Arknights, but the Family Has Fallen Again, Again, Again

This meant...

Kal'tsit's expression finally changed.

They had just tested it—this was a mental realm... Oute had visited this place alone... and hidden it from me...

And Kal'tsit was bound to get the wrong idea.

W caught the change and sneered. "You twisted psycho, all that love you had was wasted."

Cheerfully tossing her defensive dagger from hand to hand, she said, "He raised himself a little lover in this godforsaken place and never even told you."

"First, if someone's mentally twisted, they should be called a psychopath. Second, this Elafia lady is clearly not Oute's lover."

Kal'tsit refuted her point by point, but the faint tremble in her thigh still revealed her unease.

That slowly woke Oute.

Why did I always respawn on someone else's thigh?

When he saw W, he felt both surprise and confusion.

It worked.

But why had it worked?

Further testing was needed...

His original plan had been to use one of the two open slots in this dream to bring in Kal'tsit, while using the other for an experiment.

The purpose of this experiment was to test the limits of how far he could pull someone in.

So he chose someone with whom he had no deep connection, and who was far away: W.

His connection with W was certainly nowhere near as profound as the "blood bond" between Specter and Skadi. And W, who was all the way in Chernobog, was definitely not close to Oute in a straight-line distance.

If it succeeded, he could gather information face-to-face. If it failed, Nearl was his backup option.

"My lord!"

Specter lunged onto Oute, forcing him back down just as he was about to rise.

W snickered. "Right, right, right. The little deer isn't his lover, but this fish is!"

Skadi suddenly spoke up. "Specter's mental state is... not very healthy right now. Oute is her doctor."

Kal'tsit looked at the Abyssal Hunter in disbelief. How do even you know him?

"Specter..." Oute gently stroked the nun's pretty face and coaxed, "Help me up."

Fanaticism gleamed in the nun's red eyes. She carefully supported Oute to his feet, as though handling something fragile.

"Your will!"

To the Abyssal Hunters, Oute truly was rather fragile...

Oute nodded, looked around, then dropped a bombshell. "I don't understand the mechanism, but this place seems to be connected to my dreams."

Kal'tsit frowned deeply. Dreams? As expected... this place is... Now it all makes sense! The amnesia, the so-called Originium Arts he suddenly acquired after waking up, and this mental realm...

Oute! You replicated Project DWDB-221E!

Using yourself, Terra's materials, and its technological conditions, you created an inferior version!

That filled Kal'tsit with rage, but she had nowhere to vent it.

Was something like this really possible?

No. Seeing was believing!

The fact was that he had done it!

Under Terra's conditions...

Could it be!

He used Originium!

Kal'tsit shook her head and looked at Oute.

Amid the surging waves of fear and awe, traces of admiration flickered so faintly they were almost imperceptible.

Seeing Oute rise, Kal'tsit put on a poker face and offered him her hand.

Taking the hint, Oute held her hand and helped her to her feet.

The subtle atmosphere in the air made Alina giggle.

Good lord, what was this little deer shipping?

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kal'tsit asked.

"I needed an experiment to confirm it," Oute answered. "Everything before this was far too subjective."

"Too hollow, too unreal."

"The only person I could reconnect with in reality after entering the dream last time was Specter."

Oute rubbed his forehead. "But given her condition, I couldn't draw any reliable conclusions. Until now, I could never be certain whether everything that happened last night had been an overly lucid dream or something that truly occurred."

"This time, I tried actively inviting specific people in. You were the first, Kal'tsit. Only after this ends can we confirm everything in reality."

Oute pieced several fragments of truth together, and those truths eventually formed a vague lie.

Hearing him mention last night over and over, Alina felt somewhat at a loss.

I was the first person he actively invited?

He hadn't meant to hide it?

That's right... he truly has become completely different now... literally.

"...I understand." Kal'tsit paused, then said, "You made the right choice."

"This place may be connected to your dreams, and you may be able to influence it, but you are not its master."

"She..."

She—Priestess—was the true master.

Kal'tsit changed her wording and forcibly shifted the subject. "They all seem to know you already. So the other person you invited was W?"

Oute nodded. "She's a very good test subject."

W pointed at Oute's nose. "You bastard! What do you take me for!?"

An American cockroach.

Oh, this time, a lab rat.

Skadi belatedly asked, "So this place is a dream?"

Kal'tsit shook her head. She surveyed the small town before saying, "This isn't a dream. It is the end of dreams."

The empire of consciousness, the inner universe...

Oute sighed inwardly. Kal'tsit's view might not be entirely wrong. But how could she make even this sound like a riddle?

"If I'm not mistaken, last night, you met many beings in this place who appeared capable of conversation, but in reality, most of the time they only attacked at random?"

Though it was phrased as a question, Kal'tsit sounded exceptionally certain.

The channel was wrong, but the content was surprisingly close!

Oute was somewhat astonished.

Isn't She an Artist? ### "Since you have confirmed that this place is connected to your dreams, then, Doctor Oute, do you have any suggestions for leaving?" Kal'tsit asked, glancing at W.

Oute raised a brow.

"For now, I'll call this place the Interstice—the boundary between dreams and another world," Oute said. "Based on yesterday's experience, I have a rough impression: after completing certain objectives, defeating a certain number of enemies, and returning to this small town, I can lead everyone from the Interstice back into their own dreams."

This was a lie.

Oute could end it whenever he wanted.

Skadi nodded. In a "cold" voice, she said, "That's right. After leaving the Interstice, we really did return to our own dreams."

Then she asked, "Come to think of it, when exactly did we leave the Interstice last night?"

Her experiences in the dream and the Interstice were mixed together. Skadi could not distinguish what had truly happened from what had only been a dream.

Alina finally could not hold it in any longer. "You left seven days ago! The three of you vanished right after repairing the carriage!"

Kal'tsit nodded, resting her delicate fist against her smooth chin. "Time is a changing track. For a realm that transcends matter, running along two tracks simultaneously is not difficult."

"However, this Elafia lady..."

"Alina. My name is Alina."

"You did not leave the Interstice with them last night?"

The Deer Woman hesitated, but once she realized she had already completely exposed herself, she nodded anyway.

"Yes."

W clutched her head. "What the hell are you even talking about!?"

"Ah... W, has Hedley failed to educate you properly all these years?" In response to W's repeated rude retorts, Kal'tsit deliberately snapped, "The matter is already obvious. We have fallen into an arena. And only by offering a performance worth savoring to the arena's master will It allow us to leave."

Alina shook her head bitterly.

Did she think she could not offer an acceptable performance?

Or had she, as one of the dead, already realized that she simply could not leave this place?

Kal'tsit lowered her beautiful eyes.

Of course, It had not awakened, and there was no such thing as savoring a performance...

This world as a whole was based on that inner universe, but this small town... this Interstice...

AMA-10 looked at Oute.