Imagine
“So the original place has now fallen to this barren state?” After bidding the one-eyed dragon farewell, Leylin finally arrived at the area where he had last left his signal.
However, this terrain had obviously changed compared to when his laboratory had originally connected to this place. The many forests had all disappeared, and the bumpy terrain gave rise to feelings of familiarity.
The former location of the lab had long since been swallowed up by seawater, and the rank 6 spider he’d met before had also vanished without a trace.
“Where are Gillian and the rest?” Based on the map saved by the A.I. Chip in his memories, Leylin found no difficulty in finding the place they had gathered in, though it was now completely empty. The pots and metal on the ground looked completely corroded.
“To this extent?” Leylin picked up an iron sword. This was something he had gifted them, made from the best steel and forging techniques of the central continent. Now, however, it was turning to powder in his hands, corroding inch by inch before disappearing entirely.
‘It’s only been three centuries, but from the items it seems like they’ve gone through thousands or even tens of thousands of years… Is this a change from dreamforce when it was still very active?’ Leylin stroked his chin, arriving at where Gillian and her father had resided.
Or rather, this was only the remains of what had been. The old house had long since withered away, and there were only slight traces left on the ground.
“The settling of time should show the truth before me…” Leylin’s eyes looked profound as he said words that were like an incantation.
As beings of law, Magi had already surpassed things like incantations and spell formations. They touched on the most fundamental powers of magic, and had the power of the magic take effect as words were spoken.
*Rustle!*
The soil separated and the rocks caved in, revealing a few broken bones, and even some corroded household utensils.
“Seems like after I left, Gillian lived for a long time…”
As time was turned back, Leylin gained a deep understanding of what had happened in this area.
*Bzzt bzzt!* At this moment, the ground had caved into to the limit, and a black bundle of light with some tattered cloths within appeared.
Atop the tattered cloth were a few badly damaged markings that could not be recognisable.
“This… isn’t it the notebook I gave to Gillian?” Leylin’s eyes shone. From the A.I. Chip’s analysis of the image, these items that were like cloth were actually multiple pieces of paper stuck together, a strange situation a result of being pushed down with tremendous force.
“Reveal!” Leylin reached out and touched them. Soon enough, lines of tiny words were projected, emitting multi-coloured luster in the air.
The A.I. Chip quickly accepted this information and arranged this information based on the time they had been made.
‘It is a good day. Father and the rest made use of the method Uncle left behind and trained many outstanding clansman. We accepted other tribes, and our community is constantly expanding. It’s just that Uncle has yet to return, and Gillian is very worried…’
At the beginning, there were only daily happenings recorded in the notebook. After gaining Leylin’s support and help, Gillian’s tribe expanded very quickly.
Following which, from between the lines, Leylin could sense a strong sense of fear.
‘First is a famine, and then the plague! Has this area been cursed by the master of calamities? Do we have to give this place up? Father is very bewildered. All the explorers he has sent out have not come back with information on good places to move to, as if the world has suddenly been struck with famine…’
“The begin of the wane? Mm! And this time… this is before the weakening of dreamforce?”
Leylin’s eyes flashed.
After which, the writing on the notebook became a mess. It seemed like its owner had not spent much effort on recording this.
There were merely few words here and there, all representing death and despair.
‘In this period of time, many clansmen have experienced changes to their bodies. They first become mysteriously stronger, but at the same time, they seem to lose their rationality with the gaining of strength. In order to suppress them, there have been many casualties on our best. Gods! I hope I won’t end up like them…’
This passage was full of terror, and Leylin read through a few times with interest.
‘All crops have vanished. We need to abandon this place. No matter how serious the calamity in the north is, it’s still better than our base now… I will leave this notebook behind in hopes of someone finding it, hopefully it’ll be Uncle…’
On the very large page, the words were all written messily, and it was obvious she had been in a hurry.
‘Famine, plague, war, and then destruction…’
Leylin recalled the content in the notebook.
It seemed that the camp here had long since moved, and there had been a strange transformation that happened to the batch of natives with Gillian.
“They became mysteriously stronger, and most lost their rationality? Is it an effect of dreamforce doing this of its own accord? I never thought they’d be so unlucky…”
Dreamscape was full of mystery. What might be a little worm might turn into a devil the very next day.
Before the wane of dreamforce, such a change would be very severe, and those natives had evidently profited.
If not, in such a cruel environment, they might not even live to be able to move away.
“I wonder how they turned out in the end?”
Leylin stroked his chin. If Gillian and the rest had grown in strength, that would be beneficial to him too.
“But the calamity in the north?”
Leylin forced a smile. He’d obviously already checked that direction, but that was only filled with the domains of devils.
Even at his most powerful, he wouldn’t dare intrude. The clues from the natives could only be given up on at this point.
“These aren’t the main point anyway. It’s good if it works out, but there aren’t any losses even if I fail here…”
Leylin consoled himself, “Since the seeds have been planted, next is to wait for Dreamscape to completely wane, and I’ll then wait to see what hat I can harvest…”
Taking another look at this area, Leylin’s figure became increasingly translucent until he disappeared.
*Pila! Pila!* After he left, the remains of the notebook from before was completely eroded, turning into fragments that flew in the winds.
Dark red luster shone once more, and once everything was over, Leylin was back in his laboratory in the Magus World.
“The silent Dreamscape is not only a bridge of communication amongst various beings, but also a paradise for adventurers. The natives have all disappeared though… What an interesting change.”
Leylin sank into deep thought and then pressed on a circular, twisted rune.
“Ignox, it’s Leylin. How’s it going with the thing I previously asked you about?”
Distorted rings of light emitted silver luster in the air. Minutes later, Leylin heard the unique voice that belonged to Ignox transmitted from it.
“Crackle… my apologies… the signal isn’t all that good here… As for the method you mentioned about wanting to increase the ability control your truesoul clone, I’ve already found it in the library. Shall we go through with the trade now?”
“Of course!” Leylin exclaimed, surprised.
He then saw a shrivelled palm grab a black, dried up apple and extending from the distorted circle.
“This method of spatial transmission is slightly terrifying!”
Restraining himself from rolling his eyes, Leylin took the apple from the hand with a layer of fur on it.
[Beep! Discovered soul force data interface. Permit transmission?] The moment he had the dried up apple in his hands, Leylin immediately noticed something had changed. At this moment, the sound from the A.I. Chip’s prompt was heard.
“Yes!”
With Leylin’s order, a string of information flashed into his eyes. This was the method to resolve the problems that came with controlling truesoul clones. While he had yet to test it out, Leylin could generally ascertain the authenticity of the information.
“Good! That’s exactly what I needed. The item I agreed to give you before will be sent to you soon.”
Leylin nodded in his satisfaction.
“It’s great that it’s useful to you! Honestly speaking though, I don’t recommend you go through with this. It’s too dangerous…”
From the other side came Ignox’s kind warning.
After thanking him for his kind intentions, Leylin closed off the communications.
“If this were just a simple exploration of worlds, I wouldn’t want to do this, but…”
Based on the information Ignox gave, Leylin looked grim.
Though most of the preparations were done, it was not that easy to be resolute and go through with it.
Yes! His preparations were all for the World of Gods!
The crystal wall of this world was far too obstinate, and it was an unsolvable issues for even other existences of laws.
Leylin had the Manderhawke Plate and Beezlebub’s memories, so he could somewhat get through, but the consumption was so huge that even with his body of laws, it was difficul to endure.
What Leylin could not accept was that the soul force from foreign beings were very conspicuous, and would be discovered no matter where one went. Hence, it was impossible to force his way in.
If he could not force his way in, then he had to do something from the inside.
Leylin’s plan was to place a portion of his truesoul in the World of Gods and become a half-independent clone that would grow in strength independently, without taking in any power from the main body.
Once the clone grew to become a god, it would have enough power to coordinate with Leylin outside and open up the crystal wall of the World of Gods.