Quietly observing the swirling clouds in the distance filled with a sense of both anticipation and unease, Scaly watched as the swirling clouds slowly changed. Shifting down towards the clouds below that were far more difficult to observe from where she was watching. Soon enough disappearing entirely from sight. Only the sounds of the swirling winds around her making her certain that the monster or creature hidden in the clouds should be approaching her location.
Problem was, outside of the single roar she had heard earlier, she hadn’t seen any sign of the monster or creature in question, as after it disappeared into the clouds below, she didn’t see any more sign of it. Even lingering quietly within the bush, she had ended up crashing into originally and was now hidden inside for a little over five minutes, didn’t cause the monster or creature hidden in the colorful clouds to emerge.
Instead, what she was met with was a sense of constant oppression from the colorful clouds that seemed to be omnipresent throughout the dreamscape, like the monster or creature that she had sensed and heard earlier was hiding within them ready to strike at her the second she left her hiding spot and began exploring the new floating island like she had originally been intending to do before the sudden realization that there was something lurking within the colorful clouds.
Confident as she was in her own strength, the earlier experience of barely being able to move through the sky beyond the protection of one of the floating islands made her certain that fighting anything native to the dreamscape in that kind of environment would be nothing short of delivering herself on a silver platter.
For this reason, she remained hidden even after the swirling wind started to dissipate and the earlier sounds coming from swirling clouds below and out of view disappeared.
The traces of the monster or creature might have disappeared, but she was fully aware that whatever she had sensed and heard earlier should still be around. Only, it had now switched to a far more passive approach after not finding her immediately upon arriving and was lying in wait for her to inevitably slip up and reveal herself.
This kind of ambush method she herself had also used in the past and understood that the first to make a move would undoubtedly be the one to lose out.
So... Time continued to flow by, and a few minutes soon enough turned into one hour, as Scaly did her absolute best to remain stationary within the bush, while also keeping her attention on the now eerily quiet sky of the dreamscape. Hoping to catch a glimpse of the monster or creature that was waiting somewhere within those colorful clouds to ambush her.
The reason she wanted to find and see the monster or creature not just being because she was genuinely curious about its strength, but also because she wanted to figure out how it was able to move around the dreamscape in an obviously far easier manner than she had been able to. Hoping to learn from observing it and potentially copy it so she could move through the dreamscape in a far easier manner compared to now, where she had to struggle and burn through most of her mana to cross only a short distance of a dozen meters.
Whoosh~
However, as she was wondering when that monster or creature might lose its patience and officially make some kind of move to try and draw her out of hiding, a slight disturbance could suddenly be felt from one of the small floating islands.
More specifically, the movement came from the floating island with the crystal-clear lake on top of it that she had originally found herself on after she entered the dreamscape for the first time.
Although the floating island with the mountain on top of it that she currently found herself on top of had moved some distance away from the small island in question over the past hour of her hiding, it was still relatively close to the small island she had originally appeared on, being only a little over twenty meters away from it. Allowing her to get a clear view of the situation on the small island and the lake at the center where the disturbance had come from.
Huh? What is that... The human from earlier, but... Different?
Because of this, she didn’t take long to notice the somewhat illusory figure that had manifested above the crystal-clear lake. A figure that she clearly recognized as the terrifying human she had seen before having escaped into the dreamscape.
The main difference was that he wasn’t physically present like she was and was more so in some kind of illusory state as he appeared inside the dreamscape... And maybe more importantly, he was far weaker than he was outside the dreamscape, causing her to curiously inspect him to try and gleam any potentially useful information from the illusory manifestation that had appeared on top of the crystal-clear lake.
[Human (Spiritual Projection), Holy Flame Judge, lvl 151 (51)]
Indeed... Looking over the information that appeared when she focused her attention on the illusory figure, it not only showed that his total level had somehow reduced by 100, but also the fact that he was some kind of spiritual projection.
Still, Scaly didn’t dare to make a move, as she had no idea if this terrifying figure could still enter the dreamscape with his physical body. Not to mention, she didn’t exactly have to make a move herself to find out, as the one who had been lying in ambush amidst the colorful clouds had undoubtedly also sensed the disturbance and should be about to reveal themselves.
Rumble~!
And indeed, before the spiritual projection of the terrifying figure even had the time to properly assess his surroundings, a loud rumbling sound could be heard from the colorful clouds just below the floating island with the crystal-clear lake, as Scaly watched in awe as a giant creature emerged from the colorful clouds.
[Dream Cloud Whale, lvl 17]
[Description: One of the most well-known natives of the dreamscape, the dream cloud whale, is known to generally inhabit the lower parts of the dreamscape but is found throughout the dreamscape. Hunting natives of the dreamscape and anyone else who finds themselves travelling into their hunting grounds, which are in the lower parts of the dreamscape.
Outside the lower parts of the dreamscape, they can be considered docile and generally won’t attack without first being provoked. Recommend avoiding, if possible, as the dream cloud whale is well adapted to the dreamscape and poses a deadly challenge even to seasoned S Rank Adventurers skilled in Dream Magic.]
Observing the massive colorful whale that emerged from the equally colorful clouds below the floating island with the crystal-clear lake, Scaly could not help silently feeling a sense of awe at the sheer scale of the dreamscape native that had appeared in front of her, a sense of awe that was shared by the spiritual projection of the powerful figure, who now stared directly into the open maw of the colorful whale as it dived down towards him.
Even if the powerful figure wanted to resist against this massive colorful whale that had emerged the second he had appeared within the dreamscape, it was clear that he had no chance to resist against it with the strength of his spiritual projection.
Only with his true body present would he be able to stand a chance against this kind of massive creature.
However, as Scaly observed from a distance, it was clear that the spiritual projection didn’t change into the true body of powerful figure but instead seemed to have given up resistance against the dream cloud whale. Allowing itself to be swallowed whole by the dream cloud whale before the massive whale in question let out a satisfied sound before starting to leave. Having seemingly guessed that it had managed to catch the prey it had sensed earlier.
As for what the dream cloud whale had eaten... Scaly had no idea, but she guessed it was likely whatever the spiritual projection had been made of.
Thinking about it, Scaly could not help feeling a bit curious about what a spiritual projection tasted like. After all, she had never eaten something like that before and was more than open to trying it if she got the chance to do so in the future.
All that aside, with the dream cloud whale leaving, she should be able to leave her hiding place and start exploring the new floating island she found herself on.
Not just exploring the different things that might be hidden throughout this small island and the mountain on top of it, but also where it was within the material plane. After all, from how it was moving compared to the other rather stationary floating islands, she had a feeling that whatever it was connected to was currently moving in the material plane or the location it was within the material plane was constantly shifting and changing.