The black sun hangs high

Chapter 7 Discovery
After wandering around this dream world, Hugh was certain that the third category consisted mostly of bizarre parts from various creatures.

Blood, limbs, teeth, or even eyes and ears, and so on...

There's nothing they won't suggest, only things you haven't thought of.

Some of these conditions are so disgusting that they far exceed their inherent danger; they are not only nauseating but also possess a touch of dark humor.

It looks like they're deliberately trying to disgust people.

Hughes was highly skeptical that anyone in the world could actually tolerate the stench emanating from swamp witches and, despite feeling nauseous, collect a whole basket of "fresh hair" from them.

As far as he knew, the swamp witch, that disgusting and lewd monster, only had hair growing in a few places on her body.

To achieve this, one needs not only great strength, but also a resilient mental fortitude.

"vomit."

Hughes made a silent gagging motion to show his disdain for such perverse conditions, and then continued down the corridor.

"In fact, all three types of conditions can be represented by specific materials, and there are no restrictions on how to obtain them... If I want to obtain a Lake-level mage badge, I can either pass the Law Committee's examination step by step and become a Lake-level mage, or I can use other methods to 'obtain' it from other mages."

"However, just like the magic I first acquired by paying twenty silver coins, I will not know what I will get in return until I actually pay the price... I can only assess the risk, but I cannot estimate the corresponding benefits and value of that risk."

Hugh sighed, cursing inwardly, "At least when we did gacha pulls before, we had pity systems and pseudo-random systems. But here, it's all about taking full responsibility for the risks."

His gaze swept over the row of workstations next to him, and unsurprisingly, there was another large number of goals that were not easily achieved.

Gradually, Hugh arrived at the edge of his familiar office area.

In fact, the company where Hugh used to work rented out an entire building as an office area. Project teams like his usually only occupied a part of one floor. Other game projects belonging to the same studio or center were scattered on other workstations on the same floor. Because of his busy work and laziness, Hugh rarely went to other people's territories. As a result, although he had worked for many years, he actually knew nothing about other places besides his own studio.

As he moved further away from that familiar work area, the black fog and shadows began to grow heavier and denser. In some corners that Hugh had never seen before, there were even patches of complete darkness, and no matter how hard Hugh tried, he could not see anything in them.

This darkness subtly formed a repressive and terrifying wall, and Hugh couldn't know what existed within it, nor dared to touch it carelessly.

"Assuming this place is indeed based on my perception and memory, then the world outside the window shouldn't be completely dark..."

Hugh stopped once again in the darkness blocking his path. He was filled with curiosity about this unknown territory, but dared not take any risks. He looked around and finally found a mug on a desk that was not marked with a "price" and could be taken at will.

He picked up the mug and stopped a few steps away from the darkness. Then he bent down, placed the mug on the ground, and pushed it forward forcefully.

After a series of scraping sounds, the mug disappeared into the darkness.

Hughes saw it very clearly: the mug seemed to be swallowed by a giant mouth. The moment it completely disappeared into the darkness, all sound vanished. He couldn't even tell whether the darkness had blocked out the sound, or whether the mug had fallen into a bottomless abyss, or...

It merged with the darkness?
Hugh had no intention of gambling with his body, so he decisively left the darkness and went to the elevator lobby near his office area.

To his surprise, there was no oppressive atmosphere that could block the way. On the contrary, in front of the elevators that led to other floors and allowed him to leave the building, there were words that represented "conditions" floating around.

Hugh leaned closer out of curiosity, but this time, the obscure characters made of strange lines were not "translated" into his mind. Instead, they turned into an extremely violent shock, acting on his thoughts in the form of pain.

The intense pain caused Hugh's body to tremble, and he couldn't help but clutch his head, his body naturally crouching down.

He couldn't understand the words floating in front of the elevator door.

The dull pain in his head began to subside slowly, and Hugh suddenly realized that what he had just seen was likely something more terrifying and elusive than the darkness itself.

So he didn't bother to rest any longer and decisively left the elevator lobby, never daring to look at those words even once more.

Hughes, having recovered from the pain, quickly regained his senses. What had just happened allowed him to once again seriously examine this strange world that was similar to his past, yet clearly different.

Hugh walked back to his workstation and sat wearily in that familiar chair.

Now, only this inconspicuous corner near the window can bring him a little sense of security.

"As expected, the so-called easy-to-use and considerate 'golden finger' was just my fantasy."

Hugh looked at the elevator lobby, which was faintly visible in the dim light, and then at the "exchange" conditions that kept appearing around him because of his gaze. He couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"Now it's clear that this place is far from safe for me... Both tonight's or the process of acquiring magic after paying twenty silver coins were filled with pain and risk."

He pulled out a piece of white paper from the side, found a pen, and began to carefully sketch.

Soon, a somewhat rough floor plan structural diagram appeared under Hughes's pen.

"Currently, my activity range in this world is confined by the black fog. It mainly consists of my old studio, extending to both sides to include several previously used meeting rooms, the locations of the game versions and testers, and parts of the two adjacent studios..."

"In terms of overall area, this space isn't very large, but all the ways out of here—elevators, corridors, and staircases—have been completely blocked off. As things stand, there's no way I can find a way out of here."

Hughes thickened the areas that met the mist on the structural diagram, and then put a big question mark over the elevator shaft that had just caused him severe mental damage. He knew that his latest exploration of this dream world had probably come to an end.

This time, he still couldn't find the strange figure he had seen when he died. It was as if the figure was just showing its face to him and pushing him through the door to Vaan.

"It wasn't a complete loss."

Hugh carefully recalled the conditions he had just seen, and soon he wrote down the ones he felt were not so harsh on the paper.

"Fifty universal gold coins... If we use some special methods, we might be able to collect them."

"A set of orthodox female noble jewelry from the Kingdom of Walter. Similarly, if I were willing to use a special method, I should be able to obtain it as well."

"Then there are some relatively inexpensive materials that can be bought in ordinary stores. If the quality of the materials is not required, we should be able to gather quite a few, but whether they can be used as exchange conditions still needs to be verified."

A moment later, Hugh arrived once again in the corner with the two strange doors. One of them was still closed, and the phrase "Black Sun Crown"—a condition that seemed extremely absurd—was always suspended above it.

The other door, depicting a giant ship being dismantled, pieced together, and reassembled, was easily pushed open by Hughes.

Just like before, he took a deep breath and then leaped into the abyss beyond the door.

……

There are seven days left until the upheaval in Seren.

As the countdown pressed on, Hugh hurriedly got up. Like a real office worker, he quickly took care of his personal hygiene, and with the hoarse chime of the magic clock, he left his house with his manuscript.

It was just past eight in the morning, and many shops had already opened. Shop assistants were actively preparing for business. Some young boys and girls with youthful faces had already picked up the latest newspapers from the newspaper office and started shouting and selling them on the street.

"Sir Writer, would you like a newspaper?"

A girl with pigtails recognized Hugh, so she skipped over and cheerfully held up a newspaper that smelled strongly of ink. She was so enthusiastic and proactive that she almost shoved the newspaper into Hugh's mouth.

The original owner of this body didn't pay much attention to current events and news; the act of buying newspapers only started after Hugh came here.

The little girl had a good business sense. She believed that if Hugh bought it once, he would definitely buy it again, so she would call out to him every time she saw him pass by.

Hughes smiled and took the newspaper, casually flicking out a coin. The girl happily caught it, then forgot about her regular customer and hurriedly turned to the other side to look for her new target.

The Peace Newspaper is the only newspaper in the city of Seren. It is not only a newspaper, but also undertakes the responsibilities and work of a magazine and a publishing house.

Just like its name, the newspapers, magazines, and even some random literary products founded by the Peace News Agency all have a very strong "Seren style," which means they are inseparable from the word "peace," as if as long as they have this name, the city of Seren can forever avoid the flames of war.

Today's "Peace Daily" features a huge magical photograph on its front page.

These photos, taken directly by the magic reporters of the Legal Committee using special equipment and magic, could preserve the dynamics of the moment of the shoot. In the photos, Hugh saw a long string of railway tracks and a steel behemoth that was baring its teeth and spitting out steam, covered with magical patterns, and inlaid with various strange weapons and high-grade magic crystals.

The caption above the photo is very eye-catching: "The latest breakthrough in the Kingdom of Walter! A complete fusion of magic and steam!"

Below the photo, there were two lines of inconspicuous small print.

"According to a public statement by the former Minister of Military Affairs of the Kingdom of Walter, in the past two years, the Kingdom of Walter's military budget has been massively shifting towards a 'new area.' Furthermore, some informed sources revealed that this decision has already garnered the attention and support of the Legal Committee..."

Hugh continued reading the newspaper as he walked.

Perhaps because he knew the future course of the world, he sensed a strong atmosphere of war between the lines of this newspaper. Whether it was the appearance of the magical war train that occupied the front page, or the local conflicts and contradictions that people would easily regard as gossip and jokes, or even the "rumors" about riots in some crystal mines that were squeezed to the corner of the newspaper...

In Hugh's eyes, these words and pictures were like flowing water, all converging into a huge pool called "Instability." Perhaps before long, this special pool would be able to nurture a terrifying monster beyond people's expectations.

Hughes read very quickly, so it didn't take him long to turn to the two pages dedicated to local news from Seren.

Seren is a small city, so there is very little news to report. In the past, it was always occupied by all kinds of gossip and strange, low-quality advertisements, with only a couple of announcements from higher-ups being released occasionally.

As Hughes expected, there was no mention of the loud noise and tremors that occurred last night in these two pages.

So Hugh put down the newspaper in his hand, squinted in the sunlight, and looked down at the street on his right—he was walking on the road that had been blocked off the night before. Now, people were coming and going, everything was normal, and there was no smell in the air that would attract attention.

Hugh's gaze swept across the buildings on both sides, hoping to determine from their appearance where the accident had occurred. However, the officers and spellcasters' ability to handle the situation far exceeded Hugh's expectations.

Just as he was about to give up, the magic disc in his mental world suddenly trembled slightly, and the meager magic power that had settled in his body became much more active as if it had been stimulated.

Guided by that vague intuition, Hugh lowered his head and looked at the exceptionally new street bricks beneath his feet.

"So... it's underground?"

He suddenly realized something.

(End of this chapter)