Looking at Beavis's flushed face, Leylin spoke even more deliberately and unhurriedly: "The reason our alliance has been cultivating Prince Beavis is so that one day you can lead us past the Flame Throne's blockade. If you don't even have the courage to face the opposing powers… I'm very disappointed…"
"I never—" Beavis's face reddened further, but he could not find the words for a rebuttal.
Even Jeffrey, standing off to the side, had a contemplative look on his face.
Just as Leylin had said, they had done everything in their power to cultivate Beavis, sparing no cost, all in order to help him ascend to the sixth rank of Solar and thus contend against the other Wizard Thrones.
But if the man showed this much spinelessness, then even if he did successfully ascend, whether he would honor his commitments was a serious question.
After all, if he didn't even have the courage to oppose their enemies, what could he possibly use to protect the interests of the sorcerers?
Leylin had done this precisely to plant thorns in the hearts of the other fifth-rank Illuminated Moons. What made it even more critical was that everything he said was the truth, leaving Beavis no room to explain himself.
Beavis's face was dark as a thundercloud, looking as though it might drip ink. He had clearly grasped Leylin's sinister intentions.
The meeting between the two sides ended on that unhappy note. As Leylin watched Beavis's retreating figure, he silently stroked his chin. A sixth-rank bloodline mark—if he could craft a few more, that might prove quite useful.
……
The Dream World. Leylin wore a full protective suit and employed the latest isolation technology to repel the vast quantities of Dream Force from outside.
At the moment, his figure had become considerably bloated due to the suit, resembling a massive human-shaped doll as he trudged laboriously through a dense forest.
"The environmental shifts inside the Dream World are simply too fast…"
After dealing with a giant man-eating banyan tree, Leylin stood atop a mountain peak. From here, he could still see the circular open-air structure of the laboratory not far away.
Only now the surface of the laboratory had been overrun by thick vines, and even bright red blossoms were blooming upon them.
Dense forest blanketed the area, nearly obscuring the entire enormous laboratory from view.
The first time Leylin had come to this region, it had been a desert. The second time, it had become a grassland. And now it had transformed into a primeval jungle landscape.
"The speed at which the Dream Force shifts is too fast—even the Chip's processing power can't keep up with its fluctuations. Could this be why the Dream World is so complex and ever-changing?"
Leylin speculated, then looked up at the sky.
Three suns of different shapes hung there. Only around the central, circular sun, the flame-like tendrils were far more numerous, and the blue within its light had grown more brilliant than ever.
「Ding! Dream Force collection in progress. Container One is full! Container Two is 76% filled!」 The Chip's mechanical voice sounded at this moment.
Before Leylin, the two floating white metal spheres now had one that had turned a deep dark red, while the other was also more than half filled with the same dark hue.
"Excellent!" Leylin nodded and stored the fully filled metal sphere.
"The Dream World is full of treasures everywhere!" Leylin was very satisfied with the harvest of Dream Force.
This power was half a tier above even the strength of bloodlines, and could even rival the legendary power of laws. The attraction it held for Leylin was absolutely unparalleled.
With such a vast Dream World waiting to be explored, continuing to tangle with warlocks like Bevis would be incredibly foolish.
"If I can fully harness the power of dreams, and even use it as the foundation to compose my own unique Wizardry, then even Solar Wizards would take a serious hit!"
Leylin's heart surged with excitement. His previous experiments had only found methods to slightly influence Dream Force. To thoroughly comprehend the fundamental nature of Dream Force, or even develop specialized Wizardries based on it, was still a long and arduous road ahead.
However, with the Chip's assistance, there was now hope for all of this.
He didn't need to completely understand the composition of Dream Force — that was an impossible feat. Anyone who could achieve that would already be called a Dream Lord. What Leylin hoped to accomplish was merely to partially utilize the formation rules of Dream Force, bring it under a degree of control, and use it to form attacks.
As long as he could achieve that, it would count as a proper Wizardry.
Nevertheless, Dream Force was ultimately an entirely separate power system, so it would require a great deal of time — especially since after the peak of the two worlds' convergence passed, Leylin had already felt the Dream World gradually pulling away.
Perhaps before long, his laboratory would lose the convenient effect of this spatial gate. It was precisely for this reason that he needed to gather and stockpile as much as he could while he still could.
"The Dream World is unlike any other foreign plane — it is omnipresent, connected to the dreams of every sentient being. Perhaps, once I understand the power of dreams, I can bypass the need for laboratory-based conversion and communicate with this world directly…"
A flicker of anticipation stirred in Leylin's heart.
His newfound understanding of Dream Force, however slight, had given him greater confidence to venture far from the laboratory and explore.