A Sorcerer's Journey 504 Lamp of Awakening

The Nightmare World had parasitized the Sorcerers World. Therefore, it also had the law of day and night.
Night was a blur of distant surroundings, shrouded in nightmare mists, a stressful situation of not being able to see a thing. Every bed a person could sleep on was the entrance to the Sorcerers World.
In other words, this was the place where the mental state of men from the Sorcerers World could be lost and enter into the Nightmare World.
As day arrived, all world aperture gateways between the Sorcerers World and the Nightmare World had seemingly closed. The blurry shrouds of mist in the distance had also dispersed. However, the world seemed as if it had become a half-illusioned body, a body similar to Grimm's when he had become a half-illusioned body at night.
A black sun was hanging high up in the sky.
The ground, trees, rocks and even buildings started to become blurry and twisted. All of them releasing an ominous nightmare breath. Only Grimm's body which was solidified had become distinct from the Nightmare World.
The numerous disgusting bugs on the ground had vanished as well. It was as if it was merely a hallucination of the night.
'Of course, I still have no idea how that horrifying creature that had targeted me had sensed me, but for safety measures, changing locations was indeed the right move.'
As he was thinking about this, Grimm carefully observed the streets of the port around him, then attempted to fly.
There were no feelings of discomfort or pressure.
Could it be that the day in both the Sorcerers World and the Nightmare World was the period when these horrifying creatures rest?
To come to think of it, it would make sense. Having the trait of not being able to be killed, it would make sense that these horrifying creatures would also have some defects in their nature.
'The horrifying creatures of this world can't all be as strong as that creature that had his eyes on me. Maybe I should start with some weaker creatures to get an understanding of them first.'
As Grimm was lost in his thoughts, he was suddenly reminded of Little Myna.
"Little Myna?"
Grimm tried to call for Little Myna. He could sense the living breath of Little Myna in his subconscious mind yet he had no way of communicating with him. The situation was like when there was someone near you while you were in a dream, but you had no way of waking up.
A sigh escaped his lips. Grimm had given up on contacting Little Myna.
It was no wonder this was called the illusory world of sealing space and time itself. It had completely prohibited the communication ability of spacetime between Grimm and Little Myna.
Grimm retrieved his Starfall Reconnaissance Craft from the Dimensional Gap. "Creak!" After the metal hatch was opened, Grimm gingerly went in. He had decided to go seek for the horrifying creatures, or also known as Nightmare Phantoms in this world, to obtain information about them while it was relatively safer to do so during the day by going to other cities of ordinary humans.

The metal hatch closed once again. "Whizz!" the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft blasted away into the distance.
After flying for about four hourglasses' worth of time, Grimm passed by a small patch of vicious thorn forests and reached an ordinary town. According to the twisted state and nightmare breath shown by the town buildings, Grimm could determine that this town would be an ordinary town with the population of a few thousand people in the Sorcerers World.
"Creak!" The door of the metal hatch opened as the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft landed steadily three meters above the ground.
'Let's hope that I can get something out of this town tonight.'
As he collected his thoughts, Grimm stepped down from the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft. He stored the aircraft back into the Dimensional Gap as he calculated the time. There was approximately two hourglasses left before entering the night.
'There's still so much time left, perhaps I should study something.'
He pondered upon this as he sliced open the Dimensional Gap. A white light was taken out from the gap by Grimm. It was the Awakening Ray collected by Grimm on Mount Serpentine while he was in the maze of the sea serpent.
With the Awakening Ray in Grimm's hand, its weight was no less than a huge rock!
The white yet gentle light felt misplaced in this ominous and twisted Nightmare World. Even the twisted and blurry surroundings had started to take real form as the Awakening Ray was being shone upon them.
"The power of dispelling nightmare effects? Or the power to awaken the effects of reality?"
Grimm said in surprise.
While he was opening the Dimensional Gap last night, Grimm had already noticed the extraordinary effects the Awakening Ray had on the Nightmare World.
It was only that he had to hide and protect himself as he had just fallen into the Nightmare World. He was still unfamiliar and terrified of this unknown world, in turn having to put his safety as his first priority.
Yet now after Grimm had excessively explored the place, he realized that the horrifying creatures of the Nightmare World were not as numerous as imagined. The case may be that the Sorcerers World was too big in comparison or, the horrifying creatures were too small in numbers.
At least Grimm did not find any signs of the horrifying creatures at the port of the back of the mountain behind the Black Isotta Tower .
'Maybe, this Awakening Ray can be the perfect disguise for me in this Nightmare World.'
Grimm speculated as he observed the effect the Awakening Ray had on his surroundings in the Nightmare World.
This domination energy was obviously not something that could be used by lower level sorcerers like Grimm. Even carrying it along with him would prove to be a huge burden on him.
Yet even the passive ability possessed by the Awakening Ray had such an incredible ability.
After giving it some thought, Grimm took out a delicate crystal cover and put the Awakening Ray within it. Using it as a magical lamp, Grimm awaited the arrival of the night.
A blood-red crescent moon replaced the full moon in the sky as if a huge evil smile was taking place.
As the blood-red crescent appeared, it was as if the Nightmare World had awakened from its slumber. The twisted, illusive and distorted buildings of the town started to solidify as it emitted an ominous nightmare breath.
The seemingly normal bluestone streets immediately turned into dirt with disgusting bugs wriggling out of them. The bugs crawled over each other yet no sound could be heard.
The backs of the bugs printed with patterns of weeping faces faced Grimm as if they were weeping in front of him.
Traces of nightmare mists were released from the ground as they gathered in the air.
A couple of moments went by until only a few hundred meters of visibility was left in the Nightmare World as it was covered by nightmare mists. And with it came the arrival of Grimm's second night in the Nightmare World.
What was different this time, was that Grimm had the Lamp of Awakening in his hands.
Under the white and gentle rays of the Lamp of Awakening, the surrounding corrupted buildings regained some of the normal breath found in the Sorcerers World. Even the dirt beneath his feet turned back into the bluestone street, it was as if the disgusting black bugs were just an illusion.
Holding the Lamp of Awakening, Grimm searched high and low, room after room, searching for existing Nightmare Phantoms, or in other words, signs of the horrifying creatures.
Unfortunately, Grimm found nothing.
This town did not seem to have any sign of horrifying creatures.
Grimm hid in a small cabin in his misfortune. From the tight world aperture on the wooden bed, he could hear the snoring of a man who was sound asleep. Grimm sat on an oily chair in the cabin as he took out his sorcerer notes and ice marrow crystallization books while falling into deep thought under the Awakening Ray.
As this went on for three days, Grimm had already ventured through three different towns. With this day came the fourth town Grimm had arrived at.
This town could barely be called a town. It would make more sense if it were called a village.
The entire village only had about sixty to seventy households and only two stone houses in total.
One of the stone houses was the mill of the village. The rooftop of the mill had an old windmill that was surrounded by a heavy ominous breath at night in the Nightmare World. The other was a miniature castle as if it had been passed down by some ancient noble household, forming a distinct visual difference between it and the other wooden houses of the village.
Naturally, Grimm headed to the village mill first but he found nothing.
As he searched the old houses one after another, Grimm finally arrived at the east side of the village where the three-leveled stone castle was.
"Sob… sob..."
A woman's cry came from the second floor, this was something Grimm had never found before in his searches.
In his surprise, Grimm initiated his sorcerer's barrier and prepared himself. "Creak!" Grimm opened the door after taking a deep breath and took big steps into the room of the castle's second floor.
Tick tock… tick tock...
Crunch… crunch...
The 'tick tocks' were from an old wall clock in the room. Wall clocks were made with the basis of gear machinery and the rocker principle. These wall clocks were very common in the Sorcerers World nobility.
What was odd was that this clock was not only uncorrupted, it was also very delicate. The only thing out of the ordinary about this clock was that the hands of the clock were upside down.
The crunching sound came from a giant wooden bed that was shaking in front of Grimm. The woman's cry also came from that small, tight void aperture from the wooden bed.
"What on earth?"
Grimm raised the Lamp of Awakening in one hand while raising the Sabbatic Goat Staff in another to take a peek at the two distorted feet in the world aperture. It seemed as if they were desperately trying to squeeze into the Sorcerers World.

Chapter end