[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-a-player-beyond-dimensions":3,"chapter-a-player-beyond-dimensions-a-player-beyond-dimensions-chapter-19":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","A Player Beyond Dimensions",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2254985,4399,"Chapter 19: Chapter Eighteen: Cultivating Life and Restoring Vitality","a-player-beyond-dimensions-chapter-19",19,"\u003Cp>Dimensional space.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though in a near-spirit state, Deng Ken’s nerves, tense all day, could finally relax.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, he still monitored the projection screen to prevent any mishaps while his mortal body slept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>——Mortal Body #1 (severe fatigue) (severe bruising).\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those farmers were relatively honest; perhaps they had been frightened by Deng Ken earlier, showing no intention to flee.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deng Ken slept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crow Queen-Teris rose with the aid of a female slave, walked to the farmers, her expression solemn like a sacred Roman priestess; in a few words, she subdued them completely, turning them from blue-marked units to green-marked units.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This meant they would obey orders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three farmers and one peasant woman began tremblingly collecting the corpses, their faces filled with fear and excitement; they stripped the bandits bare, dumped the bodies into the cave, and piled clothing, weapons, coins, and other items along the mountain fortress corridor—no one dared embezzle anything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crow Queen-Teris promised them they could take these items later, except for the silver coins, gold, and jewels looted from the bandit stronghold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For lowly peasants, possessing gold was itself a mistake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For them, the bandits’ clothes and food were already precious wealth, let alone Teris allowing them to take worthless copper coins. But they could not leave yet—the peasant woman tended to Severus, the three farmers cleaned the fortress, and helped with other tasks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The farmers held Teris in deep reverence, even willing to kneel before the witch and pray—whether they were polytheist believers was unclear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The witch Aniya was interesting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The peasant woman wished to serve her, but Aniya looked at her with disdain, refusing any contact; yet the female slave trailing behind Teris, Aniya actively claimed, had her boil some water, then washed her body in the adjacent wooden hut, naturally enjoying the slave’s service, even letting the slave wipe her back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This witch was truly strange—perhaps a Roman noblewoman’s eccentricity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deng Ken never blinked, staring at the projection screen, alert for any sudden betrayal from the green-marked farmers. Undeniably, under his mental vigilance, the farmers remained utterly obedient.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hmm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No wonder the witch was so well-preserved—her skin was pink and soft, full and round, plump and firm; far superior to the memory of the neighbor’s widow from Mortal Body #1’s original life—she didn’t look like a married woman at all, no wonder she had bewitched that retired Praetorian knight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When his gaze fell upon Crow Queen-Teris, Deng Ken paused slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the fortress corridor, Teris tore a clean, soft strip from the hem of her long dress, had the peasant woman heat some water, then entered the room, slowly approaching the unconscious Deng Ken, carefully wiping the blood and grime from his forehead, neck, and arms with the damp cloth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She slightly unbuttoned his tunic, wiped the blood from his chest, then set down the cloth and, unconsciously, lightly brushed her fingertip across his muscular chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This accidental skin contact snapped her back to awareness—her face flushed, she glanced left and right, then gently stroked Deng Ken’s sleeping cheek with her slender palm, her thumb tracing his angular jaw, his thick, martial brows, gliding over his high nose, finally resting lightly on his lips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Should I wake up—or not?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From a god’s-eye view, Deng Ken felt at a loss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Mortal Body #1’s brow furrowed slightly, as if disturbed by the intrusion; Crow Queen-Teris jumped as if shocked, hastily snatched up the towel, picked up the basin to leave—but at the door, she turned back, rewet the cloth, removed Deng Ken’s boots, wiped his feet slightly, then closed the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crow Queen-Teris stood at the door, took a deep breath, her face flushed, her expression flustered like a thief; she turned into the adjacent room, used the damp cloth to wipe Severus’s forehead—the druid seemed to be running a fever, so the witch placed the wet towel on his brow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was just my foot you wiped!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sorry, brother.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Deng Ken came to his senses, Aniya in the next room had already washed herself—he saw nothing but a fleeting glimpse of something large and white.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After this ordeal, Deng Ken felt considerably more relaxed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He realized that staying too long in the dimensional space caused a kind of fatigue—not mental, but spiritual. But since Mortal Body #1 had not yet awakened and remained in severe fatigue, he could only remain in the dimensional space in this near-spirit form.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is it because my soul is too weak?” Deng Ken speculated inwardly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt as if he had “ascended dimensions.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to others in the real world, he existed at a higher dimension—yet he could only manifest in the physical realm through a mortal body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wasn’t there a saying in his past life? Perhaps Earth was merely a game world for higher-dimensional beings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fifteen minutes later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Witch-Aniya entered the wooden hut, giving off a furtive air, stealing a glance toward Teris’s direction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What are you two doing?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aniya tiptoed to the unconscious Deng Ken, scrutinizing him up and down, as if evaluating him, whispering to herself: “He’s quite handsome.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No wonder Crow Queen-Teris is smitten.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Pity.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She must remain chaste for the goddess… Platonic love is so dull…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Better to be my lover… hehe…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A married woman’s bold words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This gorgeous witch was even bolder—seeing Deng Ken unconscious, she first touched his face, then his pectorals, glanced downward, then slipped away like a thief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Romans in this era had open minds—old imperial traditions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The early empire produced many decadent tyrants, notably Nero, and Caligula, the emperor of Roman erotic history—this emperor was ultimately assassinated by the Praetorian Guard, setting the precedent for Praetorian assassinations of emperors. (Note: Caligula was Nero’s uncle, part of the same tyrannical lineage.)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Spartacus was also fairly close to the historical context.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aniya came from a very old, fallen noble family; her ancestors were said to have had close ties with the witch-queen Agrippina the Younger, mother of the tyrant Nero, who allegedly poisoned two husbands—one of them an emperor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some rumors claimed Aniya’s ancestor was the priest who administered the poison, earning the family noble status.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aniya’s bloodline was extremely complex; during later imperial civil wars, her family intermarried with barbarian generals for survival, then reinvented themselves and returned to the Roman court during Julian the Apostate’s reign, only to fall again after Julian’s assassination, until she married her current husband.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, her husband died quickly in a barbarian invasion war, but Aniya was shrewd—though childless, she legally inherited her husband’s family estate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, she became a wealthy widow among the noble class.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the Christian Church had begun purging heretical witches; she secretly funded Teris’s witch coven to protect herself—and to eventually escape Church territory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without these connections, Aniya’s two-star blank power level would have made it nearly impossible for her to become one of the witch coven’s founders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Strictly speaking, she was a first-round angel investor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This Roman noblewoman’s background was far from simple—she once owned a trade fleet shuttling between Europe, Egypt-Alexandria, and North Africa-Carthage; had North Africa not fallen into chaos and the Western Roman Empire lost its grain-producing regions, her wealth would have been even greater.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But a dying camel is still bigger than a horse—seeing her retinue included a retired Praetorian knight and a sack of gold placed on his person, it was clear she was rich.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rich, but without martial strength to defend herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Witch-Aniya had clearly taken an interest in Deng Ken—or rather, she urgently needed a powerful ally to escape the Church’s purge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Any clear-eyed person could see the empire’s collapse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, noblewomen and their daughters became playthings of barbarian generals; some, once lofty noble ladies, became lowly slaves to be used at will. Aniya also had a hidden witch identity—if she didn’t act, her fate would be even worse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had she not been cornered, how could a noblewoman raised in luxury have risked joining Teris?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She couldn’t bear to abandon her comfortable life, yet feared the pyre.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bandit stronghold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After leaving Deng Ken’s room, Aniya checked on the unconscious Severus, whispering to the druid: “Don’t die.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was some connection between them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Severus’s ancestor had been a general under Julian the Apostate, helping the emperor quell rebellions and earning great merit against the Alamanni. After Emperor Julian’s sudden death, Severus’s family rapidly declined; by his generation, they were nearly barbarians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These people—including Crow Queen-Teris—were essentially “remnants of the former dynasty”; Teris’s cult had been among Julian the Apostate’s strongest supporters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crow Queen-Teris was over a hundred years old.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike other witches, she was born with incredible power; when the Trivia cult found her as a child, she was immediately chosen as their high priestess, then secretly elevated to Grand High Priestess of the polytheists—a title once reserved solely for Roman emperors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the complete collapse of polytheism, Crow Queen-Teris was forced into exile and hiding, changing her identity; after polytheist sects were fully outlawed, she secretly united other priestesses to form the first witch coven.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aniya was not a priestess, but her family—and even the early empire’s Agrippina the Younger, Nero’s mother—secretly worshipped Venus, the Greek goddess of love and beauty—Aphrodite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This fused divine aspect governed love, beauty, desire, and fertility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aniya secretly worshipped the image of the goddess of sex and lust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many beautiful women in imperial history famed for their beauty, licentiousness, and seduction had secret ties to this cult; Aphrodite’s secret sect granted a peculiar sexual allure and slowed aging in its female followers; a similar secret lineage existed in Egypt, linked to the legendary Cleopatra.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After polytheism’s final defeat, all of this was swept into history’s trash heap.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These polytheist remnants now hid in fear, fleeing the Inquisition’s hunts; Crow Queen-Teris, foreseeing a dark future, sought a place where they might survive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for Teris’s vow of chastity, polytheism still had a few goddesses untouched by corruption—those were the virgin goddesses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Normally, after Zeus (Jupiter), the era should have belonged to the more virtuous polytheist deities (like Artemis, Athena, etc.).\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then monotheism rose and wiped them all out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>………………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Severus had a fever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no other option—only he could endure it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though this era had supernatural forces, there were no fantasy-world healers like priests—unless someone could find a legendary relic, like the Holy Grail; if Severus drank from it, he’d be up and running in no time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The druids had no healing magic—their age ended when Caesar slaughtered countless druid priests in Gaul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Severus knew some ancient druid rituals, perhaps including healing rites—but he was unconscious and couldn’t heal himself. Traditional polytheist faith in Gaul had nearly vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s up to your toughness now, brother,” Deng Ken said daily as he cared for the gravely wounded Severus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most Church priests were ordinary people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even during the era when apostles and saints preached, only a few within the Church bore the title “Saint,” said to be able to heal others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t just Crow Queen-Teris whose power had plummeted—even monotheism rarely produced “Saints” now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Good news: two days later, Severus finally recovered from his fever and awoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This druid was as tough as a barbarian—he was weak, but regained consciousness, not merely a deathbed flicker.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Water…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A hoarse voice woke Deng Ken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He immediately set down his notebook, glanced at the awakened Severus, and rushed over with the water skin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—— Day 11 of the crossing: 67 heads collected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This bandit stronghold was remote and relatively safe; no survivors were left, so the enemies might not catch up, or even dare to pursue further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as Severus awoke, the other two witches hurried over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The team had only a few fighters: besides Deng Ken, only Severus could handle close combat; the Crow Queen—Tris could unleash bursts, but at great cost—she had been utterly weakened for two full days and still suffered backlash; the Witch—Anya was merely a ornament, providing pure financial support, and so far no special abilities had been observed in this two-star blank witch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“His injuries have improved greatly,” said the Crow Queen—Tris, exhaling in relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deng Ken had known already.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had just entered the God’s-eye view and seen Severus’s marker change from “Dying” to “Severely Wounded,” the “Dying” debuff gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“With more rest, he should be able to continue traveling soon.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Druids are Druids after all: after waking, Severus could barely walk the next day, and by the third day he was moving slowly. His physique was indeed formidable—perhaps due to some supernatural factor, as he had asked Deng Ken to take him to the abandoned “Druidic Circle.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The group rested for seven days at the bandit stronghold, then finally set out again toward the island of Britannia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But they took along a female slave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The other peasants were dismissed; Deng Ken managed to acquire several horses, added eight heads to his little notebook, and headed toward Lesser Germania.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During this time, the outside world grew increasingly chaotic; both Upper and Lower Pannonia had fallen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Worse news arrived: one of the nomadic tribes, the Vandals, was stirring restlessly, seemingly sensing the Empire’s chaos and preparing to exploit it. Historically, the Vandals sacked Rome, looting and burning for two weeks, nearly destroying the ancient city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anya was lucky to have fled—if she had stayed put, even if she escaped the Inquisition’s pursuit, she would have been captured and tormented by the Vandals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter which dynasty fell, the wives and daughters of nobles and royalty never escaped becoming playthings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>………………\u003C\u002Fp>",2252,"2026-06-19T13:13:01.402Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","1a0f61ef8792cc2827ac3823790d569a2927497f4ccabdbe43c9469c74b5fa11","a-player-beyond-dimensions-chapter-20","a-player-beyond-dimensions-chapter-18",195,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-player-beyond-dimensions-cover.jpg"]