World(51) - Anecdotes of a Story Keeper

Zhang Jiewei waved a short goodbye to his younger self before using lucid dreaming to dissipate the scene.

"Where did you learn that fancy trick?" Reiner inquired whilst manifesting a set of crimson engraved steel shortswords in his hand.

"You already know the answer to that question. Why do you ask?" He replied, his underworld bident appearing in his hands once more. "Now, we're running a bit short on time, so you mind if we hurry this up?"

Reiner turned his head in confusion. "The responses people give tell you a lot more about them than the truth. Now, unfortunately, I'm the one who gets to decide that."

Suddenly, bronze chains manifested from the dream void, wrapping around each of Reiner's limbs as well as latching onto his throat, causing him to be suspended high above.

A low chuckle reverberated from Reiner's lips as he effortlessly severed the chains with some invisible force. "Now, now, you wouldn't want me to wipe those precious memories of yours, would you?"

Falling to the "ground" softly, he twirled his short blades around with skilled dexterity. "I am quite the experienced fighter, you know. Why are you all of a sudden going on the offensive?"

"I just thought…It's about time I take some charge in my own life, and that means taking you down, or at least giving it everything I've got, isn't that what you oh so desire? A rival strong enough to bring out the best in both of us?" Zhang Jiewei said with a chilling smile, before charging in with his bident.

Despite his grand proclamations, Zhang Jiewei was still heavily outmatched in terms of physical abilities and skill level; it was like… countless invisible shackles holding his body and mind back from reaching their true potential.

Each time he swung his bident, it would get easily dodged, blocked, or countered without hesitation. However, Reiner never took any opportunity to finish him off, finding the alternative far more entertaining.

His mind growing progressively exhausted, Zhang Jiewei fought as hard as he could, using every bit of his brainpower to process Reiner's movements, to no avail, being knocked onto the ground again and again and again.

Staring disappointingly at the progress being shown, Reiner, with a calm wave of his right hand, summoned another memory of Zhang Jiewei's.

A young Zhang Jiewei appeared once more, this time sitting at his desk, writing a physics exam. His palms were sweating profusely, causing the pen to slip from his fingers numerous times, but he finished it in time.

The scene shifted to two weeks later, when he received his exam scores. 71 out of 100.

He stared blankly at the sheet of paper for a few seconds…

Before crumpling it up and throwing it at the teacher's face!

...Is what he'd have liked to have done, unfortunately, thanks to societal convention, his actions were not doable, a true pity. Instead, he wallowed in despair for the rest of the school day.

'I really should have studied yesterday…..'

The night before.

—------------------------------------------------------

A young child sat at his desk typing away like a madman, up until the late hours of the night. He chewed on pieces of cold bread as sustenance while rubbing his haggard eyelids, groaning loudly as he metaphorically and physically banged his head against the wall.

With another flick of the wrist, the scene would change once more.

"See it for yourself, the corruption this world has brought upon you."

The scene displayed was of a vibrant green meadow, next to a children's playground. There, a small child dashed through the sun-kissed plains, laughing whimsically throughout. The air was warm and sweet, and the sky was an iridescent plane of ethereal azure that blanketed the Earth.

At that time, he knew not of what the world had in preparation for him, only that the world was a beautiful place, full of sunshine and rain.

Crack!

One of the symbolic, illusory chains latched onto Zhang Jiewei snapped, freeing his right arm, which he reached out towards the child version of himself.

"Yes…See it all! Envision a version of yourself that's worthy of being my antithesis!" Reiner belted out like a frenzied preacher.

Zhang Jiewei's brain was on fire, like it was being liquefied in real time. He felt a certain "strength" returning to his body, a primeval power he had long since forgotten.

Seeing how embarrassingly pure and jubilant his younger self was, he shook his head slightly.

"These last few days have been really depressing. I think it's about time we turn up the music." Zhang Jiewei spoke aloud.

A high-volume, fast-paced music theme composed of folk instruments started blasting throughout the dream, a perfect battle theme! (Totally unbiased)

Zhang Jiewei smiled. "This type of music is a personal favorite of mine, it's got that fantasy vibe, ya'know?"

Reiner smiled emptily while watching Zhang Jiewei's awakening.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

An uncountable number of illusory chains broke away from the rest of Zhang Jiewei's core limbs, leaving only the ones wrapped around his neck.

"That's the thing about lucid dreams, with enough practice, it's possible to do anything." He snapped loudly, causing the final chain to rattle and shake violently, cracking apart and dismembering rapidly.

Cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders to cure his stiffness, he yawned loudly.

"It's time we face it. No single person on this planet is equal; some people will always be better than you at the things you love most, and others wish they were as good as you at the things you don't care about. And that is precisely why no one can truly be labeled with the title of…"

He booted up the system window once more, his right hand forming a finger gun and pointing it straight at the screen.

"....Average."

Bang!

[Attribute: Average has been destroyed.]

A vortex of energy surrounded Zhang Jiewei's body, the colors inside of him chaotic and frenzied. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Purple. Yet one color was missing…

Despite that, the influx of emotion he had long since forgotten was able to artificially substitute the missing slot and form a cohesive whole, as every single part of his body began to glow an ethereal pure snow white.

Strength and power surged where he had previously been run dry. It was overflowing and uncontrollable, but it could be used.

Reiner's eyes widened slightly at this marvelous sight, as he subconsciously took a step back. "Even I couldn't expect an awakening on this level…What a spectacular turn of events…"

The man adorned in white took a step towards Reiner. Although he wasn't quite sure of what was happening to him, he felt his thought processes becoming as streamlined as humanly possible, as manipulating Ingenuity became as easy as breathing for him. Unfortunately, as this was a dream, he could not affect external Ingenuity unless he escaped.

Sparks of white lightning shooting off of him in bursts, Zhang Jiewei disappeared, then reappeared right in front of Reiner, drilling his fist straight into the goat mask, shattering it apart, and disfiguring Reiner's head, which held scholar-level durability partially. His clear red eyes and platinum blonde hair were revealed once more, only this time there was palpable amounts of enjoyment on his face.

Before Reiner made a move, Zhang Jiewei had already appeared behind him, preparing to stab him with the bident.

"You know…I read your comrades' memories too, and since you never got the chance to speak to them all that much, why don't I give you a basic run-down?" Reiner smiled while languidly dodging the incoming attack.

"No thanks."

Ignoring his adversary's words, Reiner began to speak. "Li Jiaojie was a selfish and cruel man. His family planned to sell him as a mercenary for hire after he returned from his chosen story, the novel known as The Monkey's Paw. He wanted the wish-granting device shown in the story, as it could easily fetch a high price at the CVA, whose top analysts would, of course, try to study it. Instead, his sister used it to bring back their deceased grandparents, the cost being, of course, that no one in the family would remember him and his sister, treating them as strangers. He felt rage and wanted to take it out on her, but instead, kept it inside himself, boiling, seething. I expedited the process of a broken man."

While speaking, he kept clashing blades with Zhang Jiewei, who was very uninterested in what he had to say.

"Fei Kangzhen. Well, I'm sure you already know that the first time you two met, he tried to throw you under the bus so he himself could run away. A child born to two parents obsessed with power and status…Someone ought to have told them the importance of nobility of self, not material. He viewed the world like a puppeteer, ready to betray or be betrayed at any moment. He put on several acts to fool those around him, so the next time you meet him, if I can't catch up to him, that is, do remember my words, even if you don't trust me."

His stamina was near infinite. Zhang Jiewei moved swiftly and tirelessly, forcing Reiner into a defensive position. His swings and strikes were based on intuition, yet for some reason, they flowed together seamlessly, like a grandmaster's skill.

Huffing slightly, Reiner continued, his smile not breaking at all. "The girl…she was a pure soul indeed. Torn apart by guilt of survival, seeing her loved ones skinned thanks to her own selfish desire to live would most likely scar her. It was quite the fulfilling story."

Zhang Jiewei's emotions grew partially destabilized as a blaze of red ingenuity burst forth like a wave towards Reiner, lashing out in an attempt to rewrite his story partially. The lower halves of his arms were transformed into swirling lines of illusory text as a shiny, crimson liquid began to pour out of them; only this time, Reiner didn't move to heal them. Instead, he sighed in what seemed to be an air of annoyance, turning to Zhang Jiewei with a hopeful expression.

"Your time on this planet is limited; do what you need to get as strong as possible before your end comes. And when it does, I'll be there. I've done all I need to do here, so I'll be taking my leave."

Zhang Jiewei wasn't going to just let this slide; however, this man had killed everyone he was responsible for. Li Jiaojie, Fei Kangzhen, Lian, Sang Pianyi, Sasha…And everyone else who worked at the watchtower. He wasn't a child frolicking around in fields anymore, nor was he a brooding adolescent who wrote subpar webnovels in his free time that never saw the light of day. He was an adult…even if he didn't feel like one. And the responsibility of many was his to bear.

And with the responsibility he had betrayed crushing down on him, he spoke the last words he'd have to tell Reiner.

"You may have caused the hearts of my comrades to halt, and caused their veins to run cold. But they are by no means dead. A person only dies when they are forgotten, in this world, especially. The world may want me to forget about them, to spare my mind the pain of remembering, but I refuse. If the world wants me to take my memories of the ones I care about, they won't get it, even over my dead body." It was Zhang Jiewei's turn to flash an inhuman smile.

"So, try me, because I'm not letting you go, and I won't forget…try and erase my memory." He charged towards Reiner as a cloak of overflowing red ingenuity covered his entire body and spread even further beyond it.

Slowly being devoured by his overwhelming aura, Reiner took a step back whilst chuckling. "As I said before, I have no reason to. I'm going to leave now, so don't bother with whatever you're trying to do."

But Zhang Jiewei wasn't budging at all. As his steps rang out, he inched closer and closer to Reiner's position. He stared up at Reiner with cold eyes, as if saying…

'Then why don't you try leaving? What's all this talk for…hmm? And what about the memories too?'

Seemingly reading what he wanted to convey from his facial expression, Reiner stepped back a few meters calmly. "You're a tricky one…" He suddenly threw one of his shortswords at Zhang Jiewei, which cut through the dream with an ephemeral gusto.

Reacting within a tenth of a second, Zhang Jiewei raised his bident at the perfect angle to intercept and lodge the shortsword between its prongs, twisting and flinging it right back at the platinum blonde-haired man.

Seeing the blade incoming, Reiner was confident to dodge it, simply stepping to the right and staring at its path of flight.

Whish!

The short blade would narrowly avoid Reiner's flesh, as it fell to the ground silently.

His two severed stumps of arms still dripping inky red sap, Reiner smiled.

"Alright. If you want to see me perform, I'll gladly show you."

The dream would shake as several pages appeared, causing it to rupture and tear in some areas.

A hurricane of countless colors surrounded him, as several scenes materialized beside him. There were various showings of the life of a certain blonde-haired individual, with imagery so vivid it looked as if a professional filmmaker had produced it.

Zhang Jiewei may not have known what this phenomenon was; he would soon find out that this was a lesser apotheosis. The advancement to a savant, the third stage of the Tree of Knowledge's system, and the most critical juncture.

In shock, he charged towards the cocoon of colors; his steps were swift and powerful. Blitzing the dreamscape to reach it as fast as possible and thrusting his bident straight towards it.

However, at the final juncture, his foot slipped into the inky blackness below, which, instead of being a solid flooring, had already become a crack in the dream that led into the real world.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Awakening in the world of conscience, Zhang Jiewei got up groggily, his eyes immediately scanning everything in his field of view whilst his body tingled in fearful anticipation.

His vision shaking, a cocoon of colors, just like the one in his dream, appeared before his very eyes.

"What?"

It wasn't the time for convoluted theories about what was happening, though; Zhang Jiewei had to strike while the iron was hot. He sprinted towards the cocoon, his footsteps causing mud and rainwater to splash audibly; the moody atmosphere, shaped by the weather, was playing as loudly as it could.

Splash! Splash!

With each step, he got closer; the cocoon seemed to shrink further and further, like it was condensing into a chrysalis in real time. This was the penultimate step in the ascension process.

Zhang Jiewei seemed to have words stuck in his throat as he continued forth. This time, instead of running at the cocoon, he changed things up and threw the bident with all his might, straight at the center of the chrysalis.

As the double-pronged spear soared through the air, the chrysalis had completed its final step. It began to reveal the metamorphosis that had transpired within while Zhang Jiewei was stalled in the dream.

The bident was about to hit the opened chrysalis when…

Boom!

It was deflected by the aura of the being born from the illusory chrysalis. A cold-looking figure casually emerged from it, bearing a mischievous smile and inhuman eyes, a long, void-like cloak billowing in the rainy wind. Despite standing in the rain, he seemed dry as can be.

The platinum-blonde-haired man suddenly disappeared and reappeared near Zhang Jiewei's side almost instantly.

"Let's see." He calmly grasped Zhang Jiewei's chin with his left hand and pressed his right thumb against his temples.

In the next instant, the influx of information entering Zhang Jiewei's mind became null. As the memories circulating in his mind were constantly being erased and manipulated before they could become properly ingrained, they perpetually stunned him.

Losing control of his body, Zhang Jiewei fell to his knees, sinking slightly into the thick mud. The platinum-blonde-haired man's pupils dilated slightly.

Memory Investigation!

Delving deep into the mind palace, he had one objective in mind. To find the source of the man's anomalies.

'I can't manipulate his memories that have been ingrained…He has the potential to be my greatest adversary, yet he's also the best choice as the target for my ascension conditions to be fulfilled. Funny how that works out sometimes…Hahahah…Truly, this is quite entertaining.' He thought to himself while sorting through thousands of memories throughout the last half-decade or so, even further beyond, to find traces of what had been evading him for so long.

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'Businessmen….Dream….Odyssey? This one is new…' A fresh memory he lacked access to before had appeared. It was foggy and glitching constantly, making it practically indecipherable; despite this, he tried his best.

"..."