“Your Majesty… Your Majesty?” Nightingale's voice woke Roland from his reverie. “Chief Steward is still waiting for your reply.”

“Ah, I know all of this,” Roland blinked, collecting his thoughts, and handed the report back to Barov. “Do as you see fit.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Barov said, placing a hand over his chest. Before leaving, he solemnly added, “Please take care of yourself, Your Majesty.”

After the Chief Steward left the office, Roland asked Nightingale, “What, do I look bad?”

“Hmm, you look alright,” the latter deliberately scrutinized him for a while before saying, “It's just you've been spacing out a lot lately. Could it be related to the dream world's intrusion?”

Roland shook his head. “The changes in the dream don't affect much. It's just that some things seem a little strange when I think about them. Nothing to worry about.”

“Is that so… Good then,” Nightingale pouted.

This was already the fourth day since he had left the dream world. Although Faldi had successfully located the Association's headquarters, Ling couldn't infiltrate it—according to her, no place was like that area, built in the pitch-black underground, yet with no shadow to hide in. The entire ceiling was covered in shiny "light strips," and she waited in place for several hours without seeing them go out.

Afterwards, Ling had even applied for punishment from Roland, but the latter naturally refused without hesitation.

The following sightseeing plans went very smoothly. Afterwards, Roland didn't stop bringing new Taquila witches into the dream, but what he had seen and heard in the headquarters that day remained like a stubborn stone in his heart.

The whole incident, from beginning to end, revealed an indescribable strangeness.

First was the conclusion about membrane worlds.

He had previously believed that the dream world, in order to integrate his and Jie Luo's memories and maintain internal consistency, would present a modern society filled with natural power. In other words, no matter how many incredible phenomena there were inside, they were all rules established because of the need for self-consistency—rules mostly taken from his consciousness, which he could understand and easily accept.

But what Chief Disciple Lan said completely exceeded his knowledge reserves.

The only thing Roland knew was that membrane theory evolved from superstring theory, and that was it. Both theories were particularly esoteric, and he hadn't read them in depth, unlike quantum mechanics, which he had at least skimmed through a couple of popular science books. In the dream world, they should have been treated as invisible content and hidden, like those books with only covers and blank pages inside.

However, whether it was Lan's explanation or the derivation formulas and proofs displayed on the hall screen, they seemed authentic—it was the first time he had seen something in the dream that he couldn't understand at all. It felt like a high school student dreaming of the pinnacle of physics, the grand unified theory, absurd and unbelievable.

It even made him feel that the current dream world had become completely different from the world he had first entered.

As if something was growing wildly in a place he couldn't see.

Another strange point was the Chief Disciple herself.

After Garcia's reminder, Roland realized that martial artists' vision, hearing, and reaction were better than ordinary people's. If Lan spoke to him on the stage, not only the guards around, but even the newcomers in the first two rows of the hall should have been able to hear something. But the truth was, no one turned their attention to them, even though it wasn't a whisper in the ear, it didn't attract any attention. He hadn't paid attention at the time, but only later did he remember, how could a newcomer taken care of by the Chief Disciple alone not attract everyone's attention?

And the words she said also confused him.

"Listen carefully to what I say next, it may be helpful to you."

Explaining the origin of the intrusion, the connection between martial artists and demonized, how could these be helpful to him? Even if he wanted to join the Association and become someone who saves the world, knowing these things wouldn't be important at all, right?

The various strange signs made Roland feel a slight resistance to the dream world. He planned to temporarily stop connecting to the dream after all the God's Punishment Witches had entered and enjoyed it once.

At the critical moment when the Battle of Divine Will was about to arrive, it was better to be safe.

“Your Majesty?” Nightingale's voice entered his ears again, this time with a hint of warmth. “…You seem to be spacing out again.”

“Cough, cough, I’m really okay,” Roland shook his head, throwing the distracting thoughts to the back of his mind. “It’s just that I’ve had a few more things to think about lately, and I’m a little tired.”

“But why do I feel like you’re not being entirely truthful?” Nightingale sat on the table, crossing her legs. “Could it be that you and those witches in the dream world…”

“That’s impossible!” He immediately felt a bit helpless. “I just took them to experience different flavors of food!”

“Hmm… That part is true,” Nightingale blinked, revealing a sly smile. “I’m a little worried too. I can’t go to that world, so I can’t protect you all the time. What if they suddenly act up? After all, they’ve spent hundreds of years without consciousness, and now that they’ve finally recovered, they’ll definitely want to relive all the past feelings, right? That’s more than twenty people, how could you possibly resist if they all rushed at you?”

“You’re getting more and more outrageous,” Roland glared at her good-naturedly. “Who did you learn these ideas from? Can’t you put this energy into studying?”

Nightingale covered her mouth. “I was just mentioning it casually.”

“If I had your ability, it would definitely remind me loudly that you’re lying,” Roland snorted. “From the beginning, you had the intention of asking this, right?”

“Okay, I admit it… But this isn’t just my idea,” Nightingale stuck out her tongue, concealing her figure. “I was asked to ask.”

Asked to ask? Roland didn’t have time to ask who asked her, when a knock sounded outside the office.

He had to put the words back for now. “Come in.”

The door opened, and a tall man strode in. Then, he neatly put his legs together, raised his hand to Roland in salute. “Your Majesty, Iron Axe reports to you!”

It was about four or five days' journey from Clearwater Port to Neverwinter City. Traveling all the way by boat was a tiring thing, but on the face of this alien officer, he couldn’t see a trace of fatigue. His eyes still revealed a full spirit and high fighting spirit.

“Very good,” Roland nodded with satisfaction. “You should already know the battle plan for Neverwinter City, right?”

“Brian told me roughly,” Iron Axe replied. “The First Army will be divided into two routes, recovering Graycastle from the east and west, and finally crossing the border, ambushing Radiant Shine City. But there is one thing I don’t understand. You let Brian take over my mission, staying in Clearwater Port to protect Echo xiaojie, then who will be responsible for the eastern front?”

It seemed that before the task was assigned, he had already shouldered the main offensive direction. Roland couldn’t help but smile. “Brian still lacks experience. Guarding a place is no problem, but leading an army alone is prone to accidents, so you will be responsible for the eastern army.”

Iron Axe was slightly stunned. “Then the western offensive…”

“I will command it myself,” Roland said slowly.