The sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed.
Narvi walked in from outside the camp, his right hand stained with blood. The scalding gore had even burned a few small holes through his sleeves.
"It seems you've made your choice," Alka said, looking at him.
He saw relief and liberation on Narvi's face.
Narvi nodded and sat down heavily on the wicker chair beside him.
He sat down suddenly, his weight making the chair creak slightly. He leaned back and let out a breath.
"Yes, I made the right choice. His head will be the best gift for my loved ones when I meet them."
He raised his right hand slightly and rubbed his necklace.
It was just an ordinary necklace, nothing more ordinary.
"What are your plans for the future?"
Hearing this, Narvi placed his left hand on his forehead and raised his head to look at the ceiling.
"Go home, go home and get some rest. I've been away for so long, I've almost forgotten what my hometown looks like."
Alka nodded and murmured to himself, "Hometown."
Suddenly, he felt a weight on his shoulder.
Lucilia sat on his shoulder and smiled at Alka, who turned to look at him.
Seeing this smile, Alka's lips curled slightly.
"It's finally over. What are your plans next?" Sofia stretched vigorously and asked Alka.
After this battle, thanks to Nightmare's deliberate concealment, Alka had wiped out almost all the cultists targeting the Flower Fairies and the numerous guides.
The Land of the Spirits was essentially free of threats.
Time is running out before the Flower Fairy revives.
At Sofia's question, everyone present turned their attention to Alka.
Alka paused and said, "Rest here for a while. We'll make plans once you've advanced to Stage 4."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Except for Juanlu and Matresa, the others were practically on the verge of reaching Stage 4. They only needed a dozen more days to advance.
It was indeed time to advance to Stage 4 before considering other matters.
Just as they finished their conversation, the sky outside suddenly darkened.
It was as if the sun had been instantly obscured.
Looking at the darkening sky,
Juanlu stood up and said, "After such a great battle, what would you like to eat?"
"Grilled sawfish," Porolo said bluntly.
Juanlu nodded, then looked at the others.
He was clearly in a good mood today, and decided to let everyone order their favorite dish.
Seeing this, everyone was sure to give it a try.
"Meteor Flower Fruit!"
"I'll have the Caress Pork Steak."
"Let's have something light, like the grilled fish."
"You call that light?"
"Doesn't that even count for light for me?"
"Okay, I'll have a steak too."
"..."
Everyone present ordered their favorite dishes.
"Oh, great! What does it feel like to eat?"
"I don't know. I don't want to."
"That's right, it's too much trouble."
The gathered puppet girls also began arguing about eating.
...
It was just dawn.
Everyone in the camp, minding their own business, sensed a group approaching.
However, most people seemed unconcerned.
Because there was no puppet girl to sound the alarm.
"It's Gilliana and the others," Lucilia said.
Shortly after she finished speaking, Gilliana and Alati entered the camp.
Sofia, who had a good relationship with Gilliana, approached and gave her a brief hug.
Alati, standing beside her, nodded to the crowd.
"Looks like you had a good rest yesterday."
Hearing this, Alka smiled and said, "Finally, I can get some restful sleep."
"That's right, haha."
Gilliana, standing nearby, looked at the group, then bowed deeply and said, "Thank you for your help. Thank you for the help you've brought to the Land of All Spirits, to us, and to our God."
"Forgive the Head Gardener and his men for not being able to spare the time. Even though most of the enemies have been eliminated, they still need to guard the Land of Fragrance to prevent any accidents."
Hearing this, Alka waved his hand, completely unconcerned.
This was completely understandable.
For them, the matter might be almost over, but for the Land of Fragrance, it wasn't.
After all, the Mouth of the Abyss had clearly demonstrated yesterday that he knew the true location of the Flower Fairy's resurrection. Although he had been repelled, who knew who he had passed this information to? How could the Flower People dare to let down their guard even the slightest bit until the very last moment? Whether for themselves or for the gods they worshipped.
"Alright, enough polite talk, we're not strangers," Alka said with a smile.
Then, with a touch of seriousness, he added, "Forget about any reward this time. This isn't a commission, simply the assistance we owe as friends."
Hearing this, Gilliana, about to have the soldiers outside hand over the items, silently lowered her hand.
"You will be the Flower People's eternal friends."
When they had almost finished their conversation, Arati looked at Arka and asked, "When are you planning to leave?"
"After a while, my companions will need some time."
Hearing this, Arati glanced at the people behind Arka and nodded in understanding.
"If you don't mind taking a little longer, let's wait until the flower fairy fully revives before leaving."
Hearing this, Alka nodded. "Of course. How could I miss such a momentous event?"
Alati nodded, humming, and said no more.
Soon, the two of them said goodbye and left.
After all, it wasn't time for them to relax yet.
"The flower fairy's resurrection? We're about to witness this world-shaking event live. It's really exciting to think about it," Jason said, watching them leave.
After all, this is the resurrection of a true god, the return of an ancient deity.
This must be the greatest event in thousands of years.
Suddenly, a noise came from the sky above the camp, and then the ceiling opened to both sides, and a crystal dragon flew in from the sky.
As it flew in, its body wobbled slightly, even crashing into the wall next to it. The surrounding branches swayed slightly.
Jason hurried over.
Looking at the crystal dragon lying against the wall.
The people chatting approached with a hint of surprise.
"What's wrong with her?" Alka asked, observing the crystal dragon's current state.
The moment the crystal dragon flew in, it curled up into a ball, appearing to be fast asleep.
However, Jason's expression had calmed down, aside from a moment of panic, and he no longer showed any worry.
He gently stroked the crystal dragon's fur and said, "It's okay. She'll advance to the fourth stage with me and will need a short sleep."
Hearing this, Lucilia couldn't help but think of some of the dragons she'd read about in books, and couldn't help but ask, "How long will she be asleep?"
"About a year or two."
"Huh?" the others exclaimed in surprise.
Only Alka glanced at Jason. "You're talking about a normal dragon, right? Urulius isn't."
Hearing this, Jason smiled. "I wasn't kidding. I didn't expect you to become so knowledgeable."
"Once I reach the fourth stage, I'll be able to nourish her through meditation. That way, she'll wake up soon."
He touched the sleeping Urulius. "Hopefully, she'll wake up before the flower fairy does. It would be a shame to miss such a window."
Everyone put their worries to rest.
"Now, all we have to do is wait."
...
As night fell, Alka sank into a dream.
He arrived in the realm of dreams.
When he left his dream bubble and stepped outside,
What he saw was a cloud of mist emanating from a vast number of dream buildings, binding countless demons.
A closer look revealed at least hundreds of them.
Not even the weakest demons remained, and the weakest of those that remained were ordinary demons of the second or third stage.
Among them were even powerful demons of the fourth and fifth stages.
These demons no longer had the frantic roars that Alka had heard last night when he entered; almost all of them had fallen into a state of weakness and coma.
However, the bloody odor and the rich smell of sulfur emanating from these demons still lingered in the air of the Dream Realm.
However, the mist creatures in the dream realm had no sense of smell, so they were completely unable to detect the sulfur, which only troubled King Alka.
At this moment, the entire Dream Realm was bustling with activity.
A large number of mist creatures had become workers, constructing a sharp tower in the center of the realm.
Thankfully, with so many mist creatures working, the tower's construction progressed at an exceptionally rapid pace.
Shadow Robe could be seen directing the construction progress around the site.
Hirvi appeared beside Alka.
Lily also appeared, sitting on Alka's shoulders.
Hirvi carried Alka on his back and, without Alka's instruction, they arrived near the central tower under construction.
Shadow Robe floated over.
"Your Majesty."
Alka nodded. "At the current rate, how long will it take?"
"According to realistic calculations, it will probably take another week.
We're only building the outer shell now. The inner core requires the precise manipulation of a sixth-stage mist creature."
Hearing this, Alka asked, "Can we draw the power of these demons to create new people?"
Indeed, the true purpose of this tower under construction was to use the bound demons as energy to create new mist creatures, accelerating the process of their birth.
"No problem, Your Majesty. This utilizes the world's protective power. Before the world shattered, the souls of these foreign invaders were thrown into the World Forge, becoming nourishment for the world.
This is punishment for the invaders, and the greatest nourishment comes from these invading demons."
After saying this, Shadow Robe began to explain in more detail: "Your Majesty, many Dream Kings have used this structure. This was once created by a powerful ancient Dream King.
It is primarily modeled after the former World Forge. It is said that this Dream King was originally... The guardian of the World Forge, with the destruction of the world, such a mechanism no longer exists.
However, since some of the Dream Kings' worlds have constructed furnace towers imitating the World Forge,
For a long time, they served as a defense against invaders.
Alas, such opportunities are rare.
As the world's will grows weaker, the gap between dreams and reality grows ever wider.
It's rare to see demons appear in dreams anymore. Even if demons die in reality, their souls return to the Abyss.
Such opportunities are rare.
After listening to Shadow Robe's story, Alka nodded.
"Then do your best."
With that, Hirvi carried Alka to the sky above the entire kingdom.
Floating there was Alka's throne.
Alka sat on the throne, and a pink mist drifted around it.
Besides the dance troupe, four seemingly unremarkable objects lay behind the throne.
These were previously acquired spoils, but they needed to be cleared of their aura before they could be used, so they had been left there.
Looking at the mist in his palm, he saw the portion of the previously captured and melted Mouth of the Abyss that had been projected onto Kalutor's body.
This was equivalent to a portion of this powerful demon's soul.
The pink mist dissipated.
The remaining spoils from the smelting appeared in Alka's palm.
A piece of black metal, emanating a strong evil aura.
Alka's eyes flickered as he gazed at the metal.
A secret was revealed before him.
Metal fused with the aura of a powerful abyssal demon could be forged into weapons.
It would impart a powerful lethal effect, unavoidable even for the strongest beings with extremely high soul defenses.
Simply put, if it were used to forge a weapon...
It would be a weapon capable of harming gods.
However, Alka looked at the tiny portion in his palm. What weapon could it possibly be forged from?
It barely seemed like it could even be a spearhead.
But it was precious enough.
Alka tossed it into his throne. He had no means to smelt it now, let alone forge it.
He could only wait and see if Simon's strength improved enough to find a way to smelt the metal.
After doing this, Alka sat on the throne and closed his eyes. The mist above the throne and the mist above his crown, mingling with a silvery glow, began to connect the entire kingdom.
Alka was harnessing the power of the kingdom, realizing the power of his dreams.
The ring made of galaxies was no longer visible on his hand.
Alka had removed it and placed it in his dream. ......
Sunlight streamed down the camp.
The crystal dragon shimmered with a brilliant glow, yet it remained curled up in its nest, sound asleep.
Aside from Jason and the puppet girls, everyone else in the camp was far away.
About two kilometers away, magic power was gathering in a vortex.
The magic gathering stone gathered the mixed magic power in the air, transforming it through the surrounding crystals into more suitable magic power, which was then infused below.
Below him, a figure was meditating.
The meditating figure was Sofia.
Sofia's face was covered in sweat, and his magic power was rapidly expanding and contracting.
Sofia was advancing to the fourth stage.
Suddenly, the surrounding magic power dwindled slightly, and the magic gathering stone stopped absorbing magic power. Sofia stood up and turned it off.
She advanced to the fourth stage.
"Finally."
Alka and the others waited nearby.
Seeing Sofia finally complete her advancement, they gathered around.
"Wipe it off," Alka said, handing over a clean towel.
Sofia took it and wiped the sweat off his face.
"Rest for a while, then it'll be your turn," Alka said, looking at her.
"Do you really want to get rid of it?" Sofia asked with a hint of amusement.
"Of course, I'm getting a little fed up with it."
Alka said, looking at the Galaxy Ring on her finger.
With that, they boarded the Swallow again and headed back to camp. The two kilometers were almost there.
Seeing everyone return, Jason stood up, looked at Sofia, and said, "Congratulations."
After returning, Sofia had almost finished resting.
Alka took the ring off and placed it in her palm.
Sofia looked at the Galaxy in her palm, its appearance resembling the Milky Way in the sky.
"How beautiful," she couldn't help but exclaim.
Then she slipped it on her finger.
A faint magical energy flowed through her finger into the Galaxy.
Dots of starlight twinkled from the surface of the galaxy.
At the same time, the yellow triangular headband on Sofia's head also appeared.
The originally yellow gem began to spin, then, as if infected by the galaxy, it began to flash with beautiful starlight.
Suddenly, the entire camp went dark.