Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3290: Chapter 3291: Friends Within Dreams

”Alan’s parents are both Empty-hearted People; they lack memories of their past and only know they are human without knowing who they truly are,” Laplace said, pausing for a moment. ”However, judging by certain characteristics of Alan, we can perhaps deduce some aspects of their identities.”

”Alan’s characteristics?” Angel repeated softly, seemingly arriving at a thought: ”Bloodline inheritance?”

To infer the identity of the previous generation from the descendants, one can only delve into the bloodline.

Just like the Noah Clan, their bloodline is quite unique. Because of this, Adanis can always make a precise catch.

Laplace nodded: ”You could interpret it that way. Alan was born with a special ability, which most likely stems from bloodline inheritance.”

”This ability is not apparent; rather, even if he tells others about it, others may not necessarily believe it.”

”Because it doesn’t manifest in reality, nor can it interfere with reality.”

”In Alan’s own words, this ability is called—Dream Companions.”

The so-called ’Dream Companions’ are ”friends” that exist within dreams.

When Alan was still a baby, he was able to see ”friends” in his dreams. Initially, he had only one, but as Alan grew older, almost every year, new friends appeared.

Men, women, old, young, and even non-humans.

These friends initially could only accompany Alan for a while, but as he learned more knowledge and started naming them, the ability of Dream Companions seemed to undergo a kind of evolution.

The name is like a contract.

Friends who were given names would continuously accompany Alan.

The reason Alan was able to establish a complete worldview, cognition, and values at such a young age was precisely due to the teachings of these dream companions.

It can be said that Alan managed to grow up properly in the Mirror Domain thanks to the contributions of his dream companions.

”The Dream Companions is most likely an innate ability of Alan’s bloodline. Therefore, from the perspective of bloodline inheritance, it’s almost certain that one of his parents, at least, once had a similar ability.” Laplace said, ”In other words, one of his parents may have been a Dream Sorcerer.”

”Nevertheless, these details are no longer important; they are matters from thousands of years ago. Alan’s parents have already passed away, and there’s little significance left in exploring their identities now.”

Laplace paused for a moment before continuing to speak about Alan.

”Alan’s growth was greatly aided by his dream companions—to the point where they surpassed the concept of ’friends’ and became family to Alan. Especially after his parents passed away, the friends in his dreams became Alan’s emotional support, something akin to next of kin.”

”Because ’Dream Companions’ is Alan’s bloodline talent, under normal circumstances, barring any accidents, this ability wouldn’t vanish, and those friends in his dreams would accompany Alan for a lifetime.”

Laplace sighed softly at this point: ”However, not long after, something very familiar to both you and me happened...”

Angel murmured, ”...the severance between the Dream Realm and the Mirror World.”

Laplace nodded: ”That’s right, at that time, a conflict between the wills of worlds occurred, and the Dream Realm completely disconnected from the Mirror World. Alan’s talent was deeply connected to ’dreams,’ and when the Dream Realm drifted away, he could no longer dream.”

Without the ability to dream, the talent of ’Dream Companions’ could not function, and naturally, Alan was no longer able to see those friends from his dreams.

Alan saw those friends in his dreams as close relatives; how could he bear to part with his kin?

Thus, he began a frantic search for the reason he could no longer dream...

But the conflict between world wills is not something he could probe into.

From that day on, Alan became a Dreamchaser, seeking the cause of his inability to dream while searching for a way to dream again.

Time passed, and eventually, Alan heard a rumor saying that the Head Mirror Clan could weave dreams. Whether beautiful or nightmarish, anyone could experience them once woven by the Head Mirror Clan.

Alan, ecstatic with hope, set off to meet the Head Mirror Clan.

”But unfortunately, Alan encountered a dire disaster of mirror light extinguishing on his way to meet the Head Mirror Clan.”

”His body shattered, his soul dissipated, and fragments of his memory were obtained by me and crafted into a Temporal Body.”

Laplace fell silent at this point.

Alan’s story was thus concluded.

Angel felt a bout of melancholy upon hearing it... up until his death, he pursued the dream, pursued the friends within it, even at the cost of his life.

Angel: ”Did he ever consider chasing his parents’ return to their homeland?”

Laplace shook his head: ”Alan’s parents became Empty-hearted People, losing all memories of the past, including the emotions held within those memories.”

Homesickness is an emotion. But Alan’s parents no longer possessed such feelings.

When their emotions were nurtured anew, their minds no longer considered their homeland to be the Southern Domain, nor their kin to be humans, but instead replaced them with the Mirror Domain.

Under the influence of his parents, Alan knew he was human, but he never pursued the traces of humans. To him, being human was his identity, but the Mirror Domain was his root.

Angel understood this emotion as well. After all, being born and raised in a place, feelings naturally take root there, and it’s entirely normal.

The only pity is...

”If he had pursued his parents’ return to their homeland just a bit, traveled back to the Southern Domain... if only he left the Mirror Domain, he could have dreamed again.”

But alas, he never considered leaving the Mirror Domain.

However, this is a statement Angel could only make from God’s View. As an active participant, Alan never realized the problem wasn’t with himself, but that the world was sick.

...

After discussing Alan’s matter, Laplace noticed a trace of fatigue in Angel’s eyes and suggested he take a break.

Coincidentally, the groups appearing on the main display platform had nothing particularly interesting to observe.

He could simply rest his eyes, relying solely on listening.

When something intriguing arises, he could open his eyes and watch.

With this thought, Angel closed his eyes for a short rest.

Meanwhile, Laplace connected through mind synchronization with Glaipnir, directing her to place an order for ’Light Swan’ and ’Evil Abyss’ from the Head Mirror Clan using the display catalogue.

Although Glaipnir was preparing for her stage appearance, these small tasks wouldn’t affect her at all. Furthermore, with Gutalace beside her, she let Gutalace assist in making the contact.

With Gutalace’s standing, there’s probably no need to wait for the exhibition to end; she’d likely have ’Light Swan’ and ’Evil Abyss’ in hand already.

And indeed, when Gutalace used her display catalogue to contact the Head Mirror Clan, they reacted with a thoroughly flattered demeanor. Without much need for Gutalace to speak, they immediately dispatched people to deliver ’Light Swan’ and ’Evil Abyss’ to the area of the Divine Eye Tribe.

Angel, upon hearing this, couldn’t help but marvel at why there are always people who yearn for privilege.

Having privilege indeed makes many things convenient.

Even the Crystalline spent on purchasing ”Light Swan” and ”Evil Abyss,” was much cheaper than the normal price.

Although ”Light Swan” and ”Evil Abyss” have been purchased, it’s not the time to pull them into the Crystal Origin of Dreams; for now, let Glaipnir keep them safe, and this matter can be temporarily put to rest.

Angel continued to lean back on the sofa with his eyes closed, listening to the various product presentations on the display stand while privately chatting with Laplace.

Just then, a sudden sound of footsteps was heard outside the Dog House.

Upon hearing it, Little Red immediately put down the food in her hand, donned her mask, and rushed outside the Dog House.

Soon, a cacophony of noises erupted from outside.

Angel didn’t know what was happening outside, but he noticed that the Dog Deacon, curled up on the claw-shaped pillow, didn’t even turn around, indicating that it might not be anything significant outside.

About two or three minutes later, the large group of footsteps outside started to fade away.

Then Little Red entered, holding an oval mirror.

The mirror in Little Red’s hands didn’t have anything special on its own, but on the mirror’s surface, several human figures could be seen sitting stiffly as if they were prisoners in a cage who had lost hope.

Perhaps noticing Angel’s gaze, Little Red explained: ”Brother Cat, this is the Empty-hearted People I just bought from the Mirror Sea Scholar... do you want to take a look?”

Angel: ”Empty-hearted People? Are they humans?”

Little Red shook her head: ”No humans this time, just humanoids. I need to identify the specific type of humanoids, which is why the investigator gave these Empty-hearted People to me.”

These delivered Empty-hearted People, to put it plainly, are the future backbone workforce of Everything House.

Everything House bought Empty-hearted People to train them. Just like the investigators outside now, who were all cultivated by Everything House from scratch.

However, before training them, it’s necessary to roughly determine their origins to prevent future issues.

And determining their origins, that’s Little Red’s job.

After learning about the situation, Angel politely declined the invitation to ”view” them.

Not being humans and not knowing where these humanoids come from, and all being Empty-hearted People... Angel really couldn’t find a reason to watch them.

Seeing that Angel wasn’t interested, Little Red didn’t say more. She put the mirror away, returned to the table, and continued counting the growing Magic Marrow Meat, enjoying her meal happily.

At this point, a small tribe took the main display stand. They weren’t presenting specific items but rather a concept of multi-person cultivation.

In Angel’s understanding, the idea was about gathering people to collectively absorb Aggregation Energy, creating some sort of resonance to accelerate the cultivation process.

Angel wasn’t very interested in this concept...notably, neither were most of the Mirror World tribes.

Because this accelerated cultivation has a cap, it might be useful to small tribes with low Aggregation Energy concentrations; however, to tribes living in the Immortal Mirror Sea, this mosquito leg isn’t worth noticing.

The descending heat bar showed everyone’s disapproval of this concept.

But the person on stage didn’t seem to mind, continuing to talk passionately. From his speaking style, it seemed he wouldn’t stop until the next tribe took the stage.

Taking this opportunity, Angel and Laplace began to discuss the topic of ”Empty-hearted People.”

Not only because of the influence of the Empty-hearted People in Little Red’s mirror, but Angel himself was very interested in Empty-hearted People.

He understood the principle of Empty-hearted People: intelligent beings falling into the Sea of Void Mirror have their Spirit Intelligence washed away, becoming Empty-hearted People or Empty-hearted creatures.

But he never knew the origin of the Empty-hearted People.

Or rather, how did Empty-hearted People come to the Sea of Void Mirror?

He knew Empty-hearted People could be artificially created, such as Adanis throwing the members of the Noah Clan into the Sea of Void Mirror, creating Empty-hearted People.

But aside from human-caused Empty-hearted People, where did the other Empty-hearted People come from?

Before becoming Empty-hearted People, they all existed in their own worlds, so how did they suddenly end up in the Sea of Void Mirror?

Facing Angel’s confusion, Laplace didn’t hold back and directly said: ”The sources of Empty-hearted People generally divide into four categories.”

”The first category involves being deliberately thrown into the Sea of Void Mirror due to enmity, interests, or other reasons, turning into Empty-hearted People.”

”The Empty-hearted People of the Noah Clan you mentioned belong to this category. However, it’s not just the Noah Clan; in the Daylight Mirror Domain, this situation isn’t rare.”

Many people intentionally toss individuals into the Sea of Void Mirror to hide certain secrets, leaving them to turn into Empty-hearted People.

The Sea of Void Mirror has become the perfect hiding spot for some evils.

In reality, achieving a perfect crime is difficult. But in the Mirror Domain, one can achieve a perfect crime through the Sea of Void Mirror.

Even if the Empty-hearted people are retrieved, it’s tough to find any intelligence from them.

”Second type, being swept into the Sea of Void Mirror by a Void disaster.”

Many Void disasters can disrupt space.

If chaos occurs in space, there is a high chance that ’external objects’ might fall into a ’special world’ because the special world can almost cover the entire Pan-Dimensional Plane.

If ’external objects’ are drawn into the Mirror Domain by chaotic void, there’s a high probability they will drop into the Sea of Void Mirror.

That’s because the Sea of Void Mirror spreads beneath all Mirror Domains.

These ’external objects,’ including life and other inorganic entities, when emerging from chaotic space, might fall into a stupor regardless of their strength. Once unconscious, even if they entered a high place in the Mirror Domain, they would eventually fall into the Sea of Void Mirror.

The most typical example is Dudubi, formerly known as Yagluo, the ”Mirror of the Ebbing Tide.”

Dudubi was embedded into some entity, fell from chaotic space into the Mirror Domain, and ultimately was retrieved by the Mirror Sea Scholar.

”The third type, accidentally entering the Sea of Void Mirror.” As Laplace said this, he sighed softly: ”This category is the most unfortunate.”

The ”sea surface” of the Sea of Void Mirror will reflect various images of the Pan-Dimensional Plane, and in a certain sense, corresponds to mirrors in reality.

Generally, it just corresponds, not connecting.

However, if an unknown accident occurred, and by chance, circumstances caused a connection between the reality mirror and the Mirror Domain, any creature very unfortunately entering this mirror would most likely fall into the Sea of Void Mirror and become an Empty-hearted Person.

This probability is extremely low, but it exists.

It can be said to be the most unlucky example.