Alka could understand the dream becoming larger, as dream size correlated directly with strength.
After advancing, his physical condition improved, his spirit strengthened, and his magical power increased, naturally causing the dream bubbles within him to appear larger.
But the question was, would they be too large?
Thinking of his own soul, Alka no longer worried. After all, his dream bubbles had always been larger than those of his level, and he should have been used to it.
Standing within the dream, he waved his hand, and a large amount of pink mist gushed out like a stream.
Hmm... the amount of pink mist gushing out at once was even larger, which was normal, since he could mobilize more of the power and magic of the Dreamcatchers.
He fanned his hand again, and the gathered pink mist immediately dispersed. As it spread, it faded until its pink color was no longer visible.
It blended into the entire space like a speck of dust in the air, becoming even more concealed.
Controlling the pink mist has also become more refined. If deployed within the mirror maze during battle, it could be deployed.
A smile crossed Alka's face at this thought.
The previous method of flooding the dream mist into the mirror maze was too conspicuous. Even if the enemy didn't know what it was, they would still be on guard.
Now it's even more subtle.
Coupled with its ability to forcibly drag someone into a dream, a moment of distraction during battle can be fatal.
Retracting the dream mist.
Alka launched himself, flying out of his dream bubble.
Speaking of which, he'd been on this island for several days, and he hadn't yet properly explored the dreams of those on this island.
However, as soon as he poked his head out...
Alka immediately retracted it.
His eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.
"What the hell is that? What the hell!"
Alka kept taking deep breaths, unable to resist cursing. Fortunately, he ducked quickly.
He couldn't help but rub his eyes to make sure they weren't blurry.
He turned his head again, but this time he didn't rashly lean out. Instead, he gently rubbed the membrane.
A transparent area, barely the size of a circular hole, appeared, allowing Alka to peer through the membrane of the dream bubble, remaining in his dream and observing the outside world.
The outside world was filled with dream bubbles.
These dream bubbles were scattered throughout the space, stretching as far as the eye could see.
This was normal.
After all, the number of people on this island was countless. Even using the lowest estimate, the number of people on this island was likely over 100,000.
For such a large island, this number was clearly low, but there was no other way; this was the boundless ocean.
Such a large gathering island naturally produces an abundance of dream bubbles.
Because it's not just humans; the animals they raise also have bubbles, stacked on top of each other as if they were in a sea of bubbles.
But Alka had anticipated this.
What shocked him was the area above the bubbles, the sky-like space above them.
That area itself belongs to the dream realm, often filled with light and shadows like birds or cloud creatures flying above.
Bubbles are rarely found in that area.
If the entire three-dimensional dream world is divided into three parts, the middle part is where various dream bubbles typically appear.
Depending on the area in which one lives in reality, the bubbles appear at different heights.
Fish bubbles are mostly much lower than those in the area where human bubbles are located.
Bubbles rarely appear in the upper and lower areas.
Or they might just be strange blocks of color and lines of misty dream colors.
But things were different now.
There lurked a creature that obscured the sky, a massive creature, almost like a python.
It coiled there in a mass, its structure neither belonging to a light creature nor a black cloud creature.
Arka observed it closely.
It was clearly a mist creature, one of the three types of dream creatures Arka had previously hypothesized.
It was the rarest and most peaceful dream creature, the kind that wouldn't even destroy dream bubbles.
And now, just as Arka had suspected, this mist creature simply hovered in the sky, its cloud-like body occasionally shifting.
It didn't devour the surrounding dream bubbles as if they were food.
And within the vast number of bubbles below it, there were no powerful light or black creatures, only ordinary creatures.
Even if these ordinary creatures destroyed the dream bubbles, they wouldn't be enough to awaken their owners.
The damage they would cause was predictably low.
This phenomenon was clearly unnatural.
Arka couldn't guarantee that there weren't any, as he was only on the periphery of the bubbles.
He couldn't see deeper; the overlapping heights of a dozen or so bubbles practically blocked his view of the interior.
And the gigantic, mist-like creature made Arka fearful of venturing out.
He knew it.
He was a hunter within the dream world. From the previous experiences with the shadow giants and the dream reapers, he knew they could sense his difference and were extremely afraid of him.
He didn't think such a massive snake would be afraid of him, and might even attack him.
To be on the safe side, he decided against it.
"Let's keep a low profile on this island and avoid any nighttime dreaming activities," Alka muttered to himself.
Though somewhat helpless, he didn't want to inexplicably expose himself to danger.
Although in dreams, even death is merely a matter of awakening.
But this creature looked too outrageous. Who knew if it was simply a matter of awakening?
What if it possessed special abilities?
From the knowledge he had gleaned from the dreamcatchers, he knew that some powerful dream creatures could inflict significant harm on those in reality through dreams.
Even at certain times and in certain places, they could forcibly penetrate the barrier between reality and dreams and enter the real world.
As long as they were within the dream bubble, they were safe enough.
Because a single destruction of the dream bubble wouldn't actually cause significant damage.
The damage accumulated over time.
Moreover, a snake that large, coiled in the sky, was a mist-like creature. The island's bubbles and inhabitants were living relatively healthy, clearly a relatively friendly creature.
At least he hoped so.
He collected his thoughts, no longer focusing on the outside world.
He returned to his dream bubble.
"I'm free anyway, so I'll take care of this." Alka raised his hands.
An ordinary mirror appeared, its surface rippling like water.
The image no longer showed Alka, but somewhere else.
"Lily, Lily."
As Alka called out, Lily's figure appeared in the mirror, tilting her head to look at it, then poking her head in.
"Dad? What are you doing?"
"I didn't let you in." Seeing Lily poking her head into the mirror, Alka's eyes widened slightly.
But he still suppressed his emotions and reached out, pressing Lily's head back down.
"Listen to me, fall asleep. Do as I taught you before, and stack your dream bubbles on top of my dream."
Hearing Alka's words, Lily nodded across from the mirror.
Then Alka waved his hand gently, and the mirror vanished.
"How did she get into the mirror?" Alka muttered to himself, unable to understand.
He hadn't used any mirror-related materials in Lily's construction. Almost all of the materials, except the most basic, were dream-related.
This also allowed Lily to move freely within dreams, and she was the only one among the puppet girls who could dream.
Being able to dream meant she had truly become a living being, which delighted Alka.
Even with the same construction as her, Two, Three, and Four couldn't produce dream bubbles; they didn't even need to sleep.
Instead, it was dormant.
Could it be that the connection between his hair and soul gave Lily the same affinity with mirrors?
Speaking of the changes that treasures bring to the body,
The Dreamcatcher, acquired earlier, didn't change as much as the mirror.
The Dreamcatcher's change merely caused his magic to slightly change to a pink mist.
But the mirror was different.
Arka's revelation was initiated by the mirror, and he also obtained a spell related to the mirror.
The changes the mirror made to Arka were present from the beginning, and became even more pronounced after he obtained the mirror.
For example, Arka's magic could transform into a mirror out of thin air.
It was pure magic, without the use of any spells or treasures.
It was as if he instinctively constructed the mirror.
This change could potentially give Lily, crafted from Alka's hair, the same properties.
This wasn't an isolated case.
Two, three, and four all exhibited this property, though with some differences.
As Alka pondered, he sensed a shift in his dream.
A round dream bubble appeared in the center of his dream world.
He could sense a connection to the other person's dream, even controlling it.
However, he already knew this trait, so it didn't surprise him.
With a wave of his hand, the dream bubble above vanished, and Alka's dream doubled in size again.
He merged his dream with Lily's.
Of course, this only worked for Lily, since she was born from this.
"Catch me, Daddy."
A little girl fell from the sky. Alka reached out and caught it.
In the dream, Lily no longer had the body of a doll girl, but had transformed into a little girl, about seven or eight years old.
She wore a plain white dress with a hint of black lace, and hugged Alka's neck.
She smiled brightly at Alka.
"Hehe!"
He reached under her armpits and lifted her up.
"What are you doing, Daddy?"
Lily asked curiously as he was lifted up.
Alka looked at the little girl, who had the same hair color, eyes, and even a slight resemblance to him in facial shape.
He felt strangely moved.
In his previous life, due to illness, he hadn't had a family, so naturally, he had never experienced the feeling of having children.
He inexplicably felt that here.
Thinking about his current age, it seemed only 21.
Thinking it over, I'd been in this world for so many years without realizing it.
Feeling a slight chill on his face, Alka's thoughts were interrupted.
Lily patted his cheeks with both hands, chuckling.
Han's palms were slightly cool, devoid of warmth. Though soft, they still felt hard.
Suppressing his emotions, Alka pinched her nose.
"Okay, now let's get down to business."
He placed her on the ground.
Alka began practicing some dream-related skills within his dream bubble.
However, he could only do this within his dream bubble. After all, there was a big guy outside, and now was not the time to go out.
But staying within his bubble was enough for the initial stages, as he could control the changes in his bubble to simulate things.
...
When the curtain of the sky was lifted once again.
Alka woke up in his room.
After a quick wash, I arrived on deck. Sofia was already awake and engaged in his daily morning training.
He punched and kicked a target on the deck.
After a moment's thought, he stepped forward.
"How about we practice?"
Hearing this, Sofia retracted his kick and turned to look at Alka.
"What? You think you can overpower me with your current strength after the promotion?"
"What are you talking about? If you come to hit me, I'll just dodge and block, never fight back," Alka said.
"Okay, use me as a training tool, but it would be a shame not to hit a target that's right here."
Sofia smiled brightly, threw the white sweat towel from his neck onto the target, and the golden thread on his forehead flickered slightly.
A faint flash of white light, and he disappeared in an instant.
When he reappeared, he was beside Alka, his side kick, gleaming with light, already striking Alka's head.
Unfair martial arts, a sneak attack.
Although Shadaiti's sudden attack caught Alka off guard,
He had already made a defensive move when the golden lines on Shadaiti's forehead flashed.
He instinctively ducked his head. The golden kick passed overhead, and the breeze from his calf stung his cheek, lifting his hair.
"You want to kill me?" A direct hit to the head wouldn't be pleasant.
Shadaiti said nothing. His right leg, which had just kicked, instantly changed its position in mid-air, bending his calf slightly and launching a side kick aimed at Alka's head.
This sudden and powerful change of tactics caught Alka off guard, leaving him no chance of escape.
He immediately raised his hand to block it.
The immense force of the blow caused Alka to bend his knees slightly, and a heaviness spread across his arm. The swift attack temporarily silenced the pain.
However, Sofia had already leveraged the force of his foot on Alka's arm to lift him into the air.
He shifted sideways.
His left leg, radiant with light, kicked at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
He immediately raised his free right hand to block, but the powerful impact still sent Alka flying backwards.
He stopped with a sidestep, steadying himself.
This time, Sofia didn't press forward, but stood still.
"Well, not bad, huh?"
The attack was fluid, from the moment he struck to the moment, the entire thing taking place in a mere two seconds.
The speed afforded by [Ring of Light] to Sofia was incredible.
Alka shook his hands and said in surprise, "Not bad, so strong."
"Hehe, you're not the only one growing."
Hearing this, Alka couldn't help but smile. He took off his coat and tossed it aside.
"Then I'll have to put your skills to the test."
"Stop bragging. I taught you close combat techniques."
Well, Alka couldn't argue with that.
In terms of close combat skills alone, Sofia was undoubtedly the best on the ship.
And second.
A huge one.
Because the second one is Alka.
As for Pororo, who is also a close combat fighter, sorry, he has absolutely no skills to speak of.
Because he doesn't need them.
Especially after he possessed the Winter Flower, he no longer needs them.
He only needs to know how to maximize his strength.
Focusing too much on technique will only waste his own advantages.
"Ready, I'm coming." Sofia shook his short silver hair.
The sweat on his head sparkled in the sunlight as it was swept away.
The water dripped from his cheek, down his slender, swan-like neck, brushed across his beautiful collarbone, and stained his clothes.
Alka made a starting gesture and curled his fingers.
"Come."
A golden line flickered on his forehead, and a ring of light was placed on Shadaiti's head.
"Are you serious?"
"How else could you see the changes in yourself?"
Hearing this, Alka nodded.
A mirror appeared on his face.
"Reinforce yourself with the sound of dawn."
As the words fell, a metallic, mirror-like sheen emerged from the entire deck, the surrounding walls, and even the masts.
The entire ship's surface was coated with a metal coating to strengthen its defenses.
Whoosh!
A sound like the aurora borealis piercing the air.
A flash of light flashed out.
Shadaiti vanished instantly, his speed so swift.
Even Alka, who was already close, could barely see clearly and could only rely on his senses.
Alka's head jerked back instantly. He couldn't even see his legs, only a flash of light passing a few centimeters in front of his cheek.
But Alka could see a thin, white leg.
This was too fast!
Alka couldn't help but scream inwardly.
Another whip-like kick lashed out, striking Alka directly on the shoulder, sending him reeling back before he could defend himself.
"Ahem!"
The air in his chest was disrupted.
No, relying solely on physical strength was no match for Shadaiti's Ring of Light attack.
Mirrors appeared above his head, reflecting the entire area around Alka from every angle.
He was able to observe the entire battle.
Behind!
As if anticipating this, Alka doubled over and rolled forward.
The beam struck Alka where he had been, making a sharp sound.
It was like a fist striking a metal plate.
"Dump!"
The Voice of Dawn emitted a slightly discontented musical note.
At this moment, all that could be seen was a beam of light constantly refracting from the deck, launching an attack.
If one had a good visual field, one could see that the beam was Shadaiti.
Alka dodged inexplicably, using the mirror to block the attack when unable to evade it.