Chapter 618: An Experience Concerning the Boundary Between Dream and Reality
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 618: An Experience Concerning the Boundary Between Dream and Reality
Ley lines—also known as branches of the River of Ley Lines.
The name alone was enough to suggest the sheer height of their existence. Yet, despite such a reputation, the energy levels flowing within them weren't particularly high; in fact, they were "ubiquitous" within a world.
Their only stubborn trait was their territoriality. Non-ley line organisms and life forms not birthed by the world itself could not command them.
Once a person severed their Ley Line Shackles and became an independent existence, they lost all affinity for ley line energy, even that of the world that had birthed them.
Furthermore, ley lines themselves had no concrete form. Much like now, I could see their phantoms only because the ley lines were carrying too much—primarily the World Three Source Elements.
Massive, condensed crystals adorned the main trunk of the ley line. This reminded me of my previous visit to the underground area of Ninglan New City, to that "excavated ley line breach." That, too, hadn't been the ley line's true body, but rather an external form shaped by crystallized matter carried by ley line energy.
The "ley line" in Ninglan New City was a breach, so it erupted continuously, forming a shield that protected the city from energy tides.
Here, however, was a convergence point left behind after the ley lines had been repaired. They flowed in a continuous cycle, carrying vast amounts of World Origin Soil, Transcendent Origin Crystals, and soul essence in a perpetual state of fusion.
The eruption of Transcendent Origin Crystals provided a steady supply of energy for this process, while the aftershocks of those eruptions formed the vast expanse of energy crystals in the outside world.
Under the catalysis of such pure energy, the World Origin Soil supported a material space of maximum utility, while the impurities were mixed into the energy crystals as fragments of transcendent materials.
They piled up in layers around the core area where the ley lines converged, constantly twisting and overlapping under the ley line cycle.
The soul essence mixed within had attracted dream creatures, creating a complex environment of dream overlap.
This was the general situation I had pieced together in a short amount of time.
While I was deeply absorbed in my analysis, the small dream creature I had captured managed to escape directly into the dreamscape.
They were dream creatures, after all. If they wanted to run and I didn't use the power of my domain, trapping them was somewhat difficult.
However, I didn't have the heart to worry about the little fellow right now. If it tried to damage the current soul crystal structure, I would snuff it out instantly. After all, while trapping it was difficult, killing it was not.
As expected, it headed straight for the largest mixed crystal of the three source elements. Just as I was about to reach out and eliminate it, it didn't try to feed on the soul crystal. Instead, it stayed there, its body twisting with what seemed like intense excitement.
"What's the meaning of this?"
Frowning, I controlled my body and moved forward through the zero-gravity space.
Previously, I had conducted my observations and experiments from a distance. This was the first time I had approached so closely.
As I drew near, I suddenly realized something.
Inside such a massive mixed crystal, there was actually another, truly gargantuan dream creature!
It was many times larger than the one I had previously trapped, existing right there inside the crystal... No, that wasn't right.
It was likely in the dreamscape, but it was stuck!
Ignoring the small dream creature fussing nearby, I began to investigate the situation.
What I found was startling. This was the junction where the ley lines of the expansion realm met the ley lines of the dreamscape!
I suppose it was only fitting for a convergence point of the expansion realm's ley lines. Even the ley lines within the dreamscape converged here.
Unintentionally, they had used the soul crystals as bait to trick dream creatures into "working" here.
This massive dream creature was the primary force driving the connection between the dream ley lines and the local ley lines.
But this creature hadn't intended to come here to work. In its ignorance, it had tried to use the dream ley line as a siphon, utilizing the ley line's bearing characteristics to hook into the reality ley line. Its goal was to extract the soul essence from the mixed crystals of the World Three Source Elements.
This aligned with the progress of the dreamscape merging into the expansion realm, accelerating the realm's perfection. The price, however, was that this dream creature had been trapped by the massive vortex generated by the ley line connection.
Connecting the ley lines between dream and reality... only a brainless creature like this would have the gall to try such a thing.
Yet, because it had done so without hesitation, it had contributed significantly to the perfection of the expansion realm—at the cost of its own freedom.
"You want to save it, don't you?" I turned my head and continued to inquire using a Consciousness Communication Spell. The smaller creature hadn't dared to get too close because it was afraid it would become part of the mess; it didn't want to be trapped too.
"...Yes..."
"Why?" I asked. Did dream creatures have some special relationship that made them want to rescue one another?
"...Yes..."
"Fine, I can't understand you again." I sighed and didn't press further.
Saving this fellow would be a hassle. Every method I could think of involved clearing out this entire patch of World Three Source Elements. Once the ley lines flowed smoothly, the creature would naturally be "freed."
But I had reasons not to clear it out yet. I still had many things I wanted to investigate and experiment with.
Unless... it was an equivalent exchange.
World Three Source Elements weren't exactly rare in the expansion realm, but given the current special circumstances, they were still quite precious.
I removed the Consciousness Communication Spell from the small dream creature. It made a strange expression, as if watching to see what I would do next.
I then shifted the Consciousness Communication Spell to the large dream creature.
I hoped its cognition matched its size.
"Hey, are you alright?" I attempted to ask.
"Not very..."
The creature seemed to respond subconsciously, but with that single sentence, I knew it was capable of basic communication!
"You're communicating with me?"
"Yes. Amazing, isn't it? Have you never communicated with anyone else?" I continued.
"No. You cannot understand my language..."
"I can now. I've used some methods. Do you need me to save you?"
"Save me... save me..." Hearing my words, the dream creature spoke to me with agitation.
"How direct. Did you get stuck because you were too greedy?" I asked, seeking to confirm my earlier suspicion.
"No, no..."
"Lying isn't good. If you lie, I won't save you," I said with a frown.
"Lying? What? I wanted to play... play in reality... not greedy for soul essence..."
"Play in reality?!" I was genuinely surprised by this answer. So they wanted to play in reality? Even soul essence took a backseat to that?
"Yes."
"Can you appear directly in reality? Or can you only come out to play when the dreamscape invades reality?"
"???"
This time, the creature responded with pure confusion, seemingly unable to understand what I was saying.
However, I had my own guesses. They lacked a material foundation in reality, so naturally, they could only play in places where the dreamscape overlapped.
"Then do you know how to get from the dreamscape into reality to play?" I continued to ask.
"Save me..."
"Answer my question. If I'm satisfied, I might let you out," I said.
"Good... eat soul essence..."
"Eat soul essence? If you eat it, can you come to reality to play?"
"Yes... no... don't know..."
"Can you be a bit clearer?" I pressed.
As I processed this answer, I began to think.
Eating soul essence allows the dreamscape and reality to overlap... there didn't seem to be a direct causal link there.
According to the shared records in the Tree of Great Knowledge, the current dream overlap regions around Ninglan New City were all triggered by dream creatures being attracted to discovered soul crystals.
So, soul essence was a factor, but not the only cause. This large dream creature had given both "yes" and "no" as answers, meaning the connection wasn't precise.
What else could it be? A talent inherent to dream creatures?
It seemed I could only attribute it to that hypothesis.
"I... just can do it... eat soul essence... come out to play..."
"So this is a talent of your kind, right?"
"Yes..."
"As I thought..." I sighed. A talent. How was I supposed to learn a talent? I had the strength to crush them all, yet I couldn't do what they could.
It was a truly frustrating feeling.
It seemed that finding a breakthrough for interfering with the boundary between dream and reality through dream creatures would be difficult, mainly due to the communication barrier.
After another sigh, I looked back at the dream creature.
"No... I am a Little Witch... If I don't know how, I can learn!"
Taking a deep breath, I cheered myself up.
Back in the day, I had studied nightmares and dream demons, eventually learning the ultimate dream magic from them. Those were my past achievements. Had I really started living my life backwards?
The current me had far better conditions and a much larger store of knowledge than before!
In that moment, I established a firm goal once again.
It was a peak I had once crossed. Now, I needed to guard against arrogance and impetuosity; my past achievements were worthless to the me of today.
"I can try to let you out, but you must cooperate with my research for a period of time!" I declared.
Right now, I didn't care about the World Three Source Elements, the material space, or the ley lines. Those studies had become secondary. My energy was limited, so I had to make necessary choices. Once my goal was set, everything else had to give way.
"Good, good... good. Cooperate... play!"
"It's cooperating with research, not cooperating to play."
"Research? What is that?"
"It means doing what I say. Do you agree?"
"Agree..."
And just like that, the dream creature was swindled by me. Whether it was lying didn't matter, because I had the power to keep it trapped. This was a unilateral decision; asking was merely a formality. If it cooperated, it would save me a lot of trouble.
As for how to save it, that would have to be done slowly.
First, I had to understand exactly how it was trapped.
It was trapped by the ley lines within the dreamscape. Because of the connection to reality, an extremely intense overlap had occurred, causing the information of reality to be projected into the dreamscape.
To save it, I needed to undo two layers of confinement. One was the massive mixed crystal projected into the dreamscape, and the other was the vortex formed by ley line energy within the complex ley line structure.
As a dream creature, it was being carried and locked down by ley line energy heading toward reality. But because it was a dream creature, it couldn't actually reach reality, so it was stuck in the vortex.
If it were anyone else, they would have only one choice: clear out all the mixed crystals. But I didn't have to.
I had a dream rewriting spellbook. I could easily rewrite the crystals projected into the dreamscape to help it escape its cage. After that, I just had to deal with the ley line vortex locking it down.
That part was also simple, but merely doing that wasn't enough... I felt like I could achieve much more through this.
I had severed my Ley Line Shackles; I was essentially a ley line "insulator." I had severed shackles in both reality and the dreamscape.
Therefore, I wanted to make a somewhat risky attempt: I wanted my consciousness body in the dreamscape to experience the ley line vortex firsthand.
This was a unique opportunity. The ley lines connected dream and reality, bridging two worlds that were like parallel lines.
Only by experiencing it could I truly grasp that sensation. One cannot imagine a scene they have never seen, nor can they recall a feeling they have never experienced.
From the moment I decided to save this dream creature, I had been planning the progress of my experiment. Saving it was just a byproduct; from start to finish, everything was for the goal I had set.
To explore the unknown and experiment with dream magic.
It reminded me of when I studied the Resurrection Spell and the essence of life by approaching Death. Perhaps what I was doing now was even crazier than back then.
While this attempt wasn't necessarily life-threatening, its level of madness was undiminished.
The dream creature had given me a revelation: soul essence was the foundation they used to invade reality with their talents. So, I wanted to test the relationship between the soul and the dreamscape.
A relationship between the two had already been confirmed, and the soul was the sublimation of soul essence.
It was as if all the pieces of the puzzle, gathered through guesswork and intuition, were finally in place. I only needed to test and experience it to find the answer I sought.
And now... if that wasn't enough... perhaps I should add one final layer of insurance.
No, rather than insurance, it was more of a... witnessing!
I didn't even think it was necessary, but... sharing what I was doing seemed like a good idea.
The livestream platform built upon the Tree of Great Knowledge.
Don't they always say witches love to court disaster?
I imagine... there must be many witches in the academy who wouldn't want anything to happen to me.
Was this being willful?
Perhaps.
But exploring the unknown always requires a price.
Besides, it wasn't as if I didn't have backup plans. My Heart State Domain, Self-Awakened Body Cultivation, the essence of my soul, and even the Resurrection Spell.
I was going to experience it, not commit suicide.
Even if everything failed, the most that would happen is that my consciousness would be severely damaged and my soul affected. It wasn't something I couldn't recover from.
Even in the worst-case scenario, I would have learned what was wrong. That, too, was an answer—just a very expensive one.
But I bet it wouldn't end that way.
My luck had always been good.
The goal of this experiment: to experience the boundary between dream and reality!
The setting: the ley lines connecting dream and reality.
And my ultimate objective?
To master the ability to overlap dream and reality.
From personally experiencing the boundary to studying the essence of dream creatures—these were the two major directions I had prepared to achieve this ability.
This could also be considered a technique derived from my Heart State Domain.
While exploring and developing this technique, I could also gain a deeper understanding of the characteristics of ley lines, souls, and dream consciousness.
It was an incredibly tempting experiment. I had to admit, I couldn't resist the lure.
Having made my decision, I directly opened the livestream platform.
Beyond letting the other witch sisters know what I was doing, the livestream served as a way to record information.
With the Great Knowledge Sharing Spell, the livestream platform on my Tree of Great Knowledge had gradually become more sophisticated. It wasn't my doing, though; it was the work of the witch sisters who had suggested building it in the first place.
At that moment, the witches who had the livestream platform installed on their Great Knowledge Seeds suddenly received a notification that a stream had begun.