Chapter 926: Turning Fantasy into Reality |
At first glance, Franca noticed that Star Dream Provisions Store really did resemble an antique shop from the Northern Continent, with very obvious mystical elements added.
The only things that didn't fit this style were the shelves themselves and the mobile phone the shopkeeper was fiddling with, along with the tablet placed in front of her.
"Good morning, ma'am. We're here to pick up a reply," Lumian said very politely as he approached the counter.
The shopkeeper, dressed in a black dress and fiddling with her phone, pulled out a letter from under the counter and placed it on top.
"Thank you," Lumian said as he took it, without opening the letter on the spot.
Franca then pointed to the brass book. "Ma'am, may I flip through that book?"
"Go ahead," replied the black-dressed shopkeeper without looking up, and without cautioning Franca not to damage the antique.
Franca walked briskly to the shelf on the right and picked up the book that looked as if it were forged from brass.
The cover was cold and hard to the touch, clearly made of metal.
Nothing special… Franca muttered to herself.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she suddenly saw lines of text appear on the blank pages. But these words vanished in an instant, too fast for even a Demoness's eyesight to capture the specific content.
Am I seeing things? Franca patiently waited for 20-30 seconds, and again saw new text appear in the brass book. But she still couldn't make out a single word before the corresponding content disappeared.
In this situation, even the Dream Divination method couldn't be used afterwards to recall the specific images.
There's definitely something strange about this… Franca thought to herself as she returned the brass book to its original place.
At the same time, out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a dark greenish-black figure flash by behind the shelf.
It was a snake that had grown white feathers and small wings!
Franca was startled and instinctively took two steps back, turning to warn the shopkeeper, "Ma'am, there's a snake in your shop!"
Be careful!
"No need to be afraid," the black-dressed shopkeeper raised her head, revealing her beautiful face. "That's my pet."
"I see…" Franca let out a sigh of relief. Along with Jenna and Anthony, who were browsing around the store, she followed Lumian out and back to the gray sedan parked nearby. They used frost to forcibly lower the high temperature inside the car caused by the sun.
After sitting in the driver's seat, Franca frowned slightly and said, "The snake I just saw looked a lot like a feathered serpent from the Death pathway. Well, a miniature harmless version.
"The shopkeeper couldn't be keeping a Mythical Creature from the Death pathway as a pet, could she?"
A complete Mythical Creature would represent an Angel level!
Lumian calmly said as he opened the letter in his hand, "It's not impossible. Besides those with special items and connections, those that can enter the dream are at least true gods."
Wh— Were we just dealing with a true god? And she even answered my question? As Franca was still in shock, she saw a person carrying many bags walk up to the driver's side and knock on the window.
"Can I help you?" Franca cautiously rolled down the window.
The person had an ordinary appearance and wore a smile, holding out what was in his hand to Franca. "Wanna buy something? The latest models of bugs and pinhole cameras."
"…" Franca's mouth twitched. "Bro, that's illegal."
The man tried to continue his sales pitch, but Franca put on a stern face and firmly refused.
After closing the window, Franca started the car, while Lumian began examining the reply from the Major Arcana card holders, mainly written by Madam Magician.
At this point, Franca suddenly paused. "Don't rush, let's first make sure there are no bugs or pinhole cameras installed in the car."
With everyone suppressed to Sequence 7, relying on the Demonesses' spirituality and divination could indeed effectively prevent mystical eavesdropping and peeping, but they had completely overlooked the scientific aspect before!
Lumian and Jenna could understand what bugs and pinhole cameras were used for. One relied on a Hunter's observation skills to quickly search for unusual traces, while the other used Magic Mirror Divination to check on the situation by questioning her own spirituality.
"There aren't any," Jenna reported her divination results.
"That's good." Franca breathed a sigh of relief. "From now on, we must remember to guard against scientific methods. It's fortunate that the dude selling contraband items reminded me, otherwise we might have been caught off guard at some point! Uh…"
At this point, Franca turned her gaze to the rearview mirror.
She saw the man who had been selling bugs and pinhole cameras turn a corner at the end of the street and disappear.
"Could he be an ally? Deliberately coming to warn us?" Franca mused perceptively.
Lumian pondered for a moment before stating, "Probably."
"Who could it be?" Franca asked, focusing more on driving as she looked at the road ahead.
Soon, she parked the car in a roadside spot diagonally across from the police station.
Lumian created a medium-sized screen out of frost and displayed the reply from the Major Arcana card holders on this mirror for easy viewing.
"After confirmation, the Demoness of Despair Beyonder characteristics, related materials, and special mirror world fragments you obtained are all real.
"Don't get excited yet. This doesn't mean every Beyonder in the dream city can produce Beyonder characteristics. It must be someone like you whose consciousness directly enters.
"In other words, if you die in the dream city, affected by Fooling, your bodies in the real world will also die, producing Beyonder characteristics. This feedback to the dream city will then Graft the Beyonder characteristics onto the recipient, achieving the effect of turning fantasy into reality and reality into fantasy.
"You should already understand my meaning—the resurrected female corpse is roughly equivalent to a real consciousness entering.
"As for her name and background, you should ask Ludwig. I'll just briefly explain that she was once equivalent to the Celestial Worthy's marionette, so she still is now. Don't ask why—don't ask about high-level matters of the Seer and Marauder pathways. In any case, through this connection, and through the identity Mr. Fool's subconscious wove for her in the dream, she entered this dream and was given new life by the Great Mother, gaining humanity and consciousness that are unlike a marionette.
"Back to the issue of the Beyonder characteristics—if you use it to concoct potions and perform rituals to advance to demigod in the dream city, your bodies in the real world will also become demigods. Remember, under the influence of abilities like Fooling, false dreams may become true reality, and what you consider real may become false.
"Moreover, the dream city is currently restricted to Sequence 7, so the mental effects of potions and the minimum requirements for rituals will also be suppressed to this level. For example, a plague that originally needed to infect 30,000 people and bring them pain and despair might now only need 300 infected. Taking a risk in B1 of Mushu Hospital might be enough to complete the ritual.
"Doesn't this make you think 'that works?' But I must tell you, a price has already been exacted for what fate bestowed. Advancing to Demoness of Despair through this method carries extremely large hidden dangers. Subsequently, extremely great difficulties will need to be overcome to truly count as a Sequence 4 demigod.
"Think about it—in the dream city, all the various problems brought about by consuming a demigod potion are actually restricted to Sequence 7, so they can be endured relatively easily, and Sequence 7 level rituals can be used to assist advancement. But upon leaving the dream and returning to reality, those problems suppressed to Sequence 7 will break free from the Fooling and instantly return to Sequence 4 levels. At that time, the corresponding person will likely lose control immediately.
"Of course, this is not unsolvable, just very difficult—not as simple as performing a complete ritual in reality.
"The only method we can think of now is to fully digest that Sequence 4 potion before leaving the dream, before this dream is no longer maintained. This digestion will be grafted onto reality, allowing the vast majority of hidden dangers suppressed to Sequence 7 to be resolved in advance. When the person returns to reality, they will be a Sequence 4 demigod in good condition—reality will have been truly fooled at this moment.
"The difficulty with this method lies in the fact that how long the dream can be maintained and when you will be locked onto by the Celestial Worthy and directly kicked out are not things you can decide for yourselves. It's full of unknown risks, and it's extremely difficult to obtain a good opportunity and enough time to digest the potion."
Reading to this point, Franca, Lumian, and the others looked at each other, speechless.
Is that even allowed?
They had originally thought that using false Angel qualifications and sealed Angels to simply act out roles and quickly digest potions was already the limit of exploiting rule loopholes. Who knew that after reading all these words about Fooling and Grafting, they felt their brains had been fooled.
You can really truly advance in the dream…
The potion can be fooled, the ritual can be fooled, the mind can be fooled, even the boundary between fantasy and reality can be fooled…
Of course, it's also possible that only we ourselves are fooled, believing we've truly completed the advancement and become demigods when in reality we've just developed a mental disorder…
Haha, everyone's been fooled! Everyone's been fooled! Franca couldn't help but go a little crazy in her mind.
"Is this the terrifying aspect of great existences?" Jenna took a small breath.
Lumian chuckled. "Many things we consider unbreakable and unchangeable may just be playthings for great existences."
"They can make them round if They want, or flat if They want…" Franca mumbled along.
Through this letter, they truly and concretely felt what it meant to be a great existence.
They continued reading the letter displayed on the ice crystal screen.
"After reading the previous part, haven't you had this thought:
"In the future, after Mr. Fool wakes up, couldn't we ask him to use similar dreams to help lower the difficulty of rituals and advancements, allowing those in need to become demigods and giving them enough time to digest potions in the dream?
"First, we must be clear that Mr. Fool alone would find it difficult to accomplish this, because such a real dream, a dream that allows Fooling to blur fantasy and reality, comes from other domains.
"Second, not every demigod will eventually be able to digest their own potion. They will live their entire lives in a dream, and if the dream cognition is not restored to Sequence 4 levels, their lifespan will also be suppressed to the corresponding mid to low Sequences. But if the dream cognition is restored to Sequence 4, those problems hidden by Fooling will erupt again.
"Third, is it really appropriate to cause Mr. Fool to sleep for several years, over ten years, or even centuries to help one Beyonder advance?
"Finally, the acting out of many potions will tend towards evil. If you really want to create a large-scale plague in Mr. Fool's dream, not to mention how easily the Celestial Worthy would notice, Mr. Fool would be the first to kick you out."
Why do I feel like Madam Magician is hinting at me… I really hadn't thought of that. This dream is just like reality, not at all like a game. How could I have antisocial thoughts? Even in games, I only stopped being humane after getting bored with normal gameplay… Franca muttered to herself.
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