Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

The two smiled at each other, and Susanna took over the role of guide, clearing away the thorns to show them the way.

“I was Tiffany’s godmother, so I have some experience in raising children. I’m actually teaching Claudia as well. The child has an exceptional talent for dream weaving, but recently… or should I say she’s entered a rebellious phase? She’s showing obvious resistance to my teaching methods. I can’t be strict with Ilan and those close to her, but when it really needs to, I can be a strict mother. But Irason recommended you to me, Mr. Lyle. Perhaps you have better skills in teaching young dragons.”

Susanna led the two to a cave, and the darkness at the entrance suggested its depth.

“This is my woodland. The Archdruid will have a patch of land that has been touched by the teachings to serve as a classroom for his apprentices. Claudia is inside, and my crypt will protect her body as she drifts into dreams. Please come in, Mr. Lyle.”

Thorny vines growing on the door parted on both sides, and Lyle followed Susanna deeper into the cave.

Susanna walked at the front, and the darkness quickly swallowed her figure.

Lyle followed closely behind, and someone gently patted his back. He turned around and saw Irason resting his cheek on his hand, looking confused.

"Lyr, Lyr, did I mention Susanna to you in the City of Wandering? I don't recall it."

Lyle's lips twitched. Had this stupid dragon priest been agonizing over this question the whole way?

"Of course, would I lie to you? Your esteemed and great Lord Irason, you must be too busy to remember. You did indeed introduce Lady Susanna." Whatever the reason, Lyle casually brushed off the idiot and walked into the crypt.

Irason thought for three seconds, then tapped his head as if he had just realized something.

"Ah, I must have forgotten!"

She was persuaded by Lyle, and Irason, no longer troubled, followed him into the crypt.

"If that's the case, I must have mentioned Lyle to Susanna quite often, but I must have been too busy to remember."

"I thought I had only mentioned it once."

Chapter 652 Sleeping Technique

The druid's crypt was far more habitable than the Manu's sanctuary. It was cool but not damp, and the exposed plant fragments made the air in this enclosed space fresh. Some fluorescent night-blooming flowers provided illumination, making Susanna's silhouette clearly visible three meters away.

The sound of their footsteps became the only noise, and the silence of the leader also affected Lyle and Irason.

The journey wasn't long, but the unchanging scenery gave the illusion of having traveled for an extended period. It wasn't until that unusual emerald light came into view that the stagnant thoughts that had been roiling in silence began to stir. There lay a colossal emerald dragon, coiled into a ball, asleep amidst a vast expanse of cascading, curtain-like roots. The tips of these roots touched the dragon's scales, and emerald light shone at the points of contact.

Susanna waved her arms, and the roots in front of her spread out to the sides, making way for the group.

“Don’t be so nervous. Iragan is just a signpost guiding your dreams. It won’t do anything to you. On the contrary, it’s very fragile.” Susanna looked away, placed her palm against the green dragon’s head, and only after confirming that everything was alright did she turn to face Lyle.

Lyle had now reached the heart of the root system, and comforted, he was also intrigued by these wondrous plants. As a member of the Andrei family, he habitually kept his distance from anything that looked interesting, especially these roots that had originally been attached to the dragon's scales, resembling the tentacles of a jellyfish hunting its prey.

"They look so pretty that I mistakenly thought they had even more magical effects..."

"Effects? For example, instantly taking away the consciousness of the person who comes into contact with it, causing them to fall into a deep sleep?" Susanna reached out and gently stroked the root brush, which had dimmed after the connection was severed. "The Iragen is very fragile. Without a hard cuticle, they can't even dig into the soil. This weakness has also become their ability. Their tips, which are softer than any other substance, bring pleasure. Only the softest part can touch the softest dreams."

A tingling sensation erupted from the back of Lyle's neck, a mysterious pleasure as if his soul were being sucked away. Lyle clutched the back of his neck and turned around. Irason covered his mouth with his left hand and chuckled, while his right hand gripped the tip of an Iragen brush, its fine bristles resembling those of a calligraphy brush—clearly the culprit from before.

"Phew, you got a fright, didn't you, Lyle?"

“Green Dragon Priestess…” This old woman is so unserious. Lyle gritted his teeth and was about to retort when a chilling gaze fell upon him. Governor Susanna was staring intently at him, who was being tricked by Irason.

“You are the leader of the Dream Elves, Ilan, mind your manners.”

"Just a little bit of fun, hehe. I promise there won't be a next time, Susanna."

“Alright, but Mr. Lyle, please also be a little careful…”

"……I see."

Ira Songn's little mischief completely broke the routine of their small talk. Without dwelling on it any longer, Susanna got straight to the point and pointed out the problem.

“Claudia is undergoing the daily training I have arranged. Most of the training for dream druids takes place in dreams. To better understand her problem, Mr. Lyle, I suggest you enter the dream world and experience it for yourself.”

"No problem. How do I enter the dream, like last time?" When he was researching the flesh and blood disguise before, Lyle had obtained an immersion stone from Irason that could be used to invade other people's dreams.

Susanna shook her head.

“I’ve heard about what Elan has done before. But this time it’s different. The dream we’re going to delve into isn’t just one person’s dream, but the Emerald Dream, the aggregate of all living beings’ dreams, another dimension. It’s deeper than everyone’s dreams, harder to delve into, and harder to awaken from. You can think of it as our mind and body temporarily separating and entering an imagined world. The Emerald Dream is easy for ordinary people to get lost in, so you need a guide who is skilled in dreams, you need a dream facilitator.”

“Me! Me! Lyle! I’ll be your dream guide, I’m the best at putting people to sleep!” Irason volunteered energetically, but she received a distrustful look from Lyle.

“I highly doubt your motives, Your Excellency Irason.”

"How could that be? I'm a gentle green dragon priest, the most outstanding dream walker. Guiding people into dreams is a piece of cake for me. Besides, Lyle, you don't have many choices," Irason snorted, putting one hand on his hip smugly. "If you don't choose me, are you going to choose Susanna as your dream guide...?"

“I choose Ms. Susanna.” Lyle didn’t need to think at all and stood next to the governor, who had been silent since the beginning.

"Huh?" Irason's eyes began to show worry. She reached out shakily, looking at Susanna as if she wanted to say something but hesitated. "Um... um, Lyle, did I hear that right? You and Susanna are meeting for the first time. In terms of relationship, we should be closer. You really don't want to choose me?"

“We are indeed closer, Irason,” Lyle nodded, “but it’s precisely because I know you so well that I know you’re always unreliable at crucial moments, and it’s because I understand you that I chose Susanna.”

"How could this happen! Mingming... Lyle, stop being naughty and come to me right now! Susanna... she's in a bad situation in some ways."

Lyle paused for a moment, then turned to look at the tall elven governor. Beneath the wooden mask, Susanna smiled.

What's going on? Is there a problem here too? I seem to be caught in a dilemma. On one side is the obviously unreliable Irason, and on the other side is the Lily Governor Susanna, who is clearly hostile towards me.

Lyle gritted his teeth and swallowed his pride.

"Ms. Susanna, you are a very outstanding and charming lady. Please forgive my somewhat offensive question, but are you qualified to be my Dream Guide?"

Through the gaps in the wooden armor, Lyle saw Susanna's smile grow even brighter, and heard her firm and confident voice in his ears.

"Of course, I am one of the most powerful dream druids in the dream forest, and a master of the spell of sleep. I am the most efficient one."

Lyle breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then please."

Lyle thought to himself that although Susanna was hostile to him because of Irason, it was not hard to see from their brief contact that this governor had a high level of professional ethics and put the big picture first. Susanna should not make things too difficult for him.

Susanna slowly raised her hand, and a vibrant green of life bloomed in it. She then gently placed it on Lyle's forehead. The instant the touch occurred, a wave of intoxicating warmth washed over Lyle.

This pleasant warmth is the healing power of nature.

As expected, Susanna is a thoughtful person. However, why cast a healing spell? She wasn't injured.

"To eliminate the slight chance of instant death caused by my 'Sleep Spell'," Susanna's voice rang in Lyle's ears, and at that moment, Lyle felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

The hand covered his head, and Lyle understood the clear sensation of the touch and the inertia of the muscles pulling on his body as he lost his weight.

Susanna, damn it, this woman majored in physics. That woman is a war goddess.

In less than a second, Nia's tentacles and the ominous shadow were suppressed, and the terrifying force sent Lyle flying backward.

Boom! An earthquake erupted in the Dream Forest, startling the birds into flight.

Lyle was embedded in the crumbling ground, his figure invisible in the fractured soil, his fate unknown.

Sleep Spell (Physical) [Instant Death Cancelled], Forbidden Spell Level, Casting Complete.

Chapter 653 The Soul Blossoms

It was like being immersed in boiling hot soup, with the surrounding air currents repelling his body. That feeling of being repelled, that discomfort transmitted from the surface of his body to his brain, prompted Lyle to open his eyes.

The view was dim, and bizarre illusions formed the ceiling. I lay on the ground, which looked very similar to that scene, and the difference between heaven and earth blurred in my mind.

"It's a bit disgusting."

There were no specific, observable objects in sight; all were blurry, intermingled, colorful clumps, like a river sludged with oil.

Lyle wasn't exactly clean by this point either.

He lifted his leg and moved forward in any direction, his long, black leg, like a bamboo pole, cutting through the water's surface, leaving a deep black mark amidst the chaotic colors. Lyle looked at his lower body with some surprise; the flowing black mud had already formed a ribbon of water within the colors. He looked up and gazed into the distance, his gaze piercing through the brilliance, looking towards the unchanging, endless horizon.

The Ominous Giant stands like a lonely tower in the dream.

[Is this the Emerald Dreamland? This can hardly be called emerald.]

“This feeling is somewhat familiar…” Lyle’s withered hand slid through the oil stains as he watched the details of black and chaotic colors encroaching on each other. “This is someone’s dream, and we are being targeted.”

That's really bad. A person's dreams reflect their true self, and the environment we're in now suggests the owner of this place is probably in a terrible state.

"This kind of dream seems more like it was intentional."

[Dreamwalkers can distort their own dreams, but now, this place is confined as an 'unformable' barrier. Logically, all consciousness and thoughts should not take on a concrete form...]

The ominous giant touched his body, which was fixed in shape by countless shadowy tentacles.

"Only evil gods can maintain their existence in chaos. This dream... is a sieve to filter out evil gods."

【So you've been exposed now... The real culprit has arrived.】

The ominous giant slowly turned around, its drooping tentacles emitting a faint, ghastly green glow, like a shimmering night sky. On its blurred face, two hollow, malevolent eyes stared into the distance.

The previously empty space began to exhibit unusual light and shadow, creating ripples in the space, followed by bulges. Finally, with a ripping sound, a large rift was torn open in the air, and a thick willow branch, bound together with other branches, emerged from the crevice. The rift continued to widen, and the monster hiding inside slowly revealed its body.

The enormous wooden mask was covered with eerie patterns, and two dark, phosphorescent flames were embedded in the six-meter-wide, narrow mask. A pair of deep black thorny antlers grew from the dark brown mane of a lion, and a mixture of roars and grinding teeth emanated from under the mask. This quadrupedal behemoth, or rather, the monster, moved slowly around the ominous giant.

The Ominous Giant and the Nightmare Demon share a striking structural similarity, but the Ominous Giant's body is as thin as a stick, and its piled-up tentacles are merely bloated. The Nightmare, on the other hand… possesses ferocious claws, a robust physique, and muscle lines hidden beneath its willow-wood shell; its strength surpasses that of a Hell Lord, or even a Warrior Dragon. Especially when Lyle noticed the Nightmare Demon's armor-like muscles during a brief moment of heightened attention. She had explosive abs, so exaggerated that it seemed as if a slight movement would cause them to crumble like ripe fruit.

"Your true appearance has truly surprised me, Susanna." What made Lyle feel even worse was that, like the ominous sign, she had a clear form in the invisible dream world. Susanna was also an evil god similar to himself. She had gone to great lengths to pull him into her dream world, clearly not wanting to become related to him as an evil god.

The Nightmare Demon let out a low roar, like thunder heard through a wall, its voice carrying the familiar malice of Lyle.

“I’m not surprised by your appearance, you nascent evil god.” Spikes crackled and sprang from the Nightmare Demon’s surface as Susanna took a step closer to Lyle, like a predator entering hunting mode. “My beloved kind, my damned kind. Your journey is over. Let me… finish you off!”

The plunging behemoth tore the giant apart, its body shattered into pieces, the splattering black mud like a rain. Each drop of filth fell to the ground, from which new branches sprouted, and countless ominous giants stood in formation, their identical tones enveloping the behemoth.

"The same kind? There is still a difference between us, Susanna..." The ominous giant revealed a sinister smile. "The ominous sign tells me that you are different from us. You are the remnant of God, a tool separated to carry out God's will... Look, I am standing, while you can only lie down."

"Lying down is better than lying down. This is my dream, you foolish infancy of a god." The entire world began to twist around the behemoth, the world spinning, the omen squeezed and swallowed, confined before Susanna's claws. In an instant, the claws of fear slammed into the core of the omen, the ultimate power and nightmare energy exploding within the omen giant. Lyle was torn to pieces like a rag doll, floating everywhere in the air. "I am a remnant split apart by the Father God, and you are a stolen piece of flesh, a bastard, rebellious son. What is there to be proud of, you fool?"

"Dreams are my domain, and only my power can roam my world." The behemoth grabbed the still active and writhing core that had been separated from it, skillfully stripping away the power of the evil god. "It has already formed a physical form of the soul, and is only one step away from maturely corrupting reality. Oh? Sensing that other abilities have failed, you have begun to skillfully use the power of the evil god to corrupt dreams, huh? As expected of the son of a god, but still a little short."

The colorful, blurry dream suddenly churned, and the black tentacles hidden behind the curtain transformed into thousands of sharp blades that pierced towards Susanna. She did not move, letting the tentacles bombard her body like raindrops.

And the core she held in her hand disappeared.

Taking advantage of the distraction caused by the attack, Lyle escaped, or rather, he forced himself out of the dream and woke up.

Lyle pulled Iragan down from above, and the sleeping Susanna and Irassorn lay nearby. Lyle's back was soaked with sweat.

"Damn, I should have been more careful. That crazy woman Susanna is trying to kill me. Survival is the priority. Let's get out of here, she's about to wake up."

Lyle spent a whole day rushing back to Andre, and he even stayed devoutly in the Church of the Holy Light for three hours until Mr. Raymond's radiance swept away the gloom in his heart.

Everything returned to normal.