Chapter 1190: Chapter 1190: Emerald Dream and Power of the Earth
After the kiss goodbye, Luviya returned to the "Abundant Land Inn" to rest, while Shard went back to his home in Tobesk and saw Mia he hadn’t seen all day.
As for the Time Key, he had no clues about it so far. So he planned to first visit the local black market tomorrow, which was Thursday, and then see the old gentleman whom Priest Augustus mentioned and to whom he owed 10 pennies. If he still had no leads then, he’d wait for Margaret to arrive in Randall Valley on Friday; Her Highness the Princess might be able to help him.
This should have been a very peaceful night. After freshening up, Shard extinguished the gas lamp in the room. However, as he said goodnight to Mia by his pillow and closed his eyes as usual, he immediately realized he was going to dream.
But this time, he wasn’t dreaming of gazing at the large Silvermoon from the ridge; instead, he was falling through the sky continuously, eventually landing gently like a feather onto the grassy ground in the moonlight and woodland.
The flora was lush, with greenery growing and flowers blooming on the earth beneath him. Moonlight passed through the gaps in the treetops, leaving traces of light in the woodland, as sounds of animals and insects merged with the wind rustling through the woods.
Firefly-like glimmers gently swayed over the woodland and grassy ground, a scene akin to the most real fairy tale.
Shard supported himself on the ground to stand up, first looking at the gold marks on his body, then looking up at the three full moons in the sky before surveying the surroundings from the woodland clearing.
"Is this a dream... Whisper Element... Emerald Dream?"
[Yes.]
Using "Oak’s Luck Potion" to increase his fortune came with the price that he might enter the Angel-Level Relic "Emerald Dream" within the week. Shard knew of this Relic; rumor has it that it split off from the Dreamscape, a strange semi-real world created by Nature and Earth.
Shard used the Magic Potion on Tuesday morning and was fine last night, never expecting the dream to occur tonight.
"What an intriguing Relic, an intriguing dream..."
Because he had entered a real forest before, he knew this peaceful woodland under the moonlight was so dreamy and tranquil. Though an Angel-Level Relic, Shard’s psychic resistance was extremely high in the dream, making him almost completely immune to its effects.
The "Emerald Dream" cannot be left actively, but one can wait for natural awakening. Though rated as Angel-Level, there was no malice here towards him.
Thinking this, he bent down to sit back on the grassy ground, wanting to wait quietly for the dream to end. However, when he tried to lie down among the green grass and flowers, gazing upwards at the Star River from the woodland clearing, he noticed a faint tremor in the ground.
"Hm? An earthquake? Can there be earthquakes even in a dream?"
Suddenly, black mud seeped from the soil, the nauseating black sludge had already flooded at least a third of the grassy ground when Shard scrambled to get up in panic. The center of the sludge seepage was right in the middle of the woodland clearing, precisely where Shard was positioned.
"What is that?"
Merely contacting the flowing sludge imparted a mild stinging sensation to the soul. It began by seeping from the soil, but quickly turned into a small black mud fountain. As Shard kept backing away to prevent the sludge from engulfing him, the pressure of the black mud spray matched that of the fountains opened at noble manors during summer to impress at banquets.
The black mud flowed across the woodland clearing towards all directions, meanwhile, the fairytale-like dreamy scene around him started to corrode and collapse, the dream’s malice openly revealing itself to Shard, even the three moons in the sky vaguely transforming into gigantic blood-red eyes.
"Though the Emerald Dream is a Relic, can such a situation happen? Old John never mentioned this."
Shard was utterly baffled by what was happening, but it didn’t stop him from stretching out his finger:
"Silvermoon!"
Spellcasting in the dream still consumed spirit but the power of Arcane Techniques was greatly enhanced. As Moonlight erupted, it illuminated the entire woodland, shrinking the "Mud Spring Eye" by at least a third. The sludge on the ground completely disappeared, illuminating the bare ground exposed by the corroded flowers and grass with a layer of sanctified silver glimmer.
But soon, the "Spring Eye" exploded again, spraying black sludge to swamp the earth. Shard was about to once more summon Silvermoon’s shine, but unexpectedly, a dense mass of black hands extended from the sludge, attempting to grasp his body, forcing him to retreat to the edge of the woodland clearing.
Perhaps wary of Shard, the mud flowed in directions avoiding him, yet the corruption of the entire dream continued accelerating. The dense mass of hands retreated into the black sludge, as a new huge entity emerged from the sludge amidst a thunderous roar.
Wings blotting out the moon unfolded in the sky, scale-like skeleton armor clung to its body, and a massive tail appeared capable of smashing through all obstacles like a battering ram.
A gray-green Dragon circled in the sky, and as it opened its mouth, a malicious black sludge sphere within kept swelling larger.
"A Dragon? Unfortunately, in the dream, I don’t have the Higgs Dragonhead Stone."
Roar~
Without giving Shard any chance to dodge, the Dragon Roar accompanied the massive black sludge sphere, striking at Shard as a beam, but as the Moonlight Greatsword pierced into the ground, a golden spherical shield shattered, completely blocking this hit:
"Even in a dream, there’s a battle, truly leaving me no respite."
Lightly tapping the ground with his toes, Shard leaped into the sky, as the Dragon’s tail swept horizontally, his body vanished into the air and reappeared above the Dragon’s head:
"But fortunately, it is a dream... Moonlight Greatsword!"
The Divine Afterglow on his body infused the Greatsword in his hand; as Shard thrust the sword downward, the Two-Handed Sword grew rapidly, ultimately piercing through and pinning the Dragon to the ground like a column cast by a giant. Yet this did not end it, three more giant Moonlight Swords summoned by the Blade of Chaotic Space-Time manifested from the void, jointly piercing the Dragon’s body, pinning it into the mud in the woodland clearing.
In the real world, Shard couldn’t replicate such a maneuver.
The black dragon disintegrated, transforming back into mud. Before Shard could make further moves, more monsters flew out from the black mud—bats, poisonous snakes, decaying birds, venomous scorpions—densely obscuring the sky and earth, forcing Shard to step back:
"Do they think they can defeat me with sheer numbers?"
Shard took a deep breath as sunlight glimmered at his fingertips. Although the [Night Watchman] wasn’t in hand and he couldn’t use the "Sunlight Cannon", in the dream, free from most physical constraints, he could do more with his soul’s essence. Not just using his hand to launch the "Sunlight Cannon", he even planned...
"Don’t fight them, it’s useless, these things are endless."
A voice in Casenli language appeared behind Shard, and before he could turn, a strange man had already walked up beside him. Before the man spoke, Shard hadn’t even sensed his presence.
[It wasn’t a lack of sensing; he appeared directly.]
It was certainly possible to encounter others in the Emerald Dream, just as it’s possible to bump into others in the Interstice of Life and Death. This middle-aged man appeared abnormal—Shard’s first impression was of a deceased soul—then he noticed shallow petrifying marks on the spiritual body.
"What power can petrify a soul?"
The first thing he thought of was the robed stone statue in the main hall of Randall Valley City’s Church of the Forgotten, but then realized although both were middle-aged men, their appearances were completely different.
"Endless? Sorry, do you know what these black mud are?"
Shard asked, the middle-aged man extended his hand forward, the flowing black mud parted like a river around the two of them, and the monsters seemed to lose sight of them, reverting to black mud.
"The Mad Land’s Rage, the Mad Land’s Malice."
The man spoke, and as he said more, Shard vaguely sensed that this person’s Casenli language had a Randall Valley accent. Or at least a southwestern Casenli accent.
The guess was immediately confirmed:
"Since you’ve drawn them out in the Emerald Dream, you must have been to Randall Valley. Let me send you away, though your soul is extraordinarily powerful, stronger than any soul I’ve ever seen combined, but it’s not necessary to fight these endless things."
"Please wait a moment... Could you tell me what you know? What is in Randall Valley? What do these black mud have to do with that city?"
Shard asked with a slight frown, the man looked at him:
"Mortals can fall ill, and the lands of the Mortal World can also fall ill. When the Earth becomes ill, it turns mad, it’s almost a natural phenomenon, these black mud are just a manifestation... don’t worry, it’s a small thing, not worth paying attention to."
[The second half of the sentence, after the hesitation, is a lie.]
Normally "she" couldn’t help Shard detect lies, but this was a dream, and Shard’s dream, so his perception was heightened.
"I see..."
At this point, the speed of the black mud emerging increased, the surrounding woodland nearly completely corrupted, the once brilliant starry sky was shrouded by swirling red mist, with three giant eyeballs constantly contracting, searching for Shard’s position.
"If it’s such a small thing, why don’t I help? Could you tell me how to resolve the source of the Earth’s malice?"
Shard proposed with a smile, the man was clearly surprised, not expecting Shard to ask that, but he quickly organized his words:
"It’s temporarily irresolvable, only temporarily blocked, but many are doing these things, like myself, and others, we can do these things... Oh, sir, can’t chat further, I must send you out, even the Emerald Dream can’t withstand this malice. If the Emerald Dream loses control from these black mud, that would be a real problem."
The strange man reached his hand toward Shard, who knew this wasn’t a lie, so he asked one last question:
"Thank you for your help. But, isn’t there anything I can do for you? Since you helped me, I also want to help you."
It was a sincere statement, the man in the dream also sensed the emotion and nodded this time:
"If you insist... very well, if the opportunity arises, sir, go to the reality outside the dream, purify the Earth’s resentment. Your soul is so pure, so strong, your slight help might make it a bit easier for those resisting malice like us. Let me teach you a sorcery that needs a powerful soul to support, perfect for you... please help this land."
"Alright, I promise you... Is the Earth’s madness really just a small matter?"
The strange man gently pushed Shard, who felt power integrate into his body. Under the force, he unconsciously stepped back, next instant as if plunged into a deep abyss.
The last scene in the dream was the man turning into a green light, rushing towards the source of the black mud.
The falling sensation in the dream forced Shard awake, and he then noticed something in reality poking his cheek.
[Outlander, you have acquired the sorcery "Power of the Earth: Healing Aura". Calming the Mad Land requires spellcasting materials, ordinary soil.]
[Note, this sorcery consumes heavily.]
"The Mad Land... I knew it, since Luviya, who’s survived six apocalypses, mentioned that city, Randall Valley indeed has issues... but who was that deceased soul just now, could it be... The Chosen One?"