Entering the Dream: Reflexive Evasion

Lead-gray clouds hung low, and daylight gradually dimmed.

The battered whaling ship cut through the waves, white spray fanning out in wedges from its bow.

After enduring the storm's devastation and the monsters' rampage, the whaling ship's deck was now a complete mess. Nearly all the upper structures had been damaged, with only the sterncastle barely retaining its main framework.

The original lounges had all been in the cabins beneath the deck, but those areas had now been occupied by monsters. Thus, the sterncastle naturally became the pirates' temporary resting place.

Night had not yet fallen, but Xia Lun had already lain down in a hammock woven from ropes. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but the brutal slaughter from the day kept flashing before his eyes.

"Relax. Breathe..." As he slowed his breathing, he consciously loosened the muscles in his legs.

In his hazy state, his consciousness gradually drifted away.

He did not know when he fell asleep, but in the space between sleep and wakefulness, he vaguely knew that his sleep was restless. Amid the panic of a rapid fall, he suddenly realized that he had entered a dream.

Violin music echoed by his ears. The looping melody sounded much like the Spanish style from his previous life, then fell silent a moment later.

Xia Lun abruptly opened his eyes in the dream and found himself in an illusory, blurry, narrow space.

The place seemed unstable. The outlines of everything flickered like flames dancing in a fierce wind, vague and indistinct.

He looked ahead and saw many strange fruits floating in the distance.

Those fruits all emitted a faint glow. Some were red, some green, while others shone with dazzling gold.

"This is a lucid dream." Xia Lun found his thoughts remarkably clear. He slowly walked forward until he reached the sea of fruits floating in midair.

After observing them for a moment, he reached out and touched a massive red fruit. In the next instant, cobalt-blue information spilled forth like liquid mercury.

[Nonhuman Toughness]

[Category: Talent]

[Description: Due to certain extremely special experiences, your toughness has reached a nonhuman level. Even if you are gravely wounded and on the verge of death, you can still move as if uninjured—until you die completely. At the same time, your pain shock threshold has greatly increased. As time passes, your endurance, recovery ability, and muscular explosive power will all increase dramatically.]

[Source: Recognition, (Pirate Captain—Geliide)]

[Available Memories: 15/15]

[Note: Theoretically, you need fifteen complete dream-entry experiences to fully master this talent.]

"This talent is way too strong." Xia Lun's gaze sharpened.

As his thoughts turned, he immediately recalled Captain Geliide's nearly inhuman recovery ability. She had clearly suffered gunshots, falls, stab wounds, and other attacks, yet she now seemed barely affected.

This was undoubtedly an extremely powerful talent!

Xia Lun's heart burned with excitement as he continued reading, but his enthusiasm was instantly extinguished.

[Memory Points Required: 2500!]

[Current Memory Points: 800]

"Not enough Memory Points." He sighed. "So the red fruits should represent abilities that can't be learned for now. What a shame."

Xia Lun looked around and discovered that, in the entire sea of fruits, only this one was red.

He shook his head, then turned to look at the densely packed layers of verdant green fruits.

Lines of information rapidly appeared.

[Firearms Use (Beginner) (Progress 30%)]

[Firearms Use (Basic) (Progress 10%)]

[Appraisal (Beginner) (Progress 5%)]

[First Aid (Basic) (Progress 10%)]

[Talent: Pain Resistance]

...

Xia Lun's gaze swept swiftly over the information. He found that none of these green fruits represented a specialization at the "Mastery" level. Most remained at the "Beginner" level, while even "Basic" and "Proficient" were rare.

"So these verdant fruits represent abilities I've already mastered?" Xia Lun silently guessed. He did not spend too much time on them and quickly turned his attention to the final golden fruits.

There were many golden fruits, clustered together, but not so numerous as to be overwhelming.

As Xia Lun focused his attention, lines of information immediately flooded out.

[Specialization Category]

[Comprehensive Navigation (Beginner) 92%]

[Source: Mixed (Killing the Pirate First Mate, and your own identity)]

[Available Memories: 2/2]

[Memory Points Required: 200]

[Note: You have long known this, but merely forgotten it for the moment. With a little recollection, what has faded will become vivid once more.]

...

[Cold Weapon Use—Swords (Proficient 16%)]

[Source: Killing, (Pirate First Mate, Lorne)]

[Available Memories: 3/3]

[Memory Points Required: 500]

...

[Cheating Techniques (Beginner 15%)]

[Source: Killing, (Moen, Bearded Pirate)]

[Available Memories: 10/10]

[Memory Points Required: 200]

...

[Faulty Occult Knowledge (Proficient 23%)]

[Source: Mixed (Killing the Bearded Pirate Moen, and your own identity)]

[Note: This is an entire set of occult theories that can neither be falsified nor proven. There may be some correct elements within it, but most of it is far-fetched nonsense.]

[Available Memories: 5/5]

[Memory Points Required: 500!]

...

Xia Lun's gaze passed over the densely packed specializations as he rapidly weighed his options.

"What I need now is stronger combat ability," he thought. "So I could consider learning 'Cold Weapon Use—Short Sword,' but that would take too long."

"I should keep looking. It would be great if there were memories that could immediately improve my combat ability."

His gaze continued downward, and the corner of his mouth could not help twitching slightly.

[Talent Category]

[Cream of Mushroom Soup Addiction]

[Notorious Cheat]

[Kleptomania]

[Superstition]

...

"What kind of talents are these?" Xia Lun could not help grumbling inwardly. "Why is 'Cream of Mushroom Soup Addiction' considered a talent? No, why can cream of mushroom soup even be addictive?"

Even as he complained inwardly, he continued looking down. Soon, his eyes suddenly lit up.

[Reflexive Evasion]

[Category: Talent]

[Description: Through long-term training, you have formed a conditioned reflex for evading attacks. When facing an attack, your reactions will become faster. At the same time, as time passes, this talent can very slightly enhance your body's explosive power and endurance.]

[Source: Killing, (Pirate First Mate, Lorne)]

[Memory Points Required: 80]

[Available Memories: 1/1]

[Note: You already know how to perform reflexive evasion. What you lack now is only further training, so the required Memory Points have been greatly reduced.]

[Due to identical and related sources, this talent can be recalled simultaneously with the specializations "Cold Weapon Use—Short Sword" and "Comprehensive Navigation."]

"This one talent and two specializations add up to 780 Memory Points. I can afford that." Xia Lun calculated rapidly. "This choice can maximize my current combat ability."

"I'll choose these!"

With that thought, he immediately reached out and grabbed the three golden fruits.

An icy sensation immediately shot from his fingertips like an electric current. Xia Lun felt a chill surge up the neural pathways to the back of his head, and in the next instant, he clenched all three fruits in his hand.

The cold sensation vanished. The three fruits transformed into golden motes that rose like fireflies before suddenly crashing into his head.

In an instant, Xia Lun's vision abruptly narrowed. Under the golden light, the trembling outlines of the surrounding objects intensified sharply, twisting into inky-black masses.

In his daze, he inexplicably felt his body shrink, while the ink-like masses transformed into a female humanoid figure holding a bottle of liquor.

Xia Lun felt as though he had become the Black first mate as a child.

"You only stole this much?" the humanoid figure drunkenly shouted. "You deserve to die."

In the next instant, accompanied by a shrill whistle through the air, the bottle smashed toward Xia Lun.

Caught off guard, Xia Lun suddenly felt a pulling sensation. Following it, he instinctively slid to the left and narrowly avoided the spinning bottle.

The bottle shattered, and the flying glass cut his calf, but the bleeding stopped moments later.

He looked up ahead, only to hear another shrill whistle through the air. Another bottle came smashing toward him!

And so, in his dream, Xia Lun began endlessly evading the flying beer bottles.

Amid the whistles of bottles tearing through the air and the sound of shattering glass, Xia Lun was repeatedly struck and repeatedly dodged.

Soon, through each successful or failed dodge, he discovered the trick to evasion—whenever the other person raised her hand, he would sidestep.

Yet before long, he realized in astonishment that the figure was improving as well. After several rounds of attack and defense, she even began using fast and slow throws...

However, no matter how she changed her rhythm, the sound of the bottles cutting through the air remained unchanged. By the end, Xia Lun simply closed his eyes. Whenever the sound appeared, he would slide away on instinct, as if by conditioned reflex.

[You have obtained part of the memories of the talent "Reflexive Evasion." Current Progress: 2/3]

A line of cobalt-blue information appeared at the corner of Xia Lun's vision. In the next moment, the scene before him changed once more.

Within the golden light, the shadow transformed into a rocking ship. Before Xia Lun stood a group of indistinct sailors. This seemed to be a brawl aboard a ship.

In the next instant, the hum of a blade suddenly came from beside his ear. Drawing on his earlier experience dodging bottles, Xia Lun instinctively slid aside, pulled the short sword from his weapon belt, and immediately counterthrust at his opponent's throat.

A slight resistance came through his wrist. The black shadow cried out in pain and turned to ash, followed immediately by more black shadows pouncing toward him!

Stepping back, sliding aside, stepping forward—Xia Lun was in no rush to counterattack. He carefully felt the pull of his muscles and the adjustments in his movements as he continuously evaded the enemies' attacks.

Although he was sometimes struck directly, his injuries recovered within a few breaths in the dream. Meanwhile, the bone-deep pain made him increasingly focused, further accelerating his learning speed.

As time passed, he became more and more adept. He even began to counterattack from time to time in the gaps between evasions.

Black shadows fell one after another, while Xia Lun grew increasingly excited. Soon, he no longer settled for retreating and shifting sideways, but began stepping forward to attack proactively!

The enemies' attacks became increasingly frenzied. Many black shadows even began using strategies that traded wounds for lives, yet none of them could hit Xia Lun.

At a certain moment, realization suddenly rose within him.

Evasion in cold-weapon combat was about controlling distance and holding the centerline. Rather than passive dodging, it was more like fighting for the initiative through constant maneuvering.

Yet at that moment, he suddenly heard a familiar click.

Without even thinking, Xia Lun stepped aside in a conditioned reflex, followed immediately by a gunshot!

Bang!

The spinning bullet grazed the edge of his clothes, tearing open a bloody mark, but Xia Lun had still dodged a gunshot. He had not even focused his attention; it had been entirely instinctive!

At that moment, Xia Lun could not help feeling fortunate—the Black first mate had a chance of dodging a single shot. If he had not chosen to fire at close range during the day and had instead simply ambushed him with a gunshot, that shot might have missed.

[You have obtained part of the memories of the talent "Reflexive Evasion." Current Progress: 3/3]

The space flickered again. In the next instant, Xia Lun suddenly arrived in a cramped space. Before he could think further, the whistle of a sharp blade came from his left.

He swung his sword in a conditioned reflex to block it. The tremendous impact and slight resistance traveling through his wrist told him that he had deflected the strike.

Xia Lun was delighted and wanted to slide his blade into a counterattack, but in the next instant, an icy gun barrel pressed against his chin.

His movement abruptly froze.

Bang!

The gunshot exploded, and the last thing he saw was a burst of orange-red muzzle flash.

Bang!

Xia Lun jolted awake and sprang straight out of the hammock.

His back was sticky and damp. The bloodstains on his short sailor's shirt had nearly adhered to his back under the seepage of cold sweat.

"Thump... thump..."

After being dazed for a moment, he realized that it was his own heart beating and that he had only been dreaming.

He glanced at the clock hanging nearby. It was exactly five in the morning of the next day.

Although only nine hours had passed, Xia Lun felt as though an incredibly long time had gone by.

At that moment, he felt as if tentacles were wriggling through the folds of his brain. Memories of battle rolled everywhere through his murky, boiling brain matter like shattered glass.

Just then, Xia Lun suddenly heard a familiar shrill whistle through the air. Without thinking, he rolled out of bed in a conditioned reflex, then drew his sword and slashed toward the source of the sound.

Smack!

In an instant, a board that had happened to fall from the ceiling was cut apart by his sword, spinning as it crashed to the floor.

From dodging to drawing his sword and slashing, his entire movement had taken no more than five hundred milliseconds!

He froze for a moment, blinked, then exhaled and glanced sideways at the information panel.

[Scenario Objective: Survive Day 2/6]

[After a long night of learning, you have obtained the talent "Reflexive Evasion"! Your body's explosive power and endurance will gradually increase slightly over time.]

[Reflexive Evasion: Through long-term training, you have formed a conditioned reflex for evading attacks. When facing an attack, your reactions will become faster. At the same time, as time passes, this talent can very slightly enhance your body's explosive power and endurance.]

Xia Lun felt the power surging through his muscles, then continued reading.

[Specialization Progress!]

[After a long night of learning, your understanding of swordsmanship has deepened greatly. Current Available Memories: 2/3]

[Cold Weapon Use—Swords (Basic) (Progress 62% → 95%): Your foundations with the sword are extremely solid. To a certain extent, you can already be considered skilled with a sword. You are especially adept with one-handed swords, and your combat style leans toward mobile fighting.]

[Comprehensive Navigation (Beginner) (Progress 0% → 46%): You know how to correctly determine a ship's position and heading, and you can pilot a ship as well. In any era, this is a difficult craft.]

He nodded, then summoned his character panel in his mind and looked at his skills.

[Heightened Focus, Safe Uses Remaining: 3/3]

Xia Lun lowered his gaze.

The number of uses for Heightened Focus had also recovered—it was time to carry out the next part of his plan.