"The increase in strength in the dream wasn't quite what I expected," Alka explained to the crowd's puzzled gazes.
Lucelia, possessing authority over the soul and possessing an immense understanding of it, gazed upon Alka's body, piercing through his inner soul.
Quietly, she said, "Based on your soul's performance, this is more than a slight difference."
In short, in Lusilia's eyes, Alka's soul had undergone a profound transformation.
It was like... like a transcendence of race.
But the souls of all intelligent beings should be the same.
Alka's soul was more like... a god's, yes, a god's.
Although Lusilia had never seen what a god's soul looked like.
Alka's soul glowed with a golden light, shimmering and translucent, as if cast from crystal.
As this thought emerged in Lusilia's mind, her expression gradually grew filled with surprise.
Before anyone could get Alka's answer, they became acutely aware of the dramatic shift in Lucilia's expression.
From such an exaggerated change, one could imagine how shocking Alka's transformation was.
"What did you know? Tell me!" Jason, beside him, was bursting with curiosity and kept urging.
"Alka's soul, or rather, the transformation Alka underwent in his dreams... It's like becoming a god."
...
Silence.
Everyone turned their heads silently, looking at Alka once again.
"Haha, so it's not quite what I expected."
"Is this the small change you mentioned?" Sofia asked, looking at him.
"It's definitely beyond my expectations."
Alka felt a little embarrassed.
Jason walked over, took Alka's shoulder in his, staring at him intently, his expression filled with curiosity.
"So, what does it feel like? Hmm? The feeling of becoming a god?"
Hearing this, Alka thought for a moment and said, "Since I'm already the king of dreams, to be honest, I don't really feel much difference. It feels pretty much the same.
Aside from being able to exert greater power and have more precise control in dreams, it seems to be the same."
"Really?" Jason was a little unconvinced, and a little disappointed.
After thinking about it, it seemed to be true.
However, Lucelia came to her senses, looked at Alka, and said, "Then your connection is even thinner now. You have the soul and spirit of a god, but you're fitted with the body of an ordinary demigod."
Hearing this, Alka nodded with a heavy heart.
This was now his most difficult problem to solve in reality.
His soul had fully developed the ability to be a powerful entity on its own, and his body had become a drag.
The godhood he achieved in his dream instantly widened the gap, leaving the connection between his soul, mind, and body as thin as a thread.
Although this thread was incredibly strong, it was still just a thread.
This had become his most serious problem.
"So, what are the consequences of this situation?" Sofia asked worriedly from the side.
Alka thought for a moment and said, "Until I obtain the appropriate crown-level treasure, until I assemble the key to godhood, I may find it difficult to unleash any powerful powers, let alone receive the power of the dream."
Hearing this, Juanlu, who was standing beside him, thought for a moment and offered a perhaps more accurate analogy.
"In other words, although your strength has increased, it's effectively sealed for these reasons.
So, in reality, you can't unleash much of your powerful power, is that right?"
Hearing this analogy, Alka nodded; it was a fairly accurate description. "That's roughly what I mean. Of course you can use it, but you'll have to bear the consequences of potentially separating your body and soul."
Because truly no one, or perhaps the world, could have imagined that someone could achieve divine spirituality in a dream, while still carrying around a demigod's body.
In this situation, couldn't you simply go directly into the dream and become a dream god? Why bring it into the real world?
It was as if this world didn't have such a thing, and Alka had left a loophole.
He had to find a way to fill this loophole himself, meaning to raise the level or strength of his body a little further, so that it wouldn't be too far off from his dream-level strength.
Otherwise, there would be no match.
"That being said, I can still fully utilize the power of my physical body.
I just have to slightly limit my use of dream power now."
At this point, Alka smiled. "But given the circumstances, my strength isn't down compared to before.
On the contrary, it's improved."
To put it in numerical terms, Alka's strength six months ago was one.
So, the strength he should be able to exert now is probably eight or ten.
Because of his dream godhood, it's only natural that his strength has increased four or five times compared to before. As time goes by, his control over his power will only increase.
However, due to the mismatch, he can only exert two or three times his strength.
Although his strength has doubled compared to six months ago, it's not even half of what he could actually exert.
It's definitely improved compared to before, but in reality, he's been suppressed.
Alka said this with a gentle wave of his hand.
Next to him, Jason inexplicably closed his eyes and fell asleep, only to wake abruptly a few seconds later.
"You dragged me into a dream? How did you do that?"
When the difference in power between them was small, especially as their strength grew, it was difficult for Alka to force a powerful being into a dream.
Because he controlled dreams, forcing someone into sleep in the real world was clearly not something a dream god could possess.
Unless he possessed a treasure, the power of which was sleep.
Because the nature of other people's souls wasn't necessarily much weaker than Alka's, it was extremely difficult.
But now Alka was able to do it again, and the time he could drag someone into the dream was extremely critical.
Because Alka's soul strength was already suppressing that of a normal being.
His soul was already at the level of a god.
The souls of others were still at the level of mortals. "Using just a little bit of dream power is only a small improvement compared to the power I can actually use now, but it's very useful, isn't it?"
Alka said with a smile.
"No, I have to meditate. I can't bear it anymore," Jason said, taking the meditation stone and going straight to the treetop to meditate.
The others also quietly dispersed.
They began to work harder.
Although the meditation time was fixed each day, it didn't stop them from once again honing their skills in the memory training ground within the small world.
In just six months, Alka's strength had increased dramatically. The fact that he had suddenly disappeared from everyone's sight was a bit unacceptable to them.
They could accept chasing after Alka, but they couldn't accept not even being able to see him, thus losing the right to chase.
Alka smiled at everyone's performance.
Sitting under the tree, leaning against the trunk, he fell asleep silently.
His consciousness sank into a dream.
He landed on the throne.
His eyes now shone with a golden light, or rather, they had transformed into the color of golden crystal.
They were completely unlike normal human pupils.
As he ascended to godhood within the dream, becoming a ninth-level being within the dream.
He was finally within the dream.
He had fully mastered the element that had been within him from the beginning. This element, which had transformed his eyes, allowed him to see the pinpoints of treasure on the map, the hidden information those pinpoints represented.
He had always considered it a cheat, a cheat.
It was just as he had thought long before, when he had met the man who had promised them the solution to saving the world.
He began to rewind time alone, seeing the moment when he first jumped out of the world. He had already had some doubts about the original form of his golden finger, or rather, his goal.
And now he was certain.
It was indeed that thing.
A mortal god they once knew of during the ancient era of the gods. He was the first to ascend to the throne during the Myriad Gods Tribulation. He had returned to the throne at the same time as the Mother God.
The Mother God was one of the first gods to return to the throne, while this one was the first mortal to ascend to the throne through his own strength.
He was also a powerful being who, due to an accident, caused a secret to be leaked, ushering in the beginning of the destruction of the world.
The previous life of the Four-Part God, the God of Secrets and Knowledge.
Once, due to a secret reason and the overpowering divine power, he split himself into two beings.
The hidden existence within revealed a fatal message.
That is, how the gods should fully appropriate the authority and divinity bestowed upon them by the Mother World.
After realizing that his secret had caused great harm,
This god, knowing the consequences of the secret, separated himself.
Separating his knowledge from the secret, he cast a portion of the secret out of the world, letting it roll away.
Both the world and individual lives need secrets that remain unknown.
And this secret, cast out and stripped clean, was him, the disturbance in the void.
One can only say that the god had indeed thrown him far enough.
The disturbance attached itself to a patch of the starry sky, constantly disturbing it until it ripped through space.
It connected to the other end, a place far, far away. At this moment, Alka's soul fell out and merged with the secret.
Because this object was inherently secret, it quickly concealed itself after coming into contact with Alka's soul.
The world that once shattered and reassembled happened to pass through this very place.
And because of its hidden existence, it remained undiscovered.
This was also why Alka was able to see those treasures and their information through his eyes.
Because the information about these treasures was inherently hidden.
So hidden, even to the point where no one knew.
And with Alka's limited power at the time, the secret could only reveal the most basic aspects, expanding upon this hidden information through subtle clues, allowing Alka to understand more.
And this secret...
In his dream, after ascending to godhood, it fully appeared before him, because this object was something only a god could wield and fully master.
It was equivalent to the combination of six treasures in reality, the key to the path to godhood.
But here's the interesting part. You can only master it after ascending to godhood. This means you can't rely on it as your primary source for godhood.
Through this hidden authority, he also learned more than he should have, though it wasn't his intention to pry.
For example, the knowledge that was split off, the previously known quarter of the god.
But the quarter of the god died.
It wasn't a natural death; it was a self-divided division.
One half became knowledge bestowed upon mortals. Truly worthy of a being who ascended from mortal to god, and ultimately returned part of himself to mortals.
The remaining half became the present-day sage.
Honestly, Alka was surprised.
He was amazed at how powerful this god had once been.
In that powerful golden age, when the gods were flourishing, he was the most powerful being. Truly true.
Dividing myself again and again, finally creating one of the Four Gods.
‐‐So, in that case, I'm actually superior to the Wise One?
‐‐Arka thought inexplicably.
‐‐After all, he was the split half.
‐‐And the Wise One was half of the other half.
‐‐He shook his head, dismissing this inexplicable thought.
‐‐He began to recall the warning in his mind.
‐‐After all, this thing was given by the gods, so when Arka inherited this secret, it was a warning.
‐‐It came from the past, a warning given countless years ago by the first powerful gods.
‐‐A warning against excessively using his hidden power to peer into secrets that shouldn't be glimpsed.
‐‐The warning was very brief.
‐‐Especially since Arka knew the deeds of this god, he could understand his intentions based on his deeds. Alka took a deep breath.
He silently said to himself, "Only peek when you should, suppress your curiosity, and respect others."
Fortunately, his natural desire for knowledge wasn't particularly strong, especially when the subject of his quest had nothing to do with him.
After understanding his deepest secret, Alka suddenly felt relieved.
An involuntary smile crossed his face.
"Now it's time to get down to business."
The figure vanished from its original location and reappeared in a place within his dreamland.
Looking in front of him.
The treasure hidden at the intersection, deep within the dreamland.
The red dot of light in the center.
Although this object possessed both real and dream reflections, interconnected, just like himself,
So, obtaining this crown-level treasure within the dreamland was impossible.
But he was now a god within the dream.
He was even more powerful than the dream king who had originally hidden this object.
Although he still couldn't reach this crown-level treasure, he could go directly there.
If he couldn't get his hands on it, it would always be okay to look at it.
He was curious why this object lay untouched.
His figure slowly moved forward.
The barrier between reality and dream seemed nonexistent to him. He walked directly to the red dot.
He looked at the key before him.
This was only a projection of the dream side, and the projection of reality itself. Only when the two were combined could the true crown-level treasure be found.
And now, he only had this dream projection, only half.
But it was enough.
From the mere appearance of the key, he knew this treasure was in no way suitable for him.
Or perhaps this treasure is not suitable for everyone, otherwise it wouldn't be placed here.
Because it was once the key to the world's treasure house.
It is the mother of the world.
A work of my own.
Picking up the key, Alka thrust it into the air, as if opening a door. With a click, a door to a treasure vault inexplicably opened before him in the dream world.
Of course, since it was only half of the dream, it only opened the inner half.
If there were anything inside, it would only be a reflection imprinted in the dream.
After all, it was something created by the world.
Naturally, it had both a real body and a dreamlike reflection.
As the door opened,
Alka gazed upon the previously empty world vault.
The reason this item could be considered a crown-level treasure was because it was crafted by the World Mother herself, its status was sufficiently high.
Alka gazed upon the vault.
His eyes began to spin in a perplexed manner.
His normal black and white eyes began to change, revealing the secret-seeing eyes he had retracted moments before.
Once again, they transformed into golden, crystal-like pupils.
He seemed to have discovered a small problem.
This treasure vault might be a small shortcut to saving the world, saving them from unnecessary trouble.
This vault had a long history, dating back to even before the Golden Age.
If only he could see the history it had endured...
Thinking this way, Alka gazed upon the vault with his secret-seeing eyes.
Suddenly, he saw more.
He seemed to stand on a long river of time.
He seemed to see the vault's past.
He saw the vault's journey through the world, its journey through the once shattered world.
He kept watching.
Alka suddenly had an idea.
He thought of a time when he'd rewinded his own time and seen what he'd experienced.
If he could rewind the time of a shattered history.
Could he see the entire history of the world, or rather, the history since the creation of this treasure house?
Using his eyes, which could see through secrets, he began to rewind the time of the treasure house before him.
In an instant, he was back to the moment when the treasure house was first created.
It worked.
Looking at an illusory female figure, he dropped the key from the sky.
The key spun in the air, piercing time, space, and dreams.
It was as if Alka were the treasure house itself, following it on a journey through the world.
In that golden age.