Chapter 521

Chapter 521.

Outside the edge of the elven maiden’s dream, another elf had appeared.

Heidi’s heart tensed at once.

Under normal conditions, no other “mind entity” should appear outside the edge of a dream. That region was, in essence, a chaotic projection formed where the Dreamer’s subconscious border met the Mortal Realm. There, the Dreamer’s own reason no longer worked. The broken, chaotic subconscious was disturbed by the world’s deep layers and gave rise to all kinds of strange or dangerously eerie Shadows. Those Shadows were so dangerous that a human’s mental barrier had to work at full strength on that level just to stop the border’s information from seeping inward.

Heidi still clearly remembered what her teacher had said when she studied at the Truth Academy: every person was actually “blindfolded” in their own dreams. If they ever truly saw what the edge of their dreams looked like, everyone in this world would go mad.

So, as long as the mental barrier worked as it should, the Dreamer would never “perceive” the region beyond their dream’s edge and would never form any mind entity there.

Heidi tightened her grip on the golden awl again and silently recited Rahm’s name in her heart, so that the awl in her hand would carry the suggestive power to kill dream Intruders. She knew very well that the figure here could only be one of two things: a “doctor” like herself, or… another Intruder.

The figure with its back to her seemed not to notice Miss Psychiatrist drawing closer behind him. He still stood there in a daze, head slightly raised, as if watching the tree crowns that hid the sky with full attention.

Under those crowns, sunlight bathed the forest. If that figure standing there had not felt so out of place, it would have been a very pleasant view.

Heidi came up behind the mind entity. She suddenly raised her hand and pressed the golden awl against the back of his head. Yet, just as she was about to drive it in, she forced herself to stop.

Not an Intruder!

The golden awl, blessed by Rahm’s divine blessing, was a surgical tool used to treat nerve disorders in the Mortal Realm. In the mental field, it served as a suggestive vessel with various supernatural powers. It could be used to destroy Shadows in the mind or to build temporary mental contact. Now, as the awl touched him, a clear and steady mind response flowed into Heidi’s senses, along with the tight link between this mind entity and the surrounding environment. The well-trained Miss Psychiatrist grasped at once what this meant—

She had touched another Dreamer.

This was not the “outside region” of the elven maiden’s dream. This was another elf’s dream!

A wave of shock and confusion rose in an instant. Since she had graduated, Heidi had never met such a strange case in her field. Inside one patient’s dream, she had found another Dreamer. Two dreams had merged into one, and she could not even sense a “border” between them!

A thought she could not hold back flashed through Heidi’s mind—she already had a topic for her next journal paper. But if she really wrote this into a paper, even the most wild-minded psychology scholars at the Truth Academy would probably sail day and night to Pland just to challenge her in person…

Her thoughts flashed by like lightning. Heidi quickly pulled back the golden awl and hid it behind her. Only then did the slightly hunched, blond figure in front of her finally react and slowly turn his head.

A face filled with tiredness and confusion came into Heidi’s view.

At once, she thought of some of the frightening last-minute exam students she had seen back in the Academy.

They did not eat, did not sleep, did not rest—and still failed.

“Hello,” the face said. It was so tired it looked as if he had barely slept in his whole life. His tone was slow, as if he were still half-asleep. “Are you also here to kill me in my dream?”

Heidi’s confused thoughts cleared at once. She reacted instantly: “Also? Someone already attacked you in your dream?”

“A few,” the middle-aged elf with messy blond hair nodded. He lifted his hand and pointed to the ground not far away. “Look, over there.”

“A f-few?” Heidi was a little stunned. She followed the direction of his finger and saw only a few small blackened lumps on the open ground. “They are…”

“I don’t know where they came from. I just asked them a few questions, and then they became like that,” the middle-aged elf said slowly. He looked so drained it seemed he might fall asleep at any moment. Then he shook his head again. “They were all key points I had marked earlier…”

Heidi frowned slightly.

Something was wrong with this elf’s mental state. He seemed to be mixing things up in the dream. In his haze, he had spoken of “marked key points”… Was this coming from his role and work in the Mortal Realm? Was he a teacher? Or a scholar?

This elf knew he was in a dream and knew he had been attacked there, yet his understanding still showed clear confusion. Had it been damaged in one of the earlier attacks? Or had something “affected” him during his Dreamwalking?

“You still haven’t answered my question, lady,” the middle-aged elf’s voice came again while Heidi was thinking fast. “Are you also here to attack me?”

“No,” Heidi shook her head at once. His slow, calm questioning in such a strange and tense situation made her feel very uneasy, but she still chose to state her identity. “I am a psychiatrist.”

He frowned at this: “A psychiatrist?”

“Yes, a psychiatrist,” Heidi nodded at once. She calmly drew the golden awl that stood for her profession from behind her, then passed her hand over her forehead and eyes. “And also a believer of Rahm.”

“Oh, a professional,” the middle-aged elf slowly nodded and spoke in a dull way. “It seems my students sent you here, then. They finally noticed their teacher was trapped in a dream? I thought they would use this chance to take two days off…”

The elf in front of her seemed to have misunderstood something.

But Heidi had no wish to correct him. A “reason to intervene” that the Dreamer himself accepted was clearly a good thing. It would help her stay in this dream in a more stable way.

“My name is Heidi. I am glad I was able to find you,” Heidi said politely. “May I ask how you fell into this dream?”

“How I fell into this dream? I’m not very sure,” the middle-aged elf said, frowning. “But I still remember what I was doing before… I was on a tower, observing the Sun, the Sun… Right! The Sun! Miss Heidi, the Sun went out, and I was using that chance to study its surface structure. What is the situation outside now? When you came here, was the Sun still out?”

“The Sun has already lit up again,” Heidi answered, quickly taking in the clues he had given while she spoke. At the same time she tried to guess where this elf was in the Mortal Realm.

He had mentioned a “tower”, but Pland had no tower built just to observe the Sun. If this elf, who seemed to be a teacher or scholar, meant a kind of professional research when he said “observe”, then he must be in a tall tower with full equipment.

Where could that be? Morka? Asudi? Or Lightwind Harbor?

And to study the Sun’s surface while it was out… Such bold action already went beyond what a normal scholar would dare. Even her own Father would likely hesitate before doing something like that. What background did this elf have? What city-state would have such an elven scholar who neither valued his own life nor bothered to sleep?

Just as a few guesses began to form in her mind, the middle-aged elf spoke again.

His gaze passed over the golden awl in Heidi’s hand. He thought for a moment, as if he had only just remembered something.

“Miss Heidi,” he asked politely, “were you poking the back of my neck with that thing just now?”

Heidi: “…”

[How is he only just remembering to ask that now?!]

…

“Master Taran Ael is still not waking up?”

Lucretia frowned. She looked at the elven master lying quietly on the bed, eyes closed with no sign at all of waking. Her expression grew slightly stern.

Earlier, she had taken the “manuscript” Taran Ael had left and returned to the Radiant Star. But after a first check, she had found no clues at all, so she had come to Lightwind Harbor to ask about his condition. She had not expected that this elven Grand Scholar would still be trapped in deep sleep.

This city-state had many skilled doctors and outstanding scholars from the Truth Academy, yet none of them could wake Taran Ael from his coma?

“Y-yes, Lady Lucretia,” said a young man in the ward who had come to care for the Grand Scholar. He spoke with a slight stammer. Faced with the “sea witch” who carried so many strange tales, the young apprentice was clearly very nervous. “The doctors say Teacher is neither hurt nor poisoned. It looks more like he is trapped in a nightmare. This might be an ‘effect’ caused by the Sun going out…”

Lucretia frowned and let her gaze sweep over the other people in the room. Among the apprentices, she caught sight of a face that looked faintly familiar.

“Joshua, your Teacher should know protective skills in the field of spirit and psychology, right?”

“Yes, Lady Lucretia,” answered the young apprentice who had once been caught by the “sea witch” while running in the corridor. “Teacher often has to deal with strange objects found in the border regions, so he has trained in mind protection before…”

“So that means Taran Ael has the skills to stay clear-headed and protect himself in a nightmare. Under normal conditions he should be able to break free of the dream on his own—but the situation now has gone beyond his ability.”

“We have already gone to call a psychiatrist!” Joshua said in a rush. “They will be here soon!”

“An ordinary psychiatrist probably won’t be able to help much. This is no longer a simple nightmare,” Lucretia shook her head. “I am going to take him to the Radiant Star. My laboratory there should be useful.”