Chapter 34: The Birth of Dark Souls
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“I hope… the world you built… can satisfy me.”
The Lord of Nightmare walked down from its throne and stretched out its hand to take the game plan for the Dark Souls series from Qiu Ren.
However, Qiu Ren pulled back the pile of drafts in his hand, avoiding the hand of that Lord of Nightmare.
This action was provoking the Lord of Nightmare. Qiu Ren almost made the hearts of the group of Dream Explorers and researchers out there, who were monitoring the environment inside the nightmare, stop beating.
Especially Kan Shaoni, she was thinking if Qiu Ren was really here to p.i.s.s off that Lord of Nightmare?
The Central Research Inst.i.tute could see the changes inside the Nightmare Seed. This was one of the conditions from the Central Research Inst.i.tute for letting Qiu Ren and the Lord of Nightmare meet.
Meanwhile, a group of staff members in the Central Research Inst.i.tute were keeping an eye on the emotional changes of that Lord of Nightmare and what it did to Qiu Ren. Once there was a possibility that it might rampage, they would take drastic measures.
“Can you take off the gauntlets on your hands?”
Qiu Ren looked at the gauntlets covered with bloodstains on the hands of the Lord of Nightmare. Even though he had no idea if there was a microscopic world in the Nightmare Dungeon, it was better to be a bit more careful.
The Lord of Nightmare remained silent for a while. Then, its gauntlets shattered into light particles. It took the game plan for the Dark Souls series from Qiu Ren with its extremely slender hands that were full of scars.
It read over it seriously, as if it could understand human language and words.
While it was reading, Qiu Ren held his breath and was really nervous. The Dream Explorers and researchers outside were even more anxious than him, though.
The reason for Qiu Ren’s nervousness was, he was worried that the scripts he had spent so much time and effort to write would be rejected.
The Dream Explorers and researchers outside were instead afraid that the Lord of Nightmare would blow the Central Research Inst.i.tute up in anger after rejecting Qiu Ren’s ma.n.u.scripts.
So, Qiu Ren was now a bomb disposal technician, while they were the hostages taken by the Lord of Nightmare. If the bomb exploded, they would die together!
The Lord of Nightmare spent almost twenty minutes reading the whole stack of game plans… that covered the entire Dark Souls series.
Qiu Ren had really been pushing himself to finish the ma.n.u.scripts in this period. He didn’t only write the plan for the Dark Souls Trilogy but had also added many ideas from Bloodborne, Sekiro, and things inherited from Demon’s Souls.
This project plan could be said to have gathered the essence of the Dark Souls series throughout so many years. Qiu Ren drew over two hundred original sketches and designs. The details and drafts were mixed together to form a super large Dark Souls series setting book.
From the design of the main world and the scenes to the character design of the boss and the soldiers, everything was included.
Just by looking at the original drafts, people could already be led into that dark, deep world where they struggled in despair to look for a spark of hope.
After the Lord of Nightmare finished reading the whole framework of the Dark Souls series, it had only one thought left.
“No.” This word sounded from its helmet.
When the researchers outside heard this, they immediately went into a state of emergency.
“Prepare to extract that student from the nightmare!”
“Get ready to suppress the Nightmare Seed!”
“Wait… That Lord of Nightmare doesn’t seem to mean that.”
Kan Shaoni stopped the researchers who were about to press the alarm b.u.t.ton. She was still staring at Qiu Ren and that Lord of Nightmare on the screen.
“You mean…”
Qiu Ren didn’t hear the disappointment in this single word. On the contrary, it was a sense of loss.
“With the power I have right now, there’s no way I can build… the world you are thinking about,” said the Lord of Nightmare.
This was a bit out of Qiu Ren’s expectation. In order to build a complete dream world, especially one above Level A, it wasn’t just about creating a bunch of game models, game special effects, and game engines.
It was also about building a complete power system starting from the foundation of the world.
This meant that it truly had to create those powerful bosses in the Dark Souls series and the base of the magical powers and things like the weapons of the king’s soul… This was only the foundation.
If it wanted to become stronger afterward, it would have to rely on absorbing the emotions and vitality of Dream Explorers, which was “populace recognition” for Dream Seeds.
Or it had to fight with other Dream Dungeons outside to swallow their power.
However, even building the most basic foundation of the Dark Souls series seemed to be a bit difficult for the Lord of Nightmare right now.
“Well…” Qiu Ren was also a bit disappointed. He wanted to take back the plan of the Dark Souls series he wrote with hard work.
However, when Qiu Ren grabbed the corner of the ma.n.u.script with his hand and pulled it gently, he found that it couldn’t move at all.
That Lord of Nightmare held the two sides of the ma.n.u.scripts with both hands and didn’t want to let go.
“But… I want to do it.”
It sounded determined. At the same time, it was also racking its brains…
“There should be… a solution.”
It wanted to do it? What was the solution? How?
Qiu Ren also pondered for a while and thought of a possible way.
“If your children that left you all come back, you can build… Just forget about it.” Qiu Ren realized he had said something wrong halfway through.
The Central Research Inst.i.tute had spent countless resources and manpower to weaken this Lord of Nightmare, including taking the secondary Nightmare Seeds away from its range of influence, then purifying them one by one.
Qiu Ren’s reminder was like wasting the effort the Central Research Inst.i.tute had put in all these years.
However, the Lord of Nightmare surprisingly didn’t show too much excitement or hatred when it heard about its children.
“They’re living a good life out there… I don’t think they’ll ever come back again,” it said.
That was what it meant. So, was there truly no solution at all? While Qiu Ren was still thinking if he should ask the Central Research Inst.i.tute to invest in it, a voice sounded in Qiu Ren’s earphones.
After the Lord of Nightmare granted permission to watch the scene inside, Qiu Ren could then communicate with the outside world with the dream-entering equipment.
The voices Qiu Ren heard in the earphones weren’t talking to him. It was the researchers of the Central Research Inst.i.tute arguing among themselves.
“Director, if we do this, there’s a chance that the Nightmare Seeds with a high level of purification will be polluted once again.”
“Get me a report of the whereabouts and uses… and also the degree of purification of the Nightmare Seeds above Level B under S07.”
Kan Shaoni remained silent and watched the Director of the Central Research Inst.i.tute issue an order to the researchers under him.
Some of the researchers made many copies of the list he wanted and distributed them to everyone present on the scene.
Kan Shaoni got one as well. And as it turned out, the data on this report was astonishing. It was all alone like the Level S Nightmare Seed in Fengdu Prison.
Several Level A Nightmare Seeds, part of the Level B Nightmare Seeds, and a large number of Level C to Level E Nightmare Seeds were extended from the Level S Nightmare Seed in the Central Research Inst.i.tute.
These separated Level A and Level B Nightmare Seeds were well-utilized. They were used for the production of drama series, movies, online games, or standalone games.
“‘The Giant and The Little Bee,’ ‘Lion Heart Workplace,’ The Great Crossbow Catcher…’ These drama series are all filmed with Nightmare Seeds?”
Kan Shaoni was shocked when she saw this list. She found that all the popular drama series she usually watched on her leave were filmed with Nightmare Seeds.
“Captain Kan, two online games that are very popular overseas, ‘The Legend of Sin City’ and ‘The Secret Realm of Dragons,’ were actually created with the Nightmare Seeds here as well. I don’t know if you’ve played them before,” a researcher chimed in.
“No, but this feels a bit unrealistic. The drama series and games extended from it seem to occupy half of the drama market overseas?”
Kan Shaoni saw that the drama series on the list all had high popularity overseas and were all maxi-series that were still being updated.
What Kan Shaoni cared the most about in this report was that… the degree of purification of these Nightmare Seeds had reached 90% to 98%. With such a high percentage, they almost couldn’t be called Nightmare Seeds anymore.
This meant that the nightmare consciousness inside had already lost the desire to kill and was willing to cooperate with the Dream Makers. In turn, they could tailor various scripts and adventures for them.
However, the remaining bit of 2% to 10% obsession still couldn’t be purified, no matter how hard the Dream Makers tried.
And at this moment, the Director of the Central Research Inst.i.tute made a decision.
“Tell that Lord of Nightmare that we can cooperat. It can call its ‘children’ back. Let’s see how many of its ‘children’ are willing to return.”
“But Director, if the nightmare consciousnesses, which are the protagonists, leave, those ongoing drama series will…”
The Director raised his hand to calm them down.
Qiu Ren told this Lord of Nightmare about the Director’s decision.
It hesitated for a while, but it soon sensed that the Central Research Inst.i.tute had temporarily connected it to the World’s Dream Dungeon Level Library.
Those children had gotten rid of the fate of being bound by prisons and cages. As the protagonists in their own drama series and games, they had been welcomed and loved by fans all over the world.
This didn’t mean that they didn’t have to go back to this… dark nightmare cage, relying on the negative emotions of humans for survival.
Even though there wasn’t much hope, the Lord of Nightmare still formed a light ball in its hand. It exploded and scattered everywhere in the dark s.p.a.ce. It started to call upon its children that were living happily around the world.
“Connecting with multiple worlds.”
Soon… it got a response!
The Lord of Nightmare looked at the beam of light in this dark s.p.a.ce. A child it couldn’t recognize at all walked out from the ray.
Qiu Ren didn’t recognize him either. The man walking out of the light ray had a strong physique and was wearing a chef’s ap.r.o.n, like a chef in a hotel. He had a completely different style than the Lord of Nightmare, who was donning black armor.
Still, he knelt in front of the Lord of Nightmare and lowered his head.
“My Lord…”
“Sirius, why are you…”
“I’m a chef in my world, but I heard your call… Is there going to be a war again?” he asked.
“War…” At this moment, there was a little fear in the voice of this Lord of Nightmare. It stepped back a little. “No, you… can go back…”
While the Lord of Nightmare was asking its child to return to the peaceful world, a few more beams of light came down from the sky.
More and more characters dressed up in different styles all came to this Lord of Nightmare and knelt down.
Some of them were in suits, as if they had just got off work, some of them seemed to have come back from a vacation in Hawaii, and some had just rushed here from a wedding.
Qiu Ren looked at the giant and the human girl kneeling before the Lord of Nightmare.
“Your Majesty.”
These characters from various popular drama series around the world shouted in a uniform voice and knelt in front of this Lord of Nightmare. The Lord of Nightmare stepped back slightly again, but it soon made a decision.
The black gauntlets appeared on its hands. After putting on the gauntlets covered with bloodstains, it looked at everyone below and asked, “Right… The war is about to start again! Are you… still willing to follow me?”
“Until we die!”
Without a script, this sentence resounded throughout the entire Nightmare Dimension.
Upon hearing this, the Lord of Nightmare had already understood. It looked at Qiu Ren and said softly, “Then, let the war begin…”
Qiu Ren also understood what it meant. At that moment, a huge number of Creation Points surged towards Qiu Ren. He started to give these characters power from the world of the Dark Souls series.
The chef took off the ap.r.o.n on his body and changed to a light golden lionheart armor holding a dragon-hunting spear. The giant was enveloped in silver-white armor, and a large black sword appeared in its hand. As for that human girl who was ready to get married, she put on her a.s.sa.s.sin mask again.
Today, the audiences around the world, who were busy binge-watching the drama series, would be mad at discovering…
“The Giant and The Little Bee” announced that they would stop updating because the male and female protagonists had eloped back home.
“Lion Heart Workplace” announced to be extending their shooting time because the protagonist was missing.
The most popular male supporting actor of “The Great Crossbow Catcher” would not be joining the entire season two because of an injury.
The NPC of “The Secret Realm of Dragons” responsible for strengthening equipment functions ran off with their money. The officials were now tracking his whereabouts…
On the day more than a dozen drama series were suspended…
A game called “Dark Souls” officially boarded the stage of history!
Qiu Ren watched the fully-armed bosses of Dark Souls being born in front of him under his hands one by one. The flames of danger were burning in the gaps of their pupils visible from the helmets.
They would be guarding every place in the world of Dark Souls, waiting for the reckless intruders to challenge them!
Dark Souls couldn’t be completed by memorizing the barriers in each level. If those invaders wanted to challenge it, just let them try.
And yet, Qiu Ren still had a little pity. If the non-intruders were purely Dream Explorers, they would be only fighting against AI, but for the intruders… let real people do it.
So, who would be the first lucky person to visit the world of Dark Souls?