Angor lifted Dankros off his shoulder and placed him on his left hand.
Then, he raised his left hand and brought it level with his eyes. He stared at Dankros quietly.
Dankros was a little confused by this, and his small eyes were filled with doubt.
"You don't like the Dream Crystal, do you?"
"No." Dankros shook his head.
Angor stared at Dankros in silence. "If you're not unhappy, why do you look so down?"
Angor changed his mind to bring Dankros to the Dream Crystal because he noticed that Dankros was in a bad mood after he refused.
If emotions had color, Dankros would have been shrouded in a thick shadow at that time, which was the opposite of the glory of the past.
Later, when Angor agreed to bring Dangros to the Dream Crystal, Dangros' shadow began to fade a little. But it still didn't go away.
However, Angor didn't think too much about it. He thought that Dankros' mood would change once he saw the new world in the Dream Crystal.
However, the actual situation was completely different from what he had imagined.
Dankros was indeed attracted by the new world for a few minutes and forgot about the shadow for a while. However, after the novelty, the shadow once again shrouded its body.
Angor thought that he ignored Dankros because he was talking to Laplace and the others all the time. While going offline to bring Gleipnir the Ivory Staff, Angor also brought a bottle of quenching liquid to Dankros.
Angor gave Dankros something to do and also told him that he didn't neglect Dankros.
However, the effect wasn't as good as he expected.
Dankros' shadow faded a little, but he was still standing against the light.
After making arrangements for the others, he decided to have a talk with Dankros.
"I-I'm not depressed," Dankros replied subconsciously. However, when he replied, he kept avoiding Lin Li's gaze.
Angor didn't expose Dankros' lie. Instead, he stared at Dankros with a calm look.
The air seemed to freeze, and so did time.
In this awkward atmosphere, Dankros began to pretend that nothing had happened and slowly fell silent.
However, it still did not say anything, as if it wanted to use silence to change the topic.
If he had something else to do before, he might have asked Dangros to help him. But now, he had done everything he could, and he couldn't do what he wanted to do. As for Laplace, he wasn't too worried about him. Therefore, he had plenty of time to waste with Dangros.
Angor didn't say anything. He just stared at Dankros.
Dankros felt his hair standing on end. He wanted to tell Angor to stop staring at him several times. However, it stubbornly believed that once it opened its mouth first, it would lose. It tried its best not to say anything and kept its eyes darting around, trying not to look at Angor.
However, Dankros' facial features were all on his palm, which was basically a flat surface. Angor tried to block them, but Dankros' eyes could only stay fixed on one spot.
For Dankros, time and space seemed to have frozen at this moment.
He desperately hoped that Laplace and her clones would come back, or something bad would happen to them, so that Angor wouldn't keep staring at him.
However, his hope didn't come true even when he waved the white flag.
Yes, he surrendered.
Angor's eyes weren't harsh. They were calm and clear, but they somehow made Dankros feel weak. It was as if Angor's eyes were reflecting the shadow in his heart. Dankros could hold on for ten minutes, but he couldn't do it for an hour or two.
More importantly, Angor also restrained his movements, so he could only look at Angor's eyes.
In the end, Dankros gave up.
"… I admit that I'm a little depressed. But it has nothing to do with the Dream Crystal. It's a wonderful thing to me, and it's full of charm …"
Dankros seemed to be trying his best to think of his words, and Angor knew what he was trying to do. He wanted to change the topic and divert Angor's attention.
The trick might work on his elemental elemental minions, but it wasn't enough to fool Angor.
Angor didn't interrupt Dankros and let him do his thing.
"So? Why do you look so down?" Angor asked in a plain tone after the bird had finished its list of words.
Dankros didn't know how to change Angor's mind. He sighed in his mind and began to think of something else.
But before Dankros could do anything, Angor's head reached toward him. His eyes were almost touching Dankros's palm.
Dankros didn't know what to do when he saw Angor's eyes.
From its perspective, everything around it seemed to have disappeared, leaving only that pair of clear eyes.
Looking at each other at such a close distance, Dankros stammered out his true thoughts.
"I … I don't care about that. It's …"
Dankros stuttered a little, but Angor still understood what he meant.
What Angor didn't expect was that Dankros' mood wasn't because of the Dream Crystal. It was because of Angor's words.
Earlier, Angor refused when Dankrose suggested that they should check the Dream Crystallization together.
Dankros didn't feel too bad about it. He just felt a little wronged.
What really upset the bird was Angor's words.
Angor couldn't help but say, "How about this? Let's make a promise. I'll take you to the Dream Crystal before we go back to the Tidal Realm. What do you think? "
Angor thought about it carefully. Indeed, Dankros became depressed after he said that.
Angor even reached out his hand to shake Dankros' hand to seal the deal.
In the end, Dankros gave Angor a high five after hesitating for a while.
At that time, Angor thought he had successfully convinced Dankros again. He did not expect that the slap only made Dankros even more depressed.
What was it about Angor's words that made Dankros feel uncomfortable?
Return to the Tidal Realm.
That was it.
Now that he thought about it, he didn't find anything wrong with it. Until Dankros told him about his feelings, Angor began to understand why Dankros cared so much about it.
"… We just left the Tidal Realm not long ago. Why do you want to go back now?"
"… Because you're getting impatient?"
Dankros spoke in a low voice. He didn't mention the subject, but Angor knew what he meant.
Dankros felt that he didn't do a good enough job, or maybe he was too noisy, which made Angor impatient. That was why Angor brought up the topic of "returning to the Tidal Realm".
Angor was shocked but also a little speechless.
He didn't expect Dankros to become so depressed because of his careless words.
He mentioned "returning to the Tidal Realm" just because he wanted to say that he would arrange a time for Dankros to go to the Dream Crystal. He only mentioned the time before going back to the Tidal Realm.
However, Angor didn't expect Dankros to care so much about the time.
Or maybe Dankros was worried about returning to the Tidal Realm without seeing the bigger world?
Objectively speaking, Angor wasn't wrong about this. Dankros just misunderstood Angor's words.
But Angor also understood Dankros. Just like humans, intelligent beings in this world had different personalities. Some were outgoing, some were introverted, some were open, and some were conservative. These personalities weren't necessarily fixed. Some were even mixed together.
For example, an outgoing loner.
People with such personalities tended to be outgoing and even had a bit of social insanity. No one could tell that they had another side to them. This side could be lonely, introverted, or even closed off.
In Angor's words, they might look carefree on the outside, but it didn't affect their inner sensitivity and anxiety.
Levi, reflected in Laplace's mind, was such an extroverted loner.
Dankros might have a similar personality.
Its appearance was always carefree, grinning, and even a little wretched. However, his inner personality was sensitive and delicate.
Just like this time, when Angor's casual remark was captured by Angor's careful mind, he kept expanding his thoughts.
In the end, he overthought it and got himself frustrated.
Angor understood Dankros, so he didn't argue with Dankros about "you're overthinking", "you're overthinking", or "I know what you're thinking", or "you're right, but …".
Instead, he considered and smiled at Dankros. "I did say we're going back to the Tidal Realm. But I never said that we can't come out again."
"My teacher is still in the Tidal Realm, so I will definitely return to the Tidal Realm. But it's easy to come out again.
"I promised Magoo the Wise that I'll take you to see the outside world.
"As long as you don't think you've seen enough, I won't leave you behind."
Angor left a few minutes for Dankros to think about his words.
Angor's words were neither comforting nor explaining. Instead, he pointed out what Dankros cared about and helped him understand Angor's thoughts faster.
And Angor's "as long as you don't think you've seen enough, I won't leave you behind" completely relaxed Dankros' tense mood.
Dankros didn't want anything else but such a clear statement.
However, even though Dankros had relaxed, it was not appropriate for him to show it. After all, he had looked as if he had a deep grudge just a moment ago. To him, it was inappropriate for him to suddenly smile. So, he still kept a straight face as if he was still immersed in his gloomy mood.
Angor could sense Dankros' mood, so he knew that the creature's mood had changed.
As for the fact that Dankros was still acting sad, it was purely because he was proud.
Dankros was an elemental fairy, and elemental fairies were like children in human age. It was normal for children to be a little temperamental, so Angor had to tolerate them appropriately.
Of course, the prerequisite was that the child couldn't be too "naughty".
Dankros might be a little "naughty" sometimes, but he was still very reliable when it came to serious matters. When it came to alchemy, Dankros always cooperated well with Angor. So even if Dankros was a little naughty, Angor could still turn a blind eye.
Angor chuckled. "It's not a big deal. Speaking of which, it's long past the hunting time of the Gluttons. I think Laplace and Glepnir have already entered the special dream. Want to go with me?"
Dankros was thinking about how to change the topic. He couldn't just keep pretending to be serious, could he? Now that he heard Angor's words, he realized that this was his chance. "Sure."
Angor smiled and didn't say anything else. He put Dankros back on his shoulder and walked out of the safe zone.
Laplace and Glepnir chose to wait for the Gluttons nearby, so the special dream, "Glutton's Carnival", wasn't far from the safe zone.
He didn't need to log off and come back online to use "Space Diversion". He could just walk there with his legs.
While moving toward the "Glutton's Carnival", Angor used God's View to observe the others while explaining the "special dream" to Dankros.
While doing so, Angor found something interesting.
Luigi was still wandering around the mountain. However, he wasn't in the mood to "compose poems". He was fully focused on the tall mountain.
Especially on the only path leading to the top of the mountain.
Luigi kept moving closer to the path, but he would back away every now and then, as if he wanted to climb the mountain but was afraid.
Earlier, Luigi promised Laplace that he wouldn't climb the mountain without permission. He was only looking for inspiration. But now, it seemed that Luigi really wanted to climb the mountain.
Angor didn't know what happened to Luigi, but he assumed that it wasn't because Luigi wasn't determined enough. Maybe the mountain was trying to lure Luigi to climb the mountain.
For example, when Laplace approached Helen's Dream, he didn't intend to enter Helen's Dream, but he was forcibly pulled in by the whip.
It was true that crystal creations could hide. However, it was also true that the crystal creations would actively "hunt".
Maybe this was one of the rules of Wonderland?
As long as Luigi didn't really climb the mountain, Angor didn't pay too much attention to him.
The thing that really interested him was actually the rabbit girl's side.
(End of Chapter)
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