Chapter 66: Follow the Nightmare
Turning his head, Edgar asked, "What did you mean by ’the Nightmare I chose to follow’?"
Gordon blinked his brown eyes for an unusually long second, unable to understand his words.
"...You don’t know?"
"That’s why I am asking," Edgar replied with a straight face.
’Why are you reacting like that? Is it common knowledge?’
Gordon took in a deep breath and slowly explained.
"To avoid any abnormalities in the path of strength, one must choose a Nightmare type at the start. In the future, they should only absorb the Nightmare Stones from that specific type of Nightmare."
"...Abnormalities?" Edgar noticed that word first.
"If someone absorbs essence from multiple types of Nightmare Stones or consumes multiple Shards, they will either develop multiple diseases, suffer physical abnormalities like horns, scales, or extra limbs, or they will be inflicted with madness and start behaving like Nightmares themselves."
Edgar’s expression remained calm, but inwardly, his thoughts churned.
’Then what about me?’
His reconstruction ritual had used the blood of ten completely different Nightmares.
If what Gordon said was true, then his mind should have collapsed by now.
’Come to think of it... if the "dream" shown by the Jade is correct, then all the Nightmares came from those eleven monsters, and they were born from the Sun...’
Edgar wondered if, because his body had essentially been blessed by the Sun, it no longer followed the typical rules of this world.
’I need to look into this...’
Even though hundreds of thoughts were colliding inside his mind, Edgar never showed any of them on his face.
Instead, with a curious look, he asked, "What Nightmare do you follow?"
"The Nightmare I chose to follow..." Gordon hesitated.
"Mine is the Long-Horned Tortoise. I have never absorbed the essence of another species."
’A Tortoise?’ Edgar looked him from head to toe. ’Is that why he looks so young?’
With only a soft nod, Edgar turned and walked toward Viera’s new house.
The lady had already found a few helpers to cook from among the refugees.
When she noticed Edgar, she quickly bowed her head. "Young Master."
Edgar gave a small nod before looking past her.
Several large iron pots had already been placed above the fire.
Some of the refugees were washing vegetables while others were carrying buckets of water from the hand pump.
The atmosphere was busy, but far more orderly than before.
"Do we have enough food?" Edgar asked.
Lady Viera nodded.
"For tonight, yes." She glanced toward the newcomers. "After that, it will become difficult."
Edgar wasn’t surprised by her words.
The Fortress had suddenly gone from feeding four people to nearly ninety.
Even if the Agricultural House produced crops at an absurd speed, it still needed time.
’One or two weeks...’
Until then, they would have to ration everything carefully.
Thinking about it, Edgar was getting a headache. ’Why can’t we just eat fucking Nightmares...?’
Living would have been so easy if they could do that.
Not getting dispirited, Edgar looked at the people working around the cooking area.
Most of them still carried fear on their faces, but at least they were moving.
His gaze then turned toward the Agricultural House standing tall.
Thinking of something, Edgar shifted his gaze back to Gordon.
"How do people see you?"
"...They fear me, but they also respect me," he replied, tilting his head. "Do you need any help dealing with them?"
"Yes," Edgar replied. "Can you ask around if any of them have seeds for fast-growing plants?"
Though confused, Gordon didn’t refuse the request. With a polite bow, he replied, "I will ask around, my lord."
’I am not your lord.’
Edgar clicked his tongue and moved around his Fortress once more.
The newcomers were a problem to him without a doubt, but he couldn’t help but feel joyful because of their presence.
The previous emptiness of the Fortress wasn’t something he really liked.
Finally, Edgar moved toward the ⟨Tower of Souls⟩, which had shut down with no corpses to refine.
’You will have new ones to refine tomorrow.’ He thought happily, patting the bony structure.
After making a round around the Fortress, Edgar moved toward the patrol path and stood beside a ⟨Watch Tower⟩.
Looking down, he observed the new Nightmares attacking the Fortress.
They looked like a mix between hyenas and deer, with long hard antlers on their heads and bodies almost two meters tall.
Many of them were circling around the Fortress while occasionally bumping into the wall.
The Flamethrowers roared to life and burned them the moment they came closer.
’...Still working perfectly.’
Edgar sat down on the patrol path with his back leaning against the battlement.
His gaze slowly shifted toward the four enormous hands floating around him.
’...They are really unique.’
Edgar thought, making them perform weird hand signs and wave around.
The only reason they didn’t bump into everything while he walked around was because they vanished the moment he stopped thinking about them.
’They are like ghost hands...’
After playing around for a while, Edgar moved his right hand over his heart and felt the two distinct heartbeats.
’...What is even the use of the Solar Heart?’
His system gave him zero explanation of how or what the heart could be used for.
’Only time will tell.’
Gordon walked onto the patrol path with a smile on his face.
Edgar looked up at him and asked, "Did you find anything?"
Gordon nodded. "I did."
He stopped beside Edgar before looking down at the Nightmares roaming outside the Fortress.
"Among the refugees, there are five farming families. They brought potato tubers, beans, onions, garlic, cabbage, radishes, and several medicinal herbs."
Edgar let out a sigh of relief after hearing his words.
With the acceleration provided by the Agricultural House, it wouldn’t take more than a day for fast-growing crops to mature.
Gordon remained fixated on the ⟨Watch Tower⟩, still marveling at the sheer power and ingenuity it possessed.
"...You need to be careful with the Northern Sect, my lord," the moustached man said softly. "They are not easy to deal with."
"..."
Edgar only gave him a soft nod and kept looking at his Fortress.
His mind was still trying to find the reason behind the one-month delay of the Nightmare Tide that Hera had mentioned.
"...My lord," Gordon spoke once again.
"Hm?"
He hesitated for a long second before replying. "Do you think the Nightmare Tide was part of a ritual?"
Edgar’s face immediately snapped toward the man.