Chapter 25 - 22: The Original Dream

Chapter 25: Chapter 22: The Original Dream

Before him was an empty hallway, somewhat resembling the one in his rented apartment building.

Dim, deserted, and deathly silent.

The air was thick with a chilling, terrifying aura.

Shi An narrowed his eyes. He found he wasn’t particularly surprised, nor was he very afraid.

’Perhaps...’

’...it’s because I saw this coming and prepared for it.’

’Learning about Nightmares significantly increases the probability of being ensnared by one.’

’Coming into contact with and using Curse Objects speeds up the process even more. And that’s not even mentioning that I personally experienced a Nightmare not long ago.’

From learning about them to becoming a Dream Descender, only three and a half short days had passed.

However, Shi An had gone from initially fearing and resisting Nightmares to now...

’...feeling a faint sense of anticipation.’

Aside from his heart beating a little faster right when he fell, Shi An had already regained his composure.

He surveyed his surroundings.

The lights in the hallway were a bit brighter than the ones in the Nightmare Dormitory’s corridor, and the place didn’t look run-down. It was as if he were standing in the very real hallway of an apartment building, with closed doors lining both sides.

Shi An walked up for a closer look. The door had an electronic lock—just like the one on his actual rented room.

But when he touched it, the electronic lock was completely unresponsive.

Knocking on it, or even trying to smash it, felt like hitting a solid wall.

Shi An stroked his chin. ’An initial Nightmare’s entire Nightmare World is usually small. Even in what seem to be vast, open scenes, the only part that truly exists is the immediate vicinity.’

’My initial Nightmare is, without a doubt, this hallway. The surrounding rooms are probably just part of the backdrop.’

’Break through?’

He could try, but Shi An wasn’t optimistic.

The walls and rooms were essentially the barriers of the entire Nightmare World.

Dream Descenders might be able to defeat aberrations by exploiting their mechanics, but Shi An had never heard of anyone breaking through the barriers of a Nightmare World.

At most, one could only hope to find a crack or an exit in the Nightmare World to cross into another Dream Realm.

Lost in thought, Shi An walked forward.

He passed one identical door after another. A glance revealed that only the room numbers were different, starting from 401 and continuing onward.

The hallway was very long. Aside from the doors, Shi An saw no stairwells or elevators.

This, however, was within his expectations.

’This Nightmare fellow is pretty lame. Couldn’t even be bothered to make the texture map a little bigger.’

Finally, the passage ahead forked, branching off to the left and right.

Shi An randomly chose a path and strode forward.

After walking for a while, a second fork appeared. He again chose a path at random and continued on until he reached a third fork.

’As expected.’

’So it’s a maze, huh?’

Shi An glanced to either side. The only thing that had changed in his surroundings were the room numbers. They had gone from 401 all the way to 441, 442, 443...

It was the kind of thing that would make someone who had fallen into a Nightmare subconsciously overlook the discrepancy, chalking it up to the building being enormous.

And yet, on closer inspection, something felt very wrong. He had clearly passed two forks, and the other hallways must have had plenty of rooms as well. So why were the door numbers still continuing in perfect sequence, one after the other?

The moment he realized this—or rather, the moment he showed he had realized it—the room numbers stopped changing.

They all stopped at 444.

Every single door was Room 444.

The Nightmare wasn’t even pretending anymore.

In that case, he wouldn’t pretend either.

...

"The entire initial Nightmare is, in reality, a process of continuously applying psychological pressure to the person who has fallen in."

At the Wizard’s House, the experienced Dream Descender, Steel Pen, was giving a lecture.

His audience consisted of three prospective Dream Descenders, hand-picked by their organization, who were on the verge of being ensnared by a Nightmare.

There are many kinds of Dream Descenders.

Most are simply unfortunate souls ensnared by a Nightmare. Even if they manage to break free from their initial Nightmare by a stroke of luck, they can only become unremarkable Dream Descenders.

But the Wizard’s House was one of Baijiang City’s top organizations, and it only cultivated the Elite.

And the screening for this Elite began at the very start, even before they were ensnared by a Nightmare.

They underwent physical conditioning, trained their Spirit Resistance, and cultivated a strategic mindset for clearing Nightmares. This way, they would have a better chance of an excellent performance during their initial Nightmare and the relatively easier early-stage Nightmares, allowing them to start snowballing their success.

The most crucial of these, of course, was the very first Nightmare.

"We can’t predict what kind of scene your initial Nightmare will be, or what sort of aberration you’ll face, but..."

"In an initial Nightmare, the aberration’s method of killing usually follows this pattern: it applies psychological pressure to induce panic in the Dreamer. Fear is the trigger for it to strike."

"In other words, as long as you can control your emotions, there is a 98% chance you can break free from the initial Nightmare."

That was easier said than done. Everyone understood the principle, but in reality, fear is not something that can be easily controlled.

Of course, the three prospects present had been hand-picked by the organization and had received rigorous training.

For them, controlling their fear to break free from a Nightmare was not a difficult task.

But the Wizard’s House demanded more from them.

Steel Pen said, "You need to break free from your initial Nightmare faster—ideally within three days, or even two. Only then can you obtain a superior Dream Curse Object, a complete one."

"You have to understand, the initial Nightmare is an opportunity for a Dream Descender. Not only are you guaranteed to get a Dream Curse Object, but that object is often exceptionally well-suited to the Dream Descender themselves."

"And to achieve that, just staying calm isn’t enough. You need to take the initiative, find the Nightmare’s exit, and escape directly."

At that point, someone below asked, "Instructor, Instructor, I heard that our organization’s strongest rookie, Miss Xi Xue, broke free from her Nightmare in just one day. Is it possible that we’re supposed to not only break free, but also take out the aberration inside the Nightmare?"

Steel Pen let out a helpless laugh.

Breaking free from a Nightmare in one day wasn’t actually that different from doing it in two or three.

Many in the Wizard’s House could do it, not just Xi Xue.

But Xi Xue’s title as the strongest rookie was indeed well-deserved.

A Dream Descender who could act as the main force to clear a Nightmare by their third one was a rarity in the entire history of Baijiang.

As for...

"Clear the initial Nightmare?" Steel Pen shook his head. "Don’t get carried away. The initial Nightmare is special. Unless you have the Ability to go head-to-head with an aberration and match or even defeat it, don’t even think about it."

"But since we’re talking about an ordinary person going through their initial Nightmare, where would they get an Ability capable of matching, let alone defeating, an aberration?"

...

「Nightmare Corridor.」

Staring at the endlessly repeating Room 444, Shi An sighed softly.

He reached out and lightly touched the electronic lock on one of the doors. The lock had silently transformed into a brass handle, and an arched door of dark brown wood had replaced the door that was previously just a texture map labeled ’Room 444’.

Shi An gripped the handle and pushed the door open, stepping inside.