Chapter 85: Ideas for Building the World
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Work?”
Alaina didn’t speak Chinese or English, but Qiu Ren could understand what she meant.
The Lords of Nightmare also had the ability to switch to different languages, but only Tapir, this Lord of Nightmare who always communicated with the death row prisoners in Fengdu Prison, could speak fluent Mandarin.
Like Lian… It had a weird accent when it spoke Chinese.
So, when Alaina heard some specific words, she couldn’t understand.
“Working for the other Lords of Nightmare, like Tapir and Lian here… They both like to absorb a particular emotional energy, but there are all kinds of emotions a person can experience in a Nightmare Dungeon. Which one do you take in?” Qiu Ren asked.
“…All.”
Alaina said a word that made Tapir and Lian a little envious.
It wasn’t like they couldn’t absorb the other emotional energies, but they would feel nauseous if they ate too much. And if they forced themselves to swallow those emotions, there would be problems in their bodies, just like forcing a carnivore to eat grass. It might be able to survive, but it wouldn’t be healthy.
“However, we’ll lose our minds and become like this if we absorb too much of a certain emotional energy. We can still control it, but it’s very hard for the other creatures in my world to do so.”
Alaina said as she held up the picture of the monster Qiu Ren had created earlier.
Since it was formed by shadows and black mist, Qiu Ren decided to call it “Shadow Beast” for now.
The world in the Nightmare Seed where Alaina lived was very intact, unlike Tapir, who was left alone when Qiu Ren arrived.
According to the information from Herring, there was an extremely complete biological chain inside the Nightmare Seed inhabited by the Black Mist Army.
The most powerful ones in the biological chain, the Shadow Beasts, were overlord-level creatures that occupied the top of the hierarchy. Even the soldiers of the army could only build high walls to avoid the range of activities of those powerful Shadow Beasts.
Most of the Shadow Beasts used to be the animals and plants in that world. When the world gradually changed to a Nightmare Seed, they also started to distort and turn into these horrifying creatures.
Meanwhile, the Shadow Beasts had most of the control of the world in that Nightmare Seed. In order to survive, the soldiers of the army could only do whatever it took to fight with them.
Qiu Ren didn’t know if this was the curse of the dream consciousness. The soldiers of the army were originally the incarnation of the nightmare consciousness.
Once the Shadow Beasts devoured that Nightmare Seed completely, it would mean that the crazy side of the Lord of Nightmare had won its rational side. They all wouldn’t be able to live.
And Alaina was the rational side of that Nightmare Seed.
“If you need to have a balanced diet, you can let the soldiers in the army do part-time jobs for the other Lords of Nightmare to earn a living, meaning… to work for the other Lords of Nightmare.”
Qiu Ren felt like he was an agent for job referral, making some recommendations to Alaina, this mother… so her children at home could get a good job.
Unfortunately, Alaina was more like the form of a degenerate Lord of Nightmare.
She had no control over the soldiers of the army like Lian. Lian was able to rally multitudes with one call. Its children all came to fight as they yelled, “Until we die!”
On the contrary, on Alaina’s side…
“They won’t listen to me…” Alaina sounded so natural when she said this.
“Her control… over her own Nightmare Seed… is too low. Although she’s one of the core… nightmare consciousnesses, it’s hard for her to control… the other consciousnesses in the nightmare.”
Tapir told the others the reason why Alaina couldn’t be in power right now. All the Lords of Nightmare had 100% control over their own nightmares.
But in Tapir’s perception, with Alaina’s current condition… she might not even have 20% control.
The soldiers of the entire army might be affected if she was severely injured, but at the same time, the more terrifying Shadow Beasts in the nightmare would also be released.
So, Alaina was like the mascot in the army, a mascot that needed special protection.
“Let me think… I need to know your final purpose first. Invading the real world is the decision made by that Commander of the army. Perhaps from his perspective, he can save himself and his compatriots by doing so.”
Qiu Ren glanced at the Commander, who was still confronting the superheroes in the live broadcast of The Flash 2.
If Alaina’s control over her own Nightmare Dungeon could be reduced, it meant that… there was room for it to rise and improve. Qiu Ren might have a way to help her regain control over her Nightmare Dungeon.
“What about you? What’s your wish? If you’re also thinking about invading the world and working with the Lords of Nightmare to enslave humans, I can only put this on you.” Qiu Ren created a collar and placed it on the table.
Mia showed a weird expression. She rubbed her eyes and kept reminding herself that the little girl chewing a plate before her eyes wasn’t an ordinary human. Rather, it was the degenerate form of a terrifying Lord of Nightmare. She finally suppressed her urge to call the police.
Alaina didn’t know what that collar meant. After swallowing the plate in her hands, she held up the picture of the “Shadow Beast” Qiu Ren gave her earlier.
“Accumulating power… Take more living space from their hands and purify them bit by bit, making our world normal again. However, it’s very difficult to do so with our current condition. So… we need a new supply chain.”
The new supply chain Alaina talked about probably referred to the humans in this world.
“Then, have you ever thought about seeking help from others?”
“Nobody will help us. It’s really horrifying to be devoured by a Shadow Beast… There’s no reason for humans to take that risk,” Alaina said.
As Qiu Ren listened, he took back the picture of the Shadow Beast. The Shadow Beast seemed to be a creature formed by shadows that didn’t have a form. There were even some horrifying tentacles inside.
It indeed sent chills down people’s spines. However, the silhouette of the Shadow Beast made Qiu Ren think of something…
So, he took out his drawing tools and drew a design draft at a speed that left Mia dumbfounded as she watched next to him.
“What if the Shadow Beast looks like this?” Qiu Ren showed the design to Alaina and Mia.
Glitters immediately appeared in Alaina’s eyes once she saw this design.
Qiu Ren had drawn a dragon with thorns all over its body. The dragon was raising its left claw and was about to smack the ground with earth-shattering power as it roared.
Although the draft was a still picture, Qiu Ren’s superb drawing skills made this destructive smack of the dragon look extremely powerful.
Mia swore if she was a Dream Explorer, she would never want to be targeted by this dragon, let alone being smacked by its claws!
Alaina only exclaimed, “Wow…”
Mia coughed softly and said, “Even if you change the form of the Shadow Beasts… into this—I must admit they do look more majestic and handsome—they’re still innately vicious… I’m afraid only specialized Dream Explorers will be willing to take the risk and fight with them.”
Mia knew what Qiu Ren wanted to do. The responsibility of a Nightmare Maker was to turn a Nightmare Dungeon that devoured blood and flesh into a world that could satisfy the Lord of Nightmare and reduce the casualties of the Dream Explorers exploring inside at the same time.
Apart from some mercy from the Dream Maker, another important way of reducing casualties was to make this Nightmare Dungeon interesting enough.
However, even if those Shadow Beasts had a specific form, it wasn’t enough to make the boys and girls yell, “How cool! How majestic!” And it couldn’t attract normal people to enter the nightmare and be tortured by these monsters.
“What if I tell you that you can take some of the materials from the ancient dragon’s body after killing it. You can use them to make equipment and weapons for yourselves, absorbing the power of this ancient dragon?”
While talking, Qiu Ren drew the equipment made with the materials from this ancient dragon on the paper.
He could build a solid model inside his Dream Dungeon, but drawings sometimes had a stronger impact on people than reality.
“Even so… it’s difficult to attract those outsiders to come and hunt those terrifying monsters voluntarily.”
Mia looked at that marvelous ancient dragon set. As a Dream Maker, she was also knowledgeable and had seen a lot.
The design of this ancient dragon set was indeed outstanding, but… it still wasn’t enough to make the players around the world go crazy.
The reason why Mia thought so was that judging by the current level and scale of that Nightmare Seed, if they really wanted to purify it completely, the lives of the Dream Explorers of one country weren’t enough. It wouldn’t be easy even if the Dream Explorers from multiple countries worked together. Only by involving the ordinary people could they possibly suppress the Shadow Beasts.
“This is only one of the two ideas for building this world. Apart from these, there are also ways of fighting, weapons for hunting, and cat attendants.”
While Qiu Ren was explaining to Mia, he also tried to convince Alaina to accept his suggestion to rebuild the world.
Alaina remained silent and didn’t give any comments. Instead, Mia couldn’t hold her solemn look anymore.
She was also a Dream Maker. Although she was a Dream Maker majoring in Movie Dream Dungeon Construction, she could still see that it would be another fascinating world if Qiu Ren’s ideas for this Dream Dungeon were really constructed!
The invincible ancient dragons that soared in the sky, the hunters going on thrilling adventures to conquer the dragons or challenge themselves, the joy they experienced upon defeating those powerful dragons with their burning souls and taking the materials on the dragons’ bodies as their trophies…
There were many more designs that made Mia feel fascinated.
However, Mia’s frown only deepened as she listened. Perhaps because of her competitiveness, she resisted the urge to participate in discussing the construction of this world with Qiu Ren.
But suddenly… Mia felt that her cheek was licked by a wet little tongue again.
This made Mia look to the side immediately. She found that Alaina had somehow run next to her.
“This is… the taste of anticipation.” Alaina licked Mia’s cheek again as she spoke.
It took Mia a lot of effort to pull this little monster off from her cheek.
“So, I can try to change your world into this. At least it can attract more outsiders here to be your reinforcements against the Shadow Beasts… than your original world can.”
Alaina was a bit moved by Qiu Ren’s suggestion. The anticipation she got from Mia was one of the proofs.
Shadow Beasts were terrifying creatures that scared people in everyone’s eyes. After Qiu Ren transformed them, their degree of horror hadn’t reduced at all. It even increased.
And yet, Qiu Ren also added new things inside—dominance, majesty, and sacredness when fighting with them. These were all reasons for outsiders to get close to them.
However…
“With our strength right now… we can’t fully support you in rebuilding my world. Even… changing the form of one Shadow Beast is very difficult.”
“That’s why I asked you to let those soldiers in the army go out and do a part-time job. You can absorb more emotional energy and increase your ability to control your Nightmare Dungeon.”
The energy every soldier in the army absorbed could increase Alaina’s control over her own Nightmare Dungeon.
“She… only needs around 50% control over her own Nightmare Dungeon, and her world… should be able to transform.” Tapir said, “However… this is a big consumption. It seems that the leader of those soldiers… is planning to achieve their goal by abducting humans… Qiu Ren, what are you going to do?”
“Soldiers who participated in the abduction should get the punishment they deserve. Those who aren’t a part of the incident may be busy for a while after this.”
What Qiu Ren said made Mia a little confused. Even if there were truly doves in the army, who weren’t willing to hurt humans, they probably wouldn’t put their dignity aside and come to work for Qiu Ren?
Unless…
“I’ve decided to organize a competition, a chicken-eating competition that all humans and dream consciousnesses in the whole world can take part in. They’ll only have the chance to save their mother if they become the winner!” Qiu Ren announced.
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