"Hmm? Where am I?"
Max found himself standing in a dark street. It was so dark that it was only because of the barely functioning street lights that he was able to have a vision of his surroundings.
Houses that were closed for the night with dim lights coming out of their windows and cars parked by the side of the road were the only thing he can see around him.
"What is this place?"
Even though he see houses and cars everywhere, he couldn't see a single person. Max walked a few feet away from where he was standing, carefully checking his surroundings.
He was starting to feel nervous as the whole area was so still he wasn't picking any sound. Only the sounds of his footsteps reach his ears.
His mind was confused, not knowing what to do. His breathing was slowly becoming faster and faster while his thoughts were getting crazier and crazier.
[Max!]
"Ouch!"
Max was so surprised that he instantly jumped away from the voice that suddenly sounded out right behind his ear, falling straight to the ground.
"W-Who is that?"
"Little Dou? Is that you?"
[Yes! It's me!]
"Haaah!"
"Where are we? This place is so creepy!"
[Huh? Don't you remember?]
"What?"
[We're in your dream!]
"My dream? My dream. Dream. Dream?"
"Oh, I remember! We're in my dream!"
It took him a couple of seconds to recall what was happening. For some reason, it never came into his mind that they were in his dream.
He was a bit creeped out about why did he suddenly forgot about it. Like he wasn't supposed to remember it.
Seeing Max furrowing his brows, seriously thinking about something, Little Dou had an idea what was on his mind,
[Don't think too much about it! You forgot about it because you were supposed to. If I didn't tell you, you wouldn't even notice that you forgot something!]
"Why am I supposed to forget about it?"
[Because when you are dreaming, you don't suddenly remember what you were doing in real life right?]
[Basically, you can't think clearly in your dream!]
"That's right! So that was the case. I thought there was a problem with my head!"
Taking a deep breath, Max stood up, warily looking at his surroundings,
"Where are we exactly? Is this really my dream?"
[Behold! This is the Dream Realm! Where people go to every time they sleep!]
"But I've never been here."
Tilting his head, Max didn't completely grasp what Little Dou was saying.
[You have! Everyone has! All people, every time they sleep, go here!]
[It's just that you don't remember! But now you are aware of your dreams, you will remember this conversation even after you wake up!]
Now Max was slowly remembering everything that happened before this.
When Little Dou said he will experience the effect of the Dream Awareness Skill right way after sleeping, they only talked about a few things before going to bed.
Yu'er told him to tell her the next day what happens when he sleeps and didn't forget to warn him to be careful.
Max laid down and closed his eyes. Thinking about his skill again and again in his mind made him stay awake for a longer time.
Continuing to close his eyes, wanting to fall asleep, he suddenly found himself in this place, not remembering anything.
...
Max and Little Dou walked across the silent street until they reached the end of it.
"Woah! This?"
[Wahhh!]
What they saw was completely different from the dark and silent street behind them.
Tall buildings with colorful lights can be seen everywhere. The place was full of people wandering all over the place.
The place appeared to look like a normal lively city at night. Behind them were the creepy street that was dark and scary but in front of them was a city full of people!
Everyone looked like they didn't find this weird at all. It was like two different places were connected, Max didn't feel any difference between them except how the place looked.
"This looks so real!"
As he was really curious, Max came up to a man who was moving in front of him.
"Uhm. Excuse me!"
"Yes?"
The man looked back at him. The man perfectly acted like a normal person. Black hair and a kind face, Max couldn't find any reason to think the man wasn't real.
"What time is it?"
"Oh, it's night time!"
The man smiled at him and turned to go back in his own way, not waiting for Max to respond.
"..."
"Is it just me? Or that was a little bit weird?"
[Don't mind it! This is a dream after all!]
"So that was really weird."
"What do I do now?"
Max scanned the entire place. It was so massive that he couldn't see the end of it.
[Anything!]
[Whatever you want!]
[If you want to go out of this place, you can do that too!]
[At that time, you will wake up and see that it will be morning outside already!]
[So are you going to wake up now?]
"No way! I'll explore this place first!"
Max observed everything that he can see. This looks like the real world but not completely, like the brand of cars or the name of the buildings sometimes doesn't make sense.
An idea suddenly came to his mind,
"What?!"
Max used his Reverse Time Skill and it worked like usual but he noticed something unusual.
"The area of effect of the skill was the same but I don't feel any of my energy being used?!"
"I can't feel it being used at all. It's like I can maintain it permanently!"
[Don't be surprised! This is the Dream Realm! Where people's imagination comes true!]
[But don't misunderstand, that doesn't mean they're real. Like probably less than one percent of people here were actually real!]
[Hehe! How is it? Just like I said, this skill is so cool, right? Right?]
[Ahahaha! This place is fun! You should also enjoy it!]
Little Dou flew around the place, trailing behind her were shining lights. Her hair and skin were also slightly glowing. She looked like a star in the sky.
Max watched Little Dou as she flew everywhere. Looking at her having so much fun, he realized that it must be her first time coming here, just like him.
She had the knowledge of this place from the System but has never been able to come here as Max wasn't aware of himself in his dreams.
That means the System couldn't join him inside because his mind couldn't process thoughts properly in here and it might result in poor decisions.
But now that he can think clearly, the System was able to follow him as it determined that he was the same Max in real life.
Max smiled while watching Little Dou enjoy herself. He decided to wait for her before exploring around the city.
After a few minutes of playing, both of them walked out to the busy streets filled with lights.
"Hey, do you know how I can bring my sister here?"
Max thought that it would be great if his sister can see all of this. She would be really happy and have so much fun here.
[I don't know. I think if you have the Magical Space, you can do it!]
[All I know was bringing people here should be impossible but the magical space in itself should also impossible! It was made to be a cheat that has no restrictions so the space should be able to do it!]
"Huh? Wait! My Inventory isn't working!"
"My skills were supposed to work here right?!"