Chapter 57: Dream Seed Ensnaring Master
After this incident, Qiu Ren was officially hired by the Central Research Inst.i.tute as an intern.
Even though he was just an intern, he had access to everything he wanted. On the Dream Dungeon construction project, the Central Research Inst.i.tute was definitely willing to offer support to Qiu Ren whenever he asked for it.
After all, Qiu Ren had to raise two Lords of Nightmare and a Level S Dream Seed right now. If the three of them didn’t eat enough, they might tear the entire city down.
Qiu Ren’s “intern” status also allowed him to visit some cla.s.sified facilities in the Central Research Inst.i.tute.
These secret facilities included the place where the only Level SS Dream Seed in the Celestial Empire was located.
Qiu Ren was brought here by Director Lu as “a student he had great expectations for.” Qiu Ren felt like Director Lu wanted him to know the truth about this world.
It was something he might not be able to learn in college.
Kan Shaoni also accompanied him here. Her current role was more like Qiu Ren’s bodyguard or nanny.
She had hated these a.s.signments before. Being a bodyguard of a child was a total waste of her ability as an elite Dream Explorer.
However, it turned out some Level S nightmare incidents always happened when she stayed with Qiu Ren. As an elite Dream Explorer, she was swamped because of the invasion of the Dream Eaters.
Coming to the core area of the Central Research Inst.i.tute with Qiu Ren right now was a rare holiday for Kan Shaoni.
Director Lu took Qiu Ren and Kan Shaoni to the core of the Central Research Inst.i.tute. The security measures here were as strict as those in a nuclear a.r.s.enal.
“It’s much larger… than I expected.”
Under Director Lu’s lead, Qiu Ren finally saw the literal… treasure of the country, the only Level SS Dream Seed in the Celestial Empire.
This Dream Seed carrying the world of Journey to the West was so enormous that it occupied the entire interior of the building. The Dream Seed had a pale gold metallic color. Some words, which Qiu Ren couldn’t understand, were glimmering on the surface.
“Qiu Ren, do you know any ways of obtaining Dream Seeds?”
Director Lu asked him a question that students in this world could already learn in high school.
“From a high-level Dream Seed?”
While Qiu Ren answered the question, he kept looking at the busy researchers of the Central Research Inst.i.tute.
Some pale golden fragments constantly fell off the surface of this Level SS Dream Seed. It wasn’t quite appropriate to use the phrase ‘fall off,’ though. It was more like the normal metabolism of a living creature.
The researchers in the Central Research Inst.i.tute were busy collecting and packing these golden pieces… to put them into the market.
If Qiu Ren was right, these piles of golden fragments that were sent away with carts were Level E Dream Seeds of the lowest quality.
So, this was why the Level E Dream Seeds in the market were so cheap.
Dream Seeds of this level were like the Monkey King’s hair. There were so many of them that they had to be moved box by box using a cart.
So, the Central Research Inst.i.tute was pulling out the Monkey King’s hair?
“This is one of the ways. When a Level S Dream Seed becomes stable, it can produce several Level E Dream Seeds every day. The Nightmare Seeds that the Dream Explorers bring back from a nightmare after fighting on the front line of nightmare purification can reach Level D to Level B.”
Director Lu nodded at Kan Shaoni. Ever since Battle Royale went online, the productivity of the Dream Seed in Fengdu Prison had improved a lot.
However, the power of the Lord of Nightmare had a gradual increase. For the Celestial Empire, this was something they had to observe for a while before they could determine if it was a good or a bad thing.
“Level A and Level S Dream Seeds can only be found by exploring and excavating places around the world. This is similar to the profession of archaeology. However, neither Dream Seeds nor Nightmare Seeds have such a long history.”
Director Lu gave Qiu Ren a tablet for internal use in the Central Research Inst.i.tute. Qiu Ren was quite familiar with it. On the tablet, there was the record of the entire discovery process of Lian the Lord of Nightmare… and its children.
S07, which was Lian the Lord of Nightmare, was an entire population found by the Celestial Empire in the Arctic Circle… near the border of Northern Europe. The population included several Level A and Level B Nightmare Seeds and a large number of children at Level C and Level D.
The record of the discovery process was kept by an anonymous investigator. At first, the explorers weren’t quite disturbed by the nightmares brought by this Lord of Nightmare.
“Forty years ago, the whole world started to find Dream Seeds one by one in different places. The history of these Dream Seeds doesn’t seem so long indeed… It’s just not mentioned in textbooks where these Dream Seeds were before these forty years or why they showed up in our world.”
When Qiu Ren came to this world, he had also searched for a lot of relevant information on the Internet. Unfortunately, all he found were unproven guesses.
“We can’t say that they appeared. The most appropriate word is ‘arrived,’” Director Lu said as he swiped the tablet in Qiu Ren’s hands. He showed Qiu Ren another very interesting doc.u.ment.
This doc.u.ment recorded the map of the distribution of Level A and Level S Dream Seeds that had been discovered so far. The genres of these Level A and Level S Dream Seeds were also mentioned.
Perhaps it was a coincidence or other factors, but the birthplaces of multiple Level S Dream Seeds with the same genre were close to each other.
For example, the first three Level S Dream Seeds in the Celestial Empire all had the wilderness genre, which was suitable for making productions with Xianxia or Martial Arts themes.
The United States also had three, and they all had the genre of science fiction and superpowers. They were great for creating superheroes.
Europe had slightly more varieties. There were Level S Dream Seeds with the above two genres and also the fantasy and magic genre in Europe. They had been carved up by the European countries, and a couple of them were even sent overseas.
“Dream Seeds attract each other?”
This thought came out of nowhere when Qiu Ren looked at the report.
“In fact… Nightmare Seeds attract each other as well if they originate from the same world,”
Director Lu said as he took out a new file. “Qiu Ren, you should know that signs of established civilization in the past could be seen in the dream dimension where the Lord of Nightmare S07 and its children are in. At first…”
What Director Lu took out was research on the styles of Lian’s armor and some doc.u.ments found in the dream dimension of its children.
“I know that.”
When Qiu Ren had met his dog back then, the place where it was should be the fragments of a battlefield.
“According to our research, the Lord of Nightmare S07 once lived in a complete world. For some reason, the world came to an… end. Young people should like this description more. In the end, it shattered into Nightmare Seeds and arrived in our world. S07 and most of her children have signs of amnesia. As Dream Makers, we’re reconstructing an environment that they can live in so that they can forget about their nightmares,” said Director Lu.
“The pieces mean that… they can still be put together completely?”
Qiu Ren also responded very quickly. Director Lu had given him so much information, but the main point was that even a Level S Dream Seed could be a piece from a higher level dream world.
“We’ve only found pieces of S07 and its children at the moment. Even if we discover more… we’d probably have to manage them separately.”
Director Lu didn’t care if Lian was listening to their conversation after Qiu Ren entered into a contract with it. Even if it did, the Central Research Inst.i.tute would still separate it and its children.
“The thing is, the one in front of your eyes is also incomplete.”
Director Lu’s words made Qiu Ren, who was playing with the tablet, and Kan Shaoni, who was peeping at Qiu Ren play with the tablet, look up almost at the same time… They gazed at the treasure of the country in front of them.
“A part of the world of Journey to the West is also missing?”
Qiu Ren asked in confusion, which put a smile on Director Lu’s face. He pointed at the bottom right corner of this Dream Seed.
There was a part that was obviously inlaid. It even felt a bit hot.
“This is the Level S Dream Seed of Yang Jian, Erlang Shen, and this one is Jiang Ziya, Mr. Flying Bear…”
Director Lu pointed at the surface of this Level SS Dream Seed accordingly.
These two mythological and historical figures sounded very familiar to Qiu Ren. They also had their own individual drama series and movies in the Celestial Empire.
They just weren’t as popular as the Monkey King.
“Two are still missing?”
Qiu Ren saw two giant dents on the Dream Seed where Director Lu pointed.
“Yes. Our exploration team still hasn’t found them after searching all over the world.” Director Lu shook his head in frustration.
“Are all the other Level S Dream Seeds in the Celestial Empire incompatible with each other?” Qiu Ren felt like one of the spots should belong to Nezha.
“No. Among all the other six Level S Dream Seeds in the Celestial Empire, three make the world of the Three Kingdoms, while the other three are individual world productions that fend for themselves,” Director Lu said.
Qiu Ren had also seen the map of the Three Kingdoms formed by those three Level S Dream Seeds. It corresponded to the mythical version of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu.
They had extended productions, including games, drama series, and movies, which was very exciting… When Qiu Ren first came here, he was obsessed with them for a while.
“So…”
Qiu Ren felt like Director Lu was the chief of the Novice Area. After introducing so many background settings, he looked at Qiu Ren with a smile, as if he was saying, “I’m going to give you a mission.”
“Recently, we’ve observed that there may be several high-level Dream Seeds arriving in the European regions. Qiu Ren, after you construct a new dream, the Central Research Inst.i.tute can sponsor you to study abroad in Europe for some time if you’re interested.”
In fact, Director Lu said this only because he treated Qiu Ren as his own. All the specialized teams of the Central Research Inst.i.tute had already prepared for the arrival of the new Dream Seeds.
“So… what’s the exact way of getting those Dream Seeds?” After all, he couldn’t just catch them with Poké b.a.l.l.s, right?
“Ensnaring them? This is a better word to describe it. When the Dream Seeds arrive, they’ll be attracted by the current Dream Dungeons. If you can build an extremely popular superhero-type Dream Dungeon and there’s a Dream Seed that’s also suitable for the superhero genre, it’ll appear somewhere near your hands.”
f.u.c.k! They want me to poach talents from other places?
“I’ll… try my best.” Qiu Ren felt that the Central Research Inst.i.tute didn’t just have high hopes for him without any reason.
In the Celestial Empire, only Qiu Ren had this Dream Seed with superhero tendencies. If they really wanted to get ahead of the others, he was their only hope.