111 – Gray Rat (3)
When Tigris said that Rakan would step into Somnium’s ‘common dream’, the words “no” were about to come out in an instant.
The world of common dreams is a hellish place where people’s nightmares are woven into one.
However, Tigris remembered that Rakan had not done anything wrong so far, and decided that it was not his decision.
“The world of Somnium’s common dream was full of such terrible things that I had nightmares for almost a month after I found and killed Somnium.”
At Tigris’ sudden warning, Rakan’s confident expression disappeared as if it had melted.
“I don’t know exactly how far Myungkyung Jisoo’s spirit can protect your mind, but please tell me about the world I experienced in Somnium’s shared dream. If you decide to go after hearing my experiences, I will not stop you.”
Rakan nodded at Tigris’s subdued voice.
“yes. All right.”
“First of all, the reason I was able to wander through the common dream of Somnium was because I overcame my trauma with my own will.”
Overcoming one’s own trauma is just an entrance ticket to the Somnium’s shared dream, but overcoming it is very difficult than imagined.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were infected with Nightmare, but only Tigris overcame his trauma.
“Perhaps you, too, will face your trauma the moment you become infected with the Nightmare. You must overcome it with your pure will.”
“How did Instructor Tigris overcome it?”
“I overcame it with arrogance.”
“…arrogance?”
“It was my unfounded confidence that a Somnium Nightmare would never be able to contaminate my mind.”
How some poisons act as medicines.
The feeling of arrogance, which ate Tigris, became a sharp weapon in the shared dream world, allowing him to overcome his trauma.
“Thanks to that arrogance, I was able to overcome my trauma and explore the world in a shared dream.”
“…doesn’t Instructor Tigris say something as if he himself entered the world of a shared dream?”
Tigris nodded.
“At the time, when there were signs of rebellion among the soldiers and citizens who were complaining of stress on the battlefield, an investigation was launched. And I found out that you are the cause of the Nightmare and how to get rid of it.”
“Then why did you think you would be infected with the Nightmare?”
“At that time, sugar and clean water were scarce.”
In order to remove the nightmare that had penetrated into the brain, it required about 100ml of sugar water with an average concentration of 10%.
Then, the amount of sugar required per person is about 10g.
However, at that time, the number of soldiers and citizens infected with Nightmare was about 50,000, and about 500 kg was needed.
It is said that sugar cane supply is smooth now, but the southern provinces where sugar cane can be grown have been occupied by Rota and Arpem.
Even the supply of clean bottled water was not smooth, so there were many soldiers who drank the contaminated water and had a stomachache or collapsed.
“Could I have been able to purchase sugar or water with points?”
“I didn’t know if you could buy it with points, so I won’t answer that. But one thing is certain: the growth rate of the nightmare was too fast for the supply of sugar and clean water.”
This is what makes Somnium Nightmare scary.
Soldiers and citizens infected with Nightmare spread their fear to those around them.
The people infected with Nightmare stimulated fear, and then even the soldiers who were okay were infected with the fear without knowing it and became infected with the Nightmare.
“Of course, these are all just excuses, and I wanted to kill Somnium myself. So, ignoring your intention to enter the Somnium’s common dream, I was infected first.”
Rakan doubted that he had heard wrong now.
“······yes?”
“I think you are misunderstanding a little bit, but the me I am now and the me before the return can be seen as almost different people. At the time, I was arrogant enough to deliberately misinterpret Princess Rain Rover’s orders and handle them.”
Rain Rover, Bastian, and Nadal, who saw the regression, nodded their heads as to how much they understood Tigris’ words.
Even if Tigris wasn’t the strongest in the Allied Forces at the time, it was a cancerous existence that Rain Rover might have killed first.
“I’ve heard of it before, but I can’t quite imagine it, right?”
“You don’t have to imagine. It’s not that important in this situation.”
Tigris went on to explain.
“I used my arrogance that I could deal with the Somnium myself as a weapon and entered the shared dream. As a result, thanks to that arrogance, I was able to survive in Somnium’s shared dream world, and in your case, ‘Myeonggyeongjisoo’s spirit’ will be helpful.”
“How terrible is that place, isn’t it?”
“The nightmare-infected host is infested with monsters from the nightmare. Chimeras and corpses abound because, in my case, most of them had battle phobias.”
Rakan swallowed dry saliva.
It was so terrifying that even just hearing the words made my eyes go dark.
“There, neither swordsmanship nor magic is useless. It has to be overcome with only steel will and mental strength. In my case, as I said before, I killed the monsters in the common dream with arrogance, and eventually found a memory fragment containing the location information of the Somnium.”
“You kill monsters in your dreams? Is that possible?”
“I made a sword in my dreams and cut down monsters.”
“Are the monsters in your dreams cut down?”
“I’m done. You don’t know.”
“ah······. yes.”
What can you say that Tigris was possible?
Rakan continued to listen.
“First of all, there is an issue that needs to be looked out for. The moment you enter the dream world, you will see your trauma somnium. If it is certain that Myeong-gyeong-jisoo’s spirit ability prevents mental attacks, you will be free from Somnium’s attacks.”
“But the problem is that you get to see my trauma.”
“right. If your trauma is seen from Yushin Kim, who lived in Korea, not in this world, Somnium will know that you are from another world.”
At Tigris’ words, Rakan, Rain Rover, Bastian, and Nadal’s expressions hardened.
“Then, I hadn’t thought of that. If Somnium finds out that Rakan is from another world, things will get worse.”
“Even if you are found out that you are from another world, the status window and the ability of the point shop won’t be discovered, so wouldn’t it be okay?”
“Still, it will become clear that we will be more vigilant against Rakan. Right now, Lota and Arfem are focusing on Tigris, but if they find out that Rakan is from another world, they may change their goals.”
Rakan thought for a moment and then opened his mouth.
“But isn’t it a mental attack in itself to stimulate and show trauma? Then, with Myeong-Kyung Ji-Soo’s mental ability, he would be able to block it.”
“Of course, that would be the best scenario. Because you can roam the world of shared dreams without showing your trauma.”
“Ummm… in the end, you have to go into a shared dream to know.”
“Yes.”
As everyone’s thoughts began to pile up in their heads, Tane, who was lying on the floor, gasped for breath, and woke up screaming.
“Aww!”
Thein’s body was drenched in cold sweat, and it looked like he had a nightmare.
Thein stiffened as Bastian, Tigris, Nadal, and Princess Rain Rover looked down at him.
“Why am I here…”
Tigris ignored thein and told Rakan.
“For now, let me think through the evening and make a decision.”
Rakan nodded.
“yes. All right.”
* * *
Rakan received a travel pass and went out for a walk outside the Imperial University.
Although Tigris’ lecture was scheduled for this afternoon, I was able to go out with a light mind because he told me not to worry about attendance.
Rakan checked the amount of points he had.
[Currently held points: 50,310]
Chimera Lab Incident.
The case of Viscount Kayle.
Rain Rover birthday party terrorist incident.
After completing various Inquisitor missions and daily quests, purchasing only the essentials, and other than that, they were collected without wasting a single penny.
‘It sure is expensive.’
If you use 50,000 points, you can increase your magic power from medium to high at once, and you can learn magic that is common to all 3 circles.
Is it right to invest such a huge amount of points in the ability to defend against ambiguous mental attacks?
Of course, if you solve the quest well, the return on your investment is not a thing.
You can get 30,000 points just by challenging yourself and 60,000 points depending on your contribution.
‘But it must be that difficult.’
Up until now, the quest to transfer to the Faculty of Magic at the Imperial University was the most rewarding quest with 50,000 points.
The difficulty of the previous quests was more than expected.
The other liberal arts subjects were fine, but the problem was the swordsmanship class.
He had little talent in swordsmanship, and thought that he had no use for it in the future, so he did not have the will to work hard.
However, it is a waste to increase your swordsmanship skills with points.
In such a dilemma, Rakan trained swordsmanship and physical strength in parallel with magic training, and was finally able to get all A grades last semester.
Even if I listened to Tigris’ lectures this semester, I had to take 3 swordsmanship-related subjects, and I only sighed as to how to overcome this difficulty.
‘For now, let’s get rid of these useless thoughts.’
It was time to think about college issues.
Rakan found himself standing in front of the Rainbow Bridge.
Crossing this bridge is Gray Town, where the ‘gray rats’ presumably infected with the Nightmare live.
‘By the way, why did he infect the commoners of Gray Town?’
The noble wizards and the gray rats had completely different goals.
The noble wizards are trying to obstruct the launch of Trinity.
The purpose of the gray rats is to worship Tigris.
Rakan suddenly began to suspect that the actions of the two unrelated groups had something in common.
Rakan naturally walked towards the Rainbow Bridge.
Rakan handed over his student ID to the guards guarding the Rainbow Bridge.
When the guards found out that Rakan was a commoner, they spoke friendly.
“It’s not the time to volunteer, so why are you here?”
“Ah, that’s the Imperial University newspaper club. Recently, there were citizens praising Instructor Tigris in Gray Town, so I came here for an interview.”
Rakan now came out smoothly even with lies.
The guard nodded and handed the student ID to Rakan.
“Ah, are you talking about those gray rats?”
“yes. Right.”
“Ummm… yes? But the interview must be a little difficult, isn’t it?”
“yes? why?”
The guard scratched his cheek and opened his mouth.
“Recently, the Gray Town bastards have started chasing their heads. It doesn’t make sense… Anyway, yes.”
“Citizens are rioting? As far as I know, did you know that it was just holding a praise meeting?”
“It became very violent when the gangs entered the ‘gray rats’ praising Instructor Tigris you just talked about. They even threaten with weapons.”
This was information I didn’t know.
Until Rakan conducted an undercover investigation in Gray Town, gray rats were usually composed of the underprivileged class of Gray Town, such as the elderly and widows.
But the gangs that act as predators in Gray Town join the Gray Rat.
‘Are the gangs also infected with the Nightmare? No, is it normal in a way?’
The gangs live in Gray Town, just like the beggars.
They eat, sleep, and even sleep in the same place, so it is of course the best place for nightmare to breed.
Even the citizens of Gray Town, regardless of whether they were gangsters or beggars, had a common sense of loss that they had been abandoned by the Empire.
If the nightmare had come in through the trauma, there was a high probability that the gangs were also infected by the nightmare.
“You are not allowed to come up close to interview me, and I will allow you to watch the rally at Rainbow Bridge. Would you like to go?”
“yes. Please.”
The guard took out an extra mask from his pocket.
“You didn’t bring a mask? Gray Town has a bad smell, so use it.”
“thank you.”
Rakan crossed the Rainbow Bridge with the guard wearing the mask the guard gave him.
As we got closer to Gray Town, the stench got worse and we could hear the screams of gray rats.
– Mr. Tigris! Save us!
– Mr. Tigris! Give us bread!
-Tigris-sama is suitable for the emperor!
– Mr. Tigris! oh! Mr Tigris!
Rakan stopped in the middle of the Rainbow Bridge.
I couldn’t keep my mouth shut at the overwhelming sight.
Thousands of people gathered around the Rainbow Bridge and sang the Tigris with their voices high toward the riverbank.
Dozens of guards and police officers were standing vigilantly with their eyes wide open.
It was because I didn’t know that the Rainbow Bridge would break through the moment I did it.
‘How can this happen in just two weeks…’
Until two weeks ago, there were only a few dozen gray rats.
The madness at that time was no joke, but when thousands of people gathered and held a rally, Rakan unknowingly took a step back.
The guard standing next to him opened his mouth.
“What do you think? Have you lost your mind to be interviewed?”
“Since when did gray mice become so numerous?”
“It’s been a while since we gathered in a thousand units like this. 2 days ago? It did.”
Rakan went a little closer and checked the faces of the people.
There were faces that Rakan knew.
I also saw the action leader of ‘Red Farm’, which sold red powder and moonshine not long ago.
There was also the boss of ‘Black Cat’, which only handles red powder.
“Isn’t this what the Empire should be doing?”
“The head of the security guard is said to be holding a countermeasure meeting above, but I don’t know. Even so, when the sun goes down, every single one of them goes into their house, so it’s holding up. If I had held meetings for 24 hours, I might have gone crazy.”
Rakan looked at them with a serious expression.
‘Originally, we were going to conduct an internal investigation, but the investigation will not be possible after this.’
Still, one thing was certain.
If we don’t solve the Nightmare problem as soon as possible, the Imperial University will be in turmoil like Gray Town.
* * *
In the evening, Rakan headed to the hospital inside the Imperial University.
Principal Bastian eventually decided to isolate the 32 noble wizards separately, and now he was unable to escape from the principal’s office due to the rain of protests from the noble families.
It is said that their son has been subjected to brainwashing magic, but which family will stand still?
Bastian comes from the Duke of Lord Elim’s family and has the title of 7th Circle Archmage, so he’s just enduring it, but if it were anyone else, he wouldn’t have been able to handle it.
Nadal, Tigris, Rain Rover, and Rakan gathered in the ward, while Principal Bastian was solving external problems.
“Lakan. Are you ready?”
“yes.”
After visiting Gray Town, Rakan’s will became stronger.
We have to solve this problem tonight.
Otherwise, not only the Imperial University, but the entire Empire will be in danger.
Rain Rover opened his mouth with a worried expression.
“But what about Rakan’s trauma? Rakan died once in Korea. If it acts as a trauma, Rota and Arfem may find out that Rakan is a person from another world.”
Then, Nadal opened his mouth.
“The problem was solved by me.”
“what is that?”
“We developed a spell a while ago that allows us to see the nightmares of nightmare-infected patients. If Rakan has a nightmare in another world, I will wake him up immediately.”
“How long does the magic trigger?”
“Twenty-five seconds in real time is enough. Unless Somnium came in to pursue Rakan’s dream from the beginning, it would be impossible to recognize Rakan as a foreigner. Thousands of people have been infected with Nightmare.”
Rain Rover thought for a moment before opening his mouth.
“······ Somnium also revealed a hidden number called Nightmare, and we must take the risk.”
After Rain Rover’s permission was granted, Rakan lay down on the prepared bed.
“But how do we find the fragments containing the location information of the Somnium? That’s the only way we can find Somnium.”
“When the Somnium falls into a great psychological shock, the latest memories will instantly be transmitted to the dream. I found and killed Somnium based on the fragments of those memories.”
“The problem is how to give that psychological shock.”
“The answer is simple. You just have to touch his trauma.”
Tigris took out a white rabbit doll from his bag.
It was a character called ‘Ribbon Rabbit’, which was quite famous even in the Empire.
“His weakness is this rabbit doll and fire.”
“How did you know that… Oh, you said you saw the trauma of Somnium?”
Tigris nodded.
“But I do not know the exact trauma story of Somnium. But with this bunny doll and fire, you can trigger his trauma.”
“But how do you make these ribbon dolls and fire in the dream world?”
“That world is the dream world of Somnium, but it is also the world of your dreams, where you can create anything you can imagine.”
“Then you’re saying that all you need to do is remember this rabbit doll in your dreams?”
“right.”
Rakan scanned every nook and cranny of the ribbon rabbit doll and put it in the ‘Investigation Notepad’.
I don’t know if I can use the status window in the dream world, but it’s better to have it.
Rakan opened his mouth after remembering all the touches of the rabbit doll.
“I remembered.”
“Then let’s start right away.”
“yes.”
[You have purchased the spirit of Myungkyung Jisoo.]
50,000 points evaporate in an instant, and ‘Lv. 0 It was confirmed that the spirit of Myeong-Kyung Ji-Soo had entered.
“I’m ready.”
Rakan took a deep breath.
And a magic circle was drawn from Nadal’s hand.
“Please go with caution.”
With Nadal’s sleep magic, Rakan lost his mind.
* * *
[Immune to ‘Trauma Trigger’ by the effect of Myeonggyeong Jisoo’s spirit.]
[Immune to ‘trauma amplification’ by the effect of Myeonggyeongji’s spirit.]
[The effect of Myeonggyeong Jisoo’s spirit makes it immune to ‘dream manipulation’.]
Rakan removed the message that appeared in front of him.
“Here….”
Rakan’s voice sounded strangely.
There was a lot of moisture in the air and it was stuffy, and it felt like gravity was acting strangely, pulling Rakan’s body up, down, left and right.
Rakan looked up reflexively.
“Why is the earth in the sky?”
The ground Rakan was treading on was below and above.
Rakan looked around.
The world was messed up like a game world.
There was an old shanty town with a splendid mansion.
Dogs and all sorts of garbage flew through the sky.
And the strangest thing about it is…
All the police, knights, wizards, gangs, monsters, and skinny beggars around were looking at Rakan.
gulp-
Rakan swallowed dry saliva.
[The effect of Myeonggyeongji’s spirit makes ‘Fear Inducing’ immunity.]
There was no fear, but it was painful to the point that my neck was pulled tight.
“Do I have to run away from this?”
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