Today's blood meal was brought into the hall.

Richard stood under the platform, next to the "Skull of Dreams", watching the gray-robed believers push the two elves forward. The expression on his face was the same as everyone else's, calm with a hint of expectation.

The two elves, one male and one female, had tattered clothes on, revealing numerous scars from repeated tortures - not only wounds from "sacrifice", but also scars from the previous "research" and "testing" of the Dream Skull.

Their expressions were numb when they were first brought to the hall, but after seeing the "Saint" and the "Skull of Dreams" under the platform, fear filled their eyes. They struggled slightly, but the saint on the platform just shook his eyestalks slightly, and the two elves were paralyzed by the saint's gaze and lost their resistance - then, a gray-robed church member holding a sharp knife came forward.

The ritual dagger was polished to a sharp shine, and under the expectant gaze of the Annihilation Cultists, the blade cut through the flesh of the two elves - arms, thighs, backs, all non-lethal places, as if deliberately wanting to inflict the maximum torture and pain while preserving their lives. The "bloodletter" cut the sacrifices skillfully and silently.

However, the "sacrifices" could not even wail or struggle under the gaze of the saints. The man and woman were held stiffly by several grey-robed men next to the heavy cart. Only the suddenly twisted and hideous expressions on their faces revealed the amazing pain they were suffering at the moment - and blood flowed from the new wounds on their bodies, and as if pulled by an invisible force, it floated into the air in a way that defied gravity, and then gathered in a series of "blood storage tanks" on the upper level of the heavy cart.

The blood flowed in the grooves towards the black goat head that seemed to be carved out of wood.

The moment the blood came into contact with the "Skull of Dreams", a terrifying aura and astonishing power suddenly burst out from the goat head!

The Annihilation Cultists who were closest to them felt the explosion of power instantly, and Richard felt as if countless superimposed screams and roars drilled directly into his brain, running rampant through his mind as if to tear his soul apart. He saw that the dark goat head seemed to come alive, shaking from side to side in violent tremors, and a powerful, malicious, chaotic will seemed to awaken, and Richard could feel that its gaze was sweeping across the hall.

The "Dream Skull" awakened.

The two elves who were sacrificed had fainted. The gray-robed man who served as the "assistant priest" immediately dragged them aside. The gray-robed cult member who held a sharp knife and personally performed the bloodletting ceremony raised the ritual dagger in his hand high and shouted in ecstasy -

"I am recognized! The Lord will accept me—"

The next second, a horrific distortion befell the bloodletter. There came suddenly from under his grey robe the sound of flesh separating and bones crushing. His clothes fluttered, and the substances that made up his body were instantly contaminated, alienated, and crushed. In an instant, it seemed as if countless tentacles grew out from under his robe, and countless cracks and ulcers appeared on his face. However, this intense pain seemed to have nothing to do with him. The fanatic cheered and shouted in ecstasy, calling on the name of the Holy Lord until his life was gone and his body fell heavily to the ground.

The "martyrdom" of the bloodletter meant that the ritual had been a complete success.

"Take those two 'blood food' away," the saint on the platform immediately ordered, "Keep them alive and prepare for the next bloodletting.

“Collect the blood flowing from the blood reservoir and distribute it to the gathering points in various city-states to be used in the dream rituals at other gathering points.

"The chosen ones step forward, touch the 'Skull of Dreams', and prove that your time has come."

The saint's order was immediately executed. Two weak elves were dragged out of the hall, leaving two glaring bloodstains on the ground. More believers came to the bottom of the strange "goat head" and collected the blood of the elves that had come into contact with the Skull of Dreams. This blood already has the power to open dreams. Although it is not as powerful as the Skull of Dreams, it is enough to guide the user's spirit into the dream of the nameless one with the cooperation of a ritual. It will become the key material for the compatriots hiding in the city-state to perform the dream ritual.

But the most core exploration personnel still depend on the "elite priests" who directly touch the Skull of Dreams.

Richard took a deep breath, stepped forward, and placed his hands on the horns of the Dream Skull.

The scream pierced his mind once again. A terrifying pressure erupted from the goat head. A terrifying force swept over him. In an instant, the Annihilation Cultist felt his mind quickly leaving his body. He "saw" that his perspective was rapidly rising, and the surroundings were rapidly darkening. He saw his flesh and blood body falling backwards, and being supported and taken away by his compatriots beside him...

In a trance, he also saw a strange rabbit doll, which was following his body on tiptoe, as if hiding itself in the shadow of his body to avoid the saint's gaze...

Rabbit? Why is there a rabbit?

Richard was confused for a moment, but the next second, he forgot about the doubt.

The dream of the nameless opened its door to him.

※※※

The transformation happened.

Duncan could clearly feel the change in the "atmosphere" - although the scene in front of him seemed to have not changed much, he knew that the "reflection of the Lost Homeland" had turned into another... "thing" after the clock struck nine o'clock.

The clock on the opposite wall was mirrored left and right again. The hands that had been rotating counterclockwise now returned to clockwise rotation. Other things in the room that were mirrored because they were facing the mirror also changed quietly. The dim feeling lingering in the air subsided a lot, and outside the window, the hazy deck and the side of the ship became clear again, but the sea and sky outside the side of the ship that seemed like the spiritual world disappeared, replaced by the familiar, endless darkness and fog.

This is no longer a "reflection", now it is the Goat-Headed Dream sailing in the dream of Silantis - another Lost Homeland.

However, Duncan's focus was not on the ship for the time being.

"...The way those cultists used the 'Dream Skull' was to pour the elf's blood on the goat's head," he said with a complex and subtle expression, "and it actually worked..."

Agatha's voice came from the mirror nearby - after the "transformation" took place, she returned to the mirror: "From the scene described by the rabbi, it seems more like the Dream Skull was enraged and executed the person who performed the ritual, rather than saying that the ritual was successful and the 'Dream Skull' was activated - they thought this 'execution' was glorious.

"At present, it seems that the elves used as 'sacrifices' will not be in danger for the time being. The cultists will keep their lives as a stable source of blood - but before this ritual 'matures', perhaps many elves used as 'sacrifices' have died on that ship..."

Duncan didn't say anything for a moment, but just nodded grimly. After a few seconds, he glanced at the mirror not far away.

Agatha's figure was reflected in the mirror. Apart from that, the mirror no longer reflected the scene on the Brilliant Star in the real world - Lucrecia's figure naturally disappeared as well.

She, who stayed in Breeze Harbor, should have entered the "dream" by now.

"Lucy, how are things going over there?"

"It seems that the Lost Homeland cannot prevent the Nameless Man's Dream from happening even if it is far away from Breeze Harbor. I have returned to this forest, and Shirley is with me," Lucrecia's voice entered Duncan's mind. "I have also contacted Rabbi. It is still parasitic on the cultist and has not been exposed yet."

Duncan was silent for two or three seconds: "…What do you think of the 'ritual' they perform?"

"A bunch of crazy and stupid people used a stupid and crazy way to deal with the fragments of the ancient gods. Their thinking was biased, their methods were wrong, and the price they paid was high - but they got the results they wanted to a certain extent. As a scholar, I don't understand and don't approve of it," Lucrecia's expression was complicated, and her tone seemed to carry some resentment. "It's like a group of morons took sticks and hit the faulty differential engine, and they actually fixed the machine. It's simply..."

She hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "It's a disgrace to intelligent creatures!"

Duncan said silently: "But they succeeded - even though the method seemed to be suicidal."

Lucrecia's expression suddenly became more complicated than before.

Noticing the resentful expression on the face of the "witch", Duncan did not continue to provoke her, but calmly changed the subject: "It seems that there is indeed more than one goat-head, but there are probably not many with complete rationality. Maybe my 'first mate' is the only one."

Then he paused, thinking and continued, "It is precisely because the 'goat heads' in the hands of those cultists do not have complete rationality that their outrageous ritual has the possibility of success - the 'Dream Skull' will only react instinctively to external stimuli, and one of its instinctive reactions happened to help the group of Annihilation cultists open the door to the dream of the nameless one.

"We still don't know whether this set of 'operating methods' was figured out by the Annihilation Cultists themselves, or was taught to them by those mystical End of Life Preachers. And even if we figure out how the Annihilation Cultists 'enter the dream', the method used by the 'Sun Followers' to enter the Nameless One's dream is still a mystery..."

"Will those guys who follow the Black Sun also have a 'goat head' in their hands?" Lucrecia subconsciously thought of this possibility.

"Everything is possible - but my intuition tells me it shouldn't be that simple," Duncan frowned, shook his head while thinking, "So far, there are only two types of Sun Followers who have entered the Nameless One's Dream. One is the 'Sun Descendant' who showed up once at the beginning, and the other is the 'Sun Residue' that looks like a human but not a human. Ordinary Sun Priests and believers who are human beings have never appeared. Regardless of whether they are 'descendants' or 'residues', they are not human.

"They are 'ancient god excrescences' whose mental structures are very different from those of humans.

"The way these guys enter the Nameless One's dream may be completely different from that of the Annihilation Cult."