Chapter 181 - The Divine Deer Dream

Having confirmed Captain Doofus’ evolution traits, Lu Ran felt relieved.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Captain Doofus would get the Absolute Comprehension trait, and Sudden Death King the Dragon King Trait.

After they both advanced to level 2, their evolution paths were no longer a concern. Now, only Dark Crow’s evolution trait was pending.

For Dark Crow, the level 10 Fusion Slot had absorbed attribute-awakening resources and awakened the Curse Power. For the level 20 Fusion Slot, Lu Ran planned to fuse the Eye of the Evil God with it, but it required a contract before fusion was possible.

In other words, there was still one more evolution trait to be prepared. For that, Lu Ran didn’t yet have a solid plan. He intended to ask Manager Ying to help search globally for a suitable one-of-a-kind trait.

“Well, that’s not the priority now. Let’s investigate Lu Village first.” Lu Ran tapped on the locust tree.

Where exactly did these deers come from?

“You go yourself. I can’t see anything anyway. I’m leaving.”

Manager Ying chose to slack off, yawning lazily. To be fair, it hated this village.

There were just too many dogs here!

......

“Stay low-key.”

Lu Ran resumed his investigation in Lu Village. To avoid being disturbed, he wore a mask. Though this made him look more suspicious, it was better than being recognized and dragged home for a meal by overly enthusiastic villagers.

Lu Ran quickly toured the small village, going everywhere except inside the villagers’ homes. Then, he discovered something startling. Combining all locations, there were at least dozens of spotted deer wandering around.

“Fuck. Why did Lu Bing and the others have to enter the ascension realms now of all times?”

Lu Ran felt resentful. If they were still in Lu Village, he could just tell them about this, and they’d probably be too scared to sleep at home. A herd of deer shadows, invisible to everyone else and wandering through the village was outright bizarre.

The entire day of investigation yielded nothing. He even waved the Broken Horn of the Divine Deer in front of the deer shadows, but they remained unresponsive.

Finally, night fell. Lu Ran decided to do something bold. He chose a spot with the most deer shadows, set up camp, and prepared to sleep. Since Lu Village wasn’t a tourist destination, there were no guesthouses.

Even if there were, Lu Ran would have chosen the eeriest spot to sleep in for his investigation of the Divine Deer. After all, if supernatural powers were truly linked to the Divine Deer, then his strange dreams might also be connected to it.

Referring to Lin Yin’s case, these ancient creatures might only be able to communicate with people with special abilities through dreams due to certain restrictions.

Still, Lu Ran was nervous. Before lying down in the forest park, he summoned Sudden Death King, Captain Doofus, and Dark Crow, and even called out Manager Ying to guard him while he slept.

However, once Lu Ran laid down, his eyes remained wide open. He couldn’t fall asleep. Not at all. Eventually, Manager Ying lost patience, and a hypnosis spell sent him straight to dreamland.

......

“Ugh. My head hurts so much. That cat’s hypnosis technique is so terrible it gave me a headache... But this time, I didn’t even dream. Investigating through dreams? Failure!”

Lu Ran groggily opened his eyes. But soon, his expression changed. He looked around in surprise. He was no longer in the forest park, and Captain Doofus and the others were nowhere near. Lu Ran called out to them, but there was no response.

“Am I dreaming?”

He initially thought he wasn’t dreaming because, in his usual dreams, his awareness wasn’t this clear. Typically, he wouldn’t even realize he was dreaming. But now, not only was his mind lucid, but he could also clearly recall the experience of falling asleep earlier.

A lucid dream?

“What is this place...” Lu Ran looked around.

The sensation of suddenly being in a new location felt more like entering a secret realm than dreaming. He quickly stood up and started walking, finding himself in a village that resembled an ancient settlement rather than a modern one.

“What’s going on?”

Soon, Lu Ran heard a sound and approached a special building, where the entire village seemed to have gathered. The people wore linen clothes, and Lu Ran couldn’t identify their era. They knelt devoutly before a massive wooden statue, praying with utmost reverence.

This is...

Lu Ran frowned as he observed the deer-shaped statue. He was startled.

Are they worshipping the Divine Deer? Could these people be ancient villagers of Lu Village?

After a moment, the villagers seemed to have finished their prayers. They stood up in unison and began dispersing. Some walked right past Lu Ran, treating him as if he didn’t exist. Once everyone had left, Lu Ran couldn’t resist stepping closer to the Divine Deer statue to examine it in detail.

However, before he could take a good look, he felt a sudden chill across his face. It was cold and damp, like being licked by the Blizzard Sword Intent itself. In the blink of an eye, the dream dissolved completely. In its place was the enormous face of Captain Doofus.

“What happened to you?”

Captain Doofus, Manager Ying, and the rest of the group surrounded Lu Ran, their faces filled with concern.

“Fuck, what’s going on? Ugh, next time, just lick me directly. Don’t add magical attacks!” Lu Ran grumbled as he grabbed Captain Doofus by the neck.

“

Woof!

”

Captain Doofus barked in outrage.

I did lick you directly, and you still wouldn’t wake up! Next time, I’ll have Sudden Death King zap you awake instead.

“Your familiars saw you making painful expressions in your sleep. They thought you were having a nightmare again.” Manager Ying shrugged, looking toward Captain Doofus.

“This time, it wasn’t...” Lu Ran mused, rubbing his chin.

“Did my expressions really seem painful?”

“Yes,” Manager Ying confirmed.

“But it wasn’t a physical pain kind of expression. It was more like heartbreak—that sort of emotional agony. Though you probably haven’t experienced heartbreak before, so you wouldn’t understand. So, what did you dream about?”

“I thank you for the vivid description... There was definitely a dream. But I don’t know if it was influenced by some unknown force or if it was just day thoughts leading to night dreams.

“The dream was simple, though. I dreamed of Lu Village as it looked in ancient times. I saw many villagers praying together to the Divine Deer.”

“Huh?” Hearing this, Manager Ying’s expression became oddly thoughtful.

“Turns out sleeping really does work as an investigative method. I think you’re onto something, but you might need to sleep a couple more nights to confirm it.”

“What’s going on?” Lu Ran asked, puzzled by Manager Ying.

With a sly grin, Manager Ying said, “I’ll share this bit of information for free. No need to thank me! If we assume that your dream was influenced by an external force, I have a hypothesis.

“First of all, the Divine Deer worshipped by Lu Village in ancient times, whether it’s dead, reborn, or just asleep, is definitely in a worse state than that fox that bewitched Lin Yin. The dream you experienced didn’t communicate much information, but there was still something there.

“You saw many villagers worshipping the Divine Deer, right? On both the Blue Planet and the Stellar Moon Continent, there exists a power system known as faith energy. Some powerful Transcendent creatures protect weaker beings not out of benevolence, but to harvest their faith energy.

“This tactic became particularly common during the ancient decline of spiritual energy on the Blue Planet. Many powerful creatures attempted to use faith energy to counteract the loss of spiritual energy and preserve their abilities. Of course, they all failed.

“So my guess is, with spiritual energy revival happening now, the dream you had might have been trying to tell you that Lu Village needs to rekindle their faith in the Divine Deer, to provide it with faith energy and potentially help it recover. That’s the ideal scenario,” Manager Ying concluded.

“And the less ideal one?”

Lu Ran’s heart raced. He felt as if he was closing in on the truth. With Manager Ying’s sharp analysis, so many mysteries were starting to make sense.

“The less ideal scenario is that the Divine Deer has already passed away, and providing faith energy won’t make a difference,” Manager Ying explained.

“I also suspect that the deer shadows you’ve been seeing around Lu Village are faith spirits, remnants of the villagers’ ancient belief in the Divine Deer.

“That would explain why only you, someone who has special abilities from Lu Village, can see them, while I can’t. I’m an outsider. There’s no way I could perceive spirits born of your clan’s collective faith. Even among your clan, only someone like you, with unique special abilities, would likely be able to see them.

“Normally, once faith energy is generated, it would automatically converge in the physical form of the deity being worshipped. If the faith energy is instead roaming aimlessly, it usually means one of two things.

“Either the deity is dead, or it’s too weak to absorb the energy. There’s also a possibility that the faith spirits are too weak and can’t locate their deity’s remains.”

Lu Ran fell into deep thought. After a long pause, he spoke, “So, to investigate the Divine Deer, I should focus on strengthening these faith spirits, right? If they become stronger, they might be able to locate the Divine Deer and restore its condition.”

“Exactly.” Manager Ying nodded.

“Based on the dream and the faith spirits, this is the most plausible hypothesis we’ve got so far. In modern times, many villages have abandoned their old faiths and no longer worship totems, leading to a significant weakening of faith energy.

“Although it makes sense, this is still just a theory for now. You’ll need to dream a few more nights. If the dreams remain consistent, then it’s highly likely that the faith spirits are guiding you to help the Divine Deer gather more faith energy.”

“Why wait a few nights? Just hypnotize me again. I’ll go right back to sleep!” Lu Ran urged.

“Good point.”

Without hesitation, Manager Ying smacked Lu Ran on the face with a cat paw punch, knocking him out again. After repeating this process multiple times, Lu Ran finally sat up, looking exhausted.

“I’ve had several identical dreams. The dreams are definitely guiding me to help increase the Divine Deer’s faith.”

“That settles it. There’s no way you’d coincidentally have the same dream so many times,” Manager Ying said with a mischievous smirk.

“This dream-driven recruitment feels much more legitimate than that fox’s manipulative scams. All the Divine Deer wants is a bit of faith energy, unlike that fox demanding Epic-grade Spirit resources. Who’d ever willingly give it that?

“But faith energy is different. As long as there are benefits, even people outside Lu Village might be willing to offer some level of belief. So, are you willing to help this possibly deceased Divine Deer gather faith energy?”

Lu Ran’s lips twitched.

Of course! If it weren’t for the Broken Horn of the Divine Deer, I wouldn’t even be where I am today.

For the sake of that horn, he couldn’t ignore the situation.

Plus, Manager Ying probably wasn’t aware of a critical detail. The Divine Deer wasn’t just some random supernatural entity. It was a legendary Supreme Divine Dragon of the Stellar Moon Continent and a subordinate of the Life Dragon itself.

Right now, Lu Ran was on a mission to investigate the Death Dragon and obtain the mythical Stone of the Other Shore. If he could locate the Divine Deer, he might also uncover clues about the Supreme Divine Dragons.

Helping the Divine Deer gather faith energy wasn’t just an obligation; it could be a stepping stone to solving even bigger mysteries.

At that moment, another thought struck Lu Ran, and his expression grew awkward.

Didn’t I once proclaim myself as the Divine Deer’s messenger in front of the Flame Dragon King? Damn it, that bluff might just turn into reality now.

It seemed he’d have to actually adopt the identity of the Divine Deer’s messenger moving forward. Given the Broken Horn of the Divine Deer’s significance to his growth, Lu Ran had already intended to support Lu Village in some way. But with the Divine Deer reaching out through dreams, he now had no choice but to fully commit.

Rekindling faith among the villagers of Lu Village was a much easier task than preaching to elites in places like Mystic City or Imperial Capital.

Besides, faith energy wasn’t just about the number of believers. The strength of each believer mattered too. The more powerful the followers, the greater the faith energy they could generate.

“What do you think? If I really manage to revive the Divine Deer, it won’t be stingy like that fox, right?” Lu Ran asked a hint of expectation in his voice.

“Do you think it might even reward me with something good?”

Manager Ying was taken aback. “You’re delusional. What do you want? A pet fawn?”

“

Tch

.” Lu Ran clicked his tongue.

You have no idea how valuable the Divine Deer is. Never mind, let’s just talk to the village head about this matter.