Damiano lowered his head without replying and simply kept eating.
Andre's words were clear: don't even think about entering a nightmare.
He couldn't blame the guy for thinking that way, and even if it sounded hypocritical coming from him, he also didn't want any member of his family to enter a nightmare.
He had entered one… and he wouldn't wish it on anyone.
In fact, even though the rewards had been incredible, Damiano didn't feel ready to enter another nightmare.
He had to prepare himself very well if he wanted to try again.
Damiano spent the rest of the day doing nothing. He devoted himself to watching any series or movie that he found remotely interesting.
He is a lover of cinema, and precisely because of that he was so well informed about the plot of Final Destination.
In fact… he hadn't stopped to think about why a nightmare was exactly the same as a movie from his previous world.
Was it a coincidence, or…
Damiano shook his head. He couldn't put silly ideas in his head and act according to them.
He had to be intelligent and cautious with these things.
Damiano flipped through TV channels with the remote in hand, completely uninterested.
There were many biographical films about the first Sleepers and their battles, which, although incredible, he had already seen again and again.
The film industry in this world was far behind due to many different reasons.
Such as, for example… the fall of many nations due to a nightmare, or the dictatorship of a Sleeper with delusions of grandeur.
Plagues, political changes, new religions and the fall or depravity of the old ones… the arrival of nightmares to this world had been an apocalyptic and terrifying event.
Nowadays, and after more than 50 years since those events, things seemed to have calmed down a lot, and the long-awaited peace had arrived in society.
Damiano got bored of the television and locked himself in his room.
Out of curiosity, he wanted to check the new functions in the nightmare system. Even though he didn't plan to enter one in the short term, it wasn't bad to get informed first.
All information about nightmares and their functions was restricted for ordinary civilians. Governments wanted to prevent people from feeling attracted to this supernatural power.
The first thing he checked was the Sleeper forum.
[To enter the forum, you must create an alias.]
Damiano thought about it for several good minutes. He wanted a name that sounded epic and imposing but without seeming too chūnibyō or ridiculous.
It also had to be an easy name to remember and not common, so it wouldn't already be taken.
He thought of several names from different mythologies until one came to his mind and he couldn't get it out of his head.
With shining eyes, he filled in the alias space with the name: Amon.
Just the name made a shiver of excitement run through him. He remembered how every time that name appeared in Lord of the Mysteries, it meant things were about to spiral out of control.
Every time a character pulled out a monocle, Damiano's heart would stop from fear and excitement.
Powerful, cunning, and terrifying—truly worthy of the title of god of deception.
Besides that, Amon was also the name of an ancient Egyptian deity.
Not only that, Amon's appearance was somewhat similar to Damiano's, with his black hair and black eyes.
Lastly, the name Amon was very short, and all of its letters were even found within his own name, Damiano.
The name Amon was accepted without any problem by the nightmare system.
Before his eyes appeared a platform styled like a discussion forum.
It was very well divided into sections.
General forum
Nightmare discussion forum
Ranking
Upon entering the general forum, he found several threads of general information about the nightmare system.
It looked like a small manual or set of instructions that veterans had left behind for newcomers.
Damiano opened a thread that seemed especially famous and had many replies.
[What are nightmares? Guide to surviving your first nightmares.]
The post was written by a Sleeper called Wandering Wind.
What are nightmares?
I think this is the question we all ask ourselves at some point in our lives.
Nightmares arrived in our world on an ordinary day, without an apparent reason or explanation. They have no scientific basis, not even from the point of view of parallel universes.
We have learned to treat this phenomenon as a paranormal activity and try to survive it.
What is certain is that the nightmare seems to be designed to closely resemble a game… a very sadistic and twisted game where we gamble our lives.
Why do I say it seems like a game?
Simple. We all have stats and skills. We enter nightmares with a specific mission and receive grades depending on our actions within the nightmares.
We even receive rewards!
This urges us to do better each time, to risk our lives for better rewards.
Among the rewards are stat points.
They are the most common to receive, but they are never enough.
Then there are nightmare points. These are used to buy special items or skills in the nightmare shop.
Always remember to spend your points wisely.
Lastly, and in very rare cases, when we perform exceptionally well, we receive skills.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the skills or talents we naturally have can also appear in our status.
Returning to the topic.
Aside from these mechanics that clearly reference a game, we have rankings.
If you entered the forum directly and haven't had time to check the rankings, there's nothing particularly special about them.
The nightmare system manages both a regional and a global ranking. They list the 10,000 most powerful and dangerous Sleepers in each area.
How does the system create this ranking and what is it based on? We are still ignorant of that fact.
But one thing is true… any Sleeper on these rankings is a force to be reckoned with.
And last but not least… we have the Highlight Reels.
Surely all of us have seen one at some point in our lives.
They are compilations of the best performances of Sleepers throughout the year.
The sadistic thing about the Highlight Reels is that they are not exclusive to us Sleepers; they are broadcast to everyone on the planet.
This encourages many people to enter nightmares inspired by these images, without knowing the horrors that await them inside.
These are my reasons for thinking that we are inside a great sadistic game… perhaps some great cosmic deity is entertaining itself with our performances.
Damiano stared in mute silence.
The thread continued with recommendations and warnings about entering a nightmare, but Damiano could no longer keep reading.
Wandering Wind's idea struck very deeply within him.
Nightmares are a game!