The Innkeeper

Chapter 2192: The difference between an illusion and a dream

Velma knew that she could return to the Midnight Inn whenever she wanted. In fact, she really did want to return. She couldn’t believe that she missed the biggest wedding that the Inn had ever held!

Many of her friends had written her letters informing her of it, and sharing all the exciting details of the wedding, but that only served to increase the feeling of missing out that she felt. Even so, she did not return for one sole reason: she could benefit the Midnight Inn more from within the Humanoid Alliance.

For example, her immediate boss was a super big shot in the Humanoid Alliance, and the Celestial Race. His name was Ur Weiss, and he was some kind of prince of the Celestial race. Although his cultivation level was low, everyone obeyed his order and he seemed to be in control over a large part of the Humanoid Alliance’s mission in the Artica realm.

Through Ur, Velma was able to learn the latest and most confidential news - at least, confidential up to the level her temporary authority allowed her to see.

Not only had she learned a lot about the Dream realm ahead of most people, she was able to compile a report based on the Humanoid Alliances’ previous understanding of the realm. After confirming with Ur about whether she could or not, she compiled all the information she was allowed to send, and transmitted it back to the Midnight Inn through the tavern that she always carried with her.

She could only hope that the difference in the flow of time between realms hadn’t delayed her too much. If anyone from the Inn went to the Dream realm, they needed to know how to deal with it. Although things may have changed since the last time the Dream realm was open, the fundamentals should still be the same. For now, this was the best that she could do, and the Inn would surely benefit from it.

Unfortunately for Gerard, the information that Velma sent was quite late.

Gerard looked at the massive clearing in birds and trees right in front of him, and felt something amiss. He looked towards his fist, and then the damage that he had caused.

In the tavern behind him, everyone was cheering and feeling relieved. Gerard’s display of strength had reassured them greatly. For some reason, those black birds had really affected them mentally.

Pierre, though, could not help but notice that while everyone else was celebrating, Gerard himself looked extremely troubled. Unfortunately, his own cultivation level was too low, or he would have gone out to check up on him.

"Oh boy, I seem to have made a terrible mistake," Gerard said, speaking to himself.

As if to confirm his words, the surviving endless mass of birds all took to the skies, their aura at the peak of the Heaven Immortal realm somehow becoming more realistic, as before this it had merely been a facade. Yet instead of attacking Gerard again, they slammed into the ground in front of Gerard, all fusing together into one, dark and grotesque, human shaped monster.

The monster’s body did not seem to have a fixed form, flickering between an enormous mass of black birds, and a human with proportions similar to Gerard, wearing a well fitted suit.

"What’s the matter?" it asked in a voice made up of a million voices, all speaking together. "You don’t look so good."

Gerard shook his head, and began to walk forward.

"I always look good," he said in a reluctant voice, lamenting his misfortune. Yet as he walked towards the monster, he sent a message back to the tavern.

"Tell someone to go back to the Midnight Inn and have someone ask the Innkeeper for help urgently. I do not think this is an obstacle we can handle."

Pierre, who heard the message, was startled. He knew something was wrong.

"What’s the issue? What should I specifically say?" he asked.

After a moment, another spirit sense reached Pierre.

"What’s the difference between a dream, and an illusion?"

The voice within the spirit sense sounded like Gerard, but there was something off about it. Something he couldn’t quite identify.

"I don’t know, what’s the difference?" asked one of the other workers out loud. Apparently, the spirit had not just reached out to Pierre, but all of them.

Pierre’s eyes narrowed as he realized the issue.

"No, don’t respond to any messages from outside the tavern! Quickly, someone go ask the Inn for help!"

Unfortunately, he realised too late.

"The difference," the voice spoke again, though this time it came from all around them, from within the tavern, instead of from outside via spirit sense, "is that if you work hard enough, you can turn a dream... into reality."

A thick, white smoke began to fill the tavern, and from within the smoke the screeching and chirping of birds began to fill the tavern. The workers all realized that something was amiss, but there was nothing they could do about it.

They searched for the exit to the tavern, but the smoke was too thick, preventing them from being able to find it.

Suddenly, the sound of flapping wings filled the hallways, and Pierre saw a dark figure flying towards him. Before he could respond to the figure, a loud bang startled him. He saw the dark figure tear into a dozen pieces, and the smoke was pushed back for a moment.

Through the gap stepped forward Brenda, holding a double barrel shotgun. Where the hell did she get the gun from?

"Why is this more fun than the honeymoon?" she asked with sparkling eyes as she bent forward the barrel of the gun, allowing two empty shells to shoot out. In a much too experienced fashion, she put in two more rounds, and this time Pierre seemed to notice that the rounds just appeared in her hands out of nowhere.

"How did you do that?" he asked, surprised. Yet even more surprising was the fact that when he held up his hands to point towards Brenda’s gun, he found that he too was holding a gun. To be more specific, he was holding an old revolver,

Pierre realized that, all of a sudden, he was no longer inside the tavern, nor was he wearing a suit. Instead, he was wearing clothes out of an old western movie, and Brenda was dressed up like a sheriff. They were standing inside a bar, and glaring beams of sunlight shone through the open window.

The sounds of intense fighting and shooting could be heard coming from outside, mixed in with the desperate cawing and shrieking of birds.

"I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think we should shoot first and ask questions later," said Brenda, for once giving a suggestion that Pierre could not help but agree with.

"What do you mean this is more fun than the honeymoon?" he asked as he walked up to the door and peeked out. "I spent a lot of time planning that. I thought you said you enjoyed it."

Brenda stuck out her tongue, realizing that she may have said something inappropriate. Well, when words failed her, at least she had her gun. She took the lead, shooting the flying birds outside the bar while aiming from cover. Seeing that she was not about to respond, Pierre shook his head, and began shooting as well.

It seemed like they had somehow gotten separated from the tavern and the others, with no idea of how to get back. Before they could try to figure things out, they needed to secure themselves first.

Back in the forest, Gerard faced the monster with a grim expression. The longer they fought, the more the monster seemed to become real, lasting longer in its humanoid form rather than its shapeless form. The worst part was that, somehow, he had lost sight of the tavern building, so he was on his own.

The hundreds of other workers who were inside the tavern, too, seemed to have disappeared, leaving the tavern building all alone in the dark forest, surrounded by endless birds, staring at it with their red eyes, as if waiting for more prey.

Within the Midnight Inn, Lex was focused on the project Z was working on when he got a notification that Velma had sent something back from the Artica realm. Feeling curious, he opened up the report and sifted through it.

His casual feeling didn’t last long, though, as the more he read, the more solemn his expression became. According to her report, the Dream realm was one of the anomalous realms of the universe that did not make sense.

When the realm first appeared in the universe, it was already a fully Mature realm, without needing to go through the process of developing like other realms did. But that was far from enough for it to be classified as an anomaly. The problem was in its ever changing nature, never staying fixed, like a dream.