Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 259 Mermaid: ? ?

Based on the details he remembered, Klein successfully traded a wedge-shaped stone fragment for a fire pot from the bird's nest, and then traded a return bone fragment for the Iron Arm Gauntlet—the standard equipment for a Sun Knight.

On the other side of the nest, on a withered corpse, Klein found a fragment of the element.

Klein opened the hidden wall, jumped down from the beam, and found a treasure chest on the high platform behind the thrones of the two princes of Lothric. Inside the chest was a Silver Serpent Ring of Greed.

Klein took a deep breath, increasingly feeling that this dream was not simple.

Karula is a character from Dark Souls, so it's not surprising that she can construct dreams based on past events. But why is everything in her dream exactly the same as in the game?

Perhaps only Carla herself can answer all of this.

But Klein had a hunch—he might never see Kalurah in his dreams, just as he could never see the Fire Keeper at Firelink Shrine.

That's not surprising. Carla can become a Sequence 2 angel and possesses a King's Soul. The Fire Keeper's Sequence would only be higher than Carla's, and she would almost certainly possess a King's Soul.

Such beings would certainly not come into their dreams to play house with them.

Klein jumped off the platform, glanced at Ludo, who was sitting on the throne, and instead of talking to him or inserting the spiral sword, he went straight to the handmaids at the Firelink Shrine.

"Oh dear, oh dear, here comes Lord Ash."

"I, this old woman, am a handmaid at this Firelink Shrine. I've prepared everything you need to help you complete your mission, including weapons, armor, tools, and spells."

"Of course, I'm an old woman who doesn't die, but I'm not doing charity work."

"Lord Ashes, go and take the soul, then bring it back."

Klein waited quietly for her to finish speaking before saying:

"I hope I can finish digesting the potion."

A hint of surprise flashed across the maid's aged face:

"Ah, potions. Yes, of course."

"If this is what you expect, then as you wish, your potion will be digested."

"In return, I will take your soul."

As soon as he finished speaking, another flame rose from Klein's body.

Klein could see his hard-earned soul points rapidly decreasing, from 300,000 to only 200,000. But at the same time, he also felt a sudden enlightenment. Immediately afterwards, he went to the blacksmith, used the elemental fragments he found to strengthen the elemental bottles, and distributed the gray elemental bottles back into the ordinary elemental bottles.

In this way, he can drink five sips of his orange juice with pulp.

After doing all this, Klein spoke with Disheartened Guy and Rudauth again. And just as 'Moon' Emlyn and 'Justice' had said, the information they conveyed was exactly the same.

Klein, lost in thought, ended the conversation and returned to the central brazier at Firelink Shrine, inserting the spiral sword he had pulled from Gundyr's chest into it.

boom!

As the spiral sword pierced through, flames suddenly rose from the already cooled ashes in the brazier.

From this moment on, the passing on of the torch officially began.

Klein prepared to continue his exploration, heading towards the high walls of Lothric, wanting to test his limits.

Based on his understanding of the game, he could easily light the next two campfires, or even kill the Ice Hounds and reach the Undead Settlement.

But when Klein sat down in front of the campfire, he instinctively closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on a hotel bed. Renette Tinicol stood beside the bed, the four heads she was holding staring intently at him. At first glance, the scene was absolutely horrifying.

I subconsciously looked out the window; the crimson moon still hung high in the sky.

"How long did I sleep?"

Klein frowned and asked.

Renette Tinicol replied:

Two hours.

Klein seemed to realize something; this roughly corresponded to the time he experienced in his dream.

In other words, the flow of time in reality and in dreams is actually the same?

No, it can't be that simple.

Each of 'The Moon's' explorations lasted less than eight hours, sometimes even less than half an hour, before he died at the hands of Professor Kodatsu. But every time he woke up, it was already dawn. Does this mean that once he died in a dream, the time he woke up was always dawn?

If you actively break free from the dream, you can wake up earlier according to the time that passes in the dream?

So, what if he explores continuously in his dream for more than eight hours, or even ten or twenty hours? When will he wake up? At dawn? Or according to the corresponding passage of time in reality?

"I can try it next time."

Klein silently kept this guess in mind.

However, that's something for when you enter the dream again.

The most important thing now is...

Klein closed his eyes briefly, just as he had felt in his dream; the 'Faceless Man' potion had been completely digested.

Although this digests a large number of souls, these souls can be obtained in dreams. Rounding up, it's equivalent to doing nothing at all; the potion digestion is completed simply by sleeping.

But this does not mean that dreams apply to everyone.

For example, it took Klein 100,000 souls to digest the potion, which is one-third of the souls gained from killing Gundyr.

Killing a regular undead in the Ash Graveyard only grants 20 souls, and even killing them all would only yield less than 500. In other words, without being able to defeat Gundyr, it would take at least 200 days to accumulate 100,000 souls solely by killing regular undead.

On the other hand, to defeat Master Gundyr, one must at least be a Sequence 6 Beyonder!

Because those below Sequence 6 are severely lacking in strength, even with parries and rolls, they cannot defeat Master Gundyr. Even Sequence 6 individuals would find it difficult, as not everyone possesses the profound understanding of Klein.

In other words, other extraordinary individuals would most likely need to be Sequence 5 to defeat Master Gundyr.

At Sequence 5, digesting a potion takes at least a year. Even with the aid of the Acting Method, it usually takes three to five years or even longer to digest a potion.

For this group of people, dreams undoubtedly have an unparalleled attraction.

Those extraordinary individuals who reach Sequence 6 or even Sequence 5 are almost always backed by secret organizations. After all, it's incredibly difficult for a wild extraordinary individual to reach Sequence 5. The channels for acquiring potion recipes and the enormous sums of money required to purchase them are simply beyond the reach of wild extraordinary individuals.

In other words, the Dream Realm was originally designed for extraordinary individuals backed by secret organizations. Or rather, Karula's goal was to lure these secret organizations into exploring the Dream Realm!

Klein had a vague idea of ​​the tip of the iceberg of the truth, but this only made him more troubled.

Everyone else has powerful backers, but he really doesn't!

Won't it cause trouble if I just interfere like this?

"You are……"

A voice came from beside Klein's ear; Renette Tinicol was staring intently at him:

"In my dream..." "I saw..." "What?"

Klein gathered his thoughts and decided to tell Renette Tinicol everything. Of course, he omitted some details to avoid being asked why he knew so much about the dream.

"I need to figure out a way to find the mermaid..."

As Klein recounted his experiences in the dream, he thought to himself.

The main reason he wasn't in a hurry to find the mermaid was that the "Faceless Man" potion was far from being digested. So he planned to stay on the Rosewood Islands for a while until the potion was mostly digested before setting off.

But now that the potion has been completely digested, the search for the mermaid must be put on the agenda.

Ordinary merchant ships or passenger ships would only go as far as the Central Sudan Sea, near the Roside Islands. Further east is a pirate haven, and even the military dares not easily enter that area.

Only pirates would dare to take him into that sea area, or even deep into the East Sudan Sea.

Of all the people Klein knew, only three possessed this ability—

Mr. "The Hanged Man", Ms. "The Hermit", Admiral "Star Admiral" Cattleya, and Vice Admiral "Iceberg Admiral" Edwina.

Klein ruled out "The Hanged Man" first because, although "The Hanged Man" was strong, he was only Sequence 6. Compared to the other two Sequence 5 pirate generals, he was clearly much weaker.

Klein had a premonition that his trip would most likely take him deep into the ruins of the God War, and naturally, the stronger his companions would be, the better.

Between "The Hermit" and "Lieutenant General Iceberg," Klein prefers the former.

The latter met him through Ember's connections, while the former relied on his own connections, specifically with Mr. Fool. With Mr. Fool as guarantor, The Hermit was undoubtedly more worthy of Klein's trust.

Moreover, in terms of strength, Lieutenant General Iceberg doesn't seem to be the type who excels in combat...

of course.

These are not the main points.

The main point is that being on the same boat as "Iceberg Admiral" makes Klein feel very insecure! Ever since he heard that name from "Iceberg Admiral" last time, he has decided to keep his distance from him.

On the other hand, the "Hermit" was saved by Mr. "Fool" and felt gratitude and awe towards him. Klein didn't expect to control her through this, but at least having this foundation made the "Hermit" feel more at ease.

"However, the 'Hermit' lady should still be dreaming at this point, right?"

Klein looked thoughtful. The pirate generals weren't all alone; most had powerful backers. For example, Zilingus was backed by the Twilight Hermits, the Blood General by the Rose School, and the Disease General by the Witch Cult…

That's why Zillingus was ordered to assassinate Duke Negan, and that's why, despite his illness, he was able to bring in the "ageless witch" Katarina Pelle at the drop of a hat. If he hadn't called Mr. Azik along, he probably would have been dead by now.

In addition, the "Hell Admiral" is most likely backed by the Spirit Order and the "King of the Five Seas," the "Star Admiral" by the "Morse Penitentiary," and the "Iceberg Admiral" by the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom...

In theory, these pirate generals were the best candidates to enter the dream.

They are all at Sequence 5 in strength, and each has a powerful secret organization backing them up.

She might have even entered the dream of that "iceberg general".

After all, the person behind her is most likely acquainted with Karula, the creator of the dream world. It's possible they weren't uninvolved in this plan...

hiss!

Klein's expression changed slightly, and he almost gasped.

He had only intended to let his thoughts wander, but the more he thought about it, the more chilling it became, sending shivers down his spine. Since they both came from the world of painting, how could they possibly be unconnected?

Carla is already an angel, but the one behind the Iceberg General is on an even higher level.

The strength of the others is at least on par with Carula's. Conservatively speaking, there are at least a dozen or twenty angels, and there might even be some at Sequence 0 level.

Furthermore, some of them possess the King's Soul, so their true strength is probably far greater than that. Even if they don't reach the level of the ancient sun god, they are definitely stronger than ordinary Sequence 0 true gods!

Klein's eye twitched, unsure of what to say.

Forget it, these things have nothing to do with him. He should focus on figuring out how to advance to Sequence 5 first.

In short, we should contact the "Hermit" lady first.

After a moment's thought, Klein glanced at Renette Tinicol, who was deep in thought about the experiences he had recounted to him. Seemingly sensing Klein's gaze, Renette Tinicol nodded all four of her heads simultaneously before returning to the spirit world.

-

Waking from her dream, "Admiral of the Stars" Cattleya opened her eyes and sighed softly.

Just as Miss Moon and Miss Justice described, the knight named Gundyr was at least on par with a demigod. And while Mr. Fool's advice proved effective, it only deepened her awe of the power of the gods.

Unfortunately, the knight named Gundyr seems to possess other powers.

When he released that thick, black substance, Cattleya was unable to withstand it and was eventually killed by him.

However, this is the first time after all.

Gadriya believed that if given a few more chances, she would eventually be able to defeat Gundyr.

Just then, Gadriya's vision blurred, and she saw the pervasive gray mist, and deep within the mist, seated in a high-backed chair, looking down upon everything. She also saw a figure with hands clasped in front of his face, praying devoutly.

"A fool who doesn't belong to this era."

"Please tell Lady 'The Hermit' that I need her help with something."

"I hope to have a private conversation with her..."

The illusory voice disappeared, but Cattleya's expression became serious.

Does Mr. World need her help?

What could it be?

After hesitating for a few seconds, Cattleya decided to respond.

Building good relationships with members of the Tarot Club is not a bad thing for her.

Of course, this is on the premise that the matter is not that troublesome.

(End of this chapter)