Is this the Dream Realm...
Looking up at the dazzling River of Dreams overhead, Ryan couldn’t help but marvel in his heart as he gazed at the vibrant bubbles flying freely within it.
Even though, in terms of "ranking," the Dream Realm is slightly inferior to worlds like Paradise, the Realm of the Dead, or the Abyss, and the average strength of the True Gods is not as high, the unique beauty of this world, both real and unreal, is unmatched across all realms.
Just taking one look at the boundless, stunning river above, making this trip is definitely worthwhile.
"Wow!" ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel⟡fire.net
"Is this the fragment of Paradise Lost?"
"It’s truly beautiful..."
While Ryan lifted his head, gazing dreamily at the River of Dreams above, endless exclamations filled with wonder began to echo around, accompanied by numerous slightly blurred peculiar figures.
Men and women, young and old, tall and short, furry or horned, birds and beasts...
Though they fundamentally seemed human, on closer inspection, each had some sort of peculiar non-human trait – wings sprouting from backs, horns atop heads, green faces and tusks, bodies covered in fur... altogether not entirely "human."
These strange-looking beings, could they be the reference Cleaners?
Counting the number of odd figures, and realizing there were roughly over four hundred, close to the total number of references, Ryan speculated on the identities of these peculiar shadows and promptly checked his own condition.
He was wearing shoes instead of monster hooves; there were calluses from wear on his fingertips and palms, not thick pads or claws; his arms, with a few scars and tan lines, were all normal, bearing no strange scale armor, and even his coffee-stained cuffs remained unchanged.
Strange, why am I still human?
Not bad, not bad, these Cleaners are quite good; they can all pass the preliminary test.
While Ryan examined his body, puzzled as to why he hadn’t turned into a monster, an elderly man with white hair and beard, sitting cross-legged within a colorful bubble in the River of Dreams, observed the peculiar Cleaners below with a satisfied expression.
This time, the Cleaners entering the Dream Realm were primarily those whose core consciousness was self-awareness, and the largest part of a person’s consciousness is surely their self-perception.
Under the influence of the Dream Realm, while their consciousness did undergo various degrees of transformation, they largely retained human forms, proving that despite the contamination from abnormal objects, they maintained clear self-awareness and decent mental stability.
Just... not everyone seemed completely stable.
Among the "human" group below, finding the six-winged Angel, hooded Grim Reaper with a blood-stained scythe, and a golden humanoid excrement, the old man with a Pisces emblem featuring twin fish playing with dung spheres on his chest, sighed with resignation.
Fine, let them pass too!
These few Cleaners, despite having deep levels of contamination, reaching full-body transformation, at least remained humanoid, proving they still considered themselves human, allowing them to pass the preliminary mental stability test. However, the scores must be lower.
Narrowing his clear black and white eyes, the supervising Pisces director gazed at the six-winged Angel, hooded Grim Reaper, and humanoid excrement, collecting their auras and specially marking them in his leather-bound notebook.
Level 1 - Scorpio Branch - The Purifier - Abigail Dark - Self-perception: Angel (Full body transformation, low mental stability);
Level 1 - Aries Branch - Slaughterer - Mason Tobio - Self-perception: Grim Reaper (Full body, low);
Level 2 - Virgin Branch - Poison Epidemic Pharmacist - Amien Bellet - Self-perception: Excrement? Vomit? (Full body, low);
Alright, these three are the rather special ones.
After locating the names of the three Cleaners on the registration forms, entering a score of 30 in the preliminary test results column, the Pisces director loosened his wrist slightly, then swiftly gathered all remaining candidates’ auras, swiftly categorizing them into the leather-bound notebook, scribbling down their scores rapidly.
Level 2 - Taurus Branch - Ant Strength God - Rudy Taus - Horns (Partial, high, 75 points)
Level 3 - Little Dog Branch - Shepherd - Percy Jackson - Goat eyes (Partial, fairly high, 90 points)
Level 3 - Virgin Branch - Glutton God - Leon Laine... Hmm?
Upon seeing the name appearing in the leather-bound notebook, the Pisces director paused in surprise, then looked downward, noticing the young man standing beside the "excrement person," chatting with her. Wasn’t he the recent sensation, the Glutton God?
With his level, why would he need to participate in such an assessment? Isn’t this just bullying him for no reason? Olivia is really too much, simply... Uh... Wait a minute!
Studying Ryan’s profile, then maneuvering the colorful bubble he inhabited, changing positions repeatedly, noticing that from any angle, there was not the slightest divergence from human features, overly normal Ryan caused the Pisces director to hiss in amazement.
His mental stability... it’s beyond just a high or low issue!
How steadfast must one’s self-awareness be to believe wholeheartedly that they are utterly normal even after devouring a True God whole?
Unaware of being repeatedly observed, Ryan stared at the figure in front of him that couldn’t just be described as resembling a pile, but was literally a humanoid excrement, sighed speechlessly:
After a slight shake of the head, Amien examined her intriguingly curvaceous form, causing people to instinctively maintain a respectful distance, and calmly replied:
"But I don’t dislike these things, maintaining this form is actually quite nice."
Observing elder Amien calmly accepting the identity of "excrement lady," even taking out a transparent vessel to start researching her situation, Ryan’s mouth twitched slightly, temporarily at a loss for words, had to switch topics actively:
"Um... Amien elder, has the director told you our main objective this time?"
Upon hearing Ryan’s inquiry, excrement lady paused her sampling movements, nodded with a smile:
"You help me take the first place; you find someone to test medicines for me, right?"
Seems... more or less?