Nightmare Premonition

In the study of the Baron's castle in Storm Territory.

Nalant, slumped over his desk, was drenched in cold sweat. His tightly shut eyelids twitched incessantly, accompanied by the rhythmic gnashing of his teeth; clearly, his dream had been far from pleasant.

"Hah!"

Nalant jerked his eyes open and sat bolt upright, his body rigid as he scanned his surroundings with a panicked gaze.

Only after confirming his environment did he allow his muscles to slacken, though a lingering sense of dread remained.

Another immersive nightmare! Could it be that I crossed over the wrong way?

He had transmigrated into the body of a lord holding the rank of knight—theoretically a perfect starting point—yet in just one week, he had suffered two incredibly vivid nightmares. This left Nalant deeply unsettled.

This was a fantasy world with a medieval backdrop, home to noble knights, Battle Qi, and Magic Beasts.

Even more fantastical was the magical meteor shower that occurred every week.

The meteor shower brought both fortune and crisis to this world.

Fortune, because the meteorites that fell often contained precious treasures.

Crisis, because what the meteor shower brought was not always treasure, but terrifying Dark Creatures.

Dark Creatures were evil, bloodthirsty, and powerful; their appearance was synonymous with catastrophe.

Unfortunately, the territory Nalant now possessed was frequently plagued by these Dark Creatures, a horrific place known as the "Land of Misfortune."

The original owner of this body had been so terrified upon learning he had been assigned to the "Land of Misfortune" that he had fallen into a high fever on the journey there and perished.

Knock, knock, knock!

"My Lord!"

A dull knocking sound came from outside the study.

"Come in!" Nalant commanded.

"My Lord, glorious news! Under your wise deployment, Captain Quick successfully killed one Skeleton Warrior and one Skeleton Archer. During tonight's meteor shower, the territory suffered no losses!" The castle steward, Thomas, hurried in, his face beaming with joy.

"What!" Nalant stiffened; the news sounded jarring to his ears.

The nightmare was actually real?

Seven days ago, Nalant had his first nightmare, in which two meteors carrying Dark Creatures landed in his territory.

Because the dream felt too real, Nalant had sent out guards, half-doubting.

But now, reality told him that his nightmares were omens, destined to manifest in his territory.

If that were the case, wouldn't the second nightmare he had just experienced while slumped at his desk also come true?

In that second nightmare, the meteor shower next week would bring even more Dark Creatures—an astonishing number, around thirty—including a Hellhound and a Headless Knight.

At this thought, Nalant couldn't help but slowly lower his head to look at the parchment on his desk.

"February, Year 355: The meteor shower brought twenty-four Dark Creatures to Storm Territory, including twelve Skeleton Warriors, ten Skeleton Archers, and two Hellhounds. That night, the Baron's castle was breached, no one inside survived, and the Baron was killed in action!"

"May of the same year: Baron Bond succeeded as the Lord of Storm Territory. The meteor shower struck again that month, bringing ten Skeleton Warriors, ten Skeleton Archers, and one Hellhound. The Baron's castle was breached, and Baron Bond was killed in action..."

"October of the same year: Baron Pete succeeded as the Lord of Storm Territory... The meteor shower brought thirty-one Dark Creatures... Baron Pete was killed in action..."

"July of the following year... Baron Doke succeeded as the Lord of Storm Territory... Baron Doke was killed in action..."

The cautionary tales were etched clearly before his eyes. Nalant felt as though the Grim Reaper's scythe was already pressed against his throat. Perhaps he was about to become the fifth lord to meet his end in Storm Territory.

What should I do? Should I flee the territory immediately? But if I abandon the territory, what will become of the commoners? If they all die, then forget about keeping my title and land—I'll likely be executed by Count Tulip for my failure...

Half a month ago, Count Tulip had suddenly issued a decree.

He summoned one second son from each of his vassals, granting them the rank of knight and a fiefdom.

If these second sons could achieve results within three years, the one with the best performance would receive a permanent, hereditary barony and the chance to marry the Count's only heir—the Flower of Tulip, Lady Stella.

For second sons without inheritance rights, this was a pie falling from the sky, and the original owner had been one of those struck by it.

However, it was clear that Nalant now had to choose between his life and losing that pie.

"Oh, Heavens! Is there no way to have the best of both worlds?"

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the main quest: First Nightmare Premonition!"

"System successfully bound; weekly lottery function successfully unlocked!"

"Quest reward distributed: 1 Energy Point!"

"Ding! Main quest: Second Nightmare Premonition has been issued. Please prepare yourself and complete the mission!"

"Second quest reward: 5 Energy Points. Completion progress: 0/28."

Suddenly, a chiming sound echoed in his mind, and Nalant froze.

Is this the standard equipment for a transmigrator?

Could this second nightmare premonition be the one I just had?

For a moment, Nalant didn't know whether to cry or rejoice. He only had eleven official guards under his command, yet the system expected him to kill twenty-eight Dark Creatures.

I can only hope the system is powerful enough, otherwise, I'm dead for sure this time!

Nalant noticed that after the system bound to him, a system panel had appeared on his retina, and he began to examine it with a mournful face.

The system panel was very concise, currently featuring only two functions: the Lucky Girl Illustrated Handbook and a Search Function.

Lucky Girl Illustrated Handbook—it is an illustrated guide capable of identifying Lucky Girls. When the host encounters a Lucky Girl, the handbook will automatically record her and issue a notification!

Lucky Girl? I don't have any memory of that. It seems this world only has Daughters of Misfortune, right? Nalant was somewhat puzzled. There was truly no information about Lucky Girls in the original owner's memories; on the contrary, the Daughter of Misfortune was a household name in this world.

Since he couldn't figure it out, Nalant simply stopped thinking about it for the moment and looked toward the next function.

'Search Function: Consume one Energy Point to activate the search function and locate Elemental Sprites appearing within the territory!'

It can actually search for Elemental Sprites? Nalant's arms began to tremble!

Elemental Sprites were precious treasures brought by meteor showers.

They were tiny creatures composed of elements!

They were somewhat like the mining wisps of the Night Elf race in the "Warcraft" of his past life, only the sprites in this world were smaller, more colorful, and much cuter.

There were four known types of sprites at present.

The Green Sprite could make land fertile and increase crop yields.

The Purple Sprite could randomly improve the quality of a certain plant on the land.

The Yellow Sprite could cause the land to randomly contain a certain mineral deposit.

The Blue Sprite could turn land into a habitat favored by a certain creature.

These four types of sprites alone contained all the necessary factors for a territory to develop, and if one were to trade in sprites, it would also be a considerable fortune.

Yet, such precious sprites were extremely difficult to obtain because the probability of them appearing in a meteor shower was incredibly low. Furthermore, they were immensely difficult to find after landing; if a sprite was not discovered and bound by a master-servant contract within twenty-four hours of landing, it would automatically wake up and vanish from this world.

Now that he had this Search Function, it meant Nalant would no longer have to worry about finding sprites.

Tonight is the night of the meteor shower. If I can find a sprite, perhaps Storm Territory still has a glimmer of hope. Each sprite is worth hundreds of gold coins, and when the time comes, I can use that to hire soldiers from other nobles!

A flame of hope ignited in Nalant's heart. Unable to sit still, he immediately clicked the search button with a nervous heart.

"Ding, one Energy Point consumed. Search function activated. Searching..."

There must be one! There must be one...

As the only Energy Point was deducted, a radar-like circular frame appeared on the system panel, and Nalant watched the radar frame while praying silently.

"Ding, congratulations to the host, an Elemental Sprite has been detected within the territory!"

Soon, a small red dot lit up on the search radar, and the system's notification sound rang out simultaneously. An Elemental Sprite had actually landed on his territory tonight.

"Haha! There really is one!"

Unable to suppress his excitement, Nalant jumped up from where he stood.

"My... My Lord!"

Steward Thomas, who had been waiting quietly, was startled by Nalant's sudden movement.

I actually forgot the steward was still here!

"My apologies, Steward Thomas! The news you brought was truly so exhilarating that I got a bit carried away!" Nalant immediately returned to the serious and composed state expected of a lord.

"I wouldn't dare!" Although he really wanted to comment on his lord's slow reaction, Thomas suppressed this disrespectful thought.

"Thomas, go prepare the horses now. I need to go out!"

"Yes, respected My Lord!"

Thinking his lord was preparing to inspect the battlefield, Thomas immediately made arrangements upon receiving the order.

Soon, Thomas led one of the only three horses in the castle into the courtyard.

Fantasy farming novel, new book seeking collections and recommendations!