There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

What if humanity in reality is just a created world, like a dream game?

It's even possible that the real world is just one of many dream worlds, but the existence that created this world is just another dream game.

Perhaps there are beings outside this world observing it, and this could even be a form of entertainment, like in The Truman Show...

An uncontrollable, terrifying thought arose in Lu Qing's mind: if this world is fake, then is the real world the one she once lived in? After her death, her soul drifted from the real world to the fake world, which might explain why she traveled through time.

Because she was a time traveler, Hao Meng's memories were altered, but hers were not, because she wasn't created.

No, there's another possibility: the cabin protected me?

"Little deer, little deer?" The voice beside her woke Lu Qing from her reverie. She looked at Fang Qingrou, who was looking at her with a puzzled expression.

"What are you spacing out about?" Fang Qingrou said, then, as if remembering something, looked at her with some concern and said, "Did you hurt yourself while fighting the vengeful spirit? Those spirit-like creatures seem to cause some damage to the brain..."

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Chapter 510: Waaah, I'm scared (Please subscribe)

PS: Thank you to reader Tiandao Qingping for the 1500 Qidian Coins!

"Um... I'm fine." Lu Qing pried open the hands that were covering her cheeks.

"Are you really alright? I think you should probably go see the Pope for a checkup," Fang Qingrou said to Lu Qing with a serious expression.

“I’m really fine…” Lu Qing shook her head, a hint of helplessness in her icy blue pupils.

"Oh, just in case. Go ahead and do it. Hao Meng is enough here." Fang Qingrou nudged Lu Qing's shoulder, then looked at Hao Meng and said, "Come on, Mengmeng, give me a hand and push Xiao Lu out."

"Huh? I...I..." Hao Meng subconsciously stood up, then immediately realized that Fang Qingrou wanted her to do something, and stood awkwardly in place.

"Alright, alright, I'll go out by myself." Lu Qing smiled helplessly and then left Fang Qingrou's room.

"Phew." After closing the door to Fang Qingrou's room, Lu Qing subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the wooden door, her whole body relaxing.

"I will find out," Lu Qing said to herself. After a while, she added, "I will definitely find out."

......

Lu Qing returned to the first-floor hall and saw the maid Eileen throwing firewood into the fireplace, as well as two elderly people sitting on the sofa in the center of the hall talking to each other.

They seemed to be discussing the matter of teaching apprentices. She slowly stopped and stood on the stairs, intending to continue listening to their conversation.

The Pope and Knight Myron certainly noticed Lu Qing, but since she showed no intention of getting down, they didn't try to hide anything and continued chatting.

"The little girl you brought back has good talent. If she trains for another five or six years, her swordsmanship might catch up with mine," Knight Myron said with a touch of emotion.

"Perhaps just two or three years will be enough," the Pope said with a smile. "Her blessing from the Sacred Tree is [Weapon Mastery], which means she can learn any weapon very quickly."

"Hmph, so what? My swordsmanship isn't so easy to learn." Knight Myron snorted, somewhat unconvinced.

"Not just swords, Hao Meng needs to learn about more weapons," the Pope said, tapping the table lightly with his finger.

[Weapon Mastery] allows the user to learn all weapons faster. Learning only swordsmanship is a waste; bows, spears, or other weapons are all worth trying to learn.

A soldier who only knows swordsmanship can only serve as an infantryman, while learning archery allows him to snipe enemies from a distance, and learning spears allows him to fight on horseback. Functional abilities are often more valuable than single abilities.

Once you've learned how to use one weapon, you'll progress much faster in using other weapons.

For example, it would take a swordsman at least ten years to reach the master level of swordsmanship, but once he reaches the master level, he can reach the master level of knife or short sword/dagger skills in just 2-5 years.

"Let her learn the other weapons on her own. I only know swordsmanship, maybe with some battlefield survival and horseback combat knowledge," Knight Myron said, seemingly irresponsibly.

"That's quite a lot," the Pope said with a smile, stroking his beard.

If word got out that the kingdom's top knights possessed swordsmanship skills, and that they personally instructed him on how to survive on the battlefield and fight on horseback, it would inspire all the knights in the kingdom to give up everything to learn from them.

“Yes, that’s quite a lot.” Knight Myron leaned back in his chair and said with some emotion, “It’s time for me to find a successor.”

"...It's not easy for anyone." The Pope said after a moment of silence. People eventually have to accept getting old, no matter how spirited they were when they were young.

"The good news is that we have all found suitable successors," the Pope said with a smile.

After he finished speaking, he turned his gaze toward the stairs and looked at Lu Qing, saying, "Your Highness, weren't you going to rest?"

When Lu Qing went upstairs earlier, she said she was going to rest, but she came back in less than ten minutes. The Pope guessed that Lu Qing probably had something to ask him.

"Yes, there are some problems." Lu Qing nodded, looking at the two people in the hall, a strange emotion surging in her heart.

The Pope and Knight Myron's emotions were so realistic that she couldn't imagine they were created beings, if she didn't know they had once been stuck outside her viewpoint.

Lu Qing took the black Insect Hunter Mask out of her pocket and placed it on the table, saying, "This is... the result of the power from the core of that resentful soul flowing into the mask."

“This is not quite what I remember, and this is what appeared when I tried to summon the Soul of Resentment.” Lu Qing summoned the phantom of the earthworms surrounding her and showed it to the Pope and Knight Myron.

"..." The Pope looked at the mask that Lu Qing had placed on the table with some doubt and said, "I have never heard of the power of the resentful soul being able to affect the appearance of a mask."

As the Pope spoke, he revealed a series of wooden masks hanging on his body. Although each of these masks emitted a special rhythm, they were not like Lu Qing's wooden mask, which not only had a different overall appearance but was also surrounded by a visible black mist.

"Could this be because the vengeful spirit is special?" Knight Myron said after thinking for a while. Although he did not understand [spiritual communication], he could still offer his opinion based on his own thoughts.

“That’s possible, after all, humanity hasn’t been able to uncover all the secrets of the Soul of Hatred yet,” the Pope nodded in slight agreement.

"Can you sense the effect of this phantom?" the Pope asked Lu Qing.

“…” After a slight hesitation, Lu Qing said, “This phantom is probably a shield, but it can’t block physical attacks, it can only block magic.”

“A spell shield isn’t so bad,” Knight Myron said, offering his opinion. “If I had such a shield back then, I could have beaten all the mages in our camp to a pulp.”

"Stop joking, Her Highness is not a knight," the Pope said, glancing at Knight Myron.

“It’s not that you can learn it. Her Highness’s swordsmanship is no worse than Miss Hao Meng’s.” Knight Myron said frankly. With the blessing of the card, Lu Qing’s swordsmanship is at the purple master level. Although it is still far behind Knight Myron, who has reached the purple master level by constantly honing his skills on the battlefield, it is still impressive enough.

At such a young age, the swordsman, Myron, often couldn't help but marvel at the princess's talent. However, perhaps due to the guidance of her royal tutors, the princess's swordsmanship lacked some flexibility and spirit.

This was nothing to worry about. Knight Myron had no idea that it was because the sword skills provided by the Deer Sunshine Card were different from those he had learned through self-practice. He thought it was a minor problem that could be easily overcome.

"Uh." The Pope instinctively wanted to refute Sir Myron, but found that what Sir Myron said actually made a lot of sense, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

“Um, why don’t you try wearing a mask?” Just as the three were silent, Eileen’s hesitant voice rang out.

P.S.: I've been updating twice a day these days, but I've lost favorites and my subscriptions aren't many, sob sob.

Please subscribe, sob sob.

I'm in the right and very confident. (Sorry for frequently missing updates in the past, but I'm updating regularly now!)

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Chapter 511: That's right, this is the Stand user!

"Put on a mask?" Lu Qing was slightly taken aback, clearly not having considered the idea of ​​wearing a mask.

“Although it looks like a mask, if you just wear it on your face, it’s no different from holding it in your hand,” Knight Myron said.

"I... I was just saying..." Eileen only belatedly realized just how distinguished the people she had interrupted were.

"No, you're right, perhaps we can give it a try." The Pope seemed to recall something, a thoughtful expression on his face. He said, "Do you remember the legend about the face-changing spirit?"

"Are you saying that if a mask isn't left on a person's face after they die, their appearance will be taken away by a face-changing spirit, causing everyone to forget the deceased? Isn't that just a story?" Knight Myron asked with some doubt, afraid that the Pope would tell him later that these legends were actually true.

“Of course it’s fake.” The Pope glanced at Sir Myron and explained, “Every story has its origin and reason when it spreads.”

"The most widely circulated theory is that in ancient times, our ancestors believed that the resentful souls were formed from the resentment of the deceased after they died because no one visited them for a long time and they were forgotten by everyone."

"However, this argument is completely untenable, because many people who become resentful spirits would obviously not forget the family and friends they knew in life."

"So some scholars, or bards, in order to fabricate a convincing reason, created a very special creature."

"That creature was the precursor to the Face-Changing Spirit. However, according to the legends of that time, that creature did not make people forget the dead, but rather replaced the identity of the dead, so that when people worshipped the dead, the object of their worship would change from the dead to another being."

"If a person who dies in this way is not worshipped by his or her relatives for a long time, he or she will feel that he or she has been forgotten by the world, and thus he or she will become a resentful soul."

"Doesn't this version of the story also have many loopholes?" Lu Qing asked after listening to what the Pope said.

"This is just a story, after all. It doesn't need to be overly logical. It's enough to make ordinary people at the time believe it," the Pope explained with a smile.

"So, what connection does your story have with what we're discussing?" Sir Myron asked.

"Of course... there's a connection." The Pope smiled somewhat awkwardly. How could he say that he had accidentally said too much? After organizing his thoughts for a moment, he began:

"It is estimated that the person who told this story at the time did not expect it to spread so widely. As the story continued to circulate, its content was constantly modified."

"The most widely circulated version is the one we know now, and what I want to talk about is why psychics use masks when subduing vengeful spirits."

"Because a person's face best represents their characteristics," Lu Qing said before the Pope could continue. This wasn't something she had read in a book, but rather her own deduction.

The Pope glanced at Lu Qing with slight surprise, then nodded and said, "That's right, exactly."

“Spirits have no flesh and blood, but we can make containers for them, and these containers must be familiar to the spirits.”

It is unrealistic to artificially create a body that is exactly the same as the deceased's body in life; at least in this dream world, such a thing is impossible.

As for statues carved from wood or stone depicting the deceased in their final moments...

The project is too large and not easy to carry, so what is something that can both feel familiar to the spirit of the deceased and be easy to carry?

Lu Qing didn't know if there was anything else, but the ancient spiritualists had come up with the idea of ​​carving masks out of wood.

“This mask is the face of the spirit.” The Pope tapped the Insect Hunter mask lightly with his finger and continued, “If you wear this mask, it means you are wearing the face of a vengeful spirit on your own face.”

"Will this allow me to draw out the power within the mask?" Lu Qing asked curiously.

“Uh…” The Pope paused for a moment, then said quite decisively, “I don’t know.” Although he did ramble on to make his statement sound more credible, he had never encountered a situation like Lu Qing’s before, so how could he guarantee that his statement was correct?

"Whether it will work or not, we'll find out by trying," Knight Myron said. "No matter how much we discuss it, it's all useless if it doesn't work, but if it can succeed, then we don't need to discuss it at all."

“You’re right.” The Pope glanced helplessly at Knight Myron, then looked at Lu Qing and said, “Anyway, let’s give it a try first.”

“Okay.” Lu Qing nodded and reached out to pick up the mask from the table.

"Wait a minute." The Pope interrupted Lu Qing's actions, pointed to the door, and said, "Let's go out and try."

The power of the vengeful spirit is extremely strong, and anything could happen after Lu Qing puts on the mask. To prevent the hunter's hut from being demolished, it would be better for them to go outside and test it.

Lu Qing understood the Pope's thoughts, so she picked up the mask and walked out of the hunter's hut with Pope Myron.

"This should be enough since we've walked this far." After walking for about five minutes, Lu Qing looked back at the hunter's hut and said.

“We’ve come this far, it would be awkward if nothing happened in the end,” Knight Myron said, glancing at the mask in Lu Qing’s hand.

"Just in case," the Pope said, standing in the snow with his arms crossed.

"Phew." Ignoring the two people who were talking, Lu Qing let out a long breath and then put the black mask on her face.