Chapter 529

Chapter 529: .

In the middle of the forest clearing, the mind entity of Taran Ael, which had been frozen because of “Protective Descent”, suddenly blinked. It seemed that as the corruption from the creeping Sun Wheel faded, his self-awareness finally returned to this shallower layer of the dream.

Duncan and Lucretia noticed at once and both walked toward the elven scholar. In just two or three seconds, he fully woke and stared in shock at the scene before him.

Nothing was quite the same as in his memory. The forest that had been lit by sunlight had somehow fallen into a strange dusk. Shadowy darkness blurred the sky, and many new figures had appeared in his view. He did not know any of them (including Morris, whom he had not seen for decades).

After looking around in confusion, Taran Ael finally gave a little start. He hesitated, then broke the silence: “Is my condition really this serious?”

Lucretia, who had just walked up, froze when she heard him: “What are you talking about?”

Taran Ael pointed at himself, then at Heidi, Vanna, and Morris, who had noticed the commotion and were walking over. His face was full of disbelief. “I was only out for a little while. How did it turn into this many people doing a consultation?”

Lucretia’s expression twitched. She almost lost her composure.

But Taran Ael kept talking: “If you really can’t wake me up, let me try my own method. The ‘Sudden-Death Method’ is actually quite effective…”

As soon as Lucretia heard that, she quickly cut off the Grand Scholar: “Stop thinking about your ‘Sudden-Death Method’. Do you know what just happened?”

“Just now?” Taran Ael looked blank. “What happened just now? I just zoned out…”

“The Black Sun’s minions invaded your dream and even brought in a projection of a Sunspawn,” Lucretia said with a serious face, watching Taran Ael’s expression as she spoke. “You didn’t sense any of it? If my father hadn’t appeared in time, the mind entity you left here might already have been destroyed by the battle’s aftershocks.”

Taran Ael’s face had already grown serious as he listened to the first half of Lucretia’s words. But when he heard the last sentence, he suddenly froze. Then he slowly started to react, turning his head toward Duncan with a hesitant and horrified look as he spoke: “Your… father?”

Lucretia nodded in silence. Duncan tried his best to show a friendly smile and reached out his hand to this respected Grand Scholar: “You can just call me Captain Duncan.”

But Taran Ael did not take his hand. His whole body seemed to go rigid as he stared wide-eyed at the tall figure before him. Then he suddenly drew in a deep breath, his whole form giving a violent “shudder”, and his figure vanished from the forest.

Duncan stared, completely baffled, then turned and asked: “What just happened?”

Lucretia looked almost as stunned. It took her two or three seconds after Duncan spoke to realize what had happened. Then she said, with a strange look: “…The ‘Sudden-Death Method’ worked.”

Duncan: “…?”

Just then, Heidi, Vanna, and Morris also walked over. They had planned to greet their awakened Master Taran Ael, but only saw him vanish into thin air and heard Lucretia’s last mutter. Their faces all changed in different ways.

Heidi’s face was full of amazed wonder, as if saying, “That actually worked.” Morris’s eyes held a trace of regret. Only Vanna just looked blank—she was the Athlete and did not really understand what these psychology experts were doing.

Whenever she ran into a nightmare, she just cut her way through it and ran out.

“I wanted to say hello to Master Taran Ael,” Morris said with regret. “We haven’t seen each other for many years.”

“He wouldn’t have recognized you,” Heidi shook her head. “In his memory, you’re still a young man studying abroad. He can’t even imagine that you now have a daughter.”

Morris thought for a moment and sighed softly: “That’s what it’s like dealing with elves.”

“Looks like you cleared things up?” Duncan glanced at the mood among the three and asked curiously.

“We did,” Vanna nodded and spread her hands helplessly. “We got scolded for a long time.”

Heidi kept quiet. She could not help carefully studying the “famous” captain in front of her. Her gaze moved back and forth between the people present, and who knew how many wild thoughts rushed through her mind in those few seconds.

Lucretia was not paying attention to them. She had been carefully watching the changes in this “forest” since just now. At this moment she finally broke the silence in a low voice: “Just as I guessed, Taran Ael has woken up, but the ‘dream’ itself still exists… There is another ‘Dreamer’ keeping this place going.”

Hearing her, Duncan only nodded lightly.

Because he still could not tell what kind of “Dreamer” lay behind this dream, and because this place seemed to link to many ordinary people, he had not “set it on fire” here. But ever since then, he had been carefully sensing this place.

This forest, which looked utterly real, was in essence a dream. Behind it should be the Dreamer’s subconscious. By entering here through “Spirit Realm walking”, he should in theory be able to touch and even sense that “subconscious”, just like when he had touched those “starlights” while walking in the Spirit Realm before and felt emotions and rough scraps of thought.

But here, no matter how far he extended his senses, no matter how carefully he used the “Listening Rite”, he could only feel a vast… emptiness.

There was nothing. No fear, no thoughts. Beyond the forest was still forest. Deep under the ground was still ground. The Dreamer’s personality was nowhere to be found. Rather than a “barrier” made by a subconscious to protect the deep layers of the dream, this forest felt to Duncan more like a mass of chaotic mist.

A barrier had a purpose. But mist just gathered here on its own in chaos. It had no purpose and no awareness. It only followed some ancient rule.

Duncan kept wondering what lay behind this empty, vast dream. Just then, a gust of disorderly wind suddenly blew out from deep in the forest. The cold that came with it cut off his thoughts.

“…This forest is starting to reject us,” Heidi said at once, frowning, though her tone held some doubt. “But why didn’t it react before?”

“Maybe because Taran Ael woke up,” Lucretia said thoughtfully. “His waking did not make the dream break apart, but it did close one ‘entrance’. So of course we uninvited guests will be pushed out.”

“Looks like it’s time to leave,” Duncan sighed with regret. His instincts told him this dream still hid many secrets. But he also knew that if he forced himself to stay after the dream had started to push them out, the damage he caused might not be any less than that ‘twisted Sun’ in the sky from before.

“That’s fine. I need to get back to the Mortal Realm soon and check on Taran Ael’s condition,” Lucretia said. She actually looked a bit relieved. “I really don’t want him dying on my ship.”

“All right, go,” Duncan nodded to her. “We can talk about the rest when we meet in the Mortal Realm. I’ll come find you soon.”

Lucretia’s face seemed to tighten for a moment, but she quickly eased and showed a small smile. “All right, but there’s no rush. It’s fine if you take your time. It’s a long voyage from Frost Sea to the southern seas, so be sure to travel sa—”

“I mean I’ll be there very soon—probably this afternoon,” Duncan waved his hand. “The Vanished is already near Lightwind Harbor.”

Lucretia’s smile froze at once. “…Huh?”

Duncan stayed calm. “Maybe it’s some effect from the Sun going out. The Vanished crossed a huge distance in an instant. I’m already there now.”

Lucretia stared for a beat. Then her figure “flickered” twice and vanished into thin air in front of everyone.

Duncan, Heidi, and the others were left staring at one another.

The awkward silence lasted for a moment. At last Vanna spoke first: “Did she scare herself awake?”

No one answered her.

“Time to go,” Duncan shook his head, easing the sudden awkwardness. “If you have anything else to say, we can talk later.”

Their short reunion had already reached the moment of parting again. A hint of sadness rose in Heidi’s heart. She looked at her father and friend standing beside Captain Duncan, her feelings mixed, and suddenly thought of something: “Wait, how am I supposed to contact you?! You’re on the Vanished…”

“Just write letters,” Morris said with a smile. “Send them straight to that antique shop in the Lower City. The captain will hand them over himself.”

“Huh? Just write letters?”

Heidi froze for a moment. Before she could react, she heard Vanna speak beside her: “If it’s just a short message, you can also go to the Cathedral. Bishop Valentine can help pass it on.”

Heidi still looked dazed. “You mean the Cathedral?!”

“Or you can wait until the ship has a holiday,” Duncan added next. “We’ve been busy lately, but there should be a break later. I can send them back to Pland then.”

“The Vanished even has holidays?!”

However, none of Heidi’s questions got a reply.

The wind from the forest was growing clearly cold and hostile. The dream’s rejection was reaching its peak. In Heidi’s eyes, Captain Duncan, her father, and Vanna were all starting to blur.

At last, even her own consciousness turned dim and hazy, and she sank into darkness in a sudden wave of weightlessness.

A second later, the darkness faded, and she jolted awake from the dream.

Heidi opened her eyes and saw that she was lying on a bed in a ward of some medical facility. Her original “patient” was nowhere to be seen.

It seemed that after she fell into Dreamwalking, someone had noticed the Anomaly and brought her here.

Miss Psychiatrist let out a deep breath.

This long and winding dream had finally come to an end.