I Am Establishing a Safe Zone in the Nightmare World

Chapter 27: Chapter 24: Rare Level Curse Object

”THUD!”

Shi An jolted awake from his dream.

He threw off the covers and raised his arm to check. There was indeed a bloody scratch on it. However, now that the Nightmare had been conquered and he had cleared the level, the scratch was slowly fading away until it completely disappeared.

The Blood Hand Seal, Little Blood, did not come to the Present Realm, but instead returned to the Safe Zone. Shi An also checked on Little Blood’s condition.

On Little Blood’s chubby body, there were surprisingly only a few faint black spots. Clearly, even though Little Blood had fought the pitch-black anomaly for several dozen seconds, it had firmly held the upper hand.

Of course, the fact that Mr. Shi had used himself as bait was also the key to securing this victory.

The pitch-black spots originally possessed extremely strong corrosive properties, similar to Little Blood’s bloody handprints. But now, with the pitch-black anomaly’s demise, the black spots had lost their foundation, rapidly fading away in the blink of an eye. It wouldn’t take long for the slight injuries on its body to completely heal.

”My number one employee, Little Blood, truly has the makings of a great terror.”

Seeing this, Shi An truly relaxed. Even so, recalling the moment when the pitch-black anomaly tried to pounce and kill him, he still felt lingering fear.

He thought, ”I admit, there was a bit of a gamble involved, but in the end, I won.”

As early as when he first fell into the Nightmare, Shi An had made up his mind to completely clear this initial Nightmare. Such an idea, in the eyes of experienced and sensible Dream Descenders, was undoubtedly absurd. It was delusional and impractical. Naturally, there were no relevant guides in the information provided by the Countermeasures Bureau.

He thought, ”Indeed, under normal circumstances, how could Ordinary people possibly defeat an anomaly?

”Even if these Ordinary individuals possessed one, two, or even three Curse Objects before being entangled by the initial Nightmare, it would be useless.”

Because Ordinary people holding Curse Objects were, at best, equivalent to Early Stage Dream Descenders. The Curse Object power they could unleash was extremely weak. They didn’t have much time to study Curse Objects, let alone attempt Curse Object Fusion. Before they could achieve Curse Object Fusion, these people would fall into the initial Nightmare.

But Shi An had Little Blood, giving him the possibility of contending with the anomaly.

Of course, even so, it was still not easy for him to perfectly clear the initial Nightmare. After all...

He mused, ”In the initial Nightmare, there is likely no mechanism to kill the anomaly. I need to rely on Little Blood’s own power to defeat this entity.”

Anomaly versus anomaly? Since both were anomalies, Shi An didn’t dare to gamble directly. He had to find a way to create an opportunity and increase his chances of winning. Using himself as bait was a necessary risk.

Furthermore...

”The prerequisite to contending with and even defeating a Nightmare anomaly is to make it reveal itself,” he thought.

”However, the mechanism of the initial Nightmare is that... the anomaly will not show itself. Or rather, they are blocked by the rules and cannot appear. Only when various conditions are met can they break through the barrier and truly descend.”

This was a good thing for Dreamers who only wanted to survive. But for Shi An, who wanted to perfectly clear the stage, it was actually an obstacle.

There were only two ways to make the anomaly descend. One was to constantly trigger death flags, accelerating the anomaly’s arrival. The other was to find the Nightmare’s exit. The moment a Dreamer found the exit and was about to escape was also the most dangerous moment, as the anomaly could break through its restrictions to pursue them.

These were also the only two opportunities Shi An knew of to face the anomaly directly.

However, regarding the latter—finding the Nightmare’s exit—Shi An was not very confident. He had no certainty of finding this exit within the short span of a single day. He was, after all, just an unremarkable Ordinary person, so he could only choose the first method.

To ensure the act was realistic enough and that his own emotions would fluctuate more intensely, Shi An even resorted to self-mutilation by scratching himself. However, he couldn’t bring himself to be too ruthless; he only scratched himself slightly.

In the end, he finally managed to lure the anomaly out.

Shi An lay in bed for a full ten minutes. It wasn’t until he had completely recovered his senses and rested enough that he entered a Fallen Dream once again.

GURGLE GURGLE.

The familiar and reassuring Safe Zone appeared in his field of vision. Little Blood stood on the bar counter, waving its chubby arms like a lucky cat, claiming credit for its achievements.

Shi An rubbed Little Blood’s head. ”Not bad, very good, very chubby. I’ll give you a raise at the end of the year.”

Of course, before the end of the year, after the next upgrade of the Safe Zone was completed, if there was still some Belief Value to spare, Shi An would use it on Little Blood, giving this great contributor a version buff. This was what truly mattered.

A raise? Ahem, the Blood Hand Seal was just an anomaly. Since it got free food, free lodging, and free upgrades, it wouldn’t have anywhere to spend a raise anyway.

Inside the shop, a pair of completely pitch-black shoe covers had been tossed onto the empty floor in front of Little Blood. Waves of chilling cold emanated from them, causing discomfort.

This was a Curse Object. It was left behind after Little Blood swallowed the pitch-black anomaly earlier. It was a good item. A Dream Curse Object obtained by killing an anomaly had a high probability of being a Complete Level Curse Object.

But where should he start? Figuring out the specific information of a Curse Object was no easy task.

Just as Shi An was pondering, fragmented information suddenly surfaced before his eyes, assembled together, and became clear.

[Dream Curse Object: Pitch-Black Shoe Covers (Complete Level)]

[Description: A pair of shoe covers that can be worn over any shoes. Once put on, regardless of the shoe size, the covers will fit perfectly. The wearer of the Pitch-Black Shoe Covers will turn invisible, leaving behind only the sound of their shoes stepping on the ground.]

[Side Effects: Wearing the Pitch-Black Shoe Covers will cause the user to grow black spots. If used for too long, the person’s entire body might liquify into black fluid.]

A Complete Level Curse Object!

Even though the description made it seem not powerful enough, and the invisibility came with a massive flaw...

He thought, ”But such a flaw should be removable by improving my mastery over the Curse Object.

”And this invisibility mechanism will definitely be useful in certain situations.”

However, what Shi An wanted to figure out more right now was—

”Why can I see the Curse Object’s information directly this time?

”Previously, the Curse Objects of the man in the black suit and Xi Xue were very obvious, yet I couldn’t see through them directly. There must be some kind of variable involved here.”

There were too few clues to make a judgment. Shi An was merely a Nether God.

In his mind, the previous scene of the Nightmare Corridor shattering surfaced once again.

[You have perfectly cleared the initial Nightmare.]

[You have obtained 100g of Dream Crystal Dust.]

[You have obtained the Curse Dream Object: Invisible Corridor (Rare Level).]

The completely shattered and dissipated Nightmare had its residual Essence transform into a Curse Object suspended between the tangible and intangible, descending before Shi An.

This time, Shi An didn’t even need to gaze at it to faintly obtain the Curse Object’s basic information.

Could this perhaps be the gift of the initial Nightmare?

He thought, ”I didn’t expect it to actually be a Rare Level Curse Object.

”Indeed, above the Incomplete and Complete Level Curse Objects, there are bound to be higher Grade Curse Objects. I just didn’t expect that my first Rare Level Curse Object would be obtained through my own effort and sweat.

”As expected of me!”

The Curse Object fully manifested, resembling a bracelet. Intricate patterns were carved into the bracelet, depicting stairwells, streets, and cities.

Shi An gazed at it. The fragmented information reassembled, manifesting more meticulously before him.

[Invisible Corridor]

[Description: A high-Grade Curse Object. It possesses the Ability to construct tangible and intangible Space. It is rather difficult for Ordinary people to use directly, as it requires the user to resonate with the Curse Object itself.]

[Side Effects: After using this Curse Object, the user will be prone to losing their sense of direction for a certain period of time.]