A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 416 Monster in the Dream

As Jiang Shuzhou cast his spell, all the beastmen in the prison fell asleep.

Soon, the power of the dream world began its invasion.

Through Jiang Shuzhou's deliberate manipulation, the power of dreams was maintained at a low concentration.

Zutakasha woke up from his dream.

I stood up and looked up to see a door with strange patterns in front of me.

No one knows what lies inside the door.

But there was nothing around him, only pitch blackness, and he could even feel a malevolent gaze fixed on him.

The gaze startled Zutakasha, who quickly opened the unknown door and rushed inside.

Brush brush.

Large snowflakes were falling heavily.

"What's wrong? Why aren't you cold?"

This was Zutakasa's first thought.

Despite the heavy snowfall, he didn't feel the slightest bit of cold; it was quite strange, to say the least.

Then he began to look around.

Looking back, the door had vanished, as if it had never existed.

All around was a vast expanse of white snow, with snow piled up to half a meter deep on the ground. Nothing could be seen except for the snow.

Finding nothing, Zutakasa could only explore this unknown world little by little.

Jiang Shuzhou focused his attention on the beastmen's dream. Humans cannot imagine things they have never seen before, and the same is true for these beastmen.

Some orcs dreamed of the arena, others of the farm, and still others, like Zutakasha, dreamed of an endless snowfield.

If they are lucky enough, they might wake up on their own.

However, the probability of this happening is low, and it is also very difficult.

Next, Jiang Shuzhou began to artificially increase the concentration of dream power little by little.

At the same time, a large number of orc prisoners were also sent in.

This time, Jiang Shuzhou didn't need to use any magic; the high concentration of dream power instantly put them into a deep sleep, and it was clear they wouldn't be able to wake up.

In the reality of the prison, many orcs had died or disappeared inexplicably by this time. However, some of them left something behind in their cells before they died—small things filled with the power of dreams.

Based on Jiang Shuzhou's research and inference, it should be something formed from the power leaked from their dreams before they were swallowed by the dream.

Jiang Shuzhou began sending flesh-and-blood creatures to collect these things little by little, as they would all be useful.

In this situation, there are generally no problems.

But accidents always happen.

An orc awoke, along with a strange monster.

crunch.

The sound of wood rubbing against each other could be heard.

Zutakasa ran frantically down the prison corridor, a bizarre-looking monster trailing behind him.

The monster's entire body was made of wooden sticks, countless sticks twisted together to form an extremely rudimentary human skeleton.

Although it looks ordinary, it has one unique characteristic: it cannot be killed.

Zutakasa had tried to kill her opponent countless times, but the opponent was able to recover quickly in less than a second.

That wasn't the most terrifying part. Zutakasa discovered that the places where she had come into contact with the monster were being gradually transformed into wood.

The skin turns to wood, and one feels no pain at all.

If Zutakasa hadn't been ruthless enough to tear his flesh apart and forcefully block the transformation, he might have already turned into a wooden puppet.

This is absolutely terrifying.

As Zutakasa ran, she spotted a transparent jellyfish ahead, which didn't look like anything good.

At this point, with wolves in front and tigers behind, it seemed that Zutakasa had reached a dead end.

But then, someone else made a move.

Jiang Shuzhou hurled a fireball from a distance, and in an instant, the wooden stick figure turned into ashes and never came back to life.

This is the monster in the dream; it's both logical and incomprehensible.

It is common knowledge that wood is afraid of fire.

"Follow the jellyfish."

A sound came from beside my ear.

Zutakasha paused for a moment, then nodded without saying anything.

Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to trust the other party.

Immediately afterwards, Zutakasha was brought before Jiang Shuzhou.

"Tell me, what exactly did you do?"

Because there were too many people entering the dream, Jiang Shuzhou couldn't maintain that many spells. He had always selected a few thousand people to observe, and he was unaware of the matter concerning Zutakasa.

"That was one evening..."

Zutakasha's voice was hoarse and dry, and his words were somewhat vague and inaccurate.

But Jiang Shuzhou still understood.

Zutakasha's dream was an endless snowfield, where he was all alone.

It is covered in snow all year round, but it is not cold, and there are all kinds of animals.

And so, Zutakasa began his wilderness survival journey.

The monster was born out of loneliness.

That day, he sat alone by the campfire.

Zutakasha hasn't seen a living person for two whole years, and he's never interacted with anyone else.

Ultimately, loneliness overwhelmed him.

Zutakasha combined the sticks together to form a human shape.

Then, something terrifying happened: the figure made of wooden sticks actually moved.

A violent fear gripped his heart, and he ran like a madman, with the monster relentlessly pursuing him. Finally, he could no longer bear it and swung his fist, smashing the wooden stick man apart.

Then the stick man immediately reformed and chased after him again.

Zutakasha kept running until he finally returned to reality.

Jiang Shuzhou pondered for a moment.

Has it ever hurt you?

Jiang Shuzhou pressed for an answer.

"no."

Despite how strange it was, Zutakasha answered honestly.

Jiang Shuzhou nodded; he understood.

Dreams are a reflection of reality. The Stick Man was born in the solitude of Zutakasa, a solitude that haunts him like a shadow.

Its purpose was never to harm Zutakasha, but to befriend him.

However, the way it is implemented is rather distorted.

"Look at your hands."

Jiang Shuzhou reminded him.

Upon hearing this, Zutakasha looked at his hands and was horrified to discover that they had turned the color of wood.

At the same time, it is as hard and inelastic as real wood.

Didn't I tear the skin and flesh apart?

How could there possibly be any?

Now he was completely panicked.

"Don't be afraid, I'll help you."

Jiang Shuzhou casually pointed, and Zutakasa felt an itch on his hand.

The skin then softened and returned to its original color.

"Thank you, kind sir."

See, he even has to thank me.

Although it was Jiang Shuzhou who sent him in, the other party still wanted to thank Jiang Shuzhou.

"Very well, I grant you permission to live here."

With a wave of his hand, before the other party could say anything more, Zutakasa was quickly teleported away.

Jiang Shuzhou stood up and looked down at the black prison.

The power of dreams lingered within it, unable to subside for a long time.