The camp where Alka and the others were.
Doll girls could be seen patrolling the outskirts of the dense forest.
Some more could be seen concealed on the branches.
Even Sofia and the others were standing outside chatting, but Jason, perched on the dragon's back, could clearly see that they were maintaining a state of vigilance.
"What's going on? Why are they suddenly so vigilant?" Jason asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Boogie."
Hearing Urulius's words, Jason frowned. "Magic?"
A sudden thought struck him, and he closed his eyes, carefully sensing the changes around him.
As they drew closer to the camp, they could sense the surrounding magic gathering towards the center, as if a vortex existed there.
Sensing this change, Jason immediately opened his eyes. "Is Alka about to break through?"
"Be careful, we're landing on the periphery."
Urulius nodded, its wings fluttering in a streak of light before landing gracefully beside Sofia and the others.
"Back? How's it going? Did you catch them?" Simon asked as he saw Jason landing.
Jason dismounted from Urulius's back, patted him, and then shook his head.
"It's just a small fry. No information at all."
Hearing this, Simon nodded. It was normal; most of the ones they caught were like this.
"These cultists are getting more and more annoying lately," Simon said.
Hearing this, Juanlu glanced at him and said, "A new cult has arrived. They have the symbol of a giant snake wrapped around a tree trunk."
He then handed them a piece of rag he had obtained.
Sofia looked toward the Land of Fragrance and muttered to himself, "It seems the Flower Fairy is indeed nearing full recovery."
In the past few months, ever since Alka had given the Flower Fairy the divine essence she needed, the cults in the Giant Tree's Roost had seemingly been enraged, frantically sending all sorts of groups to wreak havoc there.
Besides the cult led by the Nafas family member, there were three others, and now there was another.
How could such a small place contain so many cults?
With them came pirates and bandit groups.
Right now, this place was a riot of demons.
The problem was that the strange undead spirits at the border of life and death seemed to have been activated, constantly attacking the Land of All Spirits.
They often saw returning wounded soldiers in the Land of Fragrance, and conscription teams could be seen in every village gathering place.
Various militias patrolled the surrounding area day and night, seemingly entering a critical period for the entire Land of Spirits.
They had become practically permanent mercenaries for the Land of Fragrance, primarily because of the presence of a member of the Nafas family within these cults.
The information they had received indicated that this member of the Nafas family was still in the Giant Tree's Roost and had not returned.
"By the way, Gilliana and the others have received the latest news," Sofia said, suddenly realizing something.
Hearing this, everyone turned to look at her.
"They have the latest news on Nafas. I heard he's returned here to continue his chaotic activities."
"Finally? I've been waiting so long," Jason said with a smile.
The surrounding magic began to swirl, and the pulling force became even more pronounced.
Sensing this change, everyone looked towards the woods.
"Is it the final stage?"
"Probably."
At this moment, Alka was in the woods, in the middle of their camp.
He was floating in the air, the magic gathering stone and its accompanying crystal above him frantically drawing magic from the surroundings.
Alka's mirror and dream catcher floated beside him, spinning.
The concentrated magic gathered around him flowed into his body like a stream.
Inside his body.
Three spirals, each consisting of nine rings, began to converge under the powerful pressure of magic.
The original nine rings had almost completely overlapped, appearing to be only three rings without a close look.
The distance between the overlapping rings began to narrow, leaving only a faint gap.
When the three spirals completely merged into one,
A huge amount of magic converged, forming a new spiral above the thick spirals. Compared to the group next to it, the spirals were thinner than hairs.
But this new spiral signaled that Alka had successfully entered the fourth stage.
He had broken through spiral 27 and reached spiral 28.
Magic energy swirled, forming a circulation within his body. This circulation, composed of greater energy and more concentrated than before, was more abundant and concentrated.
The improved quality of his magic also began to feed back into other areas of Alka's body.
Heart, blood vessels, muscles, bones, even the brain, and that most profound of all, the soul.
All of this, influenced by the quality of magic, advanced upward.
The original separation between mind and body began to dissolve, becoming closer and more tightly connected.
While there was still a separation compared to a normal person, it was no longer as dangerous as before.
The distance between them had reached a very safe zone, and Alka no longer needed to worry about any situation or accident completely severing his reality and mind. A mirror surface appeared before him, then sank beneath him. Two crystal-clear antlers sprouted from his head.
This state of complete control no longer required the power of dreams, but was achieved through compulsion.
This state would become the norm.
He extended his right hand, and the Dreamcatcher's crystal ball spun in his grasp.
Inside the crystal ball, the pink mist filled it swirled and twisted under Alka's control.
He closed his eyes.
He began to sense the changes that occurred when both body and mind reached the fourth stage.
Would it be better than when only the mind reached the fourth stage?
"It's indeed different... The coordinated synchronization of body and mind has given me true and complete control over the treasure."
Alka muttered to himself, reviewing the changes in his body.
After reaching the fourth stage, he completely mastered the mirror. Besides the physical changes brought about by imitation, he was able to perform deeper imitation.
The mirror's accompanying mirror abilities were also fully mastered.
He, who had once only been able to construct mirrored spaces in dreams, could now begin to create real mirrored spaces in the real world.
The problem, however, was that reality was far more complex than dreams.
In dreams, Alka could use the blood of the gods and the power of the king to combine the mirror and the dream space, creating a real space.
In real life, however, such a manipulation was impossible.
He could only construct a false, temporary space through the mirror.
But it was enough, absolutely enough.
He was only at the fourth stage, and this ability was more than enough.
He opened his eyes and couldn't help but smile.
More changes would have to wait until the magic fully strengthened his body and soul before he could fully appreciate them. "Huh."
He let out a deep breath.
A mirror appeared before him, and Alka stepped inside.
"The suction has vanished. It seems Alka succeeded," Sofia said, sensing the calming of the surrounding magical energy.
Just as he was about to join the others in heading back to the camp, a thin mirror appeared before them.
The mirror rippled like water, and Alka stepped out.
Seeing Alka before them, Sofia glanced at the distance from their location to the camp.
It was already over 100 meters, more than 200 meters from here.
And it didn't seem like the noise Alka had made before when he activated this ability.
"Has your power increased?"
Alka, emerging from the mirror, nodded and said, "The fourth stage allows full control of a Holy Grail-level treasure."
He gently flipped his palm.
The water beneath their feet suddenly became clear, the emerald sea surface transforming into a crystal-clear mirror.
Then the mirror flipped.
Everyone felt as if they had suddenly turned 180 degrees, swept into a deep trance.
They looked around.
However, their surroundings seemed no different from the outside world, as if nothing had changed.
But Julia instantly sensed the difference: "This is a false dimension. There's no life, no living things, a dead, stagnant place."
"As expected of you, yes, this is a false mirror dimension."
Alka said, gently waving his hand.
The surroundings felt like a broken mirror, cracks forming in the air, as if space itself had been shattered.
Arka reached out and struck hard.
Space shattered, fragments of glass falling like glass.
Everyone felt their world spinning again, returning to reality.
"Complete control of the treasure?" Sofia muttered to herself.
Then she sighed and said, "We're still a long way off."
Although Sofia was striving to catch up, her strength had only just reached the twenty-second spiral. She was still five spirals away from twenty-seven.
Not to mention breaking through to the fourth stage.
Aside from Alka, the strongest were Sofia and Simon, both of whom had reached the twenty-second spiral in the past few days.
The rest were still a little further behind, but were all at the twenty-first spiral. Although Juanlu and Matlisa were catching up, they still lagged behind the others.
Both had stopped at 20 spirals, a significant improvement compared to the previous significant gap.
Their rapid improvement seemed to stem from the fact that their treasures had been reforged using divine essence.
They were slightly higher than everyone else's treasures, and this slight level of improvement contributed to a slight difference in improving their strength.
About 10% more.
"So you've reached the fourth stage now. How long do you plan to stay there... huh?" Sofia asked, shaking his head.
Alka thought for a moment and said, "Just a few days, until the changes brought on by my advancement are fully stabilized."
Everyone nodded and returned to camp.
Alka remained outside the camp alone. He needed to train and adapt to the changes that would come with reaching the fourth stage.
Fortunately, he had already experienced the fourth stage in his dreams for a long time, so it was more of a matter of familiarization.
If he were to go into battle directly now, he would be able to fully demonstrate his current strength.
The main purpose was to experience the interaction between the mirror space and the Dreamcatcher in reality.
After all, there was still a difference between reality and dreams in this regard.
Thinking of this, Alka extended his palm once again.
The surface of the water he was standing on once again became mirror-like. Then, Alka flipped his entire body, as if rotating 180 degrees, and appeared in the mirror space.
He extended his hand.
With a slight flip, the water beneath his feet instantly began to reverse, and with it, the water began to pour down.
Then, with a sideways flip, the water began to slide down like a landslide. Alka stood on top, his feet unknowingly stepping onto a surfboard.
Walking on the waves, he stretched out his hand and twisted it back and forth, causing the waves to spiral.
"Although it can't exist as truly and permanently as in dreams, it still retains the ability to freely control and adjust its direction."
Alka said, causing the dreamcatcher's crystal ball to float out, landing on his shoulder and floating quietly.
The world in the mirror returned to normal, and peace settled in an instant.
The two crystal-clear antlers once again sprouted from Alka's forehead.
A strange, wild pattern appeared on his face.
A large amount of pink mist instantly filled the entire space in the mirror.
Through this mist, the boundaries of this world could be clearly seen. It wasn't a replica of the entire world as it appeared.
In fact, it had boundaries, but you couldn't see the air wall that bounded it.
The distant vista was merely a deliberate retouching, a false illusion created by a mirrored reflection.
As the fog filled the area, the entire dream space instantly reversed, entering a dream world.
It was exactly like the dream world itself.
This was a dream world that was both false and real.
It possessed dreamlike qualities, yet it wasn't truly a dream world.
After achieving this, Alka finally smiled with joy.
"Perfect, a perfect match."
Feeling the degree of compatibility between his two pieces of equipment, how could Alka suppress the smile on his face?
Reaching the fourth stage in the spiritual dream world wouldn't have manifested such a change; after all, they were truly in a dream world.
But the unique changes that occurred after reality entered the fourth stage became apparent.
Alka can replicate the environment of the dream world through a temporary, false mirror.
It's important to note that Alka uses the mirror to simulate Mirmi, and his abilities and powers are enhanced within the dream world.
Even though the dream world replicated within this mirrored world is fake, it's highly similar to the dream world itself.
This is equivalent to a domain unique to Alka, capable of significantly enhancing him.
The downside is that if the enemy also possesses abilities that can be enhanced within the dream world, they will also be enhanced.
Alka believes that for the time being, no one will be able to achieve a greater improvement than him.
A descendant of the dream god, one of the dream kings.
And a hunter within the dream world.
These bring about a mechanic enhancement, which is far more useful than any other buff.
Of course, there's also a real prerequisite: the enemy doesn't breach the boundaries of this space.
After all, this was ultimately a falsehood. With sufficient power, this dimension could be completely shattered.
But Alka believed this dimension had an absolute future. As his strength grew, the false mirror world would expand ever wider.
Until a great battle, the boundaries vanished completely.
A circular mirror once again appeared in the mirrored world, floating beside Alka.
What he saw within the mirror was the true dream world.
Golden and silver energy drifted from the mirror.
Out.
Alka looked at the energy of gold and silver that had gathered in his palm, having just been drawn from his dream.
Compared to outside the mirror, the amount drawn from the dream world was much greater.
Clearly, in this simulated dream world, losses were minimal, and more could be accomplished.
The connection here with the dream world was much closer.
If I were here, even the gap between dreams and reality would become much closer.
This place could even serve as a temporary transit point, reducing unnecessary losses in certain situations.
Very satisfied.
Alka was very satisfied with the transformation resulting from the combination of the two treasures.
Complementing each other.
Gently squeezing his palm.
A crack appeared in the boundary space not far away, like a shattered mirror, followed by a crackling sound.
It shattered into fragments of a mirror, floating in the air.
In the reflected light, space vanished and reversed, and Alka returned to reality.