Whiteriver Valley
‘When did it disappear? Why didn’t I notice at all?’ Leylin’s pupils shrank as he watched the now-empty fountain of blood.
Crackling sounded as the fountain disassembled itself at a faster rate. The bricks, rocks, soil, flowers, and grass all came apart into tiny beads that banded together to form a twisted humanoid figure.
This twisted figure constantly drew in parts of the garden and became increasingly solid, until at last it turned into a woman who had a black beach umbrella with her.
“I heard from Owl that you’re looking for me?” The woman had her back to Leylin, dressed in black clothing and using the large area of the umbrella to cover her upper body. Leylin could only see her black dress and crystal shoes, and hear a pleasant rich voice that could subconsciously intoxicate a person.
“Looking for you? Could you be Madam Minaz? Yes, I’d like to know if there are any ways to freely leave Dreamscape!” A layer of black Kemoyin scales emerged on Leylin’s skin, and his pupils even turned amber and vertical. After all, the way she had appeared was rather mysterious. She looked to be a personification of the garden.
After turning into Madam Minaz, the garden had now turned into an empty land, and even the surface of the ground had disappeared.
‘Dreamscape is far too mysterious. If I have no confidence at all, I should definitely not set my foot here...’ Leylin was slightly jittery, loathing the fact that he was in a world with such factors that could not be controlled.
Perhaps it could be said that no Magi really liked Dreamscape. It’s lack of adherence to rules led to most of their methods becoming ineffective. Of course, some would say that this was because the absolute laws governing Dreamscape hadn’t been discovered yet.
One could simplify the analysis of Dreamscape once that law was found, and the Magus who managed to do so would likely get immense benefits.
“Yes. That owl! It’s the best at causing trouble for others!” The woman holding the black umbrella turned.
Leylin took several steps back. The front view of this Madam Minaz was quite surprising. She had a distorted face with no eyes, and a nose and mouth at different locations. Her visage looked like an abstract work of art. Her upper body had numerous lifeless eyes on it that were staring at Leylin.
“Thousand-Eyed Woman! It’s rumoured that a gaze could cause a Magus to fall permanently!” Leylin exclaimed, and a tremendous Kemoyin Emperor phantom appeared behind him.
“You’re afraid? Why?” At this moment, her voice had undergone a huge change. It lost its previous tenderness, becoming robotic and icy, even hiding a hint of contempt. The eyes on her upper body suddenly released a multitude of rays of light.
Light spread into the skies and blanketed the region, making the so-called death rays of Beholders look like child’s play. The powerful radiance seared Leylin’s eyes, forcing him to cover them.
The moment he opened them again, Leylin was stunned. Around him was a dark forest, and the one-eyed Ent from before had long since disappeared. The earth lizard was still moving up and down underneath him.
Belinda’s voice was heard from the other side, “Do whatever you like! Since I’ve already given it to you, it’s yours!”
‘This scene... It’s when I just entered the Dreamscape Forest and commanded the A.I. Chip to analyse this...’ Leylin’s pupils shrank, and he looked at the records of the A.I. Chip.
However, it left Leylin disappointed, even in shock. The Chip’s records were all blank since the moment he’d ordered it to analyse the methods the Alabaster Devilsnakes used to traverse Dreamscape.
‘Why did this happen?’
[Beep! Unpreventable interference encountered. Records are abnormal.] The A.I. Chip’s robotic voice caused Leylin’s expression to go dark.
Immediately after, he saw the newest records. [Beep! Analysis of ability of Alabaster Devilsnake to traverse Dreamscape has been completed. Dreamscape can be entered at will by consuming a bloodline imprint. Host lacks enough blood at the moment and cannot refine a bloodline imprint.]
;That’s impossible. Didn’t it say that a large amount of time was needed?;
Leylin’s eyes showed how deeply in thought he was, ‘So everything that happened was real! The ability to enter and exit Dreamscape was not analysed by the A.I. Chip, but given by the Thousand-Eyed Woman, Madam Minaz...’
‘Time...’ Leylin sighed. Even the concept of time had been warped by Dreamscape. Encountering such a scene, he was still terrified even after it ended.
All the dangers he’d encountered previously with dreamforce paled in comparison to the warping of spacetime that occurred.
It probably wasn’t just him. Perhaps even a rank 7 could do nothing against these illogical events in Dreamscape.
‘Dreamforce, the ability to warp time and space... that’s a realm I can’t even make contact with as I am now...’ Leylin sighed.
“What’s wrong? After going through Dreamscape Forest, we’ll reach Whiteriver Valley. Once we pass that we’ll be at the Serpent Plains. That’s a month away from the holy city.” Belinda slowed down and arrived beside Leylin, her eyes full of concern.
“It’s nothing, I was just lost in thought,” Leylin smiled a little and shook his head.
“Though the Dreamscape zone isn’t as mysterious as Dreamscape, the ample dreamforce here is enough for Magi to unknowingly be dragged into illusions, with even more terrifying wretched Dreamscape Creatures here... Of course, for mixed blood Alabaster Devilsnakes like us, this isn’t a large issue... After all, we’ve already made a contract and have the protection of our bloodlines...” Belinda explained.
‘But that wasn’t what happened!’ Leylin cursed inside, but did not speak. After all, things that dealt with warping time and space were too frightening.
Unlike last time, this trip went very smoothly. There was no clown or Ent coming up and stirring trouble, and the Nightmare Creatures seemed to abide by the contract and did not harass them.
The dark red fog slowly dissipated, and the dark forest became more sparse. Occasionally, bits of clear moonlight shone down from above.
*Whoosh!* An unceasing sound of flowing water could be heard, and the earth lizards grew exceptionally excited, darting forward at a greater speed. Not long after, a vast river appeared in front of Leylin. The earth lizards cheered and lay down at the river, their thick barbed tongues extending into the water as they lapped it up.
“The white river, we’ve arrived!” Belinda’s voice showed her admiration, a glint showing in her eyes.
Leylin turned back. The black forest and dark red fog had long since disappeared without a trace. It seemed that without the summoning of Belinda or other descendants of the Alabaster Devilsnake, it would not appear again.
Unlike the previous barren lands, there was now a river valley nearby. Even the temperature and concentration of elemental particles had undergone a drastic change, allowing Leylin to know that the short period of time where they had run at night had allowed them to traverse a huge distance.
‘Using the indeterminacy of Dreamscape’s space and hurrying along a world crack to leave through a node... This is something like teleportation! The person who thought it up was a genius... Either that or a lunatic!’ Fear still lingered in the depths of Leylin’s heart.
From the port at the edges of Hail Continent, they had travelled about halfway through the continent. Were they to have used a teleportation spell formation, even one from ancient times would have consumed a huge amount of resources.
Here, besides the preparations for the summoning Belinda had not done much. Just from how prompt it was, it was several levels ahead of these teleportation spell formations, if one could disregard its limitations and dangers of course.
As the Dreamscape Forest belonged to Dreamscape, only Alabaster Devilsnakes or bloodline creatures that could make contact with Dreamscape could discover or summon it. This in itself was a huge limitation, and what was more troublesome was the dangers near the end of the journey.
Dreamscape was the riskiest of all the worlds Leylin had seen. What he’d witnessed this day probably wasn’t even the strangest thing about it. In the Dreamscape zone, he couldn’t even disregard any attacks from Dreamscape Creatures despite a prior agreement.
Furthermore, in the eyes of the powerful devils, perhaps their attacks were not intentional attacks and were instead like a show of curiosity or intimacy with other beings.
It was a pity that a rank 5 being could do nothing against that ‘curiosity’.
“After the white river we’ll come to the whiteriver shore valley, another settlement for Alabaster Devilsnakes.” Belinda sounded muffled, and looked towards Leylin, “That’s also where my family is.”
“Oh! Are we going there to visit them?” Leylin nodded.
“There’s no need to. We’ll recuperate nearby. Meanwhile, I’m preparing to go there and take care of some matters, so don’t interfere!” A resolute look appeared on her face. This was a realisation through several life and death experiences, giving Leylin a premonition that this would involve blood. Of course, he wasn’t against it.
‘Looks like Belinda and her family have a very unique story.’ Leylin watched Belinda’s back and stroked his chin.
“This is good timing. The A.I. Chip has already analysed the bloodline imprint to traverse Dreamscape. It’s not bad to gather some materials...”