Dream World

Chapter 24: Dream World

After a few minutes of walking, Charles arrived in front of 35 El Street around 2 P.M and went inside. As he stepped into the reception hall, he noticed that an old man was seated on the right side ornate sofa while Eve stood a little away from him with closed eyes and seemed to be in the middle of doing divination. Currently, her hands moved on their own and made hand gestures.

At that moment, he also saw Saron standing in the corner of the reception hall and appeared to be waiting for Eve to open her eyes.

Charles abruptly halted his footsteps and waited patiently.

After two minutes of long silence, Eve raised her brows, stopped her hand movement, and muttered,

"Mangrove trees... It's a City Ruin... Something is coming... Red hair... It's not a monster... It's not a human either... Blood... Lots of Blood... Corpses... Derrick is hiding in those corpses..."

Upon hearing Eve's strange, ominous words, Saron took a deep breath and spoke,

"Six."

"Six?" Charles got started by her word and asked in surprise.

"It's my sixth similar vision, son." Eve opened her eyes and muttered in a solemn tone.

Charles froze for a moment and soon stared at her in confusion.

'Six similar visions? Red-Hair? It seems like something big is going to happen. City ruins, is it? I need to be careful of any strange incidents.' He nodded thoughtfully.

In the meantime, Eve walked in front of him, gave him a welcoming hug, and spoke.

"Inform me before if you plan on staying outside."

Charles paused and soon widened his eyes as he recalled that he didn't tell her about his visit to Pine town.

'She must have worried.'

He nodded his head and went upstairs while saying.

"I'm going to take some rest, mom. So, don't disturb me."

"Have you had your lunch?" Eve turned around, stared at Charles's back, and asked,

"No. Place it in my study room. I will eat it later." Charles replied without turning back and stepped on the stairs.

"He is acting so cold nowadays." Eve shook her head in sorrow and turned towards the white-haired old man.

He was lean and looked around 70-years-old, had black eyes, and a pale face filled with wrinkles.

"Can you tell me more about this strange vision, Eve? Why would my son go to a city ruin?" The old man asked in puzzlement.

"He is an Explorer class member. But something feels off... Did someone discover a new ruin in the past few days?" Eve furrowed her brows and soon shook her head while adding solemnly,

"If Derrick goes to explore any city ruins, his life would be in danger. Tell him to stay away from exploring any strange ruins."

"Okay." The old man stood up from his seat and asked,

"What happened to Charles, Eve? I think he didn't recognize me."

"His personality has completely changed due to that kidnapping incident, Sir Carter. Even if he recognize you, he would give you a nod and would move on his own." Eve shrugged her shoulder and continued,

"Don't forget to inform me if any of the explorer team went missing. First Arcane Era ruins are dangerous places and we don't even have any clue about what is hidden in that place."

"I will." Carter nodded his head and clapped his hand together while bowing his head. After that, he turned around and walked out of their house.

In the meantime, Eve turned her face gloomy and said to Saron,

"Inform the City Lord and Bishop Reynolds about this strange vision. They might have some clue about it."

"Okay. Did you find any abnormalities or unique things in those visions?" Saron nodded her head and asked,

"That city... All those houses in the ruins are more than five-storied buildings and look very different from other First Era ruins... It might be related to the Era of Ancients." Eve said in a grim tone.

A look of surprise appeared on Saron's face as she heard Eve's words.

"Ancients... Are you sure? If we find the city ruins before others, we might find some relics of Taboo Existences." She said in an excited tone.

"There will also be some terrifying dangers. Don't forget about our current situation. We will wait for the explorers' teams to find the ruin. After that, we should join the mission with some elite explorers and find out more about this strange vision." Eve said in a gloomy tone.

"Should we inform Charles to be careful when joining any ruin-related missions?" Saron thought for a moment and suggested.

"I will tell him to be careful of ruin-related missions." Eve nodded her head and then sat on the sofa with an exhausted smile on her face.

...

In the meantime, Charles entered his bedroom, took a white towel from the wardrobe, and went to take a shower.

A few minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom and changed his clothes into a nightgown. He then took out a greyish black stone from his void pouch and placed it on his bed.

After that, he placed the void pouch in his storage cabinet and lay on the soft bed.

Charles then placed his head on the cotton pillow and soon fell into a deep sleep.

After an unknown amount of time, he opened his eyes and soon frowned as he noticed that he was lying on the concrete floor instead of the soft bed.

'What happened to my bed?' He stood up in confusion and soon noticed no furniture appeared in his room.

His gaze soon landed on the broken mirror and soon noticed his short deep-blue hair appeared messier. His deep-set jade eyes looked as calm as ever and seemed to have some mystery hidden in them. He glanced at his lean hand and sighed heavily.

'I really need to work out from now on.' He thought to himself and soon glanced at the concrete walls and ceiling.

'Wait... they looked very old.' He narrowed his eyes.

He walked out of his bedroom in confusion, stepped on the corridor, and went downstairs.

"Mom, are you there?" He shouted loudly and soon grimaced as he sensed the eerie silence.

'Could it be? Am I in the Dream World?' He widened his eyes as he thought of that possibility and soon checked for any abnormality.

'But this dream looks very real. My mind is also clearer than ever.' He checked his body to find anything abnormal.

'I can't even tell the difference between reality and dream.'

'Hmm? Can I get hurt in this Woolgather world?' He furrowed his brows as he went near the concrete wall and punched his hand at it with full force.

A second later, he felt an endless pain from his right hand and got stunned.

'I can really get hurt, huh! Moreover, I can't wake up from the sharp pain.' He was startled deeply.

He then calmed his mind down and checked for any other clue about this Woolgather world.

Just as he was about to move outside, goosebumps crept up all over his body.

Howl!

His heart skipped a beat as he heard the strange wolf's howl from outside and grew alert.

He hurriedly searched the house to find any clues and soon noticed another strangeness. There was nothing but some broken furniture that remained in the house.

'How should I leave this Dreamworld?' He raised his brows and soon thought of moving upstairs.

But as he moved near the stairs, a loud shriek of a bird came from above, causing his body to freeze all of a sudden.

At that moment, he felt that a mysterious power enveloped his body and caused a strange type of fear in his heart.

'What is that?' As the sound died down, he looked at the sky through the window gap and soon widened his eyes.

At that moment, a monstrous blackbird with three heads circled above his house and appeared to be searching for something.

It looked more like a mutated version of an eagle! No, he saw two... No! Ten different monstrous birds were circling in the sky and seemed to be watching the gloomy city like predators. He also noticed that the whole sky appeared reddish and gave off an eerie feeling.

'It looks more like a Nightmare World.' A grim look appeared on his face.

He took two steps back from the window and turned his gaze towards the staircase.

But at that moment, he sensed a presence nearby and stiffened up.

A growling sound came from behind the next second and caused him to tighten both of his fists.

He hurriedly turned around and soon squinted his eyes as he saw a one-meter tall shadow-like humanoid creature standing there with a wicked grin on its face. It had pointy ears, a sharp nose, dark skin, around 110 meters tall, and it resembled more like a goblin from the tales.

'A dark goblin?' He also shifted his gaze towards the goblin's weapon and frowned.

'Scythe?'

While he was in a bit of shock, the goblin revealed its reddish teeth, held the scythe with both hands, and ran towards him while aiming the weapon at his chest.

Meanwhile, Charles rolled down in an instant and avoided the upcoming slash. He then slid towards the broken chair and picked up the broken wooden leg.

Although he was shocked by the sudden turn of events, he didn't lose his calm at all.

He evaded the scythe again and stood up while distancing himself from the dark goblin.

In the meantime, the dark goblin growled at him in anger and sprinted forth while slashing the scythe again madly.

Charles calmly evaded the attack and noticed that the game interface was still working in this strange, dream-like world!

A surprise appeared on his face as he cast [Conceal] spell on himself and turned transparent.

'I can indeed use my skills here.' He warily stared at the puzzling dark goblin and moved around it.

He then aimed the sharp wooden leg towards the dark creature and lunged forward.

He appeared right behind the goblin's chest and stabbed its chest area in a blink. A painful growling sound came from the creature's mouth as it waved the black scythe in panic, but Charles didn't move an inch.

But at that moment, dark blood and strange worms suddenly oozed out of the creatures' orifices before vaporizing!

'What is this?'

Charles didn't dare to stay close to the dark goblin as he saw the strange phenomenon and took a few steps backward.

Before he could initiate another attack, the dark creature let out a roar and started moving in unsteady footsteps.

The dark humanoid creature danced on the concrete floor for a few seconds and soon fell on the ground with a thudding sound, painting the white floor in shade color.

Breathing heavily, Charles went near the strange humanoid creature and soon frowned.

At that moment, he saw that the creature turned into a black liquid-like thing and soon disappeared from his sight.

[Target Eliminated! 230 Exp Obtained!]

Dismissing the interface, Charles squatted down and turned his gaze towards the black scythe.

'It's a common item with no special skills.' He inspected the weapon for a second and soon fell into deep thoughts.

'This dream-like world seems to have connected to the physical world. Otherwise, the game interface shouldn't have appeared here. But, this world looks so dangerous.' His gaze swept past the reception hall and soon landed on the outside yard.

At that moment, he saw a five-meter-long black snake slithering towards his direction while hissing fiercely. He also noticed some strange diamond-like gem on its forehead and got more curious about this strange world.

'What a bizarre world!' He muttered under his breath and soon heard multiple roars and shrieks come from all directions.

'I should leave this place.'

Nodding his head, he turned around and moved towards the second floor. He soon reached the corridor and went towards his bedroom. After arriving in front of the bedroom door, he opened it with a click and entered.

Following that, he closed the wooden door and locked the door from inside.

At that time, multiple crashing sounds came from downstairs, and soon the whole building began to shake.

Hiding his anxiety, Charles looked at the concrete floor and soon breathed a sigh of relief as his gaze landed on a greyish-black stone.

'Nightmare Stone.' He picked it up in a flash and placed it in his palm.

He noticed that the surroundings started to distort a moment later and soon went blurry.