As Adam died due to a marvelous explosion that was worthy of being called the greatest form of art in existence, he found out that his mind did not enter the usual void of darkness that death brought him— the darkness that he had become so used to at this point.
Rather, he felt that he was slowly moving upward; as though his entire body was being dragged up by some force he had no sense of control over.
After a long time, Adam gasped loudly as he woke up from what could only be defined as a nightmare.
He looked all around him, bewildered as he realized that he was back at the small cabin room which was filled with books. He immediately noticed the sight of Eve sitting on her rocking chair, looking at him with a smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth.
"Did you have a good dream?"
Adam ignored her words, glazed in the notes of mischief, as he simply focused on his inner self.
'It's back.'
The feeling of his mind stretching beyond the domain of his body and covering everything surrounding him was now present once more— the slight impression of omniscience and omnipotence he felt whenever he was in the middle of his domain had now returned as he woke up from the dream or rather nightmare.
Adam could feel his body trembling ever so slightly.
He would have never imagined that getting back 'The World' would give him such a deep sense of relief and joy.
It was as though he was finally complete. Back inside the Dreamscape, he had the explicit feeling that he was missing a limb or a part of his body.
But now… Everything was finally alright as though the final piece of the puzzle had now been put in place.
Adam took a deep breath before finally exhaling out his breath.
"Sorry. I was verifying something."
Eve shook her head, her smile stretching further as she saw her youngest grandson.
"What you are feeling right now is perfectly normal. This is something many gods feel and one of the reasons they rarely leave their Divine Kingdoms."
She laughed ever so slightly at that thought. "Though you should try to not be too reliant on any particular skills of yours. Otherwise, you will become helpless when the moment comes. Just as you may have felt inside that dream of yours this time."
She closed the book she had been holding in her hands.
"I understand. So, will you tell me what exactly happened there?"
Eve looked up as if she was trying to verify something before she nodded to herself.
"First things first, I wish to apologize for sending you to that place without giving you any sort of information whatsoever. To be honest, I did so intentionally."
"I guess you wanted to see how I would react under duress, right?"
She laughed slightly at those words before explaining, "No. I just thought it would be funny to see what you would do, hehe."
"You… You are quite shameless…"
"This just comes with age…"
Obviously, she was just telling him a white lie. There were many things she couldn't say or do without ample preparation on her part for the consequences of her actions.
She simply didn't want him to worry too much about her situation.
Though if she had to be honest… she really did find it quite funny to see his shenanigans.
So she wasn't entirely lying and was thus it was a white lie with some parts of truth embedded within.
"Anyway, long story short, I helped Lilith with her conquest of the second hell. Things are going pretty well back there and we already managed to steal a large part of Asmodeus' authorities."
Eve moved her hands, "Lilith mainly took the Authority of Lust from him, while I took over the authority of Dreams."
Once again this was an understatement about what truly transpired but Adam didn't need to know all the intricacies of the plan she was hatching with Lilith.
As sad as it may be to speak of this, the simple truth here was that he was not yet qualified enough to dip his toes in the matters related to the Astral Realm.
Adam was pretty surprised by the contents of her speech but he still focused on the important matter here.
"So… is Asmodeus dead?"
He was more or less enemies with Asmodeus at this point, so having him die now would be a massive weight off his shoulders.
Sadly though, he was bound to be disappointed…
"No. Not yet. But it's just a question of time. This is why we stopped fully pushing through with this conquest of ours. There is nothing more dangerous than a cornered rat after all."
She gave a chilling smile before speaking her next set of words, "Now we are going to slowly boil him like a frog to avoid him suddenly jumping over the well we placed him within."
It was incredible how she was talking about a Demon Lord as if he was nothing but a nuisance.
But this was how Eve saw most gods at this point in time.
At her current level, if she was not imprisoned and limited by the Library of Akasha – which also acted as her eternal prison – there would be very few entities in the entirety of existence who could actually even ruffle her hair.
"Anyway, as you are now, I cannot give you the authority of Dreams that I have snatched from Asmodeus. It would be more of a poisonous gift than anything."
Dream was one of the greatest authorities possible and all those who possessed more than a very negligible percentage of this authority were targets for others to exploit and harvest.
"You already have enough problems as is. So, trust me when I say this, you don't need more on your plate right now. Hence, what I did was to give you a seed and a key to a higher power."
"Dreamscape."
"Indeed. The power inside the Dreamscape is very different from the outside world. In a way, it's an alternative system of growth. No matter how strong you become in the Dreamscape, this strength will not translate to strength in the normal world."
This was how… no matter how one could become a god in their dreams, the moment they woke up they would be back to being normal humans.
"But my soul will become stronger and I can open the Soul Star Chakra, right?"
"I see that you have read the book I gave you last time. Good job. But that isn't all."
Eve was happy that Adam was willing to learn and gain further knowledge. That part about him really resonated with her personality.
"Your life in the Dreamscape is an invaluable experience. You should have already understood how you can train in that place. But there is also the fact that gaining power in the Dreamscape will make you more used to your powers in real life which will make you grow faster with maximum efficiency."
One could say that there were only benefits in going to the Dreamscape as long as you were able to enter that plane that is.
"The only negative point is that dying inside the Dreamscape means death in the real world or rather, the body will still be alive, but the soul will be obliterated… well, not like it's a problem for you though."
In moments like these, Adam had to admit that his curse was a boon for him in many ways. In fact, for now, at least, this curse only gave him advantages and none of the detriments it vowed to bring forth in his life.
He was sure that he would definitely change his opinion later on though… Eternity of life was no joke…
"Do I need to come here to enter Dreamscape?"
"No. You now have the key to that land. Though, since your soul died, you won't be able to enter that place for one or two days. It will take time for your soul to nourish itself and get back to its optimal state. This is unlike your physical body that rewires itself to its most optimal state after each death."
"What is the time difference between the Dreamscape and the real world?"
This was the most important question for him right now. Depending on how big the difference was, the ability to enter would become less of an advantage.
"I do not know the specific time split. But one full day on Earth should be more or less equal to one or two months inside the realm of Dreamscape. It's hard to say for sure but it should not be less than that."
"Oh…"
Adam's eye twitched a bit at that news.
Until now, his greatest worry had always been time. He was in a constant race against it at all times.
24 hours a day was not even enough for him to understand and assimilate all of his skills.
Even though the Library was helpful in a sense, the truth was that, since it cost him a free pass to enter here, it wasn't something he could do on a regular basis.
But now,
"Thank you."
He didn't know what Eve's plan was for him. But she had once again given him a gift that was beyond anything he could ever hope to repay…
There was nothing more precious than time in this world right now for him.
"There is no need for thanks. We are family. And there is nothing more precious than family to me."
The beaming smile on Eve's face was the last thing Adam saw before being ejected from the Library.
(AN: And so the arc ends. Opinions would be appreciated. Now gotta go back to Natasha and his different deals to become a Mafia boss.)
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