Chapter 83: Origin of the Dreamworld
Charles silently walked out of his bedroom and went downstairs while talking slowly.
"I can guess. Atoms can create life if they are given enough time. It also depends upon their luck like when they would be able to form molecules that are necessary for life.-"
Before Charles could speak further, the Holem's Crown interrupted him and asked in confusion.
"What is an atom?"
Upon hearing the question, Charles froze for a moment and soon widened his jade eyes.
'Damn, I almost forgot that these guys lack scientific knowledge.' He rubbed his forehead and gave a short explanation about atoms.
"An atom is a colorful collection of energy and matter, which are both made of tiny particles. The most basic elements in the universe are atoms."
"You mean Mana? Your description of this atom looks more like Mana." The Holem's Crown said in surprise.
Charles went silent for a second as he stepped down on the spiral staircase and continued to explain.
"Okay. Atom can create molecules and molecules can create life-."
Once again, the Holem's Crown interrupted his talking and asked in annoyance.
"What is this 'Molecule'?"
On the other hand, Charles showed an irritated look on his face and responded in a vague tone.
"Molecule is a substance with two or more atoms bonded together."
"Oh? Do you mean the elemental energies? Or, is it another thing?" The Holem's Crown raised another question.
Upon hearing the strange linkings, Charles gave up on saying further and started talking about life.
"I'm not sure either. The creation of life is not that simple. If it were so easy, life would have been created on every planet. Certain environmental conditions are also required. So what we require are atoms, optimum conditions, luck, and a long time. Atoms will create molecule and one such molecule is DNA.-"
"DNA?"
"DNA is the chemical name for the molecule that carries genetic instructions in all living things. If you see the structure of DNA, it is made up of non-living things but DNA is always associated with living things. DNA can do things that a simple atom couldn't do. Similarly, molecules- bigger molecules like polymers with high molecular masses can be formed." He suddenly stopped for a moment before checking if there was an anomaly in the yard and then continued to walk.
"Polymer is basically thousands/millions of monomer units or single repeating unit connected in long chains. Anything that is made up of the same type of Chemical composition which is repeated numerous times can be considered as a polymer. Now, the DNA, along with other molecules and chemicals, enzymes, etc can make different structures, organelles, and ultimately a cell. These cells are the smallest units of life."
"Your explanation made me realize that we need to do more research at an elemental level." The Holem's Crown said in a dumbfounded tone.
"Now, let's come to the current topic. Your explanation made some sense, it doesn't answer fully. There is no luck when it comes to creating life on a planet, lad. Everything has connected to the Eternal River of Life and the mythical World Trees. These two are the main cause of the creation of life on any planet." The Holem's Crown paused for a moment and then continued in a profounded tone.
"Before the birth of Time, a single entity existed and he was the one who gave birth to this universe. He goes by the name 'Creator'. Some ancient mages assumed that he came from another universe, while others say that there was no 'Creator' to begin with. But this mysterious 'Creator' has some connection with this strange Dreamworld. I once heard from an undead Lich King that this Dreamworld is actually a real dream of this 'Creator' and is already formed into a physical plane. He said that whenever the 'Creator' woke up, this strange Dreamworld would disappear even from the 'Time' itself and would appear as a completely new one. Our strange dreams that have some links with past, present, and future must be due to this."
At that moment, Charles stopped in front of El Street junction and blurted out.
"Don't tell me that this 'Creator' is the universe itself?"
"Hohoho, you figured it out very soon. Yes, that's why we haven't seen him yet… No, I heard a rumor that there is one Taboo Existence woke up the 'Creator' himself and changed a great mess." The Holem's Crown said in a mysterious tone.
"You mean the one who created the 'Class-Gem' path?" Charles instantly linked the mysterious Taboo Existence and asked.
"Yes. The Eternal River of Life and the links with the World Trees also indicate that the Creator's real body must be the universe itself." The Holem's Crown suddenly paused for a moment and then added.
"There is also another theory circled among the mages that this universe is actually that Creator's Inner-world and we were just a part of him. But without enough proof, we can't say anything for sure."
Even Charles felt somewhat affected by hearing those scary words and grew more resolute on becoming a pinnacle-level existence.
He swore to himself and soon noticed that he already reached Riverdale City's entrance gate.
'But where are those strange dark goblins?' He furrowed his brows and soon went towards the direction where the strange leaf was.
After walking out of the city, he soon halted his footsteps and saw a strange watchtower in the outskirts. No, he saw two more broken watchtowers and a strange broken building-like structure in the outskirt and became surprised.
'These dark goblins seem to have encountered a troublesome creature. Without knowing the dangers hidden in this world, they did try to explore this strange world too openly, so it's not a surprising thing.' He let out a chuckle and then zeroed his gaze towards the non-broken watchtower.
Up in the tower, Charles noticed a total of three dark goblin-like creatures stood on guard and appeared to be observing the surroundings like hawks.
"Oh? Are these creatures from the fire-elemental plane?" The Holem's Crown also noticed their presence and asked in surprise.
"How did you find out that these creatures are from a fire-elemental plane?" Charles widened his eyes and then asked.
"What's there to be surprised about? Look at their skin color. Due to the long exposure to heat and sunlight, their skin pigmentation turned darker. Hmm, they look much like Night Goblins, but these creatures' skins are darker when comparing it to the real Night Goblins. A sub-race of Night Goblin? It is possible. Although Night Goblins love dark and underground places, they do have a unique tendency to eat fire-elemental fruits and creatures. Due to the long exposure of heat and fire elemental energy, these Goblins must have mutated and become a sub-race. Moreover, I also sense dense fire-elemental energy in the atmosphere." The Holem's Crown paused for a moment and then added in a solemn tone.
"These goblins must have found the Traveler's twin leaf in their native Fire-Elemental plane and came here through it. That must be the reason for such dense elemental energy in the surroundings."
Charles instantly concealed his presence while hiding near the entrance gate and observed the watchtower from afar.
'Does that mean I can get the elemental plane's coordination through this Traveler Tree's leaf on this side? Wait… Now that I think about it, when I came to the Dreamworld last time, I noticed that I can cast the magic spells at a much faster rate here. At that time, I thought that it has something to do with this strange Dreamworld. But it seems this Traveler's Tree's leaf is the main reason for the fire elemental density around this area.' A realization appeared on his face as he zeroed his gaze on the three dark goblins and made a decision.
'I need to kill these scouts before they could send a signal to their higher-ups. Moreover, I don't have any time.' With that thought in his mind, Charles took a deep breath and stealthily crept towards the tower in his concealed form.
As he reached 50 meters away from the watchtower, his 'Unluckiness' effect activated. Although he cast the conceal skill on himself, one of the goblins somehow sensed the anomaly and acted.
An instant later, his [Prevision] skill triggered as he perceived the upcoming arrow in an instant and ducked his head. At the same time, he cast [Crimson Steps] on himself and sprinted towards the watchtower.
In the dark, gloomy land, his figure moved like a bolt of lightning while igniting the dried weeds and soon reached the wooden watchtower's summit. At the same time, he cast [Flame Wings] on himself and flew upward.
Due to his quick action, he soon reached the top and hovered outside the watchtower.
In the meantime, one of the three dark goblins suddenly took out a strange metal box from its leather pouch and was about to press the blue button but stopped.
No, the dark goblin suddenly forgot how to press the button at all!
Before it could wake up from the strange state, it saw a ray of crimson light appeared from the front and directly landed on its face!
In a second, Charles killed the dark goblin and turned his gaze towards the other two.
At that moment, both of those dark goblins' bodies went stiff, and soon they collapsed due to deep fear.
'Was I that scary?' Charles flapped his wings as he landed on the watchtower with an amusing smile on his face and soon noticed a change in his [Incinerate] spell model.
'This… Did it already absorb the fire-elemental energy to cast next time?' A look of astonishment appeared on his face as he pointed the finger at one dark goblin and killed it.
'Damn, now I understood why I need to create the elemental heart. Once I create the Elemental Heart, I can cast rank-1 magic spells instantly.' His eyes lit up.
Upon noticing his action, the last dark goblin went scared sh*tless and started to shiver all over. It tried to shout, but Charles swiftly decapitated its head using his Ghost Dagger and then jumped from the watchtower while opening the crimson wings widely.
He then landed on the dried weeds and dismissed the wings. After that, he checked the surroundings for a moment and moved towards the direction where the Traveler's tree leaf was located.
On the way, he met a few dark goblins and some weird animal creatures, but he didn't face any difficulty and killed them before earning a total of 502 Exp points.
After some time, he soon reached the area where the Traveler's tree was located and soon saw a small outpost was built near the tree.
The surrounding trees were cut down neatly, formed into a large fence, and the outpost appeared more like a small village. A few tent-like structures were built around a single tree and appeared to be guarded by a total of 30 dark goblins.
'Oh? It seems they didn't put much investment into exploring this strange dream world. Well, that has to be expected from civilized goblins after their first failure. Without understanding the strange place, no civilization would dare to send more peoples at all. These goblins must have thought of understanding the nature of this plane before exploring further.' He nodded his head in understanding and soon walked out from the woods. After knowing that these goblins' strength was too low, he felt that it was unnecessary to hide any longer.
His presence instantly alerted the nearby goblins, and soon those dark goblins moved towards him at a fast speed while aiming different kinds of weapons.
Watching their acting, Charles coldly snorted and swiftly pointed his finger at them. A crimson ray came out from his forefinger and flew towards one of the goblins. In a mere second, the ray killed the goblin by disintegrating and even burned the tent.
If he had used the Rank-2 [Incinerate] spell, it would have taken some time for him to replenish the elemental energy in his spell model. Thankfully, he only used the Rank-1 spell, so he didn't even take a breath and cast the Rank-1 [Incinerate] spell once again!
Against his powerful spells, those dark goblins stood no chance at all!
He killed them all in less than a minute and soon went towards the area where the Traveler Tree's Twinleaf was attached.
But before he could take a step closer towards the old tree, his [Prevision] instantly triggered and gave him a warning.
