Lily first went to the restaurant alone to get some provided snacks, and then returned to the dormitory.
Not long after, the doorbell rang, and James came back.
He looked left and right, closed the door nimbly and quickly, then turned to Lily, his chubby face showing a little excitement. "Sis, guess what I heard?"
Lily in front of him, however, clearly looked like she had been waiting for him to come back.
Lily lifted her eyelids and said, "Did Instructor Sissley accept you? Or was it something they said that we shouldn't have known about?"
James was momentarily stunned. "Sis, how did you know that? Did you put some tracker on me?"
Lily gave him a white eye. "All right, sit down and tell me. What did the instructors say after I left?"
James hurriedly sat down. He took a glass of water handed over by Lily, cleared his throat, scratched his red hair to organize his words, and told her everything he had heard.
There wasn't much to tell. James spoke quickly, and even imitated the words and expressions of several instructors present vividly.
Her fingers tapped gently on the table, and the true classifications of the Dreamforgers were as clear as day in her mind.
Instructor Sissley was a Dream Wanderer; Ina, who excelled in personification and bloodline arts, was a Dream Chaser; Instructor Die, master of crafting dreamscapes, was a Dream Illusionist; and Hua Liang, the Wood Clan instructor with yellow-white flowers in her hair, was a Dream Architect.
If one were to group these instructors into a team, it would be obvious that there was a missing link. But now that Lily added Instructor Corinna to the mix, her role became instantly clear.
Corinna, specializing in offensive techniques and dream-forging, was a Dreamforger.
Lily wondered when this information would be revealed to the current competition participants. Would it be after a few more matches? Or after some kind of assessment? Or perhaps only when they reached the top 1,000 in the final Starsea rankings?
It was evident that the instructors were dropping hints. Any sensible participant, upon receiving the email to choose an exclusive instructor and reviewing each instructor's specialties, could roughly guess that there would be professional distinctions in the future—though not the specific titles.
"Sis, if I'm going with Instructor Sissley, does that mean I'll be heading toward becoming a Dream Wanderer? But I shouldn't blab about this—it's all stuff I eavesdropped on," James mused aloud.
Lily glanced at him. "It's fine for you to tell me. And you don't have to worry about the instructors finding out you told me. When Instructor Corinna came to get me, she could've just asked me to leave alone, but she took you along too."
"In the training room, they ignored you on purpose, letting you overhear all that. They clearly meant for you to tell me.
"She knows, I know, she knows I will know, and I also know she knows—other instructors will know too."
James shook his head, his eyes glazed over. "Sis, stop it. All this 'knowing' stuff is confusing me. As long as you know, that's enough. I don't need to know; I'll just listen to you."
Lily fell silent at the sight of his distressed expression. Suddenly, James seemed to remember something.
"Then sis, which instructor are you planning to choose?"
He immediately became excited, starting to count off on his fingers. "I think all of them are great. It's really hard to choose—if only I could pick all of them."
"Oh right, Instructor Ina is actually from the Shadow Clan! The Shadow Clan! It's said that their people are extremely rare. For there to be a Dream Chaser from the Shadow Clan in our star sector base—it's like hitting the jackpot. Shadow Clan Dreamforgers are all incredibly powerful."
At the mention of the Shadow Clan, a faint flicker passed through Lily's eyes. The tall woman with purple hair appeared in her mind again, and she silently chewed over the phrase "bloodline resonance."
Each instructor had their own unique strengths, but what Lily sought was not proficiency in a single aspect, but mastery of all aspects of dream-forging. The majestic Chinese civilization—what she had shown so far was less than one percent of it.
To become an all-round Dreamforger, there was only one choice for her now—Corinna.
Thinking back to her interactions with Corinna during the physical training, Lily wasn't sure what the instructor was like in private. Corinna spoke little, treated all students equally, and wore a cold expression, showing no extra warmth to anyone.
When introducing herself to Lily, she even said, "I don't have any particular strengths." It seemed like a complete lack of initiative, but it only served to highlight her confidence.
James didn't manage to get Lily to say which instructor she planned to choose. He simply assumed she was struggling to decide, and after chatting for a while, he took his leave and returned to his own dorm.
Lily also climbed into the consciousness pod. Logging onto the StarNet this way made it more convenient to handle a large volume of messages and emails.
She checked the email about choosing an exclusive instructor. Even though she had already set her mind on Corinna, Lily had no intention of replying immediately.
The competition had just ended, and as she looked through various news on the StarNet, many contestants who had been eliminated in the team battle were bidding tearful farewells and delivering their speeches.
It was a rare moment of leisure for Lily. She quickly worked through the backlog of messages. Notifications about the Dream-forging Live Competition were pinned to the top by default, so she had basically read them all. On her contestant profile, she only followed three accounts: the official one, James, and Hua Qingqing. People she didn't follow couldn't send her messages at all.
The endless stream of messages on the StarNet, of course, came from the comments under the post where Lily had shared her personal dream-forged realm "Shan Hai Realm" after creating the Classic of Mountains and Seas dreamscape.
[This Voldi clansman is already prostrating myself. Respected Contestant Lily, when on earth will you update Shan Hai Realm?]
[Get out of here, you Voldi clansman! Aaaaah, my four eyes are contaminated! Hurry and scroll past this so Contestant Lily doesn't see it.] Lily thought to herself: Too late.
She had just seen it.
The Voldi were a peculiar race in the Star Sea. How to put it... Well, their appearance was strange, their habits were strange, they went into heat frequently, and they seemed capable of falling in love with any other race, completely unbounded by racial barriers.
When in heat, they would prostrate themselves and writhe around like a puddle of mud as a form of courtship. What's more, they didn't care at all about the opinions of other races, believing themselves to be at their most beautiful during their heat cycle. As a result, many Voldi used profile pictures of themselves prostrating and writhing, which made anyone who saw them feel like they'd gone blind.
StarNet netizens, except for members of the Voldi clan themselves, would instantly be left speechless upon seeing a Voldi confession. Over time, this even spawned various internet memes like "Believe it or not, I'll get a Voldi to confess to you?" and "Launch a Voldi prostration attack."
Not considering herself a Star Sea dweller, Lily impassively skipped past the Voldi comment and looked at other remarks under the post.
[Are there any new friends here? Fellow enthusiasts of Shan Hai Realm, gather around! Directing you to the "Shan Hai Realm Experience and Exchange Zone"—come join our channel. The administrator has already created a flat map of the Classic of Mountains and Seas.]
[That's right, there are so many experts in the exchange zone. We welcome more information hunters, researchers, and enthusiasts of Shan Hai Realm, as well as those who love dream-forging from Chinese civilization, to join us. To prevent people with ill intentions from sneaking in, the review is strict. Please answer the questions earnestly. Only those who pass the answer review can speak; otherwise, you can enter as a visitor to take a look.]
[I'm crying, does anyone know? Please, those 100 questions are really too hard. I can't answer them correctly. Is there any expert or top student who can help me? Begging for the question bank, begging for answers!]
Shan Hai Realm Experience and Exchange Zone?
Lily was slightly stunned. From what the comment said, one had to pass a quiz to speak there—it sounded really strict.
Lily did have the intention to check it out, but contestants on the StarNet used their real names. If she entered, she would probably be discovered by these netizens. Looking at her only post, it was filled with urge for updates to update Shan Hai Realm and various questions.
If she entered with her real name, she would probably be bombarded with messages.
So, it was better to enter as a visitor.
Thinking this, Lily followed the link into the [Shan Hai Realm Experience and Exchange Zone] channel.
Although visitors couldn't speak, they could see the entire situation in the exchange zone.
The channel announcement introduced simple sub-channels: a chat and casual talk area, a Shan Hai Realm research section, and a statistics area for existing dream-forging materials from Chinese civilization.
In the materials area, all dream-forgings from Chinese civilization in the Dream-forging Exhibition Hall, along with Lily's profile, were listed, making it convenient for channel enthusiasts to query and discuss.
Lily clicked into the chat and casual talk area to read the netizens' discussions,
[Everyone watched the full live broadcast of Lily's second match, right? I love Nezha so much!]
[It's obvious from the second match that the supernatural beings Lily forged this time—Nezha, Lei Zhenzi, and Tu Xingsun—all know each other. From the labels in the Dream-forging Exhibition Hall, I see they're from Investiture of the Gods. "Investiture of the Gods"—does that mean they're all deities? If they are, then their overwhelming combat power makes perfect sense.]
[I'm a bit curious. Tu Xingsun said Shan Hai Jing is an ancient recipe book. Does that mean Shan Hai Jing is older?]
[Have you noticed the key point? Both Tu Xingsun and Lei Zhenzi are third-generation disciples of Yuxu. Lily even noted in the Dream-forging Exhibition Hall that Nezha is also a third-generation Yuxu disciple!!! I wonder what exactly Yuxu is. How many third-generation disciples are there, and are they all this powerful? starry-eyed]
[Yes, yes! I remember Tu Xingsun said he studied under Juliusun, and Lei Zhenzi under Yun Zhongzi. Does that mean their masters are second-generation Yuxu disciples? And there's the human rulers King Wu of Zhou and King Wen of Zhou—they're so powerful, yet they're subordinates of a king. What's the relationship between King Wen and King Wu?]
[I'm dying to know more about Chinese civilization! After Shan Hai Jing and Investiture of the Gods, what else is there? Such magnificence and brilliance—could it really have been lost?]
Watching them delve into discussions about the First Prince, the Second Prince, the third-generation Yuxu disciples, and meticulously analyze King Wen and King Wu of Zhou, a smile grew in Lily's eyes.
There are sixteen Yuxu disciples in total, but only three have appeared so far.
As she watched the flurry of discussion messages scrolling by, Lily had originally had no clear plans for her newly created second dream-forged realm, the Fengshen Realm (Realm of Investiture of the Gods).
Summoning the Third Prince alone had completely drained her mental energy; if she truly tried to forge and personify all of them, she'd collapse on the spot.
But as she read on, an idea struck her: perhaps she could follow the same old pattern as with the Shan Hai Realm.
What if she forged illusions to show everyone across the stars a live-action "blockbuster" of the battle of the gods from thousands of years ago?
Whether she'd create the first half, the second half, or an abridged version of Investiture of the Gods would depend on how much mental energy she had to spare.
Of course, before that, she needed to send an email to Instructor Corinna to ask about the arrangements after selecting an exclusive instructor
Even if she spent all five days of rest after the second match creating illusions in the dream-forged realm, it might still not be enough.
Lily exited the channel, and with a thought, she headed to the "Fengshen Realm".
Fengshen Realm, let's get to work!