Chapter 1 Lucretia Emerges From a Dream

Lucretia jerked awake from the dream, taking several seconds to calm her mind before opening her eyes. She took a long breath, opened her eyes in the chair, and slowly scanned the room, confirming the "hint items" she had set up in the lab in advance.

The first thing to do after waking from a bizarre dream is never to get up immediately, but to calm the mind and confirm the details of the real world to avoid being trapped in a double dream.

A moment later, she confirmed the details of the real world, confirming that she had completely escaped from that dream, and also confirming that Master Talan Eyal was also awake.

The elven scholar was tied rather wretchedly to a nearby pillar with several ropes, a lump on his head, while the wind-up doll Luni stood guard beside him with a sharp kitchen knife.

"Ms. Lucretia, you're finally awake!" Seeing the "Sea Witch" awake, the scholar immediately cried for help, "Your servant tied me up! I don't know what I did wrong..."

Lucretia frowned. "Luni, what's going on?"

"He suddenly shouted in his sleep, and when he woke up, he jumped out of bed and hit his head on your lab table," Luni reported seriously, clutching the kitchen knife. "I think he was contaminated by a nightmare, so I tied him up to prevent secondary damage."

The scholar immediately protested loudly: "How many times have I told you, you blockhead! I was just scared in a dream! I saw Duncan Abnomar! Does being a special person with an abnormal mind allow you to be frightened when you see me outside of a dream?"

Lu Talan Eya's expression suddenly twisted as she listened to the two "people" speak. Having just been frightened awake herself, she pursed her lips and stood up from her chair. "Luni, put down the kitchen knife and untie the scholar – I swear, what he says is true."

"Yes, Mistress." The wind-up doll immediately lowered her head, the kitchen knife in her hand sweeping down neatly, cutting the ropes on Talan Eyal’s body. Then, she twisted her wrist, and the gleaming blade was nowhere to be seen, as if she had stored it in a hidden compartment within her body.

Talan Eyal spoke while recalling, then suddenly frowned.

Noticing the seriousness in the woman’s words, Talan Eyal’s expression immediately became serious, the demeanor of a scholar returning to him. "Alright, ask away. I already feel like my mind is much less muddled."

"I only remember waking up standing in this 'forest,' like the boundless dense forest described in some ancient books, the origin of the elves..."

"...My thinking in this dream seemed very slow. The sounds I heard, the information I perceived, and my reactions to the outside world all felt like they were separated by a thick barrier."

Lu Talan Eya's words came from across the room:

"A very important question is, do you really remember all the details that happened between observing the surface of the sun and falling asleep now? It seems that you are also confused by the messy lines in the picture..."

"That's right, I drew it."

Lu Talan Eya listened silently to those words, not saying anything, but reached out to a low cabinet beside her, took out a bottle of potion from the depths of the cabinet, and casually placed it on top of the cabinet.

"You observed the surface of Aberration 001 during the extinguishing of the sun. This is the sketch you left behind," Lu Talan Eya said without being polite, casually taking out the crumpled piece of paper and handing it to the other party. "Is this it?"

Talan Eyal, freed from his restraints, staggered backwards a few steps before finally standing firm, unable to resist turning back to glare at the lively wind-up doll. "You blockhead!"

"See, it came in handy."

He reached out to take the sketch paper that Lu Talan Eya handed over. Looking at the spherical image covered in chaotic lines, his brow furrowed even more as his mind sank into thought and recollection.

"I don’t know, at the time my thinking was almost stagnant. I could only feel their existence, but I couldn’t explain exactly what they were, but one thing is certain... they aren’t phantoms," Talan Eyal said with a serious expression. "They really exist, even if they are not other 'dreamers,' they are other 'mind entities' contained in this dream."

Talan Eyal’s brow furrowed.

Talan Eyal continued to stare blankly for a few seconds, his eyes finally flickering, seeming to be momentarily dazed. Then, he sucked in a breath of cold air, his body tilting back—

"But there was a very strange thing. Not long before you appeared, my thinking did 'sink' for a time, but it didn't sink into the 'bottommost layer' of the dream, but into a... a place that seemed like a transition between 'layers,' where many chaotic lights and shadows intertwined, like several vastly different dreams projecting onto each other. And in this chaotic area, there were still many hazy figures surrounding me..."

Talan Eyal stretched his aching arms, muttering as he came to sit down in front of the "Sea Witch," still talking to himself: "Come if you want, it won't be here for a while anyway..."

"Many hazy figures?" Lu Talan Eya interrupted instantly. "Please describe clearly, are those phantoms in the dream, or 'dreamers' like you?"

After hearing this, Talan Eyal blinked and nodded after a moment. "Oh, indeed, Captain Duncan must be afraid of the things hidden in this picture, so I'll wait until he comes to talk about it. I'm not in a hurry..."

"I think it's best not to let an aberrant scholar come into contact with this thing. No matter what you 'smeared' away, it's clearly harmful to ordinary people," Lu Talan Eya reached out and took back the sketch paper. "I'll let my father take a look later, maybe he'll think of something."

Talan Eyal nodded thoughtfully. Immediately afterwards, he heard the "witch" continue to ask: "What else do you remember about that dream? How did you enter the dream? Did your consciousness ever sink into its true 'bottommost layer'?"

"Most of the senior scholars at the Academy of Truth," Lu Talan Eya nodded. "The original is still with me, and they only saw the content after you smeared it. I have already issued a warning to them, and your slumber serves as a warning to everyone, so there is no need to worry about anyone taking this sketch to privately analyze and restore the picture you saw. But the Infinite Sea is vast, and it cannot be ruled out whether there are other 'daredevils' who have done the same bold thing as you."

"I have already checked. The picture itself does not carry mental pollution, but the content of the picture is confusing and unsettling. You drew those chaotic, branch-like lines on the surface of this 'sphere,' but according to my analysis, many of those lines seem to have been smeared randomly near the end of the drawing in order to cover up the original, clearer appearance of the picture. Do you have any memory of this?"

The wind-up doll, however, paid no attention to the Arch Scholar's anger, simply stepping to her mistress's side, curiously opening her mouth. "The old master is here?"

Even though he was still somewhat confused, and even though his memory clearly had breakpoints, Talan Eyal's rationality and logic as a senior scholar still gained the upper hand. He analyzed what had happened to him, and then his expression suddenly became solemn. "How many people have seen this paper so far?"

"Ah, that's another thing I want to tell you," Lu Talan Eya adjusted her sitting posture leisurely, looking at Talan Eyal's eyes. "My father is about to arrive at Deep Port."

He suddenly stopped, repeatedly considering before continuing hesitantly: "Perhaps... I saw something extremely terrible? Or a truth that should not be made public? I uncontrollably drew it out, but I suddenly became muddled before operating the 'fast piece,' so I calmly covered it up... But I don't know why, I wanted to send it out again..."

Lu Talan Eya watched expressionlessly, calmly picking up the vial of potion she had placed on the low cabinet earlier and handing it to the doll Luni, who stood by her side. "Pour it down Talan Eyal's throat."

"Perhaps it was the special effect brought about by the extinguishing of the sun that allowed the Lost Ship to instantly arrive at its destination," Lu Talan Eya nodded. "He should be interested in chatting with you face-to-face, or inviting you to his ship – he cares very much about the extinguishing of the sun."

"I... am indeed a little confused," Talan Eyal slowly opened his mouth and said. "These do seem to be obvious smearing marks, but..."

He didn't remember why he had to cover up the previous details of the picture... as if...

Luni oh-ed, then took the potion to carry out her mistress’s orders, while Lu Talan Eya looked at the scholar being force-fed medicine and nodded with satisfaction.

"I hope this will come in handy," Talan Eyal said earnestly, then looked at the sketch paper in his hand. "So, about this sketch..."

Talan Eyal's eyes widened, his expression freezing instantly.

"I understand," Lu Talan Eya nodded calmly, then took a slight breath. "This is really... crucial information."

"He... 'came,' in every sense of the word," Lu Talan Eya twitched the corner of her mouth, said with a bit of hesitation. Then she waved her hand to the side, and a chair floated over from the corner of the room and landed in front of her. "Mr. Talan Eyal, please sit down first, there are some things I need to understand."

Talan Eyal looked at her actions curiously. "What is that thing?"

"That's the 'witch potion' that will be used later," Lu Talan Eya said casually, obviously not intending to answer directly, and then directly changed the subject. "Regarding the extinguishing of the sun, and the dream just now, there are some things I want to ask – I know that you and I have already communicated simply in the dream world, but given the dream’s suppression of the subconscious, there are some things you may not have been aware of at the time, so now I need you to recall everything in a conscious state."

Today's "Sea Witch" once again successfully prevented Master Talan Eyal from dying suddenly on her ship.

"May it serve its purpose," Talan Eyal said with a sincere expression, and then looked at the draft in his hand. "So, about this draft…"

Lu Talan Eya looked at the action with no expression, took a bottle of potion from the short cabinet, and then turned to the side with a little doubt, “Give Talan Eyal a bottle of the potion.”