Klein turned his gaze to the forest where light could hardly penetrate through its denseness, having gained a rough idea of where he was.
This was the Waning Forest which Groselle guarded when he was at the Giant King's Court.
The trees in the forest were tens of meters tall, and the thickness of the trees was the arm span of several giants. However, their barks were mottled with signs of rot everywhere. The leaves and twigs were mostly withered and dropping as they interwove with each other like a dark cloud floating in midair.
Groselle and similar-looking giants guarded the boundary of the forest, either carrying axes or broadswords, fully concentrating on defending the area.
According to Groselle, this Waning Forest has the bodies of Giant King Aurmir's father and mother buried in it. Apart from this ancient god, no one else is allowed to step inside, including these guards... Yes, Giant King Aurmir's parents should be so-called original giants, the kind that was the craziest, cruelest, and most ferocious. Perhaps... Eh, why would Groselle have such a dream? As Klein was in thought, he suddenly sensed something amiss.
According to his random conversations in Pessote, the present Groselle was a native giant who had nothing to do with the Giant King's Court.
Therefore, having such a dream made it appear rather abnormal!
From the Psychology Alchemists' theory which Ma'am Daly and Miss Justice have discussed before, perhaps the book world will use or clone the original character's subconscious or collective subconscious when creating a character. Then, it would make minor changes, making the consciousness fulfill the required settings. Therefore, Groselle's dream will be influenced by his subconscious, reproducing life in the Giant King's Court... if that's the case, it can only be said that this book is a cruel author... The moment Klein thought of this, he suddenly had an idea. He felt that this was an opportunity for him to gather relevant information on the Giant King's Court.
He previously planned on directly learning about such matters through Groselle. But in order to keep his promise, the Giant Guardian had died in the battle with King of the North Ulyssan. After his Spirit Body left the book world, it quickly dissipated without giving him any chance of communicating. Now, he finally had another method, which was to explore Groselle's dream.
There had to be parts of it that were ridiculous or exaggerated, but the remaining content had to be a true reflection of reality. As long as an approach of careful study is employed, it's not impossible to distinguish the two.
Groselle never entered the Waning Forest, so the scenes inside must stem from his imagination. There's no need to explore it... Klein slowly cast his gaze onto the mountain where the king's court was.
It wasn't tall, which meant that the Waning Forest was on a mountain rather close to the king's court. It was probably just a straight path from there to the ancient god's residence.
Klein didn't waste time searching as he walked straight to Groselle and acted like he knew him well. He asked in a relaxed tone, "How should I return to the king's court?"
He knew that Groselle was an honest giant, and he would only be more honest in his dream.
Groselle raised his hand to scratch the back of his head as he looked down with a confused look. He said with a smile, "Isn't it simply by taking the Barren Tunnel?"
He pointed ahead and added, "You'll see it when you circle around that boulder."
"Thank you," Klein sighed as he said with a bow.
As he watched Klein depart, Groselle scratched the back of his head again, muttering to himself in confusion, "Who is he? Why do I find him so familiar..."
After circling a boulder that protruded out the mountain, the scene opened up before Klein's eyes. A gigantic cave at least thirty meters tall appeared.
Erected outside the cave was a stone stele. Engraved on it was a single vertical eye, a high nose, and plush lips. It looked like a giant's head had been squeezed in to reveal the frontal facial features.
Just as Klein approached, the mouth on the stele opened.
"Why are you returning to the king's court ahead of time?"
"By His Majesty's orders," Klein said in an unflustered tone. After all, the intelligence level of all the living beings in this dream was equivalent to the owner of the dream—Groselle.
The lips on the stele opened and closed as it let out a humming sound.
"Please answer a question; otherwise, you shall not pass."
... If only I brought along Arrodes, it should be rather fun to see what happens... Klein lampooned as he calmly nodded.
"Okay."
The stele's lips closed for three seconds before opening.
"If your wife, daughter, and a woman you covet ask you to judge which of them is most beautiful, who would you choose?"
This is completely different from the magic mirror's style... Klein's lips quivered as his mind raced. Using nearly ten seconds, he answered, "My intelligence is insufficient to determine this matter. I will assign someone who is more intelligent than me to give the answer."
How can I answer something that can get me killed? He gritted his teeth as he added.
"... Who is this more intelligent person?" The giant's face on the stele froze for a few seconds.
Klein solemnly answered, "Of course it's our king."
The stele was shocked beyond words. It took quite a moment before it said, "Alright, I'll consider it as you answering the question. You may pass."
Klein immediately crossed the strange stele and walked into the cave.
The ground in the cave was paved with large stone panels that had been weathered. The sides and top of the cave were filled with murals, speaking of stories of the giants and dragons battling the demonic wolves, mutants, devils, and phoenixes. The drawing style was crude and the color choice was dark. However, it was extremely vivid.
Klein walked forward as he observed the murals. He discovered that there were swaths of withered weeds, as well as all kinds of coarse gravel in between the stone panels and the bottom of the murals.
And the lack of water and the decline of life became more apparent the deeper he ventured inside.
After walking for an unknown period of time, Klein saw a huge grayish-blue open door. Standing on each side of the door was a four-to five-meter-tall giant.
The giants guarding this place were different from Groselle and the others. They wore solid and beautiful iron-black armor and firm, exquisite helms. They looked like two huge statues.
They didn't stop Klein and allowed him to pass through the door and enter the hall within.
The hall wasn't too spacious. The ends of the hall could be seen clearly, and it could probably only hold five to six giants.
As Klein was observing his environment, he suddenly halted. Then, the hall seemed to be pulled up by an invisible hand as it quickly rose.
He staggered a little before finding his footing. All he saw were grayish-black walls flashing by as they kept sweeping downwards.
In about ten seconds, there was a thud as the hall stopped ascending.
At this moment, it wasn't the cave tunnel outside the door, but a magnificent palace propped up by stone columns.
Klein briskly left the original hall as he sized up his surroundings with piqued interest.
This is the Giant King's Court's "elevator?" This seems to be the place where the guards live. Outside is a long table taller than humans, with extremely large chairs. On the two sides are rooms, and inside them are neatly ordered beds... Klein swept past the various items in the hall before he stopped at a mural.
The mural's main character was a giant dressed in full-body silver armor. As there was nothing to scale, Klein was unable to know exactly how tall he was.
The giant stood by the side of a cliff, with a sword in hand pointing diagonally upwards. His body emitted a bright halo, like a rising sun illuminating the surroundings.
Many giants were genuflecting around him, as though praying or worshiping him and awaiting a bestowment.
The giant king's son, God of Dawn, Badheilbrunn? Klein looked at the face of the mural's main character in thought, and he saw that his face was blocked by a mask. There was only a dawn-like halo coming from his eyes.
It's very similar to the God of Combat statue in the Backlund underground ruins. His face is completely hidden behind a mask... Heh, Queen Mystic said before that the God of Combat is a giant who lived from ancient times. Therefore, their Church's headquarters, the Great Twilight Hall, resembled the Giant King's Court... Could it be the son of the giant king? God of Dawn escaped the destruction of the king's court, and at a certain point in time, he managed to retake the authority wielded by "His" father? Klein made a bold guess, but he lacked any evidence or clues.
He used the correspondence principle to look at the wall opposite the mural. There was also a mural there, but the main character was no longer God of Dawn, Badheilbrunn. Instead, it was a female giant in a leather vest and long skirt.
This female giant stood sideways. Her facial contours were soft, and her single vertical eye was focused beneath her. Long, dark-brown hair reached all the way to her back.
Her right hand was spread out as she held items like wheat and fruits. Around her were golden fields, clear lakes, and trees covered with fruits and colorful mushrooms.
Giant Queen, Goddess of Harvest, Omebella? Klein looked around, but he didn't see the mural representing Giant King Aurmir.
There's no depiction of the ancient god because this is the residence of remote guards? Then, going out from here will likely be the interior of the Giant King's Court... Klein carefully walked to the door. He used the method he employed in the dream world of the battlefield ruins of the gods by activating Creeping Hunger and using the strength of a Zombie to open the door.
However, there wasn't a palace in the frozen dusk that he had imagined outside. Instead, it was a gray, hazy world. It appeared to be a cliff with a bottomless pit.
According to Miss Justice's previous experience, this is likely the boundary of the dream. The only way is to head down and enter Groselle's subconscious. Finally, I'll arrive at the sea of collective subconscious... Miss Justice discovered a mind dragon in the human sea of collective subconscious where she was. Then, in this book world created by the Dragon of Imagination, what would be contained in the sea of collective subconscious? Klein's mind whirred as he conjured a staircase that led down into the hazy world.
The staircase didn't head straight down but spiraled around deep into the gray haze. The bottom couldn't be seen, nor were any of the details of the mind world that were possible to discern.
