Chatty Hollywood

"As you guessed, the me here is indeed not entirely an image conjured by your subconscious mind."

The old ghost explained to Charlotte with a scholarly look,

"This is a phantom that I secretly left in your consciousness before I was eliminated by you."

"phantom!?"

"Yes."

The old ghost nodded,

"As I told you first, ghosts do not have their own brains. Therefore, if we want to think rationally, we must borrow other people's brains - when I teach you, what I borrow many times is actually your brain. ."

"And you took the opportunity to leave something in my mind?"

Charlotte understood;

"Like this image now?"

"That's right."

The old ghost smiled and said,

"This influence, and even the power that guided your subconscious to create this dream, is actually a protective door I left for you."

"Protect the door!?"

Charlotte was a little confused;

"Are you saying that by leaving an influence, you want to prevent me from coming into contact with something?"

"Yes."

The old ghost nodded,

"What I want to prevent you from contacting is the abyss of consciousness!"

"The abyss of consciousness!?"

Hearing this unfamiliar word, the name of the Lord of the Abyss suddenly flashed in Charlotte's mind.

"What do you mean by the abyss of consciousness?"

"That's what you're going to explore now!"

The old ghost pointed around,

"According to what you said, you are planning to explore the depths of the dream, right?"

"Yes."

Charlotte nodded and admitted,

"As I said before, I traveled to a world that is very similar to the original world, but different."

"In this world, I can finally practice magic, find the woman I like, and start a family - I'm afraid of losing these, so I want to know the secret of time travel."

"Because it seems to me that there is something hidden in my time travel."

"So, I plan to explore the deep dreams to find the feeling and hidden memories of the moment of time travel, and see if I can find anything."

Having said this, Charlotte looked at the old ghost with some expectancy,

"Old ghost, do you know something?"

"Don't expect too much from me!"

The old ghost sighed,

"As I just told you, the person I am now is just an image left by the old ghost in your subconscious. The fact that I can talk to you is just a little bit of power left by the real old ghost and your subconscious. The result of the interaction.”

"So, I'm essentially talking to myself now?"

Charlotte said a little depressed,

"I can't get any useful answers from you?"

"Yes and no."

"Old Ghost"'s words are a bit ambiguous.

"As for what you call time travel, if you can't figure it out yourself, then I can't do anything about it. However, I can tell you something about the "abyss of consciousness" I just mentioned - this is the real old ghost. The last thing I want to tell you!"

"Yeah?"

Charlotte nodded,

"Then tell me what this abyss of consciousness is all about?"

"As the name suggests, the abyss of consciousness is the abyss of human consciousness!"

"Old Ghost" explained,

"However, this abyss does not exist in one person's consciousness, but in the consciousness of everyone - the consciousness of everyone, even other creatures, is connected to this abyss of consciousness at the deepest level."

"Sea of ​​Consciousness!?"

The old ghost's statement that everyone's consciousness is connected to the same place reminded Charlotte of the term "Sea of ​​Consciousness."

The old ghost nodded,

"There is also such a saying, but compared to the mysterious but extremely vast ocean, I still think that the description of the mysterious and terrifying abyss is more appropriate."

"It's up to you!"

Charlotte shrugged.

"According to your statement, you want to prevent me from contacting the abyss of consciousness - but if your statement is correct, isn't the consciousness of each of us actually connected to the abyss of consciousness?"

"That kind of connection is not contact!"

The old ghost shook his head,

"According to what you just said about the "sea of ​​consciousness", everyone's consciousness is actually a small island above the sea - on this small island, you can neither see the abyss under the sea nor feel the horror of the abyss. ."

"So, only by going deep into the sea can we understand the horror of the abyss, right?"

Charlotte understood somewhat;

"And my continuous exploration into the deeper layers of dreams is equivalent to walking on an island in the sea of ​​subconsciousness and diving into the deep sea, right?"

"Yes."

The old ghost nodded,

"If you continue to explore, you will soon enter the true abyss of consciousness."

"But why?"

Charlotte said puzzledly,

"Why do you want to stop me from exploring the abyss of consciousness?"

"If I guess correctly, the consciousness of many powerful and rational ghosts is actually hidden in the abyss of consciousness, right?"

"Just like the ghosts and monsters with names in myths and legends that we mentioned before, you said before that their consciousness is hidden in the consciousness that everyone is connected to. In fact, it is also in the abyss of consciousness, right?"

——Just like Alexis, the Valkyrie, and River, the weakling version of the Headless Horseman.

Charlotte thought to herself,

"The consciousness of the ghosts should be in the sea of ​​consciousness or what you call the abyss of consciousness, right? Since I can fight those ghosts, why can't I contact the abyss of consciousness like those ghosts?"

"Do you want to swim with the fish?"

The old ghost asked back,

"Ghosts are like fish living in water. We can't feel the difference between the water and the outside world. Although we are used to the abyss of consciousness, we have no actual feeling."

"Moreover, even ghosts will not go deep into the depths of the sea of ​​consciousness and face the real abyss of consciousness."

"In fact, most ghosts cannot feel the existence of the abyss of consciousness at all - in this regard, there is actually no difference between us and living people."

"Whether it is a ghost or a living person, it is easy to get lost if you go too deep into the abyss of consciousness at the bottom of the sea of ​​consciousness."

"Is that why you want to stop me?"

Charlotte understood;

"Using this dream to create the so-called safety door is actually to trap me and stop me from exploring further?"

"That's what I expected!"

The old ghost smiled bitterly and said,

"But if you can listen, it won't be you - your curiosity about spells allows you to insist on learning spells, and it also makes it impossible for me to stop you now, right?"

"It seems you still understand me very well, old ghost?"

"You can also say that you understand yourself."

The old ghost shook his head,

"After all, I just left some images and information in your subconscious mind. The rest of the analysis can be said to be your subconscious behavior."

"Yeah?"

Charlotte sighed with a strange look on her face;

"Well, since you know you can't stop me, why are you telling me this now?"

"Well..."