The Innkeeper

Chapter 2190: Dreams and Nightmares

As Jack stood at the fore of the Jolly Rancher, tasting freedom for the first time since he became a fairy, he could not help but reflect on how truly monstrous the Back of Atlas technique was. When he originally saw it, he thought it was the least remarkable and the safest option from the list of rewards.

He was now beginning to think that he had misjudged the situation. The hints were all there, he’d just hadn’t noticed them before. He got this technique from a Life level reward token, which had presented him with three options.

There was Pentegal’s Mantle scraps, the Proscribed Path, and the Back of Atlas. The first two seemed tremendous. After all, the mantle was a remnant from an entire universe, and the Proscribed path had something to do with reincarnation. On the surface, they both seemed highly impressive.

Yet for both of them, the system had been able to reveal the details of their origins and the purpose. In comparison, all that it said about the Back of Atlas was that it was created by the Unknown, who was the first being to be born in the universe. The effect of the technique was only vaguely described.

The very fact that the system could even see into the details relating to the remnant of another universe, but couldn’t see through the Back of Atlas should have been enough to let him know just how incredible it was. At that time, he had failed to see it. Now, though, he was beginning to get an idea.

Back in the Primordial Garden, Wu Kong had stolen the status, or identity of a Primordial being and taken it for himself. Of course Wu Kong could do something like that. He was perhaps the best thief in the universe, and a formidable Dao Lord. Jack could not hope to copy him.

However, he could try to get rid of his own identity as a fairy, just to see if it worked. Well, it worked. The problem with the Back of Atlas was that the weight of something added to his back could be only as great as he could actually lift. Could his identity as a fairy be weak enough for him to carry?

As it turned out, yes. This had nothing to do with the curse itself, and yet it was also because of the curse that he could do this. The fairy race had fallen to disgrace. While the humans lacked any Dao Lords, the fairies in comparison barely had any Earth Immortals, perhaps one or two hidden Heaven Immortals somewhere, and no Celestial Immortals. Their position on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum was, quite frankly, pathetic.

Thus, the weight of this race, dragged down by the curse, was something Jack could carry on his own. After all, not only was he an Earth Immortal, his soul was the same as Lex’s. Though, because of his unique situation as Lex’s clone, his own cultivation level was low, the passive effect of being strengthened and nourished from Lex’s main soul was constantly present.

The most incredible thing, something he attributed to the Back of Atlas, was that since he only targeted his identity as a fairy, that was the only thing he carried on his back, without the associated curse that affected fairies at all!

Of course, this meant that Jack could no longer use Back of Atlas ever, or receive any benefits that the fairy race was owed. This also meant that none of his actions would feed back to the fairy race either. He made a mental note to have Lex try the same with his identity as human when he became free.

The beauty of this situation was that while he would be exempt from receiving or suffering from any of the benefits and drawbacks associated with his identity as a fairy, it didn’t actually change who he was. That meant that he could still use his wings and fairy dust without concern.

Thus, when Jack felt that he had finally attained freedom, it was not without reason. Now, he could focus on his two most important tasks. First, he needed to continue studying the Nexus event. Second, he had to figure out a way to increase his cultivation level.

Lex was already at the peak of Heaven Immortal, but Jack was still at the beginning of Earth Immortal. The difference was too significant.

Of course, before he could do either of those things, he needed to gain a better understanding of the Dream realm. Based on the information Lex had received, the Dream realm was a fully mature realm that could even threaten Dao Lords. He certainly wouldn’t treat it lightly.

"All of you, heighten your guard to the utmost," Jack said solemnly. "This realm is going to be extremely dangerous for us. We cannot afford to take the slightest risk, or we might not even know how we died."

For a brief moment, everyone felt the tremendous pressure of Jack’s words. As the strongest of the group, if he even felt threatened then it should be abundantly clear just how much danger they were in.

The next second, several burning gazes landed on Pebbles, the indestructible hamster of the crew. If they faced trouble, then this hamster would serve as the best defense.

The ferocity of all the gazes on him were too much for the poor hamster to take, causing him to have a heart attack and faint. Unfortunately, he was indestructible even before he became an immortal, which meant that the heart attack had done nothing save cause him some chest pains.

Jack ignored them and looked out at the realm in front of them. So far, they hadn’t run into any other living beings. Was the Dream realm really so desolate? Or had something happened here in the long period where it was sealed?

One way or another, they were about to find out.

Elsewhere, Pierre wiped his sweat as he looked out the tavern window. Master Wu Kong, who was supposed to be with them, had disappeared ever since they entered the Dream realm, leaving them to fend for themselves. Fortunately, reinforcements from the Midnight Inn had come in in a timely fashion, or else he wouldn’t know how to deal with the situation.

Outside the window, the tavern was a pitch black forest made up entirely of black colored trees. Most notably, the trees were all dead, lacking leaves. Instead, thousands of black birds with deep red eyes stood on the tree branches, looking solely at the tavern.

It was a scene right out of a nightmare.