Forbidden Nightmare

Chapter 142 Deep Dream and Reincarnation

The sky is clear and blue, and the clouds are as light as silk.

The lake water gently embraces the ankles, and the mirror-like lake surface stretches to the end of the vision, reflecting the sky and clouds, blurring all boundaries.

The breeze blew towards you, blowing away all the killing and blood. This place is the other side far away from the hustle and bustle, and it is also the starting point and end of all dreams.

Li Nanke stood alone in the shallow lake, as if the fierce battle with Simon, the divine body, the three puppets and Geppetto had never happened... everything seemed like a dream.

A synchronous reminder sound is heard, and relaxing blue text appears in the field of vision.

[Nightmare, you have completed the forbidden dream - 'Dolls and Angels'! ]

[Dream is being resolved...]

[Your settlement score in this dream is: Grade A]

[Since you have completed the hidden node: find the alchemist's notes hidden in the cathedral area and learn the secrets of the angels. ]

[Your dream score rises to: S-level]

[Since you have completed the hidden node (optional branch): Go to the Alchemy Island and seize the divine arm of Simon, the leader of the Alchemist Group. ]

[Your dream settlement score rises to: SS level]

[Since you have completed the hidden node (optional branch): Go to the Alchemy Island and dedicate the power heart of the puppet P to Simon, the leader of the Alchemist Group. ]

[Your dream settlement score rises to: SS+ level]

[Based on this score, your current normal exchange fee is 850 points, and you can exchange for three items in the special list. ]

"SS+ grade... only one step away from SSS grade."

The SS+ rating is the highest rating Li Nanke has received since he experienced several forbidden dreams.

If he didn't take down both branches of the hidden node, his score would still be at SS level.

Li Nanke thought carefully and began to review the hidden nodes in this forbidden dream.

The first route of the optional branch is to seize the God's Arm.

It is very difficult to kill the Complete One Laxia and the Alchemist Leader Simon.

Li Nanke and Romeo turned enemies into friends. Li Nanke obtained a large amount of source energy to upgrade his own pain essence to the maximum level, and brought the Puppet King and the War Machine with him, which greatly enhanced his own strength. Only then could he bloody defeat Laxia, and join forces to beat up Simon, and finally defeated the big BOSS of the hidden node with great difficulty.

Such high difficulty matches the hidden node reward main substance 'Angel'.

But for the second route, if you just hand over Pinocchio's power heart and surrender to Simon, you can get the hidden node reward, and the reward is a kind of main substance. Isn't the difficulty corresponding to such a reward a bit too simple?

At first, Li Nanke still had some doubts in his mind, but the moment he saw Geppetto after killing Simon, he understood.

If he chose the second route, if he did not defeat Simon and directly handed over the power heart, then Simon in his prime would perform the deification ceremony and he would have no chance to stop it.

If you think that you can join Simon and get through this forbidden dream safely, you are wrong.

Because after the deification ceremony is completed, the hidden Geppetto will appear and implement the so-called possession plan.

At that time, Carlo, who is loyal to the puppet father, will take control of the divine body and become the most terrifying enemy.

Not only that, he also has to face the nameless puppet and Romeo, the puppet king who is controlled by Geppetto.

If only the latter two join forces, Li Nanke, who has not obtained the main essence of "Angel", will find it difficult to win. If Carlo, who has been promoted to a higher life form, is added, he will definitely lose!
The main substance 'alchemy' that seems easy to obtain is actually more difficult.

Li Nanke weighed the pros and cons and took a risk when faced with the difficult choice of the golden axe or the silver axe, and finally chose "I want them all".

He first defeated Simon, which not only made the leader of the alchemists lose the power to resist, but also affected the divine body of the same origin as him. Then he handed over the power heart, prevented the completion of the apotheosis ceremony, and seized the arm of God.

Finally, revive Pinocchio with the 'Bloody Rose Chest Badge', complete both optional branches, and obtain all rewards.

As for how to obtain the highest evaluation of SSS level, Li Nanke had a vague guess in his mind.

The SSS-level evaluation should be related to the stars that have been hidden for many years. Maybe it means finding and mining stars, or contacting terrifying existences like the "angels" in the illusion...

The difficulty of such a hidden node is too abnormal. Even if you have the courage to accept the task, you will not be able to complete it alive.

Li Nanke stretched out his hand, and his palm was covered with "marionette gloves" woven with silver and white silk threads.

【Marionette gloves】

[Type: Props/Permanent]

[Quality: Rare+]

[Rating: 72/100]

[Details: The genius alchemist Geppetto used many precious materials and top alchemy attainments to create a magical glove. The glove uses the self-element crystal as the power source, which can release energy threads that cannot be attacked to control a series of mechanical puppets. Under the active control of the puppet glove, you can ignore the puppet's self-will, control everything about it, and increase its combat ability to a certain extent. ]

[Note: Snap your fingers...right now!]

After Li Nanke used the "Marionette Gloves" to completely erase Carlo's personality consciousness, the Great Other Side displayed a synchronization prompt.

['Puppet P——Pinocchio' meets the conditions for recognition. This mechanical puppet has become your summoned object. You can summon it through the 'Marionette Gloves' in any occasion such as the Forbidden Dream, the Great Other Side, or the real world. ]

Under Li Nanke's control, several blue threads grew out of the silver-white gloves. The self-silk threads continued to spread, and the ends disappeared into the void, as if they were entangled with something.

He tried to reach out and pull, and his mental power was consumed in thin air, and the familiar puppet boy appeared in the other side.

The boy, who looked to be about eleven or twelve years old, looked blankly and suspiciously at the strange world in front of him, and his gaze finally focused on Li Nanke.

"Boss...where is this?"

As Pinocchio appeared, synchronized prompt sounds continued to sound, introducing a series of rules for permanent summons.

For example, summoning and canceling summons consumes mental energy and has a certain cooldown, so summoning cannot be repeated frequently in a short period of time.

For example, after a summoned creature dies, it can be resurrected by spending exchange points at the other side.

For another example, in a dream world without ego elements, Pinocchio cannot strengthen himself by absorbing ego elements, but his growth potential will allow him to gain a large increase in strength as his master's strength increases.

Of course, this strength increase cannot be compared with Li Nanke's strength improvement speed, so the Great Other Shore also considerately opened the exchange item of "Self Crystal Stone" in the general exchange list.

By exchanging ego crystals, Pinocchio can absorb a large amount of ego element to increase his strength, and his strength may even surpass that of his master Li Nanke.

Looking at Pinocchio who had fought with him all the way, Li Nanke suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of intimacy. In the forbidden dream, he only regarded the puppet boy as a pure "tool man" and always treated Pinocchio with an extremely calm attitude.

But when Pinocchio escapes from the forbidden dream and appears in the other side, he can even appear in the real world afterwards.

Li Nanke suddenly realized that no matter who it was, even if they were very familiar and close to him, he would never reveal the secret of the other side to them.

Only to the summoned creatures who are completely loyal to him and who will fight with him in the forbidden dream in the future, can he tell them everything about the other side without any scruples.

"Boss, you said everything was a dream?"

Pinocchio shook his head in disbelief: "How is it possible? I have lived in that world since I was a child. Everything, all the emotions, everyone I know, and the whole world are just a false dream?"

"Uh... Boss, I haven't told you yet. After Carlo disappeared, I inherited some of his memories, including those about alchemy."

The puppet boy kept looking at the beautiful scenery of the other side, feeling the breeze blowing his hair. Everything seemed so real: "This can't be a dream, it's too real..."

"Yes, the dream theory is an explanation from the other side. In fact, compared to dreams... I am more inclined to believe it is a multiverse or parallel world."

Li Nanke smiled and continued, "Otherwise, how can I bring everything in the dream into reality? Unless reality is also a dream..."

He paused halfway through his speech.

The concept of multiverse and parallel worlds is one of the possibilities inferred by Li Nanke, and it is also the most reasonable and simple explanation.

But he had been subconsciously skipping over another possibility, perhaps because he didn't know it, but because he deliberately avoided it.

That is reality and also a dream.

It's not that after he suddenly woke up from a dream, he woke up from the hospital bed with tubes all over his body, ending his life in a vegetative state after countless years. It's not that in his previous life, a contemporary office worker had a car accident on an overpass on a rainy night and had bizarre fantasies before his death.

But to the Great Beyond, there is no difference between the real world and the dream world, and reality and all dream worlds exist equally.

"Is it possible that for those nightmares that are so numerous but I have not found any trace of them, what I call the real world is just a forbidden dream in their eyes?"

This thought suddenly made Li Nanke's scalp tingle, and he felt as if he was falling into an icy cave.

"Boss, what's wrong with you?" Seeing that his boss looked unhappy, the puppet boy couldn't help but ask with concern.

Li Nanke came back to his senses and forced a smile, "Nothing?"

"By the way, before you came here, were you still on the Alchemy Island?"

Pinocchio shook his head: "No, after you disappeared, I fell asleep immediately."

"Well, I didn't fall asleep. It was a very strange feeling, as if my entire body was pulled out and then stuffed into something... a container-like existence. It was like falling asleep. I had no concept of time and no sensory perception."

"Then I heard you, Boss, calling me, and finally I woke up and came here..."

It seems that after Pinocchio became a summoned creature, he entered a unique "summoning space".

Li Nanke rubbed his brows and said, "So, it seems that you have cut off the connection with that world. Do you still have a way to return to your original world?"

Pinocchio looked at him with horror and stammered:
"Boss... since you brought me here, shouldn't you have a way to put me back to my original world?"

When the puppet boy saw the boss's expression, he quickly realized that he had been completely abducted and there was no way he could go back.

This made Pinocchio stand there in a daze, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.

After being deceived by Li Nanke, the puppet boy soon came to his senses and realized that there seemed to be nothing worth staying in that world.

He is not Carlo, but Pinocchio. For him, the only thing worth caring about in the world is waking up his boss.

As long as I can follow the boss, it doesn’t matter where I go.

After Li Nanke finished counseling Pinocchio on love, he was about to open the redemption list to check when the synchronous prompt sound suddenly sounded.

[Nightmare, you have experienced three official forbidden dreams, unlocking new permissions of the Great Other Shore, the 'Deep Dream' and 'Reincarnation' functions! ]

[Deep Dream: You can enter the next level of Deep Dream in the Great Other Shore and contact other nightmares. Note: You are currently in a single-player Shallow Dream. Deep Dream is a multiplayer peaceful scene. No battle of any kind can occur, and you will not suffer any form of damage. After connecting to Deep Dream, you can return to Shallow Dream at any time. ]

[Reincarnation: You will randomly experience dreams with other nightmares in the forbidden dreams in the future. Reincarnation has different modes, including but not limited to solo mode, cooperative mode, competitive mode, killing mode, free mode, etc. ]

Li Nanke looked at the words that suddenly appeared in front of him and his pupils suddenly shrank.

"finally come!"

After functions such as trading appeared in the Great Other Side, Li Nanke realized that there were many nightmares in the Great Other Side.

Since the Great Other Side allows nightmares to trade with each other, it may allow many nightmares to have deeper contact and communication.

It was definitely not a meaningless act for the Great Other Side to throw Li Nanke, an ordinary person, into a forbidden dream, have him experience countless dangerous battles, and constantly train him, allowing him to quickly master extraordinary powers and become more powerful.

It is like picking up a pale and muscular slave from the roadside, treating him to good food and wine every day, and raising him to be extremely strong. Of course, it is not a sudden act of kindness, but the intention is to send the slave to the arena after he becomes strong.

After Li Nanke experienced three formal forbidden dreams, this moment finally arrived!

The option of deep dream was right in front of him, as if it had some strange magic, tempting Li Nanke to make a choice.

He took a deep breath and suppressed the throbbing in his heart.

"Exchange the items first, then go and see what the so-called deep dream and other nightmares are like."

There are a lot of items on the ordinary exchange list this time, and basically all the low-level weapons, guns, equipment, props, and vehicles that appear in dreams are on the list.

For example, the weapons of more than a dozen trackers, including Gray Donkey's serrated machete and Cunning Rabbit's rapier, are listed.

Li Nanke also saw a lot of alchemical items, such as the porcupine's self-element detection grenade and the yellow dog Philip's steam forging hammer.

Not only that, there are dozens of alchemical materials in the list. Li Nanke has seen some of these materials in the original monastery, but he has no impression of most of the materials.

It may be that after completing the hidden node and obtaining the main substance 'Alchemy', the exchange options for most alchemical materials will be unlocked.

There is also a "Self Crystal" exchange item in the list, and the exchange ratio with the exchange points is 1:1
Li Nanke still had more than 500 self-element crystals in his pocket that he had cheated from Vinini and Sophia. If he exchanged them directly, he could get more than 500 exchange fees.

Adding the 850 points converted from this high evaluation, the total redemption points actually amounted to more than points.

He scrolled down the normal list and soon found the good stuff.

The first one is the butterfly pendant on Sophia’s chest.

(End of this chapter)