It was still the same valley, gloomy woods, and faint smell of earth. Everything that appeared in front of Benjamin looked slightly familiar, but difficult to identify. The only thing that was certain was that he had returned to the real world.
It should be... the real world, right
This time the hallucination was a bit scary, so lifelike that even the system didn't find any flaws. Benjamin didn't know when they entered the illusion, and where the entire memory part started to become true and where it started to become false.
If it weren't for the help of the "emptiness" state, he wouldn't even be able to escape from it.
However, when he came back to his senses and turned his attention to the real world. He found that he was falling to the ground, as if he had just woken up from sleep, with some grit on his face.
At the same time, an ethereal singing sound seemed to be heard in the distance.
The singing sounds quite ethereal, like the meaningless murmur of some kind of creature, giving people an illusory feeling, as if this singing is just an auditory hallucination produced by people in a trance.
"This is… "
Hearing the strange singing, Benjamin quickly stood up from the ground and turned around to look. However, just at that moment, the singing stopped suddenly, as if it had never appeared. Even if Benjamin deployed the water element perception method and looked around, he couldn't find anything.
Suddenly, Benjamin looked a little stunned.
what's the situation
"Did you hear that burst of singing? Don't tell me what kind of hallucination this is." He asked the system in his mind.
"I... heard it." The system replied hesitantly.
After thinking for a while, Benjamin continued: "You should record it and play back the sound for me. This thing is weird."
"Okay, I'll try."
Along with the mechanical sound of the system, the singing voice was soon intercepted into audio and played in Benjamin's mind.
However, the strange thing is that when the system replays the song that originally sounded ethereal, it sounds like the deep roar of some kind of beast. Not to mention the original sense of illusion, there is no sense of "singing" at all. It's noisy and ordinary up there.
Benjamin looked puzzled again.
"Are you sure you put it right?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Really not, it recorded this audio." The system also seemed confused, "I don't know why it turned into this ghost when it was broadcast."
"… All right."
Benjamin mused.
It seems that there is something fishy about this valley being named the Valley of the Abyss.
The system is still wondering why it failed to detect the hallucination, and wonders if it might have been poisoned. Therefore, it told Benjamin that it was going to kill the poison and then disappeared. When Benjamin heard this, he could only shake his head and put aside the matter of studying the singing.
He turned his attention to the other mages who were fainting on the ground.
After counting, all the mages in the team are still there, lying on the ground around them, and there are no shortage of them. Seeing this, Benjamin breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, he began to observe the nearby environment, trying to confirm when they fell into hallucinations. As a result, he discovered that it was very close to their camp in the morning!
Benjamin suddenly got goosebumps.
In other words, after they finished breakfast in the morning, packed their things, and just took a few steps, they unknowingly fell into that weird illusion. Andy came over to discuss potions with him, running into mercenaries being chased by strange snakes, the mutations of animals in the valley... a series of things, all of which were just their hallucinations.
It's so weird...
At that moment, he even began to feel a sense of Inception-style confusion, wanting to spin the top with a spinning top to see if he was real or an illusion.
However, taking a deep breath, he still strengthened his mind and put these thoughts behind him.
Don't think about those things. The more you think about them, the more confused you will become. Let's wake everyone up first.
Therefore, he chanted a spell and summoned a large healing water ball. He slapped the water polo onto the mages, and with this slap, the mages who had been unconscious finally reacted, struggled, and gradually woke up.
"Fa... what happened?"
Benjamin waited until they all woke up and then began to explain to them what had just happened.
However, what is surprising is that they have no memory of everything that happened in the fantasy world. When Benjamin said this, they just stared and looked confused, not understanding what Benjamin was talking about.
And their memory is that not long after setting off in the morning, everyone lost their consciousness while walking on the road without knowing what happened.
Seeing this, Benjamin could only shake his head helplessly.
That ethereal singing became much more mysterious in his mind.
What on earth is making the sound? Could it be that there are some strange creatures in this valley? What is their purpose? Are the previous missing legends related to them
Benjamin was a little curious, but he didn't have time to explore this. After the incident just now, the entire Valley of the Abyss now seemed a bit weird to him, and the danger factor had risen sharply.
Who knows what weird things we might encounter next? He felt that it was best for them to leave this place quickly.
Therefore, after sorting out the team, Benjamin led everyone forward with a vigilant heart.
"Wait... there's someone in front."
However, after walking for a while, Benjamin actually discovered the five mercenaries in the bushes not far away.
The familiar mercenaries also fainted there, motionless. It seemed that they were not part of the illusion, but real people who were just caught up in the same illusion.
After thinking for a while, Benjamin made another water balloon and woke them up.
"Ah...here...you, you are..."
Needless to say, they also have amnesia and cannot remember what happened in the illusion.
Before the other party could ask various questions, Benjamin interrupted them and said: "Hello, we are mages passing by here. We woke you up when we saw you fainting here. Look at your appearance, you He must be a mercenary, and he is very familiar with Riley City. Can you be our tour guide and take us there? We are quite capable, and if we encounter danger on the road, we can also help."
Several mercenaries looked a little confused.
"Um... hello, we are indeed mercenaries from Riley City." The mercenary carrying the crossbow scratched his head and looked unconcerned, "What happened? We..."
"You fainted. You may have been attacked by something. I don't know." Benjamin immediately said, "This place is very weird. I think we'd better get out of here quickly."
"Ah... w-why?"
"What? You all fainted here for no reason, do you still want to stay here?"
"... It seems... like this."
Just like that, under Benjamin's strong command, the five confused mercenaries also joined the team. They then set off towards the exit of the valley.
Riley City is the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild, and it is also a fairly large city in Freeden. Benjamin had originally intended to go there, and these mercenaries also said in the fantasy that they were from Riley City. Anyway, it’s easy to find a tour guide.
Correspondingly, operating with a few indigenous mercenaries can also reduce the possibility of them being suspected of smuggling.
As for what happened in the illusion, he was too lazy to explain it to these people. Anyway, I can’t explain it clearly, so let’s just leave it like this, he alone knows the secret of the illusion and the song, and the others can just live innocently.
On the road.
"Teacher Benjamin." Andy came over, patted Benjamin on the shoulder, and said hesitantly, "That...our..."
Before he could continue, Benjamin continued his words and said calmly: "I know that your potion materials are almost exhausted. Don't worry, I will take care of everything when we get to the town."
Andy was stunned.
"How did you know I was going to say this?"
Benjamin smiled: "Because you have said it before in the illusion."
"What?"
Benjamin shook his head and said, "No, it's nothing. You should have a good rest."
"…Okay, okay."
With a question mark on his face, Andy stupidly returned to the team.