After dinner, Yaxiu headed back to the gaming floor to battle through extreme raids.
Before they parted ways, he conjured another high-grade Substitute for little Lisi and asked offhandedly what had happened to the old one. According to the sorcery power Yaxiu had supplied in advance, the high-grade Substitute should have lasted an entire day, yet by the afternoon he had sensed that it had vanished.
Lisi wore an innocent look, claiming she had no idea either. She hadn't made the Substitute do any heavy lifting—just carry her on its back, sing some songs, and help fetch a few books.
Assuming the combined effect of two sorcery spirits had simply burned through more sorcery power, Yaxiu didn't think much of it. He handed over command permissions of the Substitute to Lisi and let her lead it away.
The Substitute behaved rather oddly, though, looking back at Yaxiu with every step as if it had a world of things to say.
Eager to get back to playing *Epic*, Yaxiu had no time or inclination to pay attention to whatever signals the Substitute was sending. His mind was entirely preoccupied with whether he should switch his class in the game.
Since the original account owner's main class was combat sorcerer, Yaxiu had used combat sorcerer to run raids at first. But he discovered that in high-difficulty raids, the most difficult class to play was the medical sorcerer, followed by the tank sorcerer, with the combat sorcerer being the easiest.
Of course, "medical sorcerer" here didn't refer to a non-combat life profession performing surgeries in a hospital, but something closer to a field medic sorcerer. In *Epic*, medical sorcerers were primarily responsible for timely healing and party-wide defenses, tank sorcerers drew enemy aggro and baited enemy skills, while combat sorcerers only needed to find safe windows to unleash burst damage.
Because enemy damage in high-difficulty raids was extraordinarily high, a single slip-up could easily result in casualties or even a total party wipe. A medical sorcerer's competence thus determined the survival of the entire team. After all, if a combat sorcerer slacked off, the enemy merely wouldn't die; if a medical sorcerer slacked off, the party was the one getting killed.
After careful consideration, Yaxiu decided to switch to medical sorcerer.
He had noticed that the shot-caller and leader in many parties was the medical sorcerer. In fact, stationed in the backline, a medical sorcerer could easily keep an eye on the whole battlefield, making it the ideal shot-calling position. At the same time, a competent medical sorcerer needed to track the status of every single teammate, demanding tactical awareness far beyond that of a combat or tank sorcerer.
According to the principle that authority matches responsibility, carrying so much weight naturally granted the medical sorcerer greater command over the party.
Aspiring to become a raid leader, Yaxiu naturally had to rise to the challenge and take on the hardest class.
Furthermore, while Yaxiu currently lacked healing miracles, "Sword Body Barrier" was undeniably a ranged shielding miracle that had saved Sword Princess and the Witch multiple times in dire straits. His current role in their party really was that of a medical sorcerer.
There was another minor reason: after fermenting all afternoon, his combat sorcerer's reputation was thoroughly ruined. Not a single extreme raid party was willing to let him join. His only choice was to switch to medical sorcerer and sneak into newbie progression groups, where people might not recognize him.
After browsing raid guides for a while, Yaxiu felt the crest on the back of his hand grow hot. That meant the Sennheiser clan's reincarnation dreamscape had opened.
Should he go in and have a look?
Yaxiu hesitated. He was quite interested in this mini Void Realm, not to mention that inside lay a dream world of uninhibited revelry, which sounded far more fun than *Epic*.
Yet after Banjie's cautionary words, Yaxiu was a little intimidated. He was fairly confident in his self-control, but if dozens of beautiful women—elves, married women, empresses, long black hair, blonde twintails, white hair, and every other trope imaginable—clung to him in there, he would definitely end up changing his name to Yaxiu Sennheiser forever.
But what if he didn't go...?
Annan might not have placed performance quotas on him, but Yaxiu was now filled with the striving ambition of an overachiever.
Lest he forget, although he had successfully pulled the item to heal his soul and could log back in before the next Spider Tower round, solving his first pressing problem...
He still faced a second dilemma—once they entered the Void Realm, how were they going to handle the hunt by the Empress's Heroic Spirit?
And this wouldn't be just a day or two of pursuit. As long as Yaxiu and his companions hadn't ascended to the third layer of the Void Realm, they would have to face a Heroic Spirit Legion thousands of times stronger than them in every Spider Tower round.
Aside from the crisis in the Void Realm, in reality, the other end of Yaxiu's chain of contract was still gripped firmly in Annan's hands.
Yaxiu had gotten lucky this time and didn't have his head shoved into dating, but if Annan ordered him to shovel out a cesspool next time, he would still end up covered in shit.
Was there any way to resolve these troubles once and for all?
That singular term prowled through his mind like a ravenous beast, seducing every thought in his head: a divine wish.
As long as he obtained a divine wish, whether it was Annan, the Gospel, or the Empress's Heroic Spirit, none of these troubles would be troubles anymore.
If Yaxiu could place on the second Future Board, it would undoubtedly increase his odds of obtaining a divine wish.
Right then, the Book of Gospel flipped open on its own, turning to the page of *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook*.
[Operator "End Watcher" has triggered a personal exclusive story branch.]
[New module "Sennheiser Dreamscape" has unlocked.]
At this point, did this garbage game still have features he hadn't touched?
In the top right corner of the "Void Realm Exploration" tab, a small icon labeled "Sennheiser Dreamscape" had appeared, resembling a temporary event quest tab.
Clicking on "Sennheiser Dreamscape", Yaxiu witnessed an unprecedented sight—this event wasn't blank at all; it featured gorgeous event illustration art!
[In a high-rise city office shrouded in white mist, an elegant, alluring red-hatted elf sits upon a throne, looking down at Fanmula City through floor-to-ceiling glass like a queen ruling over the metropolis! Beside her, an even younger, dashing red-hatted elf is whispering into her ear.]
On either side of the event illustration were two options: [Dreamscape Shard Exchange] and [Dreamscape Expedition].
[Dreamscape Expedition: You may now launch expeditions into the dreamscape. Each completed expedition grants a variable quantity of Dreamscape Shards.]
Yaxiu first browsed the "Dreamscape Shard Exchange," and the rewards immediately dazzled his eyes: beyond various Experience Orbs, there were magical items like the "Five Matchless Secret Sword Spirits Random Gift Box," "Time Sorcery Spirit Random Gift Box," "Prophecy Sorcery Spirit Random Gift Box," and more—things he might not see drop in a lifetime of grinding in the Void Realm!
Yaxiu quickly tapped "Dreamscape Expedition," only to be brought back to earth with a thud:
[Warning: Operator's soul detected as damaged. Participating in Dreamscape Expedition is not recommended.]
*Damn it, my soul still needs several days to fully heal. By then, we'll probably have left Fanmula already!*
However, Yaxiu noticed that the expedition button hadn't greyed out, so he pressed it again:
[Operator detected in possession of "Substitute" and "Command" sorcery spirits. It is recommended that the operator dispatch a Substitute on the Dreamscape Expedition to avoid exacerbating soul damage.]
[Note 1: While on a Dreamscape Expedition, the Substitute can still function normally in reality.]
[Note 2: While the Substitute is on a Dreamscape Expedition, the operator cannot obtain any dreamscape intelligence or control the Substitute's actions, and can only reap the rewards of the expedition. Please choose carefully.]
*Thump!*
Yaxiu felt his heart race, his breathing quicken, and his face flush hot with excitement, every pore expanding!
All his eyes could see was that single sentence: [It is recommended that the operator dispatch a Substitute on the Dreamscape Expedition]!
He could finally send a Substitute to work in his place!
Auto-farming!
Proxy raid leader!
Passive income!
What could he possibly complain about?!
[Dreamscape Expedition] - [Dispatch Substitute] - [Select Expedition Objective]. Here, Yaxiu expanded the drop-down list and discovered that romance was actually one of the available options.
Then the interface popped up with three more options:
[Please select the Substitute's behavioral mode:]
[End Watcher: Calm type. Suitable for gathering intel, sowing discord, creating chaos, etc. (Not recommended).]
[Death Frenzy Sword Princess: Frenzied type. Suitable for creating chaos, arson and murder, assassination and sabotage, etc. (Not recommended).]
[Black and White Witch: Cheerful type. Suitable for creating chaos, roleplaying, toying with feelings, etc. (Recommended).]
It didn't dispatch actual operators, but merely had the Substitute emulate one of their behavioral styles... Naturally, Yaxiu went with the game's recommendation.
[Dreamscape Expedition] - [Dispatch Substitute] - [Romance] - [Behavioral Mode: Black and White Witch], Confirm!
The crest on the back of his hand stopped heating up, and the status of "Dreamscape Expedition" in the game switched to "In Progress."
Yaxiu blinked.
It was that simple?
So... did he really have nothing left to do now?
Well, since he had free time anyway, Yaxiu decided to switch to medical sorcerer and go grief people in the game.
...
...
Inside Lisi's room, little Lisi was talking to the mirror, saying who knew what, while the Substitute lay sprawled across the desk, scouring and browsing various ancient tomes. Whenever it spotted keywords like "Gospel Incarnation," "Isu royal family," or "armored," it folded down the corner of the page.
Once Diya and the other sisters discovered that the Substitute possessed a certain degree of intelligence, they promptly halted Lisi's physical exploitation of it and upgraded to more advanced intellectual exploitation.
Their Gospel points were far too low right now to directly inquire about deep secrets, so they could only try their luck with archival materials to see if they could uncover any clues. Fortunately, Sennheiser happened to be a great clan that had flourished for hundreds of years; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to find so much documentation.
Suddenly, the back of the Substitute's hand grew faintly warm.
The Substitute zoned out for a brief moment, then resumed working.
At the same time, in the vast white dreamscape, a solitary silhouette quietly appeared.
She glanced down at her Substitute appearance, spun around, and transformed into the likeness on the "Black and White Witch" character art.
"If you're happy and you know it, clap~ your~ hands~"
"If you're happy and you know it, nod~ your~ head~"
"If you're happy and you know it, let's~ all~ go!"
By the time she finished singing the three lines, seventeen sisters had already appeared beside her. They wore distinct outfits, sported different hair colors, and bore wildly varied expressions, yet shared an identical face.
"Are we really going to date on that man's behalf?"
"Sounds like such a hassle..."
"So annoying. Don't look at me for this kind of thing."
"Do we have to turn into him? No way, he's so ugly."
"Huh? I think he's pretty cute. At least way cuter than the Watcher."
"When you put it that way, I really can't argue. After all, a creature less cute than the Watcher probably doesn't even exist at the bottom of the Abyss."
"Hungry, hungry, cake! Red velvet cake, I want red velvet cake!"
As soon as the sisters appeared, they began voicing their opinions. Opinions soon devolved into arguments, arguments escalated into shrieks, and shrieks swelled into wild roars, until the white dreamscape itself seemed on the verge of shattering from the noise—
"Shh."
The Witch gently pressed a finger to her lips, and absolute silence fell.
"At the end of the day, we only arrived in this dreamscape temporarily by piggybacking on Yaxiu's Substitute. No matter what, the mission must be accomplished. As for our appearance, gender and race don't matter at all. We just need to bear a slight resemblance to Yaxiu to ensure the Gospel credits our feats to Yaxiu's philandering.
"As long as you make sure you develop a romance, the rest of your time is yours to do with as you please. Don't forget, this is a family dreamscape with zero inhibitions. Whatever you want to do, someone will be crazy enough to join you."
"Oh right, and there's the Secret Incarnation."
The Witch gave a casual wave of her hand, and a Book of Gospel materialized in her grip. The other sisters followed suit, each conjuring a Gospel in hand.
"With our own accounts, plus the clearance of the Secret Incarnation, we can basically access almost all data and intelligence for free. Although we can't speak of it outside, and we can only use it here... surely you've figured out how to exploit this informational advantage?"
"Read her desires!"
"Become her favorite!"
"Bewitch her mind!"
The sisters' eyes shone bright. Chanting their wicked slogans, they vanished one by one into the mist.
"Then I'll get started too," the Witch murmured to herself. "Eldest Young Lady Annan, the elven matriarch, the not-yet-blackened White Queen, the not-yet-insane Black Butler, the Red Apostle I haven't killed yet, and..."
"Oh dear, I want to play with every single one of them. Who should I look for first?"
Chapter 331