In front of the majestic palace with a grayish-white exterior and a height of over two hundred meters, there stood several thick stone pillars that were shorter than itself, like a team of upright guards.
Klein could imagine that when the "City of Miracles" Levished was still floating in the air, there must have been powerful dragons squatting on these stone pillars.
This is the attendant or servant of the ancient god.
He then raised his head and glanced at the open door, and said to Leonard and Audrey:
"Stay close to me. If anything unexpected happens, I will immediately take you out of the world in the book and directly return to the gray fog."
This is also the main reason why Klein dared to explore here.
"Yeah." Neither Audrey nor Leonard tried to show off. They walked to either side of Klein and walked side by side with him.
After relying on their spiritual flying ability to climb over the stairs, the three of them entered the palace through the exaggerated and magnificent gate.
The first thing that caught their eyes was a space large enough for multiple dragons to roll around at will, as well as ancient stone pillars that seemed to support the sky.
On both sides of the hall, there are colorful murals that extend forward and meet behind a half-column that requires an unknown number of people to hug.
The giant pillar stood at the deepest part of the hall, right in front of it. It did not rely on any external objects, but just by itself, it could make people feel a strong sense of fear and experience the vicissitudes of time, just like a petrified god.
Almost instantly, a grayish-white figure appeared on the giant pillar.
The figure was covered in scales, each one looking like a solid slab of stone, and the mere vague outline seemed like an epic.
"Dragon of Imagination", Angerwede! Just as this thought flashed through Klein's mind, he heard an inexplicably familiar voice rolling back from inside the ridiculously spacious hall:
"'Dragon of Imagination', Angerweed!"
As Klein looked around in astonishment, he heard Leonard sighing from the bottom of his heart:
“The deep air listens around;
"The breeze was so frightening that I could hardly breathe..." (Note 1)
...This guy is still in the mood to recite poetry. I wonder whose poem he is reciting... Klein turned his head to look at Leonard.
Then he heard an echo:
"This guy is still in the mood to recite poetry. I don't know whose poem he is reciting..."
At this time, Leonard looked quite stunned. He kept his mouth tightly shut and shook his head repeatedly to deny it.
But the next second, a voice sounded beside him:
"I didn't read anything!"
"What's going on? Weird..." Klein's heart moved, and he realized that the strangely familiar voice just now belonged to him.
And it came back to life again, repeating Klein's fleeting thought.
Then, Audrey, the "Justice", spoke in a soft voice with a hint of murmur:
"This... this hall can make our thoughts appear around us, or even materialize? Hmm... when I saw that giant pillar just now, I was imagining what the 'Imagination Dragon' Angerwede looked like. I used the giant dragon of the mind that I had seen before as a model...
"No, my words were, no, really spoken out by the Hall..."
I see. Fortunately, I didn’t think of anything weird just now. Hmm, collect my thoughts, collect my thoughts… Klein began to try to use meditation to concentrate his mind and stop himself from thinking about random things.
At the same time, the corresponding words rang out almost synchronously beside him:
"...Collect your thoughts, collect your thoughts, collect your thoughts..."
"So this is what Mr. World is like inside. He's like a kid who's just started school, constantly emphasizing to himself the things he needs to pay attention to. Also, what he's meditating on are stacked balls of light. They're so beautiful. No, no, I don't think so, and I've never described you like that, Mr. World. Really!" Audrey couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth as her true thoughts continued to emerge.
As for Leonard, the people around him had already started to laugh.
"These two guys... No, why should I use guys? Be polite, be polite..." Klein sighed helplessly as he listened to the words in his heart. "This place is perfect for playing truth or dare. Maybe we should call it 'Hall of Honesty'..."
"What kind of game is this?" Audrey didn't even need to open her mouth to express her confusion.
"It was probably invented by Emperor Roselle... I have to be careful not to think about things I shouldn't. Really, without the help of meditation, it's too difficult to converge my randomly divergent thoughts..." Klein answered while habitually warning himself in his heart. As a result, he was once again ruthlessly betrayed by the hall.
This time, Audrey also laughed out loud:
"Haha, Mr. World has this side to him. I didn't realize it before..."
“Hahaha, Klein, you also have come to this day. No, what did I say…” Leonard suddenly raised his right hand and covered his mouth.
Not surprisingly, he heard Miss Justice's "question":
"Klein?"
And someone's complaint:
"Perhaps only the secret puppet transformation can stop this guy from having wild thoughts. Wait, what am I thinking about? Huh, calm down, calm down..."
Klein took a deep breath and began to focus on the matter itself:
"Let's first take a look at what the surrounding murals tell us. In ancient times, murals were a very important means of recording events, and they often contained a lot of information..."
As he made the suggestion, he heard Audrey laughing and thinking in her heart:
"Klein, is this Mr. World's real name? No, don't think too much, Mr. World will be angry. No, I think it's more likely that he's embarrassed. No, no, this is all Lie's fault, Mr. World, please believe me! Huh, calm down, calm down, focus, focus!"
Using the “audience” approach to control her own emotions and thoughts, Audrey gradually gathered her thoughts and turned her gaze to the mural on the right.
Compared to them, Leonard's ability to control his mind was slightly worse, and there were still noises echoing around him:
"Mysterious doll... Is this guy's current thoughts so dangerous? Tsk tsk, so this is your true inner heart, haha, Miss Justice's reaction is very interesting... I haven't seen that guy embarrassed in a long time..."
After Klein and Audrey began to look at the mural carefully and communicated quickly through their inner thoughts, Leonard gradually calmed his thoughts and focused his attention.
The mural on the right side of the three people seems to tell the evolution of history, with scenes of human city building, snow-covered plains, wars and migrations, countries and city-states, and towers and fruits that symbolize barrier-free communication...
Obviously, the murals start at the door and end at the throne of the "Dragon of Imagination".
Looking back, Klein suddenly spotted a familiar figure.
It was a huge dragon with dark blue eyes and icy scales.
That's Jurisian, the "King of the North"!
"This... the development of the world in this book is based on these murals?" As Klein spoke his mind, he quickly browsed back and found many blurry-faced adventurers hunting frost dragons and opening the door to departure. He also found scenes of ice and snow melting, and city-states such as Pesoet emerging and prospering. He also found the ending where the weather was getting colder and a new story was about to unfold.
“Will all the contents on the mural become reality in this book world?” Audrey “Justice” couldn’t help but have such a thought.
"This wall and this painting look very ordinary. They are not even as good as the works of street painters... It is worthy of being the residence of the 'Dragon of Imagination'. Is this the power and authority of the ancient god..." Leonard also sighed.
“It’s possible.” Before Klein could give a more tactful answer, he heard his inner voice saying, “Let’s take a look at the mural on the other side and analyze all the circumstances.”
Leonard and Audrey did not object and followed him to the other side.
During this process, they discovered that even spirits could not fly in this palace.
Because the murals were so huge, Klein and the other two were able to see the corresponding content clearly after walking for a while.
Just the first mural near the door made Klein's pupils suddenly dilate.
In the painting, a book with a hard cover was held in the hand of a giant whose face could not be seen clearly, whose skin was gray-blue and whose one eye was upright!
“This…” Klein heard his own shocked and hesitant voice.
In the subsequent murals, the common protagonist is the book with a dark brown cover and bound with parchment: it was obtained by the elves; the text on its surface changed; it was collected; it was obtained by different people one after another, and it was transferred and "wandered" until it flew up to the clouds, came to the starry sky, and fell into a giant claw.
In the next mural following this scene, the book seems to have no connection with the previous one. It suddenly appears on the sea and stays in a ship of vague style.
In the penultimate mural, it is obtained by a man in a top hat and leaves the previous ship.
The next mural is behind the giant pillar that is suspected to be the throne of Angerwede, the "Dragon of Imagination". Its content is that the previous book met an ancient feather pen.
At this point, all the murals are finished.
"008!" Leonard's astonished voice echoed in the hall.
"The 'Imagination Dragon' wants to combine this book and the pen into a set? What will happen? This scene almost happened when dealing with Ince Zangwill... but in the end, it didn't happen? Because this book fell into my hands and was sacrificed to Mr. Fool, or Adam was prepared for this and deliberately provided help?
"Oh, right? In the travelogue, as soon as the ascetic mentioned the 'Angel of Imagination' Adam, the frost dragon came to attack the camp... Was it because the travelogue itself did not allow him to finish, or was it because Adam had heard it and cast his eyes over, causing a certain reaction?" Klein's thoughts were in a mess, and they were transformed into words one after another.
During this process, he could only control himself and treat The Fool as another existence.
As he spoke, Audrey's thoughts also emerged:
"Will the contents of the mural here become reality in the material world?"
Note 1: Quoted from Tennyson, Godiva