The gilded characters for "Huaxia" shimmered into view before the eyes of every netizen across the Starsea.
In Lily's Dream-Casting Exhibition Hall, all the inscriptions on the cast objects are derived from Huaxia civilization.
Thinking of the Taotie that devours the sky and the earth, the Shèn Beast that spits out clouds and mists, the extraordinary man Tu Xingsun who can travel thousands of miles underground, the unruly youth Nezha...
An inevitable question arises in everyone's mind.
What kind of place exactly is Huaxia?
What a brilliant and magnificent civilization is Huaxia civilization?
When the word "Huaxia" appears in Lily's Dream-Casting Exhibition Hall, all "rumors" are already self-defeating.
Compared with the numerous civilizations derived from the Human race, the civilizations of the demons are rather lackluster. Moreover, it is well-known that all demon civilizations must include their clan names in their titles, such as the "Heavenly Demon" civilization and the "Demon Court" civilization.
If that "Wenyao Bird" were really the white-headed demon god mentioned in the Demon Canon as claimed by those demons, the correction from the Star Ocean Civilization Library would not have only indicated the civilization it belongs to.
The corrected annotation is solid proof that it belongs to Huaxia.
The communication area of the Star Net's Shan Hai Realm, as well as Lily's fan groups, are already in a state of great excitement.
[Come on, play my "Barbie Flute" (a playful term), we must spread this news to every demon's ear! Take a look, this is the corrected annotation from the Star Ocean Civilization Library! The Classic of Mountains and Seas belongs to Huaxia civilization, and Taotie, Wenyao Bird, and Shèn Beast all belong to Huaxia!]
[That's right! Everything belongs to our Human civilization! Demons, have some shame! Why don't you check the correction from the Civilization Library?]
[Huh? Huh? Huh? Where have all those demons who were jumping around so much gone? Weren't they stirring up racial conflicts within the alliance earlier? Which despicable and shameless race is stealing other people's civilizations?]
[Some demons even asked if the Civilization Library might have made a mistake out of bias. Our Wood Clan is laughing so hard that our flower buds are about to bloom.]
This is what it means to hold one's head high with pride, to have a powerful backer standing behind you.
The annotation from the Star Ocean Civilization Library directly announced the victory in this public opinion war.
Although many netizens don't know exactly what kind of civilization Huaxia is, it doesn't stop them from mentioning "Huaxia" repeatedly at this moment.
[Come on, let's shout it out loud together: Civilization affiliation: Huaxia, Huaxia. Are all you demons blind? If you are, our Bug Clan can lend you some eyes. Free of charge, no cost at all.]
[Emily]: Lily! Are you there? The Star Ocean Civilization Library has joined the competition!
[Emily]: By the earth, Lily, is the civilization you belong to called Huaxia? It's shown in the Dream-Casting Exhibition Hall.
[Emily]: Lily? Have you logged off to rest?
There were a few more messages after that, but Lily's eyes were fixed rigidly on the earlier one.
Yes, her civilization was called Huaxia.
But how did Emily know that?
Lily's fingers twitched as she tapped on her smart brain.
Had the Star Ocean Civilization Library made its database public?
Her fingertips trembling slightly, she entered her own Dream-Casting Exhibition Hall.
She stared at the few words following the cast objects' descriptions, as if determined to engrave those golden characters deeply into her mind.
Lily's fingers brushed over the optical brain, as if trying to reach through it to touch the distant and unattainable "Huaxia".
After a long while, she pressed one hand to her chest, her eyelashes fluttering softly. She sat on the temperature-controlled dormitory floor, motionless.
It was as if she feared that even the slightest movement, even a blink of her eyes, would make everything in front of her vanish like flowers in a mirror or moonbeams on water—like a grand dream dissolving into nothingness
It wasn't until the doorbell of Lily's dormitory rang repeatedly that she seemed to regain strength in her whole body. She put her hands on the ground to stand up, then slowly walked to the door and glanced at the light screen display—it was James.
When she opened the door, James was taken aback by the look of her.
"Sis, what's wrong with you? Are you okay? Why is your face so pale?"
Lily's voice was a little hoarse, "I'm fine. What's up?"
James held up the thermal food container in his hand, "I figured you might not go to the cafeteria, so I brought some food over. The last match just ended, and now all the contestants who didn't advance are packing up to go back to their home planets—it's all chaos out there."
Lily nodded, "That's thoughtful of you. Thank you."
She really had no mood to go to the cafeteria to eat right now, but her body did need energy. James had come at just the right time.
"Sis, are you really okay?" James looked at her cautiously.
Lily's appearance at the moment—she'd come to open the door barefoot, with a face as pale as paper—didn't look fine at all.
"Should I get the instructor to check on you? Or should we go to the infirmary? Could it be that using your mental power too much in the competition left 后遗症 (aftereffects)? That's a big deal."
At the thought of that, James spoke faster and faster, his face filled with worry as he looked at Lily.
"Don't worry, I'm really fine. I was just a bit excited when I saw the Civilization Library join the competition." Lily's tone was calm, but James looked at her with an even more odd expression.
The way his big sis looked, as if she'd just recovered from a serious illness and was completely drained, didn't seem to have anything to do with excitement or joy.
Oh well, whatever sis says goes
Lily let James in, took the thermal food container, and headed to the dining area.
Though small, the dormitory in the base was well-equipped with all necessary facilities, including a place to eat.
The food from the base cafeteria was always good, especially right after the competition, with meals served promptly. Usually, Lily would be in the mood to comment with James on which dishes were better, but now, she ate without much taste, her thoughts wandering far away.
Beside her, James kept chattering.
"Sis, I contacted Emily just now. That girl—she lets you call her Emily, but won't let me. Honestly. I heard a lot of contestants got eliminated in the points round. Many had their mental energy drained and were ambushed. They were pretty strong, but their points weren't enough, so they're really upset and demanding an additional knockout round."
The food nourished her stomach as Lily half-heartedly responded to James's words.
"Did they add a knockout round in previous live-streamed competitions?"
James shook his head. "I heard not. The competition format and rules are set before each tournament starts and won't change for anyone or any clan."
"Also, when I was eating in the cafeteria earlier, I browsed the star net. A guy from the Wood Clan was furiously scolding a qualified Bug Clan contestant. It seems they were on the same team and had agreed to team up to earn points. But in the end, when they had enough points, the Bug Clan teammate got other Bug Clan members from another team to kill the Wood Clan guy, then defeated those recruited Bug Clan members to get the points."
He slapped his forehead and started gossiping again, "Why do you think that Bug Clan guy did that? Seriously, their brain cores must be too small. There were so many viewers watching the live stream—did he really think no one would see what he did? This is a faction match, but if there are team matches in the future, I'm really worried about getting stabbed in the back by a teammate."
Lily took a sip of water.
Probably due to racial barriers. Those two Bug Clan members knew each other. Even though the first one teamed up with the Wood Clan guy, the Wood Clan member wasn't from his own race, so he naturally leaned toward his own kind."
James propped his chin on his hand, his chubby face scrunched in thought. "Anyway, after this incident, I don't know about others, but I'll definitely be more cautious if I run into Bug Clan members in future matches. Who knows if I'll get betrayed? That Bug Clan guy is going to make everyone angry."
They chatted briefly about the gossip. James noticed that Lily really seemed fine—she'd finished all the food he brought, eating as much as usual—and he felt a little more at ease.
As they were talking, the doorbell of Lily's dormitory rang again.
Lily stood up. During the competition, she'd kept the "Do Not Disturb" sign up on her dorm door. Now that James was already here, who else would come looking for her?
"Instructor Corinna?"
Both Lily and James looked surprised when they saw who it was. Corinna was the physical training instructor at the base.
Before the competition, the two of them had been pushed to their limits by the instructor, enduring training that felt like torture. But after the first official match, Lily had been so immersed in the Shan Hai Realm that she hadn't done any physical training.
Now, right after the faction battle ended, Corinna was here—could it be she was here to drag her off to training?
"Cadet Lily, come with me for a physical assessment."
Instructor Corinna was a demon cat-person, agile in build, with blue-gray fur and azure pupils. But she treated all cadets equally, regardless of their race.
Her legs were straight and muscular, her azure eyes fixed on Lily before glancing at James, her tone unusually stern. "Cadet James, you come along too.
Lily silently put on her shoes, and James followed her out of the dormitory, walking behind Instructor Corinna.
As expected, the place Corinna was heading to was the physical training room. No sooner had Lily stepped inside than she was surrounded by a group of instructors, with countless eyes fixed on her.
Lily felt a sudden tingle on her scalp. What was going on here?
"Cadet Lily, come over and lie down quickly." A Bug Clan instructor smiled, his mouth wide open, full of goodwill, but the sight of his gaping mouthparts made Lily silently swallow.
"Who knows how Corinna taught you? As a Dream Caster, do you only know how to manipulate mental power? Physical fitness, physical fitness—your body is the foundation of everything!" A Wood Clan instructor said 痛心疾首地,pointing and gesturing.
"Um... James, you come over too."
Corinna had always been the physical instructor for both Lily and James. They both glanced at her, waiting for her to speak. "Get into the recovery pods."
No matter how fiercely they fought in the competition, students always have to be obedient in front of their teacher.
Lily lay down in the recovery pod, and the nutrient solution soaked her entire body. She could still hear the instructors talking outside.
"I say, we should have taken Lily aside right after the first official match. She's not like those Dream Casters who were trained by their families from a young age. This child grew up naturally, wild and without systematic teaching. Look, just look at her—she dares to overdraw her mental power like this. This kind of overdraw is risking her life!"
"Exactly! They said it was and they couldn't interfere. Other star sectors have already started placing bets and investments, recruiting Dream Casters and Illusion Casters for training camps. If it weren't for the training base of this star sector coming to snatch her away and take Lily, huh, I think they would have continued to ignore her, not even letting us instructors get involved."
"The star sector base is good, but we are also instructors. We all came from the battlefield. Have they ever thought—what if a spy from the Dream Clan sneaks in along the way? Who would take responsibility for that?"
"That's just big shots putting on airs. Who knows what they're thinking? It's rare for our home star sector to produce such a talent, yet they don't support her. In previous years, it was already good enough for our sector's contestants to make it into the top 1,000."
"Is the nutrient solution running out? Hurry, add more! See? I told you Lily's body is severely lacking energy. Otherwise, with her mental power talent, how could she overexert so easily? It's simply that her body can't keep up."
Usually, cadets would gradually fall into a dormant state after entering the recovery pod, but Lily was wide awake at this moment. No one knew she was openly eavesdropping.
Lily silently listened to the instructors' words beside the pod, absorbing information from their conversation.
From what the instructors were saying, overdraining mental power—when overused—affected not just the brain domain, but the body as well.
Dream Casters who received systematic training from their clans... She was "wild," meaning she'd had no systematic teaching. Lily had searched some knowledge about Dream Casters on the star net before, but it was only superficial popularization and explanations.
Anything involving specific dream-casting techniques required a hefty sum of star coins.
Paying for knowledge was normal; many databases on the star net required payment. But from another perspective, it also created a "knowledge barrier."
This barrier allowed ordinary people to see Dream Casters and dream-casting, to have a shallow understanding, yet they could never delve deeper—only scratching the surface.
And the other part, deliberately hidden, buried, overlooked.
The nutrient solution nourished Lily's body as fragments of information from the instructors' words flickered through her mind.
Lily herself is not a pure interstellar person, so she doesn't understand how great the impact of the Dream-Casting Live Competition really is.
Even though the competition has just started, the top 1,000 contestants in the Star Ocean in each match will receive enormous attention, as well as various olive branches, probes, financial incentives, and so on.
If she had come from a Dream Caster family or something similar, she would probably have been regarded as a championship seed and trained with all efforts right after the first match when she got the top spot in the Star Ocean rankings, to ensure she goes all the way to the end.
However, after the first official match, apart from getting more information and emails online, everything was as usual for Lily in the base, and her treatment was the same as before.
Lily had thought this was to ensure fairness and treat everyone equally, or that no one cared since the competition had just started, but it seems that's not the case now.
Besides, the "Dream Casters" and "Illusion Dreamers" mentioned by the instructors are obviously other names for Dream Casters.
Lily's eyes flickered slightly. Could they be more specific classifications?
She kept all this information in mind. The fifth portion of the liquid in the recovery pod had already been added. Lily wanted to continue eavesdropping, but then a voice calling her came from outside.
"Lily's body has temporarily reached absorption saturation. We can call her out now."
"I told you, her physical fitness is really too poor! If the people from the star sector base see this, they will definitely blame us for not taking good responsibility and then take her away!"
"Her arms are as thin as anything. She's deficient in trace elements in her body, and she overuses her mental power. Her body will get worse and worse. This child is really reckless!"
Inside the recovery pod, a fresh yet pungent mist puffed onto Lily's face, which was quite refreshing and invigorating.
She pretended to have just woken up, got up from the recovery pod, and was immediately surrounded again. The instructors were chattering away until Corinna gave them a sharp look, and they finally fell silent.
"Lily, here's the thing. Now that fewer and fewer promoted contestants from our Xikexing Sector remain, the base has decided to assign exclusive instructors to each student to prepare for the subsequent competitions."
"Students and instructors will choose each other. This information has already been sent to your email. But my colleagues are too enthusiastic and all want to meet you."
As soon as she finished speaking, Instructor Corinna twitched her blue-gray cat ears and added,
"Don't worry. We are all alliance-certified Dream Casters. From the moment we took the oath, we guaranteed that there would be no more racial distinctions between us. There are no demons, Wood Clan, Humans, or Bug Clan here—only ordinary instructors and you, an ordinary student."
No sooner had Corinna finished speaking than the many instructors surrounding Lily started vying to speak.
"Student Lily, allow me to introduce myself." The first to speak was a Wood Clan instructor with yellow-and-white flowers on his head.
"I am Hualiang. I specialize in... ahem, my areas of expertise in Dream Casting are the innate abilities of the Wood Clan, control of exotic plants, and dream defense. I'm very interested in the special barrier you created to block attacks in the last match."
This was a male Wood Clan member. He was neatly dressed, and as he spoke, the yellow-and-white flower on his head—like Emily—bloomed toward Lily.
Special barrier? A thought flashed through Lily's mind—it must be the impenetrable wall. She didn't miss Instructor Hualiang's slip of the tongue. "Dream Casting"... according to what she'd overheard earlier, Hualiang must be a Dream Caster, and he'd mentioned he was good at defense...
Lily's eyes flickered. It seemed Dream Casters were clearly linked to defense.
She nodded at Hualiang but didn't commit to anything. She also wondered if Hualiang had any connection to Emily.
With Hualiang setting the example, the second to speak was the Bug Clan instructor. Her cicada wings, dotted with red and blue circular patterns, shimmered under the room's lights.
"I'm Die Juanjuan. The area I specialize in—so far, no one in the competition has performed related Dream Casting." She smiled, her cicada wings fluttering.
"I specialize in 'dreamscape casting.' I'll teach you how to make opponents unknowingly enter your dream, obey your commands, and sink into illusions."
Dreamscape casting, illusionary dreams... Lily mused. She thought this Die Juanjuan must be what she'd overheard as an "Illusion Dreamer." From her description, it seemed similar to the illusions Lily had in mind.
dreams—false and imaginary, leaning toward control.
Lily formed a definition in her mind and nodded at Instructor Die.
"Ahem." At that moment, a Human instructor cleared his throat.
"Student Lily, you can call me Xisili . We should be a good match." This young Human male had long bangs covering half his face, looking somewhat gloomy, and his body was rather thin.
"I've watched your Dream Casting in the matches—uh, the Wind Master, Lei Zhenzi—their flying speed is fast, but it's not enough."
"What I can teach you is how to survive in intense competitions." He said this with a serious expression, prompting a direct laugh from a nearby demon instructor.
"That's right. He's good at escaping, mastering all kinds of Dream Casting techniques for the fastest getaways," the demon instructor added for Xisili.
"Of course, I'm also good at pursuit, reconnaissance, and hiding myself to ensure you won't be discovered by others." Xisili glared at that demon and quickly added.
Lily suddenly understood—this one was like a scout + investigator + jungle warrior. She just wasn't sure what specific classification of Dream Caster he fell into.
"Lily, Xisili is nothing like you. Speaking of which, based on the second faction battle, I should be the most compatible instructor for you."
A somewhat casual voice came from behind. Lily saw a tall woman with deep purple hair. She had a human face and figure, but her skin was almost transparent, her short purple hair was messy, and she was holding some kind of drink, sucking on it noisily through a straw.
"I'm Ina. I specialize in dream casting anthropomorphism , bloodline resonance. That's it." She smacked her lips and said.
"Ina is from the Shadow Clan, born with the ability to perceive all emotions and five senses around her." Corinna stood beside Lily and explained for her.
So this Instructor Ina was like a human sensory device? What did "bloodline resonance" mean?
A thought flashed through Lily's mind, and Corinna beside her spoke up:
"They've all introduced themselves, and you already know my name."
"As for what I specialize in... nothing in particular."
Corinna's tone was flat,but Lily clearly caught the implication behind her words.
If "nothing in particular" was a modest statement, then from another perspective, it could also mean "skilled in everything."
"Alright, you can think it over carefully. We each have our specialties, but that doesn't mean we're not proficient in other areas. Every instructor has their unique strengths. Once you choose an instructor, your exclusive instructor will stay with you until the end of the competition."
"You have one day to think it over. Of course, the sooner the better—choosing your exclusive instructor as early as possible will allow you to prepare for the next match promptly."
"I understand. Thank you, instructors, for your appreciation and regard," Lily said, performing a student's salute.
Lily had no wish that all instructors could teach her.
The current situation was clearly similar to when she chose a supervisor during her postgraduate studies—different research directions.
After Lily said goodbye and walked out of the physical training room, she suddenly turned back.
Wait, that James was still inside the physical training room.
"Ina, are you so confident that Lily will choose you? Even if she's good at anthropomorphism, I think your approaches to anthropomorphism are clearly different. Being a Dream Pursuer isn't easy."
"Hualiang, you don't need to make sarcastic remarks. Just look at Lily's performance in these two matches—what she used most is anthropomorphism. She must belong to our Dream Pursuer lineage."
"Tsk, she used that defensive barrier twice. When she grows up, she'll definitely be another Dream Caster like Lord Shanyue."
"In the first match, Lily kept anthropomorphizing beasts. The moment I saw that Shèn Beast, I thought she was destined to be with us Illusion Dreamers."
"Little Die, that's a bit of a stretch. Lily hasn't cast any dreamscapes. Choosing you is less credible than choosing Xisili. Lily is quite good at escaping—she's a promising talent for us Wander Dreamers."
A door separated the noisy argument inside the physical training room. Just as the instructors' quarrel grew more intense, a faint voice came from beside the medical pod.
"Um... instructors can I... can I leave now?"
The noise in the physical training room fell silent, and all instructors turned to look at James in unison.
squatted beside the medical pod, hugging his head and covering his ears, not daring to move an inch.
I... I heard nothing, know nothing," he stammered.
Xisili, the Human instructor, suddenly laughed. "Aren't you Lily's little sidekick? I've seen you in Lily's live stream."
"Kid, I don't know if Lily will choose me, but you're coming with me."
With that, Xisili grabbed James by the collar and lifted him up effortlessly, walking out.
The other instructors left one after another, leaving only Corinna and Ina behind.
Ina still had the straw of her drink in her mouth. She lowered her eyelids.
"Corinna, you let that little fatty overhear all this. You did it on purpose, didn't you?"