Herag saw Jim anxiously knocking on the door, muttering sothing under his breath.
He walked over, patted Jim’s shoulder, and asked, "What’s the matter with you?"
Jim was startled and, seeing it was Herag, breathed a sigh of relief. Then he rembered sothing, and anxiously said, "Herag, it’s over, it’s over, I think I’m about to encounter a Nightmare."
"Nightmare? You an a bad dream?" Herag was curious why an exorcist would be so afraid of having a nightmare.
Jim exclaid in surprise, "You don’t know about the Nightmare?"
Herag shook his head, "Never heard of it."
"You really don’t know about the Nightmare. It seems like information around your hotown is really scarce. Maybe you have another na for it. Nightmare is sothing that all exorcists hope to never encounter. Once you do, it’s basically certain death, very few exorcists escape a Nightmare." Jim explained.
Herag frowned, "Tell more about it."
Seeing that Herag truly hadn’t heard of it, Jim continued to explain, "The Nightmare is also known as the Demon Hunter, specifically hunting exorcists. It’s generally uncommon to encounter them during the exorcist apprentice stage; it’s only after you beco an Official Exorcist for a while that there’s a chance of encountering one descending."
"Once the Nightmare descends, the exorcist enters a very strange world and can only return by killing the Nightmare. But most exorcists only et death upon encountering a Nightmare."
Herag recalled everything he had just experienced and was sure that what he encountered was indeed a Nightmare.
That Nightmare was indeed very strong. If it were other exorcists, it would have been truly hard to escape its grasp.
Herag thought for a mont and asked, "Is there any pattern to when a Nightmare appears? Or what circumstances cause it to appear?"
"There’s no pattern at all. So exorcists never encounter a Nightmare in their entire life, but so might encounter one as soon as they beco an Official Exorcist. That’s the unluckiest situation. However, I’ve heard that the stronger an exorcist is, the more likely they will encounter a Nightmare. And those exorcists who are extrely powerful will face Nightmares that are terrifying, with almost no one being their match."
"But these are just rumors. There are only a few exorcists of that level, not to ntion those who have t a Nightmare." Jim said.
Herag pondered for a mont and looked at Jim, asking, "So what did you an when you said you might encounter a Nightmare?"
Jim seed to rember sothing, his face filled with terror, and he took out a half-burned paper figure saying, "It’s this, this is the proof."
"Is there sothing special about this?" Herag glanced at it, seeing it looked like just an ordinary paper figure.
Jim explained, "This was given to by a mysterious exorcist, she said that when the paper figure starts to burn, it might be a sign that a Nightmare is about to descend or has already descended. As soon as you see the paper figure burning, you should be prepared to deal with it."
"I think I probably can’t defeat the Nightmare, so I wanted you to help."
Herag began to take the paper figure more seriously; it seed it could indeed be useful.
The Nightmare had indeed already descended, it had just been killed by him.
It seed Jim didn’t know that once a Nightmare descended, it would only drag the corresponding exorcist into that world, and others couldn’t help.
Herag, keeping his composure, picked up the paper figure, glanced at it, and placed it back into Jim’s hand, saying, "You’re fine right now, there’s no Nightmare. It’s just a small paper figure, perhaps it has so special substance that makes it spontaneously combust under certain circumstances, don’t think too much."
"But... I’ve been wearing it for so long, it was always normal before, and today it suddenly started burning." Jim still felt that the paper figure should be useful.
Herag said, "If a Nightmare really shows up, just scream a few tis. Anyway, we’re so close, I’ll co over to help imdiately when I hear sothing."
"I... this..." Jim was still a little uneasy, always feeling a bit unsafe inside.
Herag said, "Alright, I need to go back to sleep."
If Jim were a woman, Herag might have said, "Co sleep in my room."
But since Jim was a man, Herag would only tell him to crawl back to his room and stay there.
"Alright." Jim nodded, not saying anything further.
Watching Herag open the door, Jim suddenly asked, "Hey, you weren’t in the room, where did you go just now?"
"To pee." Herag closed the door without turning back.
Houses here didn’t have bathrooms, so people solved it outdoors themselves, making Herag’s explanation reasonable enough.
Jim nodded, not thinking much more, just returning to his room with worries, not daring to close his eyes as he looked at the half-burned paper figure in his hand.
Nightmares were too widely spread among exorcists, with many terrifying stories that he couldn’t help but be afraid of.
Back in his room, Herag was also contemplating this matter.
He indeed hadn’t been an Official Exorcist for long and then encountered this thing called a Nightmare.
From the information Jim provided, encountering a Nightmare was just a rare event, how did he just happen to run into one?
Herag, thinking more broadly, quickly began to consider the issue from the perspective of the plane’s hierarchical level.
He again examined so of the world’s rules.
The basic rules of each world are mostly similar, yet there are many differing rules among them.
The demon aura of this world is clearly unique to this plane’s rule.
Herag recalled past experiences; clearly, the demon aura is used to enhance the strength of individuals in this plane.
Under the unique chanism of demon aura, there are bound to be ever-growing, more powerful individuals.
The World Will’s intention in nurturing the Child of the Plane is to utilize their power once they grow to address external threats and solve various troubles.
If it were the Wizard Plane or Elf Plane, individual growth would be extrely difficult and slow.
But in this plane, as long as conditions are sufficient, individuals can quickly grow into extrely powerful beings.
If these rapidly growing individuals don’t comply with the World Will’s arrangents, not only not solving external troubles but also posing threats to the plane, how would the World Will handle them then.
Herag quickly thought of the Nightmare.
From the traits of the Nightmare, it’s ant to singly solve certain individuals.
The appearance of a Nightmare has no pattern, that’s because it’s inherently just a thod of the World Will, a tool.
The World Will uses the Nightmare’s existence to resolve those individuals that could potentially threaten the plane.
Individuals in this plane wishing to grow must absorb demon aura to do so and can thus be trapped in the rules triggered by the Nightmare.
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