-----
"Is soone good with Earth Magic here?"
"I am. Leave it to , Maria."
Eraldine stepped forward and, blending Nature and Earth elents, restored the ruined land into a beautiful garden bursting with vibrant flowers.
The Gemtrians who had gathered cheered even louder. Hundreds of them now filled the area, their excitent palpable.
"Bbzzzttt! BZZZTTTTT!"
Maria heard their joyful voices resonating through their souls.
"Thank you! Oh, thank you so much!"
"I cannot believe it... the tomb is restored..."
"This makes so happy..."
"Mother can rest in peace once more."
"Oh, thank you... our saviors!"
Maria smiled warmly, nodding at them.
"You’re welco! And if any of those idiots co to bully you again, just call with this, okay?" She quickly handed several of them small black beads.
"Thank you, thank you!"
"How could we ever repay you?"
"We can’t..."
"We only have gems... do you want gems?"
"Hmmm, I don’t know. Maybe you don’t have them, but do you happen to have Spirit Stones or anything related to Void, Dreams, Nightmares, or Imagination?" Maria asked.
The Gemtrians exchanged glances. So nodded while others shook their "heads."
"Imagination? We don’t."
"Void, abundant in Void Diamond Mountain, very far away."
"Dreams and Nightmares, Illusory Jewel Forest, far away too!"
"But we got stones... from there."
"We share with you! Please co."
"Follow us, saviors!"
Surprised but pleased, Maria followed them back to their city. There, they presented hundreds of Void Gems along with Dream and Nightmare Jewels, all mined from those distant lands.
"Amazing, it really has Dream Essence!" Alma exclaid. "I can feel myself growing stronger just by absorbing a little...!"
"Good. With this, we can all cultivate these energies and beco a bit stronger," Maria said, nodding. "And maybe we can use so to create Formations... Thank you so much!"
Maria thanked them sincerely, though the Gemtrians felt it still wasn’t enough.
"Please, if one day you need help."
"Call us."
"Not good fighters..."
"But we love crafting, and we have jewels of all colors."
"Haha, alright! I’ll keep that in mind," Maria replied with a nod.
Maria and her family spent a pleasant hour chatting with the Gemtrians before preparing to depart for one more world before the day ended.
As they approached the portal, a small pink Gemtrian hopped toward them. Its body was a lovely mosaic of cylinders and triangles, adorned with big, cute eyes of shiny golden jewels and long crystal eyelashes. Two tiny legs allowed it to bounce along, and a pair of floating stones served as hands, each with smaller stones attached like fingers.
"BZZZTTT! BZZZ...!"
Maria read its soul ssage and looked down kindly.
"Wait...! Please wait..."
"Yes, dear? You have a very pretty pink color!"
"Can co with you?"
"What? Y-You want to co?"
"Dream... always been... visiting other worlds... but small, weak... unable to. However, one day, will go, beco great explorer!"
"Is that so? I’m sure you will, little one."
Maria gently patted its head, then touched its body with her Dream Heart Crystal.
"Let give you a little strength so you can one day fight for yourself."
FLASH!
The little Gemtrian felt sothing crystallize inside its core, manifesting visibly as a glowing heart in its chest.
It stared in shock and overwhelming joy, sensing a surge of power.
Maria realized Gemtrians possessed bodies tied to the properties of their birthplace. This pink one was a Dream Stone Gemtria, and it responded powerfully to her Dream Heart, forming a small hamr of purple and pink crystals as its Dream Weapon.
"Aaahhh! Thanks! Thank you! Please take this!!!"
The pink Gemtrian, brimming with happiness, offered Maria a piece of its own body.
"Ouch! Is that fine?!"
"Fine... will regrow in a couple of days."
As Maria accepted the stone, she felt an imnse, unprecedented power radiating from it—countless elental forces contained within a single fragnt.
"T-Thanks... it’s amazing!"
"Hmm!"
The little Gemtrian bounced happily back ho, proudly wielding its new floating hamr.
Maria smiled softly and absorbed the stone. It vanished into her, and the essence rushed through her body.
"Ah!"
That final push was exactly what she needed.
Her Bleeding Nightmare Star Core shattered and exploded into a swirling cloud of dreamy stardust and ghostly soul energies.
She had finally advanced to the Third Realm of her unique Cultivation thod.
"Finally, Dream Soul Ghost Nebula Realm!"
The leap felt monuntal, like ascending beyond an Immortal to sothing akin to a Celestial Immortal. Though her stats did not reflect the full magnitude, the surge of power resonated deeply in her Soul and Body.
"I’ve taken yet another step on my path... I wonder how many more remain?"
After a brief mont of reflection, Maria nodded resolutely and moved forward with her family.
Into the next world.
The white portal glowed brightly, light enveloping everyone.
As they crossed, a strange force tugged at their bodies, pulling them downward.
"What is this?"
Maria let the sensation take hold, surprised but unafraid.
She felt oddly stretched, like a noodle, though it brought no pain.
Then she splashed into sothing soft and viscous, as though her body had beco a mass of thick, colorful liquid.
"What...! What the hell?"
Maria looked around and realized reality itself had transford the instant she stepped through.
The world still resembled a normal, three-dinsional place, yet everything had changed while remaining strangely familiar.
A vivid, colorful filter overlaid everything, and thick black outlines now frad every person and object.
"Woah...! What is this?" Nyx asked in awe.
"Ouch, my head hurts... why is everyone a painting?!" Celes cried.
"T-This is... so confusing..." Lucifer groaned. "Uungh..."
Maria gazed ahead at a sprawling modern urban city—cars, buildings, people bustling everywhere.
But it was all painted.
Everything shimred like watercolor, outlined in bold black lines.
Then she rembered the strange man she had once t—a living, moving painting with the power to paint reality.
"So he ca from this world! Oh my god... this is crazy," Maria murmured, taking it all in. "Ferleen! What is this world?"
"It’s a little confusing at first, yeah..." Ferleen nodded.
"It’s a world of paintings where everything is painted!" lianna explained. "Even visitors are transford into part of the great canvas."
"Damn," Maria said, staring wide-eyed. "The tower is... a big painting too!"
She looked up at the enormous painted tower, the painted skies, the painted clouds.
It was utterly surreal—more absurd and dreamlike than even Minimundi.
-----
User Comments
0 comments from readers