CHAPTER 547: CHAPTER 492 LITTLE JACK’S TOY BOX (4600 WORDS)

Screech—

A giant hand covered in lightning suddenly tore apart a massive sandworm that had emerged from the ground.

"What’s going on?"

After returning from the Spirit Realm, Aiven, who woke up in the Dream Realm only to encounter strange events, immediately realized he had nothing but his own abilities.

With the extraordinary essence of a Tier 3 level, he crushed the grotesque violence that didn’t suit the audience’s appearance, without wasting time pondering what had happened. He instantly realized Olivia was in dire straits.

Without that priceless "Soul Armor," Olivia would struggle just to use a Lighting Technique, let alone perform Gem Witchcraft.

Ignoring the rustling sounds in the darkness, Aiven, anxious beyond measure, transformed into a blazing bolt of electricity and shot out, following the indelible spiritual connection.

Relying on the mysterious connection between the two, the beacon anchor ground in the Spirit Realm was linked together. Dragged into this Dream Realm world, although its rules were even more arbitrary than the Spirit Realm, it couldn’t separate the two too far apart.

"Hesi, wait for me!"

...

Run!

"Huff... huff..."

Olivia panted heavily, running as her only priority.

In the eerie town, puppets from the circus, a bloody butcher with a cage on his head, a sinister scarecrow covered in tattered cloth, a skinned giant frog crawling slowly on the ground...

Various deceptive, non-deceptive, eerily familiar yet ambiguous horrors continually pursued the girl’s footsteps. Olivia barely managed to escape each time, at the cost of losing all the slippers on her feet.

But in this process, with each terrifying scene, parts of her memory and cognitive abilities vanished, even to the point where, after just two or three times, she completely forgot she was actually dreaming.

If this continues, even if she could still escape momentarily, after a few more instances, she might slowly be wiped clean like a blank sheet of paper, possibly forgetting even who she is.

The human spirit world is divided into three parts: consciousness, individual unconsciousness, and collective unconsciousness.

Under the "sediment" of collective unconsciousness, forged by countless same-kind experiences passed down through generations on the psyche of all humans, lies the gate to the Spirit Realm.

For wizards like Aiven and Olivia, the most convenient bridge to communicate with their unconsciousness, the collective unconsciousness, or even the Spirit Realm, is none other than the "Dream Realm."

But the human Dream Realm has a unique layered structure, its rules far more arbitrary than those of the Spirit Realm, and can be subdivided into countless layers.

For wizards skilled in utilizing the power of the Dream Realm, they can even use someone’s layered dreams to trap them until their physical body collapses, till the end of time.

But for outsiders, it generally divides into two major layers: shallow and deep.

In the shallow layer, people have a certain awareness, and even many ordinary people can realize they are dreaming and bring some vague memories back to the real world upon waking.

But as one delves deeper into the Dream Realm, touching deep memories or even childhood fears, they gradually merge with those chaotic pieces of information, unable to distinguish between dream and reality.

Aiven facing his fears head-on, breaking through with power posed no problem.

But Olivia was clearly in such a state, inexplicably lured into a deep dream after leaving the Spirit Realm, continuously pushed deeper by one terrifying scene after another.

She had completely forgotten she was dreaming, even having a flawless false memory covering her true pre-dream memory, alone without equipment or companions.

Moreover, her Dream Realm evidently connected to a bizarre series of places, experiencing significant distortions, transforming towards horror, eeriness, and absurdity filled with various dangers.

Most importantly.

Due to cognitive biases, having forgotten she was dreaming, if killed in the Dream Realm, she might die directly in reality!

Once again, escaped a scene.

Boom—

Slamming a wooden door shut, blocking the black hellhound with intestines dragging from behind.

Olivia’s originally smooth long hair was now a disheveled mess like a bird’s nest, her snow-white nightgown stained with dirt and grime, her bare little feet filthy, turning her into a little beggar fleeing from god knows where.

Pitiful and utterly in distress.

Seeing the scene behind the door, the girl, with no time to care about her appearance, finally let out a sigh of relief as she calmed her breath.

A castle filled with childhood fun, a garden, a fountain, swings, seesaws... and the rare warm sunlight on a journey filled with escapes, finally reaching a seemingly normal place.

’And... there might be something I need here.’

At this moment, she had nothing but a gown, her [Gem Witchcraft] completely sealed without the gem support. Relying on innate knight-level physical abilities gave her a glimpse of hope here; otherwise, she would’ve already been torn apart by those "monsters."

But at this rate, with those "monsters" perpetually pursuing, there will inevitably come a time she can’t escape, necessitating a way to save herself.

At least find a weapon to protect herself before new dangers appear. A knight’s strength may allow for escape, but it is powerless against "monsters."

Thump, thump, thump...

Forcibly pushing open the castle’s gate, she sprinted through a hall filled with various toys, ascended to the second floor, and dashed into a room that, in normal architectural layouts, should’ve been a bedroom.