The clockwork doll Luni looked at Duncan, who suddenly began to lose focus, with some concern. After a few seconds, she couldn't help but turn to Alice next to her and asked, "What happened to the old master?"
Alice, however, looked as if to say “this is normal” and comforted her new friend: “It’s okay, he was just distracted. The captain is often distracted…”
Lu Ni was stunned for a moment: "Is that so?"
The conversation between the two puppets reached Duncan's ears. He finally blinked and gradually returned to reality from his memories.
After a moment of silence, Duncan raised his hand, slowly pinched his brow with his fingers, and used his drooping eyelids to hide the ups and downs of his emotions in his eyes - complicated and messy thoughts were still circling in his mind, he was still recalling the past, and he even wanted to start from the most distant moment of his childhood memory, dig out every day he could remember, and spread it out before his eyes.
He finally became aware of his dreamless past and the corner of his subconscious that he had always ignored. However, he had to break free from the complicated memories and thoughts and focus his attention on the "reality" before him.
He raised his head and looked at Alice who was staring at him, and the clockwork doll beside him who still had a nervous expression.
"I'm fine," Duncan said softly, "I just suddenly remembered something..."
He paused, looked Alice in the eyes and asked, "Where were we talking about?"
"Just now we were talking about how Luni and I were left 'outside' the Nameless Man's Dream because 'dolls don't dream'," Alice replied immediately, "and then we were discussing why you were also left here..."
"'Not dreaming' may just be a factor. The mechanism of the Nameless One's dream is not that simple and is likely to be changing..."
Duncan spoke slowly, and at the same time, he recalled the dream that Taran El scholar had fallen into -
There is no doubt that Taran El was also trapped in the "Dream of the Nameless" at the beginning, but that should be the "shallow layer" of the entire dream, and the Dream of the Nameless should still be in its early stages at that time. At that time, he could still enter the dream more easily with the mark he left on Heidi, instead of being blocked on the side of the real world like now.
This shows that the "rules" of the Nameless Man's dream are changing. As time goes by, its scope and influence are expanding. At the same time, a set of dream entry mechanisms for "filtering" has been established, like a kind of self-protection.
So what's next? Will this huge "dream" continue to grow? Will its coverage expand again? How will its self-protection mechanism change?
While thinking, Alice's voice suddenly sounded from the side and reached Duncan's ears: "Captain, how are the others doing? Can you feel it over here?"
Duncan temporarily suppressed his chaotic thoughts, exhaled lightly, and at the same time concentrated his mind, sensing the "marks" he left on other people -
The leaping flames passed through the border between reality and illusion, and through the eternal and mysterious giant screen of dreams. In another distant dimension, at the intersection of time and space that was difficult for reason to accurately describe, Duncan "saw" the leaping flames.
The fire mark left in advance worked - although it only enhanced some of the connections, Duncan could now perceive the status of Vanna and others more clearly, and should even be able to communicate with them.
"They're not in danger," Duncan nodded to Alice and Luni.
Alice breathed a sigh of relief: "Ah, that's good... What do we do next?"
Duncan raised his head and looked through the window not far away, at the street outside the window shrouded in the chaotic night.
That "wonderful scene" has reappeared outside the window - as the influence of the nameless man's dream invades reality, lush forest plants once again cover the city-state, the continuous towering treetops block the sky, and the streets under the giant trees are hazy, a mixture of reality and illusion.
Breeze Harbor had become quiet, and the world after dreaming had replaced the reality, just as Duncan had expected—the hasty preparations of the city authorities and the academy guards had not worked, and now, he and Alice were the only sober people left in the city again.
Oh, and there’s an extra clockwork puppet this time.
"Let's go to where the vine appeared before," Duncan said calmly, turning and walking towards the gate of the mansion, "to see if it will appear in the same place again."
"Okay!" Alice agreed immediately, and then reached out and pulled up Luni, who was a little dazed, and said, "Let's go, let's go on an adventure with the captain!"
"Exploring?" Luni subconsciously followed Alice and Duncan, but her brain was obviously still a little behind the pace. "What are we going to do?"
"Let's go look for another Lost Homeland." Duncan slowed down and said, looking back slightly.
The Dream of the Nameless Man reappears in the real world, and this time Duncan wants to verify many of his assumptions - the "enhanced temporary mark" left on Vanna, Morris and others is just one of his many assumptions, which only aims to strengthen the connection between him and his followers. What he cares more about is whether the Lost Homeland sailing in the darkness and fog will appear again.
No matter how the Dream of the Nameless One will grow next, Duncan must find a way to bypass its "self-protection mechanism" in order to further intervene in this huge dream. His intuition tells him that the mysterious Lost Homeland sailing in the fog is the most likely breakthrough point to break through the "self-protection mechanism" of the Dream of the Nameless One.
Because the "sea chart" on the ship showed that it was actually most likely sailing over the forest of the Nameless Man's Dream.
Under the chaotic night sky woven by "sunshine" and the creation of the world, the streets in the city-state were as eerily silent as last time. Duncan and the two puppets left the witch's mansion that had fallen into silence and walked into the night where the city and the forest were intertwined.
As night fell, Duncan began to carefully communicate with the temporary marks that were already on the "other side" of the dream, trying to call his followers.
This time, he had to be very careful and learn from the lesson he learned last time in that dark and foggy space. He had to use the power of fire with caution to prevent... waking up Silandis from his dream.
※※※
Strange dark red cracks covered the sky, and the edges of the ominous red light were filled with twisted and hazy clouds. Under the sky, wherever you could see, there was nothing but yellow sand and boulders.
The rolling sand dunes filled the view, and the hideous and rugged rocks stood under the sky like countless twisted and struggling skeletons of giant beasts. The yellow sand buried the foundations of the boulders, and the sharp edges of the stones extended upward like swords. In such a vast and desperate yellow sand, "people" seemed smaller than ever.
Fanna raised her head, her long silver hair was blown by the wind. The dry wind mixed with sand and dust swept across the earth without stopping, making her squint her eyes slightly.
She came to the desert again - this endless, dead and withered land.
Gazing at the hazy silhouettes of huge rocks in the distance, Vanna exhaled lightly and stretched out her hand into the wind. A mist of water vapor condensed from the dry sand in a way that went against common sense, and formed into a giant, chilling sword in her hand.
Feeling the heavy weight of the giant sword, Vanna nodded with satisfaction.
The boundless desert in this dream is dry and hot, which is not a comfortable environment for the believers of the Storm Goddess, but fortunately, his power as a saint of the Deep Sea Church still works here - dreams cannot block the power given by God, which can make his journey here somewhat easier.
Drawing coolness from the giant sword, Fanna stepped into the wind and sand, heading in a certain direction.
She was certainly not walking aimlessly—her goal was the rugged shadows in the distance, things that looked like jagged rocks, but also like the ruins of a city.
While walking, Fanna suddenly felt something move in her heart.
She stopped subconsciously and concentrated on listening to the voice that suddenly appeared in the depths of her consciousness. After a moment, she heard the voice clearly - it was the captain.
The captain's calm, powerful voice echoed in her mind: "Vanna, can you hear me?"
"Yes," Vanna answered immediately in her heart. Unconsciously, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Great, it seems your arrangement worked."
"Well, as expected," Duncan's voice continued, "I must be cautious in contacting you now. I can't rashly transfer too much power. According to the information I got last time, Silantis, who is sleeping deep in the dream of the nameless, doesn't seem to like my flame very much."
"I understand," Vanna said as she continued walking forward. "How are the others doing?"
"The others are scattered deep in the forest. The composition is basically the same as last time. Shirley is with Agou, and Nina is with Morris," Duncan told Vanna about the current situation of the others. "Also, Lucy successfully found Rabbi the rabbit after entering the dream. They almost 'landed' in the same place."
"Miss Lucrecia found the strange rabbit? Their 'landing points' are together? Are the 'combinations' of the others the same as last time?" Vanna paused, thinking, "It seems... the process of our entering this dream is indeed regular..."
"Well, it seems that the location where they entered the forest is similar to last time," Duncan said, and asked about Vanna's situation. "How is the situation over there?"
Vanna stopped and looked up at the endless sand in front of her.
After a few seconds, the Storm Saint sighed.
"Sand, rocks, dry and hot weather - it seems that everyone's 'location' in the Nameless Man's dream has not changed much. I am still in this desert. To be honest, I don't like this place very much..."