The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 420: Nightmare: A Dream Within A Dream

“Awesome.” Annan whispered, “I’ve come to understand everything.”

It was a crucial topic.

First of all, it was impossible to re-enter the second nightmare whilst in a nightmare. A nightmare was a projection of the soul coming from the dream world. Although it was so real that it could even be seen as another trajectory in history, it would not affect reality.

A projection naturally should not produce another projection.

In other words, it was impossible to enter a new nightmare while in one.

This was also the primary way to distinguish between nightmares and reality.

The reason why Annan appeared in this nightmare with many nightmare fragments intermittently appearing was that the original nightmare had a unique mechanism bound to it.

It was about the “Unique Property: Phantasm”.

It had nothing to do with the “distortion” that occurred in the nightmare.

Since the nightmare was already distorted, it meant that some parts of this nightmare were altered, resulting in some unexpected changes that could not be duplicated.

Annan even searched for a long time to find out where the “distortion” of this nightmare happened.

He was very concerned about it.

Back then, in “Nightmare: Reflection”, the nightmare had undergone “unrepeatable” changes probably because Evelyn was still stuck inside the nightmare.

In other words, the Evelyn in that nightmare was not the Evelyn extracted from the dream world after her death, but the Evelyn who had not truly become an undead.

If Annan went into that nightmare again, many traps would be different.

Therefore, it was essential to study the distortion in nightmares.

But just for a moment, Annan realized with hindsight where the distortion of this nightmare had happened.

This nightmare was a completely unsolvable dead end.

“Hehe…hahaha…” Annan suddenly couldn’t help but laugh.

For him, that was a great joy.

That was the satisfaction of solving the mystery.

Not the emotion from knowing that his happiness was about to be devoured by the Frost Beasts.

Smelling fresh “joy” and “satisfaction”, the Frost Beasts were restless, scratching the edge of the cage, and there was a lot of noise in the originally quiet basement.

The old man’s movement to release the Frost Beasts suddenly stopped.

He turned around suspiciously and looked at Annan silently.

He did not speak but had already questioned Annan without words.

Annan just waved her hand and restrained her smile.

“Teacher,” she asked respectfully, “How do we become transcenders?”

“You need to survive the Wolf Kiss ritual first.”

“No, I mean. If an ordinary person wants to become a transcender, what does he need to do in the end?”Annan asked.

The old man fell silent for a while, then replied, “After accumulating enough power, he has to enter a nightmare.

“Like you, who can traverse through blizzards, and Nick Thoreau, who has been trained. You two have reached that standard.

“So you need to survive the nightmare once at this time. You will use the curse power from the nightmare to corrode and perforate your soul. Through the ‘hole’ punched by the curse, you can continuously obtain the curse power from the outside world. Only those who can restore their curse power over time can be called a transcender.”

“—That is to say.” Annan chuckled, interrupting the old man’s words.

He straightened up slowly and said calmly, “If I want to become a transcender, I have to overcome a nightmare, right?”

“Right.”

“But, that’s impossible,” said Annan calmly.

The voice belonging to Annan overlapped with the voice belonging to Bella and sounded underground, “Because this is my nightmare.”

The next moment, the nightmare started to shake. Its magnitude was not severe, like a minor earthquake.

Whether it was the silent old man like an iceberg, or Thoreau’s Nick with his head lowered, they all became stagnant, like puppets.

Soon, the ceiling collapsed into pieces, smashing open the cage that bound the Frost Beasts.

But the Frost Beasts did not take the opportunity to attack Annan but whimpered and hid in the cage as they huddled in the corner. A few others ran out of their cages and tried to escape outside.

But there was nothing outside.

Therefore, Annan would never be able to achieve the main mission of [Becoming a transcender].

Why was Annan able to master all the abilities belonging to werewolves immediately after entering this world? Like in the separate nightmare fragment, he had the detective’s power as soon as he possessed the body.

In fact, during Annan’s previous entry into “Nightmare: White Tower”, he did not have the slightest bit of the original owner’s ability to deceive and read minds; when he entered “Nightmare: Gallery”, he did not master the artist’s artistic talent, and he even did not understand those paintings.

There was only one answer.

In essence, this nightmare that Annan had entered into wasn’t his nightmare.

This world was false and superficial.

“Why did you make me Bella instead of myself? Because even you can’t understand me.”

Annan sneered, “Why do you let me see Danton’s fear of death? What are you implying to me? What are you trying to tell me in Mr. Detective’s nightmare fragment? Are you warning me to discard the superfluous rationales? Do you want me to act on my body’s instincts?

“But who gave me the instinct of the body?”

This was a nightmare that Annan could never achieve the main mission.

A side mission itself required access to the nightmare within one.

Also, a nightmare of having a dialogue with “self” in a nightmare.

“What are you trying to tell me? What are you trying to mislead me?” Bella’s persona soon left Annan’s voice, reverting to his clear and transparent voice.

His face and skin that belonged to Bella started to disintegrate.

Only the face belonging to “Bella” remained.

Annan picked it up and threw it into the air.

Bella’s last piece of skin gradually turned to ashes in the air.

He stared at the disintegrating nightmare and the empty air.

Evelyn was the “relevant element” that caused the “reflection” to be distorted back then.

So, what was the detected “relevant element” that distorted his nightmare?

There was only one answer.

Annan looked at the empty sky and calmly asked the last question, “Since you have trapped me here, what are you trying to do?

“Dream Stealer, Mr. Danton?” At the moment when nothingness disappeared, a few lines of words that had been obscured for a long time appeared in front of Annan’s eyes.

That was his real main mission.

[Main mission: Wake up]

Immediately, a large piece of small fonts appeared again under this line of words:

[Escape from the edited nightmare (Completed).]

[Collect at least seven fear fragments (3/7).]

[Find and kill the residual consciousness of Dream Stealer Danton]