The crowd still seemed immersed in this romantic and wondrous sight. They stood with their arms around each other's shoulders, cheering for this masterpiece of nature. For the moment, Li Yue did not want to disturb their good mood. In the unconscious dream of a god, harboring fear could lead to terrifying events.
In such a place, thoughts often became reality. Thus, whatever one feared, one would encounter; the probability of such occurrences was quite high. However, it wasn't a true case of manifesting one's every desire, as it wasn't their own dream after all.
The scale of this dream was immense. She expanded her Death Abyss to its current limit and tried her best to perceive the furthest reaches, yet... she still could not sense the full extent of the area enveloped by this dream.
She looked at the map and casually sketched an outline. The coverage of this vast dream included not only their destination but also parts of other sea regions. From this, it was clear there were many routes to the destination; they had simply chosen the closest and fastest one.
That meant... after sailing for a while longer, they would likely encounter other fleets coming to compete for the God's remains.
However, both stone tablets were in their hands. As for the final piece, Li Yue felt it was more likely that it hadn't even appeared in the world yet.
Still, when those God's remains appeared, the commotion would surely be enormous. The fleets wandering within the dream these past few days would likely rush to Li Yue’s destination at the first opportunity.
“When will the academy fleet arrive?” Li Yue asked Sharon, who was standing beside her. Having experienced the encounter in the dream, Sharon was currently frowning. She shook her head in confusion and leaned in to whisper a question.
“Miss Li Yue, why do I feel like...” Halfway through, Li Yue made a shushing gesture. She glanced at the high-spirited sailors and nodded.
In the current situation, Sharon naturally couldn't receive messages from the academy. Li Yue wondered if Clo had the authority to know. She was a Great Mage; although she didn't have a professor's authority as a student, she should be able to obtain some internal information.
She returned to her bedroom and quickly drafted a letter, dropping it into her ring. She didn't know if she could receive a reply because they were currently in the gap between reality and illusion—more accurately, this was reality being influenced by a dream.
She silently called Clo a dummy. Though she didn't know why, thinking of her made her feel a bit better. She sat and waited for a while, and soon the ring flashed. A letter was placed on the table by little Clo.
Li Yue was slightly surprised. She hadn't expected the ring Clo gave her to be more than just an ordinary communication medium, especially since even Sharon couldn't receive a reply from the academy.
She opened the letter immediately. It looked like it had been written in a great hurry; Clo hadn't even used sealing wax. Li Yue had teased Clo before about how she would use sealing wax even when delivering a letter in person, and Clo would always stubbornly insist it was for the sense of ritual.
Li Yue didn't understand it then, taking it as one of Clo’s little secrets. In truth, it held Clo’s own special meaning, but Li Yue simply didn't remember any of it.
She opened the letter and took out the stationery. It bore Clo’s beautiful, refined handwriting. Compared to Li Yue’s flowing style, Clo’s script appeared more delicate and graceful.
My dear Miss Li Yue:
From what I can see, based on their last reported position and speed, the academy fleet should have already entered that dream descending upon the sea. The Royal Court's fleet has also set out, but their goal isn't the remains within the dream; they seem to have other objectives.
The leader is the South Academy Director. His strength is close to the Five Staves, so he's quite formidable. The Royal Court also has a Great Mage who is close to the Five Staves; he is said to be one of the top-ranked Imperial Mages.
Based on the movements of maritime witnesses, they are also about to enter that Ancient God's Dream. They might choose a route that bypasses your area and enters from the waters beneath the dream.
They seem to have handed over items like maps to those groups of pirates. Although those pirates are quite weak, their leaders are the four Overlords of the Four Seas, who should all be at the Great Mage level.
The Ancient God's Dream likely hides something more than just a vast graveyard of God's remains.
Clo had hastily scribbled her signature at the end. Li Yue noted the contents of the letter and thought about putting it in a drawer, but felt something was missing. She went ahead and took out her own set of sealing wax, stamped the letter herself, and then opened it one more time.
OK, perfect~
Although she didn't understand why she suddenly had a strange pursuit of a sense of ritual, rituals were indeed important things. Deities paid close attention to them; if people in this world wanted to contact the lingering consciousness of a god, they needed very complex rituals.
It wasn't that contact was difficult; it was just that gods liked them.
So, to summarize: the academy and the Royal Court had sent two fleets with little difference in strength. The academy wanted to recover the God's remains, while the Royal Court had other motives. Additionally, the Royal Court had made a deal with the great pirates of the four seas, whose goal also seemed to be the God's remains.
What was the Royal Court's goal? She had missed last night's meeting, so it might have been mentioned there. Li Yue put away the letter, estimating there would be another meeting in a few days. After all, given the current situation, the major powers were beginning to clash.
She wondered if those empires would make their own moves.
Li Yue looked out the window and began to estimate her own combat power. It seemed she was still a short distance away from the Calamity class, but she would certainly have no problem fighting ordinary Great Mages. For now, of the two individuals comparable to the academy's top combat power, one was on her side and the other was with the Royal Court.
Neither side had deployed their absolute top combatants, seemingly wary of each other. After all, things like peace treaties were meant to be torn up; in Li Yue’s impression, the only purpose of such agreements was to be broken.
However, trade between the two sides had returned to normal. Perhaps that was where the treaty actually functioned—giving both sides a dignified excuse for trade.
She retracted her Death Abyss after finishing her survey of the boundary's size. First, she was afraid of affecting the dream; second, she feared being located and targeted by some mysteriously powerful entity. While she wasn't afraid of trouble, it was better to avoid unnecessary complications.
She let out a yawn. In the view outside the window, the silhouette of a ship suddenly appeared. However, it looked like it had already been burned. Her brow furrowed slightly; within that wreckage, she could faintly see struggling figures. They seemed extremely weak, likely only at the Magician level...
What was going on? Why were ordinary petty pirates getting involved, and where did they come from?
As a side note, the reason Clo wrote so hurriedly was that she was currently in a meeting for assistant professors... She personally expressed that she had never felt this oppressed even when attending a Five Staves meeting; at least back then, she could sleep whenever she wanted... Now, she was completely speechless.
Rate on N.U.
