"This is the current situation. We must find a way to pull Alka out of his immense grief, otherwise he will be trapped in it forever, never to recover."
Sofia, looking at everyone, spoke about the current situation.
Everyone on the ship stood on the deck.
Listening to Sofia's account of the overall situation.
"How can we pull him out now? Based on the current situation, he must be experiencing this problem in his dream.
But the problem is that we can't freely enter and exit our own dreams. We don't have Alka's ability, let alone enter his dreams," Jason said.
"Remember, I once touched the Dream Catcher and obtained a spell from it, [Sleep]," Julia said.
"Later, Alka and I researched it, and it seems to work like a weaker version of the Dream Catcher's forced dreaming. Can we use this spell to achieve something?"
Julia asked the others uncertainly.
The researchers on board might understand these questions better.
Everyone fell into deep thought. Alka's situation was dire.
They didn't know much, and they couldn't even enter Alka's dreams.
"I've studied the dream world. Let me think... give me a moment," Simon kept saying, scratching his head.
Knowing the dream world existed, and facing the curiosity of a mechanic, he couldn't help but investigate.
Alka was happy to share her research on the dream world with him.
She even woke him from his dreams several times.
Everyone on board had this experience.
Especially Sofia and Lucilia, who often woke from their dreams.
When Alka first mastered the Dream Catcher, they had been the ones to experiment with the conditions and abilities within dreams.
As their awakenings increased, they both nearly mastered how to easily wake up and fall asleep in their dreams.
"We both have the ability to awaken in dreams, but the problem is we can't enter or exit our own dream bubbles.
Let alone enter Alka's bubble," Sofia said after discussing with Lusilia.
"Think about it... the contract, the contract... the palace..."
Simon, frowning in thought, looked up at the crowd and said, "I have an idea, but it's not guaranteed to work."
"Through the contract in the palace, our dreams will definitely appear around Alka's.
Now we know Lily is definitely in Alka's dream bubble. I've seen Lily in dreams before, able to enter and exit Alka's bubble freely."
"And Lily relies on Lusilia's treasure to exist. They are also closely connected."
At this point, Simon raised his index finger and continuously pulled various materials from his pocket ring. It even included a number of dream materials, obtained from Alka and generally used for research.
After all, they could harm the soul, making them rare and valuable materials.
Simon began smelting and crafting on the spot.
With the combined power of his treasured fingers and his precision hands, he quickly crafted two intricate structures.
A pale pink sphere, surrounded by a metal ring, silently rotated and floated.
"Take these two items. They will follow you into the dream world. They're crafted from pure dream materials and infused with Alka's pink mist."
"I've enhanced the pink mist, using Lusilia's link to strengthen your connection with Alka, increasing your chances of entering Alka's dream bubble.
Now it all depends on whether you can succeed."
Simon finished his words in one breath, placing the two items in the hands of Sofia and Lusilia.
They were the only two who could awaken freely from their dreams, and they were the ones who entered Alka's dreams the most.
Adding to their mutual connection, they were the best choice for entering dreams.
But this was just a guess, a guess that they could enter Alka's dream bubble through this item and the connection between Lucilia's soul and Lily.
Everyone knew that the chances were actually very low.
Alka was now a descendant of the Dream Kings and a god who dreamed of gods.
His bubble had long been incredibly strong; it was far from easy to enter.
But the situation was critical, and there was no time for them to verify it. They had to resort to whatever solutions they could think of, improvising accordingly.
"That's not safe enough," Matresha, who had also studied Alka's dream bubble, felt.
After saying this, she looked at Julia.
The two had a quick exchange. Julia then looked at Sofia and Lusilia and said, "Lucilia is essentially a spirit. Didn't she often reside within Alka's body before?
The two of them still maintain a spiritual connection."
"We've studied this connection. We'll perform a ritual for you to simply connect your two souls. This way, Sofia can also share in the enhanced ability to enter Alka's dream through Lusilia's connection."
Sofia and Lusilia looked at each other and nodded in unison, agreeing without hesitation.
There was no time for further deliberation.
This was the only way.
Everyone sprang into action.
Matthia and Julia quickly mapped out the ritual process, the inscription of the spell, the application of the mystical power, the selection of the strange materials.
They even plucked some of Alka's hair. Through incantations, patterns, and mysterious chants directed to the souls, the two were successfully consummated into a soul-linking contract.
An invisible thread connected the two.
This contract, inspired by the one Lucilia had once signed with Alka, allowed her to enter Alka's body with ease, and even remain with his soul with his consent.
"Are you ready? I'm going to cast a deep sleep on you two," Julia said, looking at the two.
"Come on."
"No problem."
After hearing their responses, Julia said no more. Two runes appeared in her hands, imprinted on each of their bodies.
A faint pink mist drifted out.
The two quickly closed their eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
"Huh... Now we can only wait for good news from them."
Everyone stood around in silence.
"Roar!" A dragon's roar suddenly erupted from the poop.
"Urulius has awakened." Hearing the roar, Jason quickly turned toward the poop.
Then he felt a tremendous force reflected back at him, a crystal shell enveloping him.
He quickly retracted his magic power, swiftly halting the transformation.
The sudden surge in power nearly overwhelmed him.
"I'll go check it out," Jason said, and everyone nodded.
Watching Jason scurry toward the poop,
"What a plethora of things! What exactly happened to Alka in her dream?" Simon couldn't help but wonder, gazing at the sea.
Furthermore, the timing of the crystal dragon's awakening seemed a bit too coincidental.
He worried that Alka's actions might have affected its growth, potentially causing her harm.
Hearing this, Julia looked at the two people who had fallen asleep.
"It's definitely something serious. The surrounding environment has changed."
"What changed?" Juanlu asked curiously.
"It's gotten...better."
This statement struck everyone as a bit strange.
Clearly, this didn't align with the situation they were facing.
...
At this moment, Alka...
In his own world, he was completely buried under the snow.
Hirvi, leaning beside him, was also buried in the snow, only his antlers protruding from the top, faintly emitting a glow.
The gold and silver energy within the crystal pillars continued to transform into tiny starlight, drifting down from the sky toward Alka's position.
And Alka...
his mind was completely immersed in sorrow, struggling within a sea of grief and sorrow.
He felt like he was drowning in this ocean of grief and sorrow, gasping frantically for air to escape.
A faint influx of energy steadied him. At least now, his condition was stable, the ocean's pull being neutralized.
Amidst his struggle, he looked toward the sea of sorrow that had trapped him.
Looking at the waves, at his own reflection in the water.
He seemed to...
see more.
He was now temporarily connected to the world, connected to this shattered, nearly dead world.
He and the world...
felt a shared feeling.
This came from the innate ability of the nature spirit.
This amplified certain emotions in Alka, and something hidden within him began to surface.
In this ocean brimming with emotion, nothing could be hidden; it would be washed out, amplified, and felt.
I want to know... why I came here... how did I get here?
I want to go home... not really. I can't bear to leave Sofia, Lusilia, and my companions on the ship.
I want to... go home, even if it's just to take a look...
The people here care about him. He's long been bound to this world.
But he was born, raised, and lived in his former world.
Even if it's not about going back, just wanting to take a look.
This thought had long been buried, even extinguished.
Because reason told Alka that it was just a delusion, without any hope.
But the arrival of the bronze hammer had rekindled this hope within him.
This thought was once again ignited in his heart, quietly burning. Even if he buried it deep within his heart, he couldn't extinguish it.
After all, there are other worlds, aren't there?
He, like the copper hammer, was an outsider, only his soul had arrived.
His emotions, his current connection to the world,made him begin to see himself in reverse, all the way back to this moment in his life.
The sea suddenly grew calm, yet the ocean of sorrow still drowned Alka.
But Alka's attention was elsewhere.
He saw everything before him in the reflection.
The experiences of his dreams... the excavation of Vastva... the journey on the forward route... the storms of the sea away from his home...
The sea was projecting his experiences, stretching backwards into the past.
Until Golden Wheat Island... the moment Alka, his soul cursed by the silver coin, woke up from the dead.
At this moment.
The reflection on the sea split.
It became two unequal paths.
One was the real Alka, digging and writing something in a manual.
The other was also him, his soul drifting in the darkness.
Alka had already chosen the direction he wanted to look.
The sea began to recede.
…
Lucelia woke from her dream.
So did Sofia.
Their bubbles appeared on either side of Alka's giant bubble.
Sofia, waking up, looked at the device in her palm and, as expected, fell into the dream with her.
So what should she do now?
Suddenly, she felt a pulling force from her side and quickly grasped the device to receive it.
The entire bubble began to move within the dream world.
Then it collided with Lucelia's bubble.
She felt something on the membrane of her bubble, as if someone was trying to enter.
He quickly agreed.
An arm appeared in the sky.
It was Lucilia's hand that passed through the membrane, but it was only a single hand, still waving in the air.
Sofia quickly flew up, grasped her hand, and pulled her in.
Lucilia, now of normal size, floated in: "I'm in."
"This method works. We can slightly touch the bubble through the soul connection."
"Let's go, Alka is waiting for us."
Lucilia nodded, grasped Sofia's hand with one hand, and pulled her into her bubble.
Then, using the soul connection, she made her bubble collide with Alka's, tightly clinging to each other.
The two of them floated into the air together.
Holding the device firmly in their hands.
Lucilia reached in with her own hand, holding Sofia's with her other hand.
"No, we can only reach in one hand. We need someone inside to help us."
The problem was that Alka's bubble was already swamped with sorrow.
Even their bubble had begun to snow. Who could pull them in?
"So what should we do now?"
Inside Alka's bubble.
Hirvi, who had been clinging to Alka, suddenly poked his head out of the snow and looked at the swaying arm of the sky.
Finally, he looked down at Alka.
It was debating whether to leave.
"Ah..."
A clear deer cry echoed outward.
The snow pile that buried Lily shook, but only slightly.
Lily still hadn't woken up.
Looking at this situation, Hirvi knew he could only rely on himself.
After a brief moment of deliberation, it unhesitatingly kicked off, rapidly launching itself into the sky.
As it left Alka's side, Alka, having just finished reading his origins, was suddenly submerged by the sea. The sea of sorrow once again tugged at him, attempting to pull him under.
Alka frantically struggled on the surface.
His swimming skills were useless.
A fierce suction tugged at him from below, attempting to drag him down and sink.
At this moment, Hirvi, soaring rapidly into the sky, bit down on the arm.
"Ah! Something's biting me!" Lucilia exclaimed from outside.
Then, a force surged through her arm. She quickly grasped Sofia and followed the force, successfully entering Alka's dream.
"It's so cold!"
As the two entered, they felt a boundless chill sweeping over them.
Then they saw Hirvi, still biting Lucilia's hand.
"Hirvi, are you okay? Where's Alka? How's he?"
Sofia asked hurriedly, looking at the deer.
Lucilia also hurriedly looked at it.
The two had been in and out of Alka's new dream bubble many times, and of course they had seen this deer before.
Hirvi didn't hesitate and quickly passed between their crotches.
He then carried them both on his back.
He sprinted towards the snowdrift where Alka was buried.
"He's taking us to Alka. It's urgent." Understanding Hirvi's intention, the two said nothing, their expressions tense as they stared ahead.
Hirvi's speed was incredibly fast, his four deer legs stomping through the air, creating an illusory path.
He quickly rushed into the snowdrift.
The two immediately jumped down and dug through the snow.
The icy snow enveloped them, and the snow that buried Alka was even colder.
A wave of grief washed over them like crazy.
"Wuwuwu!"
The two cried incessantly, digging through the snowdrift.
They soon saw Alka, wearing a mask and holding deer legs.
"What should we do now? How do we pull him out?"
Looking at Alka, Sofia asked.
"Ah!"
The cry of a deer echoed, accompanied by a clear ringing sound like bells.
A large amount of golden and silver energy rained down from the sky onto the two of them.
They could feel their sadness ease slightly.
"I can enter Alka's soul. Let me try," Lucilia said, pressing her entire body against Alka's before fading and disappearing.
She had fallen into a dream, and it was the spiritual power of her soul that had awakened.
The moment she entered, she used the power of [Bloody Flag].
The puppet girls outside all collapsed to the ground, feeling their strength completely drained, limp and without a single ounce of strength.
At this moment, Lusilia, having gathered most of the puppet's power, also successfully entered Alka's soul.
She possessed greater spiritual energy, enabling her to resist.
Endless sorrow transformed into an ocean, drowning Alka's soul.
The soul realm had become something she had never imagined.
Lucilia quickly floated above the soul realm, scanning its surroundings.
"Alka! Alka?"
She didn't know why the soul realm had become like this. It was vast, too vast.
Even sorrow had transformed into an ocean.
How could Alka not sink within?
Lucilia felt an inexplicable sense of despair, a deeper sorrow.
In this sorrow, Alka might have already completely submerged herself.
Thinking this way, she still didn't give up, searching the ocean surface.
Relying on that single connection in her soul, she continued her search. Suddenly, she spotted a struggling arm on the surface.
"Alka!"
She quickly flew over, grasped Alka's hand with both hands, and pulled it upward with all her might.
Alka, already feeling like she was drowning, felt the power emanating from her hand.
The sea surged continuously.
Drops of water, condensed from grief, splashed onto Lucelia's soul.
The sorrow infected her soul deeply.
Lucelia felt her strength was almost gone. The grief and tears made her entire soul tremble.
"No! No, I can't cry!"
She screamed, pulling frantically, resisting the sinking of her soul.
However, the power emanating from Alka below grew stronger and stronger, and even Lucelia's hand was about to sink into the water.
"Wake up, come out!"
As Lucelia's hands were submerged in the water, she felt a surge of grief.
She was nearly exhausted, clutching Alka's hand tightly, not letting go.
But there was almost no chance of pulling upwards, so she could only hold on tight.
She felt as if she were being dragged down into the boundless ocean of grief, sinking together, never to awaken.
The force grew stronger, and Lucelia's ability to maintain her composure weakened.
The grief began to penetrate her soul.
At that moment,
the pressure eased.
Another pair of arms reached into the water and grasped Alka.