Chapter 1341 In the Dream
After regaining her senses, Audrey maintained her faint smile as she became wary.
She could vaguely feel a mysterious force pus.h.i.+ng her to Hartlarkh, the village with the tradition of dragon-wors.h.i.+p.
This was like an arrangement of fate.
Audrey had once entered the Hall of Truth, and she discovered that the murals inside had turned into reality. Furthermore, she knew that the Spectator pathway’s Sequence 1 was Author. From this name, she had made some connections, so it was inevitable for her to suspect that something was amiss.
At this moment, Hibbert laughed.
“I’ve heard of this village. I remember that our family has a manor nearby.”
As he spoke, he looked up at the sky.
“It’s almost evening. Why don’t we stay there and continue hunting tomorrow?”
Alfred wasn’t opposed to his elder brother’s suggestion. To him, staying the night at whichever manor was essentially the same.
He nodded and said, “Send someone back to inform Father and Mother.”
Audrey didn’t say a word. Her green eyes turned slightly, and her gaze swept across the faces of her two brothers.
Hibbert’s brows immediately furrowed as he said, “I think it’s best we return. This manor wasn’t informed in advance, so they definitely weren’t prepared. Perhaps there’s no way for them to service so many horses, hounds, and servants.
“Besides, there’s still an hour before the evening. There’s enough time for us to return.”
When Alfred saw his brother change his mind so quickly, he wanted to act contrary to him. However, on second thought, he felt that what his brother said made sense.
Considering that his sister was also here, he tersely agreed and said, “Then let’s head back quickly.”
With that said, he didn’t wait for Hibbert. Squeezing at the horse’s side and brandis.h.i.+ng the horsewhip, he led the way.
Hibbert frowned, then relaxed.
Without saying anything else, he led his sister, the group of attendants, servants, and hounds, and turned around, following the edge of the forest and returning to a manor on the other side.
Audrey quietly followed behind him, not expressing her opinion on the development of the matter.
…
Late at night, in a manor in East Chester County.
Having used her Manipulator powers to change the thoughts of her two brothers to prevent them from approaching Hartlarkh, Audrey lifted the velvet blanket and crawled into bed, entering a deep sleep.
In her reverie, she suddenly sat up.
She then looked around and saw the familiar dressing table and the bathroom entrance. She realized that she was still in the room, but the crimson moon outside the window was gone. There were no stars, only darkness.
This isn’t the real world… Audrey instantly made a judgment and inspected herself.
Soon, she came to a conclusion:
This was a dream. It was a rather strange dream that made her remain lucid.
It’s really here… Audrey didn’t feel any panic. She was just a little vexed.
She hadn’t handled the development properly in the afternoon, which led to the problem extending to the manor where her parents were.
In hindsight, she believed that she should’ve followed Hibbert’s idea and headed straight to the family manor near Hartlarkh. Then, she could reasonably “arrange” for Hibbert and Alfred to return here, leaving her to stay behind and wait for any possible developments.
This way, even if anything happened, it wouldn’t affect their parents, brothers, and most of the servants.
However, at that time, her main goal wasn’t to follow the arrangement of fate. As long as she could avoid Hartlarkh, she would try her best to avoid it.
To her surprise, danger would, at times, spring on you even if you didn’t seek it out.
To avoid it and stall for time wasn’t a universal solution.
Audrey immediately got off the bed and stood barefoot on the thick carpet.
She had already confirmed that, with her level of a demiG.o.d as a Dreamwalker, she could directly escape this strange dream and return to the real world, avoiding the suspected “invitation” once more.
After looking around, Audrey pursed her lips, removed the blue cloak hanging on the clothes rack beside her, and wore it.
She took a deep breath and walked towards the door.
During this process, a crimson star “tattoo” appeared on the back of her hand.
The “tattoo” vanished as though it had never appeared.
This was the mark left on her after her first entry into the ancient palace above the gray fog. For a very long time, it hadn’t shown any special traits. It was only at the beginning of this year that Mr. Fool informed them that in situations in which they couldn’t pray, they could use the triggering of the corresponding “tattoo” to skip the chanting of the honorific name.
Simply put, this was a treatment that a Blessed of a deity enjoyed.
Of course, there was no way to transmit any information. It could only be used in critical situations, allowing Mr. Fool to cast “His” gaze over.
And more importantly, the star-like crimson mark was rather eye-catching. It could be easily discovered by others and people who were secretly monitoring them. Therefore, under a situation where she needed to hide her uniqueness, Audrey was more inclined to use the various abilities of a Manipulator to implant the idea of praying to Mr. Fool to some inconspicuous human nearby. She got them to complete the prayer at suitable times and locations and pray for her protection.
At this moment, she believed that the owner of the dreamscape knew that she was problematic, so she felt that there was no need to go through all that trouble. All she needed to do was to hide the ent.i.ty she was praying to.
When she reached the door, Audrey reached out for the handle and gently twisted it before pulling it backward.
The slightly dark corridor entered her vision.
The main building of this manor had a history of over a hundred years. Many places still had their former characteristics, especially the corridor section. It didn’t have any gas lamps, and the walls were decorated with candle stands made of silver or copper. There were countless candles placed on them, emitting a dim yellow light that illuminated the entire corridor and creating all kinds of shadows. They gave a feeling that a phantasm might appear on the corridor at any moment.
Even this has been replicated in the dreamscape … Audrey looked around and entered the corridor.
As this thought flashed across her mind, a long, thick pale-yellow carpet appeared beneath her feet.
Stepping on the carpet, Audrey followed her spiritual intuition and walked to the right.
After taking two or three steps, she suddenly stopped. She felt as if there was something hidden behind the two tightly shut doors, giving her a strong desire to explore.
This is Father and Mother’s bedroom. That is Hibbert’s room. That is Alfred’s room… Audrey made a slight note of it and frowned.
The ancient doors with relief were extremely mysterious under the dim candlelight. It made one eager to know what was hidden behind them.
As her thoughts raced, Audrey suddenly understood what they represented in a dream.
This was the door to the mind world. Behind each door was the mind world of their owner.
In other words, after Audrey pushed open Alfred’s door, she would see the various secrets hidden deep in his heart.
By the same logic, she could pry into the secrets of Lord Hall and Lady Catelyn.
She slowly retracted her gaze. Audrey closed her eyes and continued walking forward, preventing herself from being affected.
After all her experiences, she gradually understood a principle:
A demiG.o.d in the mind domain needed to control themselves and respect others.
Under the premise that she could read people’s true thoughts through their body language, facial expressions, and emotional fluctuations, if she wasn’t satisfied, she could greedily explore the inner thoughts of others and dig out their secrets. In the end, she would suffer a backlash.
This was a very simple principle: Everyone had some darkness in them in varying amounts or nasty thoughts. However, they had control over them, preventing them from affecting their actions. Under such circ.u.mstances, if a demiG.o.d in the mind domain still insisted on digging these thoughts and dug out the ugly parts under the mask, it was very easy for them to be disappointed in human nature, be tainted by all kinds of negative thoughts, gradually becoming crazy without realizing it.
This was also one of the reasons why, despite Spectators being able to “Placate” themselves and treat corresponding mental problems, they were also one of the pathways who would easily go mad or lose their composure.
They were both safe and dangerous.
Therefore, Audrey established rules for herself to observe. She only did observations and read the minds of people she knew. She tried her best not to enter their dreams. This restriction didn’t apply to strangers. If it wasn’t necessary, she wouldn’t enter the mind world of anyone.
Following the corridor, Audrey, who was wearing a blue cloak, reached its end.
She opened her eyes and cast her gaze at the room on the left.
It was a half-open solarium.
Pursing her lips again, Audrey held the door handle with her breathing steady.
As the wooden door opened, the scene inside was gradually revealed.
This was no longer a room. On the ground were round pebbles and bundles of bluish-black weeds. It was so dark deep within that s.p.a.ce that one couldn’t see clearly.
Audrey slowly walked in and closed the door behind her.
In the darkness, the silhouettes of some objects were quickly outlined.
A huge stone pillar that was tens of meters tall stood there. There was a tall lizard-like monster situated above it.
The monster was squatting at the top of the stone pillar like a tiny mountain. Its body was covered with huge grayish-white stone scales, and its eyes were pale-fold and vertical.
This was a mind dragon as spoken in myths.
With a whoosh, the two wings of the mind dragon spread open, almost covering the entire sky.
Their bones were like metallic leaf veins, covered with a gray membrane with mysterious patterns.
As Audrey looked up, the mind dragon emitted a buzzing sound:
“You’ve been to Liveseyd.”
Without a doubt, it used Dragonese.
City of Miracles, Liveseyd… How does it know… Just as Audrey had these two thoughts, she heard the mind dragon say, “Everyone’s consciousness in one’s heart will make a certain exchange with the sea of collective subconscious. And for a unique place like Liveseyd, it likewise left a special impression in you. When your Virtual Persona roams the sea of collective subconscious and isn’t too far from me, I can naturally sense this.”
This exceeds the limits of my abilities, and it’s not something a Dreamweaver can do… This mind dragon corresponds to a Sequence 2 Discerner? “He” actually didn’t directly control me… As Audrey’s thoughts flashed, the mind dragon spoke again.
“I’m sure you don’t have any ill intentions at the moment.”
Audrey fell silent for two seconds before looking up and asking, “Aren’t you worried that it’s a trap?”