Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 701 - 645: The Power of Dreams

Murmured whispers echoed in his ears, and Lyle sat at the center of the slumbering chamber, surrounded by a dozen Elves in painful agony. Several attendants moved around the sleeping Elves, while Lyle gazed vacantly at the white specter floating before him.

Occasional whimpers of pain made Lyle feel awkward, and the constant murmurs only added to the oppressive atmosphere.

Although he was grateful to the Witherer for treating him as one of their own, showing him the most genuine state of the Elves; he still wished to keep a certain distance. Distance could be beautiful, but the images of graceful and ethereal Elves in Lyle’s mind were shattered.

Now, he felt as though he had wandered into an intensive care unit or been confined in an asylum.

Lyle felt out of place, abandoned by the world.

"Feels like I’m back in Andrey," Nia whispered in his ear.

Andrey? Impossible, Andrey never had such a claustrophobic aura.

[Are you serious?]

"Of course, the Liches would never tolerate constant noise from the subjects on their experiment tables. Research requires focus and patience..."

[But experimenters can be noisier. Remember when you worked on experiments with Shiny and the others? You argued incessantly over material allocations, and then you turned them into display pieces. Back then, you were really cruel, turning your peers into ornaments for the club door as a declaration of your authority.]

"Because if I lost, I’d have to die. And what right do you have to judge, when we were accomplices?"

"Nia helped too!!!"

Talking to himself eased some of the pressure, and Lyle noticed that some nearby attendants were looking at him differently.

[In the end, it’s about feeling involved, isn’t it? The awkwardness you feel now is because you see yourself as a guest, unsettled by the sight of the host’s disarray.]

"Makes sense."

[Then why not accept the Witherer’s kindness and consider yourself one of them? You wouldn’t feel lonely in Andrey, think of this place as another Andrey.]

"A bad omen, is that really...okay?"

[Yes.]

Undulating shadows crawled over Lyle’s body, and the sunlight that couldn’t find its way into the treehouse made the room even dimmer.

[You could use some comfort, and I could use some amusement.]

"Lyle," excited, rubbed his hands together and slowly approached a sleeping Elf entangled in nightmares.

The pitiful character submerged in dreams had no clue what terrors he was about to face. Where was his savior? Where was his messiah?

"Lyle! They said you were here!"

His salvation had arrived.

Lyle heard tutting sounds as the bright-shadowed figure, like a butterfly, fluttered into the darkened room. The presence wasn’t solemn; the sleeping Elves relaxed slightly amid her fussing noises.

"Keep it down, Irason, my lord!" Ivy covered the ears of the Elf closest to the Green Dragon Priest, watching the leader with a mix of concern and resignation.

"Sorry~" Irason instinctively ducked her head, and then, noticing Lyle and struck by a thought, she put her hands on her hips and stood up straight again. After a few coughs, her reduced volume rose a smidge.

"Little Ivy! No need to whisper. They have entered the Emerald Dream and won’t be woken by noise! You misjudge me!"

"Alright, my mistake. But shouldn’t you be escorting our esteemed guest away now, respected and great Irason, my lord?"

The Green Dragon Priest was quite receptive to flattery. She approached Lyle, playing the part of an adult like a child who had been praised. Vines stretched out from the soil, wound around her ankles, and lifted her up. Irason leaned forward, and the bud at the top of her staff swept across Lyle’s forehead. At that moment, the natural glow brought forth a pure maternal aura on the Green Dragon Priest’s face, a radiant smile as warm as the sunshine that touches the heart.

"Nature shall bestow upon you all her purity, just as long as you love her, as she loves you."

"How should I respond?" Lyle asked softly, clearly understanding this to be a dignified etiquette, where a kind gesture deserved respect.

"This is the Elders’ Blessing. It’s a blessing from the older Elves to the younger ones, with no ritual of response required, as the Elder’s care is given without expectation of return," Irason caught her breath, then reverted to the languid demeanor familiar to Lyle, and pointed towards the verdant world beyond the door, signaling for Lyle to follow.

"Welcome to the Dream Forest, Lyle."

...

"The dreams of creatures are vague and chaotic, a separate world created when the intellect rests."

"We Elves discovered this earlier than other races and, through prolonged trials and training, Dream Elves have mastered the method to remain lucid in dreams. By ’lucid,’ I don’t mean waking up, but rather, within the dreamscape, having better personal control. We can control our own dreams, making use of the time spent sleeping for other activities."

Walking side by side, Lyle and Irason admired the beautiful scenery of the Dream Forest, and even more wondrous was the dreamy quality that clung to the treetops. This land bore few traces of life’s workings, with nothing but the rampant, vigorous growth of nature. But Lyle was more concerned with what Irason had said.

"That means Dream Elves have twice as much time as other beings, after all, you can do as you please in your own dreams." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Not so much, you don’t sleep for twelve hours a day either, do you? And different races have varying needs for dormancy. The Liches, for example, don’t need to sleep at all, do they?"

"That’s because they can’t sleep, but if they could, they’d surely want to," Lyle thought to himself. Indeed, those races standing at the pinnacle of the era were powerful creatures. "But still, it feels like Dream Elves are amazing. You can train yourselves in dreams and secretly level up while others are resting."

"Lyle, you’re making assumptions. This ability has its limitations. Besides, it has many flaws; otherwise the leader of the Dragon Priests Council wouldn’t be the Arcanist representative, Morocoy. The dreamscape is like a new continent, a land of opportunities not available to ordinary beings, but one which also contains dangers that ordinary beings cannot comprehend."

"Like the Evil God." Lyle remembered the brief time he had spent in the Emerald Dream when he fell from the City of Wandering. In the depths of the dream, a part of the Sealer, Triton, lay dormant.

"That’s the biggest trouble. The corrosion of the Evil God is like a poison seeping from the earth’s core, spawning countless nightmares, those monsters that make our spirits lose their way. But apart from that, the dream itself is flawed. Dreams are ethereal; they are pure yet uncontrollable. Every thought in a dream is free and scattered, and you cannot predict what fantasies you will dream of. You might control your person, but your dreams belong to the subconscious, a soul space inherently chaotic and disturbed by various deep emotions. There are exhilarating beautiful dreams and also horrible nightmares that instill fear."

"Dream Elves are deeply connected to the dreamscape, and the feedback from dreams is more pronounced. ’Dream Death’ is a significant safety risk we have to worry about, and for this reason, we have nurtured a great number of Dream Druids to tend to and maintain the dreamscape. But the nightmares that breed always cause trouble when we aren’t vigilant. Overall, entering dreams is just a unique trait of us Elves and cannot truly be called powerful."

Lyle stroked his chin.

"Then what about the Dreamwalkers? And as both a Dream Elf and a Dreamwalker, Irason, what role do you play in the dreams?"

Irason gave a slight smile.

"Dreamwalker, within the dream, nothing is impossible. First there was me, the Dreamwalker, and then the Dream Elf race. This is my most proud talent, and I have fully developed it. Don’t widen your eyes so much, I’m pretty amazing! I’ve sealed an Evil God in dreams. Dreamwalkers are a little stronger than Dream Elves, not only can we interfere with ourselves, we can also warp our dreams, but we also come a little closer to the abyss. Isn’t there a saying, ’There’s only a thin line between madness and genius’?"

Irason looked at Lyle’s fading complexion, thinking he had upset him.

"Actually, it’s not that amazing! It’s kind of a remedial measure! That’s right! Humans are also very strong. In less than a hundred years, you flare up with the most brilliant sparks in an instant, and I think this is why humans are called the masters of the era. Whether it’s magic or holy light, your learning ability and insight, those are the talents that chill us aliens to the bone. So, Dream Elves are actually quite weak. Dreaming just makes our long lives even longer, and our ability to digest the same knowledge can’t compare with humans. Don’t be discouraged, you are the best Dragon King Priest, Lyle!"

"Are humans very strong?"

"Yep, smart people can be very strong. Huh?! Lyle, you’re smart too!!"

Lyle’s face was now pale.

"I don’t feel weak, I’m just... Irason, what if a smart human gained the ability to dreamwalk?"

Irason’s attractive eyebrows furrowed, "Dreamwalkers are very rare. Being able to dreamwalk means doubling the time you spend thinking, and that’s a difficult condition to meet. A human with the ability to dreamwalk, and a smart one at that. I don’t know, I think smart people are pretty scary, like our brother Morocoy. If someone really met all those conditions, I think he would become a monster in terms of thoughts, spirit, and soul. Thinking too much isn’t good, Lyle."

Lyle’s teeth chattered slightly, "He’s already a freak."

Noticing Lyle’s expression, Irason stopped in her tracks and embraced the young man, patting the back of his head gently.

"Don’t worry, Lyle."

"A Dreamwalker essentially means everything is confined within the mental dream world. If a beast of nightmares really exists, the Dream Druid will surely do everything to stop it. A Dreamwalker is a supportive ability, with very weak destructive power in the real world. Take it easy, when the sky falls, there’s someone tall to hold it up. And I’m here with you, Lyle, I’m also a Dreamwalker."

"Irason..." Lyle looked at the smiling face so close to him and felt the corners of his eyes growing moist. Yes, although Irason may be unreliable, she would surely stand up in a crisis, right? She’s also a Dreamwalker... she must be able to...

"I’m also a Dreamwalker, but all I did was become a mascot for the Dragon Priests. So the ability to Dreamwalk isn’t that special..."

With a proud look of being useless, Irason left Lyle speechless.