Moonlight Jungle

A shimmering ring of light hung in midair, its surface rippling like water. Through the undulating waves, a storybook realm came into view, like a world painted on paper.

Both inside and outside the ring, “people” gathered, surrounding the ripples.

Among them were girls wearing flower crowns and children poking their heads out, their eyes shining with curiosity.

“It’s about to begin,” everyone whispered, their eyes fixed on the moonlight jungle outside and the Dream Sovereign standing within the luminous world.

“Sequence Number 7, is it?” The nymphs and spirits knew the Dream Sovereign intended to create new nymphs, and that the first step involved using the Eye of Mutation.

“How powerful is Sequence Number 7? Is it mythological?” Even the spirits and nymphs were not very familiar with the artifact.

“The Divine Cup sequence is ranked by divine blood,” said one who had read the sequence inscribed on the Divine Cup. “A mythological artifact must possess mythological authority and the ability to give birth to wisdom. As for the Eye of Mutation, it appears to be an artifact that cannot give birth to wisdom.”

“And just because something ranks higher doesn’t mean it’s stronger,” said a spirit who had once seen the Hammer of Justice in the Storage Spirit Realm. “Some artifacts aren’t even designed for combat. I think the most powerful one is the Hammer of Justice.”

This particular spirit stood out because its lower half was stuck inside a flower pot. It could not fly like the other spirits and had to hop around awkwardly instead.

“Stuen’s Emblem is powerful too,” another spirit immediately countered.

“Have you ever actually seen the power of Stuen’s Emblem?” the first one retorted.

“The emblem is with the Great Demon Lord, and I have seen it,” said the spirit stuck in the flower pot. It glanced around nervously, then added in a cautious voice, “She is just very stingy and never lets us play with it.”

On the ground, two items rested side by side.

One was a green vine, and the other was a golden flower.

They appeared unassuming, with no intricate arrangements.

Unlike the ornate altars crafted by mortals, everything began here, right on the sandy earth.

Though the setting seemed simple, a golden-haired goddess stood before the shimmering gate of the spirit realm. She was surrounded by moonlight plants whose hanging branches released glowing orbs of light. Nymphs and spirits from the Divine Kingdom of Creation had gathered all around her.

If this scene could be captured, it would surely become part of mythology.

Hila stood on the ground and stretched her hand toward the void.

Her fingertip broke through space. It reached across the power of the Dream Realm to a distant place.

At the Center of Ruhe Beast Island

Deep within the Mountain of Life’s Origin

The underground world cradling the Life Altar was suddenly bathed in a colorful, dreamlike light. The seven Ruhe Great Gods guarding the altar did not resist this “intrusion.” Instead, they completely lowered their defenses.

Even the tens of thousands of Ruhe kin dwelling in the underground world fell silent. They all turned their gazes toward the Life Altar, as if paying reverence to a great and exalted existence.

The colorful light swirled around the eye on the Life Altar, gently lifting it from the depths.

Meanwhile, above ground in the Moonlight Jungle, the summoning unfolded.

Hmmmmm~

A powerful energy surged from Hila’s hand, expanding steadily outward in all directions.

Above them, in the sky, a greater gate began to form.

A vast spherical form emerged from the void. The space near the gate twisted and strained, as if it might collapse under the immense pressure.

Hila had summoned the Eye of Mutation’s true body, manifesting it directly in the mortal world.

The enormous eyeball slowly turned, its pupil scanning the surroundings.

At once, the plants in the Moonlight Jungle trembled, swaying as if caught in a powerful gust.

Whoosh!

A great wind swept through. The towering plants, each over a hundred meters tall, swayed back and forth like wheat stalks in an open field.

“Woah!”

The spirits watched the enormous eye. As the terrifying eyeball turned toward them, they cried out in unison.

The spirits lived in the Divine Kingdom of Creation. Although the Creator Yinsai had crafted the Eye of Mutation, it had originated in the mortal world.

Initially, it had been hidden in the deepest trench beneath the ocean. When the Mother of Life summoned it along with Ruhe Beast Island, it was concealed underground.

As a result, even the oldest spirits were seeing this Sequence Number 7 artifact for the first time.

“Look at that enormous eyeball!” Filled with curiosity, the spirits poured out of the spirit realm gate and rose into the sky.

Two of them, unable to fly, hopped along awkwardly in their flower pots, calling out as they went.

“Hey, wait up!”

“Hold on a sec, will you?”

They made their way over to Hila’s side, hopping awkwardly. Unable to take flight, they circled around her feet instead.

“Whoa, look! It’s glowing!” a spirit exclaimed, darting around the Eye of Mutation.

“Yeah, but that glow can turn people into monsters,” another chimed in, squinting at the floating eyeball with one eye closed.

“Yikes! That’s so creepy!” they shouted, but their shouts quickly turned to laughter, filling the air with playful giggles.

The spirits were thrilled by the strange, wondrous sight, but the nymphs found the terrifying eyeball far less amusing. Not one of them dared to step out from behind the gate of the spirit realm.

Furthermore, while the spirits could move freely around the great eye, the nymphs dared not even come near it.

The eyeball’s dreadful power would truly transform them into monsters.

By the end of the First Era, the spirits had become Hila’s Spirits of Wishes. They fully merged with the Dream Sovereign’s authority and her realm, transcending the limits of time and eternity alongside their Sovereign Deity.

At their essence, they no longer had physical forms. They were shaped instead by Hila’s sovereign authority and mythological power, existing as part of her dream and her wishes.

This was why the Eye of Mutation, no matter how powerful, could not influence them.

“A new race of nymphs.”

“They are to be called Lake Nymphs, it seems.”

“What will they be like?”

“Will they have black hair?”

The wood nymphs whispered softly among themselves.

Hila held the enormous eyeball in one hand. It hovered in the sky, its rotation gradually slowing until it stopped completely.

Its gaze shifted downward, fixing upon the earth below.

The Light of Life Evolution descended from above in a pillar of radiance, surrounding the vine and flower on the ground.

Through the power of the Eye of Mutation, the two merged and gradually transformed into a single, extraordinary plant.

It rooted itself firmly in the earth and began to grow.

The once-green vine gradually turned silver as golden flowers bloomed all along its length.

At that moment, the Creator God Yinsai appeared with Shelly. They had both arrived to witness the birth of a new dream race.

Hila turned to face them. With a graceful wave of her other hand, she sent the Eye of Mutation back to its place upon the Life Altar.

“God!”

“Shelly!”

Yin Shen looked at Hila and asked, “What is its name?”

Just as the wood nymphs had their Rainbow Tree, this new vine needed a name of its own.

Hila turned to Yin Shen and said, “The Dream Vine.”

Smiling, Hila looked at the vine before her.

“Picture this,” she began.

“On a night with a full moon, a vine rises from a lake as still and clear as a mirror. Its flowers bloom, revealing their beauty in the moonlight.”

“It would be a truly breathtaking sight.”

Shelly gazed at the Dream Vine stretching into the sky. She reached out to touch it, as if considering it as a ladder to climb.

“Too small, too short,” she muttered, a hint of amusement in her voice.

“It will grow,” Hila replied with a calm smile.

As soon as she said that, Hila shifted her focus to a different task.

She called forth another spirit.

“Next, the Dream Vine must be brought to the Divine Kingdom of Creation. The Lake Nymphs will need a birthplace of their own.”

“I have already arranged a place for it within the Rainbow Spirit Realm.”

“A Rainbow Tree by itself would feel too plain. Adding a lake to the Rainbow Spirit Realm, with Dream Vines planted in it, would make it truly beautiful.”

A spatial passage opened, connecting the Spirit Country of the Divine Kingdom of Creation to the mortal world.

On the other side of the passage lay the domain of one of the Great Spirits.

As the passage connected, an immense power surged through. A vast, miraculous force flooded the space and began to reshape reality.

A dream domain began to expand outward.

Countless balls of yarn zipped through the space, as if weaving the entire world into a cartoon-like realm of wool.

From the center of this yarn-filled world, a figure emerged and stepped into the mortal realm.

This was an ancient spirit of immense power that fully embodied the abilities of dreams. It wielded the fused powers of space, matter, and wishes.

It was the very essence of a miracle brought to life.

This was unlike the nymph race, who possessed only a fragment of the spatial ability the spirits commanded.

Starlight flickered. A great spirit in human form stepped out from the passage, carrying a large backpack stuffed full of various plushies.

Small cloth shoes were on her feet, and her hair was tied into two pigtails that swung as she moved.

“Lady Hila,” she said.

“Do you have any other instructions for me?”

Hila addressed the great spirit. “Simila, take the Dream Vine to the Dream Continent. Plant it within the Rainbow Spirit Realm.”

The Great Spirit Simila glanced at the Dream Vine, tilting her head in curiosity.

“Dream Vine?”

Simila asked no more questions. She circled the vine once, then transformed into starlight, sweeping the vine up into the sky with her.

Together, they vanished into the heavens.

Divine Kingdom of Creation, Rainbow Spirit Realm

The Rainbow Spirit Realm had transformed over time. It had expanded greatly and now spanned a vast portion of the Dream Continent.

At its heart, a wide, serene lake had emerged to become the realm’s centerpiece.

Above, the sun of the Divine Kingdom of Creation cast down a radiant, dreamlike starlight that filtered into the lake below.

Splash!

A thick, silver vine shot up from the lake, sending water cascading in all directions.

Simila hovered above the lake before eventually settling beside the vine.

She appeared to sit in midair, as if on an invisible chair. Then she began to spin upward in a graceful spiral around the vine.

“Grow!” she sang out with joy.

“Grow bigger!”

“Grow faster and stronger!”

As the spirit chanted, the vine surged with life. Tendrils shot out one after another, breaking through the lake’s depths to rise above the water’s surface.

Eventually, the dense network of vines intertwined and formed a single, massive vine. It stood like a towering pillar, reaching endlessly toward the heavens.

The spirit continued her ascent, soaring ever higher without stopping.

She flew far beyond the Dream Continent itself, yet she still did not slow down.

The vine grew with her, stretching endlessly upward.

In the end, the enormous vine stretched all the way to the Dream Starry Sea. It formed a ladder linking the Dream Continent to the Dream Starry Sea.

This extraordinary sight captured the attention of all the nymphs and spirits throughout the Divine Kingdom of Creation.

“Look!” A group of spirits rushed out from the Sun Cup Flower Sea, gathering at the edge of God’s Island to gaze down.

“That pillar is enormous!” one of them exclaimed in awe.

“I want to climb it!” another spirit said, unable to hold back its excitement.

“Do you think we could slide down from the top?” a curious voice chimed in.

On the Dream Continent, a nymph reclined on a white circular tower, savoring the cool breeze. Suddenly, she noticed a “pillar” rising in the distance, and her jaw dropped in astonishment.

“Ah!”

“The sky has been poked through!”

But even after the colossal vine connecting the Dream Continent to the Dream Starry Sea had fully formed, the transformation was not yet complete.

The first flower bloomed upon the great vine. It was followed by a second, a third, and then countless others.

They blossomed all at once, appearing in no particular order.

These flower buds glowed with a radiant light. Each one cradled a new life, waiting to emerge.

They had flowing silver hair and golden eyes. Their hands were adorned with silver and gold flower crowns that seemed to have been part of them from the moment of their birth.

Lake Nymphs.

The second dream race of the Second Era was born.

Spirits and wood nymphs hurried in from all directions to gather around the blossoming flower buds.

They peeked curiously at the newly born lake nymphs, celebrating their arrival with excitement that filled the air.

“Look, they’re so beautiful!” The spirits, brimming with curiosity, leaned in closer. Their faces nearly touched the flower buds where the lake nymphs still lay sleeping.

“They’re not like us,” the wood nymphs observed quietly, their voices soft and thoughtful.

“Their hair is silver.” As the lake nymphs rested within the buds with their eyes closed, their shimmering silver hair was the first thing everyone noticed.

As the murmurs grew louder, the lake nymphs began to stir and awaken within their buds.

When they opened their eyes, they saw a crowd of little spirits leaning in close to peer at them. Startled, they curled up shyly in response.

The wood nymphs immediately stepped forward, shielding the newborns from the playful and overly curious spirits.

When the lake nymphs reappeared, they were dressed in flowing white gauze skirts. They descended gracefully, step by step, down the flower-covered stairway of the towering vine. After reaching the Dream Continent, they came to a stop at the edge of the serene lake.

At that very moment, the Dream Sun above began to change.

The sun shone with an endless brilliance, illuminating the entire Divine Kingdom of Creation.

From within that radiant light, a vast cup-like form appeared. It cradled both a Dream of Law as immense as a mountain range and the whole of God’s Island.

This was the Divine Cup, the supreme divine artifact of the dream.

Below the projection of the Divine Cup, the phantom of an immense deity appeared. It watched over the entire Dream Continent with a commanding presence.

The spirits cried out in unison, “It’s Lady Hila!”

The wood nymphs and the new lake nymphs lowered themselves respectfully. “Lady Hila,” they said in unison.

The Dream Sovereign’s shadow moved her hand. Starlight poured like a river through the Rainbow Spirit Realm.

A vast power followed the radiant light, filling the body of every lake nymph.

The divine voice echoed from the sun above.

“Lake Nymph race,” the voice declared.

“In the name of the Dream Sovereign, and as the messenger of the Creator, I offer my blessing and welcome you to this world.”

“You shall hold the power of illusory dreams.”

“You will have the ability to see the dreams of all living beings. You can bring the things that exist within another person’s dreams into reality.”

While the wood nymphs held the spatial aspect of the spirits’ domain ability, the lake nymphs were given an incomplete miraculous power and a fragment of the power over dreams.

“Every race, every life, every individual.”

“You are born into this world with meaning.”

“I have created you, and I will now bestow upon you your purpose.”

The Dream Sovereign, one of the Supreme Divine Beings, looked on, her gaze full of tenderness and expectation.

“From this day forward,” she said.

“You shall serve as the trading envoys between the gods and the mortal world.”

“The gods and the Ability Users of the mortal world will purchase what they desire from you. They may also entrust their belongings to you for sale.”

From that moment, the lake nymphs understood their purpose and the very reason for their creation.

At the edge of the serene lake, countless lake nymphs knelt on the ground. Their hearts were filled with gratitude for the blessings the Dream Sovereign had bestowed upon them.

City of Fire Protection

High above, Wing Demons flew, their sharp cries echoing through the air.

Finally, one swooped down from the sky, landing in front of the royal palace.

Within the palace, three enigmatic figures who had traveled from distant lands sought an audience with Osis, King of Suinhor.

Osis listened intently to the visitors. He gave their words careful thought and then responded with measured seriousness.

“Suero, King of Ghouls,” he said.

“A madman who, as a mere mortal, dared to devour a divine being. Has that creature’s wicked scripture not been completely eradicated yet?”

The visitor at the front lifted his head, revealing a non-human face beneath his hood. It was Anu of the Lizard People.

“Lord Kurmis says that when a single ghoul is discovered, it means hundreds and thousands more have already gathered unseen in the shadows,” Anu began.

“These creatures are greedy, wicked, and frenzied. They have no taboos and no beliefs.”

“Your Majesty,” Anu said.

“You must prepare for what is to come.”

“They seem to have hidden themselves well,” Osis said to the envoy. “There has not been so much as a whisper of ghouls lately. Why would they risk exposure by venturing into your territory?”

“You also mentioned that one of them is a Third-Rank high-tier Ability User. How was he able to intrude upon Lord Kurmis’s domain and still escape unscathed?”

Anu raised his head, looking at the Divine Blessed King with some confusion.

This legendary descendant of divine blood, this king chosen by the Scarlet Goddess, appeared completely unaware of her plans. He was equally oblivious that Kurmis had already begun his own journey toward divinity.

Anu could only reply vaguely. “He might have been attempting to steal a particular secret from Lord Kurmis.”

“Since Lord Kurmis was preoccupied with other matters, he only managed to wound the intruder. The man escaped because he had prepared in advance and was very cunning.”

“Do you know what he looks like?” King Osis asked. “Is there anything he might have left behind?”

Anu shook his head. “He was wearing an artifact that completely concealed his presence and appearance.”

King Osis now understood the situation, and Anu of the Lizard People had nothing more to add.

“Thank you for the warning,” Osis said. “We will find these ghouls and madmen.”

“And after that, we will eradicate them completely.”

The Lizard People’s envoy stood up to leave.

Their task was complete. There was nothing more to say.

However, just before exiting the palace, Anu turned back to Osis with one final question.

“Your Majesty,” he said.

“Why does everyone in Suinhor believe that you and the Scarlet Goddess brought the Brown Ball Vine, while no one even knows Lord Kurmis’s name?”

“Is this just a misunderstanding?”

Anu’s eyes narrowed with suspicion, and Osis could easily guess his thoughts.

“It is just as you suspect,” Osis said.

“I did not give the order myself, but I allowed it to happen.”

“Why?” Anu asked.

“Because I need it to prove myself,” King Osis answered. “It allows me to continue striving for what I want to accomplish.”

King Osis had no intention of leaving the stage without first making his mark.

Even though the era of the Divine Blessed King was drawing to a close, he intended to depart in a blaze of glory.

Anu still could not comprehend, and his eyes were filled with confusion.

He could not understand why a Divine Blessed King like Osis would still need to prove himself. Having spent his days in the forest or assisting Kurmis with experiments, he knew very little about the changes taking place in the world.

“Why?” he asked. “Do you still feel a need to prove yourself?”

Anu had asked a question that most nobles already understood. Osis answered openly, speaking directly to the spokesperson for Kurmis’s will.

“Because the goddess believes the time for divine-ordained kingship is over,” Osis said, “but I am not ready to let it end.”

“You believe the goddess’s decision is… wrong?” Anu asked.

Osis shook his head. “Not wrong at all.”

“The divine being’s decision is absolutely correct. She has foreseen the distant future and understands the ultimate direction of this era.”

Anu opened his mouth, hesitated, and then finally spoke. “You, a being of such greatness, a descendant of divine blood, an eternal existence of reincarnation… why would you go against the will of the gods?”

Osis let out a hearty laugh, his voice rich and resonant.

He stepped down from his seat to stand beside Anu, lowering his voice so only Anu could hear.

“Spokesperson of Kurmis,” he said.

“I am not opposing the will of the gods. That is not something I could ever do.”

“It is just that I feel there are things left undone. I cannot walk away like this. Not yet.”

“The gods have decided how it will all end.”

“And I will be the one to decide how to bring that ending to pass, and how to guide this nation and its civilization forward.”

Osis clapped a hand on Anu’s shoulder.

“I have only borrowed Kurmis’s renown for a time,” he added. “However, there are some things that cannot be taken from another.”

“The glory that is his will always be his, and it will eventually return to him.”

Anu remained silent, his thoughts unreadable. Then, without another word, he turned and departed.

The Prime Minister of Suinhor stepped forward to speak with the king.

“King Osis,” the Prime Minister said, “should we offer a prayer to the divine being?”

In other words, he was suggesting they report the matter to the Scarlet Goddess.

Osis paused for a moment, his expression uncertain.

He understood that he was no longer the Divine Blessed King. Though he claimed he was not opposing the gods, he had firmly chosen to follow his own path.

To pray to the Scarlet Goddess now would be like a young man who had just summoned the courage to leave home with grand ambitions, only to return to his parents, defeated, at the first sign of difficulty.

Osis hesitated for another moment. Finally, he gave the order. “Go to the Temple of Fire Protection!”

The Temple of Fire Protection in the City of Fire Protection

A large group arrived with the king, and the Chief Divine Servant of the temple stepped forward to greet them.

“Your Majesty, everything is ready,” he informed King Osis.

Osis hesitated. Instead of going straight to the Scarlet Goddess’s statue to offer his prayers, he began to wander through the temple.

He turned corner after corner, eventually finding himself standing inside a grand hall.

There, he saw a mural.

The mural depicted ‘The Lost Kingdom’, a painting created by the master Briman over two hundred years ago.

To most people, ‘The Lost Kingdom’ was nothing more than a name.

But when Osis looked at the painting, he could not turn away. He stood beneath it for a long time, lost in thought.

“The Lost Kingdom,” he murmured.

As he spoke those words, he began to sense a deeper meaning within them.

It was a glimpse into the distant past, into an ancient race and civilization.

He gazed at the painting. The longer he studied it, the more the city within stirred a sense of familiarity.

“This place… it feels so familiar,” he murmured.

It was not that he had seen this painting before, but that he had seen the city itself in another time.

No, he had once lived within it.

Since childhood, a certain memory had always surfaced in his mind, a memory tied to this very city.

He was not a snake person. He belonged to an ancient race from a primordial age, a time far wilder than even Ruhe Beast Island.

“You are the king!”

“You carry the divine bloodline.”

“You are destined to be the Divine Blessed King.”

From a very young age, those around him had spoken these words to him, insisting the images in his memories were evidence of his divine bloodline.

Now, standing beneath the painting, Osis could not resist reaching out. His hand extended toward the artwork, his fingers brushing against the mysterious realm suspended in a sea of clouds.

In an instant, something seemed to shatter within his mind, releasing a flood of images that overwhelmed his thoughts.

Memories surged forward, flowing back against the passage of time.

He was carried back two hundred and fifty million years to the First Era, to where the God-Descended City of the Yinsai Kingdom stood in its full splendor.

Osis felt as if he had entered another life. He found himself within a structure far grander than the Temple of Fire Protection.

This was the palace built by Yesael, the second King of Wisdom.

He felt both tense and exhilarated as he made his way through a long corridor and stepped out into the open.

Warm sunlight poured over the steps below, bathing his figure in a golden glow.

In an instant, the plaza at the base of the steps came alive as thousands of voices rose in a thunderous cheer.

“The Sage of Truth, Lady Vivien, Sage of Truth!”

“Revered Sage!”

“The inheritance of the Saint, The Will of the Saint!”

“Eternal and undying truth!”

Osis turned to look to one side. A woman who bore God’s Form stood waiting for him there.

“The Scarlet Goddess,” Osis murmured in his mind.

At that time, she had not yet ascended to divinity. Everyone, including Osis, called her the Sage of Truth and Lady Vivien.

He knelt before her with deep reverence. He bowed on one knee to honor The Will of the Saint and the supreme being she was destined to become.

With grace and solemnity, she placed the crown on his head.

“Osis Henir, from this day forward you will be the King of Yinsai,” she said, her voice calm and steady.

He stood tall, the crown resting on his head, and turned to face the crowd.

He lifted the Yinsai Scepter high. This sacred relic, passed down from Redlichia, the King of Wisdom, commanded the attention of all.

“Yinsai!”

“King of Yinsai!”

“Long live the King of Yinsai!”

The crowd erupted in cheers once more. Thousands upon thousands either knelt on the ground or stood and bowed in salute.

Osis basked in the cheers, relishing every moment of the triumphant occasion.

Those were the final, glorious days of Yinsai.

What followed was the descent into the God-Forsaken Era.

At that time, Osis Henir had no way of knowing this.

Nor did he notice an aged servant in the crowd standing with his two sons. Their eyes were fixed not on him, but on the crown resting on his head.

It was the beginning of a plan that would take hundreds of millions of years to unfold.

He lifted the Yinsai Scepter high, his voice commanding as he spoke. “I am Osis, descendant of Henir.”

“I will rise to be a great King of Yinsai!”