Kobold Wizard's Journal

Chapter 202 Grand Dreams and Small Thoughts

No one can ignore a wizard's curiosity, not even gods who shouldn't have been born into the human world. No one can stop a wizard's curiosity, not even the fear of danger, not even the wizard himself. The Nightmare World is just such a place, never letting people's desire to explore go unfulfilled. When it was first discovered, some people even thought it was a conspiracy against them, luring them in to explore, endlessly investing their energy.

Ruger glanced at the fire-man Raiden, then looked at the town that was gradually becoming hazy.

He remembered that Leiden had just said there was no need to worry about the others in the camp, but now it seemed there was absolutely no need to worry.

“Don’t worry too much. Maybe when this town reappears, they will come out again, and we will see them again,” Leiden said.

Ruger nodded, seemingly understanding, and asked, "Will this town appear somewhere else next?"

“Now that you mention it, it’s quite possible,” Leiden said.

The two stood quietly under the withered tree, watching the town in the distance disappear bit by bit under their gaze.

No one came out until the very end.

“It was you who saved me,” Ruger said.

If he hadn't run into Leiden by the campfire, he would probably already be in that town.

“It’s not necessarily because they saved you,” Leiden said calmly. “If those people benefit from it and come out of town in a few days, don’t blame me.”

Ruger laughed.

The place where the town disappeared seemed to have left no trace, except for a few low, withered trees that looked as if they had always been there.

"Shall we go take a look together?" Luger asked.

"of course."

Leiden first adjusted the campfire and even cooked a pot of soup.

Ruger watched quietly. He had always been curious about the connection between Leiden, food, and these campfires of all sizes, but as old Lenther had said, it was foolish and presumptuous to pry into someone else's wizarding path.

The campfire has been set up.

Ruger and Leiden walked out of the camp together and carefully made their way to the spot they had previously occupied in the town.

The two stopped at the border and looked around for a moment.

Ruger looked at the few not-so-tall, withered trees.

“They were always there; they were like that before the town even existed,” Leiden said.

The two walked around, stopping frequently, but didn't find any unusual traces.

As I walked closer to the town, I approached its center.

Ruger estimated the distance; if he wasn't mistaken, the town center should be where the tower and clock were located.

"What do you think this phenomenon, or rather this thing, is, Your Excellency Leiden?" Ruger said.

“Some people have said this is a dream, a dream distorted by the power here, because that person happened to see his grandfather here, or more precisely, his grandfather’s dream. His grandfather told him about that unforgettable dream, and interestingly, when he saw that dream here, his grandfather had already passed away for decades. So there is also a saying that there are past dreams here, fragmented, pieced together, and distorted products,” Leiden said.

“But I don’t quite agree with that,” Leiden continued. “Another, more widely accepted explanation is that this place has a strange power that connects with and attracts dreams. It feeds on the pure spiritual energy emitted by people through dreams, much like subterranean beasts feed, sustaining the existence of this world and causing it to expand. And those strange things are not directly people’s dreams, but rather twisted things that this place uncontrollably generates with its own power when it comes into contact with people’s dreams and feeds on them. They are born from dreams, but they are not really anyone’s dreams. Those nightmare creatures are a kind of evidence for this; they are both illusory and real, and they can even be eaten.”

Ruger nodded and listened quietly.

He thought of the City of Burning Blood. If it was a dream, or if the Nightmare World existed because of dreams, and these strange phenomena, even every blade of grass and tree, were born from dreams, then could gods dream? What about the gods who had been chained to the dome for thousands of years? They must have spent a considerable amount of time in the laboratory before being hoisted there. If gods could dream, and that dream was reflected in the Nightmare World, it would surely be a very exciting one.

Luger walked along, flapping the wings behind him.

This thing gave him a sense of fragility and couldn't support him to actually fly off the ground. It wasn't just a matter of its strength; it was fine for wrapping his body and concealing his presence, but it probably couldn't do anything else.

The two arrived at what should have been a tower, where only a withered tree stood.

Ruger looked up at the branches of the withered tree.

"Is that a bird's nest?" Ruger asked.

Leiden was also staring at that thing.

Seeing this, Ruger knew without needing to answer that the bird's nest originally did not exist.

The two activated their lightness techniques and leaped into the air.

Inside a bird's nest woven from layers of withered grass, a black book was placed.

Luger gripped a tree branch with one hand and looked at Leiden. Although this guy had only arrived a few days earlier than him, he had obviously done a lot of preparation before he came.

“My reason tells me I shouldn’t touch it,” Leiden said, looking at him.

Ruger laughed when he heard Leiden's tone of voice.

The two had just decided while eating barbecue to avoid taking any risks before completing the initial cultivation of the Nightmare Organ, but a casual stroll with little hope yielded something unexpected. There was absolutely no reason not to take it, especially since it was a book, which was the most convenient thing for the two of them to share.

As Leiden reached for the bird's nest, he looked at Ruger again, as if asking if he wanted to leave.

Luger just smiled.

Suddenly a figure rushed over from a distance. It was the only one among the group that had been lingering earlier who hadn't entered the town, but that guy was too cautious and kept too far away.

Neither Ruger nor Leiden panicked; they assumed the man had already run away in fright.

Just as Leiden reached his hand to the bird's nest, a sudden fog arose.

The bells rang again.

The figure that had been running from a great distance also happened to enter the town's boundaries.

Luger gripped the branch tightly, and the surroundings suddenly changed.

The room was dark, with a bluestone floor and a fading crystal lamp that seemed to be hanging by a thread, propped up against the wall.

"Two idiots again!" an old woman said irritably. "Are all wizard apprentices this brainless these days?" Ruger and the other man exchanged a glance, while the one in the distance was nowhere to be found.

"Get down here now, or you'll knock my lights off!" the old woman said.

Ruger was clinging to the wall, holding onto a slanted crystal lamp with one hand, hanging precariously from the side of the room. His feet would have touched the ground if he had just stepped down, making him look quite comical. Meanwhile, Raiden was gripping a lamp base, his other hand poised to reach for a book on the table.

The two looked around, puzzled, and then obediently got down.

"Ok?"

The old woman approached Ruger, leaning on a cane taller than herself.

“You dog-headed fellow, you have a very strange curse aura about you, hmm…” The old woman was not tall, and she twitched her nose, making the wrinkles on both sides of her nose even deeper, making her look even fiercer. She continued, “It’s actually a curse at the source of your bloodline, strange, powerful, constant, hmm, really interesting.”

The old woman turned and glanced at Leiden again.

Ruger also looked at Leiden, but the guy didn't say anything, which made Ruger afraid to speak as well. Moreover, the old woman in front of him was clearly not an ordinary wizard apprentice. Heaven knows how they managed to find a wrinkled old wizard when they were just raiding a bird's nest.

"Are those even dumber guys outside your companions?" the old woman asked.

The "outside" she was referring to was naturally the town; her room had no windows and she couldn't see directly outside.

Leiden stepped forward and bowed respectfully, and Ruger followed suit.

"Even their etiquette postures are not standard; the apprentices these days are really terrible."

The act of bowing, however, drew the old woman's displeasure.

Leiden paused, then changed to a slightly crossed-legs position. Ruger hurriedly followed suit, secretly rolling his eyes. In his eyes, there was no difference between the two ways of bowing.

The old woman nodded in satisfaction.

"Sir, may I ask if you may escort us away?" Leiden said, standing up.

"Leaving? That's not so easy. After all, I've been dead for many years. This is just a fragment of my consciousness that I somehow managed to retain in a dream. I'm quite content doing some small experiments when I have nothing else to do, though I don't have much strength left," the old woman said with a smile, leaning on her long cane.

Leiden was speechless for a moment and fell silent.

Ruger blinked, thinking about the curse the old woman had mentioned.

“However, it’s not entirely impossible. I can tell you two are both quite good youngsters. Although someone with your aptitude might not have been able to become my apprentice in the past, you are still much better than those outside,” the old woman said, slamming her cane on the ground.

"I am willing to obey your orders."

Ruger and Leiden said in unison, while simultaneously performing another awkward bow, torturing their knees.

“I’m getting a little tired of this place, even though I’m just a fragment of some inexplicable remnant consciousness,” the short old woman paced in front of the two, holding a long cane. “I want to try something, a little fantasy. Years ago, I captured some little rascals wandering around this town and learned about a path to becoming a Nightmare Wizard. I’ve been working on it and want to try to become a first-ring wizard again with this small fragment of my consciousness, to start over. Of course, I’m a wizard now, I mean a real one. I want to live again with this system! To become a real wizard! Not just a fragment of consciousness.”

Ruger and Leiden gasped, exchanged a glance, and both felt that this favor might be difficult to do.

A fragment of consciousness, whose main body has long since perished, desires to be reborn.

"You!" The old woman looked at Leiden, "You seem to be on the verge of promotion?"

"Yes, my lord."

Leiden took a deep breath and said.

Ruger glanced at Leiden with pity, not daring to say anything, and could only mourn for him in silence.

“You!” The old woman turned to Ruger. “It’s not impossible… but it’s still a bit lacking. You’re all using that so-called third-generation meditation method now? If you ask me, it’s really unnecessary. Just ignore those who can’t even get started. The second-generation meditation method is already very merciful! Extremely merciful! Letting so many useless people step into the extraordinary realm is just cruel to them.”

The old woman became inexplicably agitated as she spoke, pointing at the wall with her long cane, as if referring to the people in the town outside. She then began pacing back and forth in front of the two people.

A moment later, the old woman stopped.

She let out a long sigh and said, "Looks like we need to hurry! Perhaps something happened that I don't know about, which led the Supreme Council to make this decision. It's probably the same reason for the birth of the second generation of meditation techniques. I was still alive at that time, so I should have realized it by now. I guess my level wasn't high enough to know the truth. What level wizard was I before? My remaining consciousness is really no good. Sometimes my mind goes haywire. I hope I didn't scare you."

Ruger and Leiden shook their heads to indicate that they were fine.

This sorceress, who was neither human nor human, sometimes resembled an ordinary old woman, yet at other times emanated an aura that was enough to make the two of them tremble.

Even a powerful being's consciousness within a dream can, by sheer chance, live for so many years after the death of their original self, and even attempt to live a second life. Moreover, it seems they have resisted the power of this place and have not been distorted by the power of the nightmare world.

Ruger glanced to the side and saw the envy and longing in Leiden's eyes.

The old woman stared at Luger inexplicably, making him unconsciously twitch his ears twice. The two stood silently, neither daring to disturb him.

“Hmm, you silly boy, you’ve given me some inspiration. There are two paths to reforming the Nightmare Wizard. One of them, because of your modifications, exists because of a powerful curse. Adding another one might be a good option,” the old woman said, pacing back and forth. “But… it’s best if it’s not a man-made curse.”

Two arcane marks suddenly landed on Luger and Leiden's shoulders.

“You two can move around in this tower. Choose a room to rest in first. I need to do some deduction,” the old woman waved her hand impatiently, and a stone door on one side opened. She continued, “It’s best not to go out and wander around without my orders, and don’t go to the top of the tower. You might provoke something strange that you might not be able to handle, just like you. There are more strange things in this town than just those belonging to the town itself.”

After watching the old woman finish speaking, she suddenly lowered her head and stood still, muttering to herself in an inaudible voice. The two of them silently left the dimly lit room one after the other.

As soon as Ruger and Leiden stepped outside the room, the stone door closed with a scraping sound.

The two stood there for a long time, until they were afraid of disturbing the old woman behind the door and getting scolded, before they turned and left. As they left, they could hear the cursing coming from inside, but it wasn't directed at them, so their deduction didn't seem to be going smoothly.

"How long has the third generation of meditation been promoted among wizards?" Ruger suddenly asked.

“Tens of thousands of years? Maybe even longer,” Leiden said.

Ruger recalled what Leiden had said: these strange phenomena generated by the power of the Nightmare World might have come from a dream from a long time ago. But he hadn't expected it to be so ancient. In this product of twisting and piecing together, there was still a dreamer with reason, a consciousness who knew that her original self was dead, and a wizard of unknown ring level.

“Don’t worry, things in the Nightmare World are hard to explain. Maybe if we rest and take a nap, we’ll wake up back under that withered tree,” Leiden said unhurriedly.

"Will you still raid bird nests when you wake up?" Ruger asked.

He couldn't help but tease this guy, who had said "no need to worry" for who knows how many times.

(End of this chapter)