Chapter 585 – Preparations Before Nightfall
Chapter 585 – Preparations Before Nightfall
Apparently, Maurice had already burned with a burning passion to search for the truth by this time – in this old gentleman’s eyes, those cultists that made ordinary people fearful were afraid that they had already turned into stacks of walking papers and information.
“Then the only problem is how to pull out those Annihilationists who have entered the Dream of the Nameless from the real world,” Vanna looked at the motivated old man beside her and quietly moved a little bit to the side, “I’ll contact the church tomorrow and see if I can step up the monitoring and raids on the Annihilationists in the various city-states Surveillance and raids – they’re going to be more active than usual with frequent entries into the Dream of the Nameless, as well as unified command and intelligence exchange.”
Morris also nodded, “I’ll also remind the Academy side …… though they probably won’t need reminding.”
They discussed the plan to uncover those cultists in the real world, and just then, Lucrecia, who had been quietly thinking about the problem, suddenly raised her head and looked at Shirley and Dog, “If it’s in the Dream of the Nameless One, will you still be able to find that cultist from last time?”
“That also depends on whether or not it happens to be in the neighborhood, as well as whether or not the other party has the guts to enter the Dream of the Nameless One again,” Dog shook his head, “And last time, Shirley and I heavily wounded that Annihilationist, although it couldn’t harm his body in the real world, his spirit can’t recover in a short period of time .”
Lucrecia listened and nodded thoughtfully, not sure what all she was thinking.
Outside the window, the sun had gradually sunk behind the buildings at the edge of the neighborhood, and the remaining scarlet glow was diffusing along the rooftops of the rows of buildings, and there was also golden “sunlight” diffusing from the sea in the distance, mixed in with the fading evening sunlight.
Nina suddenly raised her head, looked out the window at the darkening sky, and muttered in a low voice, “It’s getting dark again ……”.
Her soft words interrupted Duncan’s thoughts, and the latter got up from the couch and paced to the window, quietly gazing at the street outside.
The “Knowledge Guards” of the Truth Academy were already preparing for the changeover from day to night, and a group of guardsmen were talking to the sheriff at the security post on the corner.
The number of guards today was double that of the previous days, and among them there were more upper-level acolytes who were obviously better equipped, perhaps the elite force drawn from the university in the center of the city-state.
There were publicity vans passing by, urging citizens to end their outdoor activities as soon as possible and return to their homes before the gas lights came on, as the curfew would start an hour earlier this night – the radio repeatedly reminded any citizens who were too late to make it back to their homes to go to the nearest Guardians’ post immediately and ask for help, and the college would arrange for personnel and vehicles to escort them home as soon as possible.
Farther down the block, the soaring spire of the clock tower was bathed in the crisscrossing sunlight and evening sunsets, the golden-red glow seemingly covering the clock tower with a layer of crystal-like plating, and the huge steam pipes extending out from the two wings of the clock tower were emitting wisps of white mist, warming up for the ringing of the “Twilight Bells”.
No emergency was declared by the authorities of the city-state or the Academy – but to those who knew better, the change in atmosphere could be recognized in many details.
“They’re preparing for tonight,” Vanna whispered beside Duncan as she came along, “although there’s no evidence yet that the Dream of the Nameless One will reappear tonight…” …… “
“There’s no telling what kind of preparations they’ve all made, or whether or not their preparations will actually be effective,” Duncan shook his head softly, “so far we still know nothing about the mechanics of how that ‘dream’ works. All we know is that it may have something to do with a certain ‘trait’ of the elves as a whole, and we can’t help them in that regard.”
“We have many problems of our own to solve,” Vanna’s tone was a little more serious, “and there’s no telling what might happen if the Dream of the Nameless One reappears – we could be scattered into the dreamscape once again, and could appear in a different place than before, we may encounter enemies, or we may go straight into those dangerous areas known as ‘erosion zones’.”
Duncan didn’t say anything as he slowly turned around, his eyes sweeping across the living room.
The others had gathered, and many eyes were falling on him.
After a brief pause, Duncan reached forward, causing his palm to open upwards-
Ethereal green flames surged and undulated around him, causing his body to transform into an illusory spirit body cast in flames, and his gaze focused on his palm, whereupon the fire of his spirit body converged, gradually transforming into a cluster of the brightest, most vibrant embers.
Duncan held up this weightless cluster of embers, and in a slight crackling and popping sound, his voice reached every ear, “Come, touch this flame.”
The crowd in the parlor reacted at once with varying reactions – most often with inevitable consternation and hesitation.
Of course, they were not unfamiliar with the captain’s flame, and in fact, they had already come into contact with this spiritual fire more than once, to varying degrees, but “instinct” was an irresistible and oddly wonderful thing, and the extraordinarily active and bright flame that the flame displayed was even more different from the “gentle” flames that they had seen on the Lost Country ship on their normal days. The flame was particularly active and bright, and even different from the “gentle” flames they usually saw on the Lost Country.
But Nina was the first to come forward, even with a bit of an expectant look on her face – she looked up at her “Uncle Duncan”, and her usual bright smile appeared on her face.
She then reached out her hand and gently touched the fire in Duncan’s palm with her index finger.
Wisps of flame flowed around her fingertips like water, and then quietly faded away.
“Hot,” Nina smiled, twisting her head to wave at Sherry, “your turn!”
“Got it got it got it ……,” Sherry cooed, taking two somewhat abrasive steps forward, holding out her hand as she muttered, “It’s not like the Captain’s going to hurt me anyway… …”
Duncan nodded to Sherry with a gentle expression, then added a reminder, “Dog needs it too.” Dog, who was about to turn his head and walk away, suddenly jolted and raised his head to look at the fire, his blood-red eyes seeming to fill with materialized fear, “I …… I won’t need it …… “
“Need,” Duncan looked at the spectral demon with a serious face, “Don’t worry, it’s just a harmless temporary seal, as long as there is no order from me, this flame won’t cause any damage to you.”
Dog is obviously still a bit torn, “I ……”
Duncan didn’t wait for it to finish, he directly turned over his hand and pressed it on Dog’s head, making a rua on the rugged, hard skull.
Phantom green flames poured over his head and flowed in a flickering burst through the skeletal body of the Profound Hound.
Dog’s entire dog shivered for an instant, only managing to let out a startled, “Hey I fuck ……”
Duncan ignored the guy and looked up at the others.
Vanna and Maurice came forward as well, each reciting a prayer from the god they believed in before touching the fire in the captain’s hand with a serious expression.
Now there was only one man left on the scene.
“Lucy,” Duncan looked calmly at the Witch of the Sea, not far away, “don’t worry, it’s just a special ‘mark’. –If the Dream of the Nameless One reappears, the power in the seal may be able to help you.”
“I know,” Lucrecia said softly, with what seemed to be a hint of complexity under her eyes, she raised her head and looked at her father’s ethereal stance standing illusory in the flames, and the cluster of brightly pulsating embers, and after a couple of seconds, she finally stepped forward, and slowly extended her hand towards Duncan, ” …… Is this the power of subspace?”
Duncan looked at her calmly, “It is my power.”
Lucrecia took a soft breath, then stepped forward and touched the flame.
There was no pain, no burning, no expected erosion and negative perturbation on a mental level – she only felt a calming heat with warmth and reassuring soothing.
The greenish fire flickered beneath Lucrecia’s eyes.
The “sea witch” then turned around, darted to the corner of the room, picked up the giant rabbit doll and returned to Duncan.
The rabbit doll, which had been pretending to be dead for most of the day, finally stirred, wriggling vigorously in Lucrecia’s hands, and a frightened little girl’s voice came from its cotton filled body: “Mistress, what are you doing! Rabbi is just a rabbit! The rabbi is only a ……”
“Quiet,” Lucrecia pinched the bunny doll’s back hard enough to silence the frighteningly creepy rag doll momentarily, then held it forward, “Daddy, give the rabbi a mark.”
Duncan didn’t react at first, he’d been wondering about the other man’s reason for doing so when he’d seen Lucrecia bring the doll bunny over, and it was only then that something vaguely occurred to him, “That’s …… you’re bringing this doll into the Dream of the Nameless?”
“The rabbi can move in the dream world – it dreams,” Lucrecia said, “I wanted to try and see if it would be swept up in the Dream of the Nameless One when it expanded. The Radiant Star stayed at the harbor earlier, and the rabbi said it didn’t notice anything unusual in the city at all; that could be because the harbor is too far from the central area where the Dream erupted, or the rabbi is too little affected by your power.”
The rabbit doll struggled a little more and made a tiny sound, “If I had known the rabbi wouldn’t have come ……”
Lucrecia raised her hand and pressed the rabbit’s face into Duncan’s hand.
Duncan: “……”
He suddenly feels like he’s turned into a buffed stake …… This doesn’t seem quite what he planned at first?
But no matter what, he successfully completed the preparations before entering the dream, and next …… he just had to wait and see if the Dream of the Nameless One would really happen again tonight, as well as verify his many conjectures and plans in the dream world.
Just then, the sound of footsteps came from the direction of the living room doorway, and Alice and Luni appeared in Duncan’s line of sight, pushing a food cart.
“Dinner time!” Alice said happily, as if she hadn’t noticed the atmosphere in the living room at all, “Shall we go to the dining room to eat, or just in the living room?”
(End of chapter)