Angor had been wondering about this problem as well.
Back in the royal palace, he tried using nightmare energy out of random and never expected it to work. Similarly, he was surprised and would like to ask Freud how this came to happen, but he decided to wait for later and discuss it in private.
“Mister Padt, was that your illusion energy?” asked Freud.
“You can say so.” Angor nodded. Nightmare illusions were a special type of illusions after all.
“Was it the same illusion energy you used for building my room?”
Angor nodded again—he did use nightmare illusions to make the books and various furniture in Freud’s room “real”.
“Then I’m already seeing where to start the next course of my research!” Freud smiled. “Since you can activate the Dream Whelk, we’ll be able to proceed from here and find out more. We just have to summarize our obstacles and solve them one by one.”
As Freud sent his imaginations wild, Angor cleared his throat to pull him back to reality.
Freud jumped a little and gave Angor a passionate gaze. “Please let me follow you, Mister Padt! This is my thing! I must finish the Dream Whelk Project!”
Angor took some time to consider.
It was a pleasant surprise for him that he was able to use the Dream Whelk. With this precondition... Yes, Freud’s project could be helpful.
However, if Freud were to proceed with the project, the man would have to know more about nightmare illusions, and revealing the secrets of nightmare illusions to outsiders was strictly forbidden by Sunders.
Freud saw Angor remain quiet and felt his passion quickly turn cold. He thought Angor would agree right away because the potential benefit brought by the research was great. But... it seemed Angor had other factors to consider.
After a long silence, Angor asked an irrelevant question instead of answering Freud.
“Have you heard of ‘Follower’s Oath’, Freud?”
Freud’s expression instantly turned grim.
“Do-do we have to resolve to use that, Mister Padt?” he asked in a trembling voice. “If we succeed, the project will be quite a remarkable sight to the entire world, and it will only bring you unimaginable profit.”
“Let’s just say... there’s something I can’t tell anyone unless they are absolutely loyal to me.”
Freud sat back in silence.
The “Follower’s Oath”, created by a faithful servant who once devoted his life to his master, was a highly restrictive covenant that denied all freedom of the one who swore to it. Once they did, the promisor’s body, soul, and spirit would all belong to their master, unconditionally.
The oath was considered extremely advantageous to its “contract owner”. The only condition the owner had to accept was not to kill their follower “at will”, which meant the follower wasn’t so safe because the oath would not protect them on many occasions.
Naturally, the oath was usually used when someone fully submitted to their enemy after losing a fight.
This was why Freud was terrified when Angor mentioned such a thing.
“There’s an important point of fact for explaining how I triggered the Dream Whelk. I can’t tell you about it under any circumstances unless you accept the oath,” said Angor. “Of course, I won’t force you. You’re free to give up.”
Freud spent a long moment struggling with a decision, and he chose to reject it.
Angor nodded in acknowledgment. In the views of supernatural beings, swearing to such a thing was worse than being completely eliminated from this world. No one would willingly do it unless something beyond their control forced them to.
“If that’s your decision, we won’t be cooperating on this. But still, I must do something else.”
Again, Freud grew very afraid, for he thought Angor was going to use violence after all.
“Calm down. I just need you to make an easier promise in the name of the world’s consciousness, that you will NOT tell or share your research project with anyone else under any conditions, either intentionally or subconsciously.”
This was to ensure Angor’s safety. If by some miracle, Freud’s project was achieved, the Dream Whelk would immediately become more valuable than most tactical alchemy implements or even better. If the project was exposed to other people, they would definitely come and try to seize the fruit. Angor would like to leave nothing uncared-for, especially after the encounter with Jebra earlier.
Freud quickly understood Angor’s intention and nodded. “Of course.”
Angor didn’t cancel his Nightmare Domain after Freud made the promise because he still had more questions about the Dream Whelk. At Neya’s room, they didn’t get to talk about the item in detail. Angor would like to know everything he could now.
Without holding back, Freud explained all he knew about the whelk as well as what he learned about dreams during his apprenticeship.
Angor was glad that Freud lived up to his title, which was the “Dream Reader”. With Freud’s help, he quickly got a hold of all the knowledge he might need when using the Dream Whelk.
When Freud had finished explaining the last part of the item as well as his old research, Angor removed his Nightmare Domain and noticed it was already a new dawn outside.
Sunny, who had been watching from the orphanage, rushed out of the house and gave Freud a big hug.
“Do you wish to continue your work while staying here?” asked Angor.
Freud put Sunny down and showed the look of hesitation.
“Sigh... I think I will, until I find my new purpose.”
“You’re not worried that Neya would bring people and look for trouble again? They know you are here.”
“I don’t think that will happen. They had no use for me anyway.”
“Alright.” Angor nodded. “Best of luck then. Hope you realize your dream, dream reader.”
Angor walked away to find Tulu.
“Mister Padt!” Freud called. “I still owe you an additional debt when we changed our old deal yesterday, right? What do you need me to do?”
Angor stopped in his tracks. He did come up with something just now.
“When listening to your studies, I see you’re very good at dream-related arts. Can you teach me a cantrip that allows me to enter someone’s dream?”
Freud tilted his head. “You need this because you’re also going to work on the project on your own, right?”
Angor snickered. “Yeah, I’m curious about it. But since you won’t do the Follower’s Oath, I’m afraid we must do it in separate ways.”
“I—” Freud really wished he could work with Angor, but he did not want to become a complete slave.
“Is this request too hard? It’s fine if you can’t do it.”
“No no no, I can tell you about it, Mister Padt. Can I return to that room? I’ll leave what you need to know on papers.”
Angor nodded and transferred Freud into the Church of the Deceased.
It took Freud about half an hour to compose several notes regarding how to study “Dream Walk”, a level-2 cantrip.
After making sure the tutorial looked good, Angor sent Freud away and placed Tulu, who was still sleeping, onto his Gondola.
“Wait, Mister Padt! Can you keep the illusion here?” Freud saw Angor going to remove the “haunted house” illusion from the orphanage and suddenly called out.
“Why?”
“I want this place to, you know, be peaceful, and surely I don’t want Sunny to wander around killing people again. With the illusion, no one will come and bother us three.”
“Sure.” Angor nodded. “I can let you take control of everything in this illusion, but you won’t be able to modify or analyze it in any way. Hope you understand.”
“It’s fine. Thank you, Mister Padt. You named Sunny’s game as ‘Dead by Daylight’, right? Can I let others inside to play it?”
“Didn’t you just say you don’t want to be bothered?”
“But it looks so fun. If I can return to life somehow, I can use this game as a source of income. You know, there are always people who love spending money just to look for excitement.”
“Compared to treating it as merely an adventure game, I’d suggest that you use this illusion as a training ground for new recruits. Maybe you can earn money better that way.”
When Angor stepped onto his boat to leave, Freud made another difficult decision.
“Hey, Mister Padt... If you truly accomplish the project, can you pay me a visit again?”
“What for?”
“I will swear to Follower’s Oath by then.”