Epic of Caterpillar

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"Now… 'Uneasy Nightmare'…"

I moved my fingers as I released dark clouds from within my hands, they quickly entered the third subject's mind.

"And… 'Memory Visualization Screen'!" I said, activating the Mirage Magic Spell after I inserted a thin slime tentacle inside of the subject's skull, reaching its brain.

Flash!

The purple screen appeared as it showed the muscular spy having troubles. He was currently trying to swim through a lake. He did not know how to swim properly, so he was half-drowning.

"Hmm… An 'Uneasy Nightmare' is different from a 'Dark Nightmare'… it doesn't bring much horror, but uneasiness by giving a small hope of survival… of course, that might change" analyzed Herbell.

I decided to manipulate the Nightmares by infusing my mana into the spell, as I managed to change things a bit, deciding to add sharks with sharp teeth following him from behind. The sky also became dark as it began to rain heavily.

"It seems that I am capable of manipulating Nightmares slightly by overflowing the nightmare with my Mana… hm, what if I use my Aura or my soul?" I said, infusing both at the same time.

Flash!

Suddenly I felt like a part of my consciousness was sent inside the Nightmare.

I could see the guy struggling in the lake as the rain and the sharks made his small hope for survival even dimmer.

"Hmm… So I can even enter a Nightmare like that god. Alright, how about this?"

I manipulated the nightmare to my will, using my own imagination, I created a world of happiness and fluffy things, long greenery, and vast plains, covered in fluffy and puffy cushions. The sky was bright blue, with a pinkish tone, alongside several moons and stars shining happily in the sky.

The subject fell over the cushions, he seemed relieved for a moment.

"Do you like it? Finally, some time to relax, right? Hmm… time's over!"

I once again manipulated the dreams and made the subject fall over an arid and scorching area, there were lava pools everywhere as the sky became hellish red. The ground was scorching and dark-colored, it resembled the Lower Realm.

To top it all, I created a few monsters from there and made them follow the guy around. He was now even worse than before; this could be attributed to being a 'Dark Nightmare' already.

As I was watching the nightmare unfold, everyone seemed bewildered.

"Impressive! So by infusing your Aura and Soul into the spell, you can enter nightmares and manipulate them?" analyzed Herbell.

"I think I can, but it has some limits, I feel like a lot of mana is used each time I decide to change something, and there seems to be a slight cooldown… Perhaps to beings with stronger minds, it would be harder to manipulate their nightmares" I said.

"Mommy, can I try?" asked Vudia.

"Sure, why not? Come here" I said, as Vudia activated the 'Dark Nightmare' Spell into the subject that I was using while infusing her Aura and Soul.

Her consciousness quickly appeared inside the dream at my side.

"T-This is crazy! I am inside a dream again!" said Vudia, she was quite excited. Her dream avatar was her usual bright appearance, as she flew around with her butterfly wings.

"Now, let me teach you… infuse your Mana… or Divine Energy into the environment and by using your imagination, create a scenario" I said.

"A scenario…? Hmm…! How about a cave! And filled with gemstones and minerals! And small gnomes and dwarfs are working around!" said Vudia, as everything she thought about became reality inside the 'nightmare'.

The subject was suddenly put in the middle of a cave filled with materials of all kinds stuck to the walls and ceilings, as small people harvested them. A burly dwarf noticed him and began to reprimand him.

"Hey, you lazy ass! Get to work!" it said.

"W-Work? What is happening? W-Where am I?"

"Fewer questions more working! Here! Take this pickaxe! Go! NOW!" shouted the dwarf, he was tired of this guy's laziness!

"Y-Yes, sir!"

The subject began to mine the rocks and jewels in the walls, alongside his dwarven and gnome colleagues.

"Look! I did it! It's so cool! So many dwarfs and gnomes! Sometimes I like to go look for materials to the Rocky Mountain Mines, and they are always so nice to me!" said Vudia.

"I see… it seems that you have such a vivid image of them that the ones created through dreams even possess personalities. Look at him working, what a nice Miner!" I said, laughing.

"Yeah, it's crazy to think that they are not the real ones… Hm, what if I go talk with them?" asked Vudia.

"Wait, Vudia!"

She slowly descended to the dream as she began to talk with the dwarfs and gnomes… but they ignored her completely as if she did not exist.

"Hm? Guys? Why can't you see me?" she asked.

"They can't see you because they are a mere image of the subject's mind, he is the only that is part of this 'world'. We can manipulate it, but we are not capable of interacting with it… but perhaps we may if we level up the Nightmare Magic Skill" I said, hugging my daughter and patting her chestnut hair.

"I see… So if I manage to level up the skill, will I be able to create any worlds I want with my dreams?! That's so cool!" she said.

"Hm, even I don't know the full extent of dreams… But it may be possible. I have considered using dreams as a way to train certain skills as well, but the skill needs to be leveled up. For now, let's change around this nightmare to gain experience in the skill"

"Alright, mommy! Bye, guys! Now, let's change it into a jungle! Filled with Dryads and colorful birds!" said Vudia.

"How about we add some ruins as well? Or perhaps a civilization of dragon people that live in the jungles! Or lizardman as well" I said, joining in my daughter as we designed a new dream world.

Damn, this was unexpectedly fun.

The endless caves filled with treasures alongside the gnomes and dwarfs disappeared as if they were made out of white smoke.

A new world appeared in front of the subject, lush jungles filled with plants and carnivorous monsters, alongside dangers in every corner. In the middle of it, there were large ruins filled with the ancient civilization of lizardman.

"What… Where am I now?! What is this place?! Ah! Huh?!"

The subject began to run for his life as a large reptile resembling a tyrannosaurus started to follow him around while opening its large jaws filled with sharp fangs.

"Gyaaaaah! Noo! I don't want to die!" shouted the subject.

However, just at this very moment, a group of lizardmen appeared from the sides, attacking the monster with their poison-coated spears.

"I'm saved!" said the subject.

The lizardman began to butcher the monster as a group of them walked towards the man, a beautiful and voluptuous lizardman woman seemed to be leading the group, and she took a liking to this guy.

"Gral! Ishta!" it said, in a strange language as it made her subordinates carry the subject with them.

"Huh? W-Wait!"

Sometime later, he was trapped inside the house of the lizardman woman… and this is when I decided to change the dream because I did not want Vudia to see this.

"Mommy, why can't I see it? It was like watching a theater! So fun!"

"Err… it was not suited for you, yet."

We kept changing dreams and making the subject go through all types of dreams and different worlds, he was constantly trapped in troubles, but he somehow slowly developed himself and became cautious and more intelligent… and his skills also developed somehow.

"I think we are shaping this man to be some kind of super-soldier!" said Vudia.

"I suppose… let's give him a break then," I said, as we finally got out of the dreams.

It felt like a whole week inside of there, but outside, only some minutes passed.

"We saw everything! It was amazing how you two changed the dream world all the time!" said Herbell, bewildered.

"To think that Nightmare Magic could lead to the manipulation of Dreams as well," said Zehe.

"I think it's because we were able to infuse our Aura and Souls, which already have divinities. Something else had triggered in there which gave us the ability to travel inside. Perhaps the small divinity fragment related to Nightmares" I said.

"It was very fun! It felt like a whole week inside!" said Vudia.

"A w-whole week?! Vudia, are you really okay?" asked Brontes.

"Yeah! I'm a bit tired though!" said Vudia, as she flew over Brontes and sat on her shoulders, she quickly fell asleep.

"I'm tired as well, overusing this power may bring some dangers to those not well-developed yet such as Vudia… for now I will only use it myself. Anyways, I also wanted to check this guy…" I said.

"He had lived through a dozen of different dream worlds… and as we saw him surviving inside, he began to strangely develop his skills"

"So it seems that those who spend a lot of time in dreams can also develop their skills even if they are not practicing them in person?" asked Zehe.

"Yes… checking on his status, he had leveled up all his skills. And even gained some MP, and Magic stats from the intense mental pressure that he went through"

"But he may have also fallen insane as well," said Herbell.

"Well, that should make things easy for him if he becomes a Chaos Human, the other two shall do the same and become my citizens or spies. I will leave them to the care of Mady and the Rin Sisters, accompanied by my Brainwashing Slime Clones"

"Hmm… if he had spent so much time in dreams, do you think that he would become a Dream Human instead?" asked Brontes.

"Dream Human…? I don't think… well, seeing how many things Kireina-sama is capable of, I cannot doubt this possibility" muttered Herbell.

"Maybe if it ends up being true, we may feed Dream Attribute flesh to our family so everyone can learn how to use them," I said.

"That would be certainly good! Perhaps we could make a Dream Attribute Dungeon? Have you thought about using the Dungeon Core you obtained recently, Honey?" Zehe asked.

"That's… a very good idea! I never thought about that, let us do that tomorrow if nothing else happens��� I said.

"Nice! A new dungeon!" said Zehe, she was quite excited…

"A Dream Attribute Dungeon! I think that there isn't any like that in the whole Realm of Vida, it would be a first!" said Herbell.

"It sounds fun, but it may also be very dangerous, so we need to prepare properly," said Brontes.

"Yeah… what if the dungeon ends up generating countless dream bubbles inside? It would be chaotic…" muttered Zehe.

"Well, Chaos is another of my Attributes, so I should be able to control it," I said.

"What confidence! I can understand why you attract many followers, Kireina-sama" said Herbell.

"Herbell, are you one of my followers now?" I asked.

"Ah, yes, I was somehow enlightened by you a few days ago, and I obtained your blessing through my sleep," said Herbell.

"Hm, my soul may have been doing that automatically now with everyone… It seems that I always had some kind of affinity with dreams if I were able to grant blessings through them" I said.

"Perhaps Vudia inherited this?" wondered Brontes.

"It may be… though I have no idea from where my slight affinity with dreams even came from. Could it be something related to my race?"

"I've read that Dark Fairies are not natural in the Realm of Vida. They are the children of the Goddess of Nightmares and Dreams, Freyja. Your inner abilities might be related to the race you've acquired through 'Existence Evolution', Kireina-sama" said Herbell.

"I suppose my large magic capacity and soul also strengthened this affinity until it finally began to show up in strange ways…"

After the experimentations, I went with the second body towards Morpheus's Dungeon to train skills and telekinesis manipulation with Nanako and Mady.

Afterward, I joined back with my first body and enjoyed a nice and heartwarming dinner with everyone.

[The Levels of the [Nightmare Magic; Level 1], [Calamity Abyss Demoness Mirage-Attribute Magic; Level 4], [Supreme Mana Sovereign; Level 1], and [Telekinetic Manipulation; Level 6] Skills have increased!]

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