Chương 301: I Have Never Seen This Man

So far, amongst the test subjects that I used to perfect my creations before presenting them to Rose, Gilepre had been the strongest one, and his strength had allowed him to better resist a prototype version of the mask and pool. Once I realised that things like constitution, will, and at least one developed inner energy were factors, I knew that Rose would succeed. She had all three of those things, and she was currently experiencing the best possible versions of the mask and pool.

I had created and calibrated them using only regular people after Gilepre went through it. As such, any possible flaw should be ignored by the much stronger Rose, who also had the advantage of not being scared. Unlike the previous people who went through it, she wasn't struggling as she didn't think that I was trying to drown her.

She merely remained still, with her only conscious action being to squeeze my hand for reassurance, an act that allowed me to tell in real time how she was being altered as her grip progressively grew stronger and stronger to the point that my steel bones were beginning to groan as they were bent by her grasp. Impressive… As her instructor, I was very knowledgeable of Rose's strength, and it was clear that she was seeing an impressively noticeable improvement.

I would have loved to see the process in more detail, but the strength of her grip was all that I could know about whilst she remained submerged in the liquefied negative energy, and I didn't intend on disturbing the process in any way whatsoever. … Rose remained submerged far longer than anyone else before her. It seemed like her being so calm and accepting of what was happening was doing quite a lot of work.

At one point, the dark liquid began alternating between boiling and freezing, something else that had never happened before, but I could feel that it was having a good effect on Rose, and the young woman wasn't questioning anything, so the process continued. I only had to actually do something when yet another thing that had never happened before took place, and the liquid began being absorbed by Rose.

As such, to ensure that she got the best of things, I had to push her deeper and deeper so that she remained submerged. I was as gentle as I could, so as to avoid making Rose panic.

After three full hours had passed, the pool was completely empty, even the liquid that should have imbued my and Rose's clothes had been drained, leaving only the otherworlder in my arms as the mask that had either refused to come off or fused in the mask, slid off her face like it hadn't previously stabbed into her flesh to stay in place. It withered away, turning into a haze that flew into Rose's body, truly leaving only the farmer girl as she caught her breath.

She hadn't been drowning, but her body thought that it had been. Her body had barely any strength left, and all she could do was grab onto my coat and rest her head against my chest. An odd choice considering that there was nothing soft to find there, but I let her do it and softly caressed her hair as I held her in my arms as if she were a big baby.

"There, there… Everything went well, it's over" As if she had been waiting for my confirmation, she fell asleep immediately after I was done speaking. Even the toughest girls look cute when sleeping peacefully like this. Had this been one of my previous test subjects, Rose would have been contained in a room of the Gravescape, and I would have gone away to do something else.

However, being that she was my previous disciple, I brought her to the room I had assigned for her inside the Gravescape and carefully put her on the bed. I pulled a chair to sit on and decided to wait for her to wake up. How bizarre, it didn't happen like this at all for the previous people you used the mask and pool on Mmh? Is there something that only you can see, Sweetie? It is subtle, but the test subjects experienced something akin to a forceful mutation.

Due to its forceful nature, it naturally had unintended side effects and tended to heavily reduce their cognitive capabilities In comparison, instead of a mutation, it is almost like Rose is evolving. Like how some monsters are capable of Like me? Well, technically, yes, but your evolutions are quite different from the norm. What Rose is experiencing is much closer to the more common kind of evolution. Her body is being reconstructed. Although subtle, it is undeniable… And also…

I could only hear Nara's voice, but after spending so long with my little sister, I could tell that she could sort of extend her perception at times, so Nara was basically leaning closer to Rose right now. Her special system is also evolving in a subtle way. It seems like it will soon recognise that she now not only has an affinity with mana, but with negative energy as well… How odd that things went so differently for her compared to the rest It must have been due to her faith in me.

She accepted the mask and pool with open arms and trusted me, even when things got scary for her. Although she had remained calm overall, there had been moments when her fear had spiked, but despite that, she had done her best to remain focused. It was honestly heartwarming to see how much she trusted me despite us not knowing each other for that long. It made me suspect that she had lacked a feminine figure in her life until now, and that she had latched onto me as a result.

If true, I had to do my best not to disappoint her… Mmh? The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. I stood up to get a better look at Rose's face. I could see her eyes moving beneath her eyelids, but she wasn't awake or even in the process of waking up. Is she having a nightmare? Without hesitation, I morphed into my 'Nightmare Form' and invaded Rose's dreamworld. Soon finding myself in an unfamiliar farm. It was rather impressive how vivid the dream was.

It almost seemed like I was in a real place instead of Rose's imagination, or rather… This was probably the farm she used to live on in her former world. I stayed at a distance, soon spotting Rose shearing a sheep. She seemed to be doing just fine, but now that I was inside the dream, I could tell that the reason her real body was acting like this wasn't that she was having a nightmare. It was because there was another intruder apart from me.

He was remaining hidden like me, but it seemed that, unlike my glorious self, he was unable to realise that he wasn't the only person who shouldn't be here. Unfortunately, I was unable to sneakily murder him as he sensed my presence before I could get close enough to rush him down. The intruder was a man of… Unfortunate facial features.

His mouth was unusually wide, his eyes just big enough to be noticeably abnormal, and his eyebrows weren't just big, they looked like they belonged on the big toes of a mountain troll. Not helping his case, he had a strongly receding hairline that made his forehead look oversized, and overall, he was so skinny that it looked like a gust of wind would be able to fold him like a piece of cloth.

Also, I couldn't help but notice he looked fairly different depending on whether one looked at the right or left side of his face. He might be at home here, considering that he looked distorted, like someone in a dream. He looked at me with a distinct lack of emotion, but reacted by looking left and right as if confused that someone else would be here, but for some reason, it was like his face was a mask as he never blinked, nor did his lips move slightly.

"Do you perhaps have business with my disciple?" He didn't respond, and instead, it was like we were both transported beyond the reaches of Rose's dream and were instead taken into the void that I had already noticed when I invaded Kalersky's dream of debauchery.

"You shouldn't be here" He said without any muscles on his face budging.

"I return this statement to you. I have an ability to enter dreams. I definitely have every right to be here, but what about you? Actually, I don't care. You look like a creep, you sound like a creep, and you act like a creep. Which means that you are a creep, and can you guess what I do when I get my hands on a creep staring at my protégé?"

"I am an angel of the god of dreams""Which one?"

"What?"

"Which god of dreams? There are like… Hundreds of them. Gods grow in fucking fields like grass" The man still didn't change his expression at all, but I could now feel genuine confusion trickle from him to me, and the moment I absorbed it, I knew he was no human, but he was definitely not an angel. Thanks to the serpent idol, I knew what holy energy and divine energy were like, and there was absolutely none of it coming from this fool. The only hint of energy I could taste was completely unknown to me.

That's anomalous energy. This thing isn't a being from our world. It comes from Rose's Despite no evidence being attached to her claim, the confidence in Nara's tone was all that I needed to trust her completely. I couldn't help but smirk as something popped up in my mind.

"Well… Guess we found the real Unwanted Presence…" I now understand that Xlown's sense of humour didn't come from nowhere Of course, the essence of comedy is part of the family. Anyway, I don't know what this guy is exactly, but I can tell you that anomalous energy is a type of energy most common in worlds like those the Unwanted Presences usually come from.

It is anomalous in the sense that it is able to thrive in worlds where ambient energies and magic are supposed to be nonexistent or pitifully weak The best theory is that it naturally moves away from other energies as it is weaker than them, and finds a way to trickle into worlds where it can actually grow and proliferate without opposition Regardless… It has a tendency to create creatures such as the man in front of us. He has no life force. His 'life force' is anomalous energy itself I see, how can we kill him?

He's a dream entity, I think you can just beat him up with your fists since you're already encroaching on his territory I cracked my knuckles, and the anomalous being seemed to sense the danger as he tried to step back, but he was unable to do so as I surged forward with the same might I had displayed as my human self back in the final trial against Rarelian and Tilimia.

I moved like a cannonball and kicked him straight in the mouth, caving his face in as I sent him flying like a ragdoll, his teeth had fused into his flesh, but no blood came out, and I was able to see firsthand that instead of red, his flesh was grey. Also, my hit nearly made one of his pop out of its orbit, but the damage I inflicted didn't seem to matter, as he clearly didn't abide by the laws of human biology. He just looked like a guy, but he was anything but that.

"Say, were you able to choose what you look like? If so, why so ugly?" Alas, apart from making me chuckle, my provocations had no effect. It seemed like the entity didn't give a damn about his looks as his face reformed.

"I am an emissary from the clouds. The girl must receive a prophetic message""Sorry, Buddy. But I am one to shoot the messenger, and anyway… If that was true, why creep on her from a distance, huh? Just deliver the message–Not that anyone wants to hear it. You're just delusional""Madness… All who dream have seen my face. I am the link that binds mortals to the divine-" I kicked him in the knees, snapping them the wrong way, but he wouldn't even gratify me with a single cry of pain.

I grabbed him by what hair he had left on his balding head.

"Let's see how good that regeneration of yours is…" The fucker ignored me, seemingly more mesmerised by the fact that there was solid ground in the void. How impolite… But I guess it is a bit refreshing, usually, guys that look like him would be on their hands and knees to get the crap beaten out of them by me. …They always find out that their fantasies aren't anywhere as enjoyable as they had conceived, though.