After returning to reality from the Dream Wilderness, Angel sat in the empty study, the dim yellow lamplight carving his features into sharp, profound relief. The space, more than half consumed by darkness, was very quiet; only the faint sound of his fingertips touching the tabletop could be heard.
Angel did not immediately enter a state of self-reflection. Instead, he pondered everything that had happened today.
Frod's failure to assume the Authority had already surprised him; yet what surprised him even more was that the Authority chosen this time had actually been "Tree Civilization."
Among the many Authorities that had appeared so far, Tree Civilization was the most unusual one aside from the Authority Tree.
The other Authorities were essentially expansions and extensions beyond the core laws. Their changes could be tangibly observed, and they were foundational Authorities that constituted the world itself.
Tree Civilization, on the other hand, was more like a function that filled in the gaps and perfected a complete world.
In Angel's understanding, it was like the difference between hardware and software. If they had to be forcibly classified, the other Authorities belonged to hard rules, while Tree Civilization was soft culture.
Though both seemed to be elements that perfected the Dream Wilderness, they were in fact still different.
When Sanders left, he had once remarked with feeling, "The emergence of Tree Civilization has allowed the Dream Wilderness to transcend the scope of a Nightmare Domain. The beginning of civilization, the pioneering of a continent—it is practically like the primordial budding of a real world."
And that was indeed the case. Hard-rule Authorities such as Celestial Change, Dream Gate, and energy-level selection were extremely important and were among the fundamental elements that made up a world. Yet what truly allowed a world to shine with brilliant