Ling Gu's new chamber was a reflection of his soul: vast, luxurious, and absolutely cold. Dream sat before him, separated by a black lacquered tea table that reflected the lantern light like the surface of a nocturnal lake.
"I thought you could not eat or drink," Ling Gu said as he sipped his rare tea, his voice flowing through the quiet room.
"I can, but I do not need to," Dream replied.
"What a useful skill." Ling Gu smiled. "
Guess, my friend, how I am different from you?"
"Feelings?" Dream said.
"Wrong," Ling Gu said, his laugh faint and cold. "From what I know of you, you do feel.
You, like many, are more talented than I. For every sky, there is a sky above it. But I... am more complete than you. I am the embodiment of perfection. I am invincible. And I want you, Dream, to become like me. Invincible. As your friend, I need you to be strong."
"In a week," Ling Gu continued, "you will depart with 'The Raging Tiger' to attack the city of Heli. Prepare yourself."
"Did you not send a messenger for their surrender?"
"Do you think they will surrender?" Ling Gu laughed. "Ah, and right. Take these things.
"
He pushed a collection of items across the table. A simple, broken metal crown. A cracked stone plate. And two meticulously engraved metal pictures. Dream recognized them immediately. The crown of the king he had found crucified on his throne.
The plate of "Arda" from the smithy. And the pictures of "Deo."
"Did you not need these?"
Dream froze. "How did you know I needed them?" he asked directly.
Ling Gu laughed. "That, my friend, is why I am the embodiment of perfection." He stood.
"But before you use them, I want you to go to the blacksmith. Give him your sword, the 'Ash Blade'. Let him make it suit you better. He is here in the palace."
Kāgē appeared at the door as if summoned by a thought. "Take him.
I thought I had gotten rid of you," Kāgē sighed under her breath as she led him through the corridors. It was the first glimpse of genuine emotion he had ever seen from her.
On their way, they encountered the Second Elder, "Li Ho." He looked at Dream with absolute contempt, shoved him with his shoulder as he passed, and continued on his way without a word.
They arrived at an old, dilapidated building in a corner of the palace. The smithy. The place was the complete opposite of the palace's rigid order; a living chaos of metal and fire. And in its center, a bald dwarf with a long beard was working.
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Rumil.
Dream was surprised. He did not think dwarves existed in Murim.
"Master Rumil," Kāgē said. "You have a customer." And she disappeared.
Rumil sighed. "This looks like it will be a tough job."
He was focused on Dream's massive body, but his eyes suddenly widened when he saw the sword at his waist. "Give me that sword. Quickly."
Dream handed him the "Ash Blade." Rumil held it with both hands, his eyes gleaming with an expert's passion. "I don't believe this... a masterpiece. A rapier. So rare. But... what a pity.
What? It is an incomplete work," Rumil said. "As if they were imitating something they didn't know how to make. The original sword they were copying... was at least at the level of a 'Blade of Fate', if not higher."
He looked at Dream. "Fine. I will adjust it, improve it, and make it fit your body. But first, show me your fighting style. Outside."
He handed it back to him. Outside, Dre
am demonstrated the movements of the "Path of the Digger."
"I see," Rumil said after he finished. "Give it back to me. It will take more than two weeks."
"I am going to war in a week."
"Then take this," Rumil said, giving him a simple iron sword. "Use it until your sword is ready. Now go."
Dream was walking back to his cell, thinking. He remembered Wěn. He had spoken with him so much, watched him die... but he had felt nothing. What was the difference from "Alene"?
Why had he cried for her?
Suddenly, the world warped.
It wasn't a headache. His vision was fracturing, turning into lines of data and digital probabilities. He saw the stone walls as grids of energy and the passing servants as phantoms of biological signatures.
His senses were drowning in a flood of cold information. He was seeing the world as "404" saw it.
He felt something strange trying to take control of his body from within, a cold, logical consciousness trying to reclaim its throne.
"The mission... must live... find feelings..."
He fell to his knees, clutching his stone head.
"No!" he screamed in the silence of his consciousness. "I am Dream! I AM DREAM!"
It was a violent and real battle of wills. After moments that felt like an eternity, the data receded, and the colors and shapes returned to normal.
He got up, panting. He had survived, but he realized he was not alone in this body.
He returned to his room and closed the door.
He sat on the floor and placed the artifacts before him: the bracelet, the crown, the plate, and the two pictures. After regaining control, his decision was clear. He needed answers, a deeper understanding, to strengthen his own identity against this logical ghost.
Dream pressed the answer in his mind. (Yes).
Dream disappears. He finds himself in an empty space. Another message appears.
< 'Deo' or 'Cairo'? With whom will you begin? >
The space vanished. "Dream" vanished. And the ability activated.
A narrator's voice began, ancient and deep.
"Our story this time will not be in the Chosen World. But before the Chosen World. Before the Great Merger.
To the world of the dwarves... World Number Seventy-Seven."
The scene changed. Towers of glass and steel touched a clear blue sky. Vehicles floated and glided silently between them. This world was incredibly advanced.
In a huge palace situated in the heart of an ancient forest, a woman's cry echoed.
"He's coming out!"
A child was born, and the nurses wept.
"Give him to me," the mother said, her voice tired but full of strength. She looked at her little son's face.
"His name is 'Deo'," she said with a confident smile. "And he will be the greatest sorcerer in the world. I am sure of it."
And that day was the day the first... but not the last, magic swordsman was born.
A day that would change the history of this world forever.