Chapter 2872: Chapter 2873: The Tightrope Walker

To think that the Tooth Fairies born in nearly a thousand years have actually never dreamed?

Does this mean that the connection between the Dream Realm and the Mirror World is in fact growing less and less close? That there is even a faint decoupling in recent times?

While Angel was frowning in thought, Laplace asked, "What are you thinking?"

Angel did not hide it and voiced his thoughts.

After listening, Laplace asked in puzzlement, "You mean that not dreaming is related to the decoupling from the Dream Realm. That one has to be within the Dream Realm’s sphere of influence in order to dream?"

Angel: "Not necessarily."

Frode had once shared with Angel some of his insights regarding dreams.

A dream is actually a window through which the tangible consciousness observes the intangible consciousness.

Put simply, the essence of a "dream" is the manifestation of the chaotic emotions buried deep within one’s heart. These chaotic emotions are born under the workings of the subconscious; when you possess self-awareness, it is very difficult to glimpse the true face of these chaotic emotions.

And a dream becomes the channel by which the self-aware consciousness perceives those chaotic emotions.

If you analyze this explanation carefully, you’ll find it conceals a standpoint of "solipsism."

Dreams arise from the heart, and the heart is the self.

In this way, it seems as though dreams have nothing to do with the Dream Realm, and only concern the self.

In truth, that is not the case.

In Frode’s explanation, the Dream Realm is rather abstruse; this likely stems from the rigor of one who works in that field. Frode was once a Dream System Apprentice; his explanation leans toward fundamentalism, a faction that allows no deviation in how one speaks of their field of study. Outsiders listening will only find it vague and obscure, and be unable to understand it.

Jon had once read Frode’s thesis on the Dream Realm. After finishing, Jon made a summary, which compared to Frode’s paper was much easier to understand.

Jon likened the Dream Realm to a "platform."

This platform can be regarded as a third‑party platform, one with laws to follow and rules to keep.

The dreams of ordinary people are like individual design drafts uploaded to the platform, greatly enriching the platform’s resources. The platform then, through its coverage, integrates these resources into the Pan-Dimensional Plane, enriching the fantasies of even more dreamers.

Therefore, even dreams that arise from the heart are actually also connected to the Dream Realm.

You can think of your own dream as a key that leads to the Dream Realm—only, ordinary people find it very hard to wield this key.

Of course, Jon’s "platform" metaphor is rather superficial and has many imprecise points; because of that, Frode has never thought much of it.

But Angel still largely agrees with it. It isn’t because Jon was his Enlightenment Mentor that he agrees; it is purely because Angel has discovered that this "platform" mechanism seems to be very close to the rules of Special Worlds, and in contrast does not fit as well with independent real worlds.

For example, the Dream Realm can be treated as a platform, and by the same principle, this can also be applied to the Mirror World.

The fragmented memories and reflection spaces of the Mirror World, are they not each resources that have been uploaded to the "Mirror World" platform? It is just that the "resources" uploaded to the Mirror World are mostly unconsciously uploaded by surfaces of water, reflective surfaces, and mirrors in the outside world. This leads to a congestion of resources on the platform, and thus there is the Sea of Void Mirror, this enormous "garbage recycling bin."

And the tides of the Sea of Void Mirror are a one‑click cleanup of this garbage.

The Nightmare Realm can also be regarded as a platform, with Naraku City, Witch Town, the Mysterious Tower... and so on, being "resources" uploaded from reality onto the Nightmare Realm platform.

Precisely because of these commonalities among the Special Worlds, Angel acknowledges Jon’s "platform theory."

Back to the point, since the Dream Realm is only a platform, whether a lifeform dreams or not does not necessarily have to be affected by the Dream Realm.

So why then has such a clearly affected situation appeared in the Mirror World?

If this were only an isolated case, it wouldn’t be worth paying much attention to, because there exist many cases of lifeforms that can dream but just happen not to, as well as lifeforms that rarely dream—once in a thousand years is also possible.

But the current situation is different: the Mirror World has exhibited a widespread phenomenon of not dreaming.

Including the Little Tooth Fairy and Laplace—those who originally could dream no longer dream. What is the reason behind this?

Angel did have a hypothesis in his heart, but whether it was correct or not, he did not know.

"What are you thinking?" Laplace saw that Angel had been silent for a long time and asked in puzzlement.

Angel pondered for a moment, then voiced what he had in mind along with his doubts.

"Why has everyone stopped dreaming... You said you had a hypothesis, so what is your hypothesis?" Laplace paused for a moment. "If you don’t want to say it, I can understand."

Angel: "Since I’ve already spoken of these doubts, naturally I’m also hoping that Lady Laplace can give me some suggestions."

Laplace: "I have never been to any other Special World; I’m afraid I won’t be able to give you any advice."

Angel shrugged. "Even without advice it’s fine. Just take it as listening to some idle speculation of mine."

Laplace quietly watched Angel, and in the end nodded. "Alright."

Angel: "My hypothesis is that this might be some sort of gap between Special Worlds?"

"Using ’gap’ may be a bit too anthropomorphic, but for the moment I can’t find a better word. In my view, the reason the Mirror World is drawing farther and farther away from the Dream Realm might be due to the influence of the World Will behind the Mirror World."

"It’s like how one mountain peak can hardly tolerate two beast kings."

"The Dream Realm and the Mirror World are both Special Worlds, and the lifeforms in the Mirror World are affected by the Dream Realm, yet the mirrors in the Dream Realm are not illuminated by the Mirror World. If we regard the Mirror World as a person, wouldn’t this be rather unfair to it?"

Laplace: "So you think that the World Will behind the Mirror World has, whether intentionally or unintentionally, brought about the current situation."

Angel nodded. "Yes. To make life that could originally dream suddenly lose the ability to dream—such mighty power may only be within reach of the Mirror World’s World Will."

Laplace thought about it. "What you say is not without reason, but this is far too distant from my level; I can’t offer any suggestions."

Angel: "It was unrealistic speculation to begin with, so it doesn’t matter."

He paused, then continued, "If my idle speculation has even a tiny bit of possibility, I would guess that although the Mirror World is drifting farther and farther from the Dream Realm, they probably haven’t completely decoupled."

Laplace was not stupid and immediately spoke out the implication behind Angel’s words. "Because of Sweet Dream?"

Angel nodded. "Since using Sweet Dream allows one to dream, that shows the link hasn’t been completely severed."

Laplace: "But Sweet Dream is a Mysterious Object. Can that really count as evidence?"

"I don’t know whether it can be counted as evidence either." After Angel finished speaking, he added meaningfully, "But, I do find it rather strange that a Mysterious Object like Sweet Dream was born in the Mirror World."

Clearly the two Special Worlds show signs of decoupling, yet on this side a Sweet Dream related to the Dream Realm is born. Isn’t that quite interesting?

Angel looked at Laplace. "The Sage told me that Lady Laplace witnessed the birth of the Sweet Dream. Do you still remember whether the Sweet Dream was born before you stopped dreaming, or after you stopped dreaming?"

Laplace: "After I stopped dreaming."

Angel gave a small smile and said nothing.

Laplace, however, looked at Angel. "You think the Sweet Dream is also a product of the World Will’s gambling?"

Angel: "I wouldn’t dare put it that way. But since the Mirror World has already begun to decouple, I’m wondering: could it be that the Dream Realm hasn’t made any moves of its own?"

Laplace pondered for a moment, then shook her head. "You’re anthropomorphizing the World Will far too much. The World Will doesn’t have human emotions like that."

Angel: "That’s true as far as it goes, but the World Will should still possess some underlying logic—or, say, rules and systems by which it operates, shouldn’t it?"

Angel had the experience of wielding the Authority of the Wilderness of Dreams, so he could vaguely perceive that wills indeed lacked intellect and emotion, yet they possessed a layer of their own operational logic.

Just like the Authority of ’Celestial Alternation’: if Frode had seized it back then, it might not have run so smoothly. Instead, entrusting the Authority to the Wilderness of Dreams itself allowed ’Celestial Alternation’ to exert its power to the fullest.

And this, in fact, could be counted as the underlying operational logic of the Wilderness of Dreams. Even without wisdom, there would still be mechanisms to compensate.

However, Laplace was not persuaded by Angel. She still shook her head. "Things that are too far removed from us—let’s just treat them as speculation."

Angel: "Perhaps there’s a way to shorten that distance?"

Laplace only felt that Angel was being stubborn. She did not refute him, merely withdrew her gaze and remained silent.

Angel once again conjured the mural illusion. While leisurely simulating the shifting of light and shadow, he muttered to himself, "The Sweet Dream was born under Lady Laplace’s witness. For me, that is a kind of luck as well."

Laplace narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

Angel: "Nothing much. I just think that if Lady Laplace hadn’t discovered the Sweet Dream, I might never have had the chance to study it."

After speaking, Angel fell silent and focused on carefully simulating the changes of light and shadow in the illusion.

Laplace quietly watched Angel. After a long time, she lowered her brows, and some strange notions arose in her heart.

As for Angel, although he seemed to be earnestly modelling the play of light and shade, inwardly he was also pondering several questions: Is there really a gap between World Wills? Is the Sweet Dream truly an echo given by the Dream Realm? And... did the Sweet Dream appear before Laplace purely by coincidence?

Even if others knew all of this, they probably wouldn’t think so much about it.

But Angel was different. Along the way, he had repeatedly appeared inside pre-arranged "games." Some of that might be coincidence, but a greater portion had already been confirmed not to be coincidence at all, but the influence of the Book of Kael.

Precisely because he had experienced too much, he had, almost reflexively, begun to adopt a conspiratorial line of thought.

That said, deep down, Angel still did not believe this time to be another "game." After all, if things were really as he speculated, it would touch upon the level of the World Will; if this truly were a "game," it would be exceedingly hard to arrange.

Angel temporarily set aside these cumbersome thoughts and put all of his attention into deciphering the mural.

The analysis of the third mural took somewhat longer, because the shadow-constructed portion was extremely large. To find the logic of the shifting light and shadow would require more time.

Even so, within ten minutes, Angel still managed to present the fully analyzed image.

"What is this?" Laplace frowned as she looked at the painting floating before her eyes.

Compared with the first two paintings, which contained only a throne and a person, the composition of this one was quite complex, filled with a large number of elements that needed to be identified.

Laplace was not the analyst, so it was difficult for her to immediately discern the underlying logic. However, as Angel explained, she roughly grasped the general content of the painting.

If Angel had to give this painting a name, it would probably be: The Road of Glory.

On a long road, a humanoid being was slowly walking forward. He was clad in armor and held a lance in his hand—precisely the "New King" who was about to Ascend the Throne!

On both sides of the long road stood cheering crowds—or rather, a group of humanoid beings cheering and cavorting.

These humanoid beings seemed to be the subjects witnessing the "New King’s enthronement." They cried out in excitement for the emergence of this New King.

"The New King’s enthronement, the Road of Glory." Under Angel’s Guiding, Laplace also perceived that "familiar face" in armor.

Angel’s introduction was detailed, and Laplace understood it clearly. Yet, while looking at this "familiar New King," Laplace could not help but feel that something was subtly off. But when she tried to think it through carefully, she could not say what exactly was wrong.

Angel: "This is all we can see in the third painting for now. Shall we go look at the fourth?"

Although Laplace still felt some lingering hesitation, she did not voice her doubts. She instead led Angel toward the hall where the fourth painting was located.

Perhaps that strange feeling in her heart could be answered in the fourth painting?

They went in silence. With the Bird Lamp opening the way, they smoothly arrived at the fourth hall.

The layout was no different from before: still the framed mural and the irregularly arranged Bird Lamps.

This time, Angel did not pause. He directly projected the illusion from the mural and began decoding it at high speed.

Roughly five minutes later, Angel had successfully deciphered the fourth painting.

When Angel and Laplace saw the fourth painting, both of their expressions momentarily froze.

Laplace: "This is... a steel cable, and... a person?"

If he were to name this painting, what came to Angel’s mind was undoubtedly "The Tightrope Walker."

Because the composition of the image was simply a humanoid being walking alone on a steel cable suspended in midair.

And this humanoid being was exactly the same New King they had seen earlier.

This painting had a simple composition, and the meaning it conveyed—whether in extended sense or literal sense—was not difficult to understand. The reason Angel and Laplace were both stunned lay in certain details on this "person"——

The armor and the lance!

He had taken off that bulky, cumbersome armor.

He had also discarded that spear which seemed capable of piercing the Sky Dome.

As he walked along the steel cable, he directly threw both armor and lance down into the boundless Abyss.

This was the scene that truly shocked Angel and Laplace.

To cast away armor and weaponry, and to throw them into the hard-to-trace Abyssal Depth—this represented his absolute resolve toward the road ahead. At the same time, it also implied one thing...

It meant that from the very beginning, their conjectures had been wrong!

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