The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 326: The Graceful Mutters of the Dreamers

The sky was pitch dark in the Elven Ruin.

There were no stars in the sky except for the moon, unlike the outside world. Maybe the aqua blue glow scattered everywhere had contributed to this scenery.

The glows were similar to a firefly-like light cluster, suspended in the air and rung elegant whispers into Annan’s ear.

Of course, Annan couldn’t see those long-necked phantoms that looked like potted plants. However, he already knew these fireflies’ disturbing nature when he previously spectated Citalopram’s perspective.

This place undoubtedly had a beautiful view for those who didn’t know the truth.

The ruin was blessed with faint brilliance; it exuded a profound historical air, and there were light clusters floating in the air like bubbles. Under the clear night sky, the moon gleamed silently. Then, the scenery was further accentuated by the faint night breeze.

However, it was a disturbing image that hurt Annan’s sanity because he learned the truth about this place.

Those bubble-like light clusters were actually brains.

Worse still, the back of the heads was attached with a neck as elastic as Luffy’s; they floated in the air, weightless with a solemn and serene face.

In a sense, it was better not to know the truth.

A strange low groan sounded faintly in Annan’s ear.

Unsurprisingly, Annan quickly completed his first goal of this trip.

[You have acquired the new engraving “Novice Influence: Whispers of Grace”.]

[If you don’t remove it in time, you will fall into a random nightmare with the keyword “elf” after seven days (Difficulty: Hard).]

Although the seven-day preservation time was short, it was enough for Annan to complete the advancement ritual.

“So, this is ‘Whispers of Grace’?” Annan had a complicated feeling about it.

Just as Annan couldn’t understand Old Grandmother’s words, he couldn’t understand what the ghosts uttered.

But he knew what they were related to.

Undoubtedly, they were the murmurs of the elf heads floating in Annan’s ears.

The legendary graceful mutters of the dreamers.

Those who were proficient in the Elvish language might be able to discern the general meaning from the vague and intermittent whispers.

But if the other party couldn’t see the spirit bodies floating in the air, they might regard it as “a faint prayer left behind by the elves”.

Without a discernible eye that see the truth, everything was beautiful.

Should I call it the ‘elegant’ teeth grinding?

“Speaking of which, how was your nightmare?” Annan put his hands behind his back, looked at the Child in front of him, and walked backward.

He looked at Wandering Child with a sly smile, his eyes innocent but a little playful, “Do you feel like returning to your youth?”

Annan had already found an opportunity to reveal that he could see the exact location of the players. When the Child’s stream was cut off, Annan could still see the Child’s situation. His intention of inserting an interaction here was to induce the players to further ignore the possibility that “Annan may also watch the stream”.

Sure enough, Annan was well-versed with what kind of persona he had established in the players’ perspective.

What he enacted was a precocious, fourteen-year-old young nobleman.

His current rapport status with the Child was considered “Trusted”. Roughly speaking, it was on the level of “a trusted friend for the time being”.

Then, after seeing the innocent behavior of the Child in the nightmare, it was natural for Annan to joke about it at the first moment.

The act that Annan decided to put on was mostly natural!

Annan’s goal wasn’t to mock the Child!

But, surely, he more or less was keen to pull the Child’s leg about it.

“What did you think of it?” Annan made a somewhat exaggerated voice, “Those… kind of topics in your interaction. I felt goosebumps just by knowing it.

“Hey, don’t you like her? That’s why you used that kind of topic to keep her away from you? Or is it acting?”

“…A little bit of acting, but not really.” Wandering Child hugged his head and replied helplessly, “I get nervous in front of a beautiful girl I’m unfamiliar with. Ahem, excuse me for being out of place. But I’m at this age, and I still have a problem with that.”

Although the character he created was about 18 years old, he was already in his 30s.

Even his real person had become a little bald.

Every day when he left, he had to comb his hair carefully and let the long hair section cover up the bald part.

“If I really liked her, I wouldn’t talk to her like that. But I don’t hate her. Who would hate such a cute girl?”

Wandering Child sighed softly, “I’m just alienating her in this way to remind myself it’s all fake and don’t indulge it. The person I’m possessing is not me, after all.

“But I didn’t deliberately show that I hated her. Otherwise, with Boffis’ character, I’m afraid she would be pretty sad.

“So I didn’t cover it up and showed my most real and stupid side. Of course, I don’t usually talk to people like this. Otherwise, I might be beaten up terribly.”

The person whom the Child referred to was Boffis’ crush in the “fake Nightmare”.

Surely, Annan noticed what the Child meant.

What the Child actually meant was that “the feelings in this world are false.” The players had understood that this was world transmigration with in-game skin and cosmetics.

From the Child’s perspective, it didn’t matter even if this time-travel mechanism would always exist, allowing him to spend the rest of his life in Annan’s world. All in all, they were still separated into two different worlds.

So he wasn’t distancing himself from Boffis intentionally.

But he didn’t want to hate that innocent girl deliberately.

He unreservedly showed his clumsy side just to cut off his fantasy.

I seem to have heard this approach before. However, Annan appeared to have another take from it.

Are you a blind date expert?

Although Annan was walking backward, he didn’t fall because of it.

He didn’t need to see, nor did he use his memory or the sense of touch to identify the direction. Instead, he could “see” the obstacles behind him under a unique perception radar.

He was deliberately training his perception.

Annan was already able to dodge merely with this sixth sense like Jude, given his perception attribute. The range of that unique perception was a bit bigger than Jude too.

Annan also had the secondary profession as a [Silver Knight].

His agility attribute was superior to Jude, signifying that he had a better reaction speed.

At the very least, Annan was confident… If he could temper his perception to the level of Jude’s proficiency, he was 90% confident that he could deal with Dove’s arrow that had instantly killed Jude.

After all, Dove did not have any transcended abilities related to archery.

The [Impeding Wall] could even intercept bullets, not to mention arrows that were much slower and bulkier than bullets.

The Child had no choice but to open his stream to report safety to his teammates.

“I’ve come out of a nightmare. It talks about a time when the Elven Civilization was still prosperous… This is a new dungeon instance type without the main mission, called a ‘public nightmare’. I think it may be a kind of open-world setting. Hey, Your Highness Annan! This is too tall—”

The Child watched Annan walk backward to the pit, close his eyes, and jump into it.

It surprised the Child with his complexion ashen; he hurried forward to the pit’s edge.

The live stream he just activated was immediately filled with surprises in the comments.

“—Damn, he streams Annan jumping off in suicide.”

“—Wandering Child, you must not understand what’s happening, right?'”

“—Wait a minute, what do you think of this, Child?”

“It’s not my fault!”