Chapter 4: The Spirit of the Book, Meditation, and the Blood of God

What the hell is this thing? Ybur poked the "Survival Guide" fiercely with his tentacle.

"I'm the Spirit of the Magic Book!"

Sherry opened and closed angrily, shaking off Ybur's curious tentacle, "My creator made me specifically to guide you in case you're too dumb to read! If you want to know anything, just call my name. If it's in the book, I can answer you right away... Damn it, stop poking, I'll crush you!"

The "Survival Guide" jumped up, its pages spreading wide, as if it were about to bite Ybur.

Ybur's body immediately shrank back.

Strangely enough, once his tentacle left the "Survival Guide," the book immediately seemed to lose its power, turning into an ordinary book again, no longer emitting sound.

Ybur's tentacle reached out again.

The "Survival Guide" bounced on the ground once more, and Sherry's voice came out, "I must explain that I am a sourceless magic array that can only remain active by absorbing the minor amounts of spiritual power that you emit. Besides, in this world, only the spiritual power of you and Ruby can activate me. As long as there is body contact, I can directly sense your thoughts."

"Did you just say you could answer my questions?"

Ybur thought excitedly, "Great, then tell me about Ruby first."

"I'm sorry."

Sherry said, "Everything I know is limited to the knowledge in this book and two commands ingrained in the logic of my magic array by Ruby: First, Ruby is my creator, I must not disobey Ruby; second, you are my user, I must not disobey you. My role is to assist you as a search tool with the 'Survival Guide' and your guide, not an all-knowing answer machine."

"..."

Ybur fell silent for a moment, thinking subtly, "Then how come you can even swear? Surely that can't be knowledge from the book as well..."

The "Survival Guide" suddenly opened and its pages rustled as they flipped to a section towards the end:

"Survival Guide, Supplement Edition—The Art of Speaking: Slang and Swear Words Compendium!"

Ybur: ???

Damn, it actually is!

No, but seriously, Ruby, are you sick or something? How can a survival guide teach someone this? Is this also deemed necessary for survival?

"Please do not question the wisdom of the Creator."

Sherry opened and closed the pages proudly, "Of course, a barbaric Slime like you that uses the book as a shield probably can't understand this."

Ybur didn't really want to deal with it anymore.

After eating the fungus-insect, it felt quite lethargic, even its thinking had slowed down.

Its stomach had swollen to the limit, enveloping a fungus-insect roughly the same size as itself. Because of the expansion, the membrane covering its body was stretched thin, making Ybur feel like a soup dumpling with a delicate skin that might burst with juice from the slightest poke, and its body had become quite heavy.

Warm currents spread from its stomach outward, as if its entire body was soaking in just-right hot water.

It could clearly feel that as digestion continued, it was gradually growing larger and stronger.

So satisfying.

Just in time, Sherry said, "The barbaric Slime should now begin to attempt to 'Enter Dream'."

...Come on, what's with the 'barbaric Slime' thing?

Forget it, no point in arguing with a book. Sherry is right, it is indeed time to try "Entering Dream."

In the theory of Mysticism, dreams and awake are two states. When one Enters Dream, there's a slim chance that their Mental Phantom occasionally leaves the body and reaches another world.

That is the Dream Realm.

In contrast, the material world is called the Awake World. The Dream Realm lies beneath the surface of reality, like an endless ocean enveloping the land, a world composed of emotions, spirits, and thoughts, and also a place shrouded in mist and terror. This world has no substance, transcends conventional logic, and is beyond mortal understanding, yet it exists for real.

If one does not have the proper knowledge to guide them, reaching the Dream Realm through unconscious dreaming is a very low-probability event, with most people only entering it once or twice in their lifetime.

And the knowledge that specially guides people into the Dream Realm is meditation.

The Dream Realm is the source of Transcendent Power.

Mortals who desire strength must venture into the Dream Realm to find their own path. Ascending step by step along this path is also a process of elevating oneself. Most monsters, lacking intelligence, are incapable of entering dreams and can only "grow" without experiencing a true transformation in their life form. A Slime, theoretically, could grow larger and stronger simply by eating non-stop, but this is merely quantitative change, not qualitative.

Ybur rolled slowly along, found a small hollow in the ground, and filled it with itself, then used its tentacles to carry some small stones to bury itself. Hidden in this pit, it comfortably digested fungi while recalling knowledge about meditation.

Perhaps because Ruby had already filled its head with enough knowledge, this step was surprisingly easy for it.

Ybur soon felt that it had reached a hazy, half-dreaming, half-awake state. It didn't know how long had passed when suddenly it jolted awake and found itself in a shallow blue body of water. The waves gently lapped onto an endless white sandy beach. There was no sun in the sky, yet light from an unknown source pierced through the water, casting mottled shadows and tiny droplets hung in the air, forming dreamlike rainbows in the light.

This is the Shallow Sea, the shallow layer of the dream world. Strictly speaking, the Shallow Sea is not the Dream Realm itself, but a transitional area between the Dream Realm and the Awake World. Only by finding one's own "path" can one truly step into the Dream Realm.

Ybur then examined itself.

What appeared here was its Mental Phantom, or also called "Awakened Dream Body," which is the conscious entity that enters the Dream Realm.

Perhaps influenced by Ruby, the Mental Phantom that Ybur appeared as here resembled an eight or nine-year-old child, somewhat similar to Ruby, with an appearance that fell between a pretty little boy and girl, indistinguishable in gender, with beautiful red hair.

It curiously touched its body — the Mental Phantom felt like a somewhat heavy fog, with no real tactile sensation.

Ybur then quickly lost the desire to explore and began to recall some basic knowledge about the Dream Realm.

First and foremost, one must not enter dream for too long.

Creatures from the Awake World, if they indulge in the Dream Realm, would be drawn by the chaotic and vast dream powers of this place, gradually losing themselves. Therefore, a single entry into the dream should not exceed eight hours and the interval between two entries should be no less than sixteen hours.

Furthermore, one should not wander around the Dream Realm, for even the Shallow Sea holds dangers.

After entering the Dream Realm, a person's Mental Phantom is like a flame lit within the Dream Realm, and many dream creatures would be attracted to it like moths to a flame. The only difference is that while moths are usually consumed by the flame, dream creatures often end up devouring the Dreamers. So, if you encounter a dream creature that you cannot overcome, the first thing to do is find a way to wake yourself up and flee the Dream Realm.

However, there's a very small probability that dream creatures will also follow to the Awake World. This can be terrifying — waking up to find a bunch of friendly creatures watching you...

Of course, sufficiently powerful Dreamers can instead treat these attacking dream creatures as snacks and crunch them down.

Next is the most critical content.

Condensing Mysterious Source.

A being capable of entering dreams typically possesses the three elements of body, heart, and spirit.

Body symbolizes strength, instinct, endurance, and firmness. Heart represents passion, imagination, emotions, and change. The final element, spirit, stands for reason, calmness, wisdom, and energy.

But these elements are just a chaotic presence, mixed together like air permeating, without solid power. Therefore, a Dreamer needs to condense Mysterious Source from these elements, then through rituals with different Mysterious Sources, push open the gate and tread the path toward transcendence, which is referred to as "path."

Ybur adjusted its state, allowing its Mental Phantom to settle into a steady position, assuming a posture of sitting cross-legged.

The condensation of Mysterious Source lies in "cognition." The three elements of heart, body, and spirit correspond to the id, ego, and superego, respectively. One's cognition of oneself acts like a heavy gravity, pulling the diffused elements together. The clearer and deeper the cognition, the faster the speed of condensing Mysterious Source.

Speaking of this...

Ybur suddenly recalled something.

Ruby had mentioned that it has something called "Immortal Elixir," which is divine blood within it. Since it has Divine Blood, why didn't it feel anything special about itself? Could the power of Divine Blood be hidden deep within its body and soul?

Ybur pondered deeply.

Ruby wouldn't lie to it about something like this. There must be Divine Blood flowing in its body! Since it is Divine Blood, there must be something special about it, but where is its specialty? As Ybur contemplated this question more intensely, it felt a vague, subtle throbbing within. The deeper its thoughts, the more pronounced this throbbing became, solidifying Ybur's conviction—

I am indeed out of the ordinary!

With this thought, Ybur suddenly felt a power surging within itself, quickly bursting forth from its chest! Ybur's eyes widened in amazement as it saw a golden light emerge from its spirit body, floating before it, dazzling with radiance too blinding to look at directly.

Is this... Divine Blood?