Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2896: Chapter 2897: Helen’s Dream

Killing her actually brings it to 99%?

Angel was also startled. This girl, who seemed insignificant and could be drained by the Big Mary Rose at any moment, surprisingly contributed so much to the exploration degree?

How exactly does this special dreamland determine the exploration degree?

"Could it be a ’grass cutting instance’?" Angel muttered.

Seeing Laplace’s confused expression, Angel explained: "I mean, this is a trial space dedicated to slaughter. Killing all living beings can enhance the exploration degree."

Is it really as Angel says? Laplace was somewhat skeptical.

Because after entering this special dreamland, aside from dealing with some mad roses, she hadn’t killed other life forms, just fought the masked man, yet reached 65% exploration.

What kind of slaughter trial space is this?

However, even if Laplace didn’t agree, she didn’t refute Angel’s words.

No matter how the exploration degree increases, it has now reached 99%, only 1% away from completion.

And the last 1% of the exploration degree is undoubtedly on the masked man.

Thinking for a moment, Laplace reached out and snapped her fingers gently, and a huge explosion sounded from the house.

The violent tremor even shook the ground where Laplace stood three times.

With the vibrations came some strange changes in this special dreamland, and Laplace’s figure gradually became phantom-like.

Before long, Laplace’s figure disappeared from the special dreamland.

Undoubtedly, Laplace has settled the "instance" and left the special dreamland.

Since Laplace has left, Angel also shifted his gaze away from the miniature garden.

Sure enough, when Angel’s gaze left the miniature garden and looked up, Laplace had already appeared not far away. Only... Laplace’s expression was somewhat stunned, seemingly in shock.

Angel was about to say something when Laplace muttered softly: "I seem to have made a mistake."

"Eh? What mistake?" Angel asked, puzzled.

Laplace sighed deeply, then turned to Angel: "After I killed the homeowner’s daughter, the exploration degree reached 99%. I thought the last 1% was with the masked man. By executing him, I could reach 100% exploration. But... it’s not like that."

"What do you mean? Killing the masked man didn’t bring the exploration degree to 100%?" Angel asked.

Laplace nodded: "I executed the masked man remotely using Molted Skin, but ultimately, my exploration degree remained at 99%."

This answer surprised Angel too. Because in his thoughts, the masked man should be the last piece of the puzzle, but now Laplace tells him everything was wrong.

Killing the masked man did not reach 100% exploration!

So where exactly is the last 1% of the exploration degree?

Angel pondered for a moment but still couldn’t figure out the key point, so he simply asked: "Though it didn’t reach 100%, since you cleared it, there should be some new clues, right?"

Laplace nodded: "Yes, that’s the main reason I said I made a mistake."

As Laplace said this, she sighed slightly, then revealed the updated information stream in her mind one by one.

"Special character Veraf Van Helen is being executed..."

"Veraf Van Helen has been executed."

"Current special dreamland—Helen’s Dream, exploration degree is 99%."

"Based on the exploration degree, entering the rewards settlement list."

"Exploration degree 99%, rewards received: Helen’s imaginative constitution."

"Exploration degree not reaching 100%, special dreamland ’Helen’s Dream’ will undergo unknown changes upon exit."

"Leaving special dreamland in three seconds."

"3, 2, 1."

With the countdown ending, Laplace finally left the special dreamland. However, this time leaving made her feel a bit regretful.

"When I saw the name of this special dreamland, I realized my guesses had some deviation," Laplace sighed softly: "I thought the masked man was created by the Dream Creator, or portrayed by someone. But now it seems, I was wrong, trapped in a cognitive trap."

"Actually, the masked man is the Dream Creator."

According to the information prompt, the masked man’s real name was Veraf Van Helen.

And the special dreamland’s name was Helen’s Dream.

From this, it was clear that the masked man is Helen, and Helen is the Dream Creator.

Helen was also the noble orphan in the attic. In reality, he was constantly bullied by the former butler and head maid, and from the bloody clothes, bandages, and crutch in his cabinet, it was clear he was often beaten till bleeding, even to the point of having his legs broken.

Undoubtedly, in reality, Helen was a bullied and victimized individual.

In reality, he couldn’t resist, but in dreams, he controlled everything. In dreams, he was omnipotent, venting all his grievances and resentment from reality into the dream.

In reality, he was weak and frail, so in dreams, he imagined himself as a muscular strongman, using a fearful physique to brutally kill those who wronged him in reality.

This is probably the story of "Helen’s Dream."

Angel: "Although it didn’t reach 100% exploration degree, at least we confirmed that killing the Dream Creator lets you leave the special dreamland."

Laplace: "Be that as it may, killing the Dream Creator doesn’t assist in completing the exploration."

Laplace still felt regret; it was at 99%, just 1% shy, yet an error occurred.

"After all, you are the first to experience ’Wonderland of Dreams’ authority. Exploring the operating mechanism of authority in complete unknown is itself difficult. No one can measure the height of the sky in a single night, even if the Crystal Origin of Dreams isn’t a complete world, its authority already possesses the depth of sky and abyss," Angel comforted: "If it were me, reaching 99%, I too would choose to kill the masked man."

Laplace softly said: "No need to comfort me, I accept the result, just a bit regretful... I’m still thinking about where to obtain that missing 1% progress?"

Angel couldn’t answer this question either, at least not now. However, once receiving more Wonderland of Dreams authority information, perhaps they could open a backdoor to find a walkthrough... uh, maybe?

Angel: "Speaking of which, 99% is considered cleared, what about the clearance reward you mentioned—Helen’s imaginative constitution, what is that?"

Laplace shrugged: "Nothing special, just increased constitution, presumably the masked man’s physique. Compared to Molted Skin, that little gain isn’t even a fraction."

Laplace showed indifference, but Angel was quite interested.

"Is this increased constitution directly affecting your body, or does it need another medium?"

Seeing Angel’s interest, Laplace simply touched her brow and lifted the Molted Skin state.

The stark contrast in strength made Laplace slightly uncomfortable. However, she had experienced it before, so she was quite used to it.

Freed from Molted Skin, Laplace took a deep breath, gently clenched her fist, as if white vapor escaped from her mouth.

Then, Angel saw Laplace’s arm began to swell, the fist enlarged, glowing with a strange sheen.

In the next moment, Laplace’s figure shot down like lightning, thrusting her fist, smashing it onto the ground.

With a vast amount of crystal stone debris thrown up, the ground was smashed into a pit about ten meters wide.

Yet Laplace was unharmed. She lightly shook her swollen arm, returning to her quiet form once more.

"That’s about it," Laplace said indifferently. "Not too strong."

Angel: "..."

Compared to scale shedding, it is indeed not strong, but from Laplace’s demonstration, it can be confirmed that this kind of power directly acts on the body itself.

In other words, "Helen’s Imaginary Constitution" directly becomes Laplace’s origin strength in the Crystal Origin of Dreams.

Unlike scale shedding, which requires external activation and keeps consuming energy, it is a false strength.

Even though the intensity of the two differs, Angel personally feels that Helen’s Imaginary Constitution is actually no worse than scale shedding. At least from the perspective of the Crystal Origin of Dreams, this origin strength is a kind of foundation.

Most importantly—

No side effects!

According to Laplace, as long as you receive the reward, this ability will stick with you and won’t disappear, and it has no side effects.

This greatly shocked Angel.

You know, the Crystal Origin of Dreams definitely parallels the Wilderness of Dreams. The Wilderness of Dreams does have methods for enhancing strength, such as merging with the Mist of Sin, which is a way for ordinary people to strengthen themselves, but the side effects are strong, easily leading one to completely lose oneself.

But the "instance reward" nature of the ability enhancement from the Crystal Origin of Dreams has no side effects. As long as you clear the instance, you have a chance to obtain it.

This is much better than bearing the Mist of Sin, where one could go mad at any time and even experience bodily transformations.

Of course, perhaps the strength after bearing the Mist of Sin might be a bit higher. However, who can be certain that the rewards given by the Wonderland of Dreams are only these? And who is certain that these rewards cannot be stacked?

If a special dreamland reward is: the constitution of a bloodline wizard, this level of reward is not impossible.

After all, currently, the Wonderland of Dreams comes from those previous Eliminators, and among the Eliminators, there were quite a few official wizard-level magic monsters. It’s still quite possible for rewards to offer official wizard-level constitutions.

Furthermore, if rewards can be continuously obtained and stacked, who’s to say whether the final strength is stronger or weaker compared to those bearing the Mist of Sin?

However, speaking of which, could the energy system of the Crystal Origin of Dreams be built on the Wonderland of Dreams?

Also, if the rewards obtained in the Wonderland of Dreams, can they be applied in the Wilderness of Dreams?

Can the Crystal Origin of Dreams and the Wilderness of Dreams be interconnected?

Can the indigenous people of the Wilderness of Dreams come to the Crystal Origin of Dreams?

Angel’s mind flashed with countless thoughts in an instant, but for other questions, Angel can only think about them now, unable to get accurate answers. The only question that can currently be answered is: Can the rewards from the Wonderland of Dreams be used in the Wilderness of Dreams?

For this, you just need to have Laplace take a trip to the Wilderness of Dreams to see whether Helen’s Imaginary Constitution can be used.

Angel expressed his thoughts aloud.

Laplace already had the idea of looking at the Wilderness of Dreams, so naturally, she did not refuse and agreed promptly.

"Speaking of rewards, I’m still concerned about that 1% and the phrase in the information..."

—"Exploration degree not reaching 100%, the special dream ’Helen’s Dream’ will undergo unknown changes after leaving."

"What changes will happen to Helen’s Dream if 100% exploration degree is not achieved?"

"Also, the Dream Creator of Helen’s Dream has already been killed by me, why does this special dream still exist? Why does it continue to change?"

Laplace simply couldn’t figure it out.

Angel similarly couldn’t understand, but... "Why not take another look?"

Angel’s gaze turned to the shadow of the whip-shaped crystal creation in mid-air, which hadn’t completely disappeared.

Laplace shook her head: "I can’t go in; after coming out I realized the exploration degree hadn’t reached 100% and attempted to go back inside. But an information prompt informed me that this special dreamland is a single-player special dreamland you mentioned; each person can only enter once. I cannot go in again."

Angel: "You can’t, but I can."

"You want to go in?" Laplace looked at Angel in surprise.

Angel nodded: "Isn’t it just the remaining 1% exploration degree? Don’t worry, solving puzzles is my forte~"

Angel spoke confidently and then flew into mid-air.

Laplace also reactivated scale shedding, coming next to the whip-shaped crystal creation, looking expectantly at Angel.

Angel signaled Laplace to relax and then stretched out his hand, intending to let the whip tie him up and pull him into the special dreamland.

But the hand extended out remained motionless in mid-air for a long time, and the whip showed no sign of wanting to bind.

Moreover, the whip itself gradually became illusory, seeming as if it would disappear in the next second.

"Looks like you can’t go in?" Laplace said.

Angel’s face was somewhat awkward, maintaining composure stated, "Perhaps there was an unexpected situation, not being able to go in is okay, I will directly intervene using my authority to see what’s inside."

After saying that, Angel reached out to touch the whip and simultaneously operated the Ability Tree.

The next second, Angel felt his perspective underwent some changes.

He returned to the birdcage perspective, and his position was still outside the miniature garden, able to view the whole scene of the cage.

But!

His perspective could no longer move, unable to extend or retract freely like before and unable to directly enter the miniature garden to check specific situations.

He could only view changes within the cage from a fixed perspective outside the miniature garden.

As Angel wondered what was going on, the Ability Tree sent him a piece of information.

According to the information given by the Ability Tree, the current special dream is undergoing unknown changes, and to enter it, one must wait until the transformation ends and the internal structure becomes stable again.

During the transformation process, even Angel, who indirectly possesses Fairyland Authority, can only watch from outside the birdcage without directly intervening.

Upon receiving this information, Angel could only accept reality.

However, despite not being able to showcase his puzzle-solving "expertise," Angel decided he might as well continue observing.

Even though the perspective was "locked," he could still see some information through the birdcage. This information might become clues to unravel that 1% mystery.

Thinking of this, Angel refocused his gaze on the miniature garden within the birdcage.

Now, the perspective is incredibly high and far, only able to overlook external conditions; the interior of the house is beyond his reach.

However, even with only the view of the house exterior, Angel noticed a significant change.

First, the human head balloons that were previously hung on the threshold of the rose garden began to continuously inflate, turning into "flying head skulls" over ten meters tall.

Just these flying skull demons indicate that the so-called "unknown change" is not towards good, but towards bad.

Besides the change in human head balloons, there is also a change in the roses.

Previously extremely aggressive Big Mary Roses have now all withered, turning entirely into debris on the ground, which then penetrates into the earth, completely becoming fertilizer.

Externally, the most significant change is the girl previously killed by Laplace.

The girl has been reborn.