[Accessing the Dream Realm!]
[Good Luck!]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Jack awoke to the chirping of birds, warm sun rays falling unto his face.
”You’re finally awake! Are you trying to slack off once again! C’mon, it’s time to hunt. Follow me!” His Nord companion stood by his side with a teasing grin.
They were in the Nord Village, but it was utterly different from what he had seen. Instead of Igloos, there were palaces of ice all over, residents waving on his passage.
They soon reached the edge of the village, that one sentry waving at them. “You guys sure took your time! Slowest hunter washes dishes tonight, hahaha!” He bolted away laughing.
Pfft— As if an illusion of this level would affect….
”You coming, slowpoke?! What are you waiting for!” The Nord’s cry brought Jack to his senses.
Right, what was he daydreaming about? Jack ignored the strange feeling as he ran after his two brothers. It was a given not to abandon family, even on a hunting trip!
—
Somewhere in the dream realm, an ethereal Curse trembled with satisfaction. It had already found this newcomer’s weakness: Family.
It had cleverly tweaked their memories to make the human brother with the two other Nords. Thus the man’s fate had been sealed, forever a prisoner of the dream.
In the peaceful dream realm, the Curse kept growing stronger.
—
Jack had never been so happy.
He proudly strutted as he brought an enormous snow elk back to the village. On the way, everyone exclaimed in admiration, already excited about the feast to come.
They all gathered around a huge campfire, roasting the meat until it gave a golden glow. His brother chuckled, slapping his back as he pointed to the shy village girls.
”Hehe, look like you’re popular!”
One approached while twirling her fingers, her face flushed.
”J-Jack, w-would you h-help me with practicing my dancing?” She asked while pointing at the few people already shaking their bodies.
There was much rejoicing, lots of eating, drinking, and a lovely girl nesting in his embrace. This life was simple yet beautiful, with nothing left to be desired.
Soon a peaceful night fell on the village, every soul resting before another full day of joyful living. Jack was the same: he had already completely acclimated.
Not only did he not resist this life, but he embraced it. It didn’t take long for days to pass, succeeding one another.
From time to time, the Curse would check up on its flock. There was no problem whatsoever with anyone, not even Jack. He had genuinely fallen for the dream: he wasn’t faking.
Days turned into weeks, with Jack enjoying himself more and more.
Still, something was missing from it all. It wasn’t a big deal, but the quiet village needed a little something extra to be a true paradise.
What made the Curse so hard to extricate oneself from was its ability to evolve. Yet, it always felt real enough never to feel fake and empty.
Jack started having fun with a few side projects.
First, he started by renovating the village, making a few additions to render it more entertaining, nothing too big.
He started with a casino: the villagers loved to bet on the outcome of the hunts. They had already been doing it: he just made it more organized.
Then he added a coliseum. It was pretty much a giant Igloo without a roof where people could sit. This allowed everyone to compete and improve by fighting one another.
Afterward came the racetrack. They would use a “sled” to slide down a snowy hill. They found joy in the speed rush, plus it was another thing to bet on.
Then he introduced a French Fry stand. By heating fat from various monsters, they could get an amazingly delicious snack that quickly became extremely popular.
He even introduced a “Titty Bar” where warriors of both genders would showcase their resistance to the frost as they went around almost naked in the snow. #Totally training
Eventually, there started to be a lot of stuff to do. That’s when Jack introduced the concept of a subway to go from attraction to attraction.
By that point, the village looked slightly weird, but the people were happy, and happy people gave good dream energy, only making the Curse stronger…it didn’t react.
But, Jack was far from done.
He soon got bored with something so simple. In a matter of a few days, he brought the village through a few centuries of progress.
— Ding! Ding! Buy one get one for free! —
— Snow Cap! Worn by Winners! —
— Endorsed by Jack’O! —
In the quiet and not-so-tiny village, glowing advertisement billboards showcased slogans as they sold whatever product. But, Jack still wasn’t satisfied.
A few days later, he added a few red Apocalypse-looking gates. They led to other areas of the multiverse. They were plastered with warnings and travel agency ads.
At this point, the villagers started to question Jack’s process slightly.
”B-brother, what’s this? Why does it look so ominous?!”
”It says this one leads to a burning Hell….”
But he kept reassuring them that everything was going to be fine. There was no need to worry too much about it.
It didn’t take long for the villagers to conquer the multiverse, Jack soon becoming renowned as the Demon King universe-wide. #Totally Hunting Training
Things still felt boring….
This time he created a VR game, calling it Infinite 2.0. Many villagers wanted to know what had happened to the first Infinite version. He told them not to worry about it.
Before long, every villager was diving into the new VR. They kinda liked it, especially when he added the function to create their own personal universe in-game.
More and more instances were created…
Infinite NPC —> Playing Infinite 2.0 —> Creating Infinite 3.0 In-game
Then he gave them the ability to populate their newly built world with their own NPCs, giving the latter the ability to create their world too…the process kept repeating.
”Don’t you feel something is wrong with this world?!”
”Wow, Infinite 132 154 562 is pretty neat!”
”Is this really our village?!”
The older peeps glanced at the glowing steel Metropolis the size of a planet with aching hearts. Where had their simple village gone? Depression —> Loss of power
Meanwhile, the youngsters drew infinite power from the Curse in their quest to create infinite replicas of Infinite. Consumption > Power Generated
That’s when the Curse realized that something was terribly wrong, finally noticing the mess Jack had made. For the first time, it felt fury…
[You’ve Managed to Anger a Curse?!]
[The Curse is Awakening!]
[Get Ready!]