Duke woke up suddenly, sitting up and gasping for breath. He realized his entire body was drenched in sweat.
He wiped the sweat off his forehead and glanced at the bed; it was very clean, and the thick layer of dust had disappeared.
Looking around the room again, it was also very clean, as if nothing had happened.
Duke got out of bed, feeling the sunlight streaming in from the window was somewhat glaring.
From the rays of light, he could tell it was still daytime outside.
"How long did I actually sleep, a few minutes or a whole day?" Duke was puzzled, unable to determine the current time.
When he went to sleep, it was still the afternoon, and now it looked like not much time had passed outside, but he felt as though he had slept for a very long time.
"The woman in the dream seemed familiar..." Duke recalled the dream he just had, with a persistent feeling that the face appearing in front of the window was very familiar.
No matter how hard he tried to remember, he couldn’t recall the exact appearance, just the sense of familiarity.
He went to the door and opened it, finding himself still on Academy Island with nothing unusual.
Next door, Hanna was still hanging clothes, just as she was before he fell asleep.
He showered quickly, only taking a few minutes.
Judging by the clothes being hung out to dry, he had indeed not slept for long, maybe only two or three minutes.
At this point, Hanna had also finished hanging her clothes, picked up the wooden bucket, and prepared to go back inside. When she saw Duke, she was a bit surprised: "Duke, what happened to you? Your face is so pale, and you’ve sweated so much. Are you sick?"
Hanna came over as she spoke, with something swaying as she moved. She reached out to wipe off Duke’s sweat.
Seeing Hanna, Duke seemed to recall some terrifying memories, hurriedly backed away, and closed the door, leaving Hanna confused and a bit aggrieved.
"Why are you so disgusted with me, am I that dirty?" Hanna felt very aggrieved, with tears welling up at the corners of her eyes, and went back inside sadly.
Inside his room again, Duke finally remembered when he saw Hanna, that the pale face in his dream looked exactly like Hanna’s.
"Is Hanna an evil spirit?" Duke was a bit confused.
From a time perspective, it seemed impossible. When he fell asleep, Hanna was still outside hanging clothes, which left him puzzled about what was actually going on.
Duke thought for a moment and believed Hanna was probably not an evil spirit. Evil spirits generally have no physical form and exist as soul bodies.
He could clearly sense that Hanna was a living being of flesh and blood, emanating a strong aura of life and hormones.
If Hanna truly were an evil spirit, she couldn’t have been on Academy Island for so long without being discovered.
Black Sail is after all one of the Four Great Wizard Organizations on the West Coast; it’s unlikely they would let an evil spirit infiltrate without being noticed at all.
Duke knew how strict the security defenses of Black Sail were; even spiritual bodies could hardly get in.
"Could it be a side effect of my recent promotion?" Duke pondered.
He leaned more towards this possibility; indeed, promotions can cause some side effects, perhaps it was just a coincidence that Hanna’s image appeared in his nightmare.
After all, he had just met Hanna, then went to sleep and had a nightmare; theoretically, it was quite possible.
Thinking about this made Duke feel a bit embarrassed and guilty. He knew his earlier behavior had hurt Hanna, leaving him a bit uneasy.
After some thought, he went to Hanna’s door and knocked.
Hanna quickly opened the door, having changed into a loose-fitting top, clearly wearing only that.
"Hanna, I’m sorry, I just had a nightmare and haven’t quite recovered from it. I’m really sorry," Duke apologized.
Hanna seemed pleased to hear this, chuckling as she said, "So, was I scary in your dream? Were you that afraid of me, thinking of me as a ghost?"
"Let me show you if I’m a ghost!"
Hanna said, grabbing Duke’s hand and placing it on her chest, saying, "Feel my heartbeat?"
Duke, taken aback, felt the softness and warmth in his hand, and sensed Hanna’s heart beating.
Hanna’s bold move caught Duke off guard, but from her heartbeat, she clearly wasn’t calm either.
"This..." Duke reluctantly withdrew his hand, the sensation was indeed too good, causing some excitement in him.
Seeing Duke like this, Hanna found it quite amusing, seemingly understanding something as she said, "Seems like you haven’t experienced this before. I’m available these days, you can knock anytime at night, I’ll be waiting, whatever works for you!"
Hanna said this while licking her lips, like a ripe, tempting peach.
Scratching his head, Duke returned to his room, still wanting only to figure out what happened.
Now it seemed Hanna should be alright, but everything he just went through made him even more confused.
He thought for a bit, then sent some information to Vivian, informing her about the incidents he just experienced.
Vivian at the Thorn Holy Tower might know something more useful.
At this hour, Vivian was either in class or in the lab, and didn’t reply instantly, she usually checked the Wizard’s Mark after her afternoon classes.
Duke then went to the market area, bought several books related to evil spirits, intending to learn more about it.
Returning to his dorm with a few books, after reading a bit he felt even more puzzled.
The events he just experienced theoretically shouldn’t have much to do with evil spirits.
Because evil spirits typically don’t attack in broad daylight, even when attacking, they invade the body, not dreams.
For an evil spirit, entering a dream is like taking extra unnecessary steps.
But judging by the reaction of the Evil Spirit Crown, he indeed encountered an evil spirit.
Recalling his experience, Duke felt that what he went through probably wasn’t so simple, that there must be something more complex behind it.
Just due to a lack of knowledge about this issue, he couldn’t sort things out clearly.
A while later, Vivian sent a message.
"What you described is indeed strange; generally, once a wizard reaches the apprentice level, with our spiritual power, we almost never have nightmares. Can confirm you encountered an evil spirit, but it seems a bit extraordinary in form."
"I need to consult a teacher; perhaps they know something."
Vivian found Duke’s experience quite strange; normally a wizard wouldn’t have nightmares.
Duke recalled he hadn’t experienced such things before, it happened today coincidentally.
After some thought, it might be the side effects following a promotion, but there was another possibility.
And that is, today he fell asleep.