Chapter 841: Team Arrangements and Turning into a Lion in a Dream!

The 【Lion Potion】 inside the small brass vial was not viscous; rather, it felt exceptionally light. The volume was not much, and as he poured it into his mouth, Jier gulped it down in two swallows.

This thing had a rich scent, and drinking it down naturally gave a very peculiar feeling. Jier could clearly feel this stuff flowing from his throat all the way to his stomach, where it was then held.

He returned the empty vial to Bell, and feeling somewhat magical, he stroked the stomach area of his armor with his hand: "How amazing! I can clearly feel what this potion is like inside my body."

Bell tightened the empty vial and put it away, handing it to the close butler who had been serving nearby, then replied: "There is something even more amazing. When you drink it and then sleep, the most magical part of this potion will reveal itself. Ha, I haven't drunk it myself, but a certain Knight who had described it to me: while in your dreams, you will actually turn into a lion! Those troublesome guys that interfere with your sleep will be dealt with by the lion you have turned into."

He cautioned: "However, Jier, you must be careful. The potion has a time limit. Don't just get caught up in the novelty of playing around after turning into a lion in your dream. Don't forget to use the lion's claws and teeth to deal with those broken, resentful spirits that disturb you. Otherwise, once the time is up, you will lose your chance in the dream, and this potion will have been wasted."

Jier listened with a look of wonder: "So the effect of this potion only kicks in after falling asleep? And turning into a lion? How does this work? Is it a bit early for me to have drunk it now?"

At this moment, Bell beckoned the butler, having him call in several male and female attendants to help with washing up. He changed out of his Knight Armor while using warm water to wipe his head, face, neck, and other areas. He also temporarily changed into a gorgeous noble outfit. This was not all; the butler also held a transparent glass wooden box containing various colorful bird tail feathers for Bell to choose from.

Bell chose a fiery red bird tail feather, and immediately, this feather was clipped to the side of a slender silver coronet and placed on Bell's head. There were also attendants who brought perfume in small crystal vials for Bell to choose from; all of this seemed exaggerated to Jier.

"Is it very exaggerated? This is nothing compared to what's to come!"

Bell chose a perfume with the scent of mineral ore, and then an attendant sprinkled some perfume onto an exquisite noble gentleman's silk handkerchief, which was then folded using a specific technique and placed in various parts of the formal wear Bell was wearing.

The perfume was not applied mainly to his body because Bell had undergone Knight Training, and his sense of smell was much more sensitive than an ordinary person's; applying it to his body would feel too intense and cause discomfort. But if it were put on the noble gentleman's silk handkerchief he carried, it would be much more appropriate—it would allow him to carry the scent of the perfume without making him feel the smell was too strong.

"When I am at the Province Capital, sometimes I have to attend several banquets in a day. I am not tired, but the servants who help me dress are often exhausted to the point of collapse, haha." Bell joked, and the Second Butler, who was watching the attendants work nearby, also revealed a smile and nodded repeatedly.

He continued: "This time, leading the team to the Lumber Yard to get firewood—although it is not a big deal, the symbolic significance is very important."

Bell raised his two arms, letting a maid wrap a long silk belt around his waist: "For a period of time before this, although my family issued orders for everyone in the town and the surrounding village settlements to come to Yemei Town to take refuge, many Merchant Guilds clearly did not give up on communicating with the outside."

"They have been sending people out, heh, you know what the final result for those people was. But regardless of the result, these actions damaged the authority of the family's rule, after all, the order was for no one to go out."

"As time went on, not a single person returned to the town to announce a successful connection to the outside world. They became afraid and fearful because of this, and spent their days spreading fear of the outside world within the town."

"Until I stepped in, expressing that I would break their fear and display the family's military power and authority. And then I succeeded. Of course, Jier, your help was indispensable in this."

Jier scratched his face, not knowing what to say. He was not very interested in these things and had even guessed what Bell was going to say next.

Sure enough.

"Let's go out together in a while and meet them. Although they are just branches of Merchant Guilds established in Yemei Town, their strength is not small at all. Getting to know them will also be very helpful for your future development."

Jier really wanted to refuse. He only cared about tonight's sleep and the things in his dream, but after all, he had just used the potion provided by the other party, so it was not easy to speak up and disagree at this moment.

Therefore, after Bell was dressed, Jier followed like a lackey, wearing a mottled set of Full-coverage Armor, trailing behind Bell, who was dressed as a noble gentleman, and arrived at the Sasi Family hall he had visited once before.

It was brightly lit here, with Magic lamps and beeswax candles everywhere, making the hall bright and every detail visible.

The hall was also gathered with many powerful people from the town and even the entire county. All sorts of people crowded around the Baron Heir, flattering, currying favor, and proclaiming the courage, wisdom, and excellent leadership of Bell-Sasi.

Before Bell could even tell everyone about the battle today, some people had already started boasting excessively.

Jier rolled his eyes, standing to the side with his hands on his hips, watching everyone's performance.

After a good while, Jier finally left Yemei Town, exiting through the southwest gate of the town, and rode his horse back to the Refugee Team camp.

It was already midnight by then.

"It was so embarrassing, good horse, you weren't at the scene. You simply wouldn't believe how many nauseating and astonishingly flattering things everyone would say when fawning over someone. Heh."

Tianxuecao snorted indifferently; it was just a warhorse, it couldn't understand this content, nor did it need to.

Upon returning to the camp, Jier called over the few people in charge of managing the team.

Bata'er Jiaoshi, Xueya Site, Mr. Bafute, as well as the old Merchant and the Swordsman Weier who had been protecting the old Merchant.

"We have to continue our journey as soon as the sky brightens tomorrow. How is the situation with the team?"

Jier asked while sitting by the campfire.

When he was away, Bata'er Jiaoshi was the person in charge of the team, so Bata'er Jiaoshi replied at this time: "The team is fine. Many people even saw the situation of the civilians outside the town and suggested leaving here as soon as possible. However, Jier, there is a group of people who want to join us."

When saying this, Bata'er Jiaoshi felt a bit awkward.

Clearly, those who wanted to join had mostly found the Priest himself, or joined because of the Priest himself.

"How many people? What is their background?"

Jier had anticipated this. After all, as long as they weren't blind, the local civilians on both sides of where the Refugee Team was camped could see that they were well-fed and clothed. Comparing the two, it was normal for them to want to join the Refugee Team for the sake of life or survival.

It was just that Jier had previously given orders to the patrolling Armed Squad to drive away all outsiders who wanted to approach the Refugee Team. It wasn't that he refused outsiders from joining, but mainly to guard against those people flooding in to snatch the supplies and food of the Refugee Team.

Unable to get in and difficult to approach, those who wanted to join could mostly only find Bata'er Jiaoshi, who had been treating injuries nearby for the past two days.

"I haven't counted carefully. There were several groups of people who came looking. There were more than twenty civilians I had treated, as well as their families; most of these people had participated in the previous disturbances and now don't really want to stay here anymore. There are also some civilians who were starving and couldn't go on, about fifty or so; they don't have much property, and it has all been used up during this time. Besides that, there are another thirty wealthy civilians who believe in the faith in the town who are willing to follow me. They found a way to communicate with their companions from the Agricultural God Church in the town, and the other Priests' intention is for me to accept them and take them far away from Yemei Town."

Jier scraped the short, coarse beard growing on his chin with his hand and asked: "I was just acting together with the Agricultural God Church Priest in Yemei Town today. They seemed quite excited about cleaning up the Monster, I didn't expect them to agree to let a portion of the faithful civilians leave Yemei Town."

Xueya Site reminded: "Who knows what the future situation will be? Letting a portion of the faithful civilians follow us away might have the reason of reducing risks involved. However, are the people of Yemei Town willing to let us just take people away like this? Will this anger them?"

"This..."

Bata'er Jiaoshi was a bit troubled. He knew the local situation was not very good, but having lived in Sasi County for these recent years, he really did not want to offend the local Noble family because of this.

"It's fine. I have a good relationship with the actual manager of the town right now, the Heir of the Sasi Family. This little matter won't be an issue. Like this: if the supplies in the team are sufficient, we will take those who came looking for us, but because of their situation, we will have to find them for some heavy manual labor later. As for the wealthy faithful civilians, we cannot take them away directly. Let them wait until our team sets off tomorrow during the day and then follow to catch up. This way, at least on the surface, it won't have much to do with us."

Jier looked at Bata'er Jiaoshi: "The faithful civilians will be left to you, Priest, to manage. Let them take good care of their own property, and don't let them mix with the others in the team."

"Very well, we will do as you say, Warrior."

The Priest nodded in agreement.

Jier then looked at Xueya Site: "What about you? Is there any situation in the camp?"

Xueya Site shrugged: "Nothing major, it's just that when we were spending the night in the village outside the town before, didn't we catch two local young men? Do you remember?"

Jier nodded: "Two clever lads. Being able to operate under the noses of the parasitic Monster, they have some skills."

"Yes, they returned to their home outside the town these past two days and brought back some young fellows, saying they want to leave with us. How about it? They are all ten-something-year-old youths who can eat and fight; they are all good hands at farming and fighting."

Jier waved his hand: "Of course, take them in. Where are the people? Where are they now?"

Xueya Site smiled: "I knew you would definitely agree, so the people have already been arranged into the team, and I found them a tent to rest in. How about we break them up and add them to the Armed Squad tomorrow?"

"That works. Have the Armed Civilian who have combat experience train them, and try to get them to integrate into the Refugee Team as quickly as possible."

"Easy as pie." Xueya Site waved his hand.

Jier then looked at Mr. Bafute: "How is the situation with the exchange of supplies with the town?"

The chubby Mr. Bafute shook his head with some regret: "The people here are a bit stingy. It looks like they have taken us for ordinary civilians outside the town who are there for them to harvest. However, I tried my best to follow your wishes and bought more supplies like Iron Nail used for building houses when settling down."

"Since that's the case, there's nothing left to look forward to. We'll continue on the road tomorrow. Please try to finish loading and unloading some supplies tonight. Our carriages and donkey carts have all returned, so try to load up the supplies that take time to handle now. As soon as it's light tomorrow, we'll set off as early as possible after eating."

Jier instructed.

Mr. Bafute indicated there was no problem: "The team is already well-practiced, don't worry. We can set off quickly tomorrow morning after eating."

Finally, Jier looked at the old Merchant and the Swordsman Weier: "How are the injuries of you two?"

The old Merchant coughed: "I am already old. Although I am fine now, I don't know myself how much longer I can live. I can only wait for when the God of Wealth chooses me and takes me away."

Weier touched the places on his body where he had been injured before and replied with a normal expression: "I'm fine here. Just some minor injuries; the Priest's healing was very effective, and the food is plentiful. I already have eighty percent of my previous combat strength."

"Eighty percent?"

Jier smiled: "So confident?"

"You can come and try. Eighty percent is eighty percent. I am confident that in the team right now, except for you, no one is my opponent."

Weier spoke in a cocky manner, and even cockier words followed: "As for you, Knight Jier, if I ignore your Armor and weapons, it's not like I couldn't fight you right now."

Jier laughed out loud: "That won't do. Combat is not a duel; there are no fair rules, or rather, the only rule is that the winner lives and the loser dies. If I am to fight, my Armor, weapons, and even my warhorse must be counted. I won't be engaging in any fair duels with you."

"Then I am not as good as you."

Weier responded with dissatisfaction.

"However, your Sword Technique is still quite impressive. When we have time, the two of us can practice with a Wooden Sword. Don't look at me as if I haven't attended any swordsmanship school; most of my martial arts were honed through one battle after another against beasts, Monsters, and Bandits."

"I can tell, a very aggressive and offensive fighting style."

Jier smiled and then assigned tasks to the old Merchant and Weier: "Old man, you just help teach some of the talented young people in the team how to read and tell them about your life's business experiences."

"That is easy, cough cough, it just depends on my physical condition."

"As for Weier, you will first serve as Siter's deputy. Follow him in the team to get familiar with everyone, then be responsible for protecting him and helping the Armed Squad deal with troubles they cannot handle. How about that?"

Xueya Site pointed at Weier's handsome young face: "No need to get familiar with everyone. Who in our team doesn't recognize that face of his? Just start working directly."

Weier awkwardly touched his own face and blushed, clearly recalling the days when he was kept under watch by the women in the team.

Thinking back on the experience of those days, he couldn't help but blush now.

After arranging the work, Jier couldn't wait to crawl into his Tent, excitedly lay down on his sleeping bag, and fell asleep with full anticipation while wearing most of his Armor.

Being young is good; he fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

In his dream, Jier woke up in a muddled state.

The dark, empty, familiar dreamscape was still dotted with some campfires, along with various corpses lying beside them.

Jier checked his own condition; it was about the same as before, hands empty, and his body was far less strong and capable of fighting than in the outside world. And at the dark edges of the dream, as he woke up, corpses with miserable deaths were already gradually stumbling out.

Or rather, broken wandering souls and resentful spirits.

"It didn't work? That shouldn't be, I could clearly feel the signs of the Potion in my body?"

Just as Jier was puzzled, in the real world outside the nightmare, the 【Lion Potion】 that had been in Jier's digestive tract all along was rapidly entering his intestines to be absorbed after he fell asleep, and then, invisible to the naked eye, it sent the power of the Potion through his Blood Vessels into his brain and skin surface.

While Jier was annoyed and jogging between the campfires, dodging the increasingly surrounding resentful spirits, he suddenly sensed something.

"It's here, it's here." This sensation came inexplicably, but Jier just knew that some things had changed at this moment.

Sure enough, following a lion's roar that sounded from somewhere in the nightmare, Jier's image in the dream began to change. He felt himself growing rapidly taller. Looking down, he discovered that his legs had turned into the sturdy legs and feet of a beast, and his hands had turned into huge, sturdy, and powerful lion claws.

"Roar—roar—"

As soon as he opened his mouth, the words he wanted to say turned into a majestic lion's roar. Although it was only the first roar of a young lion, it already carried the feeling of the king of beasts.

Jier was still standing, and only then did he realize that he had turned into a lion in the dream in this instant.

'How strange? The real-world Potion can actually let me turn into a lion in my dream! And this change can also be used to deal with the entangled resentful spirits that I couldn't handle before.'

Thinking about these things, Jier suddenly remembered Bell's previous reminder and realized that this transformation had a time limit. Moreover, the sense of time in the dream was not obvious; it was possible that he felt it hadn't been long, but in reality, one or two hours had already passed.

Therefore, so as not to miss the opportunity, Jier immediately rushed like a bipedal lion toward the entangled resentful spirits that were stunned and frightened by his roar.

He slapped out with one paw; without using the sharp claws on the palm, the sheer, immense power alone smashed the two resentful spirits in front of him, who were scared silly, into pieces of flesh.

"Roar—roar!"

'Satisfying!'

Jier let out a roar and immediately swung left and right, using consecutive slaps to eliminate the entangled resentful spirits that had been chasing him and disturbing his sleep one by one.

After a round of fighting, he felt it was a bit slow, so he started running. He rushed up and opened his big mouth, biting off half the body of a resentful spirit in one go. Without even chewing, he spat it out after biting it to pieces, while his hands were not idle either, swinging continuously.

Jier's efficiency was not low, but the number of Humans he had killed during this time was even greater. No matter how he killed, he couldn't finish them off. Gradually, Jier realized that there was no way to finish dealing with his problem before the Potion wore off.

By his estimation, he could handle about seventy or eighty resentful spirits in the dream before the changes on his body disappeared.

This was far from enough. Although Jier hadn't counted how many people he had killed during this time, there were at least one or two hundred. Therefore, he became anxious in his heart. Once he became impatient, he stopped walking on two legs and started running at full speed on all fours. He didn't even use his claws to deal with them one by one anymore; he just ran and pounced on any resentful spirit he saw in the dream, tearing their bodies apart in one bite before moving on.

Finally, when he abruptly turned back into human form, the ground all around was covered in broken corpses, and the entangled resentful spirits that were still standing were less than one in ten, with only twenty or thirty left.

And these guys were also too scared to get close, actually taking the initiative to retreat into the dark depths of the surrounding dreamscape, running away timidly?

"Did it work?"

Jier was so tired in the dream that he lay on the ground, his mouth tasting of blood.

Dazed, he fell asleep again in the dream.

But this time, what he dreamed of was not a nightmare of resentful spirits seeking revenge, but a beautiful dream. He returned to the grasslands of the Western Province, riding on Tianxuecao, galloping across the vast, empty, uninhabited grassland with nothing but countless grasses.

He ran from day to night, enjoying the gentle wind blowing on his face, admiring the clear, pitch-black sky of the night grassland, counting the countless stars in the sky, and identifying the divine emblems of the gods on the celestial bodies flying in the sky, wondering which great god they belonged to.

But unfortunately, after identifying for a long time, Jier only recognized one, which was the Sun God among the Human gods.

The other gods were either ancient gods or gods of other races; as for those belonging to Humans, only that one was hanging in the sky now.