White River Valley, Lord's bedroom.
The others had already retreated, leaving only Jessica and Lorie behind.
Although Anna was uneasy, Marvin had given her an explanation when he left before. The list of people they could trust included Rocky Mountain's three sisters.
People who had the favor of the Plane Will should be very dependable. There was no need to doubt them.
It was also because of this that Fate Sorceresses would easily gain the support and trust of everyone. A Fate Sorceress in any era could gather up followers, let alone three of them together.
The problem was that being so powerful and dazzling would easily attract the jealousy of others.
But that wasn't so important right now.
"Is it really the only way?"
Jessica had a very strange expression on her face as she looked at Lorie.
The latter didn't seem very confident. When standing before the people of Hope City, she was one of the Three Sisters protecting them all, but in front of Jessica, she was just a little sister.
She thought long and hard before finally nodding. In a very weak voice, she murmured, "My Fate Power is still relatively low… so it seems that it is the only way."
Jessica glanced at Ding. The Fortune Fairy immediately fled behind Lorie to hide.
Kate wasn't here to protect her, and even if her master were here, nothing could stop Jessica from pinching and pulling her cheeks.
This Fate Sorceress known for her violence was practically the only person Ding was afraid of in this world.
Jessica mumbled for a bit.
Marvin was lying peacefully on the bed, though sometimes frowning as if he was in a great nightmare.
"If this was really caused by a subordinate of the Dream God, Marvin is currently in grave danger."
"Forget it, special circumstances call for special measures. Control your power carefully. If the person from the Dream Shrine appears in front of me, I'll definitely crush him!"
The next second, the formidable Fate Power burst out and saturated the entire bedroom.
As she saw Jessica making her preparations, Lorie started getting shy.
While Ding was enjoying the scene, she wriggled toward the bedside and hesitated a bit before softly kissing him.
In the dream.
Marvin and Lance's discussion was going very smoothly. He received a rather satisfying answer as to why he was chosen.
It was a win-win choice for both of them, and even though Lance didn't tell Marvin about it before acting, Marvin wouldn't complain.
He knew that weaklings didn't have the right to complain.
Since Ambella had already died, Marvin didn't feel worried about being able to leave.
He wanted to get more useful information from Lance.
Such as, since Lance needed to bring Marvin into this world, what "mistake" was it that he wanted to correct?
Faced with this question, Lance didn't answer, going silent instead.
Marvin waited patiently. He knew that anything that could trouble the Wizard God was certainly a very concerning matter. It might be possible that he wouldn't be able to explain it clearly in a short amount of time, or even at all.
Of course, if Lance wanted to keep this secret to himself, Marvin wouldn't press further. This was just a memory, after all.
"To answer that question, I need to talk about myself." After a long time, Lance forced a smile and began, "As the God of Creation of Feinan, you might think I am the most powerful person, but in fact, I was originally a successor and a supervisor[1]."
"Because of some compelling reasons, I could only grow together with that world. At the genesis of the world, I could only give it blessings to prevent its death."
"I did so much for so many years. I repelled the tribes from many outside planes, protected the Plane Will, and helped many natives of the world become stronger. The most well-known example would be the 4th Era's Wizards, through the Universe Magic Pool."
"In that world, I was already omnipotent."
"But the more that was so, the more pressure I could feel on my body."
"I already knew the ending would be like that, but as it arrived, I felt unwilling to accept it."
Lance was clearly beating around the bush. At the same time, his image was becoming somewhat fuzzy and indistinct!
Marvin was startled.
Could it be that just these words were enough to create such a huge fluctuation in his memories?
But Lance didn't stop. He continued, "I've already been thoroughly branded by this world. I also thirst to reach a higher level. Many years ago I caught sight of That World, and I sent many friends there. I have this strength, but the irony is that this power is what is restricting me. I'm trapped in my own cage and I can't get out."
Marvin took a deep breath. "The Universe Magic Pool."
Lance laughed, "Not only the Universe Magic Pool."
"All of this Universe's power of Order had been set up by my own hands."
"If I wanted to break out of the situation, some changes needed to happen…"
"Later… Opportunity arrived…"
"I…"
"Succeeded…"
"But… Mistake happened… Shouldn't… Therefore… You…"
By this point, Lance's silhouette was even more illusory.
His voice also became intermittent.
Marvin looked at that scene with surprise and loudly yelled, "What is it in the end? What's the current situation? Did you succeed? Did you fail? Make it clear!"
He felt depressed.
The huge secret of the Wizard God had been so close to being revealed.
Suddenly, Lance's silhouette completely came apart and burst into pieces.
Moreover, the space itself also began to melt.
Marvin could feel a cool power pouring into him, pouring into his mind!
He seemed to be in complete darkness for a while before he suddenly and instinctively felt like his soul was back in his body. He had regained control of his body!
The next second, he opened his eyes and saw an adorable face swaying in front of him.
"He woke up!" The Fortune Fairy laughed mischievously as she teased, "I did say that this method was the most effective one."
Marvin looked dazedly at the people who were entering the room. After hearing Ding's call, they had burst into the bedroom.
Not only was Anna there, but Madeline and a few other reliable people of White River Valley were also present, including Fidel the Necromancer and that crazy nameless Alchemist.
They were looking at Marvin with concern.
Marvin forced a smile and looked back at Lorie.
The strange thing was that this normally lively and energetic girl was now very quiet, looking somewhat shy.
Her cheeks were red and she looked very embarrassed.
Marvin decided not to look too much into that.
He looked at the two sisters and asked, "Did you help me?"
Jessica frowned, with her Fate Power slowly gathering. "The Dream God's subordinate?"
Marvin hesitated before ultimately saying, "I killed her."
He couldn't tell the story about meeting Wizard God Lance in his memories. This would be too shocking of a matter if it got out.
After making sure that Marvin was safe, everyone relaxed. Marvin rested for a bit and then left his bedroom to eat a meal with everyone in the dining room.
And in the process, he found out that he had already spent three days lost in his dreams.
Although nothing huge had happened in Feinan during the three days, lots of more minor events had taken place.
It was fortunate that Madeline had invited the Sorcerers from Rocky Mountain, or else there might have still been a problem for Marvin to leave his consciousness.
After all, even though Ambella died, she did set up the Dream Cage.
As for Lance, he could help Marvin kill Ambella, but since he was also a memory within it, Marvin wasn't sure how much he could have done to get Marvin out.
The only thing that made Marvin not know whether he should laugh or cry was that just as he was about to hear the much-anticipated answer, he had been saved by the Fate Sorceresses.
Everything was fated.
Without Ambella, Marvin wouldn't have met Lance. But Marvin also couldn't blame the Fate Sorceresses. They had been worried about him being stuck in the dream for too long and didn't want him to end up dying at the hands of the Dream God's subordinate.
As for how they managed to wake him up, Marvin was no fool. The first person he saw when he woke up was Lorie, who was right in front of him, so she was obviously the one that did it.
The form of Jessica's Fate Power was [Power]. Once activated, it would burst and destroy. If it was used to try to poke into Marvin's mind, it would surely have just finished him off.
As for Lorie, her power was [Wisdom]. The cool, refreshing feeling in his consciousness should have been wisdom's enlightenment.
It really could rouse someone from their dreams.
The only thing that seemed odd to Marvin was that the always lively Lorie was now very timid and quiet. And why was Ding looking at him as if she was enjoying some sort of spectacle?
After lunch was over, Anna and the others returned to their work.
Jessica claimed that she had something important to discuss with Marvin, so the two went to his study.
But just as they entered the study, Jessica coldly snorted and her Fate Power suddenly rushed around Marvin!
Marvin was startled and asked, "What are you doing?"
Jessica bluntly said, "Two things."
"First, the effect of the Underdark's Winter is more frightening than you expected. Many races from the Underdark left and started attacking the surface. Hope City is the surface's first line of defense. The pressure is huge, and I suspect that there are some major problems within the Underdark. Some claimed that they saw some aged shadows in the Eternal Frozen Spring…"
"[Dark Ghosts]!?" Marvin seemed quite worried upon hearing this.
'Were these monsters from the Eternal Frozen Spring from some time further in the past?' he wondered to himself.
"You know of them?" Jessica was somewhat surprised, but without waiting for an explanation, she continued, "If you are fine, I hope you can help me."
"Kate must guard Hope City, and I am alone. I don't know much about the Underdark. I hope you can take a trip there with me. I know you have a lot of adventuring experience."
Marvin straightforwardly agreed to this matter.
In any case, he had to repay her for coming and helping him regain his consciousness.
Dark Specters were very frightening beings. It was said that they had been sealed by the Ancient Anzeds in the Eternal Frozen River. But because of the current disaster, the Eternal Frozen Spring expanded and the seal on the Dark Specters apparently weakened.
Moreover, there was an extremely powerful Artifact in the Eternal Frozen Spring which Marvin had been yearning for.
It seemed that it was now time to get it.
"The second thing is that you have to promise me…" Jessica said, her expression becoming quite aggressive, "you'll take good care of Lorie in the future."
Marvin was puzzled.
He subconsciously nodded, before reacting with, "What do you mean by that? And why are you looking at me like that?"
[1] Further details in Headshot Wizard. Might be starting it as a side project soon. ;)