Zane had already figured out how to help the gentlets escape the dream shard. It was only speculation, but Zane was confident in his theory. The only thing that worried him was how he would survive in the world outside the bubble. There was no air beyond the shard's barrier—Zane would die immediately upon stepping out, or perhaps find himself trapped in yet another dream shard.
"Cozysprouts."
Zane called to the gentlet who was playfully bantering with Easyglow on the wooden chair.
"Yes, Mr. Ling."
Cozysprouts stood quickly, straight and rigid as a post.
"Do gentlets breathe?"
Zane didn't know whether these strange, human-like beings required air. He had seen Cozysprouts' clear crystalline chest before—only the dream crystal was visible there, no lungs in sight.
"Yes, Mr. Ling. As a gentlet, I can confirm that gentlets do indeed breathe."
"Interesting. So how do you breathe outside the dream shard?"
Zane wasn't surprised anymore. He had come to fully understand, over time, that nothing in this realm followed ordinary rules. The fact that gentlets could breathe without lungs was well within the realm of possibility here.
"We use air memories to breathe while outside the barrier."
Cozysprouts reached inside a small satchel wrapped around his waist and withdrew a spherical, clear glass orb that seemed to contain something within it. He then smashed the glassy sphere against the floor. The orb exploded into countless glass shards that disappeared into thin air. At the point where the glass had shattered, an empty leather bag now lay on the ground.
It looked exactly like a bag, except for the pipe that protruded from its opening, leading to what appeared to be a leather breathing mask complete with straps.
Cozysprouts reached into his satchel again and pulled out another glassy sphere, though this one appeared hollow—just an empty glass ball.
He picked up the bag, then pressed what appeared to be a concealed opening on its back surface. A hole materialized. He inserted the glass sphere into the bag through this opening, then pulled the edges of the hole outward until it sealed itself. He then used the machete-like weapon he carried to strike the bag sharply. Immediately, the bag inflated as what appeared to be air filled it completely. The bag was now fully expanded with breathable air, with no openings except the one Cozysprouts had used to insert the sphere—and even that hole had sealed itself.
Cozysprouts strapped the bag onto his back and fitted the mask over his mouth and nose. After breathing through it for several seconds, he removed the mask and pointed to his apparatus.
"We use this when traveling outside Eryndor."
Cozysprouts looked at Zane with anticipation. He was hopeful that Zane could help them escape the dream shard.
"Do you travel with just this equipment alone?"
Zane asked. He had expected something more magical, not simple air bags. The breathing apparatus only solved the oxygen problem. In a vacuum, lack of air wasn't the only threat to a human like Zane—his blood vessels could rupture due to pressure differential, causing his body to essentially explode as all his fluids were violently expelled.
"Yes, we only need these bags to travel outside the dream shard," Cozysprouts replied, thinking Zane was asking for the gentlets' benefit.
Zane's suspicion was now confirmed. These gentlets possessed tough, crystalline bodies—Zane wasn't even certain if they had body fluids. They wouldn't face the same dangers that vacuum exposure posed to organic beings.
Zane would need something like a full-body suit for protection. He immediately thought of the spacesuits astronauts wore. He visualized every detail, though it wasn't exactly like what astronauts used—it was similar in concept but different in execution. Zane had never seen an astronaut's suit up close; he had only watched them on television. The suit he imagined was based purely on his own creativity, with only slight inspiration from what he remembered of space gear. He mentally adjusted the design to accommodate the gentlets' air bag system. Zane planned to use their breathing apparatus since he couldn't think of an alternative—though he could have purchased something through his system, that would require more intensive thinking.
Zane didn't enjoy taxing his brain unnecessarily. It was exhausting. He had endured years of schooling; now that he had his system, he no longer needed formal education. Zane only engaged his mind when absolutely necessary, and right now he had a simpler option available.
Zane initiated the transaction—the suit cost only 3 supreme points. He summoned the Inventory Grimoire and withdrew the suit from its pages.
"Can you give me one of those breathing systems?"
Zane asked, pointing to Cozysprouts' apparatus.
"Yes, Mr. Ling."
Cozysprouts repeated the same process he had demonstrated minutes earlier, creating a fresh air bag system.
He handed the breathing apparatus to Zane. Zane strapped the bag onto his back and placed the mask over his mouth and nose. As he began breathing the stored air, he experienced the same sensation as before—the air didn't feel entirely real, yet it was somehow perfectly breathable.
Zane then began the lengthy process of donning the suit. The complex garment took a frustrating ten minutes to put on properly.
I should have designed it to be easier to wear, Zane thought after finally managing to get the suit on correctly.
He then looked at the other four gentlets who sat on chairs beside the grill.
"You should put on your air bags as well."
Zane's voice was muffled by the suit, and he had to speak more forcefully than usual for them to hear him clearly. Zane wasn't even sure if "air bags" was the correct term, but he had decided to call them that. The gentlets understood his meaning. They too had small satchels at their waists. Zane briefly wondered what else might be contained in those pouches, but he didn't pursue the thought. They probably contained other interesting items, though nothing interesting enough to capture his full attention. He simply wanted to leave this tediously boring dream shard and explore more of the realm he had willingly chosen to visit.
In less than five minutes, all the gentlets were equipped with their breathing apparatus. It was time to depart.
Zane placed the grill, the recliner chair, the cooking pot, and three large pieces of dream eater flesh into his Inventory Grimoire. His storage space was now completely full.
The remaining items are too cheap to concern myself with. I'll just leave them here, Zane thought as he looked toward Cozysprouts.
"Come here."
Zane spoke in his muffled voice, gesturing to the space directly in front of him. Cozysprouts immediately moved to that position and stood before Zane.
"Give me your hands."
Zane extended his palms forward. Cozysprouts reached out and offered his hands. Zane grasped them firmly for approximately ten seconds before releasing them.
"I have given you the ability to pass through the barrier."
The truth was that Zane hadn't actually given Cozysprouts any special ability. Zane believed that the gentlets were imprisoned in the shard only by their own beliefs—they were confined simply because they thought they were. Zane had reached this conclusion through careful observation of his own situation.
When Zane had first entered this realm, he had seen a fake sun, breathed artificial air, and felt simulated gravity. These phenomena hadn't initially led him to his realization, but when he had observed buildings and forests on the distant horizon, they had looked exactly as he had imagined this realm might appear. However, when Zane recognized that everything was illusory, these distant features had all vanished.
Zane had been pondering the reason for this strange occurrence ever since he had awakened in the Ashburn dream. He had concluded that everything was a materialization of his own beliefs and expectations.
The gentlets had gradually led him to this understanding. When Cozysprouts had mentioned that memories could be harvested and had referred to the strange bubbles as "dream bubbles," Zane had finally reached his conclusion.
This realm had something to do with dreams. These dreams consumed memories to materialize themselves as tangible aspects of this world.
Memories were intangible by nature—harvesting them would require some method of making them physically real. His memory of the sun had become blurred and faded after his encounter with the dream realm's true nature. This only meant the realm had used his memory of the sun to manifest the sun in the realm.
Gravity and breathing remained consistent because they were so fundamental to Zane's existence that he never consciously focused on remembering them, so their "memory reality" persisted. But still, the world had used his memory of them to manifest them into reality. This was based on Zane's natural reflex to breathe and the feeling of gravity he was used to on Earth.
The trees and buildings he had seen weren't based on memory but on his expectations of what such a realm should contain. Zane had been wondering how the world inside the realm would look. he'd imagined seeing forests and buildings just as he'd seen when he arrived.
Zane had concluded that the sun, air, gravity, trees, and buildings had materialized purely through the power of belief. If he was truly in some other dimension entirely, then why could he also perceive the dream bubbles and the oceanic ground of this realm?
Belief was the only explanation that made sense. This realm operated by completely different rules than any normal world. Memories could be harvested and utilized; beliefs could literally become reality. He also suspected that the barrier around their shard wasn't actually real—when his hands had passed through it earlier, this had confirmed his theory. Air and smoke from their grill couldn't pass through the barrier because they lacked the sentience necessary to believe the barrier was permeable.
Still, Zane had more questions than answers. He didn't know how he had entered a dream bubble or why there was air in the dream shard. He also didn't know why the strength of the connection strand to this realm had increased after he arrived.
Zane watched as Cozysprouts approached the barrier and, exactly as Zane had predicted, passed through it effortlessly. Zane had successfully instilled the belief that Cozysprouts possessed the ability to penetrate the wall, and sure enough, he did. Zane had chosen to begin with Cozysprouts because this particular gentlet believed in Zane's power more completely than the others. Zane suspected the remaining gentlets might harbor doubts about his abilities, which could cause them to fail and ruin all his efforts. This concern applied especially to Blendriad, who seemed to be an entirely different type of individual altogether.
Seeing Cozysprouts successfully pass through the barrier, Zane smiled with satisfaction. He then called the other gentlets forward, one by one, "granting" them the same non-existent ability to pass through the barrier that was simultaneously both real and fake.
Soon enough, everyone had exited the barrier, including Zane himself. It was now time to journey toward Eryndor, though Zane had no idea where Eryndor was located. All he could see was the endless expanse of the multicolored oceanic ground stretching in every direction, and the vast assortment of dream bubbles floating at various heights in the sky above them.
The journey to find their destination was about to begin.