Meeting in Dreams

The Starry Country. Knock, knock, knock. After three taps on the door without a response from inside the room, Felix had no choice but to say, "Sword Seat, Miss Lena is waiting downstairs for you. She has something very important to discuss." "Give me a few minutes," a languid voice answered from within. Listening to the steady patter of rain outside, Felix wondered how Jialesi could possibly be having a breezy drizzle in December. Had something gone wrong with the Meteorological Office's control systems? A few minutes later, Sonia opened the door, her expression looking entirely normal. She cleared her throat softly. "Just now, I..." "Accidentally knocked over the water glass again?" Felix's expression remained completely unchanged, yet the tease at the corner of her eyes was near impossible to hide. Sonia nodded sheepishly, then turned and bounded down the stairs with light, brisk steps. Even from behind, Felix could still see the crimson flush spreading across the tips of her ears. The second young lady of the Vosroda family shook her head and walked in to clean up the mess. With practiced ease, she moved Yaxiu onto an adjacent chair, changed the bedsheets first, and then prepared a damp towel and a dry towel. As she worked, she chattered away: "You'd never guess the hypocritical faces of those people in the clan. The moment they heard I had advanced to Sanctuary, those relatives who used to itch to point at my nose and call me a bastard came by one after another to express their concern. I'd rather they kept cursing me—at least then they wouldn't dance before my eyes and sicken me... "I really wanted to give them a fierce scolding, but they didn't leave a single opening, even claiming things like 'I'm getting old and muddled in the head.' If I brought up what happened during my childhood, it'd just make me look petty. And even if I did curse at them, they'd definitely apologize right away, leaving me feeling like I was punching cotton. "And then there's Beverly... Hah! The moment she heard I advanced to Sanctuary, she went back to worrying that I'd snatch her son's inheritance. In the name of the clan matriarch, she set up several blind dates for me, wanting me to marry into another family. If she knew I was a woman, she'd have sold me off in a heartbeat. "Who would've thought Dimi would actually keep this secret and not tell his mother... "Nor did I expect that man never told his own wife my true identity either..." Reaching this point, Felix paused, a look of bewilderment crossing her face: "That's right... as long as my gender was made public, Beverly wouldn't hold nearly so much hostility toward me. There's no precedent in the Starry Country for an illegitimate daughter inheriting a noble title. Why...?" Yaxiu quietly let her wipe his face, answering her confusion with silence. "...Whatever, it's a rotten family through and through anyway." Felix shook her head and switched to the dry towel to wipe down Yaxiu's body. "If I ever become duke, I'll sever their swordsmanship heritage, slaughter all the clan members, bury the Vosroda coat of arms with my own hands, and donate the entire family fortune to the Four Pillar Gods. No, wait, I'll have to keep two portions: one as a wedding gift for you and Sword Seat, and the other as a wedding gift for you and Witch Seat. How does that sound? "Still, with Dimi around, there's no way I could ever inherit the dukedom. Unless..." Felix suddenly fell silent. After moving Yaxiu back onto the bed, she said in a low, somber voice, "Miss Lena told me that if that man dies, the cult is willing to help me assassinate Dimi and pave my way to becoming the Duke of Vosroda. "What... should I really do?" Right then, her miracle bracelet vibrated. Looking down, she saw a message from Daidalos telling her to come downstairs for an emergency operation. Felix helped Yaxiu into his clothes, tucked him under the blanket, and leaned forward until her forehead pressed against his, whispering softly, "Next time, you have to tell me what to do, okay?" With that, Felix left the bedroom. Arriving on the first floor, she found everyone already gathered: Daidalos, Diya, Sonia, Trozan, and several sorcerers—the cult's entire combat strength at Sanctuary rank and above gathered in one room. "Actually, we could have someone else look after Observer Seat," Daidalos said. "Little Felix, now that you've achieved Sanctuary after all, you should devote more thought to sorcery." Neither the Sword Princess nor the Witch objected. Although both felt Felix took great care of him, having a Sanctuary sorcerer look after someone really was somewhat humiliating. "It's fine," Felix replied with a smile. "Since I live here anyway, caring for him isn't much trouble. Besides, Sword Seat and Witch Seat have very high standards. Having someone else do it would probably make it hard to satisfy them." Sonia and Diya understood tacitly, finding Felix more and more pleasing to the eye. Over the month since the White Tower Fortress was destroyed by the mysterious sorcerer, the greatest change had undoubtedly been Felix reaching Sanctuary. Back then, Felix hadn't been entirely deceiving Sonia; the Four Pillar Cult truly possessed methods to rapidly advance a sorcerer, though the conditions were exceptionally harsh, and in the entire cult, only Felix had met the criteria. "What happened?" Felix asked. Trozan switched on the vertical light screen in the living room and flipped to the news channel: "...The Meteorological Office has announced that tonight marks the Night of Sleepless Rain. Sleepless Rain is forecast to fall over the next three days and three nights. This is an extremely rare meteorological phenomenon, the precise causes of which remain under investigation. During the Sleepless Rain, everyone across the Jialesi region will find themselves energized and unable to sleep. Citizens are urged not to panic and to arrange their work and rest schedules reasonably. If any physical abnormalities occur, please visit a nearby medical facility immediately..." Felix glanced at the wind and rain outside. "Sleepless Rain?" "This is the Throne Room's doing," Daidalos said. "The Lake Light Angel's legacy was seized by the Starry Country. Although the sorcerer who inherited the Lake Light legacy retained all the core sorcery spirits, he handed over all the miracles left behind by the Lake Light Angel to the Star Pole Hall. Sleepless Rain is one of the most powerful miracles among them. "Although the Starry Country currently lacks a Water sorcery legend, the Painter's greatest strength lies in spending vast amounts of time to simulate the miracles of other factions. This Sleepless Rain is most likely a large-scale miracle the Painter prepared months in advance." "But... what for?" Felix asked, baffled. "What's the point of keeping the people of Jialesi from sleeping?" "You should ask the reverse," Trozan said. "What happens if someone goes to sleep in Jialesi right now?" "The third Angel Hunt has begun," Diya said calmly. "The Prime Angel restored the Dream Heaven. Now, Sanctuary sorcerers only need to enter the Distant Sky Realm to take part in the third Angel Hunt directly. Although we don't know why the Prime Angel did this, the Angel Hunt has indeed been made almost entirely public within the Void Realm. "However, the Divine Lord of Stars left a backdoor for the Starry Country," she said. "As long as we fall asleep in Jialesi, we can directly join the third Angel Hunt." Felix understood immediately. "Then of course we sleep!" Sonia and Diya technically weren't qualified to participate in the third Angel Hunt; as legendary sorcerers, they couldn't enter the Distant Sky Realm at all. But so long as they used the backdoor left by the Divine Lord of Stars, they could bypass the Distant Sky Realm and step straight into the Dream Kingdom! In an Angel Hunt where only Sanctuary sorcerers were eligible to participate, two legendary sorcerers entering would be nothing short of a ruthless slaughter! Without further ado, Daidalos assigned lookout sorcerers and then sang a lullaby, lulling herself and the others into slumber together. After an unknown passage of time, when Felix opened her eyes, she found herself standing alongside the others on a vast, open ground. "Some didn't come in with us." Daidalos swiftly looked around. "Did they fail to fall asleep, or is there a cap on the number of people here—" Crack! Suddenly, the sound of fracturing rang out from the mirrored wall before them, and spiderweb-like cracks spread rapidly! At the same time, hearing the voices of other people from the opposite side of the mirrored wall, they immediately realized they weren't the only team of sorcerers here! With a crisp shattering crash, the mirror gave way completely, leaving nothing between Sonia's group and the sorcerers on the other side.