Alka concluded his meditation in the observation room.
"Sure enough, my meditation efficiency isn't as high as before. Has it returned to normal?"
Although his current meditation efficiency is higher than the normal third stage, it's generally within the normal range of the fourth stage.
During those last few spirals, Alka's strength within the dream world was so vastly different that it led to a rapid increase.
That's why his meditation efficiency was so exaggerated, and his strength was constantly rising.
With the fifth stage of the dream world, the fourth stage of reality has finally reached a certain balance, at least less disparate than before.
The natural rate of strength increase within the dream world has also greatly slowed.
Alka's current strength increase is still higher than that of an average person, but at least it's not as extreme as before and has become somewhat more normal.
"27 x 3... To reach the fifth stage, I need 81 spirals."
At the thought of the 54 spirals still to come, Alka's face fell.
"Oh my god, how long will 54 spirals take!"
Thinking of this, Alka collapsed onto the floor of the observation room.
Staring upward at the ceiling.
Only when you reach this stage will you realize how ridiculous the total number of the current stage multiplied by 3 is. The exponential growth is truly outrageous.
Stages 4-5 are 81 spirals.
Stages 5-6 are 243 spirals.
Stages 6-7 are 729 spirals.
Stages 7-8 are...
The more Alka thought about it, the more hopeless his future seemed. This really could only be achieved through hard work and perseverance.
Alka suddenly realized that only a few had achieved godhood in the past ten thousand years, and not many had become famous either. This was strongly related to the improvement of one's own strength.
Relying on spirals and stages, one could gradually improve their strength to reach the limit of transcending the life of their own species.
This power setup is truly ingenious, but the time required is a necessary price to pay.
Arka felt the change in his own strength.
At his current meditation efficiency, even if he maxed it out every day, it would probably take more than five years to reach the fifth stage.
"It's difficult. I can only grind slowly."
As he spoke, Arka stood up and looked outside, gazing at the endless, inky black sea.
I wonder how quickly higher-level treasures will increase my strength.
It must be at least twice as fast as a Holy Grail-level treasure, right?
He scattered his thoughts, keeping a vigilant eye on his surroundings. Until Pororo, his successor, arrived to take his place.
A vine-covered hanging basket appeared next to the observation room.
Arka stood in it, slowly being carried by the vines towards the poop.
He returned to his room to rest. She quickly sank into the dream.
Arka arrived at her dream bubble and felt her figure shatter and vanish.
Lily, perched on Hirvi's back, was conducting his routine patrol of the Dream Palace.
Suddenly, shattered lenses appeared nearby, coalescing into the form of Arka.
"Dad?"
Lily leaped onto Arka's shoulders. Arka looked at her and asked, "How's it going? Is everything okay out there?"
"No, just a little bored."
"Yeah, bear with it."
Arka stood there, looking down.
The fog still covered the area below, but the outlines of most of the buildings had already appeared.
Looking at the vast expanse of buildings below,
Arka frowned, somewhat puzzled.
"Who would live in such an outrageous complex?"
Although Alka couldn't quite understand the architectural style of the buildings below, he'd rarely seen anything like it outside.
Most of them were diamond-shaped and ring-shaped.
The interwoven structures of various shapes intertwined and interwoven, though they might be considered architecture, looked more like works of art.
They resembled large, strange sculptures.
And most of them had a cloud-like quality, or a crystal-like effect.
But as these structures multiplied, they became a veritable architectural district of a unique style.
They practically covered the entire lower part of the mirror world.
The most common structure was a spiral-like structure surrounded by a circular aperture.
But there were so many of them, so many of them, it was completely beyond Alka's knowledge.
As Alka finished speaking, Shadow Robe appeared beside him. He explained, "This is the basic architectural standard for the royal court. It cannot be reduced. Among the royal courts of other kings, this standard is already considered small."
Hearing this, Alka looked at the area below.
Is this considered small?
If his calculations were correct, his royal court was roughly two-thirds of Twin Island, with densely packed buildings almost covering this two-thirds.
Even if the Twin Island were split equally between the two churches, there wouldn't be such densely packed buildings and streets.
Furthermore, most of the buildings are hollow in the middle, as they are meant for living, after all.
But dream creatures don't need these things at all. Furthermore, the space is three-dimensional, and these buildings are stacked layer upon layer.
The density is astonishing.
Is this considered small?
"So what exactly are these buildings used for?" Alka asked Shadow Robe.
"It can increase the recovery speed of dream creatures, slowly increasing their strength, and even, under certain circumstances, allow them to split themselves."
"Wait... what does splitting mean?" Alka asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Hmm..." This suddenly left Shadow Robe stumped, unsure how to explain it.
He had to find a way to convey the meaning Alka could understand accurately.
"Reproduction?"
"I understand. Go on." Alka immediately stopped the topic and asked him to continue.
"After the Shattered Will of the World fell into slumber, no new compatriots were born. The losses in the outside world also affected us.
Our numbers inevitably decreased, and with the current number of dream creatures, it's difficult to repair the outside world."
Having come this far, Shadow Robe thought for a moment, ready to say everything he needed to say all at once.
"True repair of the world isn't easy. The world is currently stuck in a vicious cycle.
The only way to quickly and stably repair the world is to spread the mist creatures throughout the dream, but that's clearly impossible.
Mist creatures can only gather in dreams corresponding to densely populated areas, and even then, their numbers are insufficient.
To increase the number of mist creatures, one approach would be to revive the world, but that would plunge her into inescapable pain.
The other approach would require more life outside, less chaos, and stability."
To increase life outside, less chaos, and stability, more mist creatures are needed.
More mist creatures require more life outside, less chaos, and stability.
However, the world is now stuck in a vicious cycle. No matter what we do, we can only maintain the status quo, or even worse.
"So these buildings?"
"Yes, that's right. Tens of thousands of years ago, the Dream Kings established such standards.
Although the chance of similar structures appearing is low, it's not zero. Moreover, these buildings can also enhance and repair the external environment."
With this explanation, Alka understood completely.
The so-called Royal Court is equivalent to the largest world restoration group.
At least for Alka, whose Royal Court is composed almost entirely of mist creatures, this is how their Royal Court works.
This aligns with Alka's goals and philosophy.
After listening, Alka nodded and stopped asking questions.
He even began to observe the construction process of these mist creatures more closely, trying to understand how these buildings and their own influence on the world.
He needed to understand the details and gain a clearer understanding. Only then could he truly contribute to the restoration of the world when he became more powerful.
...
They had spent over 100 days and nights at sea trying to find the Zehai.
But when they left the Zehai and headed straight for the Twin Islands, it took less than 20 days and nights.
Because the Zehai seemed to be drifting just off the Twin Island chain at that moment.
It could be considered a stroke of luck.
"Finally," Jason said, looking at the vast expanse of islands in the distance.
And the ships coming and going around them, he breathed a sigh of relief.
They circled the edge of the islands and entered the central harbor from the entrance.
They had officially returned to the Twin Islands.
It was just as they had left it, nothing unusual.
They docked their ship.
A priest wearing the vestments of the Church of Our Lady, along with several soldiers, looked at Alka and his crew's ship, and the inevitably eye-catching treasure tree on their ship.
Alka and the others sighed as they gazed at the precious tree.
This thing was truly too conspicuous, yet it couldn't be concealed at all.
In a crowded harbor like this, one sometimes had to sigh. This was the first minor inconvenience caused by the ship's transformation.
The priest saw the stern resembled the iconic bird's head.
Clearly, he recognized whose ship it belonged to.
"Lord Alka, can you conceal the tree on your ship?" the priest asked loudly.
Hearing the words below, Alka shook his head helplessly.
The tree was still in its growth phase; concealing it for long wouldn't work.
"How long do you plan to stay here?"
"At least a week."
Hearing Alka's answer, the priest nodded.
Then, two streams of magical energy surged from the water, carrying the Voice of Dawn onto the slide ahead.
As the slides operated, the sailboat entered an open-air warehouse.
The group finally left the ship and stepped off the deck.
The open-air warehouse served as a wall around the ship, shielding it from view. Only the highest mast, projecting from above, was visible from the outside.
More than any other protective function, its primary purpose was to prevent those outside from seeing the treasure tree and thus stoking their greed.
After thanking the priest,
Simon said, "Then I'll go to the church first to gather the materials you requested, as well as information on the incantations and rituals."
The others nodded and watched Simon board the middle ferry boat to the other side.
They arrived at a nearby hotel and rented several rooms in a townhouse.
After returning to their room...
Alka said to the group, "It's a rare opportunity to come here, so if you want to buy anything, take advantage of it now.
Alright, disband and go your separate ways."
You know, although they didn't obtain the most valuable Nafas family treasure in the Marsh Sea this time,
They had helped the church complete various commissions in the Land of Fragrance, helping them find and arrest cultists.
As a result, almost everyone had at least a thousand gold sails on their person.
That was a huge sum.
Except Jason, of course.
Because he actually owed everyone hundreds of gold sails, he might only become wealthy after they captured the Nafas family treasure.
Thinking of this, Jason looked at Pororo.
"While Urulius is away, I'm going to have a drink, you know."
Pororo shook his head impatiently and followed Jason out. It wasn't because he wanted to drink, but because he had money, and Jason didn't.
Soon, only Alka and several doll girls were left in the room.
The others had already left.
After resting for a while, Alka left the room and headed towards the church.
He reached the main entrance and circled around it, entering through the side door.
The guarding knights and priests around him didn't stop him when they saw Alka, but instead nodded.
Alka had already become familiar with them while researching.
After all, this island wasn't big, and the church's staff was limited.
After a while, he'd become familiar with them.
He wandered around the vast church hall until he reached the library at the edge.
"Arka? Long time no see, a year, huh? That ship of yours at sea is quite conspicuous," a bespectacled middle-aged man sitting at the counter said, looking at Alka with a smile.
"Did the news spread so quickly?" Alka asked, somewhat puzzled.
He had just landed, having only spent some time resting in a hotel, and the news had already reached here.
"Haha, my friend, that treasure tree on your ship is quite conspicuous. Knight Marlow even complained, and they had to send more troops to help you guard it," he said with a smile, raising his glasses.
Arka shrugged helplessly.
"Thank Knight Marlow for me. May the Virgin Mary bless a steady man like him."
He nodded. "What do you want to ask this time?"
After all, Alka didn't come here just to read.
"I'd like to know if there are any spells or rituals related to the stars and the sky, or anything like that."
Hearing Alka's words, he frowned.
"Something about the stars and the sky..."
He frowned, thinking, then flipped through the thick catalog in his hand.
"Yes, there are, but there aren't many records here. You might not find what you're looking for. And there's a lot of repetition.
If you want more, I suggest you check out the large library next door. They love collecting all sorts of bizarre information, and even if they don't have any, there are plenty of clues and insights."
The next door he was referring to was, of course, the Church of the Holy Machine.
Alka nodded. "Thank you. I'll go over first."
"Go ahead. Go inside, to the fourth row, the thirteenth bookcase from the right. Most of the information is stored there."
Alka followed the instructions and arrived at the tall bookcase. "Shattered Stars," "Ever-Changing Stars," "The Dense Night Sky," "The Changes of Countless Stars," "Starry Sky Demon," "Otherworld Star Destruction"...
Countless books related to the stars and the night sky were scattered here.
Arka picked up one at random and began flipping through it.
Most of the books here recorded the changes that occurred in the starry sky after the shattering, when the world's barriers were no longer in place.
Arka only now realized that this world's understanding of the astral realm was much deeper than he had imagined.
"The Machilak Mercenary Group comes from the fourth star in the southern triangle, due north, amidst the denseness."
A mercenary group from another world?
I still know too little.
Besides these, there were also various other groups whose missions once involved the stars.
A god of the name.
Arka saw a familiar name here.
Hochalmera.
Arka began to read the information from a bystander's perspective.
Okay, there wasn't much information here, just a few.
The information they had previously obtained in the Land of Fragrance came from the Holy Scriptures, heavily embellished.
A prominent priestess under the Flower Fairy, active during the War of Gods.
It is said that the Flower Fairy bestowed upon her divine power from the stars.
Outsiders gave her a title:
The Mystic Star Flower.
Arka searched through all sorts of information on the starry sky.
Finally, he came across something resembling a ritual related to the stars.
And this ritual had been unearthed from a certain ruin, an archaeological find of an ancient starry sky god.
Having finally made a discovery, Alka perked up a bit and began to examine more carefully.
Alka finally spotted a few spells related to the stars.
[Starlight]: Not very bright, but extremely penetrating.
It can be seen in the night sky even from great distances and is commonly used for signal transmission or on lighthouses.
[Star Divination]: The core spell of the most applicable star divination method, extremely accurate in predicting the fate of mortals.
Once a toucher is involved, the accuracy rate drops to approximately 10%-15%, and it often gives incorrect information, often expressing it in strange ways.
Use with caution.
It also states below that this spell cannot be transmitted to any of the Four Gods Seas.
Since the mortal world still exists, it only exists within the Four Gods Seas.
In the Infinite Sea, ordinary mortals are almost extinct.
Most people have at least some magical power in their bodies, just to varying degrees.
After roughly understanding this, Alka put the book back.
He looked out the window at the sunlight.
The sunlight filtered through the window, casting a gleam of light. An hourglass appeared in Alka's hand.
Nineteen hours had already passed during the day, and night was not far away.
Alka said goodbye to his acquaintances at the library and headed back to the inn.
When he arrived at the inn, only Sofia and Lucilia were chatting, apparently designing some clothing.
Everyone else was gone.
The two saw Alka return.
"How was it? Did you gain anything today?"
"Yes, not much, but the library of the Church of the Holy Machine has much more. Now we can only wait and see what Simon has gained."
Hearing Alka's words, the two nodded.
"Now that you're back, come give us some advice on the designs of these clothes."
"Okay, let me take a look."
Alka walked over and looked at the designs they had drawn.