They don't want me to try anymore.

Richard stared at the girl, his expression unwavering, and demanded, "Stop talking nonsense. Where exactly is this place? How did you get in? Tell me everything you know, or... even if I wanted to help you, I couldn't."

Beside them, Alice, still embarrassed and annoyed, naturally put on a stern face, while Veronica bared her sharp teeth and chuckled, "How about we suck you into a dried octopus?"

"I said, I said everything!"

The girl crouched down, trembling, and whispered, "This story dates back over a thousand years..."

"Ok?"

"Ah! From now on, we can talk about it now too!"

She quickly changed her story, her tentacles trembling as she said, "I am indeed the monster from the sea, and I did bring you all here, but I never intended to harm you! I didn't have enough intelligence outside; I could only act on instinct..."

"As my master's familiar, how could I possibly resist the scent of invitations on you..."

"Then, without realizing it, we all ended up here..."

As she spoke, the girl's eyes became somewhat hazy and sorrowful. Looking at the thousands upon thousands of doors above her, she murmured:

"...The Corridor of Peace, the eternal resting place of our Lord."

"Whom is this 'Lord' you speak of?"

"He is known among the people as the God of Dreams."

Through the girl's fragmented narration, Richard finally understood everything.

Chapter 134 Octopus Girl Doesn't Want to Become Maruko-chan

Regardless of the possibility of deception, according to the girl, the so-called dream-catching sea spider was actually originally called the dream weaver.

This is a creature that specializes in mental activity. It is named for its ability to devour and create human fantasies. In ancient times, it was a beast of the dream god... If you have low emotional intelligence, you can call it a pet.

Originally, this clan was both happy and noble, but everything changed after the Dream God perished in his lair—the Carefree Corridor of the Illusionary Realm—for unknown reasons.

Ultimately, the Dream Weaver is just a magical beast that maintains its intelligence only through divine power. Once the divine power disappears, it reveals its true form and can only live a muddled existence like a wild beast, displaying only the cunning of a fox or monkey.

The girl was originally destined to repeat this script, to be a pure but foolish beast for the rest of her life.

...or worse, be captured by those imperial people and turned into alchemical ingredients.

Her encounter with Richard changed her destiny.

The parchment on Richard's body was not a map or a riddle, but an invitation to the abode of the God of Dreams, the Hall of No Bliss!

In the era when the God of Dreams could still roam the world, the person who held this invitation could be invited by the gods to the Carefree Corridor after falling asleep, and enjoy a night of bliss.

Today, although the gods have fallen into eternal slumber, the function of the invitation to invite people into the dream world still exists, and the method of using it has been secretly inscribed into the instincts of the younger generation by the dream weavers of ancient times who had not yet completely degenerated.

Therefore, when the girl happened to sense the invitation while being chased around by the imperial people, she didn't think much about it and subconsciously activated it.

Because she was no different from a wild animal at the time, she did not think about controlling the range when using her innate magic, which is why Richard and other innocent people were affected.

This is the bizarre scene Richard experienced at sea.

Later, because the Carefree Corridor was an independent illusionary realm that retained some of the Dream God's divine power, the girl was able to shed her beast form for the first time under its stimulation and gain the wisdom and language that her ancestors had once possessed.

"This is the whole story behind why I brought you in, so I wasn't lying. To me, you who have the invitation are truly a benefactor..."

The girl paused, then looked again at the sky filled with thousands of doors:

"I don't know much about the Corridor of No Worries. I only remember that it is the residence of our lord and his final resting place. It can connect the dreams of ten thousand people within a radius of hundreds of kilometers at the same time..."

“I’ve always fed on fantasy, so this place is heaven to me.”

So, do those doors represent the dream worlds of different people?

Richard blinked, and then noticed that the doors were not fixed; some would disappear, and some would appear out of thin air. Perhaps this meant the different states of being awake and asleep?

interesting……

Unfortunately, now is not the time to enjoy the thrill of adventure.

Richard asked in a deep voice, "Since you know how to get in, do you know how to get out?"

The girl was silent.

She glanced timidly at Veronica's canine teeth, hesitated for a moment, and then said awkwardly:

“This…that…invitations can only be used to invite people into dreams, while the task of sending people out was originally the responsibility of our lord and his messengers…”

"..."

"No, however, it's not like there's absolutely no way!"

To save her life, the girl, whose intelligence had only lasted a few hours, frantically tried to think clearly and said:

"The ancestral memories say that as long as a visitor can find another version of themselves in the dream world, they can cast a spell called self-displacement to expel the person from the dream and return them to reality."

"another me?"

"For example, if someone dreams of you, their benefactor, and you enter their dream, you can meet the version of yourself that they dreamed of. Since there are two versions of you at the same time, you can use magic to squeeze one out..."

The girl rubbed her hands together and said, "This principle seems to involve the dreamer's consciousness logic and high-level mental magic, which I can't quite explain... To be honest, I don't even know how to write these terms..."

That doesn't sound very reliable.

But this is the only solution at the moment.

So, there's one last question...

Richard squinted and asked, "How do we know if you're telling the truth or lying?"

"My benefactor, everything I said is true!"

“When it comes to life and death, we can’t afford to be careless.” Richard raised an eyebrow. “Besides, your reputation isn’t exactly stellar. If I remember correctly, you’ve even attacked my people before…”

He was referring to the incident involving the fisherman and his daughter.

The girl thought for a while before remembering, and sobbed, "I... I was a wild beast outside, I couldn't control myself, I didn't do anything wrong! And what I wanted to eat back then wasn't people, but their fantasies, it's just that I was too big at the time..."

Richard could accept this reason.

But he remained cold and glared at the girl, making her even more flustered.

Veronica, who was standing nearby, understood his meaning and stepped forward with a dangerous smile: "Your Highness, how about I drain her dry, or turn her into some kind of reserve food that you can eat, like those little dumplings you mentioned last time~"

"No, no!"

"never mind."

Richard sighed softly, pretending to stop Veronica, and said to the girl, "Actually, I have another way to make you trustworthy."

"You said you'd agree to anything as long as you spared my life!"

"Although you have gained wisdom, with the Dream God already fallen, you are still essentially a magical beast, aren't you?"

"Is such that……"

"Well."

Richard flipped his hand and pulled out a scroll covered in runes: "To be honest, my profession is a summoner, and my specialty is that I can form contracts with various magical beasts and achieve cooperation."

"So this is..."

"A soul contract specifically for intelligent magical beasts, which stipulates our obligation to help each other... After signing, you can no longer hurt me... There are also some welfare clauses and disclaimers... as well as the ownership of the final interpretation right, ah, this is actually not important... blah blah."

As Richard spoke, the girl's eyes were already swirling with the smell of mosquito coils.

Contracts are too difficult for an octopus girl who has only been talking for less than a day!

However, under Veronica's kind gaze and the oppressive presence of Alice's benevolent smile behind her, the girl could no longer care about anything else.

If you don't understand, you don't understand. You're not planning to kill me, right?

Let's sign it then!

Weak, pitiful, and helpless.jpg

After the contract was made, Richard immediately sensed that he and the girl had established a spiritual connection.

Now there's a basic level of trust!

After asking a few more questions, Richard suddenly remembered, "What should we call you from now on?"

"This... oh, you're asking for my name, right?"

The girl scratched her head with her tentacles: "This...it really does seem to be true..."

No, right?

That's right. Before, all she had to do was swim in the ocean; she didn't need a name at all.

"How about you call yourself Chris from now on?"

After examining the tentacles scattered all over the ground, Richard decisively came up with a name that started with the character "克" (kè).

"Huh? Huh! Okay, okay! Then I'll be called Chris from now on! Thank you, my benefactor!"

Although she was forced to sign an unequal treaty, the girl who had just received a name was still very happy at this moment.

With the key issue resolved, everyone began to try Chris's plan.

To be honest, this plan sounds extremely difficult.

To find yourself in someone else's dream, you first need someone to dream about you. Even the most narcissistic person wouldn't think that's a very high probability thing.