"It seems I was right, you really have gone insane."
Elias lay on the cold floor and did not respond.
After the dream demon fled, his mind had become incredibly clear.
The absurd hallucinations had vanished without a trace.
The world returned to its original gloomy, damp, and dilapidated state.
Of course, this also made the pain in his body feel even more acute.
"Ugh—"
Following a violent spasm in his stomach, Elias opened his mouth again and skillfully vomited up a clump of black, slimy tentacles.
The thing hit the floor with a wet thud, still twitching.
Elias wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, propped up his upper body, and stared blankly at the unmentionable mass on the ground.
"I say..."
He spoke weakly, pointing at the floor.
"Is this thing some kind of fixed output?"
"I don't know, it looks like some kind of triggered curse."
"It happens whenever you come into contact with the spirituality of a high-level entity."
"However, I've never heard of that name you shouted either."
The old ghost spoke truthfully, his tone carrying a hint of wariness.
Elias struggled to get up, skillfully grabbed a broom, and dealt with this set of tentacles the same way he had handled the ones from noon.
Strangely, after vomiting tentacles twice in a row, his body didn't feel too much discomfort.
Even drinking too much would at least leave one dizzy, right?
So this spell was just meant to be disgusting?
It didn't seem like it; perhaps because he was a nobody, the impact was limited to this.
He thought back to the absurd argument they just had.
"So Rule 5 I saw in the Watchman's Code was actually an hallucination?"
"Correct."
Edmond answered bluntly.
"That is a common trick of the dream demon."
"It cannot directly control your actions, but it can create a favorable environment for itself by tampering with your senses."
Elias had actually vaguely realized something was wrong when the other party asked him why he wasn't sleeping.
Arguing with him was purely because he didn't trust anyone at that time.
Who would trust a voice that suddenly appeared in their own head?
What if that was an hallucination too?
He had thought the mental illness gift package left by the original owner hadn't flared up all afternoon, but it had been waiting for him here.
"So, the hallucinations I've been seeing lately were all caused by the dream demon?"
"It's also possible you're just purely sick."
"...If you don't know how to make conversation, you can just shut up."
"You can find a mirror and look behind your ear."
"That is one way to check if you have been cursed by a dream demon."
Elias immediately did so.
By the dim yellow light, he saw a strange mark behind his left ear.
The pattern was only the size of a fingernail, its shape distorted, looking like a closed eye or perhaps a mouth that had been sewn shut.
The old ghost's voice rang out at the right moment:
"That is the dream demon curse."
"The spiritual defense of the cursed person will be weakened."
"Generally, they will continuously see all kinds of terrifying hallucinations, becoming lost and insane within them."
"When your mind falls into madness, the dream demon will guide you, allowing it to suck your spirituality without hindrance when the boundary between the spirit world and reality is at its thinnest."
"Which is at night?" Elias interjected.
"In your perception, what time is it now?"
The old ghost fell silent for a moment before suddenly asking.
"It's obviously..."
He originally wanted to say around one o'clock, but the pocket watch he pulled out showed that it was already past four.
When?
In what way?
"It seems the hallucinations affected your perception of time."
The old ghost explained in a timely manner.
"Three o'clock is the time when the boundary between the spirit world and reality is thinnest, so it is also called the 'spiritual tide.'"
"At this time, the spirituality of living beings is at its peak, which is also when they are most likely to see things they shouldn't."
"It is also the easiest time to dream."
"If one does not enter sleep at this time, then the dream demon can easily connect to your consciousness."
"Then shouldn't that mean I can't sleep?" Elias felt it sounded contradictory.
"Wrong! When humans sleep, they roam the spirit world in the form of a spiritual body; this is the origin of dreams."
"And within the spirit world, no creature can harm an unconscious spiritual body."
"I see!" Elias interrupted, "Then why can't I see you?"
"My situation is somewhat special."
The old ghost suddenly realized something, and his voice involuntarily rose.
"Wait, how is it that you know nothing?"
"Why would they send a normal person to be a Firebearer?"
"So what exactly is a Firebearer? I just applied for the job."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Ahem, twelve gold crowns a month."
"..."
"What year is it now?"
Judging by the state of his voice, the old ghost was likely fuming with rage.
Elias thought for a moment and replied, "AC 1456."
The calendar of this world used the establishment of a stable Seven Gods faith in the Kingdom of Velen as the dividing line, separating history into the era Before (AC) and After (BC).
It was somewhat similar to the AD/BC system.
"Only fifty years have passed, and the Firebearer position has become a job for normal people to apply for?"
"Stop, stop, stop!" Elias hurried to call a halt.
"Old ghost, what exactly is a Firebearer?"
"First, I am not called 'old ghost,' call me Edmond, Edmond Russell."
"Second, Firebearer is the collective name for the lighthouse keepers in the Moon Bay area."
"Legend has it that something incredible is sealed in the center of Moon Bay, which is why the Firebearers exist."
"There is more than one lighthouse in the Moon Bay area, but the actual number is unknown."
"Firebearers do not know each other, so I am not sure how many of us there are."
"In short, you are not fighting this battle alone."
Elias's brow twitched as he listened.
Good grief.
He knew those twelve gold crowns wouldn't be easy to earn.
The original owner thought he was getting a bargain, but it turned out he was here to be a gravedigger, and the one he was guarding was practically Lord Cthulhu himself.
"Of course, I'm not some powerful big shot either."
Edmond's tone shifted, sounding somewhat self-deprecating.
"Just like you, I'm a target of bad luck."
"Fifty years ago, I was stationed in this godforsaken place, and I was attacked by dream demons during the weekend of my first week."
"A whole pack of them!"
He added, seemingly not wanting to give Elias a chance to mock him.
"But thanks to my abilities, I was able to preserve this small amount of spirituality in the spirit world to establish a spiritual channel with someone of high spirituality like you."
Elias digested this for a moment and weakly moved back to the bed; the pain lingering in his body was far from recovered.
"My spirituality is high?"
He asked with a frown.
"Incredibly high, so high I thought you were a believer of some god,"
Edmond remarked.
"A normal person's spirituality is a candle; yours is a bonfire."
"Is the spirituality of a god's believer high?"
"No, it is transcendents who have high spirituality,"
Edmond corrected him.
"And as long as one is a transcendent, they must be a believer of some god."
Hearing the word "transcendent," Elias's interest was piqued.
Who wouldn't be interested in superpowers?
"Oh? Tell me more about transcendents!"
This time, Edmond did not start explaining.
His voice suddenly became cunning.
"Young man, knowledge comes with a price."
"Promise me one thing, and I will help you."
Elias arched an eyebrow.
"First, I am not called 'young man,' my name is Elias."
"Second... there is no second. Speak, though I might not even have the life left to help you."
As a transmigrator, he had a good deal of self-awareness.
Given his current situation, things were indeed not looking good.
The probability of a normal person surviving after being dragged into such supernatural events was lower than winning the lottery.
"Good, Elias, don't lose heart!" Edmond consoled him.
"My spirituality has been sealed within my bracelet; this bracelet is equivalent to a hamster cage in the spirit world."
"While it preserves my meager spirituality, it also eliminates the possibility of me leaving the spirit world."
"You only need to promise me that if you have the chance to leave this place, you will take the bracelet to Arlington and personally deliver it to a woman named Olivia Russell."
"In exchange, I will teach you everything I know about transcendents and this sea region, and I will do my best to help you keep your little life."
"Is it a deal?"
Olivia Russell?
The name sounded like a relative of Edmond's.
"Where is Arlington?"
"Fifty years ago, it was north of Landon City."
Landon City was the capital of the Kingdom of Velen.
"Fine." Elias shrugged. "That doesn't seem to have any downsides; at least for now, my goal is also to get out of here alive."
The deal was fair enough.
"Where is the bracelet?"
"It is still on my wrist, of course."
"Your bracelet wouldn't happen to be able to store items, would it?"
Elias's gaze became somewhat peculiar.
According to standard tropes...
"What kind of beautiful dream are you having?"
Edmond retorted crossly.
It seemed he had miscalculated.
He could only say that the knowledge from his previous life was truly poisoning this mentally ill brain.
Just then, a series of scratching sounds from outside the door interrupted their conversation, the noise grating and unpleasant.
The sound didn't seem like someone knocking on the door, but rather like some sharp metal, or perhaps bone, was frantically clawing at the wooden planks.
"It never ends, does it?!"
Elias forced himself to stay alert, got off the bed, took his revolver from the low cabinet to refill the cylinder, and stood on guard.
He stared fixedly at the trembling wooden door.
A massive shadow blocked the moonlight, swaying back and forth across the window of the small hut.
"What the hell is that thing now?"
"A carapace husk."
"That explains absolutely nothing!"
Rate on N.U.
