Impression and Memory

For a very long time.

Mona would stand in the darkness, sinking into prolonged contemplation.

As a supreme being who transcended time and possessed no flesh-and-blood body, even though he could understand the birth, aging, sickness, and death of living creatures, it was difficult for him to truly experience the flavor of it.

Let alone the fear or sorrow that came with it.

In these past hundred years.

Being able to feel delighted by something new, or to take even a sliver of interest in it, was already an exceedingly rare experience for him.

What accompanied him more often.

Was nothing but indifference and loneliness.

As for the humans who had once sparked a flicker of his interest.

What he bestowed upon them.

Was merely a single sentence, a single word of praise.

Nothing more.

And that simple sentence.

Was the entire summation of that devout believer's life.

"Time really does fly."

Gazing at these souls, Mona would often sigh and ponder the past.

Like a dream from a distant age.

When he saw people or things that resembled something from that dream, hazy memories would surface.

But when he tried to savor them.

That feeling had already vanished.

The memories of those periods, as if rejected by the divinity within his body, continuously slipped away in the river of time.

Thus.

It was also for the sake of giving those fading memories and impressions a place to rest that Mona chose to create a unique divine artifact.

"It should be ready now."

Mona's gaze slowly turned toward the [Divine Artifact].

His hand gently closed as if grasping something.

An extremely thin, crystalline, transparent sheet appeared in his palm.

It was almost impossible to perceive any thickness to it.

Although.

Among the many divine artifacts, its appearance was unremarkable.

It symbolized one of the most powerful and mysterious aspects of his divine power.

Mona lightly touched it with his fingertip.

[You have infused the divine artifact with the final surge of divine power, completing the last piece of the puzzle.]

[A new divine artifact has been born.]

[You have obtained: Layer]

[It appears extremely small, yet within it lies an incredibly wondrous power.]

[It will, based on the reflection of consciousness within the soul and supported by divine power, create for you a magical illusory realm beyond reality, belonging solely to the soul.]

[Layer]: A divine artifact that constructs a corresponding spiritual world based on the dreams reflected from the consciousness within the soul. The Layer connects to the corresponding real world but does not affect matter in the real world.

After continuously emitting a halo of light.

It flew toward the fragile clusters of soul-light in the dark corners.

The moment this thin sheet touched those souls, it instantly melted away, becoming like a drop of transparent liquid.

Then.

Each cluster of soul-light burst forth with dazzling radiance.

Countless beams of light continuously erupted from within those souls.

Spreading out in the thick darkness, stirring up ripples.

In an instant.

A white singularity began to expand within the darkness.

Quickly granting light to this dark space.

[The consciousness of the believers' souls you have gathered is shimmering with light.]

[The Layer was using the consciousness of the believers to reflect the dream world within their souls.]

[After the endless white incandescent light faded, an image resembling the island from the Drawing Board appeared before you.]

This was precisely the function of this divine artifact.

Mona had created it.

Not to act upon that world.

But to change this dark, unchanging, silent world he inhabited.

After gathering all the consciousness within these souls.

The [Layer] quickly used the dreams of the dead people's souls as material.

In this darkness, it alone created a strange space.

It was an island, a Dream Island.

Mona quietly lifted his head.

At this moment.

The darkness that had always shrouded him had vanished.

In its place.

Was an extremely hazy, pale golden sky.

Beneath this firmament.

Time itself seemed to have disappeared.

The sun and the moon hung high on opposite sides of the sky.

Like dawn.

Yet also like dusk.

Under the radiance of sun and moon.

Above the firmament.

A majestic white temple stood at the center of the sun and moon.

That was the [Temple of Eternity] within this mirrored world.

Only, unlike in reality.

The mountains beneath it were shattered.

It seemed to float within the strange glow of the clouds, becoming a temple in the sky.

And on the flat ground, a sea of pale blue flowers surrounded the temple in the sky.

This was the "true" sight of the [Temple of Eternity] as the believers saw it, symbolizing the gods.

Though it did not appear real.

It truly represented the genuine thoughts within people's hearts.

In the minds of these dead believers, the Temple of Eternity looked exactly like this.

And the sea of pale blue flowers clearly symbolized the [Rot Spirit Flower], the Messenger of the Gods that guarded them.

Soon.

Those feeble orbs of light floated up into the sky, turning into countless stars, resting there in eternal slumber.

This was everything the [Layer] had brought to these believers.

It relied on Mona's divine power related to souls, using the dreams reflected from the consciousness within the believers' souls as material.

For the dead believers, it constructed the dreams they had longed for in life.

And thus.

This place would become the best resting ground for these souls.

If one had to use a word to describe this place.

Heavenly Kingdom.

Or rather, Paradise.

That was the best description.

Mona looked toward the island's boundary.

He knew.

Beyond the edge of this utterly dreamlike island, there was still endless darkness.

But with just a single thought from him, the island's boundary would immediately extend.

Though.

This dream world, contrary to reality, could not use matter or divine artifacts like the [Paintbrush] to draw things and fill its boundaries.

Yet, by relying on impressions and memories, it could be expanded.

It was finite.

And yet, it was also infinite.

Mona pondered for a moment, then closed his eyes, recalling something.

When he opened his eyes again, on this originally small-looking island, rows of white obelisks had already appeared.

These were the hazy memories, not yet faded, that he had engraved and recorded in this world using impressions and memories.

Upon those obelisks, on the gleaming stone surfaces, were carved all kinds of words and patterns.

These were impressions from past memories that had not yet been forgotten.

"Is that so?"

"Perhaps that's how it is."

Mona strolled beneath those magnificent obelisks, gazing at the words and patterns on their surfaces.

Sometimes, even he could not clearly recognize whether they were things from that former world.

But even so, this was enough.

Just as his gaze shifted, he noticed that the river on the ground seemed to reflect something else.

Floating within the river that flowed across the plain were several sleeping figures of [Artisans]. On their closed-eyed faces, they wore expressions of piety.

"Is it because they possess Spirituality?"

Mona was somewhat surprised.

But then he understood something.

[Spirituality] signified the most core power within the color of the soul, the opposite of matter.

Those with high [Spirituality] could perceive things beyond the material.

Thus, although these believers' physical bodies could not enter this world, they could, in their slumber, occasionally drift into this dream world and catch a glimpse of a scene from this magnificent, resplendent Heavenly Kingdom.

[The dream world you have created has fashioned a resting Heavenly Kingdom for the souls of the dead.]

[At the same time, some devout believers with high Spirituality will, by chance, catch a glimpse of this Heavenly Kingdom's vista.]

[Within their dreams, they will also receive a hint of wondrous enlightenment, and a new profession will soon be born within the tribe.]