When they woke up, they found themselves back in Nancy's apartment. They had returned to the real world, having broken free from the dream.
Outside the window, the moon hung in the sky, and the room was brightly lit.
After a moment of confused glances, a wave of joyful relief washed over the group.
"We're out. Is Freddy dead?"
"I saw Peron kill Freddy!"
"Peron?"
Everyone remembered the final scene in the dream and looked at Peron, who was sitting on the sofa, leaning on Nancy. She had a strange expression, as if something extraordinary had awakened within her.
Faint, distant sounds echoed in her ears.
"What's wrong with Peron?"
"She was so beautiful just now. Should I try to pursue her?"
"How did she kill Freddy? Freddy said she had been in contact with a god. Could a god have given her that power? Can I get that power through Peron? That's so cool."
Peron frowned, remembering the power and warmth that had erupted within her in the dream. She didn't know why, but a figure she could never forget suddenly came to mind.
Her eyes grew distant.
Freddy, meanwhile, was panicking. The usually talkative boaster was now silent, his body trembling as he crawled on the floor.
Gone was the crazy, murderous swagger he had when torturing children.
He was like a dog standing before a tiger, without the courage to even bark.
Because, when he looked up, he could see a figure that seemed to be many times larger than a planet. He was in a tiny, crystalline world, a world composed of pure, clear crystals.
Outside, moonlight sprinkled gently on the town, and a light drizzle fell, washing away some of the filth.
In the bedroom, Leon lay on a pillow, his bare chest exposed. A pair of soft jade hands were wrapped around his waist, and something under the quilt seemed to be wriggling, a wave-like rhythm hitting his heart again and again.
Soon, after a final ripple, a beautiful snake slithered out from under the quilt, her green hair obscuring her snow-white chest. She walked barefoot to the bathroom, after all, there were still billions of dollars worth of filth in her mouth that needed to be cleaned.
Leon looked at the demonic ghost Freddy, who was cowering and shivering in a blue crystal ball. The crystal ball was actually a compressed mirror space, and Freddy didn't dare to look up.
Leon's expression was full of a strange, unreadable meaning.
Soon, the beautiful snake, having finished cleaning up, pounced on him. She glanced at Freddy and said in surprise, "The aura of this thing is very strange."
Her voice was gentle and magnetic, but Freddy in the crystal mirror world trembled even more, beginning to twitch.
The sound seemed to be amplified countless times, like thunder. If Freddy had not been immortal, he would have been destroyed right there.
Freddy wanted to cry but couldn't. He had been having fun, only to be suddenly captured by two unknown gods.
It was so terrifying.
"There are marks of other demons on his body. Who is his patron?" After reading Kamar-Taj's secret books and the memories extracted from Hela, Ophelia had a comprehensive understanding of the universe and immediately guessed the truth.
"Nightmare Lord."
"Nightmare Lord, the master of the dream dimension," Ophelia immediately said. "He is a minion created by the Nightmare Lord, who absorbs fear as sustenance."
"Humans are a very special race. Although weak, they are coveted by many."
"Souls, flesh and blood, and all kinds of emotions are sustenance for certain beings."
Leon hugged Ophelia, rubbing her soft, white skin.
"What's this thing for?"
Ophelia's face was full of comfort and ease, but she looked at Freddy with disgust. She had once dared to sign a contract with an ancient evil god for eternal youth and beauty, which showed she had very high standards for appearance.
Obviously, an ugly thing like Freddy was a disgusting reptile in her eyes.
If it weren't for Leon, she would have killed him on the spot.
"Dreams are a good ability," Leon said.
Freddy's dream-related power reminded him of Hypnos, the god of sleep, who could turn all fantasies and imaginations into reality—essentially another version of his own thought materialization.
Leon felt this ability was worth studying.
After putting Freddy into his magical storage space, he looked down at Ophelia. Her enchanting eyes were already full of tears, causing him to lower his head.
The moonlight outside the window was blocked by dark clouds, as if in shy.
The next day, Leon drove Lily and Dean to school and saw a familiar face, Peron.
After watching Lily and Dean enter the school hand in hand, full of energy, Peron came over and stood in front of Leon, her eyes filled with a complicated look. Leon didn't think much of it, greeting and chatting with her as usual.
Seeing his attitude, Peron felt much more relaxed and smiled brightly.
After chatting for a while, Leon drove away. Watching the car slowly leave, Peron moved her lips and whispered, "Thank you, Leon."
In the driver's seat, Leon drove with a slight smile on his face.
Time passed slowly, and it was now October 2002.
On an ice island more than 200 kilometers from Granling Island.
Boom!
With a crisp roar, a frozen stone, four or five meters high, shattered. The rubble scattered in all directions like flower petals. A girl who was nearly 1.6 meters tall was wearing a thin vest and shorts. It was minus 35 degrees Celsius here.
She felt nothing strange about the low temperature. Her healthy skin showed no signs of frostbite.
She wasn't the only one; other children training around her were the same.
For ordinary people, the low temperature would be enough to kill them, but these children, all under the age of fifteen, could completely ignore it.
The girl, with steam rising from her body, frowned as if she was not satisfied with her performance, and a red light flashed in her eyes.
"Wanda."
At this time, a female voice came from her ear.
Wanda looked over and saw it was Stephanie, the instructor at the training base.
The instructor had a good figure, a blonde ponytail, and a somewhat cold demeanor, but after spending a long time with her, Wanda knew that the instructor was very gentle on the inside.
Her training was very serious and strict, but outside of that, she was like an intellectual big sister.
Wanda walked over and stood in front of the instructor, her body straight.
"Instructor."
Her voice was clear. It was training time, so she could only call her instructor. Stephanie looked at the girl in front of her with satisfaction and nodded. "Your training progress is very good, and your body and will have been well tempered, which makes me very satisfied."
"Thank you for the compliment, instructor." Wanda was happy for a moment, then became calm again.
Among the two hundred children who entered the base for training at the same time, her progress was the most exaggerated. She was almost the first. The main reason was that she was desperate and hardworking, more than anyone else.
The instructors often had headaches because of this.
The training programs in the base were already harsh enough.
A normal person would have died after completing just one.
However, Wanda would train more after completing her programs.
If it weren't for the nutritional supplements and a special serum added to her food to ensure her body didn't break down, Wanda would have died long ago.
It could be said that the instructors in the base were most concerned about Wanda.
The cruel training and pain tempered her body, pushing it to the brink of collapse to maximize its potential. They often had to keep a close eye on Wanda, for fear that she would be permanently damaged if they weren't careful.
Fortunately, there was also this immense power within her body.
After Wanda's extensive and harsh training, that power subtly repaired her body to ensure she didn't die from widespread necrosis.
Her immense ability, combined with her fearless training, had made Wanda what she was now. She was on the verge of Awakening her sixth sense.
Logically speaking, other children with such progress would be very happy, but she was the complete opposite.
Seeing the little girl's expression, Stephanie raised her hand to signal her to follow, then turned and walked toward the edge of the island. Wanda was a little surprised but still followed her instructor, leaving the training ground.
After leaving the training ground, Stephanie got into a special snow off-road vehicle built by headquarters, and Wanda sat in the passenger seat. Under Stephanie's driving, they drove along a snowy path to the edge of the high cliffs of Iceland.
The river below the cliff had frozen, and there were endless ice fields. Occasionally, a few polar bears and other creatures could be seen passing by.
After getting out of the car, Stephanie and Wanda stood on the edge of the cliff.
At a height of hundreds of meters, ordinary people would tremble at the sight, but the two of them felt no fear.
One was a Saint Seiya with a sixth sense, and the other was a physical monster who was one step away from the final touch, but could already punch with the force of hundreds of meters of water pressure.
Wanda, even if she did nothing, would be fine.
"Instructor?" Wanda stood beside Stephanie, looking at her as she gazed into the distance. The smart girl knew her instructor wanted to talk to her.
Maybe she would try to comfort her or something.
But she knew she didn't need it.
Because she had found her direction in life.
But to Wanda's surprise, Stephanie didn't say anything to persuade her.
"What do you see?"
"Desolation, loneliness, and animals trying to survive in the future," Wanda said honestly.
"This is the first feeling your brain produces. You need to truly understand the world within you, Wanda. Use your consciousness to place it between heaven and earth, feel your body, imagine it as a universe, and then break it."
Wanda was a little surprised.
Looking at Wanda's expression, Stephanie said seriously, "You found the motivation to move forward and worked hard for it, but you worked hard but forgot to think."
"Never forget to think; use your eyes and your heart to feel."
Stephanie's voice reached Wanda's ears. She became thoughtful, and her mind gradually became active. The space and time around her seemed to freeze. She seemed to ignore Stephanie, as if she couldn't see her instructor. Between heaven and earth, on this snowy ice field, only she stood.
A faint, almost imperceptible power was slowly radiating from her body.
Standing next to Wanda, Stephanie looked at the little girl, her expression not fluctuating much, but in fact, she felt as if she had seen a ghost.
What kind of comprehension was this?
Originally, she saw that this little girl had trained hard to temper her body and will to a limit, but found that she was still working hard in this direction without finding the feeling of Awakening the small universe, so she brought her out and prepared to give her some pointers.
This was normal. After all, even if it wasn't Wanda, there were other children who had reached this step. She and other instructors would also give pointers.
But Stephanie didn't expect that just a few words would make this little girl take that step directly.
What was this?
Stephanie recalled her own experience of Awakening her Cosmos. She still had lingering fears when she thought about it now, as the pain at that time made her feel like she would rather die than live.
Compared with this one, well, it seemed quite reasonable.
After all, the degree to which this girl pushed herself was indeed terrifying.
There was no imbalance; Stephanie just felt that this girl's comprehension was much stronger than that of a normal child, and her future achievements should be quite amazing.
She just wondered if she would be recognized by a Golden Cloth.
After all, more and more people were now being recognized by a Cloth. After knowing about the Cloths, there was no warrior who Awakened their Cosmos who didn't hope to obtain one.
No one knew how many Cloths there were. The only thing they knew was that there were only thirteen Golden Cloths.
The Supreme God Leon wore the Aquarius Gold Cloth, which was completely unrelated to other regular Gold Cloths in everyone's eyes.
The remaining Ophiuchus, Scorpio, and Aries were obtained by Ophelia, Salina, and Lisa, leaving only nine.
Stephanie was lucky; she was recognized by a Cloth.
She was also an Ophiuchus, but it was a Silver Cloth.
She wasn't depressed, because Lady Ophelia said that no matter if it was a Bronze or Silver Cloth, when the microcosm reached the seventh sense or even a higher level, it would also evolve into a Gold Cloth.
(End of Chapter)
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