There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

"what?"

The Pope let out a soft exclamation, and then Lu Qing's fingers flicked, the small rock knife in her hand lightly gliding across the surface of the wooden board.

In less than fifteen minutes, a slightly rough, angular male face appeared on the mask in Lu Qing's hand.

"Is this me?" Knight Myron asked, looking at the face on the mask.

“Yes, this was sculpted based on Knight Myron’s face,” Lu Qing nodded.

“It does look quite similar,” Knight Myron chuckled.

"It looks quite similar, but it's a bit rough," Lu Qing said, not entirely satisfied.

Logically speaking, with her maxed-out [Basic Woodworking] skill, plus this blue [Words of Rock], she shouldn't have carved it like this.

Ultimately, due to a lack of experience, I was unable to sculpt the shape I had imagined.

It's not impossible to make changes now, but that would compromise the overall integrity; if you change one place, you'd have to change everything else as well.

This isn't just a matter of not having enough time; the most important issue is that doing it that way would reduce the size of the wooden mask, making it potentially unusable on people's faces.

It seems like this kind of mask doesn't actually need to be worn on the face.

Just as Lu Qing was pondering, the Pope spoke up: "It's already quite good that the first carving is enough to make people recognize who it is."

"As for this mask, I have no use for it, so I'll give it to Her Highness the Princess," the Pope said, picking up Irene's wooden mask.

"Uh, thank you." Lu Qing paused for a moment, then took the mask.

"Alright, it's about time. Let's go back and have breakfast," the Pope said, standing up and brushing the snow off his backside.

The three extinguished the campfire and then returned to Charles's hunter's hut.

Fang Qingrou and Eileen had already woken up. The former was sitting in the living room in a daze, while the latter went to the kitchen to help Charles cook.

Um, Lu Qing glanced at Eileen, who had completely taken control of the kitchen and had Charles as her assistant...

As the princess's personal maid, Eileen possesses exceptional culinary skills. While she may not be able to compare to the castle's top chefs, she is far superior to Charles.

Moreover, Eileen, who knows her princess's appetite well, obviously won't let the princess go hungry again.

........

After finishing their meal, Fang Qingrou and Charles went out. Before leaving, the Pope gave Charles a large sum of money.

Yes, these are for hiring workers to expand the cabin; the extra money will cover the accommodation costs for Lu Qing and the other three.

As for how long I'll stay here...

According to the Pope, Lu Qing will likely stay in Fremures for more than two months before returning to the capital before the Sacred Tree Festival.

......

"Please take a deep breath, Your Highness."

"Your breathing was too long just now, you need to shorten it."

"Very good. Please concentrate. If all goes well, you will be able to sense the elements in the air."

The Pope sat in front of Lu Qing, carefully observing the rhythm of her breathing.

This is a special breathing technique. According to the Pope, practicing this breathing technique can enhance physical fitness and accumulate spiritual energy within the body.

After that, as long as Lu Qing learns to meditate and accumulates spiritual power in her body to a certain level, she will be considered a qualified [Spiritual Walker].

Although... she already possesses a transcendental sequence [Nightmare], it's impossible for her to possess a new transcendental sequence.

"........."

Calming herself down, Lu Qing focused her mind and breathed according to the method the Pope had instructed. After a short while, she began to sense the various elements floating in the air.

Since the system has assigned her this identity, there's a high probability that cultivating according to the Pope's method won't be dangerous.

At worst, we can just stop when we feel danger.

Thinking this, Lu Qing used her breathing technique to inhale all the elements floating in the air into her body.

"Um!?"

The crimson Nightmare energy within his body began to flow rapidly the instant the element entered.

Lu Qing suddenly felt a little hot, but she didn't feel uncomfortable because of it.

"breathe........."

Her chest heaved violently as the Nightmare energy circulated faster and faster. After a while, the stuffy feeling disappeared, and a refreshing coolness surged from her body, making her shiver involuntarily.

Congratulations to the player for acquiring the skill [Vanhusdan Breathing Technique]!

[Current skill: Vanhusdan Breathing Technique LV1]

Strength +1, Agility +2, Constitution +2, Spirit +0

"?"

"What the heck is +0 to Spirit?"

Lu Qing looked at the pop-up message in her diary with a puzzled expression. She hadn't expected that a simple breathing technique could increase her physical attributes.

As for Spirit +0.........

Although I don't know why the mental attribute didn't increase, the diary still displays it.

If breathing techniques are this powerful, what about the "meditation" the Pope mentioned?

Lu Qing couldn't help but feel excited.

------------

Chapter 482: The Title Girl is on Leave

Besides her physical attributes, Lu Qing felt that the Nightmare energy within her body had also increased significantly.

This energy, which could only be increased by taking the Nightmare Potion, actually increased significantly after using the breathing technique.

These extra Nightmare energies were probably generated by consuming the elements she inhaled.

So, could the Nightmare energy within her body be considered the spiritual power the Pope spoke of?

Thinking about it that way, it seems quite reasonable.

Unlike this world, which has had extraordinary powers for over a thousand years, the Abyss Dream where Lu Qing was before was a place where extraordinary powers were just beginning to emerge. It was already quite an achievement to be able to research the so-called Nightmare Potion through those mutated monsters.

So is it wrong for her to keep killing monsters and using their cores to create the Nightmare Potion?

That's hard to say.

After all, cultivating on your own is much slower than taking the Nightmare Potion, but it is more stable and safer.

That being said, if one can cultivate on their own, then what is the point of attribute points?

Lu Qing thought that as their attributes improved, the number of attribute points required to upgrade each attribute would also increase. Did this mean that the Dream Game actually preferred to let them cultivate on their own?

"wrong."

Taking a deep breath, Lu Qing shook her head, feeling that something was not quite right, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

She glanced at the diary in her mind, and a sudden flash of inspiration struck her.

【Spirit +0】

Why does the diary display "spirit +0"?

Could it be that her mental attributes could have been improved, but for some reason, they were not?

If that's really the case, what could be the reason?

She probably already knew the answer in her heart. She opened her attribute panel and looked at the 50 points of her spirit attribute.

“Before a player advances to blue rank, their attributes cannot exceed 50 points…” Lu Qing muttered to herself.

"Your Highness, did you just say something?" the Pope asked, somewhat puzzled.

"No, it's nothing."

Lu Qing's expression was somewhat unnatural. Logically speaking, since she was in the same room as the Pope, even if she spoke softly, the Pope should have been able to hear her with his hearing.

Why didn't the Pope hear what was just said? Was it a coincidence or...?

"Is something bothering you?" the Pope asked, noticing Lu Qing's pale face.

If breathing techniques are performed incorrectly, they can indeed lead to some adverse reactions, such as chest tightness and internal organ pain.

Shaking her head, Lu Qing stopped thinking about it and looked at the Pope, saying, "After finishing the breathing technique, I feel much stronger, and I'm a little unaccustomed to it for a while."

"Yes, that's normal. The first time is often the most effective." The Pope nodded, then took a book from his pocket.

"I'll finish reading this book before tonight. I just need to read it once to get a general idea of ​​what it's like."

"This is?"

Lu Qing took the book handed to her by the Pope and looked at the title.

Basic Applications of Spiritual Power: An Introduction

Author: Gang Erze

Thanks be to the sacred tree, praise be to the world, for the gentle power that permeates this land prevents us from being torn apart by the violent elements.

Opening the book, this was the first sentence Lu Qing saw, followed by a long description of the composition of spiritual energy.

According to the author of the book, the world is mainly composed of six elements, namely the four basic elements of wind, water, fire, and earth, and the two special elements of yin and yang.

Furthermore, based on the study and evolution of different elements, other types of elements can be created, such as water turning into ice, fire turning into light, and earth turning into metal, etc.

This is the basic structure of the world, while spiritual power is the life energy and elements that come from the combination of all living beings, including humans.

Therefore, in this world, all living beings possess spiritual power, only differing in the amount.

Breathing techniques rely on breathing to accelerate the body's absorption of elements, thereby increasing the amount of spiritual energy within the body. The more spiritual energy one has, the faster the elements are absorbed.

That's about all for the beginning of this book; the rest is about the use of spiritual power.

As the title suggests, it is indeed just an introductory chapter on the basic application of spiritual power, but it was of great help to Lu Qing.

After obtaining the extraordinary sequence [Nightmare], she did try to figure out how to use the spiritual power (tentative name) in her body, but she hadn't been able to make any progress.