Chapter 614: Heart State Domain and the Infinite Possibilities of Dream Overlap
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 614: Heart State Domain and the Infinite Possibilities of Dream Overlap
After leaving Ninglan Township Castle, I prepared to head out of the city without a moment's delay. As for my previous plan to visit Sofiri if I had the time... I decided to put that on hold for now.
In any case, I had already entrusted Dongli Yiren to deliver the important items. Once I finished my trip to the Seed Vault, I might even be able to bring her some brand-new plant seeds.
Once outside the city, I planned to follow the map and fly directly there on my broom.
After all, traveling this way allowed me to witness the diverse sights of the Expansion Realm, which was far more spectacular than the 3D holographic maps inside the Tree of Great Knowledge.
However, flying in a straight line presented a problem: I would have to pass through a Dream Overlap Region.
In the Expansion Realm, these overlapping regions were no longer rare. Dream creatures would occasionally manifest in places with high concentrations of Soul Crystals, causing a localized descent where the dream world merged with reality. These overlapping spaces didn't expand in perfect circles; they were influenced by factors like energy density and the presence of dream creatures, causing them to spread at varying speeds and in irregular shapes.
I browsed as I flew, occasionally landing to gather interesting plants I spotted on the ground, eating them to seek new breakthroughs in my perception cultivation. Before I knew it, I had reached the Dream Overlap Region.
Upon entering the area, I immediately felt the intersection of dream and reality. Having created Dream Magic myself, I naturally sensed that something was off.
Furthermore, with the feedback from the Dream Magic spellbooks provided by the mentors, it was now much easier for me to modify or derive new Dream Magic. The "spellbook" itself served as a "platform" for such magical evolution.
I could traverse freely between reality and the dream, even splitting my focus so that my physical body existed in reality while my consciousness resided in the dream. No matter what flashy tricks an opponent pulled—whether in the dream or the physical world—I could teach them a lesson.
My arrival didn't seem to attract any dream creatures immediately.
According to the common consensus, Dream Overlap Regions were crawling with dream creatures, which was why many students avoided them. Even with Dream Magic as a safety net, being hounded by dream creatures was a massive headache.
I also discovered that, as expected, the Dream Rewriting Spell truly didn't work here.
It made sense. The Dream Rewriting Spell relied on the dream world establishing an information channel with reality to generate a scene identical to the physical environment. The spell worked by intercepting this channel, linking it to one's own memories and cognitive data, and replacing the real environmental information to achieve a subjective "wish-fulfillment" effect.
Without powerful Spirit Vision, one might not even be able to learn this spell—or rather, they wouldn't be able to comprehend it.
But here, this overlapping dream seemed to lack the ability to simulate the real environment. Instead, it was a void where everything seen was merely the actual scene of reality.
After a few simple attempts, I confirmed the Dream Rewriting Spell was useless. While a bit disappointing, I had already prepared for this.
Before discovering more obvious patterns, I didn't have the spare time or inclination to observe the exploitable laws within the dream. I was just passing through, testing out some of my old methods along the way.
Just as I was about to cross the region, I was suddenly surrounded by a group of dream creatures.
These creatures had no concrete form; they looked like clusters of mist with no sense of boundaries.
This was the second type of dream creature I had encountered, aside from the Fool's Dream.
The Nightmares I had met before were part of the Fool's Dream, and Dream Demons were Abyssal Demons—they weren't pure dream creatures because they possessed a material foundation in reality. At the very least, pure dream creatures couldn't manifest a physical body in the real world.
However, they could pull the consciousness of people in reality into a dream. While different from the way a Nightmare haunts and drags one in, the method was nonetheless remarkable.
Currently, there were about eight of them. It seemed dream creatures also preferred to travel in packs.
When they ignorantly launched an attack at me, I backhanded the lead creature, sending it flying with a single slap.
However, after swatting it away, I noticed a fact: even after my consciousness entered the dream, my conscious form still retained its own Mana Source and spellbooks!
I experimented a bit and found I could still manually cast spells within the dream.
Logically, since the dream had lost its ability to mirror reality, external objects like spellbooks and Mana Sources should have ceased to exist once my consciousness entered. Even I shouldn't have looked like myself; I should have been a "cluster of consciousness."
Suddenly, a thought struck me.
Dream overlap!
What is an overlap?
An overlap only occurs when a relationship is established; otherwise, the dream and reality are two entirely non-interfering planes. It's just like how, in reality, one cannot touch the Primal Dream without the aid of a Witch Meditation Method.
Last time, there was a strong connection between the dream and reality. With the current repair of the Expansion Realm, the dream was overlapping again, but the connection had weakened, cutting off the "channel" for acquiring information from reality.
The relationship between the two was returning to that of normal parallel lines, but for now, it was a re-established connection.
To use an analogy, it was like two parallel lines vibrating due to a "powerful external force." The resulting waves overlapped to create the Dream Overlap Region. Once the aftershocks subsided, reality and the dream would return to their parallel state, independent of each other.
It would take time for these lines to stop vibrating and return to being parallel.
"So the dream space still mirrors real-world information to a limited extent, and this limit is anchored by consciousness... In that case... what about my domain order?"
The thought occurred to me suddenly, and it was well worth testing!
However, the dream creature I had slapped didn't give me much more time to think. Enraged, they swarmed me, only to slam headfirst into my Heart State Domain.
The moment they entered my domain, they seemed to fall into a quagmire. Sensing danger, they instinctively tried to flee.
"As expected, a domain is a power that transcends spells," I marveled, seeing the effect of the Heart State Domain.
If a standard spell, like a Fireball Spell, is used in a dream, it becomes a "Dream Fireball Spell." From its casting to its consumption, everything about it is "dream essence," even if the constructed magic ritual is correct.
But a domain is different. A domain reshapes order and breaks the essence of the dream. The Heart State Domain was still my power, not a power of the dream world. It was effectively "power from outside the dream" affecting the dream!
Yet, the reshaped order was still the order of the dream.
It was as if I were using my own power to interfere with the dream, thereby manipulating the forces within the dream to deliver a "dream strike."
This was fundamentally different from following the laws of the dream and using dream rules to execute a strike. They were on different levels.
Laws still had to be followed. If I wanted to hit a dream creature, I had to use the power of the dream to do it; physical power simply wouldn't connect. But the Heart State Domain could reshape the dream's order, and by utilizing that reshaped order, I could strike them.
"How interesting..." I muttered to myself.
Though I had only conducted a few trials, I had already deduced these patterns. Laws must be obeyed; after all, I didn't possess the power to move the entire Primitive Dream Realm.
If my reshaped order could affect the dream, then if I took it a step further... could my domain affect the relationship between the dream and reality's overlap?
If I could intensify that relationship, could I create an environment within my domain where the Dream Rewriting Spell would work?
Conversely, if that were possible, could my domain "soothe" the relationship between dream and reality, effectively dispelling a Dream Overlap Region?
Thinking of this... I suddenly realized something terrifying. If I could pull this off... wouldn't that mean I could pull any area of reality into a dream overlap state at will? I could use Dream Magic to drag an opponent into a dream and defeat them using my extensive experience with Dream Rewriting Spells.
I could even use Dream Magic, Sealing Arts, and other means to exile an opponent's consciousness into the dream, then restore the relationship between reality and dream to normal...
Could... could this really be done?
If a mere domain prototype could achieve this... then those Transcendent Witches who mastered full domain powers... wouldn't they be even more terrifying?
I swallowed hard at the thought.
But my heart was racing with excitement!
I reached out, and the order of my Heart State Domain began to test my hypothesis.
However, after a genuine attempt, I found it difficult.
I didn't know how to use order to influence the dream... Did I have to brute-force it with pure power?
Even when I used the maximum extent of my order to reshape the dream, it didn't seem to produce the changes I anticipated...
"No... that can't be right. Consciousness can act as an anchor to manifest real-world spellbooks... Mana Sources, even the entire body... so this anchoring must have a range..." My aggressive attempts left me looking a bit disheveled, and since there were no pleasing results, I forced myself to calm down and reflect.
If it truly was impossible... then I would set the idea aside for now. I couldn't afford to waste time here for nothing.
So... I needed to do one thing.
I needed to confirm if my theory was correct. Perhaps my logic was sound, but my domain simply wasn't strong enough to move such a massive dream. If there was even a tiny "change," it would prove my direction was right and that I only lacked "power."
Breaking through from 0 to 1 was the most critical step.
At that moment, I stilled my mind, sensing the distance my consciousness could anchor and manifest reality within the dream.
Then, I concentrated the power of the Heart State Domain around my body. I wanted to gather all my domain order to try and pry at the relationship between dream and reality!
True, my domain couldn't move a single point of the dream or reality; the only things I commanded were "Reshaping" and "Order."
If my "parallel lines" theory and model of the dream and reality were correct, then what I needed to find was the "force" that could interfere with those lines.
I didn't need to move either side—dream or reality—I just wanted to interfere with the relationship between them.
The only pity was... the information regarding dreams in my Tree of Great Knowledge was too sparse, almost non-existent. There were only some related popular science books and bits of common knowledge, most of which had been shared with me unintentionally by the transcendent mentors.
On the reality side, what I understood best was... space.
Perhaps reality was the breakthrough point, but the information on space was so complex it left me unsure where to start.
Yet, within the dream, my domain order never stopped trying. The Power of Knowledge manifested by the order almost submerged my body, but it still wasn't enough.
"Wait... this is..."
It wasn't I who spoke, but the Knowledge Shadow.
"What is it?"
"The Tree of Great Knowledge has acquired new knowledge. It flashed by for an instant. The source is... Power of Knowledge. It's incredible. Usually, knowledge supports the deduction of Power of Knowledge, but just now, Power of Knowledge deduced an entirely new knowledge system based on what was already known!"
"What?" Hearing the Knowledge Shadow's words, I grew energized. "What does that mean?"
"What, now that you have me, your brain has stopped working?" The Knowledge Shadow rolled her eyes at me. Since she was my subconscious, if she knew, I certainly knew as well.
"The Heart State Domain reshaped the dream's order, and from that order, I gained a new revelation, didn't I?" I asked.
"Revelation... isn't quite accurate. It's an advancement! Deducing a higher-level knowledge system based on fundamentals—that is the most common form of knowledge advancement. And that means..."
"It means my order has touched upon some essence of the dream!" I stated with certainty.
"Essence? 'Essence' is definitely the wrong word! Dummy. But you've certainly learned something." The Knowledge Shadow dragged out a strand of Power of Knowledge, which was deducing a piece of information. "Can you read it?"
"I understand it... yet I don't..."
"Then brute-force it. Use this strand of Power of Knowledge and give it a try."
"Alright."
I nodded, no longer hesitating. The Power of Knowledge suddenly surged, and my original knowledge deductions were immediately converted into the deduction of this specific knowledge—whether it was expansion, derivation, or simple explanation and translation.
"This seems to be working... the dream is being interfered with, though the effect is negligible."
"Is it?"
"This is a theoretical numerical change obtained by combining Floating World Spirit Vision and the Ley Line Identification Art. It could also be an error or... a periodic fluctuation of the dream... Periodic fluctuation... wait, try using different frequencies to see if the domain order can form a resonance!"
"Resonance? Let's try..."
I nodded and immediately attempted it, throwing my entire being into reshaping the order around me, seeking a periodic resonance...
I left the observation of the dream's changes entirely to the Knowledge Shadow.
"Interesting... it really is changing! It's not an error! You did it!"
"Really!" I opened my eyes, watching as everything in the surrounding dream underwent a visible change. It was a shift of mere millimeters...
But it represented success!
And success meant it could be further optimized. All I needed was to keep getting stronger, to increase my power...
"Dummy, is all you think about increasing power? Technique, patterns, and the analysis of that strand of Power of Knowledge—aren't those the key factors to prying it open?" The Knowledge Shadow criticized me without hesitation.
I didn't argue.
She was right. I had been too excited just now, letting my emotions cloud my thoughts.
It would be very difficult to increase my domain's raw power right now, but refining the technique, researching resonance, understanding the laws of the dream, and analyzing that Power of Knowledge—those were the directions I could pursue in the short term!
"Is this the sense of achievement that comes from finding a path through a difficulty? It really is addictive..."
I dispersed the domain's power. Now that I had a lead, everything else would follow. There was no need to "strike while the iron is hot"; the burst of inspiration and the breakthrough in logic had already been recorded. It was time to head to the Seed Vault.
That was also a Dream Overlap Region. I needed to conduct tests in other dreams there; I couldn't let myself be limited by this specific dream. What I needed was a "universal" rule, not a "special case."
The choice of path was truly important. I didn't want all this excitement to be for nothing.