In the Dream World Woodland, Dorothy, in her Dragon imitation, looked at the small faint blue light orb offered by the Little Fox before her, feeling a surge of pleasant surprise. She thought to herself that she had gained nothing in the Dream World tonight!
'This Little Fox is quite sensible...'
Dorothy was happy internally, but showed nothing on her face. Instead, she nodded at the Little Fox and silently touched the small faint blue light orb with her finger. The light orb turned into mist and attached itself to Dorothy's body. Seeing this scene, the Little Fox was greatly startled.
'This... she's absorbing it directly without processing it? Isn't she afraid of the Spirit Sight inside? As expected of a high-level existence, her mental strength is so powerful that she completely ignores the minor Spirit Sight in this small secret transmission...'
Watching the Dragon before her perform an action that overturned her understanding, the Little Fox thought in astonishment, and then felt even more delighted that the other party had accepted her tribute.
"Well then... farewell, little one..."
Saying this, Dorothy, who clearly felt her imitation had reached its limit, flapped her wings and rose into the air, flying towards the distant woods, while the Little Fox obediently lay on the ground, watching the Dragon fly away.
...
In the real world, in Igwinte at night, on an apartment building beside Nanyang Flower Road.
Moonlight spilled into the dark room. Dorothy slowly opened her eyes on her bed, then covered her head and slowly sat up.
"Hiss... my head is so dizzy... was that... a dream?" Dorothy murmured, then quickly shook her head and added.
"Nonsense, of course it was a dream!"
Next, Dorothy, wearing her pajamas and with a dizzy head, got out of bed and slowly walked to the seat by the desk. After turning on the gas lamp, she sat down and glanced at the clock on the table beside her. It showed that it was only around one in the morning.
'One o'clock... I entered the dream around twelve. I stayed in the dream for about an hour, mainly tinkering with spells in my own dream. The time spent entering the Dream World was only about fifteen minutes, mainly because my mental strength is too weak to maintain the imitation for a long time...'
'If I hadn't met that Little Fox, tonight's trip to the Dream World would probably have been completely fruitless...'
Thinking this, Dorothy began to recall the secret transmission she had just received from the Little Fox. One good thing about receiving a secret transmission in the Dream World is that you don't need to spend time reading it; as long as you absorb the information, it is all in your mind.
The secret transmission the Little Fox gave was called "the lost paths," and it was also a secret transmission about the Dream World. It recorded various adventure stories seen and heard by a Dream World explorer named Alvin Royce in the Dream World. The book recorded his strange and interesting experiences, such as sometimes evading the pursuit of various ferocious dream creatures, sometimes getting lost in the Dream World, sometimes accidentally entering the dreams of others, and then meeting the people he met in dreams in reality.
Compared to the previous "dream records," which was presented as a fairy tale allegory, this book, "the lost paths," is presented in the form of an adventure diary and has a certain documentary nature. Dorothy suspected that the events recorded in this book might be true. The author named Alvin might be one of the pioneers of early human exploration of the Dream World, because his descriptions of the real world in the book are still ancient, a certain age away from the present era of the Industrial Revolution.
However, the "the lost paths" given by the Little Fox was not a complete volume. It only contained some of Alvin's early exploration experiences, and there was nothing too important. But Dorothy still found something useful in it.
"Dream World Positioning" is a method invented by Alvin to determine the current location coordinates in a dream. The coordinate information in a dream does not correspond to reality at all. Each time a person enters a dream, the location where their dream cocoon is generated in the Dream World is completely random. Since each entry into a dream faces a new environment, it is difficult to determine direction in the Dream World.
Alvin, by sensing a "huge mental energy fluctuation" radiating from the center of the Dream World and covering the entire Dream World, used the source of that invisible fluctuation as a reference coordinate and Light, creating a set of Dream World coordinate systems. This allows anyone to locate their position no matter where they are in the Dream World, which is a very practical technique.
Dorothy was very happy to learn such a positioning method. This meant that her future exploration in the Dream World would be more convenient. However, another point in that book also made her very concerned.
'Located at the center of the Dream World, there is a radiation source. That radiation source continuously radiates powerful mental energy fluctuations covering the entire dream world, and can even be used as a Light? What exactly is that radiation source?'
Dorothy just thought about this question for a moment, then shook her head and ignored it. The level of this question was not something she could currently access, and thinking about it was useless.
Besides the secret transmission information, the information orb given by the Little Fox also contained a trace of her own slight mental imprint. These imprints were not very useful, but this thing was similar to a "scent" in the Dream World. If Dorothy were to roam the Dream World next time, and if that Little Fox was within a certain range of her, then Dorothy could sense her presence.
Finally, Dorothy extracted the Spirituality from the fragments of "the lost paths" and accumulated 3 points of """enlightenment""" and 2 points of """Shadow""".
Now Dorothy has 8 points of """enlightenment""", 5 points of """Cup""", and 4 points of """Shadow""". She is only a little bit away from 10 points of """enlightenment""".
"Phew... keep up the good work! Next, as long as I get the ritual, I can advance~"
Murmuring, Dorothy stretched herself. Just as she was about to go to sleep, she suddenly noticed that her fingers, illuminated by the moonlight because she was stretching, were shimmering with a faint glow.
That was the ring Dorothy had been wearing on her hand all along, a completely dark ring with a simple crescent moon pattern. This ring was left by Dorothy's mother and had a faint fluorescent effect at night.
"It feels like its light is a bit brighter than before... is it an illusion?"
Dorothy thought about it, but in the end, she still couldn't resist the drowsiness brought by the consumption of mental strength.
"Forget it, sleep... I can't stay up late, my life is important..."
After saying that, Dorothy pulled the curtains closed, went back to bed, and immediately rolled up in her covers and fell asleep.
...
In the dark night, in a certain room, a carpet with intricate patterns was laid on the floor. Several miniature incense burners were placed in various corners of the room in a mysterious arrangement, and the scattered incense permeated the room.
In the center of the room, an armchair was placed, and on the armchair, a young girl was sleeping peacefully.
The girl was about twelve or thirteen years old, wearing pink and white silk pajamas. She had a slightly baby-faced complexion, long gray curly hair reaching down to her waist, and a hairband with a small bow tied on top of her head.
Gradually, the girl's previously sleeping eyes trembled slightly, then slowly opened, with a hint of confusion in them. At this moment, a low, slightly hoarse voice beside her pulled her back from her confusion.
"What did you encounter in the Woodland, Shaliya? Your expression after falling asleep didn't look very good."
Hearing this voice, the girl named Shaliya turned her head to look in the direction the sound came from. She saw a Black Cat standing on a tall stool beside her, looking at her with a serious gaze.
"Grandpa..."