Chapter 573: An Ancient Nightmare Form
“Witch of Wasteland” Sennefer.
Sennefer was considered a great heroine among all witches even if one did not consider her position in Moonfrost Union.
Throughout history, the number of witches was always slim compared to wizards. And even fewer, when it came to witches with great achievements. Females were usually more p.r.o.ne to emotional affairs. There were many stories based on how a witch felt content for finding true love and thus giving up her future ambitions.
However, such emotions were extremely fragile when wizards and witches tended to live long lives. Very few people could maintain their bonds to the end. And when such bonds were broken, witches were more likely to become victims who had their faith crippled.
Sennefer, however, was a very different witch compared to others. This woman had completely given up on finding affection and love—she based her lifestyle solely on her own ideals, even more so than most wizards.
Sennefer was a true genius. In less than a century, she became a level-2 wizard and found the “path of truth”. Such a feat was almost as astounding as what Sunders had done.
She was a Bloodline wizard too, which made her a perfect model for Nausica to study from.
When he was with Nausica, Angor often heard her speaking of Sennefer’s name as well as the many symbolic battles displayed by the great witch.
“That’s Miss Sennefer… Did she go to the Nightmare Realm before?” Angor was curious to find out.
“I don’t know about that,” Sunders shook his head and said, “maybe, and maybe not. She constantly stays at the front line of foreign plane expeditions and helps Moonfrost Union handle news regarding new discoveries. Do you remember who told everyone about Greya’s fall? It’s the Union.”
“You mean… the Union can choose to keep the information confidential if they want to?”
“Information blockade is possible in the mortal world but not to wizards. To us, the only thing that matters is whether we want to know something. If we do, there is always a way.”
Angor quickly recalled more than one approach for ascertaining the truth, such as truth-telling spells and skills used by prophets.
“Whether Sennefer has been to the Nightmare Realm doesn’t concern us.” Sunders narrowed his eyes as he spoke again, “What we should know is that she is interested in the Nightmare Realm. The real question is, is it Sennefer or the Moonfrost Union who’s after the scroll.”
Angor knew that his professor meant to talk about some other fishy business that involved the Union, and he somehow got an overall idea. “Which one do you prefer, sir?”
“Well, I do hope that it’s the Union looking for the Nightmare Realm. As for the reason…” The gentleman glanced at Angor. “I think you can tell.”
Angor shifted to a more comfortable position on the sofa. He knew what Sunders meant. Sennefer was strong enough to venture into the Nightmare Realm and even find treasures. If the entire Moonfrost Union decided to explore the Nightmare Realm by sending a team in, they might come back after receiving some serious beating, or they might not come back at all. To Sunders, who always disliked the Union, it was something worth laughing for.
Even if the Union somehow found new stuff in the Nightmare Realm, this would always benefit other explorers such as Sunders.
While Sunders and Angor talked about the Union, several other guests from the other VIP rooms spoke to support Sennefer’s question. They all hoped that Sky Auction could give them a better explanation regarding Travel In Dreamland.
According to Sunders, many of the speakers entered the Nightmare Realm before. It seemed Sky Auction’s “bluff” was very successful as they attracted so many Nightmare Realm explorers to them.
Since so many important guests demanded so, Melantha finally decided to comply.
“As you can see, the seal of the scroll is intact, which means we did not and cannot check what is inside yet. However, the consignor of the scroll just sent us a message and told us a portion of the texts. Please listen to it and then make your decision.”
Her words instantly silenced all whisperers on the scene as everyone paid great attention to what was to come.
Since they already saw so many Nightmare Realm explorers, who usually stayed far away from public attention, attending the auction, they knew that the scroll offered by the auction was not a trick.
“According to the scroll, apart from the abundant Mystery items that can be found around the Nightmare Realm, there is also a mysterious shelter full of such items, such as a magic mirror which can copy absolutely everything, a swing that manipulates someone’s very fate, a box that presents one with different surprises each time one opens it… ”
Melantha couldn’t help frowning as she read the message. Is this even possible?!
None of the partic.i.p.ants trusted those words. Several people even laughed loudly.
Melantha paused as she was unsure whether she should continue.
“Do not use your trifling brains to judge the Nightmare Realm!” someone from a VIP room suddenly bellowed and silenced everyone again.
The speaker was known by everyone as Graves, the only Nightmare Realm explorer who agreed to publish his story in Expedition into Endless Planes.
Graves was a truth-finder wizard from Chapel of Mystical Fife and was another symbolic genius during his earlier years together with Sennefer. Unfortunately, this man fell a little behind as time went by. He was only a level-1 wizard now.
Since an “acknowledged” Nightmare Realm explorer revealed his att.i.tude, those who were complaining earlier all stayed quiet.
Melantha raised an eyebrow as she considered what she just heard.
So this scroll is real after all? I see, so they weren’t overestimating the true value of the Nightmare Realm…
She spoke again after regaining her professional and neutral look, “The scroll recorded the exact location of the shelter. Anyone who wins this scroll may go and confirm the reliability of it by yourself.”
Everyone perked up upon hearing this.
But soon, they deflated again when they heard Sennefer’s voice:
“So what? How do you enter the Nightmare Realm in the first place? n.o.body can tell when or how a tunnel will show up. Besides, I highly doubt that message. I won’t explain why because everyone who knew about Nightmare Realm must have already noticed.”
Sunders chuckled. “Forget what I said earlier. Now I’m sure Sennefer went inside Nightmare Realm at least once.”
Angor nodded as he also comprehended the message hidden in Sennefer’s words.
Melantha, however, couldn’t understand why Sennefer said so. As the auctioneer, she chose to stick to her job by finishing the “message” she received from the scroll’s provider. “There is more. Any memory that involves Mystery-level items or indescribable presences will be deleted from your mind once you leave Nightmare Realm. But it seems that the composer of this scroll is not affected by such a rule.”
No one protested this time.
Sennefer openly said her opinion just because she knew about the “memory loss” issue. Sunders was also an example because the gentleman knew there was “a certain amazing channeling method book” in Nether City, yet he couldn’t remember its name or content.
How was it possible that someone recorded the properties of Mystery items in such a detailed manner?
However, if the author of the scroll could escape from the memory deletion problem…
Thus, by mentioning this problem, it had already told the other Nightmare Realm explorers that the “Dreamland” mentioned by the scroll referred to the Nightmare Realm.
“Six hundred thousand.”
Qetesh offered his bid first.
“Sixty-five hundred!”
“Seventy!”…
After several calls from the VIP guests, the bid was increased to one million within a matter of seconds, and at the same time, this told the other partic.i.p.ants that the scroll was probably real.
Everyone, including those who mocked Melantha earlier, gazed at the item with pa.s.sionate and coveting looks.
Meanwhile, a certain young guest in Room 012 was thinking about another question.
“A Nightmare Form?…” Angor looked at his professor. The concept of “Nightmare Form” flashed in his mind as soon as he heard Melantha talking about someone who kept his memory.
According to Sunders, only Nightmare Forms could fully retain their memories upon leaving the Nightmare Realm. Or to be precise, high-level Nightmare Forms.
Sunders considered and nodded firmly. “Correct. A Nightmare Form is also called a ‘Nightmare Watcher’ by the natives living in Nightmare Realm. But the talent of a Nightmare Form cannot be observed before one enters Nightmare Realm for real. So, there was someone else in history who was lucky enough to stumble into Nightmare Realm as a Nightmare Form and made it out, just like you.”
Compared to this, Angor was more interested in the fact that Nightmare Realm existed since ancient times.
But why didn’t any mighty wizard mention it then? Well, we have someone who called it “Dreamland” and that’s about it. There should be more records!
“Perhaps Nightmare Realm existed very far from the wizarding world previously. So far, that the distance isn’t something that can be explained by human knowledge. And by chance, someone found a tunnel to it, which soon disappeared. Whereas recently, the Nightmare Realm has been moving ‘closer’ to our world, thus allowing more tunnels to show up.”
It was Sunders’ a.s.sumption. Without solid proof, he could only provide these opinions.
“I think the scroll is honestly a record about Nightmare Realm, so um…” Angor saw his professor lost in thought and decided to remind him of something. “Professor? The price is reaching two million now. Aren’t you going to join the compet.i.tion?”