Chapter 900 — Interleaved Mapping
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
"...Day X of Month X. I have come again to the Shadow Realm, in the form of a 'shadow soul.' After wandering for a time, I finally caught the scent of the Shadow Dwellers once more... wish me luck.
"I have succeeded! I have just completed a successful contact! I stood before that creature wrapped all in cloth, open and unafraid, no conflict breaking out, everything proceeding smoothly—the creature seemed intensely curious about me. It circled me for quite a while, yet in the end did not attack, and then it began to mutter strange phrases at me... I must emphasize these phrases: this is the language of the Shadow Dwellers. When we clashed before, they often muttered such dreamlike sounds, but then I could not understand them at all. Now, however, the situation seems to have changed—perhaps because of the 'shadow soul,' I find that I can vaguely grasp their meaning!
"I shall need time to decipher the Shadow Dwellers' language and to establish good relations with some of them. They possess intellect and memory, and they have emotions and logic too—though they seem unlike humans, I have truly experienced their emotions, and so good relations will be crucial to the next stage..."
Gao Yang slowly turned the pages. What followed was a rather tedious stretch of record; Mo Jin Wilde wrote at great length here, for clearly this wondrous adventure in the Shadow Realm had meant much to him. And soon his record arrived at the more crucial part:
"...I have stayed in this world for quite a long while now, only occasionally returning to replenish soul energy and confirm the state of the material world (chiefly old Malfoy's state of mind—he is rather tense while watching over my body, and I fear that if I fail to appear for too long he will bury me). As for now, I must record my progress here.
"I can already communicate with the Shadow Dwellers, relatively fluently.
"Surprisingly, these Shadow Dwellers, when in a communicable state, are actually rather... friendly. They are not the utterly alienated, fierce and savage creatures I imagined. In fact, they are even somewhat... languid and sluggish. Those are the only words I can find to describe them, for every Shadow Dweller I have encountered—when not attacking me—displayed similar traits. They wander this world in a dazed haze, their thoughts slow, their daily lives devoid of richness. They seem not to concern themselves with the world's changes, nor to think much about their own affairs. Though they do possess wisdom, they spend most of their time not using it—which is, I must say, quite a carefree way to be.
"Of course, when they fly into a rage it is another matter entirely... since I have already recorded the relevant details, I shall say no more here.
"In sum, the Shadow Dwellers give me the impression of... sleepwalking. They seem immersed in a half-waking dream and wander because of it, yet their 'sleepwalking' is shallower than that of humans. They can communicate with me; so long as I take the initiative to reach out and repeat my questions, some Shadow Dweller will offer an interpretation. Though their interpretations are often dazed and muddled, at least I can be certain they are communicating with me.
"I cannot help but wonder: is this 'sleepwalking' a normal trait of the Shadow Dwellers as a race? Is this how they are when lucid? Or... have I merely encountered half-waking Shadow Dwellers, and do they possess another state of being fully 'awake'...? I am uncertain of this, and uncertain whether 'waking' them would be a good idea, so I have made no further attempt.
"After many exchanges, I have learned some fascinating knowledge from these shadow creatures—knowledge grounded in their worldview. They clearly know of the material world, but they call our material world the 'Shallow Realm,' an odd name. It took me a long time to grasp its meaning... the shallow world? Interesting.