Chapter 162: Dream Domain. Desolate Door (2 in 1)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“I wonder if I’ll be able to replenish my food in the dream. Otherwise, using the dream to digest the food is also a valid way. Since the dream world and the real world have a huge difference in time, it’s something I can use.” Sweat as large as peas appeared all over Tang Ling and converged into streams before they then rolled down and dripped onto the floor.
Tang Ling ignored his sweat as he continued his digestion with the eating method Su Yao taught him.
Every single action that he made was painful. It was as if his internals were being ripped apart, but he had gotten used to it. The Level 3 vicious beast meat was stronger, so the Level 2 vicious beast meat was considered mild.
Hence, Tang Ling retained the ability to think and calculate in the most effective way.
From his Precise Instinct, he knew in a blurry sense that 100 grams of Level 2 vicious beast meat could only provide energy equal to 1/20th of what the same amount of Level 3 vicious beast meat could provide. It seemed like the difference in level was huge. Would he be able to deduce how powerful the vicious beast was based on these mere numbers?
Due to the huge difference, he was able to digest the 100 grams of vicious beast meat quicker than expected.
When Tang Ling was released from his weakened state, it had only been 11 minutes. He removed his s.h.i.+rt and took a closer look at the countdown timer on his arm. He still had 18 minutes left before entering the dream, but his body and the seed still did not feel full at all.
Therefore, Tang Ling grabbed more Level 2 vicious beast meat jerky from his pouch. He took a little bit more than the previous round, but he dared not risk it. It was only around 20 grams more than the previous time.
He put it in his mouth, chewed it as vigorously as he could and swallowed it. He then repeated his eating method before the tremendous pain wrapped him whole once again.
If the rest of the Fierce Dragon Squad was here, they would understand why Tang Ling was so much stronger than them. He endured extreme pain every time. The extent of the pain could even defeat a Leceister silverback bear, a king beast that was a few times stronger than humans instantly, yet Tang Ling did not even lose his breath. He tortured himself again and again.
He did not mind as he was only concerned about the question that popped in his mind earlier: if he could use the time advantage in the dream to boost his power.
It was not entirely impossible, but several conditions must be met before he could pull it off.
Firstly, the dream must not start with killing and fighting that would last till the end. Then, he would be able to squeeze some time out to do this.
Secondly, the dream world reflected reality. Circ.u.mstances like injuries and death would be reflected on his body, so would it then reflect everything in the dream world back to reality? If it really could, this idea of his could really work.
This time around, in order to bring his weapons to the dream, Tang Ling instinctively powered himself up, so he purposely brought all the Level 2 vicious beast meat with him. If he could consume all 2.5 kgs of vicious beast meat in a single dream, it would be a huge temptation for him, and he was eager to try it out.
Time was slipping away as he bathed in pain.
Once again, the Level 2 vicious beast meat was digested, and his weakened state made it difficult for him to even sit properly. Slowly, the weakened state faded and his body started to recover.
But when will the dream start? Tang Ling widened his eyes. He really wanted to know how the dream world would bring him in. He could not forget the indistinguishable trance that he went through when he entered the dream last time.
This time around, the bright lights in the training room blinked several times before the whole room turned dark.
How can the staff of the Tower be this careless? How are the lights faulty in this kind of place?!
Tang Ling was complaining in his heart, but it was too late to ask the staff to check the lights now. The sudden darkness heightened the anxiety in his heart. He stood up and wanted to flip the switch to see whether he could turn the lights back on.
Slowly, he felt his way to the door, but just before he reached the door, he sensed a dim light behind him.
Tang Ling vigilantly turned around and saw a black door that had appeared on the wall. Countless light particles were coming out from the seam of the door and floating into the dark room.
Tang Ling was shocked. A-am I in the dream now?!
In fact, he could not really explain what happened around him except that he had entered the dream without even realizing it.
“This is really smart.” Tang Ling shook his head as if he surrendered to his fate. He made his way to the front of the little black door.
The door looked very intricate with carvings on the plank that Tang Ling could not understand. The handle with a jade-like l.u.s.ter was very eye-catching.
Excited and nervous, he put his hands on the handle and gripped it tightly.
At that moment, a strange thought popped up in his head. Does every other Dream Seed enter the dream world through this door or is it only me?
There was no reason for the thought. The question itself was strange and meaningless.
Therefore, Tang Ling did not ponder upon it. He took a deep breath and strongly pulled the door open. The moment the door opened, blinding light gushed in. He instinctively raised his hand over his eyes and lowered his head.
When he slowly recovered his sight, he realized that both the door that he was holding and the training room behind him were all gone.
He was standing on a s.p.a.cious ground covered with old green bricks, and in front of the s.p.a.cious ground was a huge, endless city surrounded by black walls.
There was mist above the city. Even though the black walls were only around ten meters tall, the buildings behind the walls remained shadowy. The only thing visible was a towering mountain peak in the center of the city. It was not affected by the mist and stood out brazenly before Tang Ling’s eyes.
At first glance, a strong feeling popped up within Tang Ling. The mountain peak was the goal of the dream world.
Right after the feeling appeared, it rooted itself deep in his mind and did not budge anymore.
However, the mountain peak looked very strange. It resembled a tower, but upside down, the closer the peak was, the wider it got; the lower the bottom was, the narrower it got.
Since the bottom of the mountain was drowned in buildings, Tang Ling could not get a clearer look.
“If the peak of this mountain is the goal, then why hasn’t anyone reached the peak even though the dream world has been around for more than 150 years? It doesn’t look that far, and the longest interval between the entry to the dream is either one to two years. Hmm…” Tang Ling was not in a hurry to move out as he stood on the old s.p.a.cious land, gazing out at the misty city and pondering upon the questions.
However, it seemed like he would not be able to get an answer by thinking on the spot.
At the same time, the loud clunk of a bell sounded, echoing throughout the s.p.a.cious land. The surroundings of the black wall immediately cleared up, and a huge red door slowly appeared on the wall opposite Tang Ling.
Another door? Is it telling me to go into the city?
The mark of the Dream Seed started to burn without a sign and an emotionless voice entered Tang Ling’s ears. “Open the Desolate Door in ten minutes and enter the Dream Domain. Those who fail to enter the door within the stipulated time will be disqualified, and the mark of the Dream Seed will be taken away.”
“Is it that serious?” Tang Ling dared not linger any longer after hearing the voice. He sprinted towards the giant red door.
Even though the voice sounded serious, Tang Ling was not overly nervous. He was only less than 200 meters from the red door, and with his sprinting speed, he could reach the door in less than a minute, let alone ten.
Maybe it’s difficult to open the door. That was the second thought Tang Ling had, but after he sprinted for some distance, his carefree att.i.tude disappeared. No matter how fast he sprinted towards the big red door, his Precise Instinct told him that he was not moving closer to the door at all.
Shocked, Tang Ling had no idea what was going on. There was not a single hint from the Dream Seed mark either.
“Am I approaching it the wrong way?” Tang Ling stopped running and tried other ways of approaching, but he found the thought ridiculous. If he could not get close by running, how could he get there by walking?
Tang Ling started to feel nervous as he could not grasp onto a single hint at the moment.
So, is this the difficulty of a real dream? Is this why no one is able to reach the goal in the past 150 years? How could a simple entrance mission be this difficult? How did the others pa.s.s the entrance mission in the past?
Many thoughts in his mind gradually calmed him down. He realized it might be because of his reverence of the dream world that made him lose his senses, hence messing up a simple entrance mission.
All things could be a.n.a.lyzed. The dream world itself existed to select a Dream Seed that could reach the end. It was not to deliberately put the Dream Seeds in a difficult position and disqualify them along the way.
Besides, every Dream Seed had different strength levels, but they were all weak from the beginning. If the dream world was this vast, the mission difficulty must be closer to the strength level of the Dream Seed.
In other words, all missions could be cleared with the right method. There must be a silver thread of hope lying somewhere.
The most important thing was to grasp the silver thread of…hope!
With that thought in mind, Tang Ling’s furrowed brows slowly eased. Soon, the uncertainty in his eyes was replaced by a determined gaze.
Yes, this must be it!
After he finally calmed down, the ingenious Tang Ling quickly grasped onto a single important point, and if his theory was correct…
With a calm gaze, he started to run again, but unlike his previous attempt, he did not maintain a constant running speed this time. He ran quicker and quicker and his legs moved faster and faster to the point that they were almost blurred out.
“It’s not the limit yet. Faster!”
“It’s still not the limit yet. I can be faster!”
The right way to run was to maintain stable movement and breath steadily. Only then could one run longer.
However, it was impossible to maintain steady breathing when running at one’s limit. Running beyond one’s limit required one to be at an explosive state at all times.
Therefore, Tang Ling’s breath was messy. Based on his current condition, he already felt tired after running for half a minute and his face started to turn red.
Nevertheless, he was able to run beyond his limit, and it was the extra few steps that allowed him to approach the big red door with almost 40 meters in one stride.
“My theory is right!” Tang Ling smirked. With the right method, he would be able to make it.
Indeed, the whole dream world was built on a single concept—testing. He had to reach the end goal through all sorts of tests.
Since it was all a test, as long as he could grasp the core of the test, he would be able to understand the mission easily.
Opening the Desolate Door in ten minutes might seem straightforward, but it was also a huge test. The distance between him and the door tested his speed while opening the door would test his strength.
Then, in the process of approaching the door, he could only truly get close with his maximum speed.
Tang Ling’s theory was correct.
It was impossible for humans to maintain maximum speed for a long period of time, but with a specific direction, it was no longer a problem.
Tang Ling kept adjusting himself in the sprint. Every step that he ran went beyond his limit and he would get a lot closer to the door.
In the end, although he was given ten minutes for the mission, after he mastered the method, he managed to stand in front of the door in less than three minutes. He did not simply touch the bra.s.s studs embedded on the door though.
The door displayed a strong ancient Huaxia architecture style.
Standing in front of the door, he quickly adjusted his breath and strolled around to recover his heartbeat. The water bottle that he carried with him finally came to play. Staying hydrated appropriately and reasonably after strenuous exercise was a great help towards recovering stamina.
Stamina was unlike speed and would be consumed accordingly. Without stamina, there would be no strength. Pus.h.i.+ng the door multiple times without giving it his best would result in failure.
Therefore, the only way to open the door was to open it in a single attempt.
After his heartbeat and breath stabilized, Tang Ling sat down in front of the door. He thought of two ways to open the door.
First, he could open it with explosive strength from the start.
Second, he could slowly increase his strength and ultimately open the door with his full might.
After some thoughts about the options, Tang Ling decided to go with the second way. Explosive strength was unreliable as its numbers would fluctuate greatly due to all sorts of reasons.
When his decision was made, Tang Ling stood up to take a deep breath. Then, he put both his hands on the big red door.
He pushed and slowly increased his strength. With his Precise Instinct in his mind, he was able to feel how much strength was he exerting. His Precise Instinct allowed him to control his strength steadily, so he would not overexert his strength all of a sudden and cause the numbers in his mind to fluctuate.
Plus, Tang Ling already had great control over his body and muscles, so this door-pus.h.i.+ng mission was not that difficult.
Following the increase in his strength, the great red Desolate Door finally opened with a bang after his strength reached his personal limit.
The time used for the mission was 4 minutes and 47 seconds.
Tang Ling swung his aching arms. Was it time to finally have a glimpse of the so-called Dream Domain?
Unfortunately, no.
After he stepped through the door, a thick mist welcomed him. The mist felt very dense as if it was sticky liquid flowing around him. Tang Ling could not see a thing inside.
At that very moment, a warm but gloomy voice echoed in Tang Ling’s ears. “Yo, congratulations! How long has it been since an S-rank entry mission? 10 years? 20 years? 60 years?”
Instinctively, Tang Ling swung his arm and the Wolf Crunch that he hid in his sleeve appeared in his hand.
The dream reflected reality and vice versa. From the moment he stepped into the dream, he noticed that all his things were with him. The information that Su Yao had provided never felt this important.
Alas, would he run into an enemy this fast?
A figure slowly walked out from the watery mist, and it seemed like the figure had the ability to see through the mist. As the figure walked closer, Tang Ling was able to make out the contour of a man.
The man was tall at approximately 1.9 meters. Bright l.u.s.ter shone across his black long hair as if it was black silk as it waved freely behind the man.
The black long hair reminded Tang Ling of a person—Kun.
However, the man that appeared before him was not Kun. The man looked a lot friendlier than the lazy and unusually arrogant Kun. His smile was sincere and his bright eyes smiled like crescent moons.
He was wearing a long gray robe with his hands hidden in the sleeves. It looked like a cotton robe and Tang Ling could not understand the many totem icons sewn on it using a concealed sewing technique.
He stopped 5 meters away from Tang Ling.
Tang Ling was never a person who would be enchanted by looks, so he raised the Wolf Crunch up and asked in a heavy tone, “Who are you?”
The man smiled even brighter as one of his hands came out from the big sleeves and two s.h.i.+ny light particles appeared above his palm all of a sudden like he was holding two stars.
Tang Ling had a strong impression of the s.h.i.+ny light particles which were only as big as a coin each—Dream Coins. Those were the Dream Coins that he dreamt of day and night!
“I am the guide of the Dream Domain. You can call me Liu He. I won’t always appear in the dream and not every Dream Seed has the opportunity to see me.
“Um…to be more precise, the majority of the Dream Seeds have never seen me before but have heard of my existence. None of those are of importance. The important thing is that you are the fifth Dream Seed that has completed the S-rank entry mission, and on top of that, you are the fastest of all. So, I am here to present you with two Dream Coins before you start your adventure. That’s it.”
After his words subsided, two starry Dream Coins floated up from Liu He’s hands and flew to Tang Ling who instinctively reached out to them. Instantly, the two s.h.i.+ny light particles flew into his hands.