Chapter 197 - Dream World

"Milestone of Destiny? What is that? I’ve never heard of it." Virginia’s face was a picture of confusion, as if she had never before come across the term."I had thought that you might be familiar with this as well," Gaven explained, "I guess it has something to do with my identity as the Fate Reshaper. Previously, when I killed the Carrier Bug, a notification of the Milestone of Destiny appeared in my Soul Consciousness, and I was rewarded with the Skill Enlightenment of the Milestone of Destiny. The Magic Network explained it as a reward for reshaping destiny."

Gaven told half, keeping the other half hidden.

Keeping something in reserve had long since become a habit engraved in his bones.

"A reward for reshaping destiny?" Virginia suddenly looked shocked.

Her reaction could only be interpreted as meaning that without Gaven’s intervention, the life of that Carrier Bug would not have ended here.

And the continued existence of that terrifying predator would have posed a lethal threat to the Dragon Scale Oak and the Spring Bud Forest.

In other words, their fates had already changed because of Gaven.

"Are you telling the truth?" Virginia couldn’t help but ask again.

"If you don’t believe me, see for yourself." Gaven extended his hand to Virginia.

Virginia’s right hand instinctively moved as if to accept, then retracted like lightning. In the corner of her eye, she seemed to catch a fleeting, playful smirk crossing Gaven’s face.

This made the Yaling Lord feel further disconcerted, striving to appear calm, she said, "Wait a minute, it’s not too late to try it together."

She felt like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, eager to put off the inevitable for one more minute.

She knew well that entering the Consciousness Sea together today was unavoidable.

"That’s fine, this place is too chaotic. Once we enter the Consciousness Sea, our bodies will be unguarded. I’ll take you to a quieter place." Gaven led Virginia deeper into the Dragon Oak Dragon Nest.

After several twists and turns, they came upon a clean chamber.

The inner walls of the chamber were the massive roots of the Dragon Oak Mother Tree; the two sides were earthen walls, still fresh with soil, clearly not long excavated.

A Firefly Lamp hung overhead, casting a dim light, and beyond that, the space was empty.

In such a chaotic environment, finding such a secluded place was quite remarkable.

This was a spot Gaven had prepared exclusively for himself to land after casting Flawless Teleportation from the Dragon Oak Mother Tree. He hadn’t yet had time to furnish it.

Their solitude, especially in this hidden place, made Virginia seem out of her element, far from the all-knowing, confidently in control superwoman she had appeared to be at their first meeting.

Her beautiful face looked like a startled deer, ready to bolt into the depths of the forest at the slightest disturbance, never to be seen again.

Gaven knew that he mustn’t startle her now.

Sitting upright, he adopted the demeanor of a moral paragon, and cut straight to the matter at hand, "This time, I hope that Lord Virginia, when shaping the Consciousness Sea, will not use herself as the vessel, but rather the Dragon Oak Mother Tree, to weave here a brand-new, world of thoughts.

Then, when Lord Virginia regains consciousness, this world of thoughts will not disappear; it will exist supported by the Dragon Oak Mother Tree.

Next, guide those with a strong mental will into it to form an army, to wage war against the Corruption Power.

Uh, when guiding others in, it would be better to set a trigger; they shouldn’t be pulled in haphazardly.

They could very well be in dangerous situations, and recklessly pulling their Soul Consciousness into this could quite possibly put their lives at risk.

Sleep, then, makes a fine choice.

Only this time, because we failed to gain control over the Source of Corruption, and those Foul Giants have become aware, they will definitely intervene. So, we must prepare for a drawn-out battle.

If necessary, we might even pull those Foul Giants and their Dark Servants into this brand-new battlefield, to fight them here where I believe we will have the upper hand."

Gaven was speaking off the cuff.

To be more precise, he was only offering a rough sketch of an idea.

It wasn’t even something innovative. He was essentially plagiarizing the gaming concepts from Zhang You’s world.

Eventually, the Dragon Oak Mother Tree would become the main server, and the world of thoughts they were creating would be the online game.

Yet, to Virginia’s ears, the more she listened, the more astonished she became, until she couldn’t contain her amazement any longer, exclaiming, "A dream world!"

Gaven hadn’t even considered that angle until Virginia mentioned it.

Now, contemplating it more carefully, it did indeed resemble a Dream World.

In Felen, the Dream World truly exists—everyone’s dreams are not just simple fantasies, but have a genuine existence, even though most are fleeting, like an ephemeral bloom.

When it comes to the Dream World, one cannot help but mention the Ether Plane.

The Ether Plane, also known as the World of Mist, is a place filled with primordial substances and shrouded in mist.

To the general public, it is a place of mystery.

However, to wizards and psychic practitioners, it often serves as their sanctum. Many powerful beings create private retreats within the Ether Plane.

Because this is a world of thoughts, a strong will can alter and shape it.

If the Fairy Wilderness and the Shadow Plane are to be considered the Material Plane’s negatives,

Then the Ether Plane acts as a filler that connects different planes, pervading the gaps between worlds in the form of mist.

In other words, it is possible to travel between planes through the Ether Plane, and many spellcasters do in fact engage in such travel, making use of spells like Spirit Travel Spell and Ethereal Body to reach the Spirit World.

Those incorporeal beings, such as ghosts, typically possess abilities like invisibility and phasing through walls, and are hard to hit with anything but magical weapons, among a host of other issues, all of which are directly related to the Ether Plane.

Because they have the ability to traverse the Ether at will, in the Ether Plane they can observe the Material Plane (to a limited distance), but in the Material Plane, one cannot observe the Ether Plane.

When they enter the Ether, to most people, they naturally become invisible.

The Fairy Wilderness is parallel to the Material Plane, with the Ether Plane filling the space between. The veils of Tear Lake Valley are, in fact, the Ether Plane thinned.

Some beings even call it the Spirit World, the land of the mind.

It’s because of its malleability under the influence of psychic energy that when intelligent beings dream, the psychic energy they unintentionally emit combines with the Ether Mist and a small dream realm forms within the Ether Plane.

However, these fragmented dreamscapes are usually too weak and lacking the supportive energy, and when the dreamers wake up, these dreamscapes crumble along with them.

But there are exceptions, such as when the dreamer never wakes up in the dream realm, gets lost or killed by dreamworld creatures, or when the dreamscape is infiltrated or warped by evil forces, causing it to break away, and so on.

These fragmented dreamscapes, floating in the Ether Plane, are drawn by an invisible force, and eventually connect to form the most absurd, terrifying, and bizarre world in this universe—the Dream World.

After all, it’s a collective of all intelligent beings, where fragmented dreams of Fairy, Goblin, Giant Dragon, humans, Demons, and Devils all intertwine.

The last time they addressed the corruption, they actually entered a temporary dreamscape formed by Lord Virginia using his own consciousness as a medium to harness the power of the Spring Bud Forest and reshape a part of the Ether Plane.

"It doesn’t matter if it’s a dreamscape or not, as long as it’s useful. Lord, can you create one?" Gaven’s understanding of dreamscapes was limited to the expository knowledge above. Going any deeper was beyond him, given that warriors naturally have their shortcomings in this area.

"I can try, but it’s hard to say how much of the Dragon Oak Mother Tree’s power I can borrow." Virginia also had no confidence.

Although the Dragon Oak Mother Tree is part of the Spring Bud Forest, it is too powerful, and since it also housed remnants of a Dragon Soul, it exists autonomously. The power Virginia, as the Lord, could summon was relatively limited.

"Don’t worry, I’m here to help you," Gaven’s confidence naturally stemmed from the phantom image of the Dragon Oak Mother Tree in the Consciousness Sea.

"Let’s give it a try then!" Virginia stretched out her hand and the roots of the Dragon Oak Mother Tree trembled lightly.

Countless new roots grew rapidly, rooting along the cave’s walls, transforming the space into an enclosed area in the blink of an eye, and next to the wall, two solid chairs grew out, with a wall of roots emerging between them, dividing the room.

Only between the chairs was there a hole the size of a head, allowing the two to join hands.

"What’s this, Lord?" Gaven asked knowingly, his surprised eyes making Virginia feel uneasy.

Virginia explained dryly, "Constructing the Dream World might be more complicated than we think, so some precautionary measures are in order to prevent disturbances from others."

Humph, humph!

You can use physical defenses against wolves in the Material Plane, but I’d like to see how you defend in the Dream World.

If I take you down in the Dream World, you can’t keep avoiding me like this in the Material Plane.

Gaven’s little scheme was clicking away noisily in his head; he would be remiss if he didn’t take advantage of this golden opportunity to best Lord Virginia.

Without further words, Gaven took his seat on the tree chair on his side and properly extended his hand into the hole in the wall.

As a warm, jade-like hand grasped his.

The three pieces of the Dragon Oak Mother Tree’s consciousness in the Consciousness Sea merged into one once again.

Gaven seemed to clearly feel the pulse of the seat below him, the immense life force pulling him into the ocean of life.

He could distinctly feel the cheers and longing within.

In the past, because of the lurking Dragon Soul, the Dragon Oak Mother Tree had not developed its own consciousness.

Now, because of Gaven and Virginia, its primal consciousness was torn into three pieces, and it was unlikely to form an independent consciousness.

Soon, a storm arose in this sea of life, with everything collapsing and reshaping, the ground sinking and the sky rising.

Gaven knew that this was Virginia manipulating the power of the Dragon Oak Mother Tree to construct the Dragon Oak Dream Realm.

Soon, a world as blank as a sheet of paper appeared before Gaven.

Other than heaven and earth, it was empty, devoid of anything.

This approach, of course, was the most energy-conserving, the more elements created, the more energy expended.

Virginia’s beautiful figure, like a pencil sketch, gradually emerged, but it was some distance from Gaven. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs NoᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt

She was indeed treating Gaven as if he were a threat, rendering him unable to make a move.

Although they were a bit apart, it didn’t hinder their communication. Virginia nodded, "Your plan is feasible. This dreamscape has now been stabilized by me. From now on, as long as you can touch the Dragon Oak Mother Tree, you’ll be able to enter on your own. For safety, I’ve divided the dreamscape into two areas, one is the safe zone, and the other is the war zone.

Since the war zone is influenced by corruption, the control there is relatively limited, and there is indeed some danger when fighting, even the risk of being corrupted."

"That’s normal, after all we’re engaging in a different mode of warfare. If there were no danger, it wouldn’t deserve to be called a war," Gaven was mentally prepared for this, "Let’s go have a look at the war zone."

Gaven reached out his hand, and the Terror Claw Longsword appeared within it.

This long knife, formed out of Soul Consciousness, didn’t disperse with the collapse of the last Consciousness Sea, instead, it was preserved in Gaven’s Consciousness Sea and was now still usable in the Dream World—an unexpected bonus.

The two zones were on one map.

The only thing distinguishing the two was a slight difference in color.