Chapter 127: God of Dreams
Chapter 127: God of Dreams
"Received, Master Mentor."
"?"
Loren's mind directly echoed with Cassian's voice. Its voice spread throughout Loren's mind, as if the sentence was pieced together from laughter. Loren found it hard to describe this feeling.
"Forget it, not a big issue."
It's just being targeted by an Outer God, no big deal, Loren was already used to it.
"Who goes there?"
The inhabitants within the Forest of Dreams also sensed an intruder. The God of Dreams cared deeply about its territory, not allowing any outsiders to invade here, so a group of Angels had always been stationed here.
Just like the Angel charging towards Loren now. Each of his fingers had a hand growing from it. He crawled in an inverted position in a bizarre posture, all ten hands exerting force simultaneously, and his crawling speed was indeed not slow.
While leaping over the thorn bushes, his feet suddenly started doing a "flower-hand" dance, making him fly. Only then could Loren clearly see his face.
The upper half of the Angel's face was a black hole, densely packed with eyes inside, and these eyes were still wriggling."No matter how many times I see it, I still find it a bit disgusting..."
If Divine Envoys still looked somewhat human, Angels truly had no semblance of humanity left.
"I stand by my name and sit without changing it. I am Cassian! I, Cassian, will sooner or later pluck out the God of Dreams' hair!"
After delivering the threat, Loren immediately woke up. Actually, he hadn't expected his mischief to go so smoothly. Relying on his high status, Loren treated the God of Dreams' base like a restroom, coming and going as he pleased.
Dreams were the most bizarre authority. Even Loren wasn't clear on how to deal with it.
He had killed the God of Dreams a few times and indeed cleared the instance, but Loren wasn't sure if he had truly killed the God of Dreams.
"Forget it, not going to worry about it now. I'll deal with it when the time comes."
When Loren woke up, it was still night. Anna was still tightly hugging him, her small face still radiant with a happy smile. Only she could turn a nightmare into a sweet dream.
The expressions of the others, however, were not so peaceful. They were indeed being tormented by nightmares.
This was also the God of Dreams' method of controlling its followers. After approaching its territory, one would uncontrollably have nightmares. In severe cases, one couldn't even sleep. That Divine Detective in Bardo knew best how painful that feeling of being unable to sleep was.
Followers of other gods could protect people within their own territories from being affected, but others suffered. Either believe in the God of Dreams, or be tormented by nightmares.
But it wasn't too severe yet. At worst, one just slept poorly. Only those who abandoned their faith would be tormented by the God of Dreams. In more severe cases, they might even be killed in their dreams by the God of Dreams' Divine Envoys.
The God of Dreams' Divine Envoys were called Dreamwalkers. Their appearances were rather random. As their name suggested, they could enter others' dreams and also turn dreams into reality.
They were quite dangerous. They could materialize things out of thin air to attack and could also kill within dreams.
After waking up, Loren didn't sleep again. He began thinking about how to prevent the children from being affected by the nightmares.
Although nightmares at worst only made them sleep poorly, Loren didn't want the children to suffer even a little.
And Loren just happened to have a method to solve the nightmare problem. The Code of Justice he had just obtained could do it.
Loren reached into his clothes and took out the Code of Justice. Because Anna was hugging him, this action was somewhat difficult.
"Dreaming is forbidden in this place."
As Loren's pen touched the Code of Justice, the children's expressions immediately became peaceful. Only Mirrorheart's expression remained unchanged from beginning to end.
Seeing this, Loren suddenly remembered that he hadn't seen Mirrorheart's dream earlier.
"..."
In this world, the person Loren found most inscrutable was actually Mirrorheart, who was closest to him. Even he himself was affected by the God of Dreams, but Mirrorheart wasn't. Of course, it was also possible she had never slept.
But even if she had never slept, that meant Mirrorheart was not simple.
Moreover, Mirrorheart had previously displayed knowledge surpassing Loren's. Yet, it was such a Mirrorheart who obeyed Loren's every command.
For matters he couldn't figure out for now, Loren didn't dwell on them further. Mirrorheart certainly wouldn't betray him anyway.
...
"Good morning, Mara. Didn't sleep well last night?"
At noon, Loren walked out of the cabin holding Anna and greeted Mara on the deck.
Loren's elbow supported Anna's bottom, holding her legs, and Anna also wrapped her arms around Loren's neck.
Loren used to hold her like this often before, but now Anna had grown taller, making it a bit awkward. However, Anna insisted, and Loren couldn't very well refuse.
Mara was looking into the distance. Although her face no longer had features capable of displaying expressions, Loren could still tell she was exhausted. He was asking a question he already knew the answer to, after all, Mara didn't have a method to avoid nightmares.
"I had nightmares all night last night. What's going on?"
Mara defaulted to Loren knowing what this was about. Not just her, anyone in this world who knew Loren would think the same.
If something incomprehensible happened, just ask the Master Mentor. He would surely know why.
"Oh, you're simply being affected by the God of Dreams. I don't really have a solution for that either."
Loren didn't plan to help Mara. Having Mara be a bit weaker was beneficial for him.
"Have you eaten?"
Mara asked, also taking out some dry bread and jerky, attempting to show goodwill towards Loren.
"No, but we brought our own food."
As she said this, Scarlett walked onto the deck carrying a backpack full of lunch boxes. Before she could trip, Mirrorheart took the backpack from her hands.
These were all prepared in advance by Mirrorheart. Stored in the Life Thief space, they stayed fresh, and the taste was no different from freshly made.
Even while at sea, Loren didn't intend to live a life of hardship.
Loren had even prepared stools. The group sat together, feeling as if they were back home.
"How did you manage to bring so many things?"
Mara voiced her doubt. If she mastered this technique, her future operations would be much more convenient.
"It's a storage magic. Only I can use it."
Loren casually made up an excuse, not caring whether Mara believed it or not.
Even if Mara knew Loren was traveling with a group of Witches, Loren believed she wouldn't inform on him, because the dead were best at keeping secrets.
Seeing the situation, Mara wisely shut up. Since Loren said so, it meant there was no possibility of him teaching her.
Loren opened one of the lunch boxes. It had everything one could want, nutritionally rich while also being a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate.
Smelling the aroma, Mara swallowed her saliva. The jerky in her hand instantly became bland and tasteless. Her gaze involuntarily drifted towards Loren's direction.
"Sorry, we just have enough for ourselves."
This time, Mara didn't believe Loren's words, as she had seen a backpack full of lunch boxes.
But when she saw Anna finish one box in two bites and, without even putting that box down, reach for another, Mara wisely closed her mouth.
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