In the Woodland of the Dream World, among the towering giant trees, Dorothy, who had taken the form of a Dragon, was soaring through, searching for any secret transmissions that might exist in the Dream World.
"Don't give up~♬ Become a Dragon~♬ Go to the Alliance~♬ Find friends~♬"
Humming a cheerful song, Dorothy flew through the Woodland where light orbs scattered. She touched the various small light orbs drifting through the trees, reading the information within. However, they were all ordinary people's daily trivialities, of all sorts. After reading these useless fragmented pieces of information, Dorothy felt her mind was a mess, and for a moment, she didn't even feel like humming her song.
Especially in this era, the lives of countless people at the bottom were extremely painful, and these fragmented pieces of information contained many dark thoughts. This made Dorothy feel quite unwell, so she immediately stopped this aimless, indiscriminate information gathering.
'Damn... my mental power is running out... but I haven't gathered anything yet...'
Dorothy thought to herself, according to the records in the dream records, the mimicry in the Dream World required mental power to maintain. The stronger the mental power, the longer the mimicry could be sustained, and the more time one would have to explore the Dream World.
As for the current Dorothy, she had not yet stepped into the extraordinary realm, and her mental power was only that of an ordinary person. Her mimicry couldn't be maintained for long at all. It had been almost ten minutes since she entered the Dream World, and she already felt a sense of daze, clearly indicating that her mental power was insufficient.
'A little over ten minutes each night is completely insufficient, I can't explore much distance at all... As expected, I must advance as quickly as possible, right?'
Dorothy thought with some distress, and just then, she discovered that something seemed to be happening in the distance ahead.
...
Somewhere in the Woodland of the Dream World, the hunting pursuit was still ongoing. The chasing hyenas relentlessly pursued the white fox prey ahead, and the distance between them was gradually closing.
"Give up, little one ahead, stop, hand over the secret transmission you found, and properly explain the origin of your mimicry spell. We might still let you go, otherwise, if we catch you and locate your dream cocoon, your fate won't just be as simple as losing your mimicry..."
A hyena spoke loudly in the common tongue, and in response, the white fox ahead emitted a light and clear sound.
"Shut up... bandits..."
"Hmph... take her down..." Listening to the white fox's words, the leading hyena snorted coldly. Then, it and several companions beside it suddenly accelerated together towards the white fox ahead. The white fox, trying to dodge a hyena's pounce, was tripped by a tree root and fell to the ground. Seizing this opportunity, numerous hyenas pounced straight onto the fallen white fox.
However, at this moment, a long, distant roar suddenly came from among the giant trees in the far Woodland.
Deep... ancient Silence... lingering... distant... This long roar seemed to come from the other side of time and space, echoing through the Woodland.
This sudden movement immediately attracted the attention of the hyenas and the fox in the hunting ground. They turned their heads to look in the direction from which the roar came, and then they saw a scene that would be unforgettable for their entire lives.
In the darkness of the Woodland, wide wings spread out, and a majestic figure that only existed in stories and legends soared through the gloom, its massive size rapidly pressing towards their direction.
The hyenas all stood frozen in place, staring at the figure that had suddenly appeared. The leading one among them only stammered after being stunned for a moment.
"A Dragon? Wh-what kind of joke is this? It's a Dragon!? How could there be a Dragon in this Woodland!?"
Shouldn't things like Dragons have gone extinct long ago, only existing in secret histories? Do Woodland creatures still retain the form of a Dragon? I've never seen one before! Dragon mimicry is even more unheard of!
Or is that just an illusion? An image formed from the memories of ancient creatures preserved within the Woodland.
Right! It must be like this!
The sight that defied common sense made the leading hyena stand frozen in place, his mind rapidly processing, searching through his common knowledge for all sorts of information to explain the preposterous phenomenon before him.
"Mr. Ivory, that Dragon is flying towards us! What should we do?!" The hyena leader stood frozen, frantically trying to explain the situation before him, but the other hyenas beside him couldn't sit still and asked anxiously.
Facing his subordinates' questions, the hyena called Ivory calmed himself down, then looked at the approaching massive shadow in the distance and said calmly.
"Heh, everyone, calm down, don't panic. How could there be a Dragon in this world? Not even in the Dream World. This must be an image formed from the memories of ancient Dragon race that remain in the Dream World. As you all know, information left behind by powerful beings in the Dream World can occasionally manifest as images, and they are harmless..."
Then, Ivory cleared his throat and said loudly to the other hyenas.
"Gentlemen! We're in luck tonight! We've encountered an illusion formed from the memory fragments of an ancient Dragon. Now it's flying towards us. Pay attention, we'll jump up and pounce on it together in a moment. It will dissipate like other image bodies and leave behind information aggregates. These are memory fragments of an ancient race, who knows how powerful a secret transmission might be hidden within them. We've hit the jackpot!"
Ivory declared to the surrounding hyenas. Listening to Ivory's words, the hyenas suddenly understood and nodded while speaking.
"Ah... so that's how it is. As expected of Mr. Ivory, your knowledge is truly extensive."
"I was wondering how there could be a Dragon in this Woodland. It turns out it's just an image body."
"Memory fragments of an ancient race? Even selling this could fetch a high price..."
...
The hyenas chattered amongst themselves. Ivory's conjecture immediately gained their unanimous approval. Clearly, having never seen a Dragon in the Dream World before, they were very willing to believe this theory.
Then, all the hyenas became excited as they watched the approaching Dragon. They all knew the value of memory fragments from ancient races.
"Gentlemen, it's coming, prepare to attack. Be careful not to hastily absorb the memory crystal later. The Spirit Sight from ancient knowledge is not something we can withstand..."
Under Ivory's command, all the hyenas lowered their bodies towards the approaching Dragon-shaped "image body" in the distance, assuming an attack stance, ready to leap into the sky at any moment to disperse it. Coincidentally, the Dragon-shaped "image body" was also lowering its altitude, flying almost skimming the ground directly towards them, getting closer and closer. Its massive body gave off an increasingly deep sense of oppression.
Finally, the body of the gray-black Dragon had surged in front of the hyenas, and the hyenas also began to act.
"Attack!"
Following Ivory's command, the hyenas leaped up one after another, pouncing towards the Dragon flying low above the ground. Their fangs and claws attacked the rock-like scales.
And then... they were all broken...
The force from the Dragon's massive body in flight impacted the hyenas. The hyenas were directly sent flying amidst screams. Two of the four hyenas were slammed into trees and immediately dissipated into points of light, while the others were dropped onto the grass.
Then, the Dragon flying low to the ground extended its claws and landed, directly stomping another hyena that hadn't had time to get up into a patch of light mist.
Then the Dragon's long neck turned, fixating on the last hyena that was frantically fleeing.
'It's not an image! It's not an image! What the hell! That thing isn't an image?! Since when has there been a Dragon-shaped creature in the Woodland, and they said that guy was...'
Ivory thought in a panic while fleeing. However, in the next second, a long, sharp spike suddenly pierced his small hyena body. Ivory's mimicry dissipated into points of light amidst his terrified expression.
To the side, the Dragon, having landed, shook off the light mist from her spiked tail, thinking with considerable confusion.
'What are these guys doing? I just came over here to take a look, I wasn't doing anything else, and they actually attacked me? Their tiny bodies actually attacked me? Are they crazy? You're hyenas, not honey badgers, okay!'