Hiding in his own dream, Hypnos had already been waiting for a long time.
Even now, he was somewhat surprised at how smoothly his journey was going. No one asked him anything, nor did anyone stop him, because this place was not like Olympus, where nymphs acted as servants, moving about the palaces. Crossing the sixth layer of the Spirit Realm, the God of Sleep arrived at the summit of Mount Sinai outright and openly.
As he entered the Temple of Lops, the Divine Palace was empty, the drinks on the table still warm to the touch. Not far from the main seat, there were eggs of some unknown creatures stored there, but Hypnos only glanced at them before paying them no more attention.
Afterward, there would be plenty of time to look, but now, the task at hand was the most important.
"That was careless, but then again, who would always be on their guard in their own palace?"
Walking past the long table, Hypnos noticed that, at some point, a multi-colored fire had appeared to the left of the main seat.
It shifted between different colors, leaping, rooted in the emptiness, using space itself as fuel, illuminating everything around it. The God of Sleep had never seen such a fire before; it was not a product of authority but resembled the Golden Apple, naturally formed and special.
Such a thing was extremely rare in the Chaos World, but in this palace, it was merely an ordinary lighting tool.
"Only old-timers who have lived a long time always have some special things in their possession."
Murmuring to himself, Hypnos tried to appear more composed. While speaking, he sensed every corner of the temple. After a while, having walked around the table, the God of Sleep ultimately found nothing amiss.
"An illusion perhaps..."
With a frown, the youthful deity always felt since entering this palace, there was an inexplicable sensation of being watched, but no matter how hard he looked, there were no other lifeforms present.
After hesitating briefly, he finally dismissed that strange feeling, concealing his body within his own dream. Time was running short, and there was no room for unnecessary actions. Besides, he dared not stir up a major commotion in this palace, lest he undermine the effectiveness of his sneak attack.
What followed was a time of waiting.
As Hypnos's figure disappeared, a young white dragon poked its head out from behind a dragon egg, surprised at where Hypnos had vanished.
Just now, Bai had been silently watching the God of Sleep, observing his survey of the temple's interior. She was curious about his purpose, but to her amazement, he simply vanished in the blink of an eye.
Looking around, she still found nothing. A sense of loss welled up in her heart, but in the next moment, the young dragon instinctively awakened her innate ability.
She opened the 'eye' belonging to the spirit, and then clearly saw Hypnos's whereabouts.
It was an undetectable speck of light; the God of Sleep had shrunk his dream into a tiny speck of dust, and if it were not for witnessing his disappearance, even if one could see the existence of dreams, it would still be hard to detect Hypnos's hiding spot.
Inside it, Hypnos had already taken out the purple flute. This accompanying Divine Artifact also seemed to have benefited greatly in the process of perfecting the third layer of the Spirit Realm, its aura becoming more profound.
"Is this... a dream?"
With a clear voice resonating in her heart, Bai watched that minuscule world of dreams. There was no distinction of size, unruly and unrestricted by any rules, everything depended on the mind of life.
"In the future, will the realm of dreams be mine?"
When Laine walked into the temple, a voice rang in his heart. Looking at the excited young dragon, Laine responded to her in the same way.
"The third layer of the Spirit Realm, that is the world of dreams. From now on, it will be your home."
Gray feathers fell from the void, intoxicating All Spirits. The melodious flute played through existence and non-existence, yet it did not rouse anyone's vigilance.
Concealed within his own dream, in front of Hypnos, Laine was almost unknowingly enveloped by the power of sleep. The process went unbelievably smoothly, as if from beginning to end, he had no inkling whatsoever.
"I truly didn't expect it to go so smoothly... but perhaps that's normal."
"Maybe I'm overthinking it, everything should indeed go this smoothly."
Setting down the flute, in the dream, Hypnos's lips gradually formed a smile.
Although in the case of a sneak attack, the God of Sleep believed there was no one in the world who could be unaffected by his authority, but now that he had truly succeeded, he still felt somewhat excited.
He was not overconfident, in fact, Hypnos had some awareness of his own power, but that very awareness instead bolstered his confidence.
The current God of Sleep, not only had he fused with a bit of Chaotic Source Force at his birth, he had also profoundly experienced the essence of his authority in the process of forging the Dream Spirit Realm, all of which made him stronger than the deity from future mythology.
Since the original Hypnos could conspire against nearly peak Zeus with the support of the Heavenly Empress, now he could only do better.
It could even be said that if Hypnos were faced with any other deity, his judgment of himself would be very correct.
Crushing a round bead in his hand, following an invisible connection, those Spirit Realm beings that had already scattered received their instructions. Not knowing how long it would take other Spirit Realm deities to return to the Spirit Realm, Hypnos simply chose to strike first, causing these Spirit Realm beings to create chaos everywhere.