Land (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

[The affairs of the territory have been thoroughly handled; it is time to explore the extraordinary and the immortal!]

[Month of Green Banyan Covered in Snow. Forty-three days have passed since I began moving in my dreams, yet I have still not seen a continent. I am beginning to waver...]

[Day 46. It is too wasteful to use all the mysterious energy for movement. Perhaps I should re-plan and divide the energy generated from each day's dream into three parts: one for movement, one for strengthening, and one as a reserve?]

[Day 50 of the journey. In the night of the dream world, I witnessed a terrifying scene. On the Scarlet Sun, something horrific seems to have been born as well. I saw the swaying shadows of trees, and upon every branch hung deformed, fleshy sacrifices... At the same time, I heard a world-level whisper... I speculate that another existence similar to the 'Black Sun' has appeared.]

[Summoned by Father to attend the territory's Winter Festival. Based on my observations, he seems quite satisfied with the title of Count of Green Forest?]

[Month of Green Banyan's Silence. Spring is approaching, but it makes little difference to me. Everything in the territory is fine, and I remain immersed in my dreams...]

After finishing the last entry in his notebook, Aaron yawned, changed into his pajamas, lay down on the large bed, and drifted into sleep.

For some time now, rumors within Blackstone Manor regarding the lord's narcolepsy had been growing increasingly intense, but Aaron paid them no mind.

If it were possible, he would gladly devote his entire day to that other world.

The dream world.

A consciousness moved rapidly above the surface of the sea.

For Aaron, this experience of a constantly zooming perspective was no longer a novelty.

What he truly worried about were the appearances of those strange phenomena.

"Including the strange phenomena and broadcasts I saw before, I estimate there are about five terrifying existences that have descended upon this world... Are they all accompanied by that world-wide broadcast, or rather, that call and corruption?"

Aaron could not even be certain if they could detect him.

At this moment, more anxieties inevitably filled his heart.

He collected his thoughts and divided the mysterious energy generated from today's dream into three parts: one to strengthen himself, one for travel, and one to keep in reserve.

Originally, Aaron thought everything would pass in boredom, just as it had before.

But today, the situation was slightly different.

Before his eyes, a black line suddenly leaped up from the horizon.

Aaron froze, almost unable to believe it, or thinking he was hallucinating.

But after waiting for a moment, that black line remained!

"It's land!"

Aaron's consciousness was practically boiling: "Finally... I have seen land!"

He moved forward impatiently, and the black line continued to expand, transforming into a coastline as more contours gradually emerged.

What lay ahead was not a continent, but a small island.

On the island, the pale forest seemed to have undergone some mutation, resembling hands reaching toward the sky.

And within the shadows, strange creatures were active.

"It seems... the creatures on land have also been corrupted and influenced by the Scarlet Sun?"

Aaron pondered, circling the island, and found it was not large, perhaps only a few dozen square kilometers.

However, the encouragement it brought was significant.

At the very least, this was the first piece of land he had encountered.

"Perhaps... the true continental shelf is not far away..."

Although he encouraged himself this way, it took Aaron another twenty-plus days of travel before he discovered the true continent.

An endless coastline, with a depth that could not be measured.

"Finally... finally, I have reached the shore!"

A sense of emotion stirred in Aaron's heart. After sixteen years in the ocean, he had finally stepped onto a true continental landmass!

In the distance, he even saw a harbor.

Behind the harbor, a multitude of buildings, stone-paved roads, and high towers... all combined to form a city!

"Today must be my lucky day!"

Aaron stepped onto the harbor and saw ship after ship of stranded sailboats; some still bore traces of struggle, with dried blood covering the surroundings.

The wharf was equally a mess... there was even a large ship cut in half, stranded not far away, as if... it had been sliced directly in two by some deep-sea monster...

"Have the monsters of the ocean... climbed onto the harbor?"

Aaron Sothoth felt a heavy weight in his heart.

If he had not changed the sun, perhaps this place would still be a bustling port, not left to ruin.

He followed the stone-paved road and walked all the way into the city.

Many human corpses were discarded haphazardly along the roadside, already weathered into white bones, with clear marks of gnawing upon them.

"It seems that not only the oceans, but all things on the continent have been contaminated?"

Aaron muttered to himself, his perception suddenly triggered as he looked ahead.

At the corner, a figure stood silently, as still as a stone statue.

Suddenly!

The figure moved slowly, taking steps toward Aaron.

Clack, clack!

Feet equipped with hooked claws landed on the stone slabs, emitting crisp sounds and leaving behind trails of filthy blood.

As the creature drew closer, Aaron felt as though his heart had been struck by a hammer.

He saw...

A monster with a fully keratinized body, skinless face, and a humanoid shape!

The monster still wore remnants of clothing, appearing to have been a human of this world!

It had no eyelids, its massive eyeballs staring straight at Aaron, while one arm had completely mutated into an octopus-like tentacle.

One step, two steps...

The monster kept approaching, then... passed right through Aaron's body...

"Even as an aberration, it cannot touch me?"

Aaron looked at both sides of the street; some shops still bore strange symbols, which should have been the script of this alien world, but he did not recognize a single one.

Although with [Supernatural Memory], I would certainly learn quickly, I still need someone to teach me...

Aaron suddenly felt a bone-chilling fear: "Could it be... that all sentient beings in this world have gone mad?"

At this moment, the monster turned and charged straight into a building.

Its massive, mutated, bat-like ears twitched incessantly, as if listening for some sound.

"No, that's not right. It didn't sense me; it sensed other prey?"

Aaron suddenly thought of something and swiftly phased through the wall, entering the building.

It appeared to be a bakery, with numerous shelves toppled on the ground and a mummified corpse hanging in the air, swaying occasionally with the breeze.

Relying on his phasing ability, Aaron looked around in every direction but found nothing.

The monster did the same, standing motionless on the floor.

Suddenly... Aaron thought of something and dove beneath the floorboards.

Beneath the floor, there was a secret passage!

Inside the tunnel, a brown-haired boy wearing something like a shirt and jeans, his face covered in black grime, was covering the mouth of another girl, both of them wriggling through the tunnel like two worms.

The girl was clutching a piece of black bread tightly in her hand...