Chapter 133 - 126: The Members’ Promotion

Chapter 133: Chapter 126: The Members’ Promotion

If she could awaken a Lifebound Curse Art, her combat power would rise by another tier.

Then, her efficiency in exploring and clearing areas Deep in the Nightmare would be several times higher, if not more.

She had once been renowned as a genius, but she’d had no confidence in stepping foot Deep in the Nightmare. Her teacher, Ms. Luo of the Extraordinary Realm, knew just as little about it.

But now, she had a little more confidence.

’First, I’ll set a small goal: cultivate to the Peak of First Refinement Realm.’

...

Rakshasa Sword was in cultivation.

Chen Baichuan was in cultivation.

Alchemist, Wan Xie, Peaches—all these veteran members of the Refining Stage were in cultivation.

Elsewhere in the Safe Zone, the inn had also been nearly full for the past few days.

The demand for the inn wasn’t as high as for the Training Ground, and it had far more rooms available.

In all the time since the inn was built, its rooms had never been fully booked.

Some large organizations had long-term bookings on one or two rooms to use as their offices.

Occasionally, Dream Descenders would book a room by the hour to take a quick nap.

But ever since the auction a few days ago, Refining Stage members like Li Wei, Old Wang, and Duckbill Hat, who had all won the Curse Objects they wanted, began booking rooms at the inn, one after another, for several days at a time.

After obtaining a Curse Object, one needed time to familiarize themselves with it before they could perform the Fusion.

For people like Li Wei, familiarizing themselves with a Curse Object in the real world was far less safe than doing so here.

They spent their days in the training rooms activating their Curse Objects, and their nights back at the inn studying them.

They didn’t have the financial resources to concoct a ’Secret Medicine’, but someone had researched it carefully and thought that drinking one or two vials of the Purifying Water Treasure Medicine during the Fusion could achieve a very good effect.

A senior researcher at the Baijiang Research Institute was currently conducting research on this very subject.

"When the time comes, if we use Purifying Water as a support and perform the Curse Fusion in the inn, our success rate will be very high."

Li Wei and the others discussed the details of fusing their Curse Objects.

Of course, they were plenty confident.

The Secret Medicine was only a support, after all, and it wasn’t as if independent Dream Descenders had never cultivated to the Second or Third Refining Realms before.

The difference between independent Dream Descenders and the direct lineage members of large organizations wasn’t just a Secret Medicine, but their own foundations and accumulated resources.

But by relying on the Safe Zone, they had already made up for their deficient foundations.

They had perhaps even surpassed them.

With treasure lands like the training rooms and the inn at their disposal, they would be a laughingstock among the members if they still failed the Fusion.

Not only did they have to fuse a second Lifebound Curse Object, but they also had to do it faster and more perfectly.

None of them had forgotten that their true goal was to become Advanced Members.

Li Wei said, "I can vaguely sense my chance. I’m confident I can finish fusing with the ’Extremely Evil Wolf Fang’ within two days."

Old Wang and Duckbill Hat: "???"

A sense of urgency immediately washed over them!

...

「Meanwhile.」

Boss Ye had also been staying in the Safe Zone for several days.

He had quickly obtained a membership by clearing Nightmares and through Krypton Gold.

Afterward, Ye Chuan returned to the real world and used his membership privileges and a party item to bring his trusted subordinates into the Safe Zone.

He was also trying to break through to a higher realm, seeking to become an Advanced Member as well.

However, Boss Ye was not a young man and was in no hurry to finish in a day or two.

Once he was fully prepared, he also began the Fusion of his second Lifebound Curse Object inside the Safe Zone’s inn.

...

The interface didn’t display the specific realms of the members.

However, through general observation, Shi An was well aware that more and more powerful members in the Safe Zone were attempting to break through to higher realms.

The number of Dream Descenders starting to venture into the deeper parts of the Nightmare was also increasing daily.

’Thirteen members have already descended into the deeper levels.’

Shi An mused.

Of course, among these members, Fen Huo and Long Niu were already active in the deeper levels.

Veteran Refining Stage members like Boss Ye and Tide River Guest usually descended into the deeper levels as well when they entered a dream.

It was just that by using certain positioning items, they could still return to the Shallow Area from time to time.

Returning to the Shallow Area was exceptionally difficult for those in the Second and Third Refining Realms.

’Also, when members in the deeper areas use their privileges to open a passage, it’s different from in the Shallow Area. The passage only allows them to pass through by themselves.’

Shi An studied it for a while.

He discovered that when a passage to the Shallow Area opened, the Safe Zone would truly connect to that area.

The deeper levels were different; opening a passage there only served to retrieve the member.

Only the member themselves could see the Safe Zone’s gate; for anyone else, it was as if the Safe Zone didn’t exist.

Unlike in the Shallow Area, members couldn’t use the party system to have veterans bring in rookies.

Shi An stroked his chin. ’Perhaps this is because the deeper Nightmares are harder to invade, so the passage can’t truly open. Of course, on the other hand, this also makes it harder for the Nightmare’s consciousness and its intelligent aberrations to threaten the Safe Zone.’

’However...’

The deeper levels of the Nightmare weren’t completely devoid of passages to the Safe Zone.

The membership privilege was ultimately just for ’retrieval,’ while the Level 3 Safe Zone itself still had ’ten random passages’.

These past few days, Shi An had also discovered a Safe Zone gate that randomly appeared in the Pale Wasteland Area.

The only thing was, not a single Dream Descender could be seen outside the shop’s door.

’Does this type of Safe Zone gate only allow a specific, "invited" Dream Descender to enter, or is it a fixed passage? Can any non-member Dream Descender who finds it use it to enter the Safe Zone?’

That remained to be tested.

He would likely have an answer in a few days.

...

「Around the fourth or fifth day after the Safe Zone’s first auction.」

Profound Sword and his group of Elder Level Members ended their seclusion.

"The Peak of First Refinement Realm!"

At this point, their development of their second Lifebound Curse Objects had reached 100%; all they lacked was an opportunity for Refinement.

It was time to start exploring the deeper levels of the Nightmare.

For the greater good,

They were no longer fledglings; it was time for them to give back to Baijiang City and contribute to humanity.

The Manager also hoped they would clear more Nightmares.

For their own sakes,

Getting stronger was inseparable from exploring and clearing Nightmares.

If they wanted to compete for the rank of Advanced Member, they couldn’t afford to stagnate.

The Elder Level Members formed teams of two or three and officially began exploring Deep in the Nightmare.

...

「The next day.」

They returned to the Safe Zone to exchange information and debrief.

"Exploring the deeper levels of the Nightmare is truly like walking on thin ice. It’s a far cry from the Shallow Area."

"In a Shallow Nightmare, even a large-scale one isn’t all that big. But in the deeper levels, if we stray even a little too far, it takes an hour or two to get back to the Safe Zone."

The long travel times and distances meant they couldn’t rely on the Safe Zone as a safety net for everything.

Of course, they had no such intention.

They were seasoned Dream Descenders now; they knew how to explore and how to stay alive.

"Compared to other Dream Descenders, at least we can return to the Safe Zone to rest at any time. The others can only set up some simple traps around them and try to catch a nap when they can."

The duration of a single dream descent for a High Tier Dream Descender was also much longer than before.

Staying in the Nightmare for six or seven hours at a time was now the norm.

As the Nightmare’s hold on them gradually deepened, it was possible for a Dream Descender to stay in the Nightmare World for half a day, a full day, or even ten-plus days at a time.

By comparison, Profound Sword and the others felt incredibly fortunate.

They also shared the results of their efforts.

"I found six stalks of Treasure Medicine."

"I slew two aberrations, but the loot was paltry."

"Everyone, don’t forget our mission—to clear Nightmares. If we want to clear a Nightmare now, we first have to thoroughly scout the area and find its core. It could be a certain object, or it could be a powerful aberration."

The deeper levels of the Nightmare are very complex and lack the clear regional divisions of the Shallow Area.

It’s possible that a single large building is an entire area, with an aberration Leader wandering within;

it’s also possible that the building is merely part of a larger ’neighborhood area,’ and clearing the entire building would be a waste of effort.

The prerequisite for clearing an area is to understand its situation.

This is much more difficult than in the Shallow Area.

What’s more,

the deeper levels are teeming with powerful aberrations, so the areas that Dream Descenders can actually clear are quite rare.

After all, even a small team of two or three Refining Stage members would have a hard time defeating an Elite Level aberration, to say nothing of a Leader aberration.

"I’ve discovered a clearable area."

"So, is anyone interested in tackling a big one together?"

The Safe Zone members resorted to their most common tactic—the swarm.