Pastor's Tantra

"This is not the first time for you to participate in the ceremony, so I won't go into too much detail on the basics..."

Merlin's expression became a little more serious: "Many of you are participating in the ceremony established by Weizhe for the first time. Therefore, to be fair, I will briefly introduce the venue and victory rules of this ceremony.

“All of you will appear in the seven-layer overlapping dream—originally it should have been the ninth-layer, which is a pity.

"From the first to the seventh floor, everyone appears randomly on one of them. The larger the number, the easier it is for the dream to violate reality and common sense, and the easier it is to see through it. There is no error on the zero floor.

"If you die from a high-level dream in any way, you will fall one level. When the ritual countdown ends, stopping at the zero level - that is, the reality level is considered a victory. Stopping at any level except the zero level is considered addicted. In the dream, it counts as a failure in promotion.

“If more than six people stay on the zero level at the end, the ones who stayed for the shortest time will be eliminated in sequence until there are six people left.

“If you die again on the zero level, the ‘reality level’, you will also fall to the negative level.

"There is only one real way to die in this ritual, and that is to fall to the negative level. That is considered [real death], and you have to bear the price of death."

Having said this, Merlin paused slightly and smiled with an unknown meaning: "The above - are the original rules of this ceremony.

"The new additional rule is that I will enter the character body of any person in any layer of the dream at any time, play this role and mislead you. The purpose is to prevent you from staying at the zero level.

"But I will not snatch a character that has been controlled by you, nor will I appear in two levels of dreams at the same time. And as long as I am seen through and killed by you on a certain level, I will not appear from this level again. . I will not escape after being discovered, unless the person promoted from the upper level happens to die and fall into my body and squeeze me out."

"The rules are simple, right? Your purpose is to find and stop at the zero level, and my purpose is not to let you believe that it is the zero level...

"If there's no problem, we'll get ready to start.

After saying that, he slowly disappeared from his seat like a wave of water.

The old man statue in the middle slowly opened his mouth, making a vicissitudes of voice, and announced the rules of this ceremony according to the process:

[This ceremony is limited to two hours, and the ratio to reality is one to one]

[You will play a certain role in the venue and complete your own tasks. Each time you complete a corresponding goal, you will receive corresponding points]

[Because this ceremony is an absent ceremony, all your previous rejection categories are invalid]

[This ceremony allows killing each other without deducting points]

[Because this ceremony is a full moon ceremony, cooperation is allowed but cooperation points are not calculated]

[The difficulty of this ritual is "Challenge". Actual death during the ritual will cause weakness in reality for thirty days, the level will be reduced by one level, and there is a very small probability that the soul may be damaged]

[The dream of this ceremony was constructed by the ‘Wise One’ Weizhe. The tasks and role arrangements, plus and minus points details are all the responsibility of the ‘Lawful One’ Sand Clock. I am only responsible for trying my best to maintain the fairness of the ceremony——]

The old man paused slightly, raised his staff and issued the final pronouncement:

[In 1839, seven travelers escaping from a storm appeared in a hotel in a small town in Avalon...]

As the staff emitted a violent brilliance, Aiwass suddenly felt intense dizziness.

The world frozen in front of him remained motionless, but the seven people sitting on the chairs disappeared like waves.

When he woke up again, he found himself parked at the door of the hotel lobby.

The heavy rain roared behind him, and the strong wind blew the windows and made a crashing sound. It's like a gangster is knocking on the window violently outside, which makes people feel frightened.

And Aiwass was covered with rain. Although he was holding a large black umbrella, it was almost useless against the roaring storm behind him.

He was holding a seven or eight-year-old girl in his arms, and the leather coat on her body was worn backwards - that is, it was worn on the back with the buttons on the back. Cover the girl's head with clothes.

Aiwass's hair was already wet, and rainwater dripped down his chin. His face and neck were already cold.

His back was completely wet from the heavy rain...On the other hand, the girl in front of him only had her hair slightly wet, but her body was still warm.

--wrong.

Through the experience of taking care of Yulia, Aiwass immediately judged that the girl's body temperature was not just "warmth".

...She has a fever.

When he realized this, an old man's solemn voice sounded in Aiwass' mind:

"You are Agni Silva, a teacher. You are thirty-four years old.

"On a rare holiday, your daughter Daya clamored to go to the countryside of Muwan County to play. You thought you hadn't been with her for a long time, so you agreed.

"But you have only been playing for a long time, and Daya said that she felt unwell. You realized that she might have a fever, and you thought about taking her to see a doctor, or simply go to a priest for treatment.

"But this place is too remote. There are no doctors or priests. Not only that, a sudden storm has trapped you here. There is no doubt that Daya's body is no longer strong enough to support you in the rain.

"Fortunately, you suddenly found an inn. You might be able to find medicine there, you thought. At least you can take shelter from the rain..."

The next moment, a few lines of words jumped out in front of Aiwass' eyes.

[Necessary tasks——]

[Back to reality (points: 100)]

[Extra tasks——]

[The heart is the sanctuary: don’t hide in the room, take the initiative to contact other people and introduce yourself in every dream (points: up to 700)]

[Country Teacher: Continue to play teacher Agni Silva and try not to be exposed (points: up to 600)]

[Eyes as sharp as an eagle: See through everyone’s true identity (Points: 500)]

[My unforgettable nature: let six people pass the ceremony (points: 1000)]

[Capture the Dream Demon: Kill "Merlin" at least once (points: 500 each time)]

[Dream Killer: Kill "Merlin" in the reality layer (Points: 1000)]

[Trial Control: Try to kill people other than "Merlin" (points: up to 500)]

[Father's Love: Find a reasonable way to cure Daya (Points: 500)]

[Father’s Protection: Prevent Daya from being killed by others (Points: 500)]

[The real me: Recall my true identity (Points: 1000)]

[The Source of Nightmares: Find the Starting Point of Dreams (Points: Up to 2000)]

These words seemed to be imprinted on Aiwass’s eyes. When he finished reading, it slowly faded away on its own.

He didn't have time to analyze - now his whole body was wet and he felt extremely uncomfortable.

Find your room and change your clothes first.

"--anyone there!"

Aiwass hugged the girl who was not in good spirits in his arms and shouted loudly: "Is anyone there?"

The lobby of this somewhat shabby hotel was empty except for a young front desk boy.

He looked very thin. Wearing thin clothes, with his hands folded in front of him, he was lying on the table and taking a nap.

He was awakened by Aiwass's voice, and when he looked up, he saw such a tall man standing at the door.

At this moment, a bolt of lightning fell outside the door - instantly illuminating the tall man at the door.

The guy at the front desk was shocked. Only then did he see a girl in the man's arms.

Before he could ask, the man came over and asked urgently: "Is there a room? It's best to have hot water - and, is there any medicine? My daughter has a fever!"

"...Sorry, there is no medicine or hot water. But there are clean towels...and a hot dinner if you need it."

The guy at the front desk gave a wry smile, picked up the registration list, and said casually: "You want to spend the night here, right? A clean room with dinner for two, a total of four red coins and three copper coins. What's your name?"

"Is it so expensive? Does anyone live here?"

The man complained, but still opened his wallet. Because the wallet was stuffed into his chest, it didn't get wet from the rain.

"Is this expensive? The better hotels in Muwan now cost five red coins per night... How about I lend you some clean clothes?"

But as the guy at the front desk was talking, he was suddenly stunned for a moment in sync with the man.

——In the wallet, there was a full bundle of twenty brand-new white crown coins. It was also tied up with a thin piece of tissue paper that was as thick as wire. It had obviously just been taken out and not used yet. In addition, there are some slightly crumpled red coins, a few copper coins, and a few brass-colored coins.

The guy at the front desk suddenly frowned and looked up at the man. But nothing was said.

"Agni. Just remember this name."

The man said calmly and counted out five red coins: "The rest is your tip."

After saying that, the man put the wallet back to his chest.

"Room 202." The front desk said so and handed over the key.

"I'll leave the umbrella here for you first."

The man picked up the key, picked up his weak daughter and hurried up to the second floor.

The receptionist kept staring at his back, thoughtfully.

With his back turned to him, Aiwass also narrowed his eyes slightly.

Room 202...am I the second to arrive?

Update completed meow...

Yesterday I was in low spirits. I went to bed at nine o'clock, woke up at half past one, fell asleep again at four o'clock, and woke up at nine o'clock again. The wonderful sleep of cats...

I bought a nasal cleanser and an air purifier, and JD.com delivered them pretty quickly. I changed it to loratadine tablets to see if it feels better...