Chapter 338: You've Chosen Your Side Again

After walking forward a short distance, Audrey looked around with some confusion. The surroundings hadn't changed at all, so why did she feel as though she were constantly drawing closer to the deepest depths of the dream?

After hesitating for a moment, she mentally encouraged herself, then quickened her pace forward, wanting to speak with the old man who had been walking slowly ahead all along.

Just as she reached a position parallel to the old man, her mind suddenly blurred, and the surrounding scene rapidly changed—she arrived directly in the central hall of this floating castle.

She saw the enormous, towering stone pillars ahead, and upon the pillars, a grayish-white dragon the size of a small hill.

Its eyes were pale gold with vertical pupils, and behind it were two dim, skin-covered wings. The grayish-white scales on its surface were inscribed with one after another complex, three-dimensional mystical symbols, extending inward into flesh and blood and outward into the surrounding void, as if interweaving into something that did not belong to the real world. Emotions of anger, sorrow, disappointment, oppression, and madness rapidly spread through her heart, making her unable to resist the urge to tear apart everything around her, including herself.

As these thoughts deepened, Audrey's emerald eyes took on a layer of pale gold, and on her exposed skin, grayish-white scales faintly emerged.

"Close your eyes, gather your thoughts, do not look, do not listen."

A familiar, gentle voice interwoven with a calming power echoed beside Audrey's ears.

Beside her, Rekton simulated a psychiatrist's "calming," stabilizing Audrey's emotions and helping her regain her reason, freeing her from the dangerous situation.

Audrey, who had become mentally disordered and whose thoughts were twisted due to gazing upon Angelweed's manifested dragon form and contaminating her spirit body with various extreme emotions, gradually returned to normal under Rekton Soth's reminder and help.

She kept her eyes tightly shut, sealing off her visual and auditory perception of the outside world, and began relying on her own psychiatrist abilities to adjust and restore her condition.

Seeing that Audrey's situation had stabilized, Rekton Soth then turned his gaze toward Mr. Huang and Angelweed, who were watching each other to the side.

They seemed to be engaged in a wordless exchange—or perhaps they had excluded me. Just as this thought crossed his mind, he heard Mr. Huang's calm words:

"Adam's divine ceremony is nearly complete. At that point, He will become the true deity of both the Visionary and Hanged Man pathways. That which can stand against an Old One must be another Old One."

"You helped me return—do you want me to contend with Adam for the position of Visionary? You wish to obstruct His divine ceremony? That would not have much effect!"

"Heh... it seems you've chosen your side again."

Angelweed's voice was very calm, as if he felt no anger at all that the other party was a former subordinate deity who had betrayed him—he was simply stating a fact.

After a moment of silence, Angelweed's voice echoed through the hall once more:

"There are not many candidates qualified to pursue the position of Lord of the Mysteries. Which one do you wish to help?"

"Anyone other than A Meng."

"The remaining time is already running short. You should perhaps go out and move about a bit, to understand the current state of this world."

As the words fell, Mr. Huang's figure scattered into a field of speckled brass-colored glimmers, swiftly dissipating into the depths of this dream.

A palm-sized grayish-white scale drifted through that patch of brass-colored light, floating before Rekton Soth.

The scale was inscribed with twisted, bizarre symbols, as if connected to something unknown—merely gazing at it would bring about a sensation of mental disorientation.

"Bring it into the book-world of the Groselle Travelogue."

"You may also use it as a mystical item. It can allow your consciousness and spirit body to roam in the sea of collective subconsciousness. It may be used three times per day, with each use lasting no more than one hour."

"Understood."

Rekton Soth gave a soft nod of response and reached out to catch the grayish-white scale before him.

After he accepted the grayish-white scale, Angelweed's voice asked in a low, deep tone: "Who do you think the 'Dragon of Wisdom' is more inclined to let become the Lord of the Mysteries?" "... I think it is, 'the Fool'!"

After hesitating a moment, Rekton voiced his own thoughts.

"The Fool? Antigonus or Zaratul? It seems neither. Perhaps I truly do need to move about a bit, otherwise this old dragon of mine will fall behind the pace of the times."

Angelweed murmured to himself for a moment, then turned his gaze back to Rekton Soth, speaking in a calm voice:

"You are curious about my state. Having returned, I have lost the position of the Dragon of Imagination, but I have also fully recovered my own reason."

After saying this, Angelweed, coiled atop the tall stone pillar, abruptly rose, spreading the two dim, enormous skin-covered wings behind him.

As he made the motion of beating his wings, the surrounding environment began to flow.

Rekton Soth felt himself constantly rising, floating upward from the deepest depths of the dream. This process felt extremely fast—only an instant—yet also felt extremely drawn-out, his thoughts drifting several times in succession. He watched Angelweed's grayish-white figure gradually receding, and his vision suddenly blurred. When he opened his eyes again, he sat up from the sofa beside the dining room fireplace in the Hall family's manor.

Was I just dreaming?

Rekton Soth reached up to rub his somewhat swollen head, only to see that his right hand was gripping a palm-sized grayish-white scale, its patterns identical to the bizarre symbols on Angelweed's scales that he had seen in his dream.

So it wasn't a dream after all. Mr. Huang actually came in person, even though that should have been merely a projection... The content of his exchange with Angelweed was certainly more than just those two sentences I heard.

As his thoughts turned, he heard a sound from the sleeping Audrey beside him:

"Mmm... how did I fall asleep?"

"Woof~ Woof!"

"Audrey, I think I had a strange dream?"

The golden retriever Susie's voice was still somewhat mumbled from just waking up.

"I had a somewhat dangerous dream."

Audrey responded with a sentence, then turned to look at Rekton Soth sitting on the sofa on the other side.

Seeing Audrey look over, Rekton gave a soft nod, then spoke:

"That was a dream, but it was also something that truly happened—only, within the dream."

"I have already met that ancient dragon, and I will soon be leaving East Chester County."

"I apologize for drawing the two of you into danger. This was caused by my lack of careful consideration. As compensation, I can tell you the potion formula for Sequence 5 of the Spectator pathway."

Recalling her near-loss-of-control experience in the dream, Audrey patted her chest with some lingering fear, slightly eased her emotions, and only then spoke:

"No, Mr. Tyenes. That ancient dragon actively pulling us all into the dream was an entirely unexpected event to begin with, and besides, a Sequence 5 potion formula is far too precious."

Rekton Soth shook his head gently, stating his own thoughts and proposal: "This is merely some compensation for my own mistake. If you feel the value is not equal, you may provide me with some psychological help and treatment in the future."

"Furthermore, the reason I chose to tell you the Sequence 5 potion formula is simply because I do not know the Sequence 6 Hypnotist potion formula."

(End of this chapter)