Buzz!
The Statue of Dreams responded to them, granting them the corresponding Dream Phosphor. The light flowed directly into their hearts, quieting the madness of the Beyonder Characteristics within them.
"Th-this is..." Even Hermes, a Spectator, could hardly keep his composure. His expression was one of shock. This defied everything he had learned!
Madness was eternal, almost synonymous with the supernatural!
"It's only been pacified and subdued. The madness itself is still there. I just put it to sleep," Truman said softly.
The shock faded from Hermes's face. As a Saint of the Spectator Pathway, he immediately "diagnosed" himself and found that his condition was better than it had been in years!
If he combined this with his own "Pacification," he could experience the long-lost peace and calm unique to ordinary people.
"Dream..." Hermes looked at Truman, completely won over. Even his faith had become a little more genuine.
A pure human, powerful, well-connected, and possessed of an ability that seemed like a dream in this mad world.
Someone like him was extraordinary, and he was important to the entire human race. Hermes even saw Truman as the light of humanity.
After successfully establishing a connection with this group of human pioneers, Truman turned his attention to the city-state. The missionaries' preaching had met with no resistance, after all, even the city-state's Guardian believed in Dream.
"Later, you can move the entire city-state into the Kingdom of the Sun God as well. This place isn't safe enough."
The city-state had once been under the rule of the King of Exotic Species. But now that the King was dead, his Subordinate Gods and Saints had all fled in different directions. Who would look after these cities?
"No," Hermes replied, to Truman's surprise. "Now that ordinary people have faith, the missionaries will protect them. Besides, we need to temper ourselves in these turbulent times."
"...Very well." Truman paused, then nodded gently. He had never experienced everything humanity had endured in this era, and couldn't understand their thirst for power.
"If you run into trouble you can't resolve in the future, you can try praying to me." Truman still had some thoughts about humanity's first secret organization. "All right, you can go back. The missionaries won't bother you either."
"Yes!" Hermes left with the young men and women.
Truman, meanwhile, held the Book of Dreams and gazed beyond the city-state.
"Something feels off..." Truman's expression turned strange. After the Ancient Gods saw the Sun God cast his divine kingdom into the mortal world and begin preaching on a massive scale, surely none of them—or their supernatural races—would remain idle.
In fact, Truman could already sense something approaching, yet he couldn't catch sight of it.
Around the time the Kingdom of the Sun God descended into the mortal world, all the Ancient Gods turned their gaze toward that radiant shadow, which seemed to hold up heaven and earth.
The Ancient Gods each reacted differently. The Phoenix glanced at it once and paid it no more attention. The Demon Monarch was in poor condition and didn't dare venture outside, while the Giant King was powerless to act.
The Dragon of Imagination and the Elf King were in much the same situation. They only sent their Saints and Subordinate Gods to keep an eye on the Sun God's movements.
The one sent in Truman's direction was a Subordinate God of the Elf King—the God of Fortune.
It was a Snake of Mercury.
"Strange!" Truman, unaware of this, flipped through the Book of Dreams. Several pages had now been filled.
The first page was naturally the Heaven of Dreams, representing Dream itself.
The second page held the world-interference ability Truman used often, a wondrous power that could make dreams come true, and was even more unanswerable than the Author.
On the third page, Truman had written "Dream Weaving," another branch of Dream's power.
"I can't detect the other party, probably because I have no knowledge or concept of its existence at all. At the same time, it can remain independent within fate."
"Hiss!" Truman immediately felt that this would be troublesome. This kind of battle was too abstract. He didn't even know who his enemy was, yet he had to start a game of wits over fate.
No power was invincible. Even the powers to make dreams come true and grant wishes had their limits.
While Truman was struggling to find a solution, the Snake of Mercury hidden in the forest didn't dare take a single step closer.
It was a colossal silver-white serpent with no solid scales. Its body was covered in patterns and symbols, all interconnected into a single whole. Its bright red eyes stared fixedly at the city-state where Truman was.
Truman was at a loss, and the serpent was on high alert.
It had erased its own distinct presence from fate, but that still wasn't enough. A gaze seemed to pierce through everything and fall upon it.
"Reboot!" The Snake of Mercury cautiously used this divine ability. The complex symbols on its body lifted off one by one, linking together to form a wheel. Then the serpent curled up and bit its own tail.
In an instant, fallen leaves returned to the treetops, and the Snake of Mercury's body began to move backward, trying to return to the state it had been in before the mysterious presence noticed it.
But it failed.
The gaze from some unfathomable height was impossible to escape. The serpent even felt as though it were reliving the time it had seen Sefirah Castle during the last war of the Ancient Gods!
It was an absolute crushing of Sequence Status. It couldn't even begin to imagine how to fight back.
This was the first time the Snake of Mercury had encountered such a strange enemy. It began a tug-of-war over fate.
"What in the world is that thing?!"
The Snake of Mercury didn't dare make a rash move. It simply activated the good fortune it had been accumulating for who knew how many years, then waited quietly.
The power of luck slowly gathered and began to affect the surroundings, calming every factor that might lead to its discovery.
It was admittedly a little passive... but for someone of this Pathway, perhaps it was the best response.
Truman, on the other side, scratched his head. He had sensed something during the "Reboot," as if something were about to vanish from his sight forever. So he pressed down on the Book of Dreams, steadying his perception.
"This ability seems familiar!"
After the "Reboot," Truman began to piece things together. This ability was far too distinctive!
"Snake of Mercury? God of Fortune? I think that's one of the Elf King's Subordinate Gods." Truman guessed his identity.
"Concealing its presence within fate..." He thought of the records on the Blasphemy Slate.
Besides Potions, it also described the abilities of various Pathways.
"So that's how it works. At this moment, it's not unlike the Authority of Concealment."
"Fate itself..." Truman fell into thought. He knew the other party was lying low, so he wasn't in a hurry. Instead, a sudden flash of inspiration came to him, and he began refining the second page of his Book of Dreams.
As with "Dream Weaving," this time, seeing the Fate Pathway's ability to interfere with fate had given him the idea to complete the second page of the Book of Dreams.
Before you continue