Archer's Adventure Manual

Chapter 166 Dream Tower; Material Production

Lorraine was surprised to find that he hadn't returned to reality for a long time; he had been in the dream for a very long time.

However, the definition of time in dreams is very vague, and he doesn't know exactly how long it lasts.

Logically, some significant external noise should wake him from his dream, but clearly, there is no such opportunity in reality right now.

Loran in the dream naturally wouldn't sit idly by and wait for his fate. Since uncontrollable factors had occurred in reality, he would try to find a breakthrough in the dream.

The Shadow Ambush was launched, and Loran vanished into the Shadow Realm. Strangely, as he approached the tower, there were no guards around.

That makes sense, since this is a dream world, and the dream bishops are all high and mighty figures. They don't believe that anyone can interfere with the tower.

Loran drove straight in, the tower's stairs were made of expensive materials, and the whole place was filled with an atmosphere of luxury.

Upon arriving at the first large room in the tower, Loran entered and found a man dressed in unusual clothes resting there.

In front of the man was a huge cloud-like screen displaying numerous images of various parts of Dream City, like surveillance footage.

The man didn't seem to care about the above content; he seemed only focused on his own rest, or in short, slacking off.

Loran glanced at the content on the page briefly, found nothing noteworthy, and then turned and left.

According to Karin, there is something more important inside the tower, something that can give the bishops power.

The creation of dream jars was not the exclusive domain of the bishops; it was simply because they possessed the technology and cut off others from access to this technology and resources.

This previously unknown technology was hidden inside the tower.

Loran continued walking up the tower and discovered that the first five floors were almost entirely covered by surveillance cameras, monitoring every part of Dream City.

Even so, there are still many dark corners that cannot be observed.

Just like the borderlands that Loran visited before, there were no surveillance images there, and they didn't seem to think that there was a need to be monitored there.

On the sixth floor, Loran discovered that the structure had changed.

The structure within the vast space resembles a modern factory.

There was a huge mechanical construct here, containing a container filled with countless tiny stars, the same kind of stars that Loran had encountered in the space outside Dream City.

Each star represents a person's dream, which may contain a dream of powerful sword skills or a dream of dazzling magic.

This space is almost entirely filled with such enormous containers, and there are also more people available.

Many people, like dull robots, are feeding dream fragments into these containers.

Loran leaned closer to examine what these people were delivering. What they were holding were not pure Dream Star Points, but... fragments of memory.

After passing through the containers, the fragments of memory transformed into dream star points, which then entered the containers one by one.

These enormous containers are also connected to numerous pipes, which transport goods upwards.

"What a massive undertaking." Loran was surprised. Sure enough, those dream jars couldn't be made at will; they required such a huge space, and this wasn't even the entire factory.

Loran continued upwards; the seventh floor was also a spacious area, with pipes connecting to the containers on the sixth floor.

A long assembly line appeared before Loran's eyes, but it was very different from the assembly lines on Earth.

There is no mechanical assistance here; everything is done manually, with people working here with blank expressions.

Loran looked at the first process, where the person collected the dream star points being transported from the container one by one using bottles, and then another person transported these bottles.

Once passed to the next person, they begin using a special powder sprayer to spray powder onto the bottle.

The transfer continued, and the bottles sprayed with powder were placed into another large black box.

Inside the large black box, the bottle containing the dream appeared in different colors: one pink and one black.

The two colors of bottles then went through different processing stages and were transported away separately.

Loran roughly understood what was going on; this was probably the method for identifying nightmares.

After a series of testing procedures, a dream jar is created, and these jars will eventually be placed in Corbert's shop in Dream City.

Loran also figured out the production process of the Dream Canned Food; all he needed to do was get the corresponding materials to make it.

Where did those materials come from?

Loran had another question in his mind, but it was quickly resolved.

Because on the next level, he witnessed how the materials were made.

In addition to being sent to the seventh floor for making dream jars, the dream star points from the sixth floor were also transported to the eighth floor.

Here you'll find even more fantastical equipment, made up of all sorts of bizarre biological structures, topped with the gaping maw of a dragon, or rather, the head of a lizard that resembles a dragon.

The surrounding area was littered with the slime of various monsters, as well as several small, smoking alchemy cauldrons, with the Dream Star Point delivery pipes connected to its left.

The operator only needs to perform a series of startup operations for the equipment to start operating and release the corresponding resources.

For example, expensive wood, rare steel, and even the components that make up this machine can be generated.

Loran also roughly understood the principle of this machine, which is to materialize the items that existed in these starry dreams, thus making them the materials of the Dream City.

As for how to carry out this operation, Loran had learned about it from books about the Dream Cult.

The bishops of the Dream God Cult created such a machine in order to save themselves production time.

Building such a massive dream city in a virtual dream world is indeed a remarkable feat.

But clearly, a variable like Loran has now appeared in the world of dreams.

The tower operates in an orderly manner, and no other unusual phenomena occur, because those who work here are basically people influenced by the bishops' spirit, and they will not do anything out of line.

This gave Loran the opportunity to make his move.

Loran waited quietly on the eighth floor. There were only two operators there, and they would take a break after running the machines.

Loran could take this opportunity to step forward and operate the machine in front of him. He learned how the operators operated it and produced the materials he wanted to make.

When the operator returned after his break, Loran had already obtained the materials he wanted.

Loran has a lot of materials to make, and it would be very inconvenient to carry them by manpower.

Fortunately, these things can be compressed into a dream bottle and then transformed out using special methods.

And so Loran left the tower with this batch of dream materials. The higher up in the tower were probably the areas where the bishops lived.

Loran had no intention of going any deeper. On one hand, the fluctuations of his escape into the Shadow Realm within the dream would be detected by Karin, and the dream bishops might also be able to detect it, which posed a certain risk.

On the other hand, he had already achieved his general goal and did not need to delve any deeper into anything.

After leaving the tower, Loran randomly found a dilapidated hut on the edge of Dream City and temporarily made it his base.

He took out all the materials from the dream bottle and began to make equipment based on the contents of the books in his memory.

After a long time, he handcrafted a simple, small material-making machine, a dream-capturing net, and a dream-sorting box.

One is used to recover raw materials, one is used to capture dream fragments, and one is used to distinguish nightmares.

For Lorraine, this small step was tantamount to moving from primitive society into the Industrial Revolution era.

With enough materials and tools, Loran can create everything with his own hands.

However, if Loran were alone, it would probably be difficult to operate, as he isn't always in the dream, although it seems he might have been in the dream for quite a while now.

However, one cannot accomplish great things by going it alone. Dream City is vast, and if one wants to seek more benefits, one must find a helper.

Lorraine already has someone in mind—Karin.

The woman who calls herself the underground dark rat has ideas of rebelling against the bishops, possesses a certain dark wisdom, and is also his angel investor.

Loran naturally wouldn't entrust her with everything, but he could ask her to help him with small tasks, such as collecting dream points.

Loran wandered through the Dream City, eventually finding Karin in the underground town.

Karin, with her pink hair, was working as a cleaner at a shop when she saw Loran and came up to him.

"Hello sir, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Hmm, I think so, but I feel we need a relatively private space, what do you think?"

Karin gave a wicked smile, naturally took Lorraine's arm, and then led Lorraine into a private little room.

Once inside the private room, Karin teased, "You're faster than I expected."

Loran's face darkened. He felt there was something strange about what she said, but he didn't pay much attention to it. Instead, he took out a few materials that Karin would use to complete the mechanical assembly.

Like the kind of machine that extracts people's memories, Karin collected them bit by bit.

Materials like these, which are deliberately hidden by the bishops, are extremely difficult to obtain. I never expected Loran to get his hands on them so easily.

As expected, those who can use skills in Dream City are quite arrogant.

But Loran brought something even more unexpected. He took out a Dream Capture Net and introduced it, saying, "This is a Dream Capture Net. As you probably know, there are many wandering Dream Stars outside Dream City."

"But you might be wondering, these dream-like specks will trap you in that dream the moment you touch them, and the same goes for ordinary containers. So how do the bishops collect these things?"

"The answer is here. This is a special net for capturing Dream Stars, and anyone can use it." Loran then took out a few more bottles. "After capturing Dream Stars, simply put them into the bottles to collect them."

"I've seen your device. You must have quite a few bottles like this, Karin. You know a lot of people in Dream City. How about you help me collect as many Dream Stars as possible?"

Karin took the dream-capturing net from Loran, her eyes filled with astonishment. "Interesting... but since you asked for my help, you have to give me something in return, right?"

"I can continue to provide you with materials."

Karin chuckled. "Deal."

In this way, Loran solved the problem of capturing dream stars, but in the short term, he still couldn't make any particularly big moves in the dream.

What he needs to consider now is how to wake up, or rather, how to understand what is happening in reality.

Even in the dream, Loran can still observe the changes in the Adventure Handbook's data, and what is most eye-catching among these changes is, of course, his talent and skills.

Skill - Reaper's Scythe Iv.2 (78/1000): A fake phantom of the Reaper's Scythe is conjured in your hand. Any creature that comes into contact with it will suffer a terrifying blow from your mental strength. If your mental strength is far greater than the opponent's, you can directly seize their soul to nourish your spirit; otherwise, your spirit will be damaged.

The proficiency with the Reaper's Scythe has increased, and at a rapid pace. This indicates that Loran's body is doing something unknown outside, improving the proficiency with the Reaper's Scythe.

Simply put, Loran felt that he might have been impersonated.

And it wasn't entirely without basis; in the space where he used the Reaper's Scythe, Loran saw another version of himself.

That self didn't show any reaction; perhaps it was controlling its own body.

Talent - Shadow of Death Iv.2 (203/1000)

The Shadow of Death talent is also rapidly increasing its proficiency...

Loran had guessed many possibilities in his dream, but now he was at a loss. What could he do? His personality was trapped in the dream space. How could he regain control of his body?

In her dream, Lorraine tried various methods, such as slapping herself or trying to recall various emotions, but all to no avail...

Ultimately, he chose to wait and see. If he couldn't regain control of his body, he would start from the dream world.

Loran left Dream City and returned to his own dream, back to the former capital of Plassen.

The city of Plassen, with its rich history, must have legends about death. If he could find relevant information, he might be able to find a way to deal with it.

The current situation is likely due to some unexpected development in the Death Shadow talent.

Having mastered the art of making dream canned goods, Loran will be in his element in dreams, meaning he can unleash his full potential within them.

If he wanted to, he could become the most powerful person in Plassen in a few days. Finding relevant information and finding a solution would be a piece of cake.