Azure Dice

"My head... hurts so much. 520 Official Website

www.�

��

The pain was comparable to using the Truth Ruler.

But this time, it was not the overwhelming pain flooding through his entire body. Only his head hurt.

More precisely, his neck hurt.

A tight circle seemed to be cinched around his neck by thread, bringing faint stinging and constricting pain.

"Everywhere else... I can't feel anything. Have I gone numb?"

Gu Shen slowly opened his eyes.

In front of him was a transparent mirror, reflecting what he looked like at this moment...

Once he saw clearly, Gu Shen's face suddenly turned pale...

The mirror showed a familiar face—and only a familiar face.

Only his head was left.

There was nothing else: no torso, no arms, no limbs. That was why only the circle around his neck hurt, while he could feel nothing elsewhere... He had lost all four limbs, leaving only a head behind.

Memories Appeared like a tidal wave.

He immediately realized he was inside a dream... The reason he had fallen into it was that he had touched the most harmless-looking Rubik's Cube die. The moment he lifted it, the radiance bursting from the die had flickered in his eyes.

Then, the die began spinning madly, dragging him into the dream!

"Huu..."

"Huu..."

Gu Shen took two deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down.

He had thought that after experiencing two dreams, nothing could surprise him anymore. Yet the sight In Front Of him was still too shocking. Even with only a head left, he still retained complete consciousness.

"So dreams like this exist too... Was I being too naive?"

Gu Shen slowly moved his head. He discovered that he was imprisoned in something like a sealed box. All six surfaces—above, below, left, right, front, and back—were mirrors reflecting his image, each showing his head from a different angle.

That most harmless die was actually the most dangerous one?

Looking at the pale face in the mirror, Gu Shen tugged at the corner of his mouth and smiled.

"Chu Ling hasn't Appeared, and I haven't heard her voice either..." He waited quietly for a short while, then quickly regained his composure. "It seems she isn't connected. Then this dream... I can only rely on myself."

In truth, Gu Shen had never expected to rely on Chu Ling's power to pass this Assessment.

The more dangerous the situation, the more rational he became... Though he no longer had a chest to speak of, Gu Shen still felt his blood surging hotly. He even faintly felt a sense of freshness and anticipation.

"Interesting..."

He had already lost his limbs, leaving only a head.

He could neither act nor escape, only remain embedded here as a prisoner.

"The Rubik's Cube was restored. After I touched it, it began scrambling itself."

Gu Shen narrowed his Eyes. This was the last piece of information he had obtained in reality. Scene after scene paused in his memory as he recalled the image of the Rubik's Cube die bursting apart and twisting—the initial trajectory of movement he had seen.

Then he recalled what the Assessment Team member had said.

"As for Dream Interpretation... I've already completed the first step." Gu Shen murmured, "I woke up within the dream and realized everything here is an illusion... Next, I need to find the pattern—the anomaly."

The space here was abnormally cramped, and suffocating.

But because of that... the scope of his search had narrowed. There were almost no other clues here, aside from the mirrors.

"The mirrors... are the only clue. Six faces—above, below, left, right, front, and back—perfectly corresponding to the faces of the Rubik's Cube die."

Gu Shen narrowed his Eyes. "If the Rubik's Cube die in reality being scrambled affects the dream, then what I need to do is actually assemble it again. That isn't difficult to guess."

The question was, how was he supposed to twist it?

"Could some action of mine affect the twisting..."

Gu Shen slowly moved forward. He was very close to the mirror, and after touching the one directly in front of him... a strange sensation emerged.

Crack.

The entire world rotated... but only part of it.

Gu Shen felt the pain in his neck vanish, replaced by pain in his chest, torso, waist, and abdomen... After the world rotated, his neck had smoothly connected to his chest, but the area in pain had grown larger.

His left hand, right hand, left leg, and right leg were all within the mirror surface of "nothingness."

The box imprisoning him also grew somewhat larger in response.

"Hm... As expected, twist the mirror surfaces and restore the Rubik's Cube."

Gu Shen felt somewhat weak.

Just twisting the mirror world once had made his mind feel as though it had been sliced by a blade.

If he had guessed correctly, every twist consumed some of his Mental Power... If he kept trying aimlessly, his mind would collapse before he restored the cube.

"This dream is far, far more difficult than Awakening of Insects."

He finally understood what the Assessment Team members meant by intense characteristics. "Awakening of Insects can be comprehended gradually, but here, every turn of the mirrored surface is an ordeal."

He could not help thinking of the other two Sealed Items on the table. They were probably dream-type Sealed Items on the same level as this dice... This assessment truly was difficult.

"Fortunately, no one is controlling this dice... I still have time to think."

Gu Shen slowly sorted through his memories.

"Although the cube's twisting sequence was very fast... I memorized it... As long as I restore it according to the pattern, I'll be able to complete the Dream Interpretation soon." He entered an extremely calm state. After ensuring there could be no mistakes, he twisted the mirrored surface once more.

"Crack."

This time, his chest and neck were severed from each other, but the sensation in his left hand appeared out of nowhere... Gu Shen lowered his head and looked at himself. Like a segmented wooden puppet, every part of his body had been embedded in the void-like mirrored space. Only by connecting to his head could they regain sensation. By now, he could be certain.

The condition for finally completing the Dream Interpretation was to restore his entire body.

Following the sequence in his memory, Gu Shen immediately began restoring it!

"Crack."

"Crack."

"Crack."

"Of the three Sealed Items, the Azure Dice should take the longest." The Red Cedar Tribunal Head looked at the boy with a complicated expression. "I propose... if Gu Shen has not completed the Dream Interpretation within four hours, we should end the assessment."

"Agreed." The assessor who had explained the rules spoke up. "If he can truly last four hours inside the Azure Dice... he'll already be stronger than most A-ranks."

"Old Zhao is quite interested in him. Perhaps we can be a little more patient."

The Grand Arbiter spoke leisurely. "There are plenty of people who sleep inside the Azure Dice for two or three hours. Let's wait until he realizes he's in a dream... then start the timer."

As soon as he finished speaking—

The cube dice suddenly bounced once.

The Red Cedar Tribunal Head's eyes lit up... That seemingly casual movement was not without method.

This was the first step of restoration.

"He's awake."

The Tribunal Head was somewhat surprised. He glanced at the time and murmured, "Three minutes... He regained consciousness inside the Azure Dice. And he got the first twist right! Could it be that he memorized the order in which the Azure Dice was scrambled before entering the dream?"

"Perhaps it was merely luck." The Grand Arbiter smiled at his companion and lightly tapped the table. "Let's wait a little longer."

What followed... was a long five minutes.

For five minutes, there was no movement.

Just as everyone prepared themselves for another long wait, the cube turned once again!

It was still following the restoration sequence.

Then came one turn after another.

"Crack... crack... crack..."

All five Assessment Team members revealed looks of disbelief.

Every turn of the Azure Dice brought mental anguish... Yet the boy's turning rhythm remained steady. This meant that he had already grasped the technique and firmly believed that he had made the right choices.

There was admiration and praise in the Tribunal Head's eyes. "This boy has an excellent memory... It seems he really did remember the sequence in which the Azure Dice was scrambled... And he's calm enough to recall the restoration steps even in this environment..."

However, there was even more pity and regret in his eyes.

Every turn of the Azure Dice consumed Mental Power, so the process was very slow.

About ten minutes later.

All the twists were complete.

The cube had been restored to its original appearance and lay quietly in Gu Shen's hand.

Yet Gu Shen... did not wake up.

"This boy is truly impressive."

"What a pity..."

"The colors of the blocks can be painted over. The simplest way to restore a dice is to repaint it..."

The Tribunal Head spoke regretfully. "This Azure Dice may look restored on the outside, but its internal space was thrown into disorder long ago. Completely restoring it isn't as simple as piecing it together according to the twisting sequence."