Chapter 102 The Journey is Long (1/2)
A few days in the dream dimension turned out to be only a few hours in real time. However, Truen felt as if he made a year's worth of progress with Freya's patient guidance and Merlin's absence. He was able to focus on gathering his Parallel Minds in the dream dimension to speed up the analysing process. This was a little trick taught by Freya and Truen took full advantage of Isis' time warp abilities to cultivate more Parallel Minds.
With ten Minds working on increasing his number of Parallel Minds, Truen knew he would be able to bridge that gap between Merlin and him sooner rather than later. He didn't know what Merlin thought about him cheating but his reputation was the least of his concern. Being able to keep up with Merlin's lessons was worth the blow to his pride.
”What are you thinking about? You're distracted.”
Startled, Truen jumped a little in his seat. He didn't realise that they were still in the middle of lessons and apologised to Freya. The goddess smiled and checked the time on her communicator.
”Alright, take a break. While it is still possible to continue, the mind would need rest to stay sharp. You have four hours before that maniac comes back so I highly suggest you make full use of it.”
Truen glanced at the time and noted that it was already two in the morning in dream time.
”Four hours in real time. Your body needs it too,” Freya frowned and the wood elf winced. Sedna and Gaia in mother mode were considered normal. However, when Freya did it, the wood elf felt a pang of guilt. The fiery goddess only went into that mode when Truen overdid something or when Zero was put in serious harm's way. After all, it was easy to rile Freya but not worry her.
”I understand. Thank you.”
Satisfied with his answer, Freya left promptly to get some well-deserved rest herself.
Truen looked at the communicator in the dream realm and set it to four dream hours before resting his Parallel Minds. The wood elf stretched in the library and looked around for a comfortable looking spot and set the alarm to wake him up after four real hours physically. Now that preparations are done, it was time for a good break.
***
”Are we there yet?”
Hua Tuo groaned. That was the most dreaded question and the doctor found it difficult to constantly give his apprentice a reply. The boy definitely needed more patience training and the Medicine God yearned for silence more than anything else at the moment.
”Zero, it takes two weeks to get there on foot. No, we are not there yet. In fact, if you turn around, we can still see the fields from here.”
The master and apprentice set off on their journey about two hours ago and the sky had been dark then. The sun had only begun to peek past the mountain range but Zero had already asked that same question twenty times. Hua Tuo was considered tricking Zero into staying silent for the next hour but decided against it. Even if Zero looked like a child and often behaved like one, he wasn't young. Once Zero knew what he was trying to do, Hua Tuo will lose his apprentice's trust. That was something Hua Tuo wanted to avoid.
Then, an idea hit the old doctor and he praised himself silently.
”Zero, would you like to learn something new while we walk?”