Epic of Caterpillar

477 Scripted Event Sunclaw Kingdom Conquest 2/?: Exploring the Dream World

[LEVEL 086/250] [EXP 1.406.368.003.793/2.290.000.000.000]

[The Levels of the [Worshiped Demon Goddess; Level 7] and [Secrecy of the Ancient Spirits; Level 5] Skills have increased!]

I had a strange dream last night, but I should get used to them by now…

When I stood up from the bed in the Moonfang royal castle, I felt that my soul was rather large.

I exuded a calm Aura, almost naturally… it had a strange feeling to it, yet it was very comforting.

Could this be related to my Aura Skill evolving last night through that dream?

Not only that changed, but I also obtained a few strange skills.

I acquired a new \'Inner Realm\' Skill, named \'Inner Realm; Dream World\'… it seems to be related to that dream, and perhaps that god?

Wait for a second, I also obtained his blessing? The blessing of that fictional god of my dreams… it means that it is real somehow?

I was trying to process things slowly, as I sighed and began to snack on an Ambrosia which I had stored in my Item Box, previously produced by one of my production-oriented Slime Clones.

My wives began to wake up as well as I was opening a small portal to the \'Dream World\'.

By activating the skill, a strange drift in space would appear.

I wonder if just like the Soul World, the Dream World is inside of my body somewhere?

I decided to take a peek and…

The vast outer space greeted my sight, countless solar systems, planets, stars, and galaxies. And a presence from within immediately sensed me.

"Bilililili!"

It was the god that was born from the universe I created in my dreams… and this \'Dream World\' was that universe as well.

"Err… hello there, I didn\'t think that we would ever see each other again, but I am glad you\'re fine," I said.

"Bililiilili!"

The Dream God was happy to see me and tried to touch me with its tentacles, probably to hug me or something, but it was incapable of getting outside of the Dream World, its tentacles would dissipate into pink dust.

"Bubublilili?"

"It seems that you cannot exist in my world… Perhaps I could figure a way to bring you here when I develop this Skill better… for now-"

"Masta? What is that?" asked Rimuru, who had recently woken up, glancing at me with sleepy eyes.

"Is that…? A portal to your Inner Realm?" asked Zehe.

"No, this one is different. Look at that… are those stars? And what are those spherical things floating in that night? They give me the impression of the moon, but are colorful" said Nesiphae.

All the girls began to peek on the portal, and the Dream God became flustered, trying to hide out before he was seen.

"It looks like a massive octopus," said Gaby.

"B-Bibilili…" muttered the Dream God.

"Ah, I suppose I will have to explain to you the very thing that went on in my dreams last night, it was quite freaky… Let us do it while having breakfast though,"

As we enjoyed breakfast with my wives and my children who had recently joined us by crossing through the Inner Realm: Soul World, I explained several things to them. From the evolution of my Aura into \'Divine Aura\', the dream where I created a universe and a god, and the new Inner Realm: Dream World Skill, which seems to connect with this place.

"T-This is something that only Honey would be capable of doing, I suppose… but even then, I can\'t help but be baffled…" muttered Zehe.

"Guu! Can we go explore the Dream World? It looks so vast!" said Rimuru.

"Isn\'t it more like… a Dream Universe though? It even has planets and all…" said Amiphossia.

"Planets? What are planets?" asked Ailine.

"I think they\'re like our world, but many," said Vudia.

"…Eh?" Ailine did not seem to understand.

"Well, to put it bluntly, the place where we live in the Realm of Vida, which used to be part of a planet named Genesis. However, by most people, all the realms are still considered the world of Genesis… even though it had already lost its original shape long ago," said Charlotte.

"Indeed, our world could be considered to be formerly a planet. But it is now more like an agglomeration of its pieces that exist in a space created by the World\'s Will and the Supreme God of Space and Creation named \'Astral Road\'. But indeed, there are supposed to be more planets, though life in them hasn\'t been found, not even by gods, and traveling through the vast space is dangerous even to gods to an extent, and also useless unless they want to gather resources for such planets. However, outside planets are said to be filled with different atmospheres and do not possess mana, so the materials harvested from them are mostly useless for gods, who can create such materials without even thinking," said Zehe.

"I see… from where you got such info, Zehe?" I asked.

"I\'ve been chatting with the Gods that serve Honey when I am free, alongside Redgaria and Herbell, we had learned a lot about such things," said Zehe.

"I wonder… is it really a Dream World inside of your Inner Realm, Kireina? Are the things tangible or are they like illusions that dissipate or cannot be touched?" asked Charlotte.

"Well, I cannot enter myself because this Inner Realm is supposed to be inside of me, but I can send Aura Clones, and I\'ve also summoned a few creatures and forced them to enter… they ended up dying in space, but their corpses remained inside. By using my Aura Clone, I am currently exploring a planet inhabited by different types of aliens, there are a few civilizations as well… and they seem all tangible… though it seems that bringing objects or living beings from the Dream World outside is impossible, as they will dissipate. But it is possible to bring things from this world to there, and to retrieve them freely as well… It can be used as vast storage… But I call it a pocket universe… Though an Item Box is more organized than sending random things inside this world just to get lost in space… perhaps we could use a planet as a storage-only world." I said.

My family, even Zehe and Charlotte became baffled once again.

"T-This is incredible… isn\'t this even greater than a God\'s Divine Realm?! You can store so many things, and there are many inhabitable planets to place things and… but could it be possible to harvest materials from this world inside of the Dream World?" asked Zehe.

"I\'m beginning a small colonizing campaign with the help of the Dream God, which I named Bilili. I will start creating ship-shaped golems to explore inhabitable planets and set several buildings around, alongside plantations, and so on, to see if it\'s possible to plant materials brought from our world to the Dream World… Ah, it seems that the civilization of the planet that I am visiting began to worship me already… it seems that by just seeing me, they were instantly charmed." I said.

"Well, the colonizing might be faster than we thought… but just how many planets are there?" asked Zehe.

"Many… several of them are inhabitable. Though using my abilities such as \'Weather Manipulation\', I should be able to change the structure of the atmospheres to suit ourselves, this Dream World seems rather a novice in the use of Magic, and it seems that inserting my Mana into these planets might create mutations in the environment. Well, there is a lot of things to try out," I said while sipping some tea.

"And about Bilili…" muttered Charlotte.

"Well, he is an entity that was naturally created by the life in the Dream World, he is worshiped by most intelligent lives across this universe… and he is rather young, so he has the personality of a young toddler, he likes to play around with its tentacles, but it does not mean any harm to me… it seems rather tame with me and I think he sees me as his mother," I said. It seems that Bilili might become a new adoptive son.

"Bililililili~," said Bilili, greeting everyone through the portal that I had at my side.

"Bilili-chan is cute!" said Vudia.

"Can we go visit him?" asked Ailine.

"Well, I think it should be fine… here, have these though," I said, giving my daughters two special rings I just created with my Creation Skill.

"What are these?" asked Vudia.

"Rings?" asked Ailine.

"Put on these rings… or eat them to get the skill. It will let you breathe any type of gases. You two already have amazing resistance to any type of temperature, and also are immune to poison and toxins as long as they are not enhanced with Divine Energy, so it should be fine with this. Do not worry, I\'ve tried them out already with a monstrosity I had in my Item Box, he\'s floating in the space around there… I think Bilili ate it… ah, but he won\'t eat you two,"

"Yay!" said Vudia, eating the ring and obtaining the \'Internal Breathing Technique\' Skill.

Vudia did so as well, and the two then jumped through the portal.

"W-Wait! Isn\'t it too dangerous though?!" asked Zehe.

"No, I am something similar to an omnipotent god in the Dream World, so I am always seeing them if I concentrate a split mind into the task," I said.

Vudia and Ailine began to float around the space of the Dream World (or universe?). It was as if they had become smaller after crossing the portal. They glanced at the dark vastness of the universe, the planets, and the stars. There was a cumulus of gases, countless comets flying all over the place, and Bilili in the background.

"Bilili-chan!"

Vudia and Ailine flew towards him as Bilili patted the two with his gigantic tentacles that blocked all light.

"Bubulilili…" said Bilili.

"You\'re quite big, aren\'t you…?" wondered Vudia.

"Biiiii…" muttered Bilili, slowly decreasing its vast size, until it became almost of the same size as Vudia and Ailine.

The three then began to fly around space and explored strange planets.

"Ah, it looks fun, can I join, guu?" asked Rimuru.

"I wonder how the difference in time is compared to our world?" asked Brontes.

"The same isn\'t slowed down neither accelerated, it is almost the same… well, perhaps a few seconds of difference. I think I could adjust it to move faster or slower, but I would need to increase the level of the Skill," I said.

Then, most of my wives and children took on the rings I created and went on exploring the Dream World, accompanied by several of my Aura Clones, which were connected to my mind.

By the way, the rings were crafted not by me but by Kajiya and Kusuri in the workshop at my request. They ended up creating around a dozen. I ate them all and then managed to be capable of replicating it with my Armory and Creation Skills. As long as the equipment is not Legendary Rank or above, I am capable of recreating it if I eat enough copies of them.

Alongside my family and Bilili, we went on a small adventure. Although the Dream World seems incredibly wide, it is possible to travel at great speeds just by using our natural skills and speed. But I shapeshifted as a manta-ray-shaped dragon, which had a sleek and slim design, giving an easier time while traveling in \'space\'.

In a few minutes of star gazing, we reached the planet where my Aura Clone was, which was named, by their inhabitants, as \'Kazulu\'.

Kazulu was a planet with a green atmosphere, it had a vast green sea, which seemed to be of this color due to the chemicals it contained. There was a single large continent which had different biomes, and three different sapient species created their own cultures and civilizations.

There were the Kanatum, who were creatures filled with metallic spikes, resembling humanoid sea urchins, they were a battle-oriented sapient race, but were currently in peace with the other two. This species was capable of speaking telepathically or through sound waves emitted by moving the spikes of their bodies.

There were the Takazun, creatures that resembled reptiles covered in different-colored fur, they had twelve legs and were capable of talking telepathically, just like the Kanatum.

And lastly but not least, there were the Achinawe, a race of beautiful bird-like humanoids covered in colorful feathers, they had six wings and strong talons filled with sharp claws. They had a more refined civilization than the other two and were the pioneers in technology as well.

Because they were my creations in a sense, I was capable of speaking with all of them naturally, and my family slowly learned to do so as well, their connecting with me seemed to have allowed them to do so.

As I was immersing my mind and consciousness into the Dream World while exploring it with my family, in the \'real\' world, where I was still having breakfast, I was called by Agatheina.

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