If you want to use any word to describe the dream world, the best word Chen Ziang can think of is "weird".
Yes, weird.
It is not the kind of weirdness that is artificially designed, but some kind of indescribable weird style that is twisted from the root.
For example, the horror movies, comics and novels that Chen Ziang has watched in the past are like makeup artists deliberately trying to make themselves look ugly. After following Nicole to the ancient city of Enlank, everything he sees and hears is like a natural appearance.
Like a deformed animal - almost astonishingly different.
The ancient city of Enlank is a medieval-style city.
There are almost no technological artifacts visible here. The ground is paved with cobblestones. Most of the surrounding houses are a mix of wood and stone. The walls are covered with creeping moss. The spider webs under the eaves have a strange shape, like a human face roaring silently.
Walking through the streets were human residents wearing linen clothes. The women were mostly wearing headscarves and looking haggard; the men, mostly with beards and messy hair, were wandering around or sitting on the doorsteps in a daze.
Seeing Chen Ziang and Nicole coming side by side, they quickly walked into the house with gloomy faces, closed the door tightly and locked it, and then cast a secret peek from the window.
There were huge shadows flying in the sky, but they were nightmares of the same kind as Neeko. They flew to the heights of the house, and then climbed in through the attic window.
"Peaceful coexistence, isn't it?" Nicole chuckled, "These humans all entered this world by mistake for various reasons and were taken in by our hospitable tribesmen - everyone gave them space.
Leave your room to live!"
"So, what's the price?" Chen Zi'ang asked calmly.
Of course he would not believe the nonsense about "hospitality", not to mention judging from the gloomy expressions of those humans, life in Enrank had absolutely nothing to do with "happiness".
"The price is just a small rent." Nicole said lightly, "After all, we nightmares feed on the fear in our dreams."
A simple sentence, but the hidden meaning behind it is chilling:
In other words, the human residents living here will inevitably have nightmares every time they sleep, so that the owner of the house can feast on the nightmares... No wonder they all look bad. It is considered good if they have not been driven crazy after staying here for a long time.
Chen Ziang's expression was uncertain, and he heard Nicole say again:
"If these humans return to your world, they will immediately decay and die. They have stayed in the dream world for too long and have already been assimilated here."
"Even if you just leave Enrank, you will be preyed upon by other weirdos in the outside world. Being able to stay here and have nightmares is already the greatest blessing."
Chen Ziang did not answer.
The two walked through the streets and finally arrived at the town square.
The huge and towering temple is located in the center of the entire ancient city. The main entrance is like two tall screens, opening silently inwards, revealing the dim and mysterious hall inside.
In the center of the hall, there is a square pillar-shaped altar with a faint blue flame burning on it.
"Altar of Chaos." Nicole raised the staff in her hand and pointed at the blazing blue flame, "Pray in front of the altar and ask the God of Chaos for what you want - this is also the gift of the Lord of the Deep Sea.
mean."
Chen Ziang looked hesitant, but Nicole did not urge him, and just said lightly:
"I guess you didn't come to this world by chance just for sightseeing."
These words reminded him. Chen Ziang was silent for a moment and then came to the front of the flame altar.
The blue flames swayed and danced, but did not emit any heat. Instead, they brought a chilling chill.
Chen Ziang closed his eyes and thought to himself:
"I want to find a cure for my sister's disease."
After a while, he opened his eyes in surprise.
"What's wrong?" Nicole asked from the side.
"He said..." Chen Ziang stopped talking and reorganized his words, "He said that I can exchange power with Him."
"That's it." Nicole showed a satisfied look, "You have gained His approval."
"From this moment on, Enrank recognizes your qualifications to fight for the shadows, and all our war missions will be open to you."
Chen Ziang was silent for a long time and asked:
"Those powers He gave..."
"It's all the capabilities that can be exchanged for your current military rank." Nicole's tone became more kind, and she explained patiently, "Do you still remember the shadow cloak I gave you just now?"
"No matter what plane or world you are in, as long as you wear it and kill any individual belonging to the fog camp or the flesh camp, it will calculate the corresponding merit for you."
"After you get the merit, you can use the merit to exchange for the power you want at any Chaos Altar within the shadow forces."
"Of course, you can also accumulate them and exchange them for higher military ranks to unlock more power lists."
After hearing Nicole's explanation, Chen Ziang secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
The meritorious service that Nicole mentioned was actually the fire he obtained from hunting monsters before.
He turned his attention to the altar again, and then a list appeared in front of him:
There are three powers on the list, namely [Touch of the Abyss], [Profane Witchcraft], and [Thousand-faced Incarnation].
"Touch of the Abyss" is to summon tentacles that can obey instructions;
"Profane witchcraft" is a large number of unclean rituals related to curses;
"Thousand-faced incarnation" refers to the ability to change one's body and appearance.
The exchange prices for the three powers are all 50 fire points, but none of them are related to "healing".
Fortunately, Nicole said that as long as you increase your military rank, you can unlock more power exchanges, and Chen Ziang finally felt a little relieved.
The merit requirement for promotion to the next level of military rank is 100 fire points, which may be difficult for ordinary people to convert into the number of hunting monsters, but he is not worried at all - after all, this is what his job is.
"If I leave, can I come back here again?" he continued to confirm.
"Of course." Nicole replied, "The shadow cloak I gave you has Enrank's coordinates already set in it."
"The next time you come to the dream world, just wear it and meditate in your heart, and you will be teleported directly to the city."
The nightmare priest seemed to have guessed that Chen Ziang did not have any achievements to exchange for power at this time, so he just made a "please" gesture and said generously:
"Enrank welcomes your visit at any time."
Chen Ziang nodded, turned around and left the temple.
He stood in the center of the town square, took one last look at the gorgeous lavender sky, and then activated the power of "dream walking".
His consciousness seemed to be falling rapidly. Chen Ziang felt that he had traveled through many galaxies, passed through the subconscious layer and then the preconscious layer, and finally fell into the body again.
He opened his eyes suddenly on the bed, quickly raised his arm, and looked at the spiritual pressure meter on his wrist.
The number on the dashboard shows 0, indicating that he has returned to the real world far away from the mystery.
The rational lozenges under his tongue had dissolved, and the Mandala Sword was still held in his arms. Chen Ziang sat up from the bed and subconsciously looked at his chest.
The medal known as the "Shadow Cloak" is still pinned to the lapel on his chest.
According to Nicole, even if her true spiritual vision rises to 50 or even 100, as long as she wears it on her body, she can always lock her spiritual vision at the original 13 to avoid being attacked by more dangerous and weird things.
Of course, if it is removed, the spiritual vision will return to reality and safety will no longer exist.
The reason why such a function is designed is undoubtedly to encourage him to dive into the dream world more often and fight bravely for the shadow forces without worrying about the dangers brought by the rising spiritual vision.
But as long as you frequently enter the abyss, your true spiritual vision will eventually continue to increase, which means that your dependence on this shadow cloak will also increase.
Chen Ziang rubbed his eyebrows in distress, and suddenly the cell phone beside his pillow rang.
"Hello?"
"Senior!" Tsukimiya Suzuna's cheerful voice came from the other side of the phone, "I'm here to study with you! I'll be at your door soon!"
"Okay, I'll open the door for you." Chen Ziang hung up the phone and subconsciously pulled the shadow cloak off his collar.
He wanted to hide it under the pillow, but quickly reacted and stuffed it into his pants pocket.