Chapter 719: Dream Tour

Klein turned his gaze to the forest where light could hardly penetrate

through its denseness, having gained a rough idea of where he was.

This was the Waning Forest which Groselle guarded when he was at the

Giant King's Court.

The trees in the forest were tens of meters tall, and the thickness of

the trees was the arm span of several giants. However, their barks were

mottled with signs of rot everywhere. The leaves and twigs were mostly

withered and dropping as they interwove with each other like a dark

cloud floating in midair.

Groselle and similar-looking giants guarded the boundary of the forest,

either carrying axes or broadswords, fully concentrating on defending

the area.

*According to Groselle, this Waning Forest has the bodies of Giant King

Aurmir's father and mother buried in it. Apart from this ancient god, no

one else is allowed to step inside, including these guards... Yes, Giant

King Aurmir's parents should be so-called original giants, the kind that

was the craziest, cruelest, and most ferocious. Perhaps... Eh, why would

Groselle have such a dream?* As Klein was in thought, he

suddenly sensed something amiss.

According to his random conversations in Pessote, the present Groselle

was a native giant who had nothing to do with the Giant King's Court.

Therefore, having such a dream made it appear rather abnormal!

*From the Psychology Alchemists' theory which Ma'am Daly and Miss

Justice have discussed before, perhaps the book world will use or clone

the original character's subconscious or collective subconscious when

creating a character. Then, it would make minor changes, making the

consciousness fulfill the required settings. Therefore, Groselle's dream

will be influenced by his subconscious, reproducing life in the Giant

King's Court... if that's the case, it can only be said that this book

is a cruel author...* The moment Klein thought of this, he

suddenly had an idea. He felt that this was an opportunity for him to

gather relevant information on the Giant King's Court.

He previously planned on directly learning about such matters through

Groselle. But in order to keep his promise, the Giant Guardian had died

in the battle with King of the North Ulyssan. After his Spirit Body left

the book world, it quickly dissipated without giving him any chance of

communicating. Now, he finally had another method, which was to explore

Groselle's dream.

There had to be parts of it that were ridiculous or exaggerated, but the

remaining content had to be a true reflection of reality. As long as an

approach of careful study is employed, it's not impossible to

distinguish the two.

*Groselle never entered the Waning Forest, so the scenes inside must

stem from his imagination. There's no need to explore it...*

Klein slowly cast his gaze onto the mountain where the king's court was.

It wasn't tall, which meant that the Waning Forest was on a mountain

rather close to the king's court. It was probably just a straight path

from there to the ancient god's residence.

Klein didn't waste time searching as he walked straight to Groselle and

acted like he knew him well. He asked in a relaxed tone, "How should I

return to the king's court?"

He knew that Groselle was an honest giant, and he would only be more

honest in his dream.

Groselle raised his hand to scratch the back of his head as he looked

down with a confused look. He said with a smile, "Isn't it simply by

taking the Barren Tunnel?"

He pointed ahead and added, "You'll see it when you circle around that

boulder."

"Thank you," Klein sighed as he said with a bow.

As he watched Klein depart, Groselle scratched the back of his head

again, muttering to himself in confusion, "Who is he? Why do I find him

so familiar..."

After circling a boulder that protruded out the mountain, the scene

opened up before Klein's eyes. A gigantic cave at least thirty meters

tall appeared.

Erected outside the cave was a stone stele. Engraved on it was a single

vertical eye, a high nose, and plush lips. It looked like a giant's head

had been squeezed in to reveal the frontal facial features.

Just as Klein approached, the mouth on the stele opened.

"Why are you returning to the king's court ahead of time?"

"By His Majesty's orders," Klein said in an unflustered tone. After all,

the intelligence level of all the living beings in this dream was

equivalent to the owner of the dream---Groselle.

The lips on the stele opened and closed as it let out a humming sound.

"Please answer a question; otherwise, you shall not pass."

*...If only I brought along Arrodes, it should be rather fun to see what

happens...* Klein lampooned as he calmly nodded.

"Okay."

The stele's lips closed for three seconds before opening.

"If your wife, daughter, and a woman you covet ask you to judge which of

them is most beautiful, who would you choose?"

This is completely different from the magic mirror's style...

Klein's lips quivered as his mind raced. Using nearly ten seconds, he

answered, "My intelligence is insufficient to determine this matter. I

will assign someone who is more intelligent than me to give the answer."

How can I answer something that can get me killed? He gritted

his teeth as he added.

"...Who is this more intelligent person?" The giant's face on the stele

froze for a few seconds.

Klein solemnly answered, "Of course it's our king."

The stele was shocked beyond words. It took quite a moment before it

said, "Alright, I'll consider it as you answering the question. You may

pass."

Klein immediately crossed the strange stele and walked into the cave.

The ground in the cave was paved with large stone panels that had been

weathered. The sides and top of the cave were filled with murals,

speaking of stories of the giants and dragons battling the demonic

wolves, mutants, devils, and phoenixes. The drawing style was crude and

the color choice was dark. However, it was extremely vivid.

Klein walked forward as he observed the murals. He discovered that there

were swaths of withered weeds, as well as all kinds of coarse gravel in

between the stone panels and the bottom of the murals.

And the lack of water and the decline of life became more apparent the

deeper he ventured inside.

After walking for an unknown period of time, Klein saw a huge

grayish-blue open door. Standing on each side of the door was a four-to

five-meter-tall giant.

The giants guarding this place were different from Groselle and the

others. They wore solid and beautiful iron-black armor and firm,

exquisite helms. They looked like two huge statues.

They didn't stop Klein and allowed him to pass through the door and

enter the hall within.

The hall wasn't too spacious. The ends of the hall could be seen

clearly, and it could probably only hold five to six giants.

As Klein was observing his environment, he suddenly halted. Then, the

hall seemed to be pulled up by an invisible hand as it quickly rose.

He staggered a little before finding his footing. All he saw were

grayish-black walls flashing by as they kept sweeping downwards.

In about ten seconds, there was a thud as the hall stopped ascending.

At this moment, it wasn't the cave tunnel outside the door, but a

magnificent palace propped up by stone columns.

Klein briskly left the original hall as he sized up his surroundings

with piqued interest.

*This is the Giant King's Court's "elevator?" This seems to be the place

where the guards live. Outside is a long table taller than humans, with

extremely large chairs. On the two sides are rooms, and inside them are

neatly ordered beds...* Klein swept past the various items in

the hall before he stopped at a mural.

The mural's main character was a giant dressed in full-body silver

armor. As there was nothing to scale, Klein was unable to know exactly

how tall he was.

The giant stood by the side of a cliff, with a sword in hand pointing

diagonally upwards. His body emitted a bright halo, like a rising sun

illuminating the surroundings.

Many giants were genuflecting around him, as though praying or

worshiping him and awaiting a bestowment.

The giant king's son, God of Dawn, Badheil? Klein looked at

the face of the mural's main character in thought, and he saw that his

face was blocked by a mask. There was only a dawn-like halo coming from

his eyes.

*It's very similar to the God of Combat statue in the Backlund

underground ruins. His face is completely hidden behind a mask... Heh,

Queen Mystic said before that the God of Combat is a giant who lived

from ancient times. Therefore, their Church's headquarters, the Great

Twilight Hall, resembled the Giant King's Court... Could it be the son

of the giant king? God of Dawn escaped the destruction of the king's

court, and at a certain point in time, he managed to retake the

authority wielded by "His" father?* Klein made a bold guess, but

he lacked any evidence or clues.

He used the correspondence principle to look at the wall opposite the

mural. There was also a mural there, but the main character was no

longer God of Dawn, Badheil. Instead, it was a female giant in a leather

vest and long skirt.

This female giant stood sideways. Her facial contours were soft, and her

single vertical eye was focused beneath her. Long, dark-brown hair

reached all the way to her back.

Her right hand was spread out as she held items like wheat and fruits.

Around her were golden fields, clear lakes, and trees covered with

fruits and colorful mushrooms.

Giant Queen, Goddess of Harvest, Omebella? Klein looked

around, but he didn't see the mural representing Giant King Aurmir.

*There's no depiction of the ancient god because this is the residence

of remote guards? Then, going out from here will likely be the interior

of the Giant King's Court...* Klein carefully walked to the

door. He used the method he employed in the dream world of the

battlefield ruins of the gods by activating Creeping Hunger and using

the strength of a Zombie to open the door.

However, there wasn't a palace in the frozen dusk that he had imagined

outside. Instead, it was a gray, hazy world. It appeared to be a cliff

with a bottomless pit.

*According to Miss Justice's previous experience, this is likely the

boundary of the dream. The only way is to head down and enter Groselle's

subconscious. Finally, I'll arrive at the sea of collective

subconscious... Miss Justice discovered a mind dragon in the human sea

of collective subconscious where she was. Then, in this book world

created by the Dragon of Imagination, what would be contained in the sea

of collective subconscious?* Klein's mind whirred as he conjured

a staircase that led down into the hazy world.

The staircase didn't head straight down but spiraled around deep into

the gray haze. The bottom couldn't be seen, nor were any of the details

of the mind world that were possible to discern.