The streets were bustling with pedestrians, alive with noise and commotion—a stark contrast to the crying girl.
The crowd of onlookers gradually dispersed. Deaths were nothing new in the desert region, and people were far too busy chasing fortunes to care. A few obvious vagrants had even set their eyes on the money pouch in front of the little girl—and on the girl herself.
After all, selling her to slavers and the like would surely fetch a decent sum.
Despite her tears and tender age, none of that could hide her pretty face. There would certainly be no shortage of buyers for someone like her.
"Quite interesting… How will this play out?"
Leilin stood off to the side with his arms crossed, watching the scene unfold, a flicker of detachment in his eyes. He seemed like a god perched high above, observing the运转 of the world without being moved by any individual's fate.
Suddenly, his gaze sharpened as he looked toward another direction.
A man was slowly approaching from down the street.
It was an ascetic—short brown hair, bearing the unmistakable aura of an ascetic practitioner, thick eyebrows, and a faint glimmer in his eyes.
He wore coarse linen garments covered in patches, threadbare and ragged. One foot was bare, without even a shoe.
A faint sour stench drifted from him, and the flow of pedestrians instinctively gave him a wide berth.
"A Legendary-rank ascetic?!"
A hint of wariness flickered in the depths of Leilin's eyes. This man's strength was formidable—he had already reached the Legendary tier!
Ascetics were the very last people demons wished to face. They rejected all worldly pleasures, and their resolute souls were virtually immune to any form of corruption.
And if one was also Legendary-rank? That was practically like hitting the jackpot.
"Just my luck—an ascetic shows up at exactly this time. Could this have something to do with the
Leilin frowned. That high-level adventurer party he'd encountered before was one thing he could afford to ignore, but this Legendary ascetic demanded serious attention.
If this man's goal turned out to be the same as his own, it would introduce a massive variable into his plans.
"Allow me to try…"
The ascetic arrived in front of the crying girl, his voice dry as though he hadn't had water in ages.
"W-wahh… No, that won't do. The mercenary uncle said before that unless a high-ranking priest…"
Vivian sobbed, but she still held out the copper-filled money pouch to the man. She clearly took him for some kind of beggar.
"Thank you, kind girl! But I cannot accept any form of gift or wealth…"
The ascetic smiled faintly and moved to the unconscious adventurer. "Hellsting flowers—a common poison in these parts, but this one has mutated several times. That's what makes it tricky…"
A warm, white glow slowly emanated from his palms and seeped into the adventurer's body on the ground.
Bathed in the luminous healing radiance, the adventurer's complexion improved visibly, moment by moment.
"High-level Antidote? No—that's Restoration! A Restoration spell!!"
The spectacle naturally drew the attention of passersby, and one sharp-eyed man shouted out.
"A ninth-level divine spell that requires at least a nineteenth-rank priest to cast—or even stronger…"
The pedestrians froze, then cast reverent glances at the ascetic. It was the respect owed to the truly powerful.
As for those vagrants with ill intent, they had already vanished the instant they sensed trouble, disappearing into every corner and alley.
"Mmm…"
After the bluish-black swelling on his lips faded, the adventurer's eyelids fluttered violently, then slowly opened. He looked at the girl before him. "Vivian? What happened? Where am I?"
"Uncle! Uncle, you're awake!"
Vivian's face was streaked with glistening tears as she threw herself into the adventurer's arms.
"Uncle, you collapsed on the street earlier and Vivian was so worried! It was this grandpa who saved you!" Vivian pointed at the ascetic.
"Thank you, Master!"
The adventurer understood his injuries far better than the little girl, and he knew full well the strength and standing of someone capable of healing him. He rose at once to bow his gratitude and reached for his money pouch.
For temple priests, casting divine spells on the faithful always came with a price—and high-level spells were anything but cheap.
"That won't be necessary… Saving lives is the duty of those in holy service…"
The ascetic smiled and shook his head in refusal, then continued his unsteady walk into the marketplace. By now, however, no one dared to look down on him.
As he departed, the ascetic's dim, murky pupils swept across the spot where Leilin had been standing. Finding it empty, a faint flicker of puzzlement crossed his face.
Only after the ascetic's silhouette had vanished at the end of the street, and the adventurer had left with the little girl, did Leilin's figure slowly emerge from the shadows.
"Tsk, tsk… Truly Legendary. Even sharper instincts than that swordsman…"
Leilin sighed, his mood turning slightly heavy. If this man was also here to contest the Floating City, it would cause him no end of trouble.
And according to his intuition, that was almost certainly the case.
"This is getting complicated… It seems news of the Floating City has already reached more than one faction…"
Leilin's heart weighed a little heavier. "I'm afraid I'll need to move faster as well…"
…
Night fell. Pinpricks of lamplight appeared throughout the marketplace, their dim glow illuminating the surroundings.
Even after dark, the market's liveliness refused to die—but once the moon had climbed halfway across the sky, the most raucous shops finally fell silent.
Darkness deepened. Merchants and others who had toiled all day drifted into sleep.
"Dream Vision!"
At that moment, Leilin stood atop the tallest tower, an eerie red light flickering in his eyes as a crimson rift materialized across his vision.
In his sight, countless specks of light dotted the entire town, each glowing in a different hue—like stars scattered across the sky.
Each star-like point of light was, in truth, someone's dream. The faintly white ones belonged to the weakest ordinary folk. Professional-class dreamers shone several times brighter. High-level professionals blazed like torches, dazzling to behold. And as for Legendary powerhouses? Their light rose like pillars reaching into the heavens—instantly detectable.
"The dreams of ordinary people are far too fragile. One careless move on my part could snuff out a whole bunch…"
Within the dream realm, countless things that had remained hidden during the day now floated before Leilin's gaze.
"First, Jefa's dream… Hmm, that piece of beast hide was just something he picked up by chance? No wonder he never realized its worth…"
His gaze moved away from a dim point of light. Leilin then turned toward the west, a trace of gravity in his eyes.
"A Legendary-rank ascetic—absolutely no vulnerabilities, and even his dreams are spotless… Though I never intended to target him. Dream Devouring is still my trump card, and using it before I've even laid eyes on the Floating City would be far too foolish…"
Without disturbing the ascetic, Leilin went straight to his primary target.
In the inn he'd visited that day, several dreams blazed like torches, dazzlingly bright. Through one of them, Leilin even glimpsed the vision of a young boy who had trained in swordsmanship since childhood through bitter discipline.
"It's you lot…"
Leilin smiled faintly. A mote of dark-crimson dream force spread from his fingertips, coalescing into a winged, eyeball-like creature.
"Go!" At Leilin's command, the creature fluttered its wings and dove directly into one of the dreams.
Having acquired the Nightmare Energy-Absorbing Constitution, Leilin's mastery over dream force had reached its absolute peak. Moreover, because his power system was fundamentally different from anything in this world, his targets had no way of detecting it—let alone blocking it.
…
The next morning, numerous caravan trains set out along the Road of Hope and Dreams, taking advantage of the cool dawn air.
The high-level adventurer party was among them as well.
"What's wrong, Eleri?" The white-robed swordsman looked at the female mage beside him with some confusion.
"Nothing. Just thinking about a dream I had last night… it was disgusting."
The female mage's complexion was terrible. She dry-heaved several times, dark circles and bags prominent under her eyes, as though she hadn't slept at all.
"A dream? Disgusting?"
The swordsman blinked but didn't press further.
"Yes, just an ordinary dream!" The female mage repeated, as if trying to reassure herself. But the mere recollection of last night's vivid scene—even as a high-level caster—sent a chill down her spine.
In that dream, she had swallowed a winged eyeball whole! The entire experience had been terrifyingly real, and her throat could still remember the nauseating, slippery sensation of it swelling inside her.
"Could it be some kind of special curse? No—I checked myself thoroughly afterward. There's nothing abnormal. It was just a run-of-the-mill nightmare… But why would I dream of that…"
A puzzled expression crossed the female mage's face. She touched her forehead. "Looks like I'll need to brew myself some calming draughts tonight…"
Back in the small town, Leilin examined a map in his hands, a contemplative look surfacing in his eyes.
Beside him, a crystal ball displayed the situation of the adventurer party in real time—and the point of view was positioned squarely in the female mage's abdomen.
"The implantation went smoothly. Now that I've locked their position, there's no risk of losing them…"
Leilin was quite satisfied with his handiwork. With this group serving as his guides, the journey ahead would be far more convenient.
Letting them blaze the trail, he could follow at a safe distance along their route—without a shred of danger or hassle.
In fact, at this kind of extreme-range surveillance, they would never discover him.