Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 242

“Before I explain how the test works to you, I would like to tell you more about the Dreamscape. Would you like to learn more about the Dreamscape?”

The lovely voice of the fairy which was serving as Mane’s chaperone, rang in his mind once again.

“I would be grateful if you do” Mane transmitted his thoughts to the fairy. He didn’t know much about the Dreamscape, so any valuable information was welcome.

“Very well. The Dreamscape, as I mentioned earlier, is of a different dimension and overlaps with the Ture Universe. Discovered by the Allfather Odin, and modified for the purpose of improving the strengths of Asgardians through tests, the Dreamscape is a world separated from reality. In other words, you can spend eternity here, but the True Universe would be unchanged”

“Wait a minute” Mane interrupted. “Are you saying that time doesn’t flow in this world?”

“True. Time doesn’t flow in the Dreamscape. And it isn’t a world, but a virtual universe” The fairy explained

“If that is true, then how was it possible for me to listen in on their conversation?” Mane forwarded his doubts to the fairy. It didn’t have any reason to lie to him, but Mane couldn’t accept its words so easily. He had just listened to his father and Butler Fin talking amongst themselves. If time didn’t flow in the Dreamscape, how was it possible for that to happen? And even more importantly, why did his father estimate that the test would take some months to complete. The fairy seemed to understand Mane’s misgivings, so it answered thusly,

“While it is true that time doesn’t flow in the Dreamscape, and that reality remains the same, the Dreamscape is still a universe that can be slightly controlled by the one facing the test. You wanted to know if you were still connected to the outside world, and your wishes were conveyed to the Dreamscape. Although you fell asleep hours ago, you only entered the Dreamscape about two hours prior to our meeting. The conversation your father and his friend were having occurred an hour before you entered the Dreamscape. What happened was, the conversation your family was having was recorded before you arrived, and played for you when you willed it. The sensation of sinking into your body once again, wasn’t truly you returning to the True Universe, but the Dreamscape transmitting the final moments before you entered the Dreamscape. The requests you made were very common. Every visitor of the Dreamscape has made the same requests. The Dreamscape prepares these things so that they can be used when these ‘common’ requests are made. That is why this world is real, yet unreal”

Mane rubbed his head tiredly as he listened to the fairy explain how the Dreamscape worked. His father was indeed right: It was real, yet unreal.

“So it basically deceived me?” Mane sighed

“No. You deceived yourself” the fairy transmitted emotionlessly, causing Mane’s eyebrows to twitch in annoyance. It was true that while the Dreamscape was the culprit for transmitting ‘unreal’ scenes to him, he was the one who requested that it should. So, although he didn’t like the words the fairy used, they were accurate.

“What about what my Father said. If there is no concept of time in the Dreamscape, why did he say that it may last a few months” Mane asked the other question that brought doubt to the pondering mind of any genius.

“Because it takes time to absorb what you have gained fully. After passing the test, the rewards cannot magically integrate into the body. It takes time for the body to fully accept the changes that are happening to it. So based on how large the rewards are, a person may take longer to reawaken. Once a person passes the test, they would be kicked out of the Dreamscape. In other words, when one is absorbing their rewards, they would be in the True Universe – and they would be truly asleep this time.” The fairy explained patiently.

“I see” Mane nodded.

“Can I proceed with the information about the tests?”

“You may” Mane assented.

“Very well. The test a person faces in the Dreamscape is the manifestation of their will and desires, and their own talent. For instance, if you desire to become a heaven realmer yet only possess talent that would lead you to the peak of the earth realm, the test you would face in the Dreamscape would be focused on helping you break that talent suppression. And naturally, the difficulty would be so much higher”

Mane listened silently as the fairy explained the way the Dreamscape worked. He wasn’t n.a.k.e.d anymore. After getting a bit familiar with the Dreamscape, he understood a bit how it worked. Just like Ray said, it was both real and unreal, and could be controlled to some extent. The part that could be controlled involved himself, so something simple like clothing himself didn’t pose much difficulty. But he couldn’t summon just any clothes either. Mane tried summoning some armor first, but that didn’t work. He couldn’t summon any of his swords either. It was clear that the things that gave him such superiority in the real world, had some sort of restriction in the Dreamscape. Mane could only summon simple clothes: a white t-shirt, a black pair of trousers, and a long winter coat. Although they provided no additional strength, Mane quite liked how he looked.

“The difficulty of the tests range from Very Low to Very High. Between these two extremes are, in ascending order, Low, Below Average, Average, Above Average, and High. The tests are given based on talent and desire. So using the earlier example, if a person with an earth grade talent (talent that allows a person to reach the peak of the earth realm at most) takes the test, the recommended level would be Average. But this person is allowed to pick a difficulty one level below, or one level above his/her recommended level. So for someone with earth grade talent, although the recommended level would be Average, he/she could choose to take the test at the Below Average level, or at the Above Average level.”

“So that is why you stated that it isn’t only based on talent, but desire and will” Mane roughly understood what his chaperone was saying. While it was true that the tests were prepared based on a person’s talents and gifts, that wasn’t enough. If someone wished to break out of the cage that held them, and destroy the chains that kept them stranded on the ground, they would have to go beyond their innate talents. That was why the Dreamscape allowed a person to pick a level above their talent. It gave people the chance to break out of their innate limitations.

In the same way, it also respected the wishes of those who didn’t want to take the tests. Mane was forcefully brought here. His intention was to just take a nap and then wake up full of energy to continue his training. However, he found himself here, with no way to get out. Choosing a level lower than the recommended level would mean that one could easily pass the test. Since it was a level lower, the rewards would be nothing grand and it wouldn’t take long to reawaken in the True Universe. It was a way to avoid the long sleep that came with digesting the rewards of successfully passing the test, and effectively reject the test. But Mane wasn’t going to do that. He needed to get stronger.

The battle against Dominic forced Mane to accept that he wasn’t even capable of fully protecting himself on Zandor. Although he won in the end, Mane knew it was because of a series of lucky coincidences that he escaped unscathed. Unfortunately, he still didn’t know how he awakened the dormant lightning in his bloodline. Mane felt that it was similar to a Second Awakening. But he didn’t know how that was possible since Second Awakenings, logically speaking, only functioned when one’s bloodline wasn’t fully awakened during the First Awakening. Mane knew that his bloodline was fully awakened, so he was confused. He would have to ask his parents when he got out of this place.

“Yes. When you are ready to take the test, you must inform me” the fairy flew over Mane’s head and seated itself on his shoulder.

“What else is there to do? I am ready” Mane shrugged.

“Very well” the fairy stated, and a bright screen appeared before Mane. There was a recommended difficulty on that screen, and nothing else.

“How is that possible?” the fairy sounded shocked. Mane finally made out its gender from its shocked voice. It was female.

“What isn’t possible?” Mane wondered and looked at the screen. He realized why the fairy was shocked. On the screen there was indeed only one thing – the recommended difficulty of the test. Mane didn’t look at it closely before, but now that he did, he realized that what was there wasn’t part of the difficulty options the fairy had given him.

“Legendary” was the recommended option. Below Legendary was the option that was one level lower – Mythical – and the option that was a level higher – Chaos. Below Legendary was Mythical, meaning that Very High was nowhere near the peak of the difficulty.

“What is that?” Mane asked. The fairy that was sitting on his shoulder responded in a shocked voice, “I don’t know. I have to ask Management”. It disappeared shortly after.

“Legendary huh? I wonder what Chaos would be like” Mane smirked dangerously.