The druids' banquet had gone reasonably well, and the food prepared suited Catherine's taste.
Yet no matter how wonderful the feast, it had to come to an end. In the end, Brandir found no opportunity to chat with Catherine, able only to watch his goddess return to that exquisite treehouse castle.
Once back in her quarters, Catherine eagerly took out the gift Anbaixiu had given her.
It was a small, weighty wooden box, wrapped quite securely.
Opening the box, she found an exquisite hourglass resting inside, along with a ciphered letter.
Catherine hurriedly pulled the latest issue of *Legendary Spells* from her pouch and began deciphering the letter word by word against the text.
When she finished, the contents left her thoroughly shocked.
She had never imagined that the heroic spirit of the Saint King was hidden inside this artifact, though Arthur Ryan was currently extremely weak and had fallen into a deep sleep.
Catherine cupped the hourglass in both hands, set it respectfully on the table, and said to Naomi, "This is the time dragon's artifact. I'm placing it in your care now. He wants you to familiarize yourself with it as quickly as possible. Perhaps you can find the aura of a time dragon within it and achieve your transformation."
Naomi hurriedly grabbed the hourglass and began studying it with intense focus.
This was merely the first matter mentioned in Anbaixiu's letter; there was another, far more crucial and dangerous task.
At midnight tonight, Catherine needed to make a huge scene to draw the druids' attention.
As for why, Anbaixiu hadn't explained in the letter. He only told Catherine to cause as much trouble as possible—the bigger the scene, the better.
Causing trouble really wasn't her forte. Drawing the druids' attention without crossing the line and implicating the elven race was no small feat.
Catherine grumbled, "What a hassle. Telling me to draw their attention, but not even bothering to tell me how. Leaving me to figure it out on my own again!"
There was still some time before midnight, so Catherine could only rack her brains, recalling the days she had spent with Anbaixiu to see how that lich usually operated.
Time slipped by quickly. In his own room, Anbaixiu waited for midnight to arrive.
Whether Catherine succeeded or not, he wasn't going to waste any more time.
Yet to Anbaixiu's surprise, before midnight even arrived, a terrifying dragon roar echoed from the distance.
*Where would a dragon come from on this continent?*
*No, this is a druid Wild Shaping into a dragon!*
The dragon roar shook the entire Emerald Dream Forest, disturbing even the remote tribe where Anbaixiu was staying.
Sares ran out of his home once again, red-faced and disheveled. But this time no one could blame him; he had to calm the tribespeople immediately while dispatching people to keep watch over the envoys from the Raging Tide Kingdom.
No one knew what had happened, but it was certainly a monumental event. Nor did anyone know if it was connected to the envoys from the Raging Tide Kingdom, but keeping them under guard first was definitely the right call.
This was the moment Anbaixiu had been waiting for. He stepped straight out of his room and found Sares.
"What was that dragon roar? Has Ryan attacked?" Anbaixiu asked, feigning panic.
Sares naturally had no idea, able only to offer comfort: "Don't panic! With the Dream Barrier, there's no way Ryan can breach our defenses. Something unexpected might have happened, but believe me, the Archdruids can handle it. You don't need to be nervous. Just return to your room and wait in peace. We will protect your safety."
Anbaixiu said with apparent anxiety, "I hope you keep your word. Oh, and you must send a druid to guard my room. Find a powerful one—my safety must be guaranteed!"
Sares cast a slightly contemptuous glance at Anbaixiu. Was this man truly a Child of the Storm? With such a cowardly disposition, wasn't he afraid Talos would strike him dead with lightning in a fit of divine fury?
Still, this worked out perfectly. Sares was already worried Anbaixiu might run around, so having him willingly kept under surveillance was all the better.
Sares selected a young druid from the tribe to "protect" Anbaixiu, and the young man followed him directly into the room.
The moment they entered, Anbaixiu locked the door behind them.
The young druid threw Anbaixiu a disdainful look. Such a cowardly display truly invited contempt.
Anbaixiu, however, seemed entirely oblivious to the malice, asking with a smile, "Young man, what's your name?"
The young druid replied, "I'm Talinde."
Anbaixiu probed gently, "I heard Elder Sares mention that among you druids, only the most extraordinarily gifted geniuses are qualified to enter Nature's Dream. I wonder if you possess that qualification? I wouldn't want to run into danger later only for you to be unable to handle it on your own."
Talinde lifted his chin, bursting with confidence. "Of course I'm qualified! I'm the strongest druid in this tribe."
"That's good, that's very good..." Anbaixiu muttered ramblingly. Then, Talinde suddenly felt his head spin, as if he had drunk far too much.
Talinde fought desperately to shake off the strange dizziness, but before he could cast a spell to dispel it, the sensation vanished into thin air. Anbaixiu was still standing right before him, looking as though nothing had happened at all.
Anbaixiu even asked with concern, "Young man, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Should I have someone else come protect me instead? Can you really handle this?"
Stung by Anbaixiu's distrustful gaze, Talinde said agitatedly, "Nothing's wrong! Don't you worry!"
"Forget it. Seeing how unreliable you look, you'd better just stand guard outside." Anbaixiu shoved Talinde out the door.
Talinde merely thought this Child of the Storm had a bizarre temper, grumbling under his breath as he stood watch by the doorway. Little did he know that in the mere span of entering, saying a few words, and leaving, over ten minutes had already passed.
Inside the room, a smile touched Anbaixiu's lips. Just moments ago, he had cast Charm on the young druid.
Druids possessed formidable perception, giving them considerable resistance against mind-affecting spells. But against Anbaixiu, that meant nothing; augmented by the Golden Throne, Talinde had fallen under his control without a fight.
The reason he had Catherine stir up trouble was precisely to make Sares jump at shadows, forcing him to send a druid qualified to enter the dream to be alone with him in this room.
In Sares's eyes, Anbaixiu wore the bracelet and couldn't cast any spells, rendering him entirely harmless.
Yet the oak ring Catherine had sent completely resolved that limitation. Anbaixiu had hypnotized Talinde, extracted the prayer for the dream ritual from his lips, and then altered his soul to erase that stretch of memory.
Poor Talinde remained utterly oblivious to how thoroughly he had been manipulated.
Next, Anbaixiu summoned a minuscule aberrant skeleton—an undead construct crafted from rat bones.
He slipped the bracelet that shielded against the Dream Barrier onto the rat skeleton, allowing it to remain conscious, and issued a command to the tiny creature.
In a moment, he would remove the oak ring, allowing sleep to claim him.
The skeleton would hold the ring for him, crouching beside Anbaixiu's palm. The instant anyone entered the room, the little rat would slide the oak ring back onto Anbaixiu's finger, waking him up.
With everything prepared, Anbaixiu lay down on the bed, pulling the blanket over himself and covering the tiny skeleton beneath it as well. Then, beneath the quilt, Anbaixiu pulled off the oak ring.
The moment the ring slid from his finger, an indescribable wave of exhaustion crashed over him.
Ever since Anbaixiu had become a lich, sleep had been entirely expunged from his life. Having not experienced drowsiness in who knew how long, it actually brought him a sensation of comfort.
His soul fire quieted down, shrinking into an inconspicuous little spark. Anbaixiu's consciousness settled completely into stillness until, within his mind, he recited the prayer praising the Oak Father.
Through the haze, Anbaixiu felt a soothing warmth and caught the fragrant scent of blossoms.
When his vision cleared once more, Anbaixiu found himself standing in a small mountain valley filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers.
To his astonishment, here, he had actually regained his human body.
His heart was beating, his flesh was warm, and his eyes could perceive colors rather than soul perceptions reading off walls of diagnostic data.
This long-lost sensation of being alive brought tears to Anbaixiu's eyes.
Only after losing them did one truly understand how precious these sensations were. Sight, smell, hearing, and touch—memories woven from these feelings were vibrant and alive. In contrast, a lich's memories were massive blocks of narrative records, clumsy, redundant, and dry.
A sudden thought struck Anbaixiu: *If I could set up this kind of barrier back home, wouldn't the aftereffects of turning into a lich be completely eliminated?*
The greatest issue facing a lich was the loss of sensation, causing them to gradually lose their humanity before oscillating between extreme rationality and extreme paranoia—either turning ruthlessly cold or descending into madness.
Yet if one could occasionally experience this feeling of being alive, perhaps that flaw could be resolved entirely.
If so, becoming a lich would truly be the most worthwhile bargain of all.
Anbaixiu attempted to manipulate the dream with his thoughts. Before long, a round, silver-white slime materialized on the ground.
A mercury soul puppet—Anbaixiu's own creation.
He reached out to touch it, and sure enough, it felt completely real.
Anbaixiu shifted his thoughts again, and the mercury soul puppet swiftly transformed into a silver-white dragon, vivid and lifelike, looking every bit the real thing.
Sure enough, this Nature's Dream could manifest any creature. As long as Naomi could enter Nature's Dream and spend ample time alongside an imagined dragon, transforming into one shouldn't pose any problem.
Having confirmed that the prayer was genuine, Anbaixiu had achieved his objective. All that remained was passing the prayer along to Naomi.
Though this dream was unforgettable, Anbaixiu possessed an ironclad will. Just as he prepared to recite the other prayer to leave the dream, he discovered to his shock that the exit prayer didn't work.
Anbaixiu frowned. *No way. The prayer to enter was real, so how could the exit prayer be useless? Did I remember it wrong?*
Immediately afterward, a familiar sensation crept over him. Anbaixiu felt as though something had fixed its gaze upon him.
Turning his head, he saw a dense cloud of grey-black mist materialize behind him, revealing a pair of pale, glowing eyes.
As Anbaixiu's gaze locked with the mist, the vapor began to shift slowly, resolving into a form Anbaixiu knew all too well.
Chapter 198