Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 785 - 784: Mental Storm

Under the leadership of Selena, the Eternal Sleepers’ Exploration Team, now reduced to eight members, began advancing towards the center of the town.

The dream lantern swayed gently in the seemingly eternal gloom, casting a blurry and indistinct glow on the silent, deserted streets. Daniel and the others remained on high alert, constantly watching for any strange changes on the streets around them, while Gawain silently followed beside the team, his gaze resting on Selena Gerfen.

Patty, who loved to run in the dream realm, Patty, who was weak but still tried to smile in reality, and the "Patty" before him with a solemn expression, holding the lantern—these three shadows swirled in his mind, overlapping with the scene before him, gradually forming a bizarre impression—

He seemed to see Selena Gerfen holding Patty’s hand, walking at the front of the team.

He shook his head, tossing this unreliable association out of his mind, then raised his head, his eyes reflecting the line of light rising at the end of the distant street.

It was dawn.

Daniel and the others also stopped, looking with surprise and uncertainty at the dazzling light that suddenly pierced the darkness, emerging at the end of this town seemingly plunged into eternal night. That light rapidly expanded in everyone’s vision, almost in the blink of an eye, transforming into an endless gold-red dawn, wildly splashing over the town’s uneven rooftops. Then the gold-red dawn turned into pale golden sunlight, completely dispelling the shadows between the streets.

A giant sun rose slowly on the horizon, its light immense, banishing all darkness.

"It’s daylight..." Daniel stared in disbelief at the magnificent scene of the sun rising high, seemingly too stunned to speak, but he quickly reacted, instantly manifesting a long staff in his hand, casting various spells to protect the minds of the whole team in a matter of seconds.

Daylight! Such a scene had never appeared in this Illusion Town—it was the third state, besides midnight before the bell rang and midnight after the bell rang!

In this place, any phenomenon that had never appeared before only meant danger!

The other Eternal Sleepers also took defensive actions, preparing various attack and defense spells, or observing the changes on the streets vigilantly, and soon, changes occurred before everyone’s eyes—

One by one, abrupt figures appeared in the streets and alleys.

As if suddenly awakening from a dream into reality, the town’s streets, empty just seconds before, now emerged with countless shadowy silhouettes. These silhouettes quickly became solid and vivid in the following breaths, transforming into the pedestrians coming and going, into countless residents of the town!

These people wore classical attire different from the real world, their faces numb and hollow. They swayed on the streets like wandering souls, but quickly "awakened," becoming expressive and nimble. They walked and conversed beside Daniel and the others, as though they had always lived normally in this town, as though the town had never been eerie or abnormal!

Archbishop Magnan’s hand flickered with layer upon layer of dizzying rippling light, nearly unleashing a powerful mental storm, but at the moment the spell was about to form, this seemingly hot-tempered archbishop abruptly cut off his spell and stopped others from acting: "Wait! Observe the situation!"

Archbishop Yuri, surrounded by complex golden magic symbols, almost released offensive spells. Only after Archbishop Magnan’s reminder did he forcibly stop his casting, scanning his gaze around—

The people coming and going on the town’s streets seemed completely oblivious to Daniel’s group; they were still busy with their own lives, hurrying on their way, chatting with friends and family. The conspicuous and abrupt Eternal Sleepers’ team standing in the middle of the road seemed invisible in the residents’ eyes.

Daniel couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat on his forehead.

This Illusion Town had become "lively," yet the bustling activity and vibrant streets were even more eerie and terrifying than the previously deserted streets shrouded in the night sky!

"This is also a projection of Sandbox One," Selena’s voice suddenly rang out, breaking the silence within the team, "These residents are likely just moving according to the recorded data in the projection, like a large illusion, without interacting with us."

"...this greatly inspires my nightmare weaving," Archbishop Magnan muttered aloud, louder than a normal person’s speaking voice, "Why didn’t I think of such a scene before?"

"Continue forward," Selena shook her head, "Also, pay attention to the conversations of these ’phantom residents’; their daily chatter might reveal some aspects of Sandbox One’s current situation."

The team continued advancing towards the center of the town, cautiously moving through the bustling town streets.

Everyone took care to avoid contact with those "phantom residents"—though everyone was very curious whether these shadows could be contacted, curious about what phenomena might occur if contact was made, those participating in the exploration mission possessed at least basic caution, refraining from making bold attempts with indeterminate consequences when the situation was unclear.

Gawain devoted part of his attention to listening attentively to the conversations of those phantom residents: he too was curious about the "life" within Sandbox One.

The majority of the conversations were of little value—just like any normal, street-level resident chit-chat would be, the "residents" discussed nothing more than weather, harvests, family matters, and daily necessities.

The people in Sandbox One seemed to live ordinary lives, experiencing the circle of life in that fabricated world, going through birth, aging, illness, and death, weddings and funerals. They had their own troubles, their own desires, striving for life, worrying about the future...

The only difference from the real world was that they occasionally mentioned the "Supreme Narrator" in their conversations—they prayed to Him, swore by Him, even incorporated His name into daily phrases.

They would say "Even the Supreme Narrator would be surprised," to describe the bizarreness of something, or "The Supreme Narrator must know," actually meaning they themselves were clueless—only the God knows this matter.

Gawain’s brow furrowed slightly, his mind tumultuous.

In a sense, the Eternal Sleepers truly created a miracle, one even grander than the Oblivion Association’s "body of the fake god."

So many people, with living, real minds and sandbox-created "virtual personalities," living in such a simulated world, generation after generation, experiencing their diverse lives, with their joys, angers, sorrows, and pursuits, running smoothly for over a thousand years before any flaw appeared.

Such advanced technology...

A shame they couldn’t do something normal?

If these tech nerds could just take half of their self-destructive energy and apply it to genuinely developing technology like artificial intelligence, they might have already restored the Iron Man’s mind from the old Gondor Empire!

Gawain felt a strong urge to complain in his heart, while the entire team had already reached the end of the street, arriving at the edge of the central square of the town.

The small chapel, with its gray-white outer walls and high pointed roof, was indeed standing quietly in the square.

The spire of the chapel bathed in the brilliant sunlight, its walls shining resplendently under the giant sun, before the mural symbolizing the Supreme Narrator, residents stopped constantly, paying their respects and worshiping.

An elderly priest in a plain gray robe stood at the open doors of the chapel, smiling as he watched the people coming and going in the square. Residents paused by his side, listening to the elderly priest talk about the truth of the Supreme Narrator. Everything seemed so harmonious and beautiful.

It almost made one forget that this was an eerie projection situated in the "Imaginary Number District," forget that this was an Illusion Town filled with warped and dangerous forces, forget that they were part of an exploration team on a mission...

Archbishop Yuri was instantly awakened from his trance, noticing a portable lamp swaying before him, as Selena Gerfen’s voice rang in his ear: "Don’t let your guard down. Remember this is just a projection, everything here is fake."

Gawain glanced perplexedly at the Eternal Sleepers in front of him, murmuring to himself—what just happened? Was there some force trying to infiltrate them again? Why didn’t I feel anything?

Not far away, the elderly priest at the chapel door looked up with a smile at the Eternal Sleepers who seemed ready for battle, and spoke in a gentle tone, "Why resist? Isn’t this a lovely world?"

As the priest’s words fell, in the nearby streets and alleys, in the square before the chapel, those bustling small-town residents living their busy lives, the projections that had once ignored Daniel and the others, all suddenly stopped as if they were puppets frozen at once.

The next second, they all slowly turned their heads in unison, their gaze settling on the uninvited guests in the square.

The entire town’s residents quietly directed their gaze, and even Gawain felt a chill down his spine at this moment!

The Eternal Sleepers, of course, were even more vigilant, while only Selena calmly met the elderly priest’s gaze, and after a few seconds, she slowly spoke: "As expected... you possess a near-real soul. Are you a projection formed by the controlling mind of this town?"

The elderly priest’s expression was indifferent, slowly shaking his head: "I don’t understand what you are saying, I just think you should try staying here a few more days — The land protected by the Supreme Narrator is fortunate, why return to that dangerous void?"

Gawain frowned slightly—dangerous void? What does that mean?

Is it referring to the "Imaginary Number District" outside this town? Or... a certain state currently within Sandbox One?

Yuri’s gaze fell not far behind the elderly priest, falling on the open doors of the chapel, and after carefully perceiving the information structure of this area, he lowered his voice and said, "That chapel is the exit—inside should connect to the surface-level Illusion Town, connected to the main layer of the mental network."

Magnan snorted: "I guess that guy surely doesn’t intend to let us walk in without a hitch."

Selena slowly raised the soul lantern in her hand, stepping towards the distant chapel: "I wonder, can your Supreme Narrator really bless your soul here?"

"The Supreme Narrator is everywhere..." The elderly priest slowly spread his hands, "Where the god’s people stand, the god is there..."

Layer upon layer of halos appeared behind the elderly man, a massive oppressive force suddenly descended, and an ethereal, sacred, and grand holy music resounded over the entire chapel square—

Except for Gawain who could not be observed, everyone on the scene more or less felt their own mind being pulled away, and their consciousness of resistance beginning to dissolve.

In this projectively created town, deep in the Imaginary Number District outside Sandbox One, a Supreme Narrator priest, at most a projection, wielded real power by casting Divine Arts through sheer "faith"!

Selena, and Gawain in Psychological Invisibility status, simultaneously changed expressions slightly, with the former taking a step forward, the lantern in her hand shining brighter than ever before, striking at the halos emerging behind the elderly man, countering the power pervading the square that continuously pulled at everyone’s minds.

Golden magic symbols flowed beside Yuri, expanding into multiple protective barriers encompassing everyone. Meanwhile, without turning his head, the Archbishop shouted, "Magnan! Do the thing you’re best at!"

The red-haired, short Magnan waved his hands: "Mental Storm!"

In an instant, layers upon layers of seemingly true yet false waves of light surged throughout the square, which abruptly transformed into a dazzling storm, with powerful mental power washing over everything within Gawain’s sight, and washing away those "phantom residents" with fanatic expressions rushing wave after wave.

In this town supported by mental power, the "Mental Storm," a spell that should have been relatively covert, stirred a genuine "storm!"

A large number of projection residents with sinister faces quickly melted away in the storm like wax figures in a fierce fire, torn apart into pieces, and Gawain heard the angry roar of that elderly priest from before the chapel—after truly baring his fangs, the opponent was no longer maintaining that previously gentle and polite facade; a crazed, twisted mind was the opponent’s true form!

More projection residents surged from the streets and alleys, wave after wave charging towards the exploration team’s center, while the Owl Priests defending around the team continuously cast intelligence-layer attack spells, tirelessly reducing the number of enemies, and Gawain’s ears again echoed with Archbishop Magnan’s thunderous explosive roar: "Mental Storm!!"

The new storm struck, blowing the stone pavement of the square to pieces, and the continuously surging "projection residents" turned to ashes piece by piece; the storm’s howling even overshadowed the majestic and magnificent holy music over the chapel, rapidly mitigating the unease in everyone’s minds caused by the pulling away of mental power and fading consciousness of resistance.

Next, Archbishop Magnan once again raised his hands, his voice louder than the thunder in the storm:

"Men-tal Storm!"

"Men-tal Storm!!"