Most of this chapter was written in first person, which honestly, I think I write better this way. Comment what you think after you finish the chapter, it will help me a lot.

Read the endnotes for more important details.

Chapter 1 - Elysian Kingdom

"Bell-kun! What happened to you!?"

Hestia, the Greek goddess of fireplace, home, domestic life and hospitality was in a state of panic at seeing the only member of her Family in such a state.

Bell Cranel, was covered in blood and had a downcast expression on his face. He tried to give her a smile, but he couldn't, as he had immense pain on his face from the Minotaur's blow that he had encountered earlier in the Dungeon. And when he told her about this Minotaur incident with Hestia, as soon as he recovered, she went crazy.

He tried to lessen her concern by saying that he had been saved by the Sword Princess of the Loki Family, but that only made her angry. When she learned that the Minotaur was on a floor he wasn't supposed to be on, she quickly pulled herself together and said that it was definitely Loki Family's fault for letting a monster from the middle floors escape to the upper floors. She also muttered things about yelling at the damn goddess with no breasts.

Bell didn't know what his goddess's relationship was with Goddess Loki, but apparently it wasn't very good.

"It's okay, Kami-sama," he said with a small weak smile, already recovered from the pain on his face. "Everyone makes mistakes, there's no need for so much anger."

She just looked at him as if he was a crazy person.

"Mistakes!? That mistake almost took your life, hell I'll leave it without complaining to that damn goddess with no breasts!"

Is it really necessary to mention "goddess without breasts" at all times? He really couldn't let these two meet, he felt that if this happened, something very bad would happen, so he must avoid the meeting between these two at all costs!

After a long time of trying to convince Hestia not to meet with Loki, he finally managed to get her to put this incident aside after promising to take her out to eat somewhere when he was fully recovered. She still kept grumbling saying that one time or another she would meet with Loki, but that was going to have to wait.

"Bell-kun, go take a shower and rest."

He said nothing, just nodded and went to do exactly what she asked.

Even though they lived in an Abandoned Church, the place still had the basics of a normal house like kitchen and bathroom. Of course, most of the furnishings were already quite old thanks to a great enemy of just about everything, time.

After he finished showering, he simply went to bed and didn't even bother to say anything about Hestia sleeping with him, as he usually does. He was very tired and just wanted to sleep quickly to forget about the incident with the Minotaur.

While trying to sleep, he couldn't help but think.

Weak.

He was very weak...

Why did he have to be saved by the Sword Princess?

Because he was simply too weak.

Even if the Minotaur was a monster that shouldn't be on the upper floors, he still couldn't do anything but run away! Why can't he be like he is in his dream? In his dream he is totally different from the pathetic version he is in real life.

In the dream he is strong, confident, and a good commander. So much so that he created his own kingdom in the dream!

He stopped thinking about these things as he concentrated on just sleeping, not caring about Hestia hugging him while she whispered some things. Apparently, she had already fallen asleep and was dreaming of something pleasant, if the smile on her face said anything.

He quickly fell asleep a short time later.

When I opened my eyes, the familiar feeling came over me.

I was in this place again.

The Elysian Kingdom.

The city I had built from scratch.

A large castle with white and gold colors stood in the north of the city. At the top of the castle you could see a large flag with an infinity symbol along with several other drawings that represented various things. One example is the symbol that represents the prosperity of the kingdom.

I was in one of the Elysian streets, exactly the place where I was when I woke up. This was something that I realized very quickly.

Whenever I wake up in the real world and leave the dream world, when I sleep, I always wake up in the same place where I was when I left the Dream World. Another thing is that even though I am technically awake here in the dream, when I actually wake up in the real world, my body is already fully rested. I never had any sleep problems, which was quite pleasant.

I mean, it's like I "technically" never really slept, because I was always awake either in the real world, or here in the dream world. So basically I was always doing something, either here or in the real world. Even though I asked myself how it was possible for me to keep dreaming like this, as if the dream continued, I never found an answer to this question.

Once, when I was seven years old, I decided to tell my grandfather about these dreams, and he was very interested at the time. I told him about how I saved a girl at first, and then several other people. He just laughed and said it was a special ability I had, and that I should keep saving girls to add them to my harem...

At the time I didn't notice, but when I think about it nowadays, I have the feeling that he knew something and was hiding it from me. Maybe he could know the real reason why I have this dream. Well, anyway, it is impossible to ask him about it since he was dead. He died on my 14th birthday in real life. It was an event that marked me very much.

After this I took what little money I had left and went to the city of Orario, in the quest to become an adventurer. However, as soon as I asked to enter the Families, I was rejected by all the Families for looking weak. Although there I was very downhearted, when I think about it here in the dream, an anger takes over me for a moment before it goes away.

The only person who helped me was the Goddess Hestia, placing me in her Family as the first member.

The conditions in which she lived were not good, especially for a goddess. I swore that I would repay her at some point.

But how can I do that when I am so weak in real life?

"Strolling around town carelessly, Bell-sama?"

A familiar sarcastic female voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Looking at the source of the voice next to me, I found purple hair and eyes staring back at me. Purple mage clothes with white and red details, along with a luxurious white staff that contained a purple energy that was constantly moving in the center.

I cracked a small smile as I spoke to an old friend.

"Well, you can say that. But it is rare to see you separated from Elsword in your spare time, Aisha."

I met her when I was 13 in the dream. One curious detail, time in the dream seems to pass much faster than time in real life. I discovered this when I managed to spend about 1 week in the dream and when I woke up, only 8 hours had passed. Of course, most of the time I would only stay for 2 or 4 days, but there were also times when only one day was spent in the dream world.

I have never been able to fully understand the concept of time spent in the dream world, but I have never really tried to understand it. Dreams have no explanation, people often dream of something that escapes reality, like this dream in which I find myself since I am 4 years old when I am sleeping.

Even though I am 14 years old in the real world, inside the dream I am 18 years old, although my appearance and height is comparable to someone 20 years old, for example, Aisha herself who is 20 years old. She was 15 when we met. I met her together with a few other people who were her friends.

She mastered the basics of elementary magic when she was only 15, she and the others joined me in creating this city that I became a king of. Aisha Landar is a mage who relies on her ability to cast spells quickly to inflict major damage on an opponent. She also has the ability to attack multiple targets at the same time.

The knowledge and experience gained during her adventure allowed her to learn to manipulate several elements at once. Understanding the extremes of elemental magic as naturally as the flow of water, Aisha was successful in creating the concept of 'Ether'.

With a new found understanding of the ultimate forms of elemental magic that she called 'Aether', Aisha can now simultaneously cast several high level elemental magics at once. Thanks to this knowledge, and for being the first person to find out about such magic, she has earned a title given by the people around her.

The Sage of the Ether.

She is also a teacher in the school of magic that we created with the help of all our friends, to help those who want to follow the path of magic. The school of the Red Knights was also created and was run by her sister and brother, Elsword and Elesis.

Those who graduated from both schools could join the El exploration team. El shards are precious gems with mysterious power that cannot fall into the wrong hands. It was quite similar to the monster magic stones that were exchanged for money in Orario.

"You can say that, but that idiot is totally guilty. Even when I called him out yesterday, he said he was too busy at the moment, being that, all the tasks had already been completed."

She spoke in a tone of annoyance.

"Well, he's just being cautious, isn't he?"

"Hmph, I don't doubt that he is lying to meet some girl in secret..."

She is quite jealous, as usual. I couldn't help but crack a nostalgic smile as I remembered the daily fights the two of them had almost all the time. As we grew older, the fights diminished a lot, but they were still there. They were very pleasant times to remember, indeed.

Elsword, the one who had the title "Emperor Knight".

"He's a bit dense, actually," I commented.

Aisha stared at me.

"What?"

"It's nothing..."

Women are really strange.

"Well, school is about to start, I have a class to teach. See you another time, Bell."

She simply said goodbye to me like that, and I just nodded with a smile.

With a small sigh, I began to move through the Elysian streets. All the while, people greeted me with happy smiles which I returned with my own. Even though I was a king, I was known around town in casual clothes and interacted a lot with my people.

I started the construction of this kingdom when I was only 8 years old in the dream. Of course, I had help from other friends, because building a large city alone is very difficult. Even so, I never stopped training, after all my dream was to become a hero who would save not only the girls, but my people. This kingdom was built on this thought.

And indeed, I can say that my dream was partially realized in the dream world, as I became very strong and saved many people. Some villages that I saved from the tribe of demons or other evil beings moved here, and this happened many times, which resulted in the constant growth of this kingdom.

Today you can see all kinds of races, humans, cat people, wolves, even some spirits, walking around the city without worrying about any kind of prejudice. My idea was always to build a place where there would be no discrimination because a person is of a different race. In the beginning it was a little difficult, but with good management with the help of trusted friends, the situation improved a lot.

Times were not always as happy as they are today. With the constant growth of the kingdom and new people coming in, lack of food was a very serious problem. This too was solved over time, thanks to the creation of farms around the kingdom. Water was never a problem as there were mages that helped with this.

In this kingdom there is also a law that I created a long time ago. If someone new comes to live here, that person naturally won't have any money, so until that person can settle down and get some work, he will receive free food, as well as a small house.

I also created a Guild that functioned in a similar way to the Adventurers' Guild in the city of Orario.

It may sound crazy how I was able to do so many things at about only 10 years of age, and I also find it very crazy. However, I did accomplish this feat.

There was also an important detail that I only became aware of after spending 2 years inside the dream. Most of the people I was meeting, the girls... almost all of them were in the hero stories that Grandpa had told me. Somehow, I put together elements from several different stories in the creation of this dream.

This meant many things, but the most important was the fact that not only good characters appeared here. The villains, evil organizations, all of these also appeared. However, it was strange that I almost never ran into them, only a few times. This made me very uncomfortable, after all, who knows what the hell they might be planning to do?

Approaching the center of town, a large statue of me made from the fragments of El is visible. The statue was created to celebrate my victory against Bahamut. A large black dragon that is very similar to the One-Eyed Black Dragon from the story my grandfather told me. It was one of the first stories he ever told me. I really didn't want a statue of myself using something as precious as the fragments of El, but it turned out to be a good thing, because the energy of the fragments that made the great statue was still at work, helping the whole kingdom.

But I was still a little ashamed.

Forcing myself to stop having such thoughts, I walked to the castle while greeting the children and people in the process.

Upon entering the castle, I was greeted by several maids and butlers who bowed to my arrival.

"Welcome back, king!"

They all greeted me.

"Good to see you too, folks."

Honestly, I never got used to that. Looking forward, I could see two people I knew well.

A man with white hair and beard, Sebas Tian. He is the chief butler of Elysian Castle, also responsible for taking care of most of the economic matters alongside Gamma. Only unlike her, he only takes care of matters related entirely to the kingdom.

At his side was a girl very special to me, after all she was the first person I ended up meeting in this dream, as well as the first girl I saved. Elizabeth Aerin, a dark elf. She was much taller and also had a more confident expression. She is responsible for taking care of the Pleiades, the combat maids. Her magic had made a great leap and although she was far from Aisha's magical ability, she was very good at hand-to-hand combat as well.

There was also the fact that she was the one who took care of everything in the kingdom when Artoria and I were not present.

"It is also very good to see you, my lord," Sebas gave a little salute.

"Likewise, was your tour of the city good?" Elizabeth asked with a smile.

"Yes, I met up with Aisha on the way. She seemed pretty annoyed with Elsword," I commented as I walked up to them.

"Well, some things never change, right?" Elizabeth commented with a chuckle. "However, I'm afraid we have some important things to inform you about, Bell-sama. Sebas?"

As soon as she said that, Sebas bowed slightly and walked towards me with serious eyes. Realizing the situation, I did my best to appear to be wearing a serious countenance as well. Sebas began to speak.

"The Shades have obtained some important information, Lady Alpha wanted to discuss it with you."

The Shades. They are basically people handpicked by me to play a very important role. Espionage. Unlike El's scouting party or the Guild, the Shades are tasked with infiltrating not only possible secret bases of the demon army, but also possible bases of other villains in the hero stories that I can remember. It is a very risky and dangerous job, so I was very careful in choosing the Shades.

I had already defeated some villains and monsters that would be the final "bosses" of some of the hero stories that Grandpa told me about. However, there are some stories that have very powerful villains, beings that can even defeat the One-Eyed Black Dragon. That in itself is something quite frightening, so I made sure to remember the worst threats I could find.

No matter if it's just a dream, this is my kingdom. And I'm not going to let anyone do anything to the people in it. I'm not going to let the work that I've practically spent my whole life building be destroyed.

I was already aware that I had attracted the attention of some of these beings, for that reason a large barrier was erected around the entire kingdom, a barrier using various El stones, with my statue found in the center of the city being the main source of energy that powered the barrier.

"I see. If it's important information, everyone should know. Call all the principals into the meeting room in no more than 2 hours. Tell them it's an important matter."

"Understood, if you'll excuse me," Sebas bowed and went to comply, the butlers followed him.

I looked at Elizabeth who was looking at me as if she wanted to hug me, although she understood the priority.

"Me and the other maids are going to tidy up the meeting room."

She said as she bent down a little. However, before she could really leave, I decided to say something.

"When all this is over, I will take you out to eat at the place of your choice."

She stopped walking as she gave me a surprised look, and soon after showed a smile.

"I'll be looking forward to that, Bell-sama. Fufu."

Elizabeth was currently 21 years old, she was 7 years old when I met her. After she left, she took the Pleiades with her.

I found myself alone in the great hall of the castle. Currently, most of the people who lived here were going about their daily business. As I thought about this, I realized that I had about 2 hours to spare until Sebas gathered everyone in the meeting room, so I wondered how I could spend this time.

The answer came quickly.

"Well, let's go to the library."

With that, I started walking toward the library to meet a certain person I hadn't talked to in a while.

The walk to the library was pretty uneventful, I met up with some maids who take care of cleaning the castle, just a little greeting was enough. After about 7 minutes of walking, I finally arrived at the door to the library. The door was quite large and had detailed gold and silver designs, along with strange symbols.

If I simply try to enter normally, all I will find is a normal library, but this is not what I came for. I slowly approached the door, and once I was close enough I knocked on it 2 times and paused for 5 seconds, then I knocked 4 times and spoke.

"It's me."

As soon as I announced that it was me, the library door opened by itself. I just walked in and walked through the vast sea of books on the shelves. It was an absurd amount. The library had two floors with a white stone staircase connecting the first and second floor.

"Your visit is a bit unexpected, I suppose."

I stared at the girl sitting in a lonely chair while holding a book in her hands.

"It has been a few weeks since I visited you, Beatrice. Although I promised to visit you at least 1 time every 2 weeks, I was very busy at the moment, so I apologize a thousand times for leaving you a little alone," I bowed in a sign of regret.

The girl simply looked at me with her blue eyes and pink irises. She looks like a beautiful young girl of eleven or twelve. Her big sky-blue eyes have pink butterfly patterns like her irises, quite unlike anything I had ever seen. And I have seen several things in this dream.

"You had no choice, I suppose. After all, you were dealing with that forest of shadows incident that occurred 2 months ago, right?"

"Indeed. But since I'm here, I thought I'd let you know. In about 1 hour and 40 minutes, a meeting of importance is going to take place in the meeting room. So, I thought I would spend the rest of the time talking with you. I'd also like to take a look at the Dragons."

She just closed the book she was reading and jumped up from her chair. As soon as she put the book away, she walked over to me and raised her arm to me.

Knowing what she was after, I held out my arm to her, and as soon as she touched my arm, I felt the mana drain from me. She is a Great Spirit with whom I have made a contract to look after the security not only of the library, but of the entire castle. Although she was free to wander around the castle, she always preferred to stay in the library alone. She liked the presence of few people.

She kept sucking my mana for about four minutes before she decided to stop. I had a lot of mana, so much that she even doubted that I was a human when we first met four years ago.

"How long can you last with how much you took?"

"Should be enough for two months, I suppose. I took more than usual because I don't know when you'll show up again."

"Well... I'll just do my best," I replied a little unsure.

"Now, you wanted to see the Dragons, right?" She asked.

"Yes. Just a little look. I want to see how Lu and Ciel are doing taking care of them in Virion's absence."

"Very well." She snapped her fingers.

As soon as she snapped her fingers, a black and white door appeared in the middle of the library. That's the door that connected to a different kind of dimension, and although I never understood how that worked, it was something quite useful in creating the dragons. Yes, there was a large space inside that door where dragons were bred from a young age to get used to people.

I wasted no time and simply opened the door and went inside, along with Beatrice.

As soon as I stepped through the door, I witnessed the same amazing sensation I always felt when I came to this place. The sound of the roars entered my ears, looking up I had the incredible sight of two dragons flying in the sky. I could also see people riding on them, it was Lu and Ciel.

"Hey guys!"

As soon as I shouted that, the dragons quickly started flying in the direction Beatrice and I were standing. If a normal person saw this, they would surely be scared, but Beatrice and I knew that nothing was going to happen, so we stood still waiting for the dragons.

It wasn't long before they landed on the ground near us.

"Hey, Bell!" The voice of a white haired girl spoke as soon as she descended from the dragon.

"Hi Lu, good to see you."

Lu has the appearance of a small girl about the size of Beatrice - although she had a reason for that. She has blue eyes with pink irises, just like her. However, unlike the butterfly design that Beatrice has, Lu's was more like a star. She wore a black and blue outfit, along with black boots, and a large white bow with a gold and blue detail in the center. She possessed elven-like ears.

Her story is quite interesting.

Luciela R. Soucream was a member of the high society of the Demon Lords, who supported the Demon Kingdom. Involved in the political strain of succeeding the Overlord's position, Lu became careless and was eventually betrayed by her most trusted vassal. Her powers were sealed and she, in chains, could only watch as her authority, her territory and her possessions were gutted.

Time passed, reaching the point that she can hardly remember her first name. In a last attempt, she used all her remaining power to undo the seal and flee to any place that could be safe. However, due to the immense consumption of her powers to travel, her appearance had become that of a child.

"I didn't expect to see you so soon, King Bell."

The male voice beside Lu spoke up.

"Well, indeed. I just wanted to check on how you were taking care of the dragons, and also let you know that you're going to have an important meeting in an hour and a half, so if there's any way for you to go, I'd appreciate it, Ciel."

Ciel, Lu's Butler and Bodyguard.

As a child, Ciel's parents were murdered by bandits, leaving him on the streets. With the will to do anything to survive, such determination allowed Ciel to eventually earn his name as a famous assassin in the hidden world of crime. After Lu's escape from the Demon World using the rest of his power, Ciel found Lu badly injured lying on the ground and unconscious. At that time, she had lost her memory and could only remember her name, Lu.

Ciel helped her regain her health and began to care for her. One night, murderous demons who were looking for Lu attacked. Showing no defiance to the high-ranking demons, Ciel is killed protecting Lu. Recovering all her memories and noticing the desire for life in Ciel's dying breaths, Lu enters into a contract with the human, where he is to become her servant. Grateful for the attempt to save his life, and seeking Lu's happiness, he gladly accepts and revives with a half-demon.

Both their lives were very difficult, but I am glad that they are on my side today. Finding them and helping them fight the demons as soon as Lu had made the contract with Ciel was very lucky.

"Well, that will depend on if we can get the job done early. But if it's possible, we'll go there, right, Lu?"

"Exactly!"

Ciel and Lu's responses were pretty straightforward.

Virion was not going to return for the next two weeks, until then I left them both to take care of the dragon "kingdom".

"It's been a while since I've been here, so can you tell me the exact number of dragons that inhabit this place? Last time I looked, there were only 5."

I asked a question that I was really curious to know the answer to.

"Well, these two here are in their teens, so they're not adults yet," Ciel commented, as he had one hand stroking the dragon's head. "As for the total number, well. There are a total of 12 dragons. 6 of them are already adults, 4 of them are in the somewhat advanced age counting these two, and the last two are still puppies that have just been born."I could see Lu playing with the dragon she was riding on. Apparently, she gets along very well with dragons.

"What elements are they from?" I asked.

"The one with Lu is a Wind Dragon, which explains his white/gray color. And the one with me is an Earth Dragon. His color as you can see, is very reminiscent of the earth color of the ground."

Ciel explained.

"I don't remember seeing these two, I suppose," Beatrice's voice spoke as she analyzed the two dragons.

"Well, you hardly ever come to the dragon realm, only when Bell shows up." Lu pointed out.

"... That's true, I suppose."

After that, I stayed talking with Lu, Ciel and Beatrice about the dragons. In this extremely gigantic space, there were habitats for different types of dragons, such as giant lakes for water dragons, as well as floating habitats for wind dragons and forests for dragons more attached to nature.

I don't know how these habitats were built, but apparently they were already there when I entered this space.

Of course I could not bring all dragons into the dream realm, but it was possible to bring at least 1 every now and then, but it would have to be in a completely open place.

After spending about half an hour talking with them, I went back to the library with Beatrice. I spent the rest of the time talking to her about some things that were not that important, but it was very nice to spend time with her again.

When it was about 12 minutes before the meeting started, I said goodbye to Beatrice and left the library, walking through the castle. Almost everywhere you can see portraits of me and other people pasted on the walls. There is a portrait of me where there is a large black evil dragon, Bahamut, lying dead on the ground while I was standing with my black sword in hand.

Speaking of my sword...

A glow enveloped my right hand as I raised it, and soon after the glow began to take the form of a black sword with red details. The blade of the sword is completely black with the exception of the several blood-red symbols that could be seen.

This sword is very special to me, after all, it was the first weapon I had within the dream. It had previously been in the form of a small black knife when I had started my adventure in the dream. I had no idea where such a weapon came from, but it had always been with me since forever, probably something to do with my desire to have a legendary weapon of my own, just like most of the protagonists in the hero stories Grandpa read to me.

This weapon evolved along with me and has taken many different forms, spear, bow, and even a Ciel-like technological weapon. Apparently this sword is the last form of it, at least the last form I have been using for 2 years. I had the ability to change the form of my sword to a spear or a bow, whichever I thought would suit me best along with the sword.

As I approached the Meeting Room, I snapped my fingers and a glow took over my body.

The casual outfit I had been wearing was changed to a slightly more luxurious outfit with a light red suit of armor over it as I put my sword back into who knows where. I always have the ability to make my weapon appear or disappear just by my wish, and I tried to project it into the real world as well, but of course it didn't work, much to my dismay.

Well, I shouldn't expect much either, after all it is only a dream.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I started to move towards the big door Meeting Room where everyone should already be present.

I was currently sitting in the chair in front of the large table in the Conference Room.

Everyone was already present, even Beatrice to my surprise.

Elizabeth was standing on my right side while Alpha was on my left side.

I started looking at the people present in the Meeting Room in more detail before starting the conversation.

The one known as the "Knight Emperor", Elsword. The one who has grown with every challenge and does not hesitate in the face of any crisis. The master swordsman who fights fiercely to defeat any enemy. He is also one of the exploration leaders of the El stones, as well as a teacher in the Red Knights' school. He is also a Knight of Velder.

And right next to him was his sister, the one known as the "Sword of the Empire," Elesis. Next to her was her Swords of Victory, Claymore. She is the main leader of the Red Knights, being a teacher in the Red Knights school alongside her brother. She is also Captain of the Knights of Velder, people responsible for dealing with demons and monsters of the highest rank.

Ara Haan was sitting on one of the chairs with her spear beside her.

Ara is a skilled martial artist who uses a spear as a weapon. She is an extremely versatile woman with an extremely long melee attack range, as well as superior attack speed and mobility, her aerial mobility rivaling Eve's.

Her story is quite interesting, it was exactly similar to the same story my grandfather told me when I was 6 years old.

Ara Haan was born in the city of Fährmann, in the Xin Empire located north on the continent of Fluone. Her village is home to a large piece of El Fragment. This particular fragment radiated a powerful energy.

Ara is a descendant of the Haan Family, a family of warriors who protected the seal of Silver for generations. At first glance, she seems like a very educated girl and also, because of her family's influence, she is a powerful martial artist, a bearer of highly skilled techniques. Her brother, Aren Haan, who started his initial training and he was able to become strong enough to become the Defense Captain of the Fährmann capital.

One night, the village where she lived was attacked by an army of demons, who aimed to steal the Fragment of El. Ara tried her best in this fight, but being outnumbered, she was cornered. At that moment the floor gave way, she fell into a room containing a mysterious altar, where she fainted, after waking up she is faced with her brother, Aren, now known as Ran, the lord of the demons. When he is about to attack Ara, she instinctively protects herself, and touches an ornament that had fallen to the floor, this triggered a powerful light and she fell unconscious. When she awoke, she was alone in the center of the village, and the nine-tailed fox that had possessed her fought off the demons around her, but the fragment of El had already been taken over by them.

At that moment she hears the voice of the spirit, Silver, who had been sealed in this ornament for centuries. Silver makes a contract with Ara, on the condition that by lending her power, she will help her find her brother, Aren. In exchange, she will have to bring back the El shard.

I met with her just a few months after her brother was corrupted by the dark El shard. Promising to help her find her brother, she joined me and assisted me in finalizing the kingdom. So far there have been no leads of her brother since the last time we confronted him.

However, I felt that today we would finally have something, after all I remember clearly the last mission I sent the Shades on.

There are several demon lords, and currently he is the only one I would help at all costs. Ara has become a very special person to me and we get along very well, so much so that she helped me train with the spear and taught me some of the martial arts of her clan. Of course, even now she is still able to hit me with the spear easily, although I can make her move around quite a bit.

Ara is known as "Apsara"; the demigoddess, realizing the maximum potential as a martial artist. With good will, Ara has reached the maximum level of spear thrower, making the earth shake every time she demonstrates her mastery of the spear. There is no one better than her at using the spear.

In the chair next to Ara was Rena, the elven woman known as "Anemos".

Her story is quite interesting, also connected to the El shard.

Rena is an elf inhabitant of the mortal world. Her initial mission was to protect the great El, the one responsible for the balance and energy of everything and everyone, including the connection to her home world, the Elven Realm. She is skilled with bows and martial arts that use kicks, so she is far from being a simple archer who is defenseless when approached.

Besides being an excellent shot, Rena can summon the power of nature for her magical attacks. When ambushed by her enemies, there are no problems for her and her incredible kicks. Her lightness allows her to make great leaps, and in connection with nature, her energy recovers easily.

At least in the beginning it was like this. She trained hard to earn that name for other people.

An elven combat master who has become one with the wind and is able to sweep away all enemies. She is a deadly woman who attacks with the strength and speed of the wind itself.

Rena chose the path of hand-to-hand combat as opposed to the bow to get closer to the flow of mana from the Spirit World (although she has not given up the bow entirely, as she carries her bow with her at all times). When the connection to the Spirit World was restored after the restoration of El, Rena was finally able to communicate with the wind spirits that had been with her for so long.

Besides these there are several people in the Meeting Room, for example, Aisha, Eve, Chung, Rose, Add, Raven, Lu and Ciel, Scáthach and several other people for me to name.

However, there was one person who was not present that made me ask for her.

"Where is Artoria?"

"She had to go to an extermination, a crazed Dragon appeared in a nearby village." It was Sebas who answered me.

"I see... well, we can brief her on everything later. Alpha."

"Yes, my lord."

She approached the table, earning the stares of everyone.

Alpha is a beautiful and voluptuous young elf, with long golden blonde hair and blue eyes, and a slender figure with large breasts.

"The others and I have gained some very important information in our investigations, especially for you, Ara," she said, earning a curious look from Ara that was quickly replaced to a hopeful one.

As if she knew what Ara was thinking, she replied in a firm tone.

"Yes, we have information about your brother."

"Where is he!?" Ara stood up quickly from her chair as she slammed the table hard.

"Ara, calm down," I ordered.

"Calm down!? After so many years we finally have information about him, I ire-"

"You're not going to do anything at the moment," I interrupted her in a very serious tone.

"You can't boss me around in this matter," she said sending me an angry look. "He is my brother, I irei-"

"Listen to me, Ara," I sighed as I raised my voice. "I know how important he is, don't forget that I have lost a very important person to me as well. However, don't forget the promise I made to you. I will help you get your brother back, that's for sure. But we can't enter their lair unprepared."

I knew how important her brother is to her. But we can't be careless, who knows how many other demon lords will be around him?

"Besides, you are very important to me, I refuse to lose you through any recklessness of yours, understand?" I added.

After I said it she looked surprised for a moment before giving in and sitting down in her chair.

"I'm sorry I-"

"I know, don't worry, if anyone needs to apologize it's me, I got carried away," I stopped her from apologizing. "First of all, let's let Alpha finish giving us the information she has about the whereabouts of Ara's brother, after that we'll discuss how we'll proceed."

I looked at Alpha, suggesting that she continue. She put some papers on the table and began to explain.

Apparently in about one and a half months, Ara's brother would meet with two other demon lords to seek a possible alliance. The reason why he seeks this alliance is unknown, but surely he must have a great plan behind it. The uneasy feeling I have about all this is worrying.

Alpha told us about three possible locations where they could meet, and from then on, I knew that things would be quite problematic, as we would have to split up to look at these three locations.

After telling about the theories that she and the other Shades had, she finished her explanation.

"It's going to be very problematic, I suppose."

Beatrice was the first to speak that.

"In fact, we'll have to split up to cover all three locations," Elesis commented. "Elsword and I can handle the Valley of Doom," she proposed going in the first location with Elsword who soon agreed with his sister.

"Yes, I think the two of us will be enough just to survey the site and if the situation gets problematic we can retreat."

The brother and the red haired, red eyed Sister showed confidence in their voices, but I couldn't help but worry a little, so I thought it would be safer to send another person with them. After looking around the Meeting Room a bit, I spoke up.

"I understand that you two are confident, but I will add Chung to your group just in case. What do you think Chung?"

"I don't see a problem," he replied as he had his giant cannon at his side.

"What about you, Ara?" I asked.

I knew she wanted to be in the right place where her brother would show up. Seeing how she was having trouble answering, I spoke again.

"You don't have to make up your mind now, after all it won't happen tomorrow. We can look for more clues to be sure of the place where he will appear, and that will be our main priority now."

She seemed relieved at that.

After that we spent the next few hours talking about what we were going to do and what measures to take with possible flaws that might occur with our plans. I made sure to look at every detail, nothing could go unnoticed by me, after all I swore to myself.

I would save Ara's brother at any cost.

I quickly awoke to find Kami-sama sleeping beside me. I couldn't help but let out a small sigh, but quickly felt a small smile come to my lips. Being careful not to wake her up I got out of bed and went to take a quick shower. As soon as I finished the shower, I put on my gear and prepared to go to the Dungeon.

I took one last look at Kami-sama before closing the door and leaving the Abandoned Church.

Looking at the condition of the church outside, I couldn't help but clench my fists.

I had to become stronger for my Goddess and give her a better life. I couldn't get too excited about the dream because that's all it was, a dream. If I only had a quarter of the power I had in my dream, it would be enough to get me through the lower floors of the Dungeon.

I had to live the real life.

However, I'm still a little disappointed that I couldn't go eat with Elizabeth, because I hadn't spent the day in the dream world yet, and even if I did, the chores probably wouldn't allow us, after all we were preparing for the confrontation with Ara's brother.

I did my daily routine and went to the Dungeon, and this time I did not go beyond the 4th floor at Eina's request. I made sure to kill as many monsters as I could in order to earn a good amount of money that is obtainable on these early floors. But even so, I knew that I would not get as much as I had hoped to get.

However, I noticed something strange.

Unlike yesterday, I was killing monsters more easily. Could I have been thinking too much?

After I left the Dungeon I went to the Adventurers' Guild to exchange the magic stones from the monsters for valis, the money of this world.

In the dream world, the money was mainly copper, silver and gold coins, as well as gems and El shards.

I got about 7,260 valis. I was very surprised to get such an amount, and so was the person who traded the magic stones, as they were only from monsters found on the first four floors. The average I made was only between 3,000 and 4,000 valis, sometimes even lower than that.

Could it be because I managed to kill many more monsters than usual? Although I didn't know why that was.

I returned to the Forsaken Church when it was already evening and met with Kami-sama, who was quite surprised by the amount of money I had made. She was worried and asked me if I was going to floors beyond what my current level allows, but after I said I didn't go beyond the fourth floor of the Dungeon, she let me go, after all it wasn't a lie.

Humans cannot lie to the gods and goddesses.

I went to sleep with Kami-sama and I couldn't help but wonder how comfortable I seemed to be with that, but I didn't think much of it.

I would again go to the world of dreams.

I really wanted that whole world to be real.

...

...

...

Bell didn't notice the white glow that covered his whole body.

A small black glow began to appear on a small table near the bed that Hestia and Bell slept on. Soon after, a small black knife took shape.

That night was something Bell would never forget.

After all, it was the first time since he was four years old.

He did not return to the dream world.

In a place quite far from the adventurers' city, where there was a desert with nothing, something totally strange happened.

A large castle was spotted next to a possible city.

And not only this.

In several places in the world, everything changed.

The adventurers' world would change forever because of these changes.

A great calamity, worse than the Black One-Eyed Dragon itself, was coming.

As you could see, there are going to be a lot of characters from different works in this story. It will be a great crossover. I just want to make it clear that some may in fact act like their canonical selves while others may act quite differently, although they will have some traits of the original.

One important detail about Elsword characters. Elsword is a game that I played a long time ago, and it was a very fun game. When I created this story that would bring in characters from various franchises, Elsword was the first thing that came to my mind. So don't expect only the main characters who are the good guys, but also the stronger villains who might appear in the distant future.

The same goes for the other stories.

Bell's Kingdom was not the only thing that appeared in the real world, his entire "dream" appeared. In other words, expect not only good characters, but also villains and other characters. By the way, if you want to recommend a villain or monster that you want to appear in the story, feel free. Since this story is a big crossover, it is possible. And don't worry about Bell's companions being too OP, there will definitely be characters that can challenge them.

Also, I would like your help. My initial plan is to have the Loki Family find out about the Kingdom of Bell in a future expedition that they can go on, let me know what you think. If you want to give ideas on how I can follow up with the story, that would also help a lot, after all, there are several possibilities to take.

As for the crossovers, well you may have noticed characters from Re: Zero as Beatrice, Fate as Artoria (and a few others), and Elsword which had the most characters. There were also characters from The Eminence in Shadow, like from League of Legends. I didn't try to detail or name everyone in the meeting room to open up possibilities for your recommendations, as well as to work on later.

There are still many characters that were not in the city/kingdom of Elysian at the time it was transported to the real world, so you can expect new characters to appear.

One important detail about time in the dream world. Basically, it is very confusing. Even though Bell said he was only 4 years old when he started dreaming and he currently has 18 years in the dream world and 14 in the real world (basically, he has been working in the dream world for over 10 years), and even that time is technically small to build up the entire kingdom, as well as meet as many important people as he has met. He himself wonders about that crazy time, but doesn't think much about it because it's only in the dream. Well, it was just a dream...

The Classes of the Elsword characters have been told, but that doesn't mean they can't change classes because of some event that might happen, so look forward to it. (Ara, Elesis and Rena are my favorite female characters).

About the "Kingdom of Dragons". Well, I basically took the concept from Dragon City for this, so if you have played (which I think everyone must have played or at least heard of the game) just imagine the space similar to what is shown in the game.

The dream world is much more technological than the danmachi world, after all there are cannons and firearms, so let's see how the people of danmachi react to this fact in the future.

The next chapter should return to 3rd person writing, as I want to give a focus on the dream realm, them reacting to being in the new environment, more precisely the real world.

Let me know what you thought of this chapter, your comments encourage me :)

And if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Next update "The True Geniuses".

NOTE: Do you guys think I should maybe add the Elsword crossover category? I mean, most of the characters I mentioned are part of the game.