Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

Ivy looked down and fiddled with her fingers.

"Lord Hines is really busy."

"Busy sleeping?"

"War! Lord Hines is commanding a war."

"Killing in a dream?"

"Uh-huh."

Ivy nodded vigorously.

It must be said, they truly are worthy of being the Irason race.

Chapter 650 The Power of Dreams

Indistinct murmurs echoed in his ears. Lyle sat in the center of the slumber chamber, surrounded by a dozen or so elves whose expressions were filled with pain and torment. Several servants walked around the sleeping elves, while Lyle felt a white shadow floating in front of him, his eyes vacant.

The occasional murmurs of pain made Lyle feel embarrassed, and the indistinct whispers made him feel even more depressed.

Although he was grateful to the Witherer for being so close to him like family, showing him the most authentic form of the elves, he still hoped to maintain a certain distance in his heart. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, and the elegant and ethereal image of the elves in Lyle's heart had shattered.

Now, he feels like he's wandered into an intensive care unit or locked up in a mental hospital.

Lyle felt out of place and abandoned by the world.

"It feels like I'm back in Andre!" Nia whispered in her ear.

Andrei? How could that be? Andrei wouldn't have such a depressing atmosphere.

Are you serious?

"Of course," the liches replied. "How could they tolerate the things on the lab table making noise all the time? Research requires focus and patience..."

[However, the experimenters were even noisier. Remember when you and Shining were collaborating on an experiment? You argued endlessly about material quotas, and then you took them apart and turned them into ornaments. You were really cruel back then, turning your companions into decorations and displaying them at the club entrance to assert your authority.]

"Because I'll die if I lose, and what right do you have to stand on the side of critics when we're clearly accomplices?"

"Nia helped too!!!"

Talking to himself relieved some of the pressure, and Lyle noticed that some of the waiters who were nearby seemed to be looking at him differently.

To put it bluntly, the most important thing is a sense of participation. You feel awkward now because you've put yourself in the shoes of a guest, and seeing the host's shortcomings has left you feeling helpless.

"Makes sense."

Why not accept the kindness of those who have faded away, and consider yourself one of them? Then you won't feel lonely in Andre; treat this place as another Andre.

"An ominous sign... is this... alright?"

【Can. 】

A wriggling shadow climbed onto Lyle's body, making the treehouse, where sunlight couldn't reach, even dimmer.

You can find some comfort, and I can find some fun.

Lyle rubbed his hands excitedly and slowly walked toward the sleeping elf who was tormented by nightmares.

The pathetic character, fast asleep, has no idea of ​​the terror he is about to experience, where is his savior? Where is his savior?

"Lyle! They said you've arrived!"

His savior has arrived.

Lyle could hear a clicking of the tongue as the luminous figure flew into the dark room like a butterfly, not with any solemnity. The sleeping elves relaxed a little at her boisterous noise.

"Keep your voice down! Lord Irason!" Ivy covered the ears of the elf closest to the green dragon priest, looking at her leader with a mixture of worry and helplessness.

"Sorry~" Irason instinctively shrank back, then glanced at Lyle, and then seemed to remember something. He put his hands on his hips, straightened his chest again, coughed a few times, and then the volume of his cough rose a little again.

“Little Ivy! There’s no need to be quiet. They’ve entered the Emerald Dream and won’t be woken up! You’ve misunderstood me!”

"Well, it was my mistake, but shouldn't you be leaving now with our distinguished guests? Your Excellency, the great Irason."

The green dragon priestess was easily swayed by this. She walked up to Lyle, acting like a child receiving praise, and draped vines from the soil around her legs, lifting her up. Irason leaned forward, the flower bud at the tip of her staff brushing against Lyle's forehead. In that moment, the radiance of nature brought forth pure maternal love on the green dragon priestess's face, her radiant smile warming hearts like the sun.

Nature will bestow upon you all that is pure and beautiful, as long as you love her, just as she loves you.

"How should I respond?" Lyle asked quietly. It was clearly a matter of courtesy, and a gesture of goodwill deserved to be respected.

“This is an elder’s blessing. It’s a blessing from an elder elf to a younger one. There’s no ceremony to reciprocate, because the elder’s love is selfless.” Irason breathed a sigh of relief, reverting to Lyle’s familiar languid demeanor. She pointed to the verdant world outside the door, gesturing for Lyle to follow.

"Welcome to the Dream Forest, Lyle."

……

"The dreams of living beings are vague and chaotic; dreams are another world that arises when reason rests."

"We discovered this earlier than other races, and through long-term experimentation and training, the dream elves have mastered the method of remaining awake in dreams. By 'awake,' I don't mean physically awake, but rather that we have better self-control within our dreams. We can control our dreams and make full use of our sleep time for other activities."

Lyle and Irasorn walked side by side. The scenery of the Dream Forest was beautiful, and even more wondrous was the dreamlike quality that seemed to emanate from the treetops. This land bore little trace of human intervention, only the vibrant, untamed life of nature. But Lyle was more concerned with what Irasorn had said.

"In other words, dream spirits have twice as much time as other life forms, after all, you can do whatever you want in your dreams."

"Not that many. You don't sleep twelve hours a day either. Besides, different races require different amounts of hibernation. Liches don't need to hibernate, do they?"

“That’s because they can’t sleep. If they could, they would definitely want to sleep.” Lyle thought to himself, “As expected, those who can stand at the top of the era are all powerful races. But I still feel that the Dream Elf race is amazing. You can train yourselves in dreams and secretly level up while others are resting.”

“Lyle, you’re being too simplistic. This ability has limitations. And it has many flaws. Otherwise, the leader of the Dragon Priest Council wouldn’t be Moroki, the representative of the arcane arts. Dreams are like a new continent, with opportunities that ordinary people don’t have, as well as dangers that ordinary people can’t understand.”

“For example, the evil god.” Lyle remembered that when he fell into the City of Wanderings, he had briefly stayed in the Emerald Dream, deep within the dream, where a part of the Sealed Sleeper Triton resided.

"That's the biggest problem. The corruption of evil gods is like venom flowing from the earth's core, breeding countless nightmares, monsters that lead our minds astray. But besides that, dreams themselves have their flaws. Dreams are ethereal, pure yet uncontrollable. Every thought in a dream is free and unrestrained; you can't predict what kind of dreams you'll have. You can control your individual self, but your dreams belong to the subconscious, a chaotic soul space disturbed by various deep emotions. There are exhilarating dreams, and there are terrifying nightmares."

"Dream sprites have a deeper connection with dreams, and the feedback from dreams is more obvious. [Dream Death] is a major security threat that we need to worry about. For this reason, we have trained a large number of dream druids to manage and maintain dreams. However, the nightmares that breed will always cause trouble when we are not paying attention. Overall, entering dreams is just a major feature of our sprites, and it cannot be described as powerful."

Lyle pinched his chin.

"And what about the Dreamwalkers? Irason, who is also a Dream Elf and a Dreamwalker, what role do you play in the dream?"

Ira Songn smiled slightly.

"Dreamwalkers, within dreams, are omnipotent. First, there existed me as a Dreamwalker, then there existed the Dream Elf race. That is my most prized talent, and I have fully developed it. Don't open your eyes so wide, I have sealed an evil god within a dream, it's very powerful! Dreamwalkers are a bit stronger than Dream Elves, we can not only interfere with ourselves, but also distort our dreams, but at the same time we are also a bit closer to the abyss, isn't there a saying, 'There is only a fine line between madness and genius'?"

Seeing Lyle's gloomy face, Irason thought he had hurt him.

"Actually, it's not that amazing! It's a remedy! That's right! Humans are also amazing. In your short lifespan of less than a hundred years, you have shone with the most brilliant light in that instant. I think that's why humans are called the masters of the era. Whether it's magic or holy light, your learning ability and comprehension are what make us alien races tremble. So dream elves are actually quite weak. Entering dreams only adds to our relatively long lifespan. Our ability to digest knowledge is incomparable to that of humans. Don't be discouraged, you are the best Dragon King Priest, Lyle!"

Are humans very strong?

"Hmm, smart people are strong. Hey?! Lyle, you're smart too!!"

Lyle was pale at this moment.

“It’s not that I think I’m weak, it’s just… Irason, tell me, what would happen if an intelligent human had the ability to enter dreams?”

Irason's handsome eyebrows furrowed. "Dreamwalkers are very rare. Entering a dream means doubling the time spent thinking, which is a very difficult condition to meet. A human with the ability to enter a dream also has to be intelligent. I don't know, but I think intelligent people are quite terrifying, like Brother Morokui. If someone could really meet all these conditions, I think he would become a monster in thought, spirit, and soul. Thinking too much is not a good thing, Lyle."

Lyle's teeth chattered slightly. "He's a freak himself."

Irason noticed Lyle's expression, stopped, hugged the boy, and gently patted the back of his head.

"Don't worry, Lyle."

"The very concept of Dreamwalker represents the idea that everything is confined to the dream world of the mind. If a monster from a dream were to appear, the Dream Druid would do everything in its power to stop it. Dreamwalker is a support ability with very little destructive power over the real world. Relax, even if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. I'm here too, Lyle, I'm a Dreamwalker as well."

“Irason…” Lyle looked at the smiling face so close to his own and felt his eyes well up with tears. Yes, although Irason was unreliable, she would definitely stand up for him in a crisis, wouldn't she? She was a Dreamwalker too… she definitely could…

"I'm a Dreamwalker too, but I ended up as a dragon priest's mascot. So the Dreamwalker ability really isn't anything special..."

Irason's arrogant "I'm a useless piece of trash" attitude left Lyle speechless.

Chapter 651 The Friend Mentioned

Deep green weaves a skylight overhead, letting sunlight fall on the grass, as if the gods have used this bright paintbrush to sketch a picture. A city lies like a sleeping giant in the heart of a dense forest, streams extending from its roots, and all the trees stretching their branches toward it, yet maintaining a distance. This vegetation forms a natural ring, encircling the elven city at its center.

Elves continued to descend from the thick roots, like seeds falling to the ground. They glanced at Lyle, then turned back to their own business. Several elves with staffs emitted a pale green light, and new branches grew from the soil under the power of magic, replacing the old and broken parts.

Instead of leading Lyle into the beautiful city, Irason turned a corner and headed towards the treehouse in a secluded corner of the Forest Ring.

“That’s Treeheart Royal City, the city of the Queen’s faction. Its predecessor was an ancient tree species that I and the green dragon Irason nurtured together. I can take you in, but that will cause a lot of trouble. I’m sorry, Lyle, I’ll make it up to you later!”

Leaving his regret behind, Lyle nodded in understanding. "The scenery of the elven city intrigues me, but Claudia's problem worries me more. Let's go see her first, Irason."

The Ring of the Forest is the name of a large circle of treehouses surrounding the royal city, inhabited by many dream elves. Class distinctions are not strong in the Dream Forest; the original inhabitants of the Ring of the Forest simply moved there because the royal city lacked space.

On the northwestern edge of the Forest Ring, there is a patch of black thorn bushes whose color is distinctly different from the surrounding map. The sunlight is monopolized by the huge shade of several towering trees, and plants that prefer shade and dampness are scattered among the thorn bushes.

Like a revelation of the cruel law of survival of the fittest in the plant kingdom, this forest evokes a chilling and gloomy atmosphere. But it also possesses unexpected beauty: blue-purple roses proliferate in this secluded place, and even in the dark of day, you can see fireflies twinkling like stars.

She stood there like a wooden sculpture, amidst the thorny plants, her arms like tender shoots growing from decaying wood, her green skin with the translucency of jade, contrasting with the thick black armor, exuding a noble yet heroic air.

The elven governor approached, the plants on either side resembling water parted by an icebreaker, the swirling flowers seemingly surrounding her, pushing the noble lady before the two men.

Looking up at the tower from afar is a different feeling than looking up from its base. Under the gaze of that wooden mask with elk antlers, a sense of oppressive scrutiny descended upon Lyle. Worse still, the ominous response was palpable.

She is hostile towards you; she's dangerous.

Even without the ominous warning, Lyle felt that chilling gaze. The figure of the elven governor almost overlapped with that of the cold white dragon priest, yet there was a subtle difference. The mermaid queen's indifference was the coldness of frost and snow towards all living beings, while the elven governor's coldness was a deep chill dripping from thick malice.

Lyle was taken aback. Faced with that gaze, his first reaction wasn't unease, but astonishment. This was the first person to show him such malice upon their first meeting, which was quite unusual for a heartthrob like him. Andrei's liches practically worshipped him, the Forgotten King of Twilight Memories maintained a close relationship, the Abyss demons expressed their adoration, comparing him to a demon prince, and the elven archon seemed to harbor some deep-seated hatred towards him.

"This is Susanna, the Elf Archon, my sister, my closest, most, most reliable person."

“This is Lyle, the Dragon Priest, a student of my Dragon Priest brother Morokui, hmm… a funny and clever child.”

After Irason finished his introductions, he stood aside, leaving the opportunity for the two to exchange pleasantries.

Susanna bent down, the cold light beneath her mask drawing ever closer to Lyle. "Ilan often mentions your name, saying you're a special person, Mr. Lyle."

When the Green Dragon Priest's name was mentioned, Lyle sensed the governor's chill subside slightly; the obvious difference in attitude quickly led Lyle to guess the reason for the hostility. This elven governor doted on the Green Dragon Priest, and Lyle's presence had stirred her protective instincts and competitive spirit.

A lily elf... The dignified governor suddenly seemed adorable to Lyle.

"Back in the City of Wanderings, I often heard Ms. Irason mention that reliable and esteemed friend. Today, I am fortunate to meet you, and you are exactly as she described." This was a lie. Irason had never mentioned the Dream Forest. She was either sleeping or playing in the City of Wanderings.

Susanna turned to look at the green dragon priest standing to the side, who was clearly grinning foolishly and lost in thought. The cold aura around her dissipated.

“Is that so? Welcome to our home, Mr. Lyle. I am very grateful for your care of her in the past.”