Chapter 38: The Most Feared Thing

"But how does it manipulate dreams without getting close?" 

Just thinking that I and Nicola were actually approached by such a dangerous monster at the bedside, and even in a dream, really makes me feel terrified. 

If I was accidentally touched by the nightmare, such as on the head, would it explode directly?

"It should be some kind of spiritual influence..." 

Even Teacher Aetina was not very clear about why this was happening. 

"Now we only know for sure that nightmares generally lead out the most feared things in the dreamer's subconscious at the time, using this as the basis for the dream, gradually peeking out inner secrets, to obtain information. This belongs to the spiritual level."

The most feared thing? I was stunned immediately, recalling the dream I had. My greatest fear turned out to be marrying Nicola? 

Given Nicola's previous identity, I didn't want to marry her, which was understandable, but to talk about "the most feared", it seemed a bit far-fetched, right? Shouldn't the most feared thing normally be death? 

And what does marrying the male version of her mean? Is this bizarre plot hinting at something? Do I not want Nicola to change back very much? 

Hmm...thinking carefully, it does seem to be that way...

Nicola's current looks and figure are top-notch, not to mention she is an angel. Although only suitable for distant viewing, to be honest, she is still quite eye-catching. Plus her carefree personality, I can enjoy some benefits from time to time ←_←. 

But what did her dream represent? She said she also dreamed of marrying me, and she was the groom and I was the bride... 

What the heck... 

I got confused all at once. According to the most feared theory, it's not surprising that Nicola fears marrying me, that's understandable. But her claim that she was the male in the dream marriage is worth pondering... 

Could Nicola's subconscious also be afraid of changing back? What kind of weird thing is this? It feels completely inconsistent with the facts! Did I get it wrong, am I overthinking this? Or is she lying and hasn't told me the truth? 

Because I kept speculating randomly, I didn't listen in class today.

After class, I thought about it and had nothing to do so I flew to the library again. 

Surprisingly, Reed was not at the outdoor training ground today. Looking at the empty field, I paused, it seemed I could only go to the Magic Section to look for her. Unfortunately, Cyra was more concerned with the new room assigned to us and did not come with me.

Upon entering the Magic Section, I did indeed see that book-loving girl again. Just like when I first saw her after arriving in Edenmere, Reed was now kneeling on the floor behind a pile of books, concentrating on reading.

"Where's Nicola?" 

I walked around the library and didn't see anyone else, so I had to ask her.

"Don't know. I told her to keep helping collect gases, but she disappeared later." 

Reed raised her head and glanced at me as she casually replied. 

"She's probably slacking off somewhere." 

"That girl! She hasn't gone to magic class for two days in a row. Does she hate magic that much? What if she runs into the nightmare?" 

I sighed, feeling I had wrecked my brain over this. 

"You met the nightmare when you went back yesterday... Nicola already told me about it..." 

Reed suddenly seemed to remember something and looked up at me to ask. 

"But how does it use magic to hurt the nightmare? I was just guessing before, but you seem to be very sure?"

"Of course, Teacher Aetina told me. We just had class today! She must have seen nightmares before, so what she said should be correct, right?" 

I was startled for a moment and quickly explained. 

"Maybe, but I've never seen such a creature that's pure energy and has no physical form. It doesn't seem to follow common sense to me..." 

Reed lowered her head, staring at the book in her hand, but her mind was clearly not on it now. 

"This is a magical world. Isn't it normal that Earth's physics theories don't apply?" 

I understood Reed's habit of always pursuing the essence of things and looking at problems with a scientific mindset. Suddenly I felt it was a bit funny to pursue science in a magical world - that's just asking for trouble! 

"It is very normal!" 

But she still stubbornly refuted me. 

"But science on Earth is also built on continuous development and improvement, and even through constant denial and correction to develop to its current stage. So we can't say that what we know as common sense is completely correct either. Even magic, I believe, can also find corresponding scientific reasons. Not understanding the principles now can only mean that my grasp of basic theory is still incomplete and needs further study!"

"But is reading these magic books all day useful? It doesn't seem like this world understands the principles behind the existence of creatures like nightmares either, right?"

In my impression, she should read physics books instead, although there are none in this world... 

"Not necessarily!" 

Reed shook her head, denying my view. 

"Maybe in your eyes, magic books are just tools to teach you magic, improve your strength and make it easier to fight monsters. But in my eyes, magic books record the ways various energies are utilized in this world. In the end, it is all experience and a wealth of vivid energy experiments at that. There are even quite a few examples of energy and matter conversions that would be almost impossible to achieve in pre-Earth environments. It is very helpful for understanding the essence of this world." 

"Alright, that makes sense. You're formidable..." 

I had to admit I couldn't win against her in this regard. But with things going crazy in the city now, I had to remind her to be careful. 

"Speaking of which, you should also be more careful. The nightmare still hasn't been found. What if it hides in places like this and possesses you when you're off guard... that would be very dangerous..."

I didn't tell her my speculation that there might be traitors among the conservatives and that the monsters might have been smuggled in by traitor help, but these were still just guesses without evidence. 

"Don't worry. As long as I don't sleep, it has little threat." 

Even though Reed was holed up in an isolated place like the library not attending classes, she was still quite knowledgeable about common sense.

"By the way... what do you think about nightmares being able to draw out the most feared dreams from one's mind?" 

I thought about it and suddenly wanted to hear her opinion on this issue.

"The most feared dream? Did you dream of what you fear most?" 

Hearing my words, Reed closed her book and asked with great interest. 

"Not really..." 

I felt a little awkward and still didn't quite dare to frankly tell the contents of the dream. 

"At best it can only be said to be something I don't want to happen. And it feels like there are a lot of contradictions. Shouldn't the most feared thing be death?" 

"Not necessarily!" 

As soon as she heard me, she immediately refuted. 

"Fearing death is often just a superficial conscious idea. If you're in a relatively safe environment, away from the threat of death, what the subconscious fears most is usually not death, but other things. And a means of indirectly obtaining memories by manipulating dreams like nightmares can only affect the brain and cannot even touch the soul. It can't obtain all of your memories, so the scope of what constitutes the most feared must be limited - most likely to be things you were thinking about in the period before the dream. After all, they always say you dream about what you were thinking during the day! 

"But that doesn't make sense either! I haven't thought about anything like getting married these days..." 

I realized I had let it slip as soon as the words left my mouth, but it was already too late to take them back. 

"Getting married? You dreamed about marrying someone?" 

As expected, Reed gave me a puzzled look. Fortunately, Cyra was not here, otherwise she would surely make a big fuss. 

"Could it be that person Nicola keeps threatening to chop up every day?" 

She murmured to herself as she pondered with lowered eyelids. 

"No...that doesn't make sense either... It should be the thing you fear most. This doesn't add up..."

"What person?" 

I was completely confused. Just what had Nicola been saying behind my back?

"Nothing..." 

Reed suddenly picked up her book again and started "studying hard", clearly wanting to drop the subject. But at the last moment, she still remembered to remind me.

"She's coming."

"Who?"

I looked up when I heard her and saw Nicola wandering aimlessly to the door.

"You're here too? Seems like class ended early today!"

Seeing me also in the Magic Section, Nicola immediately strode in to greet me, casually throwing two spheres containing stored gases to Reed.

"Collected just about enough, feels like the space inside is a bit lacking. You may need to compress it further."

"The weight issue can still be resolved. Angels are much stronger than humans. But the energy needed to continue compressing almost increases exponentially. There's no way the two of us can achieve that."

Reed put away the two spheres and replied helplessly.

"Looks like we must consider ways to absorb energy from the environment..."

"Where did you go?"

I was puzzled about their secret scheming. Suddenly I remembered to ask Nicola.

"Of course, I went to collect the gases Reed wanted! And to train my wind element control in passing. Don't you know that already!"

Nicola looked at me puzzledly. Seeing I didn't seem too happy, she hurriedly added:

"Could it be because you couldn't find me? Of course, I can't stay in one place! Since there's air everywhere, I just wandered around the library vicinity for a bit!"