Lu Zhiyu picked up a test tube. Within the test tube, a few tiny objects were dancing in the air, shimmering with a light that was undetectable to human eyes. These were the deified dream controller cells that Lu Zhiyu had designed!
As soon as Lu Zhiyu opened the test tube, the bright spots were immediately incorporated into Lu Zhiyu's body. Lu Zhiyu felt his body expand, as his entire being became light and floaty. If his body was observed on a molecular level, then it could be seen that the deified dream controller cells in Lu Zhiyu's body were rapidly inducing the evolution of all of Lu Zhiyu's cells.
Standing within the dimensional castle, Lu Zhiyu noticed that his hands were disappearing, bit by bit, as if fading into foam and transforming into speckles of floating stars. Lu Zhiyu's entire body changed into sparks of light, which then disappeared within the dimensional castle!
Lu Zhiyu felt as if he had turned into a gust of wind and had merged with the world itself. He left the laboratory and circled the entire castle. It really felt as if he was at one with nothingness!
Lu Zhiyu had completely separated into dispersed dream controller cells, also known as dream elements. As he soared freely, Lu Zhiyu opened the dimensional door, which would allow him to explore further within Maria's World.
Currently, it was night in Maria's World, with the clouds obscuring half of the moon. Lu Zhiyu transformed into a gust of faintly glowing wind and weaved through the clouds, soaring high above all else. This was Lu Zhiyu's first time seeing the world from the skies, soaring above thousands of bright little houses in tiny cities. It was an exhilarating sense of beauty!
Lu Zhiyu broke past the first stratus of clouds, then started frolicking in the white mistiness under the illumination of the moon. It was a refreshing freedom that could make one forget all of their worldly woes.
He proceeded to visit the forests, whistling along with the night wind, as he listened to the chirps and cries of the insects and beasts of the woods. He then dove down close to the mountains. From afar, it looked like a clump of fireflies that were dancing through the forest, like a scene out of a dream!
Lu Zhiyu passed through a lake in the woods and suddenly emanated a light that covered the entire surface of the lake. He watched as it made the lake, roughly one kilometer in length, evaporate immediately. This was the only special ability that Lu Zhiyu had encoded within the Dream Controller template, other than dream control: he called it Disintegration.
This ability allowed him to destroy structures of molecules. The entire lake was completely torn apart, as the steam hissed upwards. It was beautiful, but also terrible.
Next, Lu Zhiyu headed to a village by the foot of the mountain. Lu Zhiyu rushed inside, then covered the entire village with the dream element. Each element circulated the aura of life within it, seeking out every man, woman, and child, right down to the youngest and oldest beings there.
Each person was invaded by the consciousness of Lu Zhiyu's dream elements, as he took control over their consciousness and dream spaces. He linked them up into a huge joint dream space!
Within the dream space, it was still a small village. Yet, it was daytime in this village, and Lu Zhiyu was sitting on a great tree on a hill, which was located right outside of the village. It was a bright sunny day, and the village was bustling with activity. All of the villagers had brilliant smiles on their faces!
Within the dream space, everyone's dreams had come true. Old Man Nurkse's son, who had died in a war, was now back home, baking bread with him! The carpenters of the Rand family finally got pregnant with a son. Chancy, the little beggar on the streets, finally found a family that was willing to adopt him. Damon had become a rich and successful merchant. And Ned…and on it went!
Everything was perfect, no one had any worries in this wonderful life, where all their dreams came true. It was an utopia with no conflicts, no wars, and no stress. All of the villagers had smiles of pure joy.
"Kelly, are you happy here?"
Lu Zhiyu was looking at the girl, who had wandered through the town to the hill, all the while wearing a face of confusion. Sunlight filtered to the hill and the leaves swayed in the wind.
She was the Saintess of the Church of Light, named Kelly. When Lu Zhiyu completed the mythical template, Kelly, as one of Lu Zhiyu's deities, had also been affected, and she was also dragged into the dream space that Lu Zhiyu had created!
"Where is this? Who are you?"
Kelly had never encountered anything like this. She should have been in the Temple of Light within St. Sarl City. Why was she suddenly in this beautiful, quiet village of peace, this Heaven-like place? Even the winds here had a gentle warmth to them!
Within the dream, Kelly couldn't see Lu Zhiyu's appearance clearly. Lu Zhiyu appeared like a collection of starlight, floating down from the tree to stand before Kelly, wearing the sun-patterned mask of Faross!
Kelly's mouth fell open in disbelief, as she stared at Lu Zhiyu. Lu Zhiyu stood on the hill, gazing town onto the village. Kelly muttered, "Is this a dream? Am I dreaming again? But, this dream feels so real!"
Lu Zhiyu shook his head. "This is not your dream. This is my dream. I dragged you all into my dream, so that everyone could experience this happiness. This should be something that satisfies everyone."
He continued, "People can only be happy within dreams. In reality, humanity is embroiled in greed and conflict. They will always be constrained by these intangible falsities, without knowing what they truly want. Happiness is only the temporary stop of this greed."
Kelly stared at Lu Zhiyu blankly. She had fantasized about the appearance of God countless times in the past, and thought about the God, who had granted her his own bloodline, and about Him welcoming her to His kingdom after she died.
"Lord Faross, you, you have finally come to see me!" Kelly said with tears running down her face. Kelly hurriedly wiped her tears, as she faced Lu Zhiyu again. "Lord, I have always been praying to you. Have you heard my voice? Thank you for granting my mission and my powers…"
Kelly was extremely excited to be in front of Lu Zhiyu, so much so, that she kept stringing her words together. In fact, she felt that, in her excitement, she had lost the ability to make coherent sentences.
Lu Zhiyu chuckled after listening to her recount, her helplessness, as well as her admiration for him. "You are searching for your sense of purpose and the reason for your existence. I didn't give you any mission. You chose to succeed my bloodline, my black hair and eyes, all by yourself. You do not have to bear such a heavy burden on your shoulders. It is meaningless to us."
He continued, "We do not need your belief. It does not matter if you revere us or debase us. It is meaningless. Gods do not need your belief, but we also will not deny the meaning of your existence."
Kelly panicked. "Yet we need you! We need you to save our souls, and to allow us to repent for our filthiness and our ugly sins. We need your guiding light and glory to clean the sins of this world!"
Lu Zhiyu shook his head. "I like the effort you put in for your mission. Though humans are weak, you can always blossom with the light of wisdom and the beauty of the heart. The co-existence of ugliness and beauty is one of the true faces of humanity."
Lu Zhiyu looked into Kelly's eyes. "Though you have the ability to read the minds of others, you cannot understand your own heart. You look at them with hatred, so everything you see through your eyes is biased."
Lu Zhiyu pointed to the location of his own heart. "You should be looking at your own heart, not only the hearts of others."
Kelly flushed with a sense of shame. As the rays of dawn broke out, the people within the dream space began waking up, and the large group dream space began to dissolve. Though Lu Zhiyu could forcefully lock their consciousness inside, doing so would be meaningless.
As a fog descended, the entire dream space started collapsing. Kelly looked at the tree that she was standing by in a panic, then at Lu Zhiyu, who was quickly fading from her sight. "Lord Faross, I will follow your words, as I wish to create a Holy Kingdom to worship you, a Heaven on Earth, so that the souls of the people can be purified. I hope you can respond to our prayers!"
Kelly ran up the hill, trying to chase him, but discovered that the hill was endless, as the tree simply became further and further away, while Lord Faross turned into a ray of light and disappeared from below it.
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