Zach shook hands with the head priests of the church, who apologized for the rude behavior of the irritating writer over and over again.

Apparently he had earned his position when he had read two words from the Histowire the year before. The church instantly gave him the position of transcriber.

However, by comparison, Zach was like a saint in the making, and indeed, there was already a rumor being spread.

What Zach had read from the book was far more significant in both context and quantity.

They even offered Zach a position at the church, which Lydia pouted about, and he politely refused.

Then they left.

“Lydia, it’s noon. Don’t you have work at the Mage’s Association?”

“Yes. I tend to the library in the afternoon and evenings. Let’s go get lunch before I head out.”

They stopped at a diner and ate a quick meal.

“Look. I’m going to test the fast-travel function while you're gone. I promise I’ll be careful.”

Lydia sighed, “Just as long as you’re careful, I suppose. Don’t get too crazy with it. Let’s talk about what you find after I get off work tonight.”

Zach nodded.

When they were done, Lydia went off to work while Zach faced the city with Elmarud.

“I guess it’s time to try out that new system function,” he said to him.

“What should I do?” Elmarud asked. “Should I stand next to you and see if the function will extend over to me?”

Zach shrugged. “Might as well, though I’m sure it will only work for one person.”

Together they ducked into an alleyway and brought out the map the priests gave to Zach.

A single twisted road went through the Stutter Forest, where he had started...

‘Wait…’ Zach thought, ‘Is Stutter Forest just a lazy name for Starter Forest?’

He shook his head with disappointment at the game creators, then imagined the place he had first met Sir Deltris’ and the rest of Snowy’s convoy. He knew they had been heading north, away from Kosk, so all he had to do was warp back there and retrace their steps.

It seemed pretty easy, and he figured the fast-travel function of the system was slightly more improved from normal game systems. In games one could only return to major landmarks, like cities and ruins. However, the Histowire had told him he could use it to return to any place he had been before.

“Okay, let’s try it.”

“I’m ready,” Elmarud said.

[Warning: Fast-travel requires 100% of your mana. Activate? y/n]

‘Yes!’

[Generating Fast-travel Rift]

A crack with a similar appearance to an instance dungeon formed in front of him. As the pieces fell out, he could see a forest on the other side!

Suddenly the rift opened up quickly, a great suction force of wind pulled Zach into it while somehow also pushing nearby things away. Elmarud went flying in the opposite direction.

Wap!

The rift closed behind him with a crackling sound.

Zach stumbled and fell face-first into the ground.

“Plewa pfft plaaa,” he spat dirt out of his face.

‘Gotta work on the landing,’ he thought.

Realizing that Elmarud had failed to come through with him, he sighed with disappointment.

He stood up and looked around.

‘It’s hard to tell, but this looks like the same place I remember.’

He briefly tried to use [Fast-travel] again to go back to Caeli, but as expected, it didn’t work. His mana had been drained to zero so he would have to wait.

He set out on the road in the direction of Kosk, running to complete his daily quest.

After twenty or so minutes, he completed the quest, earning a free point which he immediately dropped into {Intelligence}, increasing his mana. (He should really start doing these daily quests more often, they were quite useful).

When his mana was 90 percent full, he tried using [Fast-travel] again, but it didn’t work.

At 99 percent, he tried again. But it still didn’t work.

Apparently he really did need to use all of his mana to activate the system function, 100 percent of it. If it was even a single point less, he wouldn’t be able to use it. That meant, if he engaged in a fight, he wouldn’t be able to run away by teleporting until he recovered his mana, something that was really hard to do in a fight.

Even still, it was incredibly useful, and he would definitely be using it as often as possible.

Thirty minutes after the first use of [Fast-travel], his mana had completely recovered.

[Generating Fast-travel rift]

Wap!

He was sucked through and deposited back in Caeli. This time, he didn’t fall on his face.

Elmarud was waiting for him and clapped boisterously, and proceeded to explain what happened on his side. When the fast-travel rift appeared, he had been pushed away forcefully, and it only stayed open long enough for Zach to go through and disappear.

Zach nodded while thinking about ways around this problem.

With nothing better to do, they went job hunting.

Surprisingly, Zach triggered a quest. A random man asked him to deliver a love letter because he was too embarrassed. Zach awkwardly agreed, realizing how ridiculous some game quests could be, and completed it in no time. The system rewarded him with something called a Frosted Rose Petal.

‘Looks like I’ll have to research all the quests that can be found in Caeli and whatever this item is,’ he thought.

Elmarud followed him and watched the whole thing. “That was weird,” was all he said.

Their job search turned out unsuccessful. Since it was getting late, they went home.

Zach brought out a Bungalow Duck carcass from his inventory and set it on a table in Lydia’s kitchen.

“Where’d you get that? I didn’t smell it earlier.” Elmarud asked.

“I guess I’ll tell you.” Zach scratched his head. “I have special magic that allows me to keep my stuff in a secure location. You can call it separate space magic. It’s pretty convenient, but I don’t want other people to find out, so don’t tell anyone.”

“Sure. Even if I could, I wouldn’t!”

Zach felt embarrassed.

Truthfully, he had a whole bunch of these duck carcasses in his inventory from his first [Duck Hunt] daily quest. He just kept forgetting about them.

“So… Do you know how to cook this?” Zach asked.

Elmarud shook his head. “Nope. Haven’t cooked in years.”

That night, Lydia came home to a house full of smoke and charred meat for dinner.

…

Finally, it was time for bed. Zach had a very important thing to do tonight, and he had no idea what to expect.

Agatha Honoris Nash was also known as the Lost Lamb, a person who was so enlightened from reading the Histowire they were burned. While on his job search, Zach found out that no one believed a word she said anymore, hence she was called the Lost Lamb, or in cruder circles, the Holy Witch. Yet they couldn’t get rid of her because she was still a Messenger.

Now, Zach was going to meet her.

Of course, he had done some research on the nightmare dungeons, since that was the whole point of Dungeons and Towers II: Snovideniye, but he hadn’t looked up Agatha’s one specifically, that’s why he was nervous.

Ten o’clock rolled around, and he fell asleep.

Zach appeared in a garden surrounded by flowers and lush plants. The pavement he stepped on was straight and level. The sky above was cloudless blue, without a sun.

As far as nightmare dungeons went, this one was the most “stable” he’d been in.

He walked through the garden, looking for the person he had seen back at the church.

Eventually he came across a pavilion with rings of stone pillars and benches where he saw a woman calmly admiring the scenery.

When she noticed him, she made a surprised expression.

“You,” she pointed a finger commandingly, “come here.”

The ground beneath Zach warped, the air itself became distorted, and the plants themselves shifted out of the way. In the blink of an eye, he found himself in front of the woman.

“Woah!” he said with wide eyes.

The woman circled around him while examining his clothes, which he realized were his normal clothes from Earth.

“Um… Are you Agatha Honoris Nash?” he asked.

She looked at him with sharp eyes.

In hindsight, it was a stupid question. Of course she was.

“You have finally come. Player, do you know the inner workings of the universe already? What knowledge do you already have about the game?”

Her shocking questions echoed in Zach’s mind.

“How do you know about the game? How do you know I’m a player?”

“You are not just a player, you are the Player. It was revealed to me in the Histowire that you would come, someone randomly chosen from a subscription list, the only one to receive the ‘extended edition’ of the game. You are the only one who can change the fate of our world. You are the experimental variable.”

He couldn’t believe his ears.

“To answer you, I think I know quite a bit about the workings of this universe. But how do you know all this? What did the Histowire say? What even is the Histowire?”

Agatha Nash stood straight. She looked far more dignified than she did back at the church, but she still had an indescribable air of madness and urgency.

“Haha! You think you know! You think you know? Settle down for a moment. This is our first time meeting. I’ll answer your questions, but first, let’s get more comfortable,” she turned toward the pavilion and said, “Give me something to eat.”

The surrounding space changed. A statue morphed into a stone table before moving in front of them. Then food literally fell out of the sky and landed on it.

Zach didn’t need to take a step. He just sat down on a bench that appeared behind him.

“How do you keep doing that?”

“Have you ever heard of the term lucid dreaming? Basically, if I’m aware that I’m dreaming I can control what happens in the dream. Similarly, if I know the rules of the nightmare dungeon, I can do anything I want. It’s like a children’s sandbox.” She said with a mysterious glint. “Now, reality can be whatever I want.”

“Oh,” he said with amazement. “Can you teach me how?”

She sighed for some reason and shook her head. “It’s easy to learn, even more so if you do not change your class. Right now, we have more important things to talk about.”

Zach wanted to say something, but nodded.

“Player, what I’m about to tell you has to do with protecting the world... from yourself!”

He frowned in confusion. “What?”

“The strength of the universe is now connected to your very existence. It changes as you change. It grows as you grow. The enemies you face will only be as strong as you are, maybe slightly harder to pose a challenge, never the other way around. That is why you must not raise your level too quickly, otherwise you will outperform and destroy things that grow too slowly. In fact, if you want to preserve the most life, you will stop growing immediately. If the only way to overcome a challenge is to grow, you must purposefully fail.”

Her shocking words were like a splash of cold water.

Zach had things to do, quests to complete, and titles to earn. Now he was being told to nerf himself?!

“I can’t do that!” he exclaimed. “I need to complete the main quest, {The Histowire’s Dream}. There are rewards that are too valuable to overlook. And how am I supposed to close instance dungeons if I’m not allowed to take out the bosses first? Killing one of them is enough to raise my level each time!”

“Figure it out,” she said bluntly. “Complete your quests without raising your level. Teach others to close the instance dungeons for you. But we have plenty of time, so you don’t need to do that right away. Just don’t kill any monsters yourself.”

Zach scratched his head. “That’s all well-and-good, but there’s this title that I’ll eventually gain which gives me passive experience, increasing my level anyway.”

“That’s fine,” she responded. “That’s not something we can change or avoid. But if we accelerate that rate of growth, I’m afraid things would be much worse. Now, let’s move on and talk about the post game.”

“Woah, woah, woah! The post game?!”

“Yes. Now pay attention. The main part of the game centers around solving the problem of the nightmare dungeons. We can complete this slowly as you build up your knowledge, skillset, and combat experience, stuff that doesn’t directly relate to your level. We can even do all of the stages up to the last stage, gaining all the rewards, before stopping and doing side quests. But we mustn’t complete it too soon, otherwise it will initiate the end game.

“The end game is the thing that will destroy the world by collateral. When it is finally activated, the spawning rate of the instance dungeons will increase drastically. Since they grow with you, they will eventually get strong enough to wipe out humanity. Fortunately, I know how to complete it. By completing it quickly, you can save everyone. Unlike the first part, my plan here is to increase your level as rapidly as possible.

“Finally, once the end game is completed, the post game will be triggered. This is where the knowledge and countless skills you have gained in the main part of the game will give you the advantage. It is a matter of time maintenance, do you understand?”

Zach smiled shakily. “That’s… a great plan. All well-and-good,” he muttered.

Sensing a hidden ‘but’ at the end of his sentence, she raised an eyebrow.

“What is it? What could the Histowire have possibly missed?”

“Um. Uh. How do I put this?” He drummed his fingers nervously. “The ‘end game’ is already activated…”

“What?!” The surrounding space rumbled, like an earthquake was happening. “How did this happen?!”

“I-I don’t really know. All I did was get beat up. But I think it might have to do with the main quest actually being a hidden quest.”

She pondered for a moment. “Can you describe what you know?”

“Sure. The main quest was supposed to be called {The Histowire’s Dream} but on my system it is actually under the hidden quests. Under the main quest is something called {Defender} which I guessed was related to the end game or post game. Now that I think about it, there was nothing on the game wiki describing instance dungeons or the end game and post game.”

‘I must’ve been looking at the regular version and not the extended edition,’ he realized, which meant he really didn’t know a thing about what Agatha Nash was telling him. Of course, if there was only one copy of the extended edition, then there wouldn’t be any information from other players.

“I don’t know a thing beyond what the main quest was supposed to be,” he told her honestly.

“That’s alright. The main quest that is now a hidden quest is only different in name, so you can still get a wealth of knowledge without needing to read it in the Histowire. As for the rest, just trust me.”

“Speaking of which,” Zach said, “how much of the Histowire did you read? Everyone said you went crazy from reading too much of it, no offense.”

“I’m not offended. The truth is, I was able to glimpse five whole pages.”

“What? Only five? Everybody made it seem like you read half of the book!”

“Don’t be ignorant. The Histowire is more than just a book. To us non-players, the symbols change from moment to moment and reader to reader. Sometimes they are words, other times they are illustrations, equations, or music notes. The amount of knowledge in that book is unknown, but five pages is enough for a lifetime.

“After that, it was like trying to teach a city of blind people about color. No matter how I describe the truth of the world, they do not understand. My only hope is that you are better. Maybe your eyes work, but if you only see in black and white, I’m afraid it won’t be good enough. You’re so young I can’t use my red pill and blue pill reference to explain it to you.

“Just know that I know about your world. I know about computers, your technology, and electronics. Most importantly, I know everything about this game, the system, the simulation, and especially the extended edition.”

He closed his mouth and nodded in understanding.

“Good,” she continued. “Then let’s get back on track. You say the end game is already activated? Then so be it! Even with the abundance of privileges given to the player and the extended time they can exploit, time is not on our side.”

“What do I have to do?” he asked with a gulp.

Agatha Honoris Nash looked at him grimly, like a judge giving a final sentence.

“You’re going to have to work very hard, and grow very fast. The principles of my original plan still hold true, merely with a timer. You can’t visit me in here for the time being. Nightmare dungeons are too valuable to be wasted only on me. Therefore, you must finish all the main quests up until the last stage without leveling up. Allow the world to mature alongside you. Unlock skills and everything else you possibly can.

“Finally, only when the first major nation of your world falls due to the instance dungeons becoming too powerful, and there is nothing you can do to stop it, only then should you visit me here again! I will tell you how to complete the end game and we will finish both of them simultaneously. This is the only way to prepare for the cataclysmic post game.”

…

Zach talked to Agatha Nash for the remaining, about ten hours. Of course, the time in a nightmare dungeon was drastically different from that in reality, and she extended it as much as her lucid dreamer powers would allow. She could even summon new weapons for him!

Unfortunately, he couldn’t transfer them to his inventory. Nothing from a dream could be brought out… unless he chose to open the nightmare dungeon.

Zach immediately offered to make Agatha’s dream a reality (er - that’s not what he meant), but to his surprise she immediately declined.

If a nightmare dungeon was opened, sure, the things inside could be taken out, but the residents inside would become their own existence.

For example, if he opened Snowy’s dungeon, he could stop her nightmares, but there would suddenly be two princesses with the same face and memories, one of them coming from the dream. There was no telling what kind of complicated drama would arise from that: he didn’t want to do that to her.

In Agatha’s case, they were trying to use her valuable dream lucidity as a training tool, opening it would mean they couldn’t use it anymore. Her powers only worked inside since lucidity was a feature of the nightmare dungeon itself, not an ability she could possess anywhere.

In short, he couldn’t summon such an OP ally so easily.

Fortunately, he was able to put the weapons to good use. Agatha summoned monsters for him and he slew hundreds of thousands of them while he was there. Nightmare dungeons didn’t award experience (unless they were opened) either.

Zach watched new skills announced themselves as he changed weapons.

[New Skill: Multi Slash (level 1)]

[New Skill: Vital Stab (level 1)]

[New Skill: Hollow Arrow (level 1)]

[New Skill: Flowing Whip (level 1)]

[New Skill: Counter Weight (level 1)]

[New Skill: Shield Bash (level 1)]

[New Skill: Penny Drop (level 1)]

He excitedly opened up his skills list.

[Skills:]

{...(10 more)}

{Multi Slash (level 1): A sword specific skill that summons two phantom blades during a strike. Deals three times the damage if all three blades hit. Harder to block. Requires 2 mana to activate. +1 power and +1 intelligence per level}

{Vital Stab (level 1): A spear specific skill that targets an opponent's weak point accurately. Has a small chance to fell a foe in a single hit. Requires 2 mana to activate. +1 power and +1 will per level}

{Hollow Arrow (level 1): A bow or crossbow specific skill that strengthens arrow hits. Has a high chance of inflicting the bleeding status effect to monsters with high regeneration. Requires 2 mana to activate. +1 intelligence per level}

{Flowing Whip (level 1): A whip specific skill that allows for great control of the weapon. Requires 1 mana per second of activation. +1 litheness and +1 intelligence per level}

{Counter Weight (level 1): A staff specific skill that parries any weapon and returns a strike if activated at the proper time. Requires 2 mana to activate. +1 constitution and +1 will per level}

{Shield Bash (level 1): A shield specific skill that can deal damage while protecting the user. Requires 1 mana to activate. +2 constitution per level}

{Penny Drop (level 1): A club specific skill that can make some enemies drop their loot without having to kill them. Requires 2 mana to activate. +1 constitution and +1 power per level}

Tears of happiness streamed down Zach’s face. How long had he spent swinging his baseball bat around in his house trying to learn a new skill? Now he had seven more, each providing him with stat points.

As if reading his mind, Agatha said, “The only times you can learn new skills are during the tutorial or when you are in direct conflict with a monster. Plus, it’s not like there’s a skill for everything,” she added. “Otherwise you would have learned a skill for something ridiculous, like breathing, a long time ago.”

“I guess I could’ve done the tutorial better,” he said regretfully.

Finally the timer was about to run out.

“This is farewell for now, Player Zach. Do you have any remaining questions?”

“Just one,” he admitted quickly. “Back at the church, you said some strange stuff about stars controlling our fate and a few other things. What did you mean by that?”

Agatha smiled bitterly. “The remaining four pages were about the history of my world, specifically the quarrelling demons that now run it. If I didn’t know about your world, I could never have fathomed existences such as theirs.” She turned to him. “But this is post game content. You’ll have to wait until next time. Remember what I said earlier? Repeat it back to me.”

Zach frowned a little but replied. “I can talk to the “real” you if I have any questions since you’ll remember what we talked about here, but we must speak in private because of the priests. And I’m not allowed to re-enter your Lucid Apocalyptic Mirror Space because other ones are valuable in their own way.”

“Good,” she smiled. “Then I guess I’ll eject you a few minutes early.”

He made a shocked expression for the hundredth time that night.

“You can do that?!”

Agatha Honoris Nash didn’t respond. She blinked three times and the surrounding garden dissolved.

[End Chapter 27]