Sand and wind spiraled within the Endless Desert.

As the city emerged, the surrounding storm grew increasingly powerful.

However, the city appeared for only a brief moment before it was swallowed by overwhelming black winds and dust, fading from sight.

Oran had heard of the horrors of the forbidden zone, but this was his first time approaching its core area so closely.

But he was an apostle, after all. In his view, he should now be able to visit those places that were once considered dangerous.

He had no idea what lay ahead or what challenges he was about to encounter.

Joy overwhelmed him at finally finding his destination.

“Lamp Spirits!”

“Descend!”

Oran commanded the Lamp Spirits to advance. Their fiery forms surged forward like streams of light, plunging headlong into the Black Storm, determined to break through.

But he quickly realized that no matter how hard he pushed, the city remained just as distant.

The relentless Black Storm continued to force him back, its fury stripping away both the Lamp Spirits and the supernatural aura that shielded him.

As he ventured further, the storm grew increasingly terrifying.

Even though Oran was an apostle, he could not resist such terrifying power.

Gazing at the black hurricane around him, Oran suddenly remembered something.

“Black Storm?”

A similar storm encircled Ruhe Beast Island, dividing it from the outside world.

A true sense of crisis washed over Oran. He knew the name “Black Storm” all too well.

The Snake People on Ruhe Beast Island claimed that this could not be a natural phenomenon, but was instead a barrier set by the divine.

Except for the legendary Avel People who had ventured out, no one else had ever left Ruhe Beast Island.

But Oran’s thoughts returned to Elena.

“No,” he muttered to himself.

“I have to get in. I spent so long searching for this place.”

There was a time when an artifact known as the Destined Marionette had managed to find its way into the God-Descended City of the Lost Kingdom.

However, the one once known as Puppet Oran was no longer a puppet. Moreover, a certain sovereign had issued a strict decree prohibiting anything lifeless from entering.

To fulfill Elena’s wishes and repay her for her past help, Oran clutched his Lamp of Covenant and charged inward without any regard for his own safety.

Finally, the Black Storm stripped away his supernatural aura entirely. The Lamp Spirits dissolved into light, their faint cries filled with sorrow.

Even the lamp in his hand flickered unsteadily in the storm, its flame barely holding on.

Whoosh!

As the storm engulfed him, his body was stripped away in an instant. All that remained was a skeleton of stark white bones, his internal organs laid bare to the relentless fury.

Fortunately, his heart began to glow with a miraculous light, shielding him from harm.

Oran was at his limit, and by now, he had reached the heart of the storm.

He dared not go any deeper.

If he went any further, he would truly die.

He took out a stone. Gritting his teeth, he shouted into the storm.

“Lady Elena, this is as far as I can take you.”

“You’ll have to go the rest of the way on your own.”

“Go!”

Oran used his greatest power, hurling the stone forward with all his mental energy toward the ancient city wrapped in the depths of the storm.

The stone flickered with a faint light, forming a parabolic arc as it fell toward its destination.

His act appeared to stir something deep within the Endless Desert.

Oran, the apostle, had pushed forward at any cost. This caused the entity in the depths of the desert to partially awaken and release a fraction of its power.

Whoooo!

The wind grew fiercer.

A chilling aura enveloped the entire desert.

A massive black shadow appeared, covering the entire Endless Desert.

Oran lifted his gaze, focusing on the peak of the storm.

Above the Black Storm appeared the shadow of a demon god so enormous that its entirety could not be seen.

It stood between heaven and earth, seeming to transcend the sky itself.

Oran stared with wide eyes, his mouth agape.

“That dream!”

The memory came back to Oran at once.

Once, he had unintentionally spoken the Creator’s name. His consciousness had seemed to open a direct connection to the Dream Realm, and it felt as though he had left his body, drifting high above Ruhe Beast Island.

At that time, he saw the terrifying shadows of demon gods looming over Ruhe Beast Island. One after another, they gazed down upon the mortal world with an overwhelming presence.

And now, he finally stood face to face with one such demon god.

“Ah!”

Oran’s mind went blank. All he could do was let out a piercing cry.

Faced with such a terrifying entity, he lost all control over his body and could only scream unconsciously, awaiting annihilation.

One by one, terrifying shadows of the demon god’s followers emerged from the darkness, surrounding Oran and the stone.

At that moment, Elena’s Heart shone with a radiant light, casting forth a series of vivid images.

A woman’s voice came from the void, letting out a long sigh.

“Ruhe Great God!”

“We… we… are…”

The images seemed to stutter, playing intermittently and accompanied by a great deal of static.

However, it was evident that the demon god’s attention had been drawn.

The terrifying demon god’s gaze left Oran and fell upon Elena’s Heart.

“The descendants of Ense and Boon.”

“They are the rebellious children of King of Wisdom Redlichia, one of the Divine King’s sons.”

“They are the people upon whom God Yinsai bestowed the Ruhe Seal, and they were once your masters.”

“This place is… our homeland… and royal city.”

The demon god seemed to understand something.

It became much more awake, its eyes opening fully to stare at Elena’s Heart.

As this happened, unusual celestial phenomena swept across Ruhe Beast Island. Fierce winds howled, and heavy rains poured down in countless places.

Finally, the demon god seemed to have confirmed something.

The demon god’s followers, rushing from the darkness, suddenly stopped. The storm blocking Elena’s Heart began to recede, allowing it to fall.

Like a star, it slowly descended into the city.

The demon god returned to its slumber, and all unusual phenomena disappeared.

Oran, his mind having gone blank, only now began to slowly regain his senses.

His heart radiated a brilliant light. In that glow, his body began to take shape once more.

But at the same time, the storm was pushing him outward.

Although the demon god had disappeared, a profound terror still enveloped Oran.

“What was that?”

Oran had never seen the Ruhe beast before. He had no idea what had just happened.

He was blown outward by the Black Storm. While still in shock, he looked down at the royal city of the People of the Abyss.

Whoosh!

In the storm, no other sounds could be heard.

He saw the outline of the city, the giant buildings and tall altars, the towering stone tablets.

He saw a blurry shadow.

After passing through a layer of a barrier, it transformed into God’s Form.

The heroic figure had its back to Oran as it walked toward the depths of the city. Every movement was filled with a sense of power. Although he could hear no sound, her movements suggested the soft collision and rubbing of armor.

Her figure was tall. A Ruhe sword hung at her waist, and she wore armor with an elegant cape draped over it.

Her blue hair was tied into a ponytail that reached her thighs, swaying with each step.

She walked into that city.

Just before the city gates opened, she turned her head.

And looked at Oran.

Oran’s gaze was drawn to a peculiar pendant resting on her chest. It was a compass.

“Elena!”

This was the first time Oran had ever seen her.

Next, everything before Oran’s eyes was consumed by the storm.

It was as if a television had lost its signal, replaced by a screen filled with dense static.

“She went in. She’s inside that city.”

A surge of joy for Elena filled Oran’s heart.

“No!”

“She did more than just enter.”

“She found her way back.”

A smile appeared on Oran’s face, and he let out a long sigh of relief.

The fierce winds swirled around him, lifting him high into the sky before dropping him onto the yellow sand outside.

Oran’s journey back took him through the Sunrise Mountains.

His thoughts kept returning to what he had seen in the Endless Desert.

“What was that city?”

“What was that terrifying demonic shadow?”

“Why did Elena insist on returning there?”

Oran had found Elena’s Heart in the sea when he was very young.

At that time, he believed it was nothing more than an ordinary gemstone from the sea.

It was not until he became an alchemist that he realized how extraordinary this stone was. He realized this was no ordinary stone, but something left behind by an apostle approaching their end.

He studied the power of this stone, wanting to understand its secrets.

In the end, the stone turned him into a puppet.

From beginning to end, he never knew Elena’s story. He never understood the story of the People of the Abyss or the weight of the responsibility carried by Elena’s Heart.

But he hoped she would accomplish what she wanted.

Lost in thought, Oran suddenly realized he had wandered to the edge of a wide river.

Oran looked up to see a mountain river flowing down from the sky, rushing toward the distance.

A river flowing down from the heavens.

At the end of the river was a mountain that seemed to float in the sky. Silver flowers bloomed on it, and a rainbow was reflected behind it.

“Is this the Miracle Garden of the God of Alchemy?”

Oran knew a divine being was inviting him to visit his realm.

Every alchemist had the opportunity to return to the realm of the God of Alchemy upon their death.

Only a few lucky ones could see this sky waterfall while still alive.

A famous boat, drawn by Lamp Spirits, descended from the sky and arrived before Oran.

Oran boarded the boat, following the waterfall upward. Silver flowers bloomed from vines hanging from the sky, swaying in the wind.

Whispers could be faintly heard in the wind.

“He’s a bit nervous.”

“And a bit excited.”

“He is an apostle.”

Oran moved cautiously, keeping his head low as he walked through the sea of flowers and across the crystal bridge.

He looked at the river of desire reflected below the bridge, completely unmoved.

At last, he found himself surrounded by lighthouses and lamps as he stepped into the divine hall.

Treasures were piled into mountains. Upon the golden treasure mountain was the divine seat, with numerous Lamp Spirits lined up on both sides.

The God of Alchemy and his wife sat side by side, their gaze falling upon Oran, who prostrated himself below.

“Oran. I told you we would meet again.”

Just from hearing the voice, Oran knew it was the same light shadow he had seen before at the Tut Textile Machine Manufacturing Workshop.

“So it was God who chose me.”

Oran presented his revised 《Art of God’s Grace for Alchemists》 to his god. On his journey, he had thought long and hard about what to present to the divine.

Everything he had to offer amounted to just this.

God Iva smiled warmly at Oran, holding the carefully revised, copper-shelled book. He looked at Oran with approval, his voice filled with satisfaction as he spoke.

“I have chosen many people.”

“But you alone have done the best, accomplishing what pleases me most.”

God Iva raised his hand as a beam of light descended gracefully from the divine seat above.

“To reward you for what you have accomplished,”

“I grant you God’s Form. From this moment, you shall be my true apostle in the mortal world.”

“I hope you will take alchemy to a higher level and build an even more perfect alchemical kingdom.”

An apostle who possessed a mythical organ could already begin to change parts of his form.

This type of bestowal originally began with the Dream Sovereign. In this era, however, it started with the Life Sovereign, who transformed her apostle into God’s Form.

Of course, ordinary people had no knowledge of how to transform into God’s Form. However, Iva, being a divine being, would undoubtedly possess such knowledge.

Bathed in the divine light, Oran’s form began to transform. He slowly changed from a Snake Person into the revered God’s Form, a symbol of divine recognition and grace.

The snake tail changed into two legs, a transformation that symbolized the highest honor and divine recognition in the eyes of the Snake People.

From this moment on, they were no longer ordinary mortals. They had become apostles under the divine, truly recognized as such.

As both a devoted follower of the God of Alchemy and a skilled alchemist, Oran felt a mix of excitement and anticipation.

“Thank you, Great God of Alchemy and Golden Queen.”

Oran stood up. Having once been a puppet, he was already accustomed to walking on two legs.

He raised his head, finally daring to look at the divine beings above.

In the divine palace of the God of Alchemy and Desire, Oran’s gaze fell upon a painting displayed behind the divine seat.

It closely resembled the mural he had seen in the Blood Kingdom, yet there were striking differences.

Above, the eternal stars that transcended the river of time stood tall, transformed into figures of light and shadow standing on the divine platform.

To the left, the Life Sovereign sat directly on the divine platform, at the feet of the Creator.

King Redlichia knelt silently, resembling a statue.

However, behind the Dream Sovereign’s divine seat, a boy stood with his hands folded above the seat. The corners of his mouth curved into a mischievous and carefree smile, full of charm.

He faced them all with ease, as if they were not gods but family. It seemed the one on the divine seat before him was not the Dream Sovereign, but his own sister, and he had the complete air of an elder brother.

Oran couldn’t help but blurt out.

“How?”

“It’s different?”

Oran stared at this creation divine genealogy chart, dazed.

Besides the kneeling King Redlichia, there was another person on it.

He looked at the person standing behind the Dream Sovereign, his mind filled with an unvoiced question. Who is he?

The God of Alchemy Iva noticed Oran’s gaze and even saw through his thoughts.

“He is Polo.”

“The first Divine Messenger.”

Oran looked up and asked, “Divine Messenger?”

The God of Alchemy Iva nodded. “The Spirit race is also known as the messengers of God Yinsai.”

Since the God of Alchemy had already spoken, Oran continued with his questions. “Why does he stand behind the Dream Sovereign? Why is he not included in the creation divine genealogy chart in the Blood Kingdom?”

Oran was confused.

What gave him the right to appear in this picture?

What gave him the right to be closer to the Creator and stand behind the Dream Sovereign?

The God of Alchemy looked at Oran with a serious expression and said, “Not ‘he.’ But… ‘He’!”

“He was once the Dream Sovereign.”

“He is the Creator’s youngest son.”

The former ferryman from the Creator’s realm had explained why this figure did not appear in the creation divine genealogy charts of the Blood Kingdom and the Sky Temple.

“He was born later than the King of Wisdom and the Life Sovereign, the youngest son of God Yinsai, and the original sovereign of the Dream Ability.”

“He descended to the mortal world as a messenger. At that time, there was only one divine being in the world, and that was God Yinsai. The Trilobite People only knew Him as the Divine Messenger and only called Him the Divine Messenger.”

“He also died as the Divine Messenger, transforming into the Dream Realm.”

“And Lady Hila was the second spirit personally created by God Yinsai. She inherited Polo’s authority and became the second Dream Sovereign.”

Polo was born during the Yinsai Kingdom era.

The first Sky Priest Schlode obtained the Sun Cup that had fallen from the God-Given Land. He was the first believer to guess the divine will through imagination. The Sun Cup he cultivated eventually devoured the second King of Wisdom, Yesael.

But this Sun Cup returned to the God-Given Land, and under Yinsai’s bestowal, the Dream Ability was born.

Yinsai gave Him a name like the sun and called Him Polo.

He yearned for the outside world like a child.

He transformed into wind, into the Creator’s eyes, into the messenger of God Yinsai, and went to the mortal world.

Everyone called Him the Divine Messenger.

Finally, He died alongside the Star Queen, dying in the wind, yearning for freedom and the outside world.

It was the first saint, Tito, who sent Him back.

By that time, the Sun Cup Flower Sea had already filled the God-Given Land, spirits were everywhere in the flower sea, and the Dream Spirit Hila was already standing to the right of the divine seat.

The Trilobite People could no longer distinguish who was born earlier, as if everyone in the Sun Cup Flower Sea was a divine messenger.

Even Hila was initially just a Divine Messenger, only gradually being called the Dream Sovereign after the Henir Dynasty.

The God of Alchemy said, “This is what Lady Hila told me.”

“Because by the time I was born, all of this had already passed.”

“God Yinsai never mentions these things.”

“He doesn’t care about mortal faith, doesn’t care how everyone views Him, because He is Yinsai.”

The God of Alchemy now recalled that saying.

Your belief in me is no concern of mine.

Perhaps from that moment on, the communication and connection between Yinsai and humans became a gulf.

Without Redlichia as the pivot, the mortal world could no longer know the divine will.

People no longer communed with the divine will. Everyone only believed in the god in their hearts.

The god they imagined.

Oran asked, “Can sovereigns die as well?”

Oran blurted this out, but immediately felt that his words were foolish.

Hadn’t the origin of wisdom, Divine King Redlichia, already died?

His wisdom flowed to the mortal world.

All were the continuation of His bloodline and the recipients of His grace, from the ancient Trilobite People of the past to the Snake and Winged People of this era.

The God of Alchemy Iva continued.

“They are sovereigns!”

“They are almost the greatest existences in this world. They can willfully choose anything.”

“They can possess life, can create life, can possess everything in this world.”

“And of course, can embrace eternal peace.”

“They can choose life, can choose death, can choose creation, and can also choose destruction.”

“And Their greatest aspect is that They did not choose willfulness and recklessness.”

“They chose to embrace peace.”

God Iva stood up, his gaze fixed on Oran.

“Perhaps.”

“They haven’t died.”

“Because you are the continuation of King Redlichia. All wisdom species are the extension of His life, and your existence is His will.”

“And the entire Dream Realm is the incarnation of Polo. He made His dream become the divine realm of God Yinsai, and also accommodated all dreams, becoming the home of all souls.”

God Iva’s form flickered, appearing before Oran.

He looked at him earnestly and asked.

“If one day you could also become mythical, Oran,” Iva asked, “how would you choose?”

Oran opened his mouth but could not utter a word.

“When you feel that this life has reached its fulfillment,” Iva said to him, “you may come to me.”

“I will gift you the Path of Wisdom.”

“Then you can tell me what your choice is.”

Storage Spirit Realm

Saint Raphael walked down from the white tower, coming to the foot of an incredibly tall rainbow tree.

Hehe!

“My rainbow tree is so big now. It will surely catch up to sister Florrie’s.”

This rainbow tree already possessed the law of space. Each flower that bloomed on it carried the power of this law, giving birth to a temporary dimensional space.

Born when the flowers bloomed, annihilated when the flowers fell.

This time varied between ten and twenty years.

In the mortal world, alchemists and artifact makers with the necessary ability would communicate with the rainbow tree through rituals. They sought a petal as seed material to create temporary storage artifacts.

These artifacts certainly could not compare to the eternal space compartments inside the white storage tower, but they had the advantage of a smaller cost.

They had recently become very popular in the mortal world.

Saint Raphael approached her rainbow tree, sensing that someone had sent her a letter along with something else.

As the tree grew taller, the hollow became harder to reach. Saint Raphael grabbed a wooden step from below to help her reach it.

She walked to the top of the step, reaching her hand inside.

Finally, she took out several items from the vortex.

“Ah!” she exclaimed with delight. “It’s my letter!”

Receiving things was still very exciting.

It was a letter from Oran to her, along with a box.

Saint Raphael was so happy that she jumped up on the wooden step.

“Not just a letter, but a gift too!”

Saint Raphael opened Oran’s letter and saw the book he sent her, 《The Gospel of the Wood Nymph》.

But then she looked confused, for she had found another letter underneath.

“Why is there another letter?”

“Who sent it to me?”

As Saint Raphael opened it, a look of sudden realization dawned on her face.

She discovered that this was a letter she had sent to herself when she left.

“So this is the letter I wrote to myself!”

Although Saint Raphael clearly knew what was written inside, she still unfolded it.

The paper plane unfolded, revealing a big smiley face drawn on it.

It listed her goals for going to the mortal world.

1. Make many some at least one friend.

It seemed that even Saint Raphael, who was very popular in the Creator’s realm, was not sure if she would be popular when she went to the mortal world.

2. Receive gifts from others, especially thoughtful gifts, very special gifts.

3. Eat lots of delicious food.

4. Play with lots of fun things.

5. Experience a great adventure.

…

Saint Raphael smiled as she finished reading the first few items, but she laughed embarrassedly when she saw the rest.

“I planned so much when I left. How did I forget all the rest?”

Saint Raphael looked again at the letter Oran had sent her and the gift he had given her, a very special storybook.

She recalled her journey to the mortal world and the changes that had happened to her.

“At least I managed to complete the first few goals quite well!”