Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 714 - 658 MMO

As the mist dissipated, Claudia plucked the little flowers from the two tombstones and, holding her sword, walked to the middle of the altar, where a waist-high platform adorned with gold carvings was gradually lighting up. The blinding light soon made it difficult for them to see anything. Claudia pressed her hands together and bowed most sincerely before the two young elves. Her actions were so graceful, a stark contrast to the frenzied sword dance she had performed earlier.

"God" responded to the devout girl.

With a thud, a wooden treasure chest entwined with vines fell from the void onto the altar. It was unlatched, its barely closed gap revealing a dreamlike light—much like Claudia’s shining eyes, which immediately pounced on it. It might seem unladylike to describe it that way, but Claudia opened the chest with both elegance and swiftness, allowing the rainbow glow of the treasures to light up her rosy cheeks.

"Tsk, it’s crooked again."

The one harboring anticipation like a good child tucked in bed on Christmas Eve suddenly changed their expression, the corners of their mouth turning down, their brows bent like an angry owl. Claudia was holding a green orb of light in her hand, which she then stuffed back into the chest. She carried the chest, as if holding a box of assorted items sorted out from cleaning a room, over to Luke and Aidan and tossed out the rewards.

Thirty gold coins, two white orbs of light, and one green orb.

The white droplets were hunter leather armor and boots; the green one was a higher quality excellent-grade item, a long staff.

[Beginner’s Staff (Excellent)

Attack +8

Magic Power +8

Administrator’s Message: This is compensation for being nudged by a pig.]"

"You guys divide them, I don’t need any of these things."

Luke and Aidan quickly divided the white items, noting that they were the same style as the ones Claudia wore. However, they hesitated when it came to deciding who would take the staff.

"Lady Claudia, are you sure you don’t need this staff? You did all the fighting; these spoils should rightfully be yours. Besides, this staff seems superior to your weapon."

Claudia shook her head and pushed the staff, which Aidan had passed to her, back toward him.

"That’s not what I want. I prefer wielding a sword, and right now, magic power is a useless attribute. This excellent piece of equipment is actually not as useful to me as my sword. Whoever wants it can take it, or you could sell it at the store for money. You need it more than I do."

"Fine," Claudia said, pretending to be angry and putting her hands on her hips, "If you want to thank me, better spend more time with me running the altar to help me get the Beginner’s Sword."

...

In the crevices of the map, there floated lifeless monster dolls of various colors, complicated spell models of differing complexity floating in the air, overlapping and connected spell models formed chains of commands in Kristo’s hands, constituting the rules of the Dreamland world.

Lyle stood behind the Blue Dragon, plucking the inspiration and thoughts from his mind and handing them over to the Blue Dragon to turn into dreams.

"Claudia and the others must be getting sick of grinding the altar by now; let’s open up the Nightmare Dungeon instance tomorrow."

Kristo’s hands, which were carving the spell runes, did not stop.

"Wouldn’t the difficulty of the instance be a bit too much for them at the moment? Even though it’s a weakened version of the War God Piglet, it’s not something a mere Dream Elf could easily handle."

"Difficulty has to be there to have something to overcome..." Lyle waved his hand nonchalantly, "As long as there is a sufficient number of players, this little trouble can definitely be overcome."

"Where would the player base come from? Claudia brought in just a handful of cats, and along with the five Witherers you recruited as testers, that’s barely eight people..."

"Didn’t I tell you? They’re just testers, checking how Dream Elves respond to this kind of virtual reality game. Since they seem to have no objections so far, the next step is naturally a wide-scale test. We have promotional strategies; Claudia and I don’t have many connections in this Dream Forest."

"But they are not like us, Kristo. You’d better brace yourself; the big troops are coming."

...

Heinz, with dark circles under his eyes, sat upright in the Silent Chamber, looking at the letter in his hand. It was on the special stationery of the City of Wandering’s Arcane Tower, with an inscription of a mighty dragon in the lower right corner, representing the most noble mage of the City of Wandering. Then there was this faint scent of cloves. The combination of these two things made Heinz understand that Lord Irason had again misappropriated the official correspondence of the Blue Dragon Priest for his own use.

Such personal tokens of communication were unmistakable.

Heinz could do nothing but resign himself to following the orders, or rather suggestions, of his leader. But the mere thought that this so-called dream game was a project led by Mr. Lyle, to whom Heinz had an allergic reaction, caused his eyelids to twitch uncontrollably. He raised his head to look at the young elven girl, Ivy, and spoke with caution.

"Ivy."

"Lord Heinz."

"...Is that Dreamland really free of problems? Have you not been brainwashed or left with any psychological shadows..."

"Lord Heinz, it’s impolite to say such things. Dreamland is fun! Dick and the others feel the same way. Can’t you stop being prejudiced against Sir Lyle?"

You wouldn’t understand... You’re all still too young... Heinz kept these thoughts to himself and sighed.

"I will recommend a hundred Witherer Druids to experience Dreamland. Does Lord Irason have any other requests?"

Ivy pointed at Heinz, "Lord Irason specifically asked for you, Lord Heinz, to lead the team."

Heinz’s hand trembled slightly, "That’s impossible; I still need to command the tripartite battle, our warriors need me."

"Not anymore," Ivy’s sweet smile seemed exceptionally eerie to Heinz, "because Lord Kristo from the Queen’s faction and Lord Charles from the Senate’s faction received the same instructions as you."

"You guys should just go fight it out in Dreamland."

...

Charles placed the Blackthorn Order in front of Doludo. In reality, Charles did not possess the exaggerated stature of a bear from his transformation, not at all resembling the enormous bear he became. Dream Elves were generally slender and tall, but Charles lacked that agility. His brown eyes, hidden under wild battle marks covering most of his face, exuded an oppressive aura befitting someone of high rank.

His old friend Doludo, who had known him for many years, was used to the War Druid and didn’t feel distanced. He wore a smile, handing over a glass of Moonlight Fruit Juice. "An order from the Official. How unusual, it’s not making you chase Earth Dragons or fight Forest Spirit bandits." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Charles, whose face was as stony as ever, cracked a smile, "Don’t tease me. Now’s not a time of war, and my job is practically a sinecure. Doludo, what do you know about this special Dream District, the Dreamland?"

"Oh, I happen to know a bit."

"Really?"

"It’s a game developed by two ladies and a dragon, played in dreams. It’s not much different from the war games you always play, might be a bit more interesting. That’s what my apprentice told me."

"My military exercises are no game," Charles scowled again.

"Alright then," Doludo finished his juice in one gulp, "so the Official’s intention is to send you to the frontier to restart your life, along with your troops."

"Aren’t you coming?" Charles looked down at his cup, where the reflection was blurry, "During the War of the Gods, you were my military advisor."

"A general’s command is not to be disobeyed," Doludo saluted exaggeratedly, "I’ll come when I have the time. Want to reassemble the original iron triangle? The Priestess of the Moon seems rather idle too. You and Essena were so close back then; maybe it’s time to rekindle that old flame."

"Shut up, you dog-headed advisor."