Lucian looked around and found himself in that narrow, cramped wooden cabin reeking of strong spirits—the same one where he had first found Elvirse. Almost everything was identical to that earlier scene: he was sitting in a wooden high-backed chair, with Elvirse positioned near the fireplace to his left front. From outside came the noisy clamor of the adventurer's camp. The only difference was that the wooden ladle, which should have been in Elvirse's hand, had fallen to the floor, and the brass soup pot had tipped over into the fire, its bright red tomato bisque sizzling as it drenched the flames.
As if understanding something, Lucian blurted out: "Your Majesty, the Nightmare King?"
"Elvirse" did not deny it. His anger subsided, and his expression turned sinister: "Are you truly a mid-rank Archanist?"
Lucian recalled the cascade of mathematical analysis problems that had appeared at the end of his dream, and he bared his teeth slightly: "I've been deepening my foundational mathematics recently—I should be at an advanced level by now, shouldn't I?"
He paused, then deliberately changed the subject with an air of puzzled confusion: "Your Majesty, the Nightmare King, why did you trap me in that dream? And… am I actually awake now?"
Having woken from a dream twice in succession, and with everything feeling so indistinguishably real, Lucian was beginning to lose the boundary between reality and dreams. Even secretly activating the Soul Library couldn't dispel the confusion in his heart—who was to say the Soul Library wouldn't appear in dreams as well?
This was the most enigmatic magic Lucian had ever encountered!
The former "Elvirse"—now revealed as the Nightmare King, Stanis—spoke without a trace of humor: "I was simply fulfilling a request from an old friend of mine. He believed your magical rank couldn't match your Archanist proficiency, so he arranged for you to experience various ordeals within a dream world I constructed, in order to fully unlock the latent potential of your soul. You can check your current soul strength."
Upon hearing the Nightmare King's words, Lucian immediately entered his Meditation state. That familiar cognitive world gave Lucian a fleeting sense of "reality." He then opened his eyes and said with considerable surprise: "My soul really does have Fifth-Circle standards… Could the old witch's electroshock stimulation genuinely strengthen the soul? No—that can't be it. It must be that the experiences within the dream reflected upon my soul, causing it to undergo changes."
Lucian's soul had indeed reached the Fifth Circle, though his spiritual energy growth would lag behind for some time.
The Nightmare King Stanis nodded gently: "All dreams are constructed upon the foundation of your own cognitive framework, psychological activity, and the reflections of past memories. Everything experienced within the dream feeds back into both the body and the soul. However, the feedback from ordinary dreams is negligible. In this world, only I can harness it to thoroughly develop the soul's potential. Of course, this is merely potential—it will not exceed your inherent limits. To continue growing, you would need to diligently Meditate and temper yourself, consume potions, and perform rituals."
"So it was all based on my own cognition and memories—that explains those bizarre coincidences like the 'electroshock stimulation' and 'magic mirror, magic mirror, tell me,'" Lucian thought, then instinctively asked: "Your Majesty, the Nightmare King, can electroshock stimulation actually strengthen the soul?"
Stanis produced a thin smile: "What do you think?"
"Pretend I never asked," Lucian replied, somewhat embarrassed. At this moment, countless questions were churning inside him, but he ultimately chose the one that was making his head feel ready to explode: "Your Majesty, the Nightmare King, how does one distinguish between a dream and reality? And how can I know whether I'm still dreaming right now?"
The Nightmare King was entirely accustomed to people falling into this state of bewilderment after experiencing a "real dream." He displayed a smile reminiscent of the old witch: "Why must you draw such a clear line between dreams and reality? What is reality? It is your brain's response to the external world. It is your soul's response to the external world. As long as I can directly stimulate your brain and soul to produce similar responses, what difference is there between a dream and reality? When my profession reaches its ultimate end, perhaps it will be the creation of an entire dream world."
"In other words, when my reaction to something in the outside world cannot be simulated by the dream's creator, I can definitively distinguish reality from dreams," Lucian said thoughtfully. At the same time, he silently added a note to himself: *When the projection of some theory within my cognitive world is capable of blowing up the dream creator's head, the dream will naturally shatter. I should quietly test the wave-particle duality of light and some quantum mechanics concepts in a moment…*
The Nightmare King Stanis felt a measure of appreciation for the fact that Lucian had arrived at the answer directly from his description of dreams and reality: "Not bad—worthy of the young man my old friend has his eye on. Actually, within the dream I was doing my best to prevent you from revealing your latest Archanist research. Even in the final maze, I deliberately avoided the other disciplines and chose foundational mathematics instead. And the result…" His expression grew somewhat complicated.
"No wonder the old witch was never interested in Arcane studies—even within a dream within a dream, it was merely some applied achievements. That contradicts the recklessness of someone truly unhinged!" Lucian realized with sudden clarity. Then he laughed: "So the old witch was played by you, Your Majesty. That sense of madness felt very authentic."
Stanis replied with a perfectly blank expression: "Strictly speaking, the old witch was half a projection of something you fear in your heart. The other half was shaped, imbued with thought, and filled in by me—only then was she convincing enough. Additionally, Adam, Karina, Alva, Ophelia, Brad, and the others were all played by me in the same manner."
Lucian was immediately struck by acute embarrassment. This was the real-life version of "Don't be fooled by all these people talking to you—they're all just my alt accounts," wasn't it?
To cover his awkwardness, Lucian hurriedly asked another question: "Your Majesty, the Nightmare King—so this letter-delivery mission was purely a pretext to bring me before you, so I could undergo your dream training and unlock my own potential? Which lord's goodwill was this?" To count as an old friend of the Nightmare King Stanis, Lucian surmised the person must be at least a legendary mage.
Stanis replied in a somewhat somber tone: "It was also a test. If you hadn't been able to deliver the letter here, there would have been no 'real dream.' As for my old friend—he likely saw talent and potential in you and wishes to take you as his disciple. You must have undergone a similar trial before."