Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2895: Chapter 2896: Exploration Progress

Special dreamland? Special character? Exploration progress?

Upon hearing Laplace’s words, Angel felt more like this was an ”instance”... There’s even an exploration progress setup?

If so, according to the experience and data Angel saw on the Holographic Tablet, does 100% exploration mean successfully clearing this instance?

No, it seems like there was a sentence in the information Laplace received: Leave the Special Dreamland after execution.

This means that as long as the special character is killed, one can leave this instance... which is the so-called Special Dreamland?

And the special character, undoubtedly, is the masked man in front of them whom Laplace plans to execute.

The logic is quite simple.

It indeed seems somewhat similar to the ”game instances” recorded on the Holographic Tablet.

However, what Angel doesn’t understand is, this information is not difficult to comprehend, Laplace should have understood it too. Since executing the masked man would allow them to leave, why did Laplace stop at the last moment?

”This authority is becoming more interesting, it can reveal exploration progress, apparently turning a trial space into data... This does resemble the Endless Corridor of the Sky Mechanical City.” Angel commented on the information Laplace received, and then asked what was on their mind: ”Speaking of which, since this information told you execution would allow you to leave, why did you suddenly stop?”

Laplace did not immediately answer Angel’s question, but instead asked: ”I was initially focused on the fact that this place is called ’Special Dreamland’, while you seem entirely unsurprised by it.”

Angel: ”I mentioned before, I have an authority that can influence other authorities to a limited extent. When a new authority was born, I already roughly understood the composition of the new authority...”

Laplace instantly responded: ”So you know what this authority is? Were you deceiving me earlier?”

Angel: ”I didn’t deceive you, I just said I understood the composition of the new authority, but I don’t know what the new authority is exactly. Here, let me tell you what I understand about the new authority’s structure.”

Angel pondered for a moment, then shared the information received from the new authority.

A very obscure and difficult to understand piece of information, which could be distilled into only three keywords: Dream Realm, Mirror World, Secret Realm.

”Based on my speculation, this might be a special secret realm with both Dream Realm and Mirror World properties. And you mentioned, the information you received referred to this trial space as ’Special Dreamland’, which actually deviates little from my concept of a special secret realm. Therefore, I didn’t focus particularly on this point.”

Laplace believed Angel’s explanation; if Angel didn’t want to explain, they could have just remained silent as before. But since they provided an explanation, and it made sense, Laplace chose to believe it.

Angel paused for a moment: ”By the way, the information related to the new authority that I received, you also heard earlier. Although I cannot completely understand the essence of the new authority yet, since the authority has manifested, it still needs a name.”

Laplace frowned slightly and questioned the Void: ”You named this authority?”

Angel: ”Naturally.”

Laplace was silent for a moment: ”Your chosen name is...”

Angel: ”Wonderland of Dreams.”

Laplace originally thought they would hear a plain name like ”Crystal Origin of Dreams,” but surprisingly, Angel came up with a name that sounded nice and felt quite fitting?

”Are you sure you chose this?”

Angel: ”...”

Laplace turned their head slightly: ”I don’t mean anything else, just thinking the name is nice. Wonderland of Dreams, Wonderland of Dreams... It’s a pity that the situation here is far from an Immortal Realm.”

Laplace: ”Didn’t you just ask why I didn’t continue executing him? The reason is simple, do you remember the last line of information I received?”

Angel thought for a moment: ”Unexplored areas will undergo unknown changes upon leaving?”

Laplace nodded: ”Yes, according to the information I received, my current exploration progress is at 65%, and even if I execute the masked man, I probably wouldn’t be able to push the exploration progress to 100%. And here, there are indeed some unexplored areas, like the second and third floors, perhaps they also hide something. I hope to reach 100% before exiting.”

”You plan to push to 100% exploration progress? Are you... obsessive-compulsive?” Angel mumbled.

”What is obsessive-compulsive disorder? Never mind, I guess it’s not something good anyway, I simply don’t want to leave any regrets when I do things.” Laplace explained.

After hearing this, Angel did not speak further, but internally they concurred, this indeed seems like obsessive-compulsive behavior.

Moreover, reaching 100% exploration progress is quite beneficial too. 100% exploration signifies a complete clearance, and Angel also wants to know what changes occur when an ”single-instance” is completely cleared. Will it disappear, or open entirely to become a public instance?

Thinking about this, Angel didn’t say more but instead helped Laplace think of strategies.

”You mentioned earlier that the places you haven’t explored are the second and third floors?” Angel asked.

Laplace nodded: ”Yes, what’s up?”

Angel pondered for a moment: ”Since my observation perspective is similar to a Box Garden Perspective, before locking your position, I observed the entire Box Garden. Based on what I saw, there was nothing peculiar on the second and third floors.”

Laplace asked in confusion: ”Nothing peculiar? Then why does the information hint that unexplored areas will undergo unknown changes upon leaving? Could it be that there are hidden areas within this Special Dreamland?”

Angel: ”There shouldn’t be anything like that.”

”No hidden areas, then that’s odd...”

Currently, Angel also doesn’t know the specifics; they just observed the Box Garden recently and aren’t familiar with its information.

Laplace wasn’t expecting Angel to provide answers, and after pondering for a moment, they tossed a scale onto the masked man lying on the ground.

Laplace decided to continue searching for methods to reach 100% exploration progress, so it’s not yet time to kill the masked man, but they also can’t allow him to escape. Tossing a scale was just a precaution.

After ensuring accuracy, Laplace moved to the fireplace and picked up a picture frame on the ground.

Earlier, they were about to look at this picture frame when the masked man appeared, so they haven’t seen what’s depicted in the frame.

When Laplace unveiled the frame, their eyebrow subtly raised.

”Is this... a family portrait?” Angel’s voice came through: ”Though, it seems that most of it is burnt, the faces of two people on the right are already obscured.”

Due to burn marks, the details of the painting are hard to discern, but the general outline could still be seen.

There are two men and two women depicted.

In the center of the painting is a pair, a man and a woman, with the woman’s appearance already burnt away, and the man’s half scorched but still discernible as a middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache.

Beside the woman is a girl who seems to be snuggling close, her face also burnt, indistinguishable.

Next to the man stands an elderly man in a tailcoat, whose face already has wrinkles, appearing slightly aged yet still refined and spirited — from the older man’s attire, he should be a butler.

”The burnt parts seem to be all female; was it deliberately set on fire?” Angel asked.

Laplace shook their head: ”It’s not deliberate burning of these two females; when I discovered the picture frame, it was already in the fireplace. If I hadn’t taken it out in time, more than just part of the picture would be burnt away.”

In other words, the faces of the two females being burnt was not a coincidence, just unlucky that the fire started from the upper left corner, which led to the two females on the left being ”disfigured” first.

Angel: ”Did you find anything?”

Laplace thought for a moment, then pointed to the more master-like of the two men on the right: ”This man, I’ve seen many portraits of him along the way, all of which were after he became fat. In this painting, he hasn’t become that fat yet.”

”Is that special in some way?” Angel was puzzled as to why Laplace cared about the issue of weight.

Laplace: ”Because he was too fat before, I didn’t recognize him. But now, I’m sure I’ve seen him.”

Laplace whispered: ”On the door frame outside the Rose Garden, I’ve seen several heads, and this person was among them.”

Hearing Laplace’s words, Angel instinctively turned his gaze toward the Rose Garden.

Previously he saw the heads that Laplace had stepped on, and now comparing to what Laplace said, he really found the ”master” from the painting among the heads rolling on the ground.

”I saw it, the head path outside has not only this man, but also his butler. Besides this man and the butler, there are three women...”

Laplace: ”Among these three women, two should be the mistress here and her daughter.”

When Laplace said this, she pointed to the two women’s faces in the burnt painting.

”And what about the remaining woman?” Angel asked again.

Laplace shook her head: ”I don’t know about that one, perhaps only by going to the second and third floors can we find clues.”

Although Angel said he’s checked the second and third floors and found nothing strange, that was from Angel’s perspective.

Along the way, Laplace always felt the atmosphere here was shrouded in mystery, and until now, the identity of the masked person had not been revealed.

So, she speculated these mysteries might lie on the second and third floors.

After making up her mind, Laplace left the main hall and headed for the second floor.

Upon entering the second floor, Laplace pushed open the surrounding rooms while asking: ”Which room on the second floor has portraits? Also, are there rooms on the second floor with bloodstains? Are there any hidden rooms?”

Angel glanced around and quickly answered the first two questions.

”Hidden rooms, none on the second floor. None on the third either, but on the position from the third floor to the top floor, there’s a loft with a climbing ladder, very obvious, not really a hidden room.”

Following Angel’s guidance, Laplace quickly went to several rooms with portraits and a few with bloodstains.

Along the way, Laplace had moments of contemplation, pauses, and hesitation, but said nothing.

Having finished with the second floor, Laplace moved to the third floor.

There weren’t many rooms on the third floor, and without asking Angel, Laplace checked them one by one.

Finally, Laplace’s gaze fixed on the ladder leading to the attic.

...

In the narrow and cramped attic was a bed, a battered table, and some insignificant furnishings.

In Angel’s eyes, there wasn’t anything worth mentioning.

However, Laplace took a keen interest in the attic, staying there for quite a while, almost conducting a carpet-like search of everything in the attic.

Angel couldn’t help but feel that Laplace was making a fuss over nothing.

Yet, to Angel’s surprise, Laplace... really found something.

Bloodstained clothes, a lot of bandages, and a handmade crutch.

Judging from the size of the clothes and the length of the crutch, the person who once lived in the attic wasn’t an adult. It should have been a child, likely not even reaching 1.6 meters in height.

After determining this information, Angel was still pondering who this child might be when Laplace unexpectedly found a hidden note inside the crutch’s head.

Angel was quite astonished, feeling it was like a treasure hunt game.

He thought there was no issue with the attic, only for Laplace to uncover so many hidden items, including an extremely secret note, making Angel, who had been confident that there’s no problem on the second and third floors, feel like his face was swelling from being slapped.

The small note wasn’t in words, but a childish drawing made with charcoal.

The drawing had no figures; only little squares, one of which was marked with a red star.

Angel scrutinized this naive drawing and hesitantly said after a while: ”Could this be the legendary treasure map?”

Just as Angel finished speaking, he saw Laplace retrieve an iron box from behind a brick in the wall.

Angel was dumbfounded; what on earth was this?

Laplace leisurely explained: ”This is the treasure from the treasure map you mentioned.”

”How did you find it?” Angel questioned.

Laplace: ”This one looks like a child’s drawing. A place a child can hide things is usually within sight. Hiding outside is worrisome about being taken, so it’s safer to hide in their own room. Following this logic, the treasure must be hidden in the room.”

”The grid on the map should be wall bricks. So, the treasure’s location might be behind a wall brick. I didn’t count which one specifically, instead I sensed which brick can be penetrated, that spot is probably the treasure site.”

”From the results, my guess was correct.”

Laplace said while preparing to open the box.

Angel stood silently nearby, muttering: ”Why do I feel like we’ve shifted from a combat instance to a puzzle-solving instance?”

Laplace: ”Huh? What did you say?”

Angel: ”Nothing, I just feel, at this moment, there should be a prompt sound in your ear. — ’Ding! Congratulations on discovering a new item: Hidden Box. Exploration Progress +5%’”

Laplace: ”If we could really know the exploration progress in real-time, that would be very useful. Unfortunately, there’s no such prompt.”

Angel pondered to himself: for now, there isn’t, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be in the future.

If it’s determined that Wonderland of Dreams exists in an instance-like manner, whether it’s a puzzle-solving style, combat style, or escape room style... a progress prompt can be set up.

Of course, the prerequisite is that Angel has to master the Wonderland of Dreams through the Ability Tree, which is just a thought for now.

On the other side, Laplace opened the box.

The items inside the box were few, just some knick-knacks like a brooch, fabric strips, and a lock of treasured hair. Judging from the details, these items likely came from a female.

Aside from these trinkets, there was only a layer of velvet cloth at the bottom of the box.

”This type of fabric is usually used exclusively by nobility,” Angel whispered.

Laplace lifted the fabric and said, ”It’s a pity that, for now, it seems no one from this family is part of the nobility.”

When the fabric was lifted, both Laplace and Angel saw a thin portrait hidden beneath.

The portrait was not large, but very exquisite, depicting quite a few characters on a small sheet.

Upon seeing the characters in the picture, Laplace murmured softly, ”Looks like I’m going to retract my earlier statement; it seems this family does have ties to nobility. Or, maybe related to nobility?”

Judging from the attire of these characters, they mostly appeared to be from nobility.

However, all faces were unfamiliar.

The only two with familiar faces were a man and a woman.

The man was a slim young man in a butler’s uniform with a handlebar mustache; the woman wore a head maid’s costume, stood on the far side looking pretty, though her brows and eyes seemed somewhat harsh.

This man and woman were precisely the master and mistress of this house.

Laplace hadn’t expected that the homeowner, who pursued a life of nobility, was originally just a butler in a noble family.

And the homeowner’s wife was a head maid from the same noble family.

But, knowing their original identities, what does it signify?

As Laplace pondered, her eyes suddenly swept over a woman at the center of the photograph.

This should be a noblewoman. She held a bouquet of beautiful Big Mary Roses in her arms, had silky long hair, wore a light blue gown, and pinned a glittering gem brooch.

Upon careful comparison, her belongings matched the little items in the box perfectly. The fabric strip in the box was from the light blue gown she wore; the brooch in the box, though missing the gem, matched in outline; it was only her hair that wasn’t fully confirmed, but with the first two matching, the hair was likely a match too.

Which means, the contents in this box originated from this noble lady.

Yet, those living here surely weren’t the noble lady; undoubtedly, it’s a child.

Regarding the child... Laplace’s gaze lowered from the noble lady’s body to the swaddling clothes in her hands.

Could it be that the child living here is actually the baby wrapped in the swaddling clothes in the arms of the noble lady?

Laplace looked at the portrait and recalled all the occurrences since entering this space, and a vague suspicion arose in her heart.

Nonetheless, this suspicion still required some validation.

Laplace thought about it, then withdrew from the attic, heading to the main room on the third floor.

This was the homeowner’s study, filled with numerous books, yet unfortunately, she couldn’t understand the script in these books, so she merely skimmed through them.

But this time, Laplace earnestly sorted through the books here.

While going through them, she didn’t forget to ask Angel, ”Do you recognize the script here?”

Angel gave a negative response, ”I don’t recognize it. But these might not be the script you think.”

Laplace paused, ”Not script? What do you mean?”

Angel: ”Did you forget where we are?”

Laplace: ”...Special Dreamland.”

Angel: ”Whether or not it’s special, what matters is that this is a dreamscape, and dreams are formed based on the dreamer’s cognition.”

Laplace: ”You mean, if the dreamer is illiterate, the script here is essentially imagined by him, not actual script.”

Angel didn’t deny, ”Roughly so, like when someone who doesn’t know arithmancy dreams about it, it’s probably all incomprehensible symbols.”

Laplace: ”I get what you mean, but according to your theory, the dream creator of this dreamland isn’t an adult.”

Adults typically know how to read, especially butlers and head maids in former noble homes; without basic literacy, they couldn’t perform their duties.

Angel responded with a question, ”Isn’t that what you think too?”

This time, Laplace didn’t counter because the suspicion in her heart indeed matched what Angel had stated.

The dream creator of this special dreamland should be a child.

However, even if confirmed that the dream creator is a child, she still needed proof to substantiate her suspicion.

Laplace silently browsed through the books. Since the script here was meaningless, she focused solely on the images.

After a while, Laplace flipped through a book on the table and came across an illustration.

The script below could be ignored, but the content of the image was clearly depicted.

A noble estate was on fire.

The next page also contained an illustration.

A man and woman carried back a six or seven-year-old boy from the noble estate, and in front of onlookers, they embraced the boy, crying—the man seemed to extend his hand, making a vow.

The following page was another illustration.

Near the Rose Garden in the burned estate castle, a new house was constructed, and this house appeared identical to the one they were currently in.

...

Seeing this, Laplace let out a long breath.

She basically figured out the story here.

Frankly put, it’s a tale where a noble house caught fire, leaving only one survivor to be raised by the so-called butler and head maid. Unfortunately, the butler and head maid turned out to be ungrateful wolves, giving no respect to this sole noble heir, and even plundering everything from him, including the estate, and treasures from the former castle... Judging by the setup of the house, the former butler had essentially prepared to take over and become the new aristocracy.

And this heir, without surprise, should be the child residing in the attic.

His clothes stained with blood, always keeping bandages on hand to avoid infections, and having a homemade cane, indicating his leg was broken... possibly fractured.

This was a story of usurpation.

Upon knowing the story, Laplace could basically affirm that the dream creator of this dreamland was inextricably linked to the child in the attic, or rather, the dream creator was the child in the attic.

This assertion stems from the fact that only that child in the attic would detest or even hate everyone here, for everything was taken from him under the guise of care. And in this special dreamland, everyone he despised had perished.

Thus, the child in the attic had a profound connection with the dream creator.

Perhaps the dream creator was his friend, asserting justice in the dreamland; or he himself was the dream creator, imagining a powerful masked figure in his dream to exact retribution and slaughter those he utterly resented.

That’s also why, on the gate of the Rose Garden, there are those ”evil” human head balloons made from heads. In the eyes of the children, they all deserve to die, belonging to the death list.

However, even after understanding the story background of this Special Dreamland, and knowing some truths, there are still some doubts to be resolved.

For instance, among the human head balloons on the Rose Garden gate, there are three women and two men. The identities of two women and two men are already confirmed: the owner of this big house, the mistress, the butler, and the daughter. But who is that one extra woman?

The second doubt is also related to the human head balloons on the gate of the Rose Garden. Since the daughter’s head is on the gate, then who was the plump girl chased by the masked man earlier? Or, is this daughter so vicious that the Dream Creator even wants to kill her twice?

Finally, there’s one last question, and it’s the critical one: does unraveling the background story affect the exploration progress?

Angel is also paying attention to the last question, and his suggestion is: ”Why not go back to the main hall and ’prepare to execute’ the masked man again, to see if there’s any change in exploration progress?”

However, Laplace did not take Angel’s suggestion. She simply closed her eyes, and after one second, Laplace opened her eyes and shook her head: ”No change, the exploration progress is still at 65%.”

Angel asked with some doubt: ”You are...” How do you confirm the exploration progress?

Laplace: ”Don’t forget I left a scale on him. As long as I direct my thoughts, deciding to activate the scale, the execution information automatically surfaced, still at 65%.”

This is why Laplace confidently stated the exploration progress hasn’t changed.

Angel: ”If it’s a puzzle-solving type of instance... I mean trial space, solving puzzles should increase the exploration degree. But now, unraveling background puzzles hasn’t changed it at all. Either the puzzle-solving is wrong, or this isn’t a puzzle-solving trial space. More needs to be done to advance exploration progress.”

”Personally, I lean towards the latter, possibly more needs to be done to advance exploration progress.”

The reason Angel says this is simple because if it were a puzzle-solving instance, only if Laplace misinterpreted all the puzzles, if all the truths were deviated, would the exploration degree stagnate.

And the fact is clearly not so.

Laplace’s analysis is logical, and the evidence she found, including illustrations in this book, all supports her hypothesis.

Even if the hypothesis is wrong, it wouldn’t all be wrong.

Thus, the exploration progress is clearly not directly related to solving puzzles.

”Then what exactly needs to be done to increase the exploration progress?” Angel muttered under his breath: ”Could it be that you need to persuade the dreamed man to let go of hatred to increase exploration progress?”

Laplace said faintly: ”As you mentioned, is this Special Dreamland still involving moral aspects?”

Angel chuckled awkwardly: ”I was just saying casually.”

When he said these words, he subconsciously recalled some puzzle-solving games on the Holographic Tablet, and his understanding reflected the puzzle-solving mindset of those games, where the protagonist has to experience some sort of ”enlightenment” mentally to demonstrate the correctness of the game.

However, after he finished speaking, he also felt something was off. The Special Dreamland, though called an instance by him, after all, is not a game.

The actual exploration method probably wouldn’t fit this morally correct template.

Currently, Angel couldn’t think of a way to increase exploration progress, so he looked at Laplace: ”What do you think?”

Laplace: ”Perhaps, still need to start with the masked man. After all, in this dream realm, the only living being left is him.”

Angel: ”Don’t the outside roses count as life?”

Laplace didn’t bother with Angel’s teasing. She naturally knows Big Mary Rose counts as life, but when she expressed life, it meant beings with intelligence. Only the masked man currently fits this category.

Laplace turned around, ready to leave the study room, to check on the masked man in the main hall.

When Laplace reached the doorway, Angel’s teasing voice sounded again: ”Even if the roses don’t count as life, doesn’t the girl outside count?”

Laplace: ”I know her, she is already dead.”

Angel: ”No, from my perspective, she isn’t dead, just buried in the Rose Garden, becoming the nutrient for the roses.”

Laplace paused, and with a tone of surprise said: ”You say... she isn’t dead?”

Angel took another Box Garden Perspective of the Rose Garden and assuredly said: ”Not dead, her heartbeat and breathing are present.”

”She isn’t dead?” Laplace frowned: ”Since she isn’t dead, perhaps the exploration progress is linked to her.”

Thinking about this, Laplace immediately moved, swiftly rushing downstairs, sprinting out the back door, towards the place where the girl was buried.

Sure enough, Angel was right, she was still alive! The girl’s body from the neck down had been drawn underground, becoming the nutrient for Big Mary Rose, but her head was still exposed. With Laplace’s keen sight, she could clearly see her breathing and the rhythmic pulse of the blood vessels on her neck.

However, though she was alive, the once plump body was gone, fully transformed into nutrient for Big Mary Rose, now skeletal and frail, appearing on the verge of death.

Laplace approached the girl, intending to wake her up.

However, the girl was deeply comatose, and even her brain had suffered damage, leaving Laplace unable to wake her with her current abilities.

Laplace pondered for a moment: ”Since she can’t be awakened... then I’ll kill her for you.”

In Laplace’s phrase ”kill her for you,” ”you” did not refer to Angel, but the real owner of this dream realm, the Dream Creator.

Since the Dream Creator harbors such hatred for this woman, repeatedly allowing the masked man to torture her, Laplace would fulfill the Dream Creator’s wish.

Thinking this, Laplace slowly raised her foot.

”Is there an execution hint?” Angel’s voice sounded beside Laplace.

Laplace shook her head: ”No.”

No execution hint meant even killing this girl wouldn’t end the instance.

However, this was already within Laplace’s expectation; the real method to leave the instance remained in killing the masked man.

Thus, Laplace decisively stamped down on the girl’s head.

Transformed into a hoof shape, muscle bulging and covered with scales, the force was so immense that it crushed the girl’s head into pulp, with red and white matter splattered everywhere.

Some of the splattered matter landed on Laplace, but she didn’t care, standing there in a daze.

Angel kept calling her for quite a while before Laplace returned to her senses.

Her first words after returning to her senses were good news.

”After killing the girl, I tried an instant execution of the masked man, and discovered my exploration degree increased!”

Angel: ”What is it now?”

Laplace pondered, softly replied—

”99%.”