Chapter 831: Dream Creatures, Fool Dreams, Nightmares…
The dream creature seemed to understand my provocation in that moment, its undefined form continuously twisting into a fierce demon.
It opened its massive maw, with jagged fangs that did not resemble a naturally evolved being, but instead seemed to embody the deepest fears that life could ignite, a construct of negative emotions.
But in the next moment, a sharp pain struck its maw as the gathered “pseudo-Box of Books” spun through its body like a cannonball.
The solid core of the book burst forth from the back of the dream creature, smashing a hole right through it.
This was the only method I had stumbled upon in desperation to inflict damage on the opponent, a direct informational contact interference.
In simple terms, the dream creature manifested in the primordial dream world in a “materialized” way, as its body was a part of the information itself.
Thus, I could destroy the informational construct through contact.
The means I employed to constitute the pseudo-Box of Books was the gathering of information using mental power.
Mental power is essentially a force that touches the realm of extraordinary energy, and this force can also serve as a channel for perception.
So, mental power is a perfect “extraordinary means” to utilize within a dream.
However, employing mental power to outline runes, structure ceremonies, or cast spells was not feasible.
Because reality and dreams are incompatible.
So, switching to another method, using mental power to harness information in conjunction with the five senses is fundamentally no different from controlling magic.
Only at my current level, building dream constructs with mental power was still too challenging.
The most powerful means I had in the dream should be… the sacred object!
Or it could be the Great Spellbook, or “Extraordinary Knowledge,” whichever codenames suffice.
The reason spells couldn’t be used in the dream was due to the absence of a magic-casting foundation, which included but was not limited to runes, ceremonies, extraordinary energy, and many other indirect factors.
While the Great Spellbook could be utilized in the dream… it was because within the dream, it possessed the “Extraordinary Knowledge” independent of the external spellcasting base.
Such a Great Spellbook had many abilities that could not be used, such as spell-related portions, runes, spell structures… thus, it was left only with the purest part—”Extraordinary Knowledge.”
Which is… the sacred object mentioned by Fool Dream.
At this moment, after being struck by my Box of Books, the dream creature fell into a rage.
Yet it seemed that the creature’s strength was much weaker than I had anticipated.
Clearly, weak was a relative term.
They were just difficult to k*ll, especially in the primordial dream, making it tremendously challenging to eliminate a dream creature.
So now I was not thinking about how to defeat it, but rather how to “subdue” it.
The reason it was so troublesome was that after that blow, I developed an impulse to study it.
This was one of the few experimental materials available!
Otherwise, I couldn’t just begin studying Fool Dreams directly in the Fool Village, could I?
Thereafter, I started attempting to use mental power to condense informational constructs to corner the dream creature.
Though I wanted to try some other methods, I chose the most familiar option for stability.
Ultimately, after consuming a lot of time and mental power, I completely sealed this dream creature in a large informational black box.
Although this battle seemed quite plain compared to my previous ones, it was undeniably a refreshing fight for Fool Dream!
When the dream creature was thus sealed within the black box, unable to escape, countless celebrations of Fool Dream erupted on the scene.
The Dream World Scroll atop the Starlight Tower silently recorded this battle…
“Thank you so much, Sage Xiao Han,” the village head approached at this time, representing all the Fool Dreams to express gratitude to me.
During that battle, this village head was the first to rush forward, but I stopped her.
I did not know what means the village head had to deal with dream creatures that even ordinary Fool Dreams could not, but I did not want to know.
What if she were to embrace the dream creature and then both were to leave the Fool Village, falling into the primordial dream? The ultimate trade-off?
There was definitely a possibility of that, wasn’t there?
I turned my head towards the distant Starlight Tower; from here, I could not see the Dream World Scroll atop it, but it illustrated countless past moments regarding how the Fool Dreams responded to the invasion of dream creatures.
Standing here in the Fool Village, I could not see the night sky atop the Starlight Tower, and only then did I realize that the white sky here in the Fool Village was also a façade.
The light illuminating everything was merely an illusion beneath the Starlight Tower, or perhaps… a longing for beauty?
After accepting the thanks from the village head and the other Fool Dreams, we would inevitably have to face many upcoming issues.
The evacuation of Fool Dreams.
The blockade at the entrance of the Fool Village.
And… the injured Fool Dreams attacked by dream creatures!
These injured Fool Dreams did not suffer from physical wounds, but were instead “cursed” by the nightmares of the dream creatures.
In just a few days, they would gradually lose their rationality, becoming dream creatures cohabited by the nightmare!
“Village head… how did you handle injured Fool Dreams in the past?” After hearing from the village head about what would happen to Fool Dreams that were cohabited by nightmares, I still asked this question.
“It’s alright… Sage… we will have a good meal before losing our rationality… then drink a large cup of Fool Dream Drink, and finally… leave the Fool Village…”
The injured Fool Dream I held excitedly explained to me, as if explaining something unknown to the Sage was a proud matter.
“Go… outside the Fool Village… for what?” I felt a bit heavier in my breathing at that moment.
I didn’t want to hear the words “wait to d*e” from the Fool Dream.
“Go outside the Fool Village…”
“Is it to seek redemption from the Sage?” I quickly retorted: “It’s alright, your Sage has already arrived, so you don’t have to go outside the Fool Village anymore, because… your hope has come to the Fool Village.”
“Sage… you…” At that moment the village head stepped forward; as the village head, she possessed a maturity that other Fool Dreams did not have, granted by memories.
She clearly understood that Fool Dreams voluntarily leaving the Fool Village was meant to prevent more Fool Dreams from repeating her mistakes.
And they did not want to become dream creatures, spreading nightmares within the Fool Village.
It is precisely because every Fool Dream is so innocent that the Fool Village could continue to exist amidst numerous “accidents” up to now in the primordial dream.
“It’s fine, am I not gradually beginning to master my power? However, power is not my trump card; knowledge and wisdom are. I will try to resolve the nightmare issue, just give me time… even in the worst case, I will not let them become dream creatures and harm the other Fool Dreams in the Fool Village.” I looked at the village head and said.
“Since this is the promise of the Sage, we will naturally follow your arrangements.”
“Thank you for your understanding… Can you prepare a residence for me first? Also, bring them along; I need a quiet place to break the nightmare’s curse. You all go ahead; I’ll handle this dream creature here first.”
“Of course! I will handle everything together with everyone!”
“We will help too.” At that moment, the three little ones following me, Yu Lan and her companions, also spoke up.
“Really? Thank you so much…”
“You are the hero who brought the Sage back, right?” The injured Fool Dream being supported looked at Yu Lan and the others, equally excited.
“Yes.” However, Yu Lan and her friends were only focused on helping and did not pay attention to their expressions of gratitude.
Once the Fool Dreams started to get busy, I began to get busy as well.
In the Fool Village, I was the only one who could interact with dream creatures.
Watching the dream creature ensnared in the black box, I also began to attempt other methods.
Although mental power was very effective, I felt that this method could not last long. Dealing with a single dream creature felt somewhat laborious, and the efficiency was not high.
Though it appeared as if a “creation” miracle in the dream, quite impressive, I remained unsatisfied.
Since mental power could interfere with information, what about the five senses derived from body cultivation?
This was not a specific type of extraordinary power but a channel of perception, so the five senses, sixth sense, and seventh sense were still effective in dreams.
For example, during the recent brief battle, the five senses helped me clearly perceive the information of the dream, assisting mental power in completing the formation of the information.
Similarly, the heart sense of the sixth sense allowed me to feel the manner in which the dream creature was manifested in the primordial dream, entirely dominated by negative emotions, as if the dream creature were a collective of such emotions.
However, this was merely the heart sense; thus, the dream creature was not just a collective of negative emotions but something comprised of other concepts forming a complex dream creature.
As for the seventh sense, the sense of time… this ability to subjectively influence the flow of time was “infinitely” amplified in the dream.
Even this sense of time could reverse-influence the information itself.
And it managed to achieve a capability similar to the “sense of time” mastered by Sister Bai!
Though I did not have enough energy to shape the sense of time body cultivation domain, there was no extraordinary energy in dreams; there was only information and the channels that interfered with it!
Thus, in the dream, I could also achieve a certain extent of “time reversal.”
Though, in essence, this belonged to a reverse return to information.
Yet, the manifestation in the dream was “local time reversal”!
As for the eighth sense, the sense of space, which was still in the “theoretical” stage for me… this time, I seemed to have a brand new understanding under the strengthening of the primordial dream.
This further proved that my previous recognitions and guesses were correct!
The sense of space, like the sense of time, was not a superficial ability to control time or space.
This was a new dimensional understanding and mastery by the perception channel of body cultivation toward “control” and “domination”!
As I gradually familiarized myself with these abilities, I also grew more confident, and the richness of my means gave me sufficient foundation to cope with various unforeseen situations.
So I formally began to handle the black box before me. After opening the black box, the dream creature lunged at me again.
But it was destined to fail.
I had to open the black box because such a large creature was inconvenient to carry, and I needed a more compact and lightweight container to hold it.
Quickly, a sealed and transparent jar compressed and encapsulated it.
The selection of transparency was naturally so I could directly observe if it attempted to escape.
At that time, when I return to the place that Fool Dream arranged for me, I would also need to “constrain” it in another way for my careful research, including the “nightmare” aspect of dream creatures.
After completing these tasks here, I followed the village head to the place where I would reside next.
The house where the Fool Dreams lived felt somewhat small for me; after all, they were quite petite. Their houses wouldn’t be particularly large, making the Fool Village resemble a tiny kingdom.
However, the house prepared by the village head was suitably sized for me.
I gazed at the house with some daze.
As I gradually understood dreams, I realized that the concepts of big and small were also chaotic within them.
Just as before I recognized the primordial dream, Fool Dreams would not have a stature akin to Yu Lan; once their size was fixed, many other things too became “reasonable,” such as tools, housing, and so on.
Dreams are fragile yet resilient; they are so weak that even time, space, concepts, and size cannot be established, but they can push these concepts to the limit for the sake of “reason.”
After discarding these trivial matters, I stepped into this small house.
Even though such dreadful news had erupted in the Fool Village, the Fool Dreams remained insistent on holding a feast for me.
This was not solely to inform every Fool Dream about the arrival of the Sage. It was also to reassure all Fool Dreams that the Sage had managed to prevent impending disastrous news from spreading throughout the Fool Village.
They did not like to remember pain; they only hoped that beauty could continue to endure.
And I participated fully in this feast.
Despite the significant difference in size between me and the Fool Dreams, as a Sage, I was described as tall and a great being, attracting the attention of the Fool Dreams!
I thoroughly enjoyed the delicious food provided by the Fool Dreams, including various fruits, vegetables, and… Fool Dream Drink.
Indeed, things like Fool Dream Drink were special concepts existing alongside the Fool Dreams.
Fool Dreams could lose anything, but they could not lose Fool Dream Drink; even though it was within a dream, the concept carried by Fool Dream Drink was precisely what they needed.
Of course, my complete participation in the activities of the Fool Dreams was also for another reason.
That was to glean from the subtle… insights expressed by the Fool Dreams!
After witnessing the Dream World Scroll, I felt even more that the Fool Dreams were closely related to this “Extraordinary Knowledge.”
The feast lasted quite a while, but ultimately it would have to end.
Returning to my small house, there were still several injured Fool Dreams affected by the dream creatures.
They were unable to join the feast due to being eroded by nightmares, or else the nightmares might contaminate other Fool Dreams.
I arranged a sumptuous banquet here for them, with fruits, dishes, and Fool Dream Drinks piled on the table, resembling a small feast.
If I hadn’t come to the Fool Village, once they finished this meal, they would indeed have to leave the Fool Village.
But now that I was here, they didn’t have to go anymore.
“It’s Sage Xiao Han!”
“Actually, there’s no need to be so formal with my name; I will need your cooperation moving forward, so just call me Sister Xiao Han like Yu Lan and the others do.” I gently spoke to these Fool Dreams.
“Mm… um… Sister Xiao Han~”
