The Dream Weaver

Sean really didn't know anyone.

But the moment he went up to the second floor, Elvily and Iris almost didn't recognize him either.

To enter the first floor of the Temple, you had to go to the plaza and touch the statue. Sean hadn't touched it.

To get to the Temple's second floor, you had to touch the statue in the first-floor garden. Sean hadn't touched that one either.

He'd simply gone straight up.

So not only had this man been inside the Temple before, he'd even made it to the second floor...?

A Tier Two could enter the second floor??

Elvily's deer-like eyes widened. It was as if she'd witnessed something incomprehensible.

Was this really Sean, the shut-in writer she'd casually rescued from the hospital, who'd only been a wizard for half a month? Or was he actually some high-tier wizard who'd taken a Witch Potion and transformed into Sean?

Iris's lips parted too. She stared at Sean as he entered the stairs to the second floor, unable to speak for a long while.

Only after quite some time did she shake her head with a laugh. "That guy really knows how to surprise people."

A Tier Two entering the first floor was a pleasant surprise. It had happened before, and it proved Sean had good talent and had earned Lord Black's approval.

But a Tier Two entering the Temple's second floor was downright shocking.

"I remember you were Tier Three when you first made it to the second floor, weren't you?" Iris asked.

Elvily: "..."

That was right.

She'd tried to enter the second floor when she was Tier Two as well.

If she dug up her embarrassing past, she'd actually tried when she was Tier One.

It wasn't that she was overconfident or thought too highly of herself. She'd mainly figured that since she was the sister-in-law of the creator of the Hall of Truth—his actual sister-in-law—even though she'd been reincarnated and her body was no longer the same Elvily as before, her soul hadn't changed. And since the Void Arts Space was a mental domain, the soul mattered far more than the body. Surely, as Lord Black's family, she'd get a tiny privilege or two, right?

Instead, the statue had sent her flying ten meters away.

So she'd obediently worked on improving her magic power and mental strength.

When she reached Tier Three, she could finally make it to the second floor. That was actually an impressive achievement. Before her, no one had earned the second-floor statue's approval at Tier Three. She'd been the first, and that record had stood for a long time—until today.

Sean had surpassed her.

Elvily felt conflicted.

On the one hand, she really wanted to know how Sean had done it. Had he figured out how the statue's test worked?

On the other hand, she was a little unwilling to admit it. Was Sean really more talented than she was?

And on yet another hand, she was a little pleased. Sean was one of her people, after all. It was good news for both her personally and the Dawn Council... Wait, why was it good news for her personally?

"Who wouldn't want their good friend to be more capable?" Iris said with a knowing smile, seeming to have read the girl's mind.

Elvily thought it sounded reasonable, then nodded. "You're right."

"Let's hurry after him. We wouldn't want our good friend to get lost."

Unlike Elvily and Iris, who were pleased but a little shocked, Sopea was in a foul mood today.

He'd entered the third floor yesterday.

At first, when he discovered the Book of Old Words was gone, he'd panicked and searched everywhere for footprints. But as he searched, he realized there was a more serious problem: someone had already taken the book. Didn't that mean they'd reached the third floor before him?

By at least a week.

Once he finally caught on, Sopea grew more and more upset. Even if the book was gone and everyone had lost access to its knowledge, he'd also lost the honor of being the first to enter the Temple's third floor!

He could easily have kept quiet about seeing the footprints. Then he'd still be the first wizard to enter the third floor. But his pride wouldn't let him do that, so he could only stew in silence and share his bad mood with everyone else.

They met in the same conference room as last time.

When Sean and the two women arrived, they saw a middle-aged man with a grumpy catlike expression sitting at the round table.

A girl stood beside him. She was his student, Connie. Iris had gotten the information from her earlier.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Sopea. And you too, little Connie," Iris greeted the two with a smile.

"Hello, Miss Iris." Connie pressed her lips together, revealing two adorable dimples as she smiled sweetly.

Her teacher, Sopea, had the exact opposite expression. He gave a heavy snort. "Do I look like I'm having a good afternoon?"

Elvily rolled her eyes and couldn't be bothered to respond. She gestured for Sean to sit.

Iris was already used to Sopea's bad temper. Smiling, she said, "You do look rather unhappy. So shall we get straight to the point?"

"Fine," Sopea replied flatly. "Then let whoever among you can enter the Temple's third floor speak with me."

Iris: "?"

Elvily: "?"

When neither woman said anything, Sopea seemed to suddenly remember something. "Oh, sorry. I forgot that, among all the wizards at the moment, I'm the only one who's openly entered the third floor."

Sean: "..."

What did he mean by "openly"?

Why did it feel like this old man was taking a roundabout way of insulting him?

With just a couple of simple remarks, he'd managed to offend all three of them.

Connie couldn't join in when the adults were talking, so she could only give everyone an apologetic look.

That was just how her teacher was. He was actually a nice person; he just had a mouth on him.

"Go ahead. What do you want to ask?" Sopea folded his hands on the tabletop. Since he was sitting at the head of the table, he looked like a mean boss waiting for his subordinates to ask him questions.

Iris asked, even though she already knew the answer, "Did you find the book?"

"If I had, would I still be sitting here?"

He'd have gone to the third floor to study new spells. Why would he waste time chatting with a few little wizards who couldn't get past the second floor?

Hmph.

"Seems Mr. Sopea isn't all that capable, then," Iris said, deliberately trying to needle him. "You could see that person's footprints, but you still couldn't find where they hid the book?"

Sopea emphasized, "I can only see footprints from the past seven days!"

That was what bothered him the most.

When he'd entered the third-floor library and discovered the book was missing, he'd immediately followed the footprints. But who would've guessed they'd lead him to the entrance to the fourth floor? For a moment, he thought the person was going up to the fourth floor. Then he turned around and saw another trail of footprints beside it. They'd changed from pairs to a single line.

Sopea didn't understand what game the person was playing, but he was sure all the footprints came from the same person. So he followed the single line back the way it had come. Halfway through, the footprints disappeared...

And they vanished right before his eyes, one after another, going in the direction he'd come from, like a crime scene being played in reverse.

It had been exactly seven days since the person had visited the library!

In that instant, someone came to mind. They'd first gone to the glass display case and seen the Book of Old Words. Then, apparently unsatisfied, they'd tried to go up to the fourth floor, failed, and turned back to take a book from the third floor.

If the footprints had lasted even one more minute, he could've followed them out of the library and seen where the person had taken the book. Even if he couldn't find the exact spot, he'd at least have had a direction to search in.

But the other person hadn't given him that chance.

"If someone keeps a book for seven days without returning it, I suppose that counts as theft," Iris said.

Sean listened to them talk as if the police were determining whether someone was missing, then asked, "There's a rule like that?"

"Of course," Iris replied. "Books borrowed from the library usually aren't kept for more than three days. For important books like the ones in the display cases, even one day is a long time."

There was only one copy, and everyone wanted to read it. The more valuable the knowledge, the less time each person got to look through it.

This wasn't a rule set by the Dawn Council. It was one Lord Black had established when he founded the Hall of Truth, and it was written on the walls. It was also a way to train everyone's mental strength. Given the same amount of time, how much you could remember depended entirely on your own ability.

Elvily and Iris had come to meet Sopea to learn the details of the theft, and also to see if he was willing to share any advice on how to earn the second-floor statue's approval.

Sopea was willing. He'd never been one to keep things from his students. But he couldn't pass on this particular experience, because he didn't know how he'd suddenly gained access to the third floor either. Yesterday, he'd merely tried as he usually did, only to be unexpectedly transported to the third floor... All he could do was turn his head to gaze up at the statue and say with reverence:

"Perhaps my efforts moved Lord Black."

Sean: Hah.

Moved him, my foot.

He was insulting people in roundabout ways. Lord Black would be doing him a favor just by not punching him.

Elvily looked up at the statue and sighed softly to herself.

Ever since it had blinked that one time, the statue hadn't moved in ages.

Iris asked Sopea a few more questions about the third floor. Once they'd finished talking, she gave Sean a look. "Didn't you have something you wanted to ask Mr. Sopea for help with?"

Sopea: "Who?"

He looked at Sean as if only just noticing him. "Oh, there are three of you? I hadn't noticed."

Sean: "?"

Sopea asked again, "Can you get to the third floor?"

Sean hadn't answered yet when Elvily couldn't hold back any longer. "Are you done yet?"

She'd put up with the old man for long enough.

He was already old and Tier Five. Was reaching the third floor really such a big deal?

"Sean's only Tier Two," Elvily reminded him.

Sopea was taken aback. "Tier Two?"

A Tier Two could reach the Temple's second floor?

Connie, standing nearby, blinked twice in surprise, her mouth slightly open.

Was this handsome guy really that impressive?

After all this time, Sopea finally paid attention to Sean. He studied him seriously for a few moments, then gave a slight nod like an old executive and said, "Not bad. You have a bit of the flair I had in my youth."

Sean: "..."

The two women: "..."

You really were... shameless.

"But that's still not enough," Sopea said calmly. "You haven't reached the third floor, so you're not qualified to ask me for help yet."

Elvily was about to curse him out.

But before she could speak, Sopea added, "Still, for the sake of the Flame Crow, I can have Connie help you."

As far as he was concerned, no matter how talented Sean was, he was still only Tier Two. What could he possibly need Sopea himself to do?

Even asking Connie to help was a bit of an overreach.

Though his student was young, around Elvily's age, she was already a genuine Tier Four. Both her magic power and mental strength far surpassed Sean's as a Tier Two. She was more than capable of weaving a dream for him.

Sopea could guess that Sean's problem had something to do with dreams. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to find him.

Elvily looked at Sean, asking what he thought.

Sean considered it, then nodded. "That works."

They both practiced dream magic, so it didn't matter much who helped him.

Besides, Sopea was so proud that he looked down on everyone, yet he'd taken on a student. That meant this girl named Connie must be very talented. She probably wasn't any worse than Sopea had been at Tier Four.

"I won't charge you. A Tier Two can't offer anything worthwhile anyway," Sopea told Sean. "I have just one condition: this dream weaving has to take place in Arora Town."

He wanted to make sure Connie would be safe.

"No problem. I'm in town right now anyway." Sean smiled at the girl. "I'll be troubling you this time, Miss Connie. When would be convenient for you? Set a time and place, and I'll come find you."

"Please, Mr. Sean, it's no trouble." Connie finally had a chance to speak. Her voice was as clear and lilting as a nightingale's. She hadn't expected her teacher to entrust her with this important task. Looking at Sean's handsome face, she suddenly felt a little embarrassed. Her cheeks flushed as she smiled shyly. "Let's meet at the church. Any time works for me. Why don't you tell me what kind of dream you need first, Mr. Sean, so I can prepare?"

"A Natural Dream," Sean replied.

Connie paused. "A Natural Dream?"

"Yes." Sean put into practice what he'd just learned from Elvily, using the concept of a "Reshaper" to explain. "To be honest, Miss Connie, I recovered memories from my previous life through dreams, but I keep failing to dream about the important parts. I can't even figure out who I am, so I wanted to ask a wizard who practices dream magic to help me see if I could speed up the recovery of my memories."

"I see..." Connie mused.

Sopea frowned. "You're weaving dreams to recover your memories?"

Elvily thought the old man was about to start trouble again, so she answered for Sean. "Is there a problem?"

Every Reshaper had their own way of recovering memories, just as everyone had their own way of meditating. It was connected to the things they remembered most vividly from their previous lives. Some wizards even recovered memories while going to the bathroom. What was so strange about dreaming?

"No, you don't understand," Sopea said. "It's not a question of whether it's strange. There's a problem with this method."

Not just a problem. A serious one.

He asked Sean, "Have you been having fewer dreams about your previous life lately?"

Sean was surprised. He can tell that too?

He really is a dream master.

He nodded honestly. "Yes. That's one of the reasons I wanted to ask you for help, Mr. Sopea."

"Your situation... is difficult." Sopea gave his conclusion first, then explained why. "If you know anything about dreams, you'll know that everyone has countless dreams over the course of their life. More than ninety-five percent are completely forgotten upon waking. The dreamer doesn't even remember having dreamed."

"Another four percent leave you with the impression that you had a dream, but the details are too vague to recall."

"Less than one percent of dreams are remembered and recorded clearly."

"Do you understand what I mean?" Sopea asked.

The reason Sean was having fewer dreams about his previous life wasn't that his mental state was poor or that he slept in the wrong position. He'd nearly finished dreaming all the dreams that contained memories of his past. Sean thought he hadn't dreamed about the important parts, but in reality, he had. He simply hadn't remembered them.

And based on the experience of countless Reshapers who'd recovered their memories, these "flashes of inspiration" from past lives were usually one-time occurrences. In other words, Sean had already missed most of his memories without even realizing it. Even if he had another Natural Dream, the chance of dreaming about his previous life would be extremely small—so small it could practically be ignored.

"Then there's nothing we can do?" Elvily furrowed her brows.

She was rather curious about Sean's past.

"There is a way, but it depends on whether he's willing," Sopea said, lifting his chin slightly.

Others might not be able to help, but who was he?

He was a dream master, one step away from Tier Six and the first person to openly enter the Temple's third floor. If it had anything to do with dreams, there was nothing he couldn't handle.

"What's the way?" Sean asked.

Sopea calmly uttered two words: "Entering Dream."