan Han on the head. This was the first time she had touched such a obedient Tan Han; perhaps she would only show her vulnerable side when she felt guilty.
“Are you ready?” With a wave of her hand, Lina extracted the Nightmare that was emerging from the unconscious person’s body. “This is the essence of the sleeping curse, so your goal is to completely eliminate these things. In my opinion, this should be the culprit of the incident, but you must note, according to my tests, if it’s just this level of curse, it cannot cause d*ath. That means there is something else we are unaware of that could lead to d*ath, so you must be careful; this is not a joke, understand?”
“Understood!” The students nodded in agreement.
“Well then, come over and make contact with the curse. If you regret it at this moment, now is the time to give up. This is your last chance; this isn’t about pushing a duck onto a perch. To be honest, it’s not your turn to save the Witch Academy yet.”
“Alright… it seems you have all made up your minds…”
…
“Wreckage, wreckage… this place is full of wreckage. What has this place gone through? These ruins have been weathered for a long time; in some places, plants grow taller than the wreckage, while in others, nothing grows.”
After spending the night in the dream, we began to explore this place again. Unfortunately, although we had storage equipment, it was unusable, completely becoming mere decorations.
Otherwise, having a flying broomstick wouldn’t make our exploration so slow.
Although Sister Bai seemed to possess a flying spell, I still refused the idea of flying with someone else…
Being carried through the skies was simply too embarrassing, and more importantly, it was too conspicuous up there; what if we attracted enemies?
“Wait! Sister Bai, what is that?” I suddenly lowered my voice and asked her.
At that moment, I noticed something that was blending in with the surrounding wreckage. If it weren’t for its movements catching my attention, I might have missed it altogether— it was a creature the size of a car.
“Be careful; it could be a monster.” Sister Bai immediately became alert, instinctively shielding me behind her.
“Not a Nightmare… and not a Dream Demon. Are there other monsters here?” I was also curious about this sudden appearance; after all, the Academy Head had told me that there were many Dream Creatures in the Dream World, and even beings like Fool Dreams were some of the most common Dream Creatures.
As we drew near, the creature also noticed us, currently using its hooves to rummage through the wreckage. It suddenly turned its head to look at us, as if curious about what we were.
“The desire to attack isn’t strong… it doesn’t seem like a creature that preys on large beings like us.” Sister Bai quickly assessed the creature. “But still, it’s best to be careful.”
“It’s fine, we have magic, and the extraordinary energy within it is limited and evenly dispersed; it poses little threat.” I said. “But… I didn’t expect to encounter such a gentle creature?”
“For safety’s sake, let’s k*ll it first.” Bai Yu said as she produced her kn*fe again.
“Mm.”
But the next moment, Sister Bai’s kn*fe swung and cut through empty air; Bai Yu’s kn*fe passed straight through the creature’s body without any resistance, causing her to lose her balance. However, she managed to right herself quickly.
“What?” This was the first time Bai Yu had expressed such shock during an attack.
The creature, as if frightened, “ran away” at incredible speed.
“Xiao Han… you saw that, right?” Bai Yu turned to look at me.
“Mm.” I nodded.
Just now, Sister Bai’s kn*fe clearly struck the creature’s body, but it seemed to pass through as if it were an illusion, leaving no wounds; in fact… that creature was merely startled.
“Dream! Yes… we might be separated from that creature by a layer of dream. That monster is the reality!”
“But isn’t dream and reality…”
“Isn’t Fool Village Secret Realm like that? Dreams and reality overlapping. No wonder… I thought the surrounding environment didn’t resemble dream creations; it turns out… this is reality!”
“But… Xiao Han, have you considered that since that monster is reality and we are in a dream, then this wreckage is also reality…” At this point, Bai Yu picked up a stone. “What about this stone? Is it reality or dream?”
“This…”
Looking at the stone Bai Yu held up… there was no doubt that it was part of the environment. If dreams and reality were separate, then we shouldn’t be able to pick up that stone, so the stone is actually a creation of the dream?
However, everything here, according to Spirit Vision feedback, is based on the reality’s material foundation, not merely dream creations…
“I… I don’t know… maybe it’s a dream invading reality, or perhaps…”
“Alright, Xiao Han, there’s no need to get so hung up on this; dreams are too mysterious. There’s no need to understand everything; we just need to accept it.”
“Mm…” I nodded, hoping to shake off that line of thought. Dreams are indeed a realm I can’t access at this stage.
As we continued to move forward, or rather, as we explored more areas, we encountered more of those monsters, but we seemed like outsiders, unable to touch them.
“Is that… a city?”
I looked at a distant outline that resembled a city built upon the ruins. This city appeared particularly dilapidated under the morning sun. As we moved toward it, we gradually made out the city’s exterior— the outer walls were already weathered and crumbling, showing signs of time’s erosion.
“Are there still… people here?”
I spoke with disbelief. Even Sister Bai seemed somewhat shocked; this development was far too… miraculous.
The closer we got to the city, the less we encountered that kind of creature, indicating that the ecology here seemed to have developed a deterrent range, preventing them from approaching the city.
“Sister Bai, should we go take a look?” I turned to Sister Bai and asked, since there were signs of intelligent life activities, we definitely needed to check it out.
“Mm, of course we should. I hope they don’t treat us as monsters.”
“Sister Bai, do you think they exist in reality or dreams? If it’s reality, they should only be able to see us, but not touch us. Oh, no, no, no, we should be worried about communication issues!”
“Yes, that’s indeed a significant issue.” Sister Bai nodded. If communication wasn’t possible, then we couldn’t proceed to the next step of contact.
Even if they might not be able to harm us.
Just as we wished to get closer to the city, both Sister Bai and I sensed something approaching us.
As we emerged from the wreckage, we saw a group of people dressed in peculiar armor… humans?
“Bai Sister, they really are humans!” I said in a low voice.
“Who are you!” The leader of the group instantly became alert, the spear in their hands pointed at us, poised to attack at any moment if we made a wrong move.
But what surprised us even more was that the language they spoke was a common tongue we could understand!
“Don’t be nervous; we are not bad people.” I flashed what I considered a calm smile and began to explain.
“Uh? This is the city outskirts; you’re dressed… wait, you’re outsiders?”
“Ah? Outsiders?” I was momentarily stunned by their label for us; the tone implied… they had encountered it before?
Indeed, if the Nightmares had dragged those people into this “world,” they would inevitably have had contact with each other.
So it wasn’t surprising that they seemed to have an explanation.
“You mean we are not from your world, and we cannot touch you?”
“That’s right. Have you encountered many outsiders like us?”
“I don’t know, and I won’t answer your question until I confirm you’re outsiders.”
“How will you test that?” I looked at the squad of five, who looked like they were patrolling the outskirts of the city.
“Very simple; just see if you can make contact with us. If you can’t touch us, we won’t be so alert.”
“Alright…”
“Xiao Han, let me handle this.” At that moment, Sister Bai stepped in front of me.
Under the tension on both sides, they confirmed our identity.
It was evident that they also relaxed a bit; they seemed more nervous than we were.
“Thank you for your cooperation, outsiders. Do you wish to enter our Ninglan New City?”
“Ninglan New City? Is that the huge city ahead?” Bai Yu asked.
“Yes, that is our final refuge, Ninglan New City, built upon the ruins.” As he spoke, the soldier instinctively showed some excitement.
“By the way, I don’t know your name; are you a soldier of Ninglan New City?”
“You don’t need to know my name; perhaps we won’t have much to do with each other in the future, but I am a team leader in the city defense forces of Ninglan New City. Since your identities are confirmed, if you want to enter Ninglan New City, I can take you to meet our city defense commander. After all, affairs concerning outsiders are significant, and we cannot decide on our own, so please forgive us.”
“Oh, I see. That’s fine; we will cooperate.” I waved my hand, as their attitude towards us outsiders was quite good. It was already impressive that they didn’t issue a summons immediately upon encountering something so unusual.
Of course, this might also be because they had tried and suffered losses, realizing they couldn’t imprison or suppress outsiders, etc.
“Thank you for your cooperation; please follow us, and also, please refrain from overly aggressive behavior to avoid unnecessary trouble.”
“Understood, I am very law-abiding. We just want to find a place to rest. Since we are new here, we also need to understand a bit about it. Can you introduce us?” I asked at this moment.
After all, understanding some things about them was very important, as we are on their territory. Even though we knew they couldn’t do anything to us, who knew if they had some trump cards?
When facing the unknown, we naturally need to remain vigilant. However, the natives here showed us a fair bit of goodwill.
Perhaps within this so-called Ninglan New City, we might even meet those poor souls drawn in by the Nightmares.
“Introduction? Is it about historical matters? I only know a general idea; I haven’t specifically studied it. Hey, any of you read history?” The team leader spoke a bit awkwardly and then asked his team members.
But they soon expressed their unfamiliarity as well.
“It’s fine; just a general understanding, like… how long has Ninglan New City been established? What happened historically that caused it to become a post-apocalyptic wasteland?”
“Um, I don’t really know, maybe over a thousand years? As for the details… I’m not quite clear either.”
“Over a thousand years? Such a vague statement.” It seemed I had encountered historical illiterates. “By the way, didn’t you take history classes when you were young?”
“History class? Why would there be such a class?”
“Alright, forget I said anything. But you’ve developed here for over a thousand years; has it always been like this?”
After all, over a thousand years! In my previous life, the technological explosion, from learning to boil water to modernization, happened in just a few hundred years.
Establishing a city amid the wreckage and developing it for a millennium should mean they didn’t just sit still…
Or perhaps… the ruling class intervened?
After all, who could resist such temptations as being a local emperor?
“Yeah, it’s always been like this. We certainly don’t want such a life to be disrupted.”
“I see…”
Lack of initiative was my impression of them; content with the status quo was the thought of many ordinary people, and it seemed… there was nothing wrong with that.
“Then has your technology developed at all?”
“Technology? Develop technology…”
“Yes, in a thousand years with no breakthroughs in technology?”
“Technological breakthroughs have nothing to do with me; it’s enough as long as it works.”
“Alright…” I didn’t ask any more unnutritious questions. With a technological stagnation and no desire for breakthroughs, their development must be in extraordinary magic, right?
My gaze fell on the peculiar armor they wore; I sensed the fluctuations of extraordinary energy and runic rituals on it. This technique seemed quite similar to Alchemy… but also significantly different, taking on a wild development direction. It felt like an alchemy apprentice misallocating their skill tree.
So… did they rely on this method to establish themselves in this wasteland?
The standard long spears they held seemed to utilize similar technology as this set of armor.
After all, I am also a budding alchemy apprentice. Even if I had only attempted potion concoctions, I certainly didn’t learn runes for nothing.
