Chapter 765: Return
Gawain stood quietly to the side, listening to the conversation between Daniel and Selena. Suddenly, memories from years ago in the Land of Kant flooded his mind—
Dreams gradually seeping into reality, a world increasingly warped and absurd, and a nightmare creature that nearly crossed over into the real world…
In this world brimming with supernatural powers, dreams are rarely just dreams. The boundary between reality and illusion has always been blurred.
What Selena and her fellow church members feared most now was obvious: something from the sandbox had gone out of control and was crossing into reality. And that something… was not something that could be dealt with by simply sending in an army.
These tech-obsessed recluses had finally managed to trap themselves—and everyone else—in a massive mess within their own domain of expertise.
“The things brewing inside the sandbox…” Daniel’s tone grew serious as he repeated the words softly, his gaze involuntarily sweeping across the eerily silent church, resting on the gray-robed elder standing quietly with a look of confusion in his eyes. “I hope it’s not…”
The old mage didn’t voice his worries aloud, but judging from the solemn, profound looks exchanged between Selena and Archbishop Yuri, it was clear they had already connected some dots—drawn from this church and the “Higher Narrator Faith” it represented. Yet, in this strange place, bound by occult conventions, no one dared speak the unspeakable.
“We need to report what’s happened here to His Holiness the Pope,” Archbishop Yuri said after a brief silence. “Also, this town must be preserved for now. We’ll need to gather more personnel later for a thorough investigation.”
Selena nodded slightly, her expression thoughtful. “Furthermore, the customs and legends of this ‘Higher Narrator’ faith deserve in-depth analysis. Logically, no custom or legend arises from nothing—they likely hint at changes that occurred during the period when Sandbox One went out of control.”
She gently shook the lantern, dispelling the psychological suggestion cast on the gray-robed elder, then withdrew her gaze from the pulpit and looked toward the church’s entrance. “Let’s leave here for now.”
Daniel and Archbishop Yuri nodded in agreement. Four high-ranking priests wearing owl masks bowed their heads in acknowledgment. The group began moving toward the church exit. The gray-robed elder, slowly emerging from his daze, quietly watched the unexpected visitors depart. After a long moment, a faint smile appeared on his lips. He raised his hand, palm covering something unseen, and spoke softly, “Safe travels. The Higher Narrator will watch over you all…”
Gawain glanced casually at the gray-robed elder by the pulpit, then stepped forward to follow Selena and the others back out onto the street.
The night still blanketed the town. The sky was a chaotic, gloomy shroud over the earth. Within the scattered houses, warm, gentle lights shone brightly. Yet from the cracks in curtains and wooden boards, eerie, deathly glimmers leaked out, casting bizarre, distorted shadows along the streets.
Gawain couldn’t help but feel a strange association: the entire town seemed like a hazy dream, filled with dissonance and strangeness at every turn. Yet those living within it could only occasionally realize this in fleeting moments of clarity, often startled awake in a cold sweat.
So… those “testers” sent into the sandbox, who had endured millennia and dozens of cycles within it—did they ever, by chance, “wake up” for a brief instant and glimpse a sliver of the truth behind this dream world? And after perceiving that truth, how did they view the “Higher Narrator” who created this sandbox?
Was the elder in the church a lost tester corresponding to someone inside Sandbox One? Or perhaps… a “resident” born from the sandbox itself to maintain its operation?
“On the day the bell tolls, those lingering on the streets face a sacred ‘deletion’…” Selena murmured to herself. “But it seems we were unaffected. Still, it’s uncertain whether this ‘deletion’ truly occurs to the ‘residents’ living inside the real Sandbox One.”
“I’m more curious about what exactly this ‘deletion’ entails,” Daniel nodded. “Once we return, I’ll review the early records of Sandbox One’s operation. Maybe we’ll find some clues.”
Archbishop Yuri moved to the center of the square, still responsible for guiding and teleporting the team. Layers of pale golden runes floated around him. The refined and dignified Sleeper Archbishop maintained the runes as he spoke loudly, “Monitoring team, prepare to lift the shield. Dream jump will commence in two minutes.”
A voice echoed from the runes: “Monitoring team received. Shield will be lifted in one minute. Dream jump permission granted in two minutes.”
Daniel and Selena stepped into the rune circle. The four owl-masked high priests quickly took their positions. Gawain swaggered over to stand beside them, ready to return to the Dream City with the team.
As before, though the priests couldn’t sense Gawain’s presence, they instinctively adjusted their formation, leaving a seemingly normal space for one person to stand.
One of them was slower to move aside.
Gawain couldn’t help but glance at the owl-masked priest who hesitated. In the final seconds before the pale golden runes solidified, he suddenly felt a subtle sense of wrongness.
Four people?
“There’s an extra person!!” Gawain’s eyes sharpened instantly as he shouted a warning.
Daniel reacted swiftly, barely hesitating before raising his hand to forcibly disrupt Archbishop Yuri’s dream jump spell. “There’s an extra person!”
The pale golden runes shattered instantly. The forming dream jump was abruptly interrupted. Yuri was momentarily stunned, then heard Daniel’s warning. As a seasoned archbishop, he immediately understood and began casting spells to stabilize the dream shield while rapidly ordering the monitoring team behind them: “Class II leak risk—seal all local ports!”
The lantern emitting a psychedelic glow floated in the air. Its light rippled outward like tangible water waves, as if an invisible breeze swept through their minds. Everyone felt a sudden clarity of spirit. A voice, long absent for seven centuries, whispered into Gawain’s ear: “…Guard your mind well. I will sweep away the shadows!”
Gawain instinctively turned toward the source of the voice—Selena Gerfen stood in the center, holding the lantern. Her face was gentle and serene, but her brows furrowed slightly, her eyes deep and watery.
The three archbishops’ attention quickly shifted to the four owl-masked high priests.
Only now did everyone seem to remember that the team had started with six members: three archbishops and three high priests. It was only at this moment that they realized—there was an extra masked person!
The four priests stood together, their masks hiding their true expressions, but their tense postures and quickened breaths betrayed their high alertness.
Under the archbishops’ watchful eyes, they began scrutinizing each other, as if trying to identify the “extra” among them.
Selena maintained the lantern’s “mind-clearing” effect, her voice grave and low: “Recall—when did things start to feel off?”
“After inspecting that small house,” Daniel pondered briefly, “I can’t remember exactly how many came out, but I recall hearing four voices reporting back.”
Yuri’s tone grew even more tense and vigilant: “After entering the church, I distinctly saw four figures—but at the time, I didn’t realize anything was wrong.”
His words made everyone grasp the gravity of the situation—
Including Daniel, there were three Sleeper Archbishops here.
Each archbishop was a master of mind and soul, experts at detecting the slightest anomaly in dreams. Yet, in this “phantom town” formed from leaked data of Sandbox One, all three had failed to notice an extra person in their group from start to finish!
This was a level of mental interference capable of affecting even high-level, legendary powers.
Though they snapped out of this “confusion” as soon as they were alerted, the experience was chilling.
“Begin the screening now,” Selena’s gaze swept over the four high priests. The lantern’s light shifted from milky white to a dusk-like murkiness. “Open your minds. Submit to inspection.”
The light swept over the four priests. Gawain’s eyes followed.
Suddenly, one priest’s figure flickered, like a glitching illusion.
Archbishop Yuri immediately summoned pale golden runes. The flickering priest’s form blurred into a hazy apparition, rapidly becoming transparent.
The beams of light from the runes scanned the apparition. Faintly, Gawain thought he heard a distorted, piercing scream. The scream and the apparition vanished together.
Daniel looked at Yuri. “Is it eliminated?”
Yuri’s face twisted oddly. “It should be… but the ‘feeling’ is strange. It’s unlike any mind I’ve destroyed before. More like a ‘half-finished product.’”
Before Daniel could ask more, a voice echoed—
From the small church behind them came a sigh, tinged with helplessness and mockery: “Sigh…”
With the sigh, the gray-white church walls rapidly turned transparent and ethereal before their eyes, eventually dissolving into thin air.
The lights in the town’s houses went out one by one with the church’s disappearance. Street lamps dimmed in sequence.
The entire town reverted to the state it was in when Gawain, Daniel, and the others first arrived.
Yet to everyone’s eyes, it now felt several times more eerie and dangerous.
Selena’s lantern still emitted a mixed, dusky yellow glow. Even though the suspected “extra person” had been eliminated by Yuri, she carefully shone the lantern over everyone present. After confirming no one else was compromised, she finally allowed herself a slight sigh of relief and nodded. “Let’s leave quickly. This place is too strange to linger.”
Archbishop Yuri resumed preparations for the dream jump ritual and notified the monitoring team to lift the alert.
Gawain stood once more among the Sleepers, this time meticulously counting those around him to ensure no extra presence.
The pale golden runes gradually formed and closed.
Before the dream jump began, Yuri glanced around once more, his gaze settling on Daniel. “No extra people, right?”
Gawain looked around, then down at himself, nodding to Daniel. “The count’s normal. No extras.”
Daniel nodded back to Yuri. “All accounted for.”
“I’m going to need a good rest when we get back,” Yuri said with a helpless smile as he activated the dream jump. “I keep feeling like there’s an invisible person standing next to me.”
…
Amid flickering shadows, the team found themselves back in the plaza of the Dream City.
“Archbishop Daniel, making you a member of the High Archbishopric was clearly the right call,” Selina Gervin said the moment the teleportation ended, her eyes fixed on Daniel. “Your quick thinking and vigilance saved us from a danger we couldn’t have predicted.”
“Checking all parameters and items after every mission is standard procedure for security,” Daniel replied with a reserved smile. “That ‘extra presence’ wasn’t exactly hidden. If we’d looked closely, we would have found it—only it dampened our urge to investigate. Fortunately, I’ve developed an unshakable habit of thorough checks.”
“In any case, this was a wake-up call and gave us valuable experience dealing with Sandbox One. That knowledge will come in handy next time we explore,” Archbishop Yuri exhaled deeply. “Let’s call it a day.”
One by one, the figures faded from the plaza.
Gawain and Daniel remained behind.
“Stay in touch. I’ll be monitoring this closely,” Gawain nodded slightly, already preparing to leave. “If there’s another expedition, make sure to report it.”
“Yes, my lord.”
(End of chapter)