Helrom Prison, Negative Fourth Floor.
"It was like that."
Prison Warden Selena slowly opened her eyes. She had more or less finished watching Hughberlian's dream.
Generally speaking, only people with severe emotional trauma could become so deeply trapped in a dream.
Because within the illusion of this floor,
what it represented
was the most fragile fantasy in a person's heart—or perhaps an irreparable regret.
It was a beautiful dream that could never come true in reality.
Those who broke free of the illusion and remained lucid could see the contents of another person's dream from a certain distance.
They could also use that to infer the deep-seated pain and weaknesses in the other person's heart.
Outside the cells on Negative Fourth Floor of Helrom Prison, every step could send someone plunging into an illusion.
Each time someone fell into an illusion, they fell harder than before.
The deeper and longer one sank, the more likely one's soul was to completely dissolve into the illusion.
For all the wardens and criminals who set foot on this floor, the instant they landed, they would fall into an illusion at least once. The warden waiting on Negative Fourth Floor would be able to see the contents of their illusions.
Although the prison's rules prohibited them from attacking one another, once someone knew where another person's mental defenses had collapsed, even words could inflict unimaginable harm and lure that person into destroying themself.
Prison Warden Selena let out a pleased, quiet chuckle.
As a Tier 7 illusionist of the empire, she possessed extremely high resistance to illusion magic and was also highly skilled at escaping illusions. Likewise, if she needed to deal with a criminal, knowing the other person's inner pain allowed her to tailor an illusion that would torment them until their mind