Amidst her surprise at the capabilities shown by the Civilization Continuance Society, as well as her anticipation of a potential treasure they might uncover later, Yvette felt it was necessary to maintain contact with this mysterious organization. If she could integrate herself into the group and become a member, that would be even better.
However, doing so would take time, and time was precisely what Yvette lacked in the dream world.
Based on her estimates of the misty expanse of this dream, it would last for about three months, leaving her with roughly only one month remaining.
With such a short time frame, her daily activities of attending university lectures and researching spell upgrades would take up about 80% of her time, making it quite difficult for her to engage in deeper contact with the Civilization Continuance Society. There likely wouldn’t even be time to accept mercenary contracts.
It seemed she would have to wait for the next dream — hoping the fluctuations of the timeline wouldn’t be too drastic, and that she wouldn’t end up in the past or leap to many years into the future… She sighed inwardly.
And thus, during the final month of the dream, Yvette began the concluding tasks of her plan.
She sold the biological armor she had listed on the dark web for 2.4 million credits. Although she could have perhaps waited longer to get an even better price, after trading for information about the Fire Thief Program, her wallet was now nearly empty, forcing her to settle for a quick sale.
Next, she immediately purchased the “Detailed Guide to the Engineering of Spells” from Skytech, spending a hefty 1.2 million credits.
This book systematically explained the composition of the engine’s modules and included numerous industrial case studies, making it quite suitable for a novice like her, helping her avoid many pitfalls encountered by previous scholars.
It was a costly investment; however, she viewed it as a necessary expense. After all, each enhancement of spell specifications felt like increasing the size of a canvas, allowing artists to add even finer details rather than simply painting over blank sections; it was a complete reconstruction of the work.To put it another way, if a game provides thousands of equipment choices, but your protagonist can only hold six pieces, naturally, you will want to choose the best combination within that limit. Now, if you were to be given ten equipment slots, you wouldn’t just buy four more items based on your previous selection, would you?
Instead, you would empty the existing setup, rethink your strategy, and maximize your effectiveness with the new ten slots—a completely different approach than before.
The self-developed engine would help her accelerate this process in the future; otherwise, she would have to start from scratch with every upgrade of her magical terminal and every spell development, or risk hunting for luck by entering the mist again… a painful and lengthy process, not to mention impractical.
…
After deducting the 1.2 million credits, her once freshly received 2.4 million had been swiftly halved.
Not allowing herself to dwell on the loss, Yvette promptly went for a stroll through the black market. However, due to the outrageous markups on military equipment, the gear she could afford turned out to be less effective than simply using spells. After a brief look around, she abandoned her plans to enhance her combat capabilities.
For her, the only worthwhile military equipment started at 5 million credits, which was completely out of reach.
Fortunately, she now possessed the new 100,000 specification ring, thereby achieving one of her goals upon entering the dream.
So…
With the remaining funds, she purchased various functional supplies and professional books.
First, she acquired a “Military First Aid Kit” from Black Tower Pharmacy, which contained various potions and rune medicines to handle different situations, including a mysterious liquid called “Vitality,” capable of replenishing life force and even promoting longevity.
According to Black Tower’s promotion, possessing this first aid kit meant that even if one’s head were severed, there would still be a chance for rescue—a true lifesaver.
Next was a “Material Repair Liquid” from Linthou Biotech, an organic liquid that was used like spray paint. After applying it to aging or decaying materials and letting it dry, it significantly increased their lifespan and strength, reaching levels close to steel, making it an excellent companion for scavengers.
Then she procured a batch of mid- to low-end “elemental chips” produced by smaller factories. These chips could serve as replacement parts for larger equipment that had been damaged, enabling her to maintain functionality for numerous devices.
Following that, she bought a set of industrially produced artificial mana cores, entirely designed for use by natural mages. This made them very rare and costly, with prices skyrocketing to 700 credits per point of mana. After careful consideration, she ended up buying about 500 points, costing her 350,000 credits, and it would take over half a month for delivery.
Lastly, she acquired “Analysis of Spatial Rune Technologies” from Rift Space Corporation. Compared to her previous purchases, this book was probably the most expensive and least useful, as even within the current Origin Civilization, the understanding of spatial runes was limited to merely “validating their existence.”
Especially since Rift Space, being at the forefront of spatial rune exploration among the supercompanies, had yet to produce any related applications. They continuously painted grand visions, claiming that “spatial gate technology will revolutionize the logistics industry” or “spatial rings are destined to be the greatest invention of the future.”
But when pressed about when spatial rune technology would be realized, their answer defaulted to an eternal “in thirty years.”
Nonetheless, Yvette bought it, not out of mere curiosity, but because she believed that while Rift Space might take a long time to produce anything credible, the Aurora Belt and the Abyss would surely be connected to spatial runes.
Perhaps it was even an elemental contamination phenomenon arising from spatial runes, merely manifesting as a connection between two worlds…
In any case, it would be beneficial to familiarize herself with this mysterious classification of runes.
…
To prevent losing any possessions due to accidentally waking up from the dream, during the last week of the third month of the dream, Yvette hardly slept at all.
She purchased language courses for the “Jade Language” and “Silver Mirror Language,” learning these new languages while remaining vigilant. As a result, she found herself dozing off every day.
She also arranged for a small service; if she didn’t log in for more than three days, it would automatically send a message to the contacts on her citizen account, stating that due to unavoidable circumstances, she would be absent for an extended period and that they should leave a message if there were any concerns.
This way, should she suddenly disappear, even for years, it wouldn’t raise too many suspicions.
Finally, as the end of the third month approached, one day, as she observed her world shifting unexpectedly into a hazy blur, she decisively grabbed hold of a travel suitcase nearby—inside were her newly acquired goods from this dream, along with some spare clothing.
Additionally, she picked up a small plastic container next to it, which housed an active hamster.
She intended to use the hamster to test whether she could bring a living creature out of the dream.
If successful, it would indicate that the dream wasn’t merely the past but a real world—perhaps a parallel universe on a different timeline.
If she failed… well, she would have to assess the situation then.
…
Minutes later, as everything around her completely faded into a nebulous obscurity, akin to melting paint blocks, boundless darkness engulfed Yvette’s vision.
She stood in the stillness of dusk, silently exhaling, looking at the moonlight cascading through the shattered windows nearby, confirming she had returned to the real world on the eve of saying goodbye to the residents of the mechanical town.
The metallic scents in the air had yet to dissipate; the streets outside the ruined buildings were likely still flowing with blood. Perhaps barely five minutes had passed since her departure.
Looking down, she conjured a light spell and inspected the plastic container in her hands.
The hamster was inside, but the previously lively little creature now lay motionless in the shavings. When she opened the lid and poked it, she discovered its body felt warm but as if it had fallen into a long sleep, unable to be roused no matter what she did.
It felt just like… becoming a vegetable.
Minutes later, after numerous attempts, Yvette came to a conclusion.
The body of this hamster was alive, but its spirit had disappeared. At the moment of leaving the dream, its spirit hadn’t come along—it was only its body that crossed the boundary between dream and reality.
As for whether its memory had traveled along, that was impossible to ascertain. Yet in the absence of the spirit, it was tantamount to death; whether there was memory or not seemed irrelevant.
Clearly, bringing people out of the dream was not possible… and indeed, there was no need to let them know about such a desperate future…
Yvette sighed gently, incinerating the hamster’s remains before picking up her large suitcase, soaring into the air, gliding over the collapsed walls, sweeping past the endless corpses in the darkness, and flying towards the stars above the tree tops, heading back in the direction she had come from.