Magic!

Chapter 139 137. Is all this worth it?

Sure enough, none of the candidates, including Pompeii and Thebes, who were asleep and deep in their dreams, realized that the dream images were counterintuitive.

They do not have Russell's level of mental resistance. In a state of deep hypnosis, they automatically ignore these unreasonable things in their dreams.

Even Russell, who was completely awake in the dream, tried his best to look like he didn't see the problem. He looked calm and forced his expression to remain unchanged.

Russell sometimes interacted normally with the old man on the street who had the newspaper upside down (the newspaper was upright, but the old man remained upside down, and Russell was worried that he would not be able to read the upside down words on the newspaper), and sometimes he rode in a burning carriage, from a first-person perspective Experience the non-default functions of the carriage such as flying into the sky, escaping from the ground, entering the sea, and passing through walls.

"No, I really can't stand it anymore, it's too stuck." Russell got out of the carriage and found that he was stuck every time he walked.

"Is there any way to alleviate the lagging problem?"

Russell stopped and looked at the crowds of people on the street and the sailboats setting sail on the beach.

You are the only ones occupying my dream memory, right?

A natural pragmatic idea popped up in Russell's mind:

Can killing them all make this dream work more smoothly?

…

"Look, I told you, there's no problem." Black Star, the short red-robed officiant who maintained the summoning status of Sleep Demon, said.

One of the black-robed cultists raised doubts to three red-robed bosses:

"Excuse me, three officiating masters, what is the specific content of this dream assessment?"

At present, candidates are still familiar with the city, and there seems to be no real test.

The tall man in red robe sneered: "You will know soon."

…

Under the deliberate arrangement of dreams, everyone who fell asleep quickly discovered new secrets.

[After you stayed in the city for a few days, you finally discovered that the city was not as beautiful as you had seen. You discovered the black secrets hidden under the city. 】

A piece of information suddenly popped into Russell's mind.

I find? Russell frowned.

Just like a dream, there is no cause or effect, you just know it anyway.

Guided by dreams, Russell learned step by step the secrets of the city——

In the cellar of a spacious and beautiful house in Omela City, a child of more than 10 years old was locked up. The children endured hunger, darkness and extremely poor sanitary conditions in eternal darkness. It was impossible to tell whether the child was a boy or girl from his appearance. He lacked food and clothing, and was stooped due to severe malnutrition. He sat in his own feces and urine all day long, and his thighs were covered with abscesses.

With further exploration - mainly information that automatically appeared in his mind and CG images without selection, Russell finally understood why the residents of this city did what they did.

"You, the entire city, are performing an ancient magic ritual, exchanging one person's misfortune for the happiness of millions of people?"

Russell, who had just learned the answer, discussed it with the citizen stuck in the trash can next to him:

"In other words, as long as there is always one child being tortured in the basement, and if the child dies, another one will be replaced, the huge energy provided by the magic ritual can maintain the production and life of the entire city?

"Can the energy extracted from the child's pain through the ritual bring good weather to the whole city all year round, so that farmers have abundant harvests, scholars are full of wisdom, craftsmen are skilled in skills, and citizens are always healthy?"

Why do even cultists do this retarded trolley problem? Still copying novels...

The citizen stuck in the trash can nodded, his nose and mouth were repeatedly molded, and passed through the lid of the trash can:

"That's right. This is what we in Omela City have been doing for thousands of years. Will this affect your view of our city?"

"Nonsense, of course..."

Russell's pupils widened because of this shocking discovery, and he couldn't believe it:

“It’s so efficient!

"Isn't the utilization rate of sacrifices in your magic ceremony too high? Is one sacrifice enough?

"Such an efficient magic technique, please let me learn it!"

This is much more efficient than ordinary blood sacrifice rituals!

A magical ritual that can release such a huge amount of energy using an ordinary human sacrifice completely subverts Russell's simple mystical worldview, and is almost like a dream.

Fortunately, he was actually dreaming.

The man stuck in the trash can nodded again: "Okay, Mr. Mayor."

All in all, for reasons that Russell hasn’t figured out yet, perhaps for assessment purposes, a new setting has been added to the dreamland——

He became the mayor.

[You have become the mayor of Omela City and are responsible for the management of this city. 】

[Now the long-standing tradition of Omela City is under threat. Your actions will determine the direction of this city]

New settings flooded into my mind, and the surrounding images changed.

In the mayor's office, a clerk hurried over and reported to Russell:

"Mr. Mayor, a pair of outside adventurers, after learning the secrets of our city, tried to rescue the child imprisoned in the cellar! They also claimed that what they were about to do was just. Mr. Mayor, what should we do? Do?"

"Tell me the information about the foreign adventurers, quickly!"

Russell took the magical photo of the alien adventurer.

The adventurer team is divided into 3 people:

A passionate young warrior who looks like the protagonist and is good at talking.

A male mage who makes up the numbers.

A female warrior who makes up the numbers.

Russell immediately issued an order:

"These three criminals are actually trying to subvert the thousand-year tradition of our city of Omela. They must correct it immediately! I will immediately lead a team of musketeers to stop this team of adventurers!"

…

In the real world, cultists wearing devil masks are looking at dream scenes where the plot suddenly changes.

"So, this is the test that new recruits have to go through? It not only tests their character potential as devil cultists, but also tests their abilities."

"If you want to become a member of Chaos Red, you must not become weak because of emotion and compassion, but you must also have extraordinary ability and courage."

Several black-robed believers had some insights and understood the connotation of the dream test and the thoughtful consideration of their superiors.

Everyone continued to watch, and in the hazy mist, dream projections were suspended one by one.

Each student led his subordinates in the dream and fought with three adventurers. The abilities used by the students are the extraordinary abilities they possess in the outside world, so this dream test itself is also testing the strength of the new members.

Frost, spider web, contracted spirit, enlargement, immobilization, earth wall... Students from different majors used their own special moves one after another, and cooperated with their subordinates to restrict or attack the three adventurers.

The students who participated in this dream test were basically ordinary first-year extraordinary beings. Only Thebes and Pompeii showed second-year extraordinary abilities, which was shocking.

The battle reached its climax. Among the three adventurers, the red-haired brave boy suddenly stopped attacking.

In one dream scene after another, the brave young man barely stood with his sword in hand, his eyes were firm and blazing, and he said:

“Mr. Mayor/Madam Mayor, I respect you for leading our city to prosperity.

“But you are exchanging the pain and suffering of an innocent child for false prosperity and happiness!

"Is all this worth it?"