Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

Through Lyle's negotiations, the Dream Elf race began to make contact with other Dragon Families. The portal standing in the Withered Camp was bustling with people, and the barriers between white-haired elves and blue-green-haired elves slowly disappeared amidst the liveliness.

……

Dorudo Moonmark is holding his precious axe.

After the Nightmare Boss battle ended, he quickly understood what the "Portable" attribute on the artifact axe meant. As he awoke from his druid crypt, the maniacal murmurs echoed in his ears. The two-meter-tall man looked at the living axe in his hand, its eyes darting around wildly, and his nose tingled, his eyes welling up with tears. He held the axe as if cradling a newborn child.

"She's talking...she's talking...my baby...I..."

The manic, delusional state terrified any passing dream elves, who immediately reported the madman's condition to the Elder Council. The Overseer Druid recognized this fellow Druid Elder, and the player, who had just returned from the Dream Realm, also went mad upon seeing the divine axe. Their twisted expressions of envy and jealousy made Susanna momentarily unsure whether they had truly overcome the corruption of the evil god.

Only after Lyle repeatedly assured him did they release Dorodo.

It's normal to get carried away by winning or losing in games.

Because it was her first time being a game administrator and she had no experience, Susanna believed Lyle's lies.

The Living Axe is a spirit-conjured creation designed by Lyle. Overall, it has no problems, except for its terrible appearance. Its weapon performance is excellent. It should be noted that the strength of an outstanding spirit-conjured creation can rival that of fine iron equipment.

Dorudo was overjoyed with his spoils and enthusiastically shared his delight at acquiring the artifact with his wife, Frannell. The somewhat reserved dream fairy was initially displeased with the grotesque, twisted axe, declaring that she would never allow such a blasphemous creation into her home. Dorudo, however, had ample patience with his beloved wife and was confident he could persuade the two things he cherished most to accept each other.

His sincere persuasion was met with sincere reward.

"Dorothy, my love. I fully respect and understand your personal preferences, and for that, I am willing to make some reluctant concessions."

"You can choose to leave this twisted monster in the yard..."

"Or you can sleep in the yard with this damn axe in your arms."

The next morning.

Dorodo finished his morning exercise and pushed open the door. His beard was glistening with dew and the scent of flowers. His beloved axe lay on the tree stump outside. Frannell approached, twirling Dorodo's beard in her hand. The raging beast lowered his head in accompaniment to his wife. A morning greeting touched her cheek; Frannell's smile was as beautiful as the morning light. Dorodo had left the axe on the tree stump outside last night.

The man noticed the unusual sight on the windowsill. A new jade statue had been placed there, its base nestled among tangled vines, the gem's green gleaming beautifully in the sunlight. Dorodo was astonished. The windowsill's location held great significance for their family and for Frannell; it wasn't a large space and currently only held three items.

The moonlight vase with its stems wrapped in a wreath of vow grass was a gift from Dordogne when he proposed to her.

The life grass pendant, representing a daughter who has left home, is depicted as growing vigorously.

There were also newly added sculptures, which surprised Dordo, as they represented the new faith of Frannell: the Emerald Dragon, also known as Claudia.

Frannell noticed Dorudo's gaze. She gently stroked her husband's cheek, feeling the softness of his mane, and smiled slightly. "It's alright. The royal family and the council of elders are very tolerant of all faiths these days. I think having another guardian deity is a good thing. Besides, Claudia performed exceptionally well in that battle, and Tiffany often praises the green dragon's virtues to me. She saved your lives, and I'm very grateful. We think that rather than revering the moonlight, it's better to be close to that tangible guardian dragon."

Dorodo made no comment. Frannell then adjusted Dorodo's close-fitting robe. His strong body stretched the fragile clothes, creating several tears. Frannell thought that the new clothes would have to be a size too big again.

"I'm going to chat with Tiffany for a while. After I get back, you'll come with me to the City of Wanderers to see Fanila and that young man I mentioned. Hines has been talking about him to me several times since the portal opened, but you never have time..."

Dorodo Moonmark raised his eyebrows and offered his opinion.

"...I want to go to the Dwarf City of Mackenport. There's a collaboration event there recently, and I want to get a +10 enhancement ticket for 'Little Roar'."

Dorothy's answer made Frannell roll his eyes, his gaze conveying the implication that "your daughter's future or that broken axe is more important." Dorothy lowered his head, knowing his wife could read his eyes and influence the outcome of their family dispute.

With a sigh, Frannell gave Dorothy one last comforting kiss.

Frannell left, but her words still echoed in Dorudo's mind. His eyes were fixed on the beautiful jade statue on the windowsill, a strange light appearing in them.

"...I am tolerant of all faiths, just as you said, my love."

"I want to turn this thing black."

Chapter 757 Self-Stab

I had a nightmare.

Although it sounds somewhat funny, every detail of the nightmare that sent chills down my spine seems to replay before my eyes, as stark as a crack in a mirror. My self-analysis suggests that I need to vent those terrors, even if it's just talking to myself. To avoid affecting my subsequent research, I will recreate the nightmare word for word.

There will be no record of it, because it was just a nightmare.

"I dreamt that I was walking in pitch-black darkness, wearing ordinary clothes, perhaps wearing a plague doctor mask, perhaps not. My expression was close to dementia, or a state of mental derangement. My body swayed naturally as I walked, and even though my senses were almost nonexistent, I didn't experience any emotional fluctuations in the dream..."

"I moved forward in the darkness, slowly, aimlessly... I was certain there was no destination ahead. Or perhaps the process of moving was the most crucial part, because the changes that followed, now that I'm clear-headed, make me realize how terrifying I was in the dream."

"Like a sponge being squeezed dry, I vaguely realized in my dream that my reason was being ripped away. My body seemed to be being controlled, and my mind, or more profoundly, in my more precise senses, felt that my brain was turning into a dried walnut. Weakness, fatigue, and a sense of alienation from my body were constantly flowing out of the emptiness in my mind."

"I heard a sound, a sound that lingered between my fingers, on each phalanx. My hands, swaying slightly as I moved forward, captured all my attention. Feeling the slight influence of gravity on my fingers, I heard a tearing sound."

"Full of flesh, like a ripe fruit falling to the ground, I clearly felt my finger bones detach, falling piece by piece, like a broken string of pearls. The crisp tapping of my fingernails against the ground traveled along my bones, down my spine, to my brain. When my confused brain came to the realization that my fingers had fallen, the bright red cut surfaces were like runaway water pipes staining the soles of my shoes red."

"In my dream, I was still moving forward, and the [fall] was just the beginning. My skin, my blood, my tissues fell like small cubes that had lost their restraint. I felt like a domino in the process of collapse."

"I shattered, transforming from a regular shape into a puddle of minced meat... well, tiny chunks of meat."

Lyle covered his face, leaning against the wall of the dimly lit laboratory. Nia sat in the only chair, and the messy lab table was clearly not a good place to rest. Only then did Lyle realize that the mingled smell of blood and death was making his nose feel very uncomfortable.

The faint light from the magic stone remained unchanged, the lingering shadows twisted on their own, and the dark figure on the wall bent down, like a lover resting on Lyle's left shoulder, listening to Lyle's self-talk.

"Have I been staying up too late lately?" Lyle concluded to himself, his nonchalant tone mirroring that of the Decomposer in his dream.

"When was the last time you slept?" Omen did not refute Lyle's conclusion, but went along with his lead and began the conversation.

"Fifteen days ago. The exact time is unknown. Ariana was drunk and a little excited. The singing she was doing made my brain go blank."

Do you think this is a result of exhaustion?

"I'm not sure. I feel a lot of energy in my body. After advancing to the fourth level, my need for sleep is no longer urgent. Perhaps prolonged sleep deprivation can indeed cause some mental problems, even for me."

Lyle and the ominous sign were one; they both understood the real reason. Their indifference to the Emperor's New Clothes was purely instinctive. He needed comfort, and he needed to be mentally prepared to play out the ending, already written in the script, like a play.

[Susanna's mental dreams, the erosion of the Unseen Children's army, the assimilation of nightmares. With so many external factors interfering, your mental state has already veered to the other side.]

Lyle, Nia, and Omen are each other's half-bodies. Nia is linked to Lyle's body, and Omen to his spirit. Nia's twisted nature maintains the purity of the human body, while Omen's madness isolates the corrupting influence of the evil god. But recently, they've been exposed to too many pathogens, and these two protective mechanisms are becoming overloaded.

Just as the most comfortable posture for humans is lying down, the most pleasant posture for an evil god is... "a puddle of mud".

"That's why I had that dream last night about my body becoming a demonic being... imagining my body disintegrating and becoming chaotic..."

The ominous words caused the temperature in the laboratory to drop even further.

[A dream? Think about it carefully. Since returning from the Forest of Dreams, we only made a brief stop at Naslan Castle. After that, you locked yourself in the lab and, listen, you've been conducting research on evil gods and summoned creatures. You didn't sleep at all last night; you spent the entire night analyzing yourself. That wasn't a dream...]

Lyle's face turned deathly pale, a stark contrast to the ominous shadow that loomed over him.

"You mean, I was mentally unstable last night, my finger really fell off, and my body was dismembered and reassembled after being torn apart..."

【certainly……】

“He’s lying to you, you idiot Lyle!” A lively young girl’s voice interrupted Lyle’s conversation. Nia climbed off the chair, her wriggling tentacles burrowing back into Lyle’s collar. Still in her distorted form, Nia maintained her puffed-up cheeks and angrily punched Lyle’s shoulder, tapping the spot where the ominous shadow was.

"Yesterday, Nia was so bored that she went out to play, while that idiot Lyle just stood there staring blankly the whole time!"

Lyle tilted his head, and the ominous shadow revealed a wicked smile.

After gathering his thoughts, Lyle did indeed enter a dazed, standby state last night, while the energetic Nia didn't want to stand with Lyle all night. She separated a part of herself, which was recorded in Lyle's mental realm as a physical separation. Since Nia and Lyle were a physical whole, Lyle had the false memory of his fingers separating, only feeling that he was being disassembled.

The chaos in the spiritual realm is the work of an ominous sign; as the command tower of the nascent evil god, he doesn't mind causing trouble for the foundation and the physical body.

Lyle condemned the ominous signs' perverse sense of humor, but there was nothing he could do; he couldn't very well subject himself to mental anguish just to punish them.

[But I haven't lied to you about one thing: your recent close contact with the power of the evil god has made your human side unstable. If you want to retain your identity and rule us as a human named Lyle, you need to become even stronger.]

The surrender of the Invisible Children's Legion and their control over the Nightmare Boss have affected Lyle's senses to some extent, causing his internal balance to tilt. Lyle needs more astute and effective self-control.

That is, to advance to the fifth level of the Lock and become a divine remnant.

Chapter 758 The Rampaging Dragon Father

Promotion is the common pursuit of all ambitious spellcasters.

Lyle, currently on the Ascendant Path, needs a certain opportunity and the accumulation of abilities to complete the transition from level four to level five. Lyle has no shortage of abilities, having repeatedly visited various Dragon Families and interacted with numerous evil god followers. In Nia's words, he's been eating too much lately, his stomach is full.

It's confirmed that a special opportunity is needed to upgrade from level four (race) to level five (powerful). As for the specific details, Lyle wasn't clear. Lyle wasn't a seasoned spellcaster who worked in isolation; his past experiences had made him realize he wasn't a pioneer on any particular path, but rather had guides and mentors.

Despite these unparalleled resource advantages, Lyle still couldn't figure out what the opportunity was. This only showed that the tribal leaders of the eighty or ninety-year-old groups didn't take it seriously.

"It shouldn't be too difficult to meet the conditions..." Lyle thought to himself, but he was also worried about how he would be treated if he asked those people.

First, there's the strongest on the Ascension Path: the Calamity of the Holy Light, the Crusader King, Mr. Raymond. Lyle immediately ruled out this option. Through long-term contact, Lyle had long understood that some exceptionally gifted individuals could become unparalleled powerhouses through superhuman instinct, starting from scratch. Ascending to the fifth level of the Locked Realm would be as easy as breathing for Raymond, and he was entirely capable of answering Lyle with "as easy as breathing."

Lyle arrived in the City of Wanderings and visited his teacher, the Scholar. The Scholar, skilled at summarizing knowledge and publishing papers, had indeed conducted research in this area.

"The fifth stage is a transitional phase linking the fourth and sixth stages. The fourth stage represents the clan, the collective power, while the sixth stage represents the nobility, a powerful force that emerges from the group. The strong, the so-called outstanding individuals, arise from the clan but do not exhibit the same significant gap between themselves and the clan as the nobles. This is a process of drawing power from the clan. Powerful individuals are not yet constrained by class and interests. As for the nobles of the sixth stage and beyond, they are all extraordinary beings."

Lyle nodded, and with the scholar's precise guidance, he understood the opportunity to advance to the fifth level.

"To draw further strength from the community."

Lyle joined the Phantom Clan of Poswa Paradise, a group of abnormally intelligent beings who would not harm others. The moment the clan accepted him, he advanced to the fourth level of the Locked Realm, gaining a mental analysis ability that made it much easier to obtain information.

How to further leverage our ethnicity?

“You just sit there and it happens.” These are the scholar’s ​​exact words. According to him, it took him a month to advance from the fourth to the fifth level of the Arcane Realm, which is much shorter than other advancement ceremonies. The scholar’s ​​research shows that advancing to the fifth level of the Arcane Realm is a natural process, at least for large groups like the Arcane Realm, it’s as easy as drinking water; it just happens when the time comes.

As for those weaker races, I'm sorry, the Blue Dragon Priest and the Magic King have no access to them. Even before the establishment of the arcane races, the Dorgit family was among the best of the hereditary nobles, natural leaders. The scholar didn't understand how to strengthen the weaker races; the best solution he could think of was annexation.

As they parted, the scholar gently tapped Lyle's head with his movable chain.

“You can ask the dragon. Strictly speaking, Lyle, you are not an arcane sorcerer, but a necromancer who has received a systematic education. There are differences between different spellcasting professions. You should ask your necromancer professor. Perhaps he has a more suitable method for you.”

Lyle hadn't originally intended to consult the Dragon Master. He was no longer a lich; he was now the Father of Dragons, married with children. Lyle knew the Dragon Master wouldn't be angry, just a little embarrassed.

Lyle thought this before passing through the portal and arriving at Dagennet, the Dragon's Nest.

Upon reaching the dense forest of dragon's breath trees, Lyle looked at the distant sky. The dark clouds swirling with thunder almost obscured all the light, and the furious roar of the Father of Ten Thousand Dragons was far more terrifying than the thunder itself.

"I don't remember raising you like this! You rebellious little dragon cub!!!"

Lyle was used to a fight about fatherly love. He straightened his clothes and told Nia to hide obediently in his collar. Lyle tried his best to minimize his surface area so as not to be accidentally injured.

The closer to the center, the more rapid and loud the dragon's roar became. The storm sang a war song, and overlapping dragon shadows writhed together in the tempest, a one-sided struggle.

Lyle greeted the Twilight Dragon Sylvie, who lay not far from the epicenter of the explosion, watching the two arguing with a gentle expression, treating the small commotion that could destroy any country as a daily occurrence.

Lyle saw his enormous mentor at the confluence of lightning. Arcs of electricity danced across his scales, turning them a blinding pure white. His hind legs were crossed, his tail touching the ground, and his spine-covered tail exploded as it slammed against the earth.

Mr. Dragon didn't use his full strength; only his two front claws and his cursing mouth joined the battle.

It was a completely one-sided situation. His rebellious offspring was already gripped in his claws, the separated sharp claws locking onto the young dragon's nape and the point of leverage connecting her wing roots. The young dragon's angry roars could not change the fact that her father had pinned her down with one claw. Moreover, the dragon master had another claw that was smacking Immelt's forehead hard, while he was chanting incantations.

"I want a beard, I want a beard, I want a beard..."