2282: Fooled

Fooled

Juri wasn't the only one. Turen also seemed to be aware of it. "So it wasn't only me, uh?"1

Hamarlia nodded. "I think I know what you are talking about."

Seeing Rean's puzzled expression, Juri began to explain. "Just before I woke up, I had a strange dream. It was like my consciousness was swimming through a sea of colored water. Then, a few seconds before I woke up, I saw myself being pulled out of this sea and was met with the sight of an enormous colored crystal. It seems like I was inside that Crystal the entire time."

Hamarlia and Turen said the exact same thing. "Yes! That's it! We saw it too!"

Rean was surprised. "If it was only Juri, it could have just been a coincidence. But with the three of you having the same dream, I doubt that's the case. Give me a second."

Immediately, the entire planet was covered by Rean's Divine Sense. Before, he didn't pay much attention to the people's talk since they would obviously have a lot to say after waking up. However, this time, he stopped to look for conversations similar to Juri's. Sure enough, in just a few minutes, Rean heard people and intelligent demon beasts discussing the exact same Dream as Turen's group all around the world.

Of course, he didn't touch the people's minds with his Divine Sense like you would do if you wanted to send them a Divine Sense Message. Otherwise, he risked killing a lot of them. 

"You aren't the only ones. There are countless people and demon beasts discussing the same dream at the moment," said Rean.

"Is your Spiritual Sense that big?" Juri couldn't help but ask.

"It's not Spiritual Sense but Divine Sense," Rean corrected him. "Once you reach the Realm of Gods or one of the other two Higher Realms, your Spiritual Sense will go through a transformation as well. Anyway, at my level, covering the entire planet with my Divine Sense is fairly easy."

Juri was still shocked. "Such power..." 

Rean shook his head and asked. "We can talk more about it another time. What else do you remember from this dream? Any details are more than welcome."

Juri, Hamarlia, and Turen focused their thoughts. After a few moments, Juri was the first one to talk. "I kind of... think I heard a voice."

Turen was confused. "You did? I don't remember having heard anything."

Hamarlia narrowed her eyes. "No, there was indeed a voice, now that I think about it. But it was truly, truly faint. If Senior Juri hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't even remember."

Juri nodded. "Indeed. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what that voice was saying. It was already very hard to simply remember there was a voice while I was inside the Crystal. I wasn't exactly awake either, so I didn't pay attention at all."

Rean then looked at Hamarlia, who shook her head as well. "Sorry, son. I also can't figure out what the voice was saying. It was more like a whisper."

Rean pondered a bit and got an idea. He once again spread his Divine Sense around the planet and focused on the races he knew to have great hearing. The majority, obviously, were Demon Beasts. 'Their hearing advantage exists because of their races. However, they were only souls when they were inside the Crystal during their dreams. They didn't have a body. Naturally, their hearing most likely wasn't any better than Juri's. However, they were races that used to have great hearing. It is possible that even in their soul forms, they still had an easier time hearing whatever the voice said. That's simply because they were used to paying attention to such small volumes.'

One or two individuals with good hearing might not give Rean any hope. However, when you have tens of millions of them, there was bound to be someone who paid attention to that. Sure enough, Rean's Divine Sense captured a conversation between two Red Grassland Wolves. They were a couple, with both being at Stage Six, similar to a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator.

"So you heard that as well?" The male wolf asked his partner.

The female wolf quickly nodded. "Yes. It was crying, complaining that It had been fooled."

The male agreed with her. "So I wasn't just hearing things. It felt more like a baby's voice. If I'm not wrong, it also said it would take revenge, didn't it?"

"Hum... I wasn't paying much attention, but I guess I heard something within those lines..."

Rean's Divine Sense then left those two Wolves and focused on a conversation between a Bat Demon Beast and a Big-Eared Lizard Demon Beast. One was at Stage Six, while the other was at Stage Five. After a few moments, Rean confirmed they heard similar things to what the wolves did. He continued his survey, and soon, he found more and more of those races with good hearing talking about the same thing.

With that new information, Rean quickly contacted Roan through their Soul Connection. 'Roan, did you get my memory?'

Roan obviously saw everything. 'Yes. It seems like the Crystalized World Essence isn't just a simple source of energy. We have seen Artifact Spirits before. Depending on how long this Crystal is here, it is possible that it gained sentience at some point. Still, what did it mean about being fooled?'

Rean shook his head. 'I don't know. However, in theory, this Crystal also ceased to think the moment the planet was destroyed. After all, it was trapped in that Frozen Time created by the system.'

Roan understood where Rean was coming from. 'I see. You mean that the sentience of the Crystal also feels like it has just awoken. It doesn't know how long has passed since then. The way we understood the story so far, it seems like it was fooled not long before the planet was destroyed. Otherwise, it wouldn't look so grieved as everyone you checked said.'

Roan didn't think much about it, though. 'Forget it. I can check it when I arrive at the Crystal.'

'Alright,' Rean nodded and ended their conversation.

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