Archer's Adventure Manual

Chapter 155 Deep into Dream City

In reality, Loran might be wary of the hidden power behind Plasson, but in the dream world? Loran doesn't care.

Loran learned from Terry that the magic academy does store some forbidden books, but they are all hidden and heavily guarded.

Even though this is a dream world, it still follows many principles, and the people here have their own predetermined thoughts and actions...

In some ways, it's not much different from the real world.

With Loran's current abilities, it would be quite difficult for him to explore those forbidden books. If he were imprisoned in the dream, he would probably have a hard time escaping.

The reality made Loran very uneasy. If he could make a breakthrough in this mysterious dream, it would greatly help his strength and allow him to better understand this world.

Loran wanted to think of a way to solve some of the problems he was currently facing.

He recalled the small bottles sold in the Cobert Shop in Dream City. How did these guys design bottles that could affect their own dreams?

If Loran could become stronger in his dream world, it would greatly help him learn more.

Loran decided to travel to the Dream Capital once again.

After a frantic run through the magic academy, the surrounding environment gradually distorted and collapsed, and Loran arrived at that indifferent dream city.

Where there is demand, there will be a market. The last time Loran learned about the Dream Factory, it was a place where people sold fragments of their memories of their actions in reality in exchange for the currency of the Dream Capital.

And the number of people working in dream factories is not small... They may all correspond to a real person in reality.

By analogy to reality, if everyone wants to obtain something, merchants will probably rush to hype up the product and sell it at a higher price.

There will always be people who are unwilling to sell their memories and time to the dream factory... So who will meet this need?

As Loran walked down the street, he pondered. He seemed to have arrived at a relatively bustling street in the dream capital.

He had previously thought that many people in the Dream City behaved normally, but now he might have to retract that opinion.

He saw many people on the road, but their eyes seemed dull and lifeless. They might have some ability to think, but definitely not much.

Only someone like Rod, who introduced him to a job before, with normal communication skills can be considered normal.

"Why...why are the people here different from each other?" This thought arose in Loran's mind.

Loran could even see some people appear out of thin air on the street. They were dressed simply and had rather dark skin. Judging from their profession, they were probably farmers in the real world.

Not long after they appeared, people dressed in obviously more luxurious clothes approached the farmers and offered them some jobs.

Loran could make out what the person was saying, which was probably about the Dream Factory.

The farmers, bewildered, followed him away. There were many men like the wealthy man on the street, and their targets were all clear: these muddle-headed fellows.

In just a few tens of minutes that Loran was there, the people on the street had completely changed... many of them had been sent to the Dream Factory.

Only a few people who appear to be behaving normally go shopping not aimlessly, but to relax and regulate their emotions like normal people do.

These people are distinctly different from those who are dull and taciturn.

Loran continued to observe. Many people would guide those dullards into the dream factory, just like Rod did, but some people clearly didn't have that kind of patience.

They actually chose to take action directly; a burly man grabbed a woman with a blank expression by the hair and scurried into a small alley.

Loran frowned slightly, but he chose to follow.

The burly man practically dragged the woman along, her already flimsy clothes constantly scraping against the ground, but perhaps because it was a dream, there was no sign of damage even so.

"Boss, you're here. What are we going to do?" Two henchmen were already waiting in the corner.

"Hmph, you two newbies should learn a thing or two. If you don't want to work for those high and mighty guys in Dream City, then you'll have to master the survival rules of the bottom rungs!"

"This woman bears the mark of a bishop's dream. You need to go to Karin and get rid of these things."

The two underlings seemed a little timid and hesitant. They asked with some worry, "But sir, that's a bishop. If we're discovered, we definitely won't be able to worship the God of Dreams anymore. We still want to live a good life."

"Heh, live a good life? How can you live a good life without money! You people are all respectable in real life, but in your dreams, without enough power, aren't you just like in reality, nothing more than despicable maggots!"

The burly man cursed, "Now, you all better get moving, I need to go and get some more of these guys."

The burly man moved, and Loran, who was eavesdropping in the shadows, also moved to a blind spot, where the burly man did not notice him.

The two henchmen slowly pulled the taciturn woman in one direction, seemingly towards a small path. Loran followed.

After passing through a narrow alley, the two henchmen went up the stairs and into an underground passage.

"This woman is quite pretty... but this is a public dream, there's nothing we can do, it's really infuriating."

"Yeah, if it's really like what the boss said, once we finish this deal, we can get a lot of memory fragments. Then we can buy some products to use in our own dreams, and it'll be easy to win over a few women, right?"

The two talked, already imagining the good life after everything was done.

Loran, who was tracking the two, discovered something amazing: he could use skills in Dream City, specifically Shadow Ambush.

Yet he couldn't sense any change in the consumption of his mental energy... This meant that he could remain in the Shadow Realm indefinitely, and could follow these two guys without any cost or risk.

The two men opened a manhole cover and walked into the underground sewer. After winding through the sewer, a bright and open area appeared before them.

Surprisingly, this is a gathering area with basic facilities, shops, and a relatively lively crowd; the long streets seem to stretch on and on.

It was like a small underground world, except that the air was filled with an indescribable smell...

Loran seized an opportunity to blend into the crowd and continue his pursuit.

He hadn't expected that although the place was small, it was crowded with people, and most of the people here were probably not law-abiding citizens.

The two men entered an ordinary-looking room and found Miss Karin.

"Oh? That Budlong guy did it? How rude." Karin commented when she saw the people her two underlings brought.

The two henchmen quickly replied, "Yes, that's right. Boss Budlong sent us. We just want some benefits."

Karin curled her lip. "Of course I know what kind of people you are. Don't worry, you'll get your share. But you'd better think carefully about the risks involved. If you're discovered, it won't be as simple as just losing your believer status... You'll face our retaliation. Do you understand?"

"Yes, of course we understand! We know the rules here!"

"Okay, cooperate with me. I need some time to prepare," Karin said calmly.

Soon, with the help of the two men, Karin produced a slightly strange device, connected it to the brains of her two henchmen, and then to the head of the woman they had brought back.

"I need your spiritual power to erase this woman's dream imprint so that we won't be investigated by the bishops. At the same time, we can obtain all the fragments of this woman's memories, which will be an immense treasure," Karin reminded her.

The two henchmen readily agreed, "Yes, we will definitely cooperate fully!"

Next, Karin continued to guide the two to cooperate, and the device connected to their brains was flashing and operating at high speed.

"This process may be a little painful, but these are normal phenomena. Believe that perseverance will lead to victory. Hang in there, everyone!" Karin kept encouraging.

The sound from the device connected to their brains grew louder, and the flashing lights changed from green to red, becoming more rapid.

"Ms. Karin, are we almost there?! But I feel like I can't hold on much longer, can we go a little faster?"

"I...I'm a little..."

Karin's lips curled up slightly. "It's done."

"bite"

The instrument emitted a piercing shriek, and the two henchmen stared blankly into a daze.

Karin removed the devices from the heads of the two women, and then removed the device from the head of the abducted woman.

"Hmph, touching the bishops' property is a very dangerous act. Who would want to take the risk if there were a less risky option?" Karin sneered.

The two henchmen had lost consciousness and were lying on the ground. The dull woman watched all this with a hint of instinctive fear in her eyes, but that was all; she didn't make a sound.

Karin connected another line to her two underlings, and Loran, who was spying on the place from the Shadow Realm, followed the line to look behind and found a huge container.

The container contains a large amount of purple star-shaped material. Below, there is a device similar to a suction vent that draws in the purple star-shaped material. After going through a series of processes such as compression, it finally produces memory fragments that look like jigsaw puzzle pieces.

The circuit connecting the two underlings was continuously extracting these purple star-like substances from their brains.

"Knock knock knock".

"Kalin, is everything done?"

"Come in."

Budlong walked into the room, looked at the two underlings lying on the ground and sneered, "Arrogant bishops always want to squeeze every last drop of value out of people, but sometimes killing the chicken to take the meat is the wise choice, because you can never kill all the chickens."

"We still need to keep a low profile. The bishops are very controlling of everything, including believers like us. They see us as assets and want to control every inch of Dream City."

Karin said indifferently, "Let's take this girl back to the surface later. She's no use to us."

Budlong looked regretful. "If only we could truly erase the dream imprint, the bishops' control over Dream City would be greatly reduced..."

"I believe we will achieve all of this in the near future. We need to use these fragments of memory to cultivate more connections and build relationships with more idealistic believers, instead of indulging in pleasure at the Corbert store. Don't you agree, Mr. Budlon?" Karin asked with a wicked smile.

Upon hearing this, Budlong's expression faltered slightly. He coughed twice and said earnestly, "Miss Karin, I believe it's quite necessary to moderately improve one's quality of life. You wouldn't be stingy with paying your subordinates for their hard work, would you?"

"Of course not, you fool controlled by your desires. Take your fragments and leave with this woman." Karin curled her lip.

"grateful."

After receiving a few fragments of memory from Karin, Budlong left the place with great joy.

Karin was the only one left in the room. She sat there quietly, without making any movement.

Loran, lurking in the shadows, listened to the conversation between the two and felt that it contained a great deal of information. These people all called themselves "believers".

It's also related to dreams, and combined with what Loran knows, they must be followers of the Dream Cult.

Unexpectedly, believers would kill each other in their dreams. The reason they didn't kill the woman was because she had the spiritual mark left by the bishop and belonged to the bishop's "property".

Just as Loran was deep in thought about these topics, a cold voice suddenly rang out.

"Friend, how long do you intend to hide?"

It was Karin's voice; her eyes coldly fixed on where Loran was.

Loran was startled. Oh no, they'd been discovered?

"There's no need to hide it, my friend. I mean no harm. Perhaps I can even answer some of your questions."

After considering it for a moment, Loran realized that he didn't seem to need to be afraid of the guy in front of him.

Judging from the various rules and behaviors observed so far, it seems that there is no direct violent conflict in Dream City that leads to death.

Even killing those two seemingly insignificant henchmen required sophisticated equipment to lure them into doing so.

Loran then dropped his pretense and calmly emerged from the Shadow Realm, asking curiously, "How did you discover me?"

Karin looked at Loran and exclaimed, "Amazing! I just felt that area was a bit different, but I never expected that there would actually be people there. You can actually use skills in Dream City... Do you know how surprising this is?"

"I don't know, but I'm very curious about what you just said. I do have a lot of things I want to know. I heard your conversation, and I believe this information is no less important than the fact that I have a skill, right?"