Pale Emblem

Chapter 63 Dream Arena

Vertok had a dream.

At first, the dream was chaotic, and with the awakening of consciousness, a light appeared first.It flows out of light, twists and turns, and quickly outlines a huge oval platform.

This materialized platform is suspended in the boundless darkness of chaos.On the edge of the platform stood towers of flames, and the blazing flames illuminated the platform clearly and brightly.

Vertok stroked the smooth surface of the flame tower curiously, and the texture of hard and cold rock came from the palm of his hand.He knew he was dreaming, but it all seemed so real.He felt pain when he pinched his face, a heartbeat in his chest, and air in his lungs.

However, Vertoc soon became flustered, and he found that there was no way he could escape this real dream.

Vertok ran back and forth on the floating platform, trying to find an exit.But on the empty platform, apart from the flame tower for lighting, there is no other special thing to see.Vertok tried to climb the stone tower, but the smooth surface of the tower made him unable to do anything; he reached the very edge of the floating platform and wanted to jump off.

Outside the platform, the boundless darkness seemed to connect with the deepest fear in my heart.Vertok couldn't help but take a few steps back, and immediately gave up the idea of ​​jumping off the platform.

Frightened, Vertok began to worry that the elliptical platform would collapse, so he turned and ran towards the center of the platform.

If this platform collapses, it should start from the edge, and standing in the middle may last until it finally falls into the terrifying dark abyss.

"I heard that dragons can increase their strength when they sleep. Do you really think they are just sleeping in?"

When Vertoc came to the center of the platform, a cloud of white mist rose from the hexagonal floor tile at the very center.The dense mist turned into a monster with three heads.Its image is of three giant pythons growing on the body of a lizard, composed of thick fog, with blurry lines and no details, but the eyes of the three snake heads are impressive, like flames solidified into crystals, which are emerald green and amber respectively. and ice blue.

"...Welcome to the Dream Arena, are you ready for the test?"

The three-headed snake spit out words that scared Vertok to a halt.He observed tremblingly for a while, and found that the monster that appeared suddenly was not only harmless, but had a very kind and familiar feeling.

"Who are you?" Vertoc walked over slowly, looking curiously at the three-headed smoky snake that was about the same height as him.

"I am the mythical three-headed lizard Portanos, the guide of the Dream Arena... I am you." The three-headed snake replied.

Vertoc was inexplicably happy and asked eagerly, "You are me? I am the mythical three-headed lizard? But why did I become like this?"

The three-headed lizard Portanos did not respond to this question, and the six crystal eyes sparkled.Vertok couldn't see any spiritual brilliance in its eyes, so he couldn't help frowning and asked, "Where is this?"

Portanos replied, "The Arena of Dreams is a reflection of your psychic powers."

"What is the darkness outside the arena?"

"It is the embodiment of your spiritual barrier, a boundary, a barrier that can protect your spiritual will from being assimilated by the pan-conscious beyond the boundary."

"Pan-consciousness beyond the boundaries? What is that?"

"I can't answer, you have to find the answer yourself."

Virtok thought for a while, then asked, "Why am I here?"

"You synchronize the 'knowledge puzzle', mobilize the unavailable mental power, and the mental will is seriously injured. The Dream Arena came into being, and it will repair your damage."

"I just want to get out of here, how do I get out?"

"Take part in the challenge, recover your ability, and go out if you want."

Vertok pondered for a moment, and tried to ask many questions from various angles.Some questions, the mythical three-headed lizard will answer, but most of the time, it will not respond, like a puppet without self-will.

In short, Vertoc figured out one thing, he couldn't leave the Dream Arena without participating in the challenge.

The rules of the competitive challenge are very simple. The guide Portanos draws samples from the ocean of pan-consciousness, and then shapes them into a contestant in the arena.

The strength of the individual contestants is basically the same as that of the challengers.Vertoc is the only challenger in the arena, and every time he beats a competitor, his mental damage is repaired.By completing five consecutive rounds of challenges, he can open the arena treasure chest, take away the prizes and the "key" to leave the dreamland.

The specific rules of the arena are as follows:

First, neither the challenger Vertok nor the contestants will actually die, but will reflect pain and disability effects.

Second, the difficulty of each round increases by 20%, and five rounds are one stage.The difficulty of each stage remains within the challenger's current capabilities.

Third, challengers can reset the game, but cannot repeatedly claim stage rewards.

Fourth, the time flow of the dream arena is ten times that of the real world, and ten days in the arena is equal to one day in the outside world.

Fifth, each victory of the challenger will increase the spiritual attribute a little, and the Dream Arena will also grow.The guide Portanos can draw more samples, provide more generous rewards, increase the flow of time, and evolve various complex scenarios.

When things got to this point, Vertok had no choice, he nodded and said, "I will participate in the competition."

"Challenger Vertoc has decided to compete. His opponent is the goblin king Wowo from nowhere!"

Loud voices echoed passionately in the empty arena.A translucent figure appeared on the opposite side of Vertok, which was gradually materializing.

"The Goblin King Wowo established a vast orc kingdom with a sphere of influence that spanned two great rivers. Ogres, gnolls, centaurs, and goatheads all obeyed the will of this goblin king. Today, Wowo's reputation is gone. People know that only the ocean of pan-consciousness has recorded its legendary life. However, no matter how great the king is, there are also weak moments. Wowo was once driven out by the tribe, wandering alone in the wild, starvation and cold almost killed it."

"'The Dying Goblin Wowo' is just right against 'The Younger Weltok'."

"Who will be the real winner? Let's wait and see, I believe this is a wonderful game!" The mythical three-headed lizard turned into a puff of smoke and disappeared without a trace.The translucent goblin figure has transformed into an entity.

Vertok looked at his opponent with surprise and contempt on his face, and couldn't help saying to himself, "My opponent is this little thing?"

Goblins, the most common monsters in the world.They are widely distributed all over the world and have incredible adaptability. They can be seen in plateaus, mountains, swamps, grasslands and forests.Most goblins are small in size and have little need for food. Coupled with their good intelligence and dexterous hands, goblins are often accepted by powerful races as slave artisans and backup rations.

However, almost all monster groups that enslave goblins will eventually be attacked by goblins and become slaves of goblins.Because goblins are one of the few alien orcs who can voluntarily awaken their bloodline memories.In the case of abundant food, they will evolve into intelligent hobgoblins, strong and tough bear goblins, and other types of exotic goblins, such as goblin cavalry, claw goblin, dog goblin, etc. according to the environment and actual needs. .

The Goblin Wowo, embodied by the Guided One, is just an ordinary Goblin.It is less than 1.2 meters tall, with sparse hair, and its pale green skin highlights the shape of bones.It has a big head because it is short and thin, and its thin neck doesn't seem to be able to support the weight of its head.

Suddenly came to an unfamiliar environment, the goblin Wowo, who was about to starve to death, tried his best to open his eyes, trying to see the surrounding scene.Its eyeballs are cloudy, its eyes are hard to focus, and only a few thin yellow and thin yellow teeth are left in its mouth.

Vertok was confident that he could strangle this scrawny little monster with one hand, but he forgot one thing.

The rules of the Dream Arena are that in the first round, the challenger and the contestant are of equal strength.

Just when Vertok was about to start, the Dream Arena interrupted his support and beat him back to his original shape.

With a thud, Vertok fell to the smooth rock floor.His mind and body curled up into a childlike state of two or three years old. Due to insufficient mental strength, he was unable to effectively coordinate his body, his vision became blurred, and his brain's ability to judge various perceptual information decreased linearly.In order to prevent him from hurting himself clumsily, the mental body triggered a self-protection mechanism, blocking part of the muscle ability, making Vertok's strength much smaller.

The goblin Wowo was startled by the movement here, and then it found Vertok struggling to stand up on the stone floor.Although Wowo's brain is not sober, the craving for food can overcome everything.In its eyes, the clumsy Vertok is like a piece of meat.

A large amount of saliva secreted from his mouth, dripping down his toothless mouth. Wowo's eyes glowed with a faint green light, he stood up vigorously, and rushed towards Vertok.

"Meat, meat... Wowo, eat meat!"

Vertok's intelligence level has degraded to infancy. His body is obviously much larger than that of the thin and weak goblin. At this time, there is only fear in his heart. He crawled in the opposite direction while crying, leaving his butt and back. opponent.

This was an excellent attacking position, and Wowo jumped on Vertok's back and bit the back of his neck with his toothless mouth.Vertok wanted to grab it with his backhand, but he couldn't do such a simple action well, so he could only circle in place.

In its current state, the Goblin Wowo should eat worms, grass seeds, mushrooms, etc.A "giant" prey like Vertok is clearly beyond its ability to hunt.The goblin's toothless mouth couldn't tear Vertoc's neck.Vertok couldn't catch the little monster on his back either.

As a result, in the Dream Arena beyond time and space, the legendary Goblin King and Stormrage Juggernaut entangled and fought, and the scene was extremely ugly.

The two sides fought for a long time without a winner.The dying goblin Wowo changed his strategy and tried to gouge the baby Weltok's eyes, but it failed and was strangled by Weltok's neck instead.

Young children can't effectively control their hands and feet, and they grab things with the greatest strength.

For the goblin Wowo, this is a terrible "brute force" that it cannot resist.In the end, the challenger Vertok strangled the contestant Wowo and won the first game.

With the death of "The Dying Goblin Wowo", its body turned into mist, most of it was absorbed by the Dream Arena, and a small part merged into Vertoc's body.

A piece of information from the goblin Wowo poured into Vertok's mind, including his upbringing, his emotional memories, and his dying experience.Vertoc's mental body grew with the enhancement of his spiritual attributes, and Portanos' voice resounded in the sky above the arena:
"Challenger Vertok beat his opponent. It was a really good match. Well, the next contestant is Wowo, a healthy goblin from nowhere!"

The speed of time in the arena is ten times that of the outside world. Wiltok spent dozens of days and played more than 200 matches. ", "Hobgoblin Volvo and His Six Wives", "Hobgoblin Volvo and His Ursom Bodyguard".

The difficulty of each round will increase by 20.00% compared with the previous round, Vertok played very hard.Especially in the last round, the opponents were the hobgoblin Wowo and the two bear-headed goblins, which caused Wiltok to lose more than 130 games in a row.

Fortunately, Vertok can come back after losing the game, and the contestants will not be strengthened by winning the game.But Vertok also recognized a dangerous possibility.

The competition in the arena is a cycle every five rounds. Once it starts, it cannot be stopped. You have to win the five rounds.If Vertoc fails to pass the final round, he will be trapped in this infinite loop.

Vertok did everything possible, using various tactics, to win the final round.It has to be said that the memory of the goblin Wowo he harvested before has helped a lot.Vertok may know Wowo better than Wowo, and Wiltok himself has summed up experience in failures again and again and constantly recognizes his own abilities.

Fighting is like this, first fully understand what you can do and what you can't do; then try to understand the opponent's capabilities.Then, according to your own ability, firmly control the rhythm of the battle, you can often win.

In the last round, the 235th game, Vertok rushed over at the beginning and hacked to death the gnome Wowo with the stone axe captured in the previous game.He took the goblin's whip and threw it directly at a smaller goblin bear. He screamed again, pointed at the goblin bear, and fell to the ground to pretend to be dead, as if he was killed by it.

Goblin bears have low intelligence and stupid brains.The little goblin bear happily ran to Vertok's side, ready to enjoy his prey, but was beaten by the big goblin.

The two goblins were fighting.They didn't do anything to their companions, and no Hobgoblin told them to stop fighting, resulting in one death and one serious injury, and Vertok easily won the game.

"Challenger Vertoc has completed the fifth round, and he can now claim his rewards." The mythical three-headed snake Portanos reappeared in the center of the arena, and a treasure chest appeared in front of him.

Vertok had a chilling murderous aura all over his body.He played over 200 games and killed hundreds of goblins.Although this all happened in a dream, the feeling is very real, and the mental body will inevitably be affected.In the last game, the Hobgoblin Wowo and his Goblin Bear bodyguards were obviously shocked for a second when they saw Vertoc.Vertoc charged towards the gnome Wowo, and the bodyguards of the bear gnomes retreated to both sides.Veltok slashed to death on the spot with an axe before the Hobgoblin Wowo summoned his bodyguard.

Vertok approached the treasure chest, the lid of the box slid open automatically, and a dark golden light group flew into his body.

He understood many things in an instant.

Victor Wimbledon Randall, the sanctuary powerhouse of the human kingdom, can also be called a demigod with a life level of nine.He is the master of the mind and controls the blood power of the Emperor of the Elf Empire.Because of certain things, he was blocked by the demon monarch Lady Spider, and his soul was exiled into the ocean of pan-consciousness, becoming a real god.

Of course, being a god is not a good thing.The laws of the world do not allow powers above the ninth order to interfere with the main material plane, and the dark side of the fire element sea - the ocean of pan-consciousness is destroying his soul will.

Before slipping into the ocean of pan-consciousness, Victor created a sub-personality to control his body as a sign of returning to the main material plane.

He is Vertok.

However, Vertoc is not the first sub-personality shaped by the Mind Master.The mythical three-headed lizard Portanos is.

Since the laws of the world do not accommodate extraordinary beings above the ninth order, the Hydra lizards living in the swamp divide their souls into nine parts, thus obtaining the right to survive and reproduce on the main material plane.Each of their nine heads has a soul. When the nine heads are unified, the life level of the Hydra lizard will reach the peak of the ninth level, and it will be promoted to the mythical Hydra, but only a few decades of life will be left.

The mind master Victor draws on the characteristics of the split soul of the Hydra, created the secret method of Portanos, and created three virtual personalities with only instinct and no consciousness.They help Viktor affinity with the elements and boost his mental strength.

Portanos actually has four heads, corresponding to the four attributes of earth, fire, wind, and water.The head of the fire attribute is the deputy personality Weltok himself, and the other three heads are the embodiment of the element attribute.When Vertoc merges with any head, his eyes will change, amber eyes representing the affinity of the earth element; blue eyes representing the affinity of the wind element; green eyes representing the affinity of the water element.

Element attributes have an effect on character.Before, Vertoc had been integrating Portanos' most stable earth element attributes, his eyes were amber, and his personality had become stubborn and tough, causing him to synchronize the "knowledge puzzle" desperately in exchange for the power of a demigod, Just to kill some weak orcs.

This kind of behavior is equivalent to the nine heads of the Hydra lizard, and it will cause unimaginable consequences.

Fortunately, Victor's wife Sylvia gave him a hand in time, otherwise Victor would have completely slipped into the ocean of pan-consciousness.

The fatal loophole must be filled, but Victor cannot transmit his own memories directly to the sub-personality.

Because this is still nine in one.

The sub-personality Weltok can only retrieve the lost memory by himself, become the main character, and then give up the excess spiritual power.There may be some cognitive biases, but at least he can survive.

As long as you can survive, as the master of the mind, cognitive biases can be corrected, and the goal is the same.

Victor can no longer let the sub-personality continue to use the "knowledge puzzle", which is the foundation of mind mastery.He evolved the "knowledge puzzle" into a "dream arena", taking samples from the ocean of pan-consciousness to help the sub-personality improve its strength.

These samples have been selected by Victor, and they are all real fragments of consciousness.For example, the goblin Wowo was the king of orcs who was active in the southern continent 900 years ago, and his experience, experience, and memory will become the resources for the growth of the vice-personality Weltok.

Every time Vertok wins a game, it is equivalent to directly drawing spiritual power from the dark side of the fire element sea.Some of these spiritual powers belong to the sub-personality, and some belong to the main personality.However, Victor's problem is that his spiritual power is too high, and continuing to enhance his spiritual attributes will be more closely integrated with the ocean of pan-consciousness.

But he has no better way. He can only hope that the spiritual attribute of the sub-personality will increase to 55 points, which can accommodate the complete soul will side, transform into the main personality, and the excess spiritual power can be discarded.

The sub-personality completes five rounds of competition and receives the prize, and Victor will be sober for a while.He read the experience of the sub-personality and made some necessary adjustments to the mental body, thereby affecting the direction of reality.But the deputy personality Weltok won't remember exactly what the main personality did.

A split is a split, and Victor must never communicate directly with the sub-personality.

Five days ago, Victor summoned his two most powerful subordinates through the ocean of pan-consciousness.His cry alarmed some powerful transcendent beings.The spiritual dream of Dragon King Fei Lumat was torn apart by his cry.The Dragon King originally wanted to come over to check, but was stared at by Sylvia's death, and was too frightened to move.But the dragon will come sooner or later, not necessarily by itself, perhaps by sending a powerful dragon servant.

Victor's body is strong, but the vice-person Weltok is weak and can't exert much power.Facing the eighth-order dragon king Fei Lumat, he had no room for resistance.

However, the weak have their way of life.Before the sub-personality was effectively protected, Victor decided to adopt a strategy of staying with the light to temporarily suppress the strength of the sub-personality, so as to avoid encountering powerful opponents in advance.

He makes the following adjustments to the mental body:
"Vertoc, 13 points of spirit, 14 points of physique, 14 points of perception, and 15 points of life."

"The first round of winning prizes in the arena: Elementary Vientiane Yuanfa, Goblin Slayer title (Touch of the Mind)."

"Integrate the head of the water element of Portanos, the life attribute is increased to 20 points, the water element is friendly, extraordinary vitality, obtain the talent of gluttony; obtain the talent of self-healing; unlock the talent of surging (part)..."

(End of this chapter)