Chapter 120

Chapter 120: Dream Assault

Late at night, within the villa in the northern mountains of Igewent, Field.

In the hidden corner above the chapel, Vania, who was feeling disoriented due to the influence of the Poison Recognition, suddenly felt her mind clear. The unbearable pain in her head subsided significantly, and the sudden hunger she felt also eased.

‘Ah… The influence of the Poison Recognition… It’s gone…’

Still kneeling on the ground, Vania looked at her hands in disbelief, unable to believe what was happening before her eyes.

‘It’s gone? The Poison Recognition that was affecting me has disappeared? Normally, after ingesting Poison Recognition, it takes a long time to gradually dissipate, but it just disappeared in an instant?!!’

In the Radiant Church, Vania was a nun who studied history. She had often come into contact with secret transmissions and had read them before. In her experience, even with many protections, reading secret transmissions would accumulate Poison Recognition in her mind. Once the accumulation neared the warning level, she had to stop reading and wait for about ten days or so for the influence of the Poison Recognition to slowly fade away before continuing. Currently, there was no way to speed up this process, so reading a complete secret transmission usually took a very long time.

Now, Vania found herself suddenly eliminating the high concentration of Poison Recognition from “The Lamb’s Song”? All because of one prayer?!

‘My Lord… No, is it because the deity named Akasha heard me? And then He protected me… Shielded me from the Poison Recognition? To offer a secret transmission as a sacrifice can grant knowledge and protect against Poison Recognition. Is this His power? A power related to knowledge, so His domain is…’

After what happened, Vania had some new guesses about that deity, but as a nun, she didn’t forget to express gratitude.

‘Praise my Lord… No, praise the great Akka, thank You for protecting me from the evil scriptures…’

Next to Vania, Dorothy, who had also experienced the previous events, nodded thoughtfully. She gained a new understanding of the system’s purpose.

‘So it can help others convert spirituality too. Although it seems impossible to achieve complete immunity like me, it can quickly digest Poison Recognition and also help accumulate spirituality. This will be very helpful if I want to recruit subordinates in the future. And since Vania has already accumulated the spirituality of “The Lamb’s Song”…’

As she thought, Dorothy patted Vania, who was earnestly thanking her.

“Oh… Miss Dorothyia, I almost forgot to thank you. Your suggestion to pray to Him was very effective. I never expected that…” Vania said after being patted by Dorothy, but Dorothy waved her hand to stop her from going on and spoke seriously.

“Now is not the time for long discussions. Their ceremony is reaching its critical point. I’ll give you something now, and prepare for action immediately.”

“Huh… Give me something?” Vania said in confusion upon hearing Dorothy’s words.

…

On the other side, Lu’e’s advancement ceremony had reached a critical moment.

Around the magical array surrounding Lu’e, seven children were singing “The Lamb’s Song” over and over again. The harmonious voices of the children echoed continuously in the chapel. The candles burning around them had somehow turned red, casting a reddish glow over everything. The moonlight shone through the windows, adding a touch of silver to the red hue.

“It’s time…”

Sitting in the center of the magical array, Lu’e murmured, then he pulled out a small piece of papyrus from his clothes. The papyrus was adorned with intricate patterns, and at its center were symbols representing ‘Shadow’ and ‘Enlightenment’.

This was a sigil, a Dream Anchor Sigil. This precious sigil was the key to the next step in Lu’e’s advancement ceremony.

This Dream Anchor Sigil contained the coordinates of a Dream Cocoon. That cocoon belonged to a prominent figure from the society Lu’e once belonged to. Lu’e had studied under him, considering him as half a mentor. Lu’e had gone to great lengths to please this person and received a promise as a reward: to guide Lu’e during his advancement ceremony.

And this Dream Anchor Sigil was the embodiment of that promise. Lu’e would use this sigil to enter a dream, find that prominent figure, and have him host the ceremony for him in the dream.

…

Just as Lu’e pulled out the sigil, Dorothy, who was hiding in the shadows upstairs, couldn’t help but be startled.

‘That… is a sigil? The sigil’s spiritual display shows ‘Shadow’ and ‘Enlightenment’… Could it be…’

Surprised, Dorothy took out a sigil from her pocket. With the passive effect of the Identification Technique, she could see that the sigil also displayed ‘Shadow’ and ‘Enlightenment’!

Indeed! The one in his hand was most likely a Dream Anchor Sigil! So far, nothing had been used as a guide for the ceremony, which meant they probably needed to find a guide. And he wanted to find a guide through a dream?!

As Vania had guessed, finding someone remotely for a ceremony in the extraordinary world often relied on dreams!

Realizing this, Dorothy acted without hesitation. She immediately placed the sigil she had taken from Buck’s manor on her forehead and paid 1 point of “Shadow” as the activation cost. Then, she rapidly closed her eyes and entered the dream, moving faster and more urgently than Lu’e on the other side.

Once in the dream, Dorothy stood up in her room in the Yanghua Apartment Building and began reciting incantations without pause.

“In the name of Akatosh, I shall sprout wings, my strength shall soar to the heavens, my balance shall traverse storms.”

As she chanted the incantation, Dorothy’s dream form was gradually enveloped by a thick, orange-yellow radiant mist. Robust dragon bones extended from her body, breaking through the room, and scales as hard as rock rapidly appeared and covered her entire body.

Soon, a massive dragon, about fifteen to sixteen meters long, with sharp spines and twisted horns, appeared in the ruins atop the building.

Dream Form – Dragon

Facing the night, the dragon transformed from Dorothy let out a roar, opening a passage to the Dream Realm. Then, she spread her huge wings and flew out of her dream cocoon, entering the forest of the Dream Realm.

As soon as she emerged from the cocoon, she saw a shimmering, translucent door floating outside her dream cocoon. The door was overlaid with light and distorted images, leading to an unknown destination.

Dorothy knew this was the effect of the Dream Anchor Sigil. After applying the sigil, a portal to a fixed dream coordinate would appear outside her dream cocoon.

And Dorothy’s Dream Anchor Sigil came from Buck, leading to the dream cocoon of Buck’s mentor, Lu’e.

Without hesitation, Dorothy flapped her wings and propelled her massive body through the translucent door.

…

In the center of the magical array, Lu’e examined the sigil in his hand and recalled the figure of his former “mentor.” After a moment of reminiscence, he placed the sigil on his forehead, allowing it to burn before he sat down and closed his eyes to enter the dream.

In the dream, Lu’e slowly stood up in a vast prairie illuminated by a bl**d-red moon and began chanting his incantation.

“Wolf of bl**d and Shadow, grant me a strong body, grant me sharp claws, run across the wilderness, hunt all common beings.”

As he chanted, Lu’e’s body in the dream began to transform. A red-black fog enveloped him, and when the fog dissipated, a massive wolf, over three meters long, with black fur, red eyes, and a robust body appeared.

Dream Form – Great Wolf

Then, the wolf transformed from Lu’e let out a piercing howl, opening a passage to the Dream Realm in front of him, and directly drilled out.

All that remained was to go through the portal created by the Dream Anchor Sigil to reach the dream cocoon of that prominent figure.

However, when Lu’e emerged from his dream cocoon, what appeared before him was not the familiar translucent door.

At the position where the door should have been, a massive shadow loomed.

“This… is…”

In the forest, standing on his dream cocoon and transformed into a wolf, Lu’e widened his eyes at the sight before him, far exceeding what he had anticipated.

Massive black wings hovered in the air, stirring up a storm and dragging an equally massive body to hover in the sky. The body, covered in ancient gray-black scales, was adorned with sharp spines, forming a terrifying physique only seen in ancient myths. The proud, long neck held a wild horn, beneath which was a disdainful gaze.