Chapter 97: Time Flow Rate of the Dreamscape

Chapter 97: The Flow of Time in Dreams

In the safehouse, Li Wei took out a soul crystal.

"How do I absorb a soul crystal?"

He placed it in his palm and tried to activate its power with his mental energy.

Failure.

After pondering for a moment, he put the crystal into his mouth.

It melted instantly upon contact, turning into a liquid that slid smoothly down his throat.

He waited. A sensation of swelling filled his body, warmth spreading through every limb.

After several minutes, the feeling faded.

He looked down—his body appeared unchanged. That swelling must have been an illusion.

"The power of the soul crystal hasn't been fully consumed yet."

Li Wei sensed a lingering force within him, like a gentle stream slowly nourishing his soul.

"My mental energy has improved."

Extending his awareness outward, he found its range now approached fourteen meters.

The increase was significant.

Without the soul crystal, he would have needed at least another half month of training to reach this level.

Realizing absorption would take time,

Li Wei stored the remaining two soul crystals and exited the dream world.

Opening his eyes, he instinctively turned toward the window.

Outside, the sky was faintly brightening.

He felt surprised.

He had thought dawn was near when he left the dream—but the morning light was still pale.

"My sense of time is still off."

Seeing this, he didn’t want to lie back down.

He rose, walked to the study, and sat on the meditation mat.

The mat was woven from vines of a plant known to calm the spirit—

a gift from Gu Ze.

During earlier visits, Gu Ze had noticed Li Wei often meditated in the study, yet lacked even proper furnishings.

So he gifted this cushion, said to be quite expensive.

Li Wei took out a vial of low-grade magical potion and drank it.

"Last one. All used up."

Setting aside the bottle, Ying Shi lit a stick of calming incense.

Once Li Wei entered deep meditation, Ying Shi waited a while, then extinguished the incense.

In truth, keeping the incense burning continuously would aid cultivation more.

Its effects went beyond easing one into meditation—it also accelerated spiritual growth.

Earlier, when Li Wei practiced basic meditation techniques, the incense boosted his efficiency by twenty to thirty percent.

Now, however, its influence had greatly diminished.

Compared to the potency of magical potions, the incense’s effect was nearly negligible.

He only used it now to help settle his mind before practice.

Today, as he cultivated the Crystal Meditation Method—visualizing himself as a growing crystal, purifying impurities within—he found the process unusually smooth.

Both absorbing magical elements to strengthen mana and refining his mental energy felt easier than ever.

After careful introspection, he detected a subtle current rising from within.

"A soul crystal?"

The thought flickered across his mind.

His visualization wavered. He quickly cleared the distraction and focused once more.

Three hours later, his session ended.

He opened his eyes, feeling refreshed—no trace of the usual exhaustion or mental drain after prolonged training.

Glancing at the clock, he realized he’d meditated half an hour longer than intended.

"The soul crystal has such miraculous effects!"

"Truly a treasure!"

That day, Li Wei further investigated the value of the Rock Wyvern's core,

preparing to negotiate with Tanya that night.

With his supply of potions exhausted, he hoped to sell it immediately and receive payment as soon as possible.

He didn’t ask the magic steward about the Rock Wyvern contract.

Instead, he went directly to the Adventurers’ Guild headquarters to check the posted bounty.

There were many active quests, but the highest reward had reached 138 gold coins.

Many adventurers were tempted, yet none dared attempt it.

"Hey, Brade, wasn’t it your team that encountered the Rock Wyvern?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Do you really not know who took the wyvern’s core?"

"Don’t know."

"Stop asking me! I’m sick of it—everyone keeps bothering me about this."

"Alright, alright, we’ll leave you alone."

"Hmph! What idiots—how could they lose something so valuable!"

A departing adventurer muttered to his companion.

Brade heard it. His expression remained unchanged.

He had heard too many words like these lately.

Allen and Martin had even come to him personally, asking about it.

Bred was truly helpless.

So many suspected he had secretly taken the magic core.

After the battle ended, he was the first one to approach the battlefield.

At that moment, his loud cry had been heard by many.

When Li Wei saw Bred, he turned and walked away.

He already had a rough idea of the upper limit for the price of a magic core.

That night, Li Wei slipped into the dream.

Standing by the window of the study in the dreamscape, he gazed outward at an endless sea of stars.

That was the River of Dreams.

Floating and sinking among them, each star was the spirit of a dream—born, shifting, fading.

As he delved deeper into the dream, the safehouse arrived at the banks of the River of Dreams.

Visible, yet untouchable.

The door remained the only passage.

Li Wei wasn’t in a hurry to meet Tanya.

He stayed within the room, practicing spells.

Judging from his progress, he estimated it was nearly the dead of night.

Only then did Li Wei leave the safehouse and step onto the Dreaming River.

He sensed the location of the Spirit Wanderers’ dream bubble.

Once someone had visited, they could always sense its position before it shattered and reformed.

Arriving at the Spirit Wanderers, Li Wei met Tanya.

Tanya said, “One hundred and eighty gold coins—that’s my absolute limit.”

Li Wei pondered briefly, then nodded. “Deal. Five o’clock this afternoon, bring the money to the summit of Shadowed Valley.”

She nodded. “Mm, understood.”

Tanya looked at him and asked, “Can you tell me your name?”

Li Wei looked back, silent.

They held each other’s gaze through their masks for a moment, then Li Wei turned away.

“If fate allows, we’ll meet again.”

With that, he withdrew directly from the dream.

Back in the safehouse, he resumed spell practice.

Following his usual sense of progression, when he felt his proficiency had advanced sufficiently, he exited the dream.

His consciousness returned to his body. Before even opening his eyes, he noticed the dimness outside.

Surprised, he opened his eyes and glanced out the window.

A crescent moon hung in the sky, bathing the earth in silver light.

It was still deep night.

Li Wei focused on the desk. The wood grain twisted, forming characters:

【Mage Hand (Zero-tier Mastery)】1230/8000

Proficiency never lied.

In the dream, a full night had indeed passed.

Yet in reality, it was still the middle of the night.

After a moment’s thought, Li Wei understood.

Time flowed faster in the second layer of dreams.

One day in reality might equal a day and more within the second dream.

The exact ratio would require further testing.

Seeing this, Li Wei once again returned to the dream to train.

When he came back to reality this time, dawn had broken.

“The second world’s time flows at about 1.5 times the speed of reality.”

He deduced this from the rate of his proficiency gain.

【Mage Hand (Zero-tier Mastery)】1890/8000

Normally, even with relentless effort all night, he’d gain no more than 1200 or 1300 proficiency.

Today, he had nearly doubled that.

The second dream world truly moved faster!

(End of Chapter)