Chapter 230: Ancestral Dream

Everything about this new world was something that confused Regaleon.

Besides the lack of Soul Essences, which could perhaps be explained by the people of this time possessing Soul Beasts—a possibility that was highly unlikely, but nevertheless the only plausible explanation he could presently conceive—there were also other anomalies that did not escape Regaleon’s attention.

For instance, Regaleon did not understand the language spoken by the soldiers.

At least, not fully.

The language possessed certain similarities that made it sound almost like his native tongue, but besides those familiarities that he could understand, he could not actually comprehend the meaning of their sentences in their entirety, and this made understanding what the soldiers said exceedingly difficult.

Even when he managed to recognize a particular word or phrase, he could only grasp fragments and pieces of the whole. This made comprehension problematic for him, especially when the soldiers spoke quickly or conversed about matters with which he possessed no prior familiarity.

Thankfully, these bits and fragments, when placed in their proper sequence, allowed him to form a rough idea of what they were implying, even if his understanding remained superficial.

It was akin to attempting to reconstruct a broken manuscript from scattered pieces of parchment. A single word could provide a clue, a phrase could reveal a context, and several sentences could occasionally allow him to infer the general meaning of an entire conversation.

But there were still far too many gaps. And it was not merely the language that sounded strange.

There were a whole host of elements within this place that Regaleon could not reconcile with modern Valoria, and this made the entire ordeal bewildering, to say the least.

The differences were not always obvious. Some were so insignificant that Regaleon only noticed them after paying close attention. Yet when all of those differences were considered together, they painted a picture that he could not easily dismiss.

Thankfully, Regaleon had finally been able to solve what the entire orb might have been.

After careful observation and critical deduction, the silver-haired Knight had finally managed to formulate a reasonable conclusion.

It was a conclusion that sounded strange when first considered, yet the more he thought about it, the more plausible it became.

Regaleon guessed that everything he was witnessing was perhaps a collection of events or places from years—or perhaps even aeons—ago that had been recorded as memories and subsequently placed within him.

As a matter of fact, Regaleon figured that the orbs within the Reliquary were nothing more than repositories of memories.

Whose memories?

He did not know.

But what he did know was that those memories had been preserved and transmitted across an unimaginable span of time, allowing someone in the present to experience fragments of events that had occurred long before they were ever born.

That was the only explanation that could adequately account for what he was seeing.

The reason Regaleon was able to readily accept this explanation was because of a very peculiar phenomenon that most great practitioners or Houses used to pass down their inheritance.

This phenomenon was known as the Ancestral Dream.

As the name suggested, when a practitioner or a newly awakened cultivator broke through to become a Flesh Artificer, they would sometimes be cast into a dreamlike state where their subconsciousness would experience the memories and experiences of their ancestors.

Simply put, the Ancestral Dream functioned somewhat like a spiritual inheritance embedded within one’s bloodline, allowing ancestral memories, experiences, emotions, techniques, and fragments of knowledge to surface within the descendant’s consciousness.

For that reason, the moment newly minted Etheryeans underwent it, they described the experience as realistic and horrifyingly immersive, to the point that they were often unable to discern falsehood from truth.

The boundary between dream and reality became almost non-existent.

The experience could be so vivid that upon awakening, some practitioners required considerable time to remind themselves that the memories they had experienced were not their own.

However, no matter how extraordinary the Ancestral Dream might sound, it was not necessarily a phase that all Flesh Artificers passed through.

As a matter of fact, it was something that some practitioners might never experience throughout their entire lives.

And there was one main reason for this.

As established previously, the Ancestral Dream—or Ancestral Walk, as some Great Houses called it—occurred because an ancestor had been powerful enough to document or record their experiences and pass them through their bloodline.

For that reason, their descendants were able to tap into such inheritance, experiencing fragments of what had once belonged to their ancestors and, in some cases, even adding their own experiences to that inheritance so that it could be passed down to future generations.

In simple terms, only cultivators with powerful Etheryeans within their ancestry were privileged enough to undergo such a phenomenon.

That was one reason the Ancestral Dream was predominantly prevalent within the Great Houses; House Valehart included.

In fact, Regaleon had been anticipating his first Ancestral Dream ever since he learned about the phenomenon. Yet he had never for once imagined that his body literally contained an entire library of ancestral experiences.

And probably some secrets.

Perhaps things that were even more valuable than what an ordinary Ancestral Dream could provide.

It was because of this nature and the sheer abundance, depth, and inexplicable authenticity of these memories that Regaleon was able to arrive at such a plausible deduction.

And the moment he reached that conclusion, his heart finally calmed.

If what he was witnessing truly was nothing more than a preserved memory, then no matter how strange or dangerous the events appeared, they could not directly affect his present reality.

Whatever had happened here had already happened while whatever fate had befallen these people had already been decided and Regaleon was merely witnessing it... Or at least, that was what he believed.

Meanwhile, he was still trying to decipher some of the words being spoken by the soldiers when a voice suddenly called from behind him with urgency.

"Get out of the way!"

At first, Regaleon thought that the voice was calling out to him.

However, it did not take long for him to realize that he was wrong.

He was standing in the midst of two soldiers who were conversing, attempting to glean whatever information he could from their discussion. As it turned out, the duo happened to be standing directly in the path of a running knight and as such, the warning had been directed toward them.

Regaleon had only just turned his head to look at the speaker when the soldier in question suddenly passed directly through his body.

The silver-haired Knight froze; then he looked down at himself before turning around.

The soldier had already continued running without so much as noticing him.

Considering that Regaleon was already invisible and intangible to begin with, the knight obviously had no way of perceiving him.

Moreover, since the entire sequence of events was not something occurring in the present but merely a recorded impression of memories from the past, it made sense that Regaleon could not interact with them in any substantial manner.

Even if he wanted to, the highest he could achieve was becoming nothing more than a passive observer to the events unfolding before him.

Which was probably no different from doing nothing.

Right?

Regaleon frowned slightly at the thought as he did not particularly like the implication.

Being able to witness something without possessing the ability to influence it was an unusual experience, especially for someone accustomed to taking action whenever circumstances demanded it.

Still, Regaleon did not dwell too much on the limitations of his existence. Instead, he turned his attention back toward the man who was still running.

The soldier was dressed differently from the ordinary soldiers.

He wore a dark military tunic beneath a light metal cuirass, while a rolled parchment was clutched tightly beneath his arm.

From his gait alone, Regaleon could discern the importance with which the man regarded whatever information that parchment contained and that fact alone piqued his curiosity.

He had been here for quite some time, and besides the peculiarities surrounding the language and the Soul Essence dilemma, the silver-haired Knight had yet to gain any tangible piece of information that could potentially explain the nature of this world or provide him with a useful clue concerning his own circumstances.

But maybe—just maybe—the parchment in that man’s hand was the first meaningful clue he had encountered.

Without hesitation, Regaleon followed.

He hurried after the soldier through the garrison, passing through groups of soldiers who remained completely oblivious to his presence.

It was not long before they began approaching the center of the encampment and as they moved deeper into the garrison, the atmosphere gradually began to change.

The soldiers stationed in this area were noticeably different from those positioned along the outer sections. Their equipment appeared more refined, their movements more disciplined, and their bearing considerably more authoritative.

There were fewer idle conversations, and the soldiers moved with an apparent awareness that they were within an area where matters of greater importance were being handled.

The deeper they went, the more apparent it became that this was the heart of the military encampment, where orders were issued, information was exchanged, and decisions capable of affecting the entire garrison were likely made.

Eventually, they arrived at a large pavilion.

The soldier did not hesitate and he quickly pushed aside the heavy curtain and disappeared inside.

Regaleon stopped outside. For a moment, he hesitated briefly. He stared at the pavilion, wondering what exactly awaited him beyond those curtains.

Yet curiosity once again proved stronger than caution.

If this was truly a memory, then there was little reason to hold himself back so Regaleon stepped forward.

His body passed effortlessly through the heavy curtain as though it were nothing more than mist. And just like that, the silver-haired Knight entered the pavilion...