I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

Duke didn't bring Cecil this time, and Rose, the Thunder Witch who was supposed to replace her, was missing again, leaving them with a significant lack of fighting power. Among them, Annie was the strongest fighter, followed by Joan, the Dream Witch. Joan's fighting strength in the dream world was difficult to gauge, and it was impossible to know who would win in a life-or-death struggle with Annie, but in any case, she was undoubtedly stronger than him and Amber.

This isn't a Cinderella story anymore, and Duke can't easily turn the tables on Joan by using the game rules.

"Gentlemen, are you interested in our Genesis sect?"

As Duke and the others stood there, bewildered, before the enormous statue of "Talia," an elderly man dressed as a priest approached. He held a Bible in his hands, bowed solemnly to them, and said very politely, "Please allow me to proclaim the deeds of my God to you all..."

“No need,” Duke interrupted him, shaking his head rudely. “I have no interest in your religion or your god.”

The old priest frowned. Since Duke's attitude was bad, his attitude towards them wasn't very good either: "So what brings you all here?"

“I’m here to proselytize to you from the opposite direction.” Duke clapped his hands and asked with a grin, “Friend, have you ever heard of aphasics?”

"what?"

The old priest felt insulted by Duke, glared at him, turned away, and was about to leave when he was shocked to find himself back where he started, seeing Duke's enigmatic smile.

"Instead of this god who won't answer your prayers, why not try a real god who will answer your prayers?" Duke pointed to the huge statue of the goddess of creation and then tempted, "It's free anyway, so why not believe in her a little?"

"Heretical...heretical!"

“Sigh.” Duke shook his head, easily dodging the old priest’s attack, and turned to say, “If he’s unwilling, then so be it. Once Geraint’s troops reach the capital, I’ll go and preach to the Pope.”

"How dare you!"

……

"Duke Geraint has raised the flag of rebellion; he's going to rebel!"

"real or fake?"

"It's true, he even kidnapped Princess Amber, and now his army is already on its way."

Joseph frowned as he listened to the earnest words of the adventurers in the tavern.

Princess Amber... how could she have been kidnapped and captured while she was conscious? The story must have been distorted in the transmission of information; perhaps Duke also entered the dream, and the two of them have now joined forces and are causing trouble in the duchy. Otherwise, given Amber's personality, she would never have gotten involved in such troublesome matters.

His judgment of the situation was extremely accurate, and he had a very clear understanding of Amber's personality.

After making his basic assessment, Joseph raised his head, downed the horse urine in his glass, and then began to sing with a loud laugh.

About a minute later, the adventurers in the tavern were sprawled out on the floor, some knocked unconscious by Mr. Mad Song's singing, others suffering from splitting headaches from the singing and coming up to attack him, only to be knocked down by Joseph in self-defense. In short, after venting his anger, Joseph swaggered out of the tavern and walked into a nearby church.

"Father, I'm back."

Joseph smiled slightly and embraced the portly priest who came to greet him. Then he heard the priest rambling on about some "past life story" he had recalled that day.

"In my previous life, I seemed to have been a woodcutter, and in my life before that, I was a woman... It's just a bit strange, the world in my previous life seemed to be a little different from the world today."

Joseph exhaled a breath of alcohol onto the priest's face, making the priest, who didn't drink much, feel a little dizzy. Then, he said as softly as possible, "Is it possible that this world is just a dream of yours?"

His voice was hypnotic, causing the fat priest to lower his head in a drowsy state.

"If the world is just a hoax."

"Your god has long since fallen."

"Truth itself is on the verge of destruction."

Would you like to wake up?

After a long while, when Joseph's voice stopped, the fat priest raised his head in a daze and looked at him.

"Who...who...who am I?"

He clutched his head in confusion, and a few seconds later, he transformed into a spirit and abruptly vanished from Joseph's sight. As the fat priest became a spirit and disappeared, the interior of the altar church suddenly blurred, as if there was a bad signal; large patches of mosaic-like things made Yue Shufu involuntarily close his eyes.

It took about ten seconds for everything to return to normal.

"If a single soul's questioning can make this dream so fragile, what about more souls... hundreds or thousands of souls?"

After separating from Duke, Joseph, all alone, found the way to pass the game as quickly as possible.

Chapter 168 Who exactly is the villain?!

“Great one who has lost his voice, I am a devout believer in the Lord, and I will spend my whole life serving the Lord, praising the Lord, and spreading the Lord’s name…”

The old priest recited the above words with a fanatical expression, causing Duke and the others who were originally surrounding him to involuntarily take a half step back, fearing that this mute fanatic believer might do something crazy.

Duke's lips twitched slightly as he looked at Joan and Annie, who both guiltily looked away, not daring to meet his gaze.

The two wicked witches in front of me were the ones who turned the devout old priest of the Genesis sect into this state.

“Let’s say we’re on the side of justice, so why are we doing such villainous things?” Duke rolled his eyes and said to Joan, “Joan, you’re something else. You managed to brainwash a devout priest into a heretic in less than five seconds.”

Goodness, even those Liu Bei characters on Pixiv who are tagged with "fallen instantly" don't fall as quickly as the old priest... He falls from good to evil. Joan, you're so capable, why don't you use your invincible hypnotic abilities to unify the floating cities and then conquer the world?!

"It's not that difficult. Just replace his belief and understanding of Genesis with his belief in the mute... Oh, you're not praising me, okay?"

Upon hearing Duke's words, Joan was initially very excited and began to share her secrets to success. However, after a few sentences, she noticed that Duke's expression was not quite right. Feeling guilty, she shrank back behind Annie and unhesitatingly shifted the blame: "I didn't expect it to actually work... cough, it was all Annie's idea!"

Annie didn't care. People who can become top-tier necromancers generally don't have very high moral standards, otherwise she wouldn't have come up with such an inhuman idea. From this perspective, the main problem is not Annie who made the suggestion, but the Dream Witch who excitedly put it into practice as soon as she heard the interesting idea.

“From a future planning perspective, brainwashing is the most efficient method. Otherwise, what are you planning to do? Convince them one by one?” Annie rolled her eyes. “When will you be able to convince the whole world to start believing in the Aphasic?”

Duke couldn't refute Anne's words. There were countless souls in this grand dream; if he tried to persuade them one by one, his body would probably be cold outside by now. Even persuading them (physically) would take far too long. It was far more efficient for Joan to hypnotize them...

"But to be honest, if you maintain a pace of five seconds per person, the hypnosis efficiency isn't that high."

"That's true."

The two men were now before the priest. He had originally been a fervent believer in the goddess of creation, but Joan had altered his devotion through cognitive manipulation, transforming it into a devotion to the mute. Joan, who also happened to be a believer in the mute, was able to freely apply her influence, significantly enhancing the effectiveness of her hypnosis.

Of course, in reality, Joan couldn't possibly do that level of hypnosis. She's the Witch of Dreams, not the Witch of Hypnosis. Her normal fighting style is "When did you get the illusion that I wasn't using Mirror Flower Water Moon?" rather than using Geass.

But this is a dream, and the upper limit of her abilities here is greatly increased.

The old priest, brainwashed by Joan, prayed incessantly. His fanaticism was seen as insane by Duke and others, and even terrifying by believers like Joan. But to the gods, such a fanatical believer was absolutely a "model believer."

Given that the floating city is a city of spellcasters, the relatively more rational spellcasters are less likely to become fanatical believers. Carol's attitude of "it's free anyway, so I might as well believe a little" is a common phenomenon among spellcasters.

Most of the followers of the goddess of magic are shallow believers, and the same is true for the mute. Duke even felt that this was the first time that the old priest had gained a fanatical follower—provided that the old priest's voice could actually be conveyed from this dream.

"Ah! Great Lord, great one who has lost his voice... How honored I am that an ant like me could receive your response! It is truly incredible, truly..."

The old priest suddenly burst into tears, his whole body trembling. He gestured wildly, making the prayer gestures he had known for decades, and his words gradually became incoherent.

However, a certain power permeated the church as his illness flared up.

Joan, standing to the side, widened her eyes and exclaimed in disbelief, "How is this possible?"

With her exclamation, Duke understood what had happened—it was the mute who had responded to the old priest's devout prayers and was about to reveal His power in this dream.

Duke snapped to attention and immediately focused, waiting for a miracle to happen.

Before long, a phantom appeared before everyone. Its appearance was exactly the same as Megan that Duke was familiar with, but its aura was obviously different... It was the avatar of the mute god. Although it seemed somewhat illusory and far inferior to the avatar that Talia had dragged out to beat up Lady Scarlet, it was still a god's avatar!

For a person from another world who had just been brainwashed into becoming a believer, the Mute even sent down a clone... It's like a small streamer who's been playing solo for too long, and finally a big spender has come along, so of course their attitude is different from usual.

The mute's clone embraced the old priest, who reached out a trembling hand, trying to touch the god he "believed" in, but could not touch anything. In his daze, he felt something; the power of the god sprouted in his chest and eventually changed his posture.

The old priest visibly rejuvenated, his once bent back straightened, a pair of holy wings sprouted from his back, a halo appeared above his head, and his eyes shone with dazzling light.

The old priest transformed into a young and handsome priest… no, into an angel. The priest, exuding an inhuman aura, looked at Duke and the others before him, a slight smile playing on his lips, and said softly, “Thank you for allowing me to become an apostle of the Lord.”

Duke stared at him for a few moments, speechless, and then asked hesitantly, "You remember..."

“I remember everything, including the emotions I had before you brainwashed me. After I was turned into an apostle by the Lord, I recalled them.” The priest shook his head. “That’s why I should thank you. Thank you for making me convert to my Lord and leave the faith in that false god.”

Duke: "...Heh, whatever makes you happy."

He originally wanted to criticize the mute for giving the housekeeper (apostle status) so hastily, but what could he do? He had just too much money (faith).

Chapter 169 Speedrun of the Dream World

"I must go back to help my father!"

Jasmine said anxiously, "At a time like this, how can I, as his daughter, not be by his side? And what about Mother and Sister, they..."

"Don't rush, Jasmine."

The Thunder Witch scratched her head in distress. Rose didn't know how to explain to her disciple. She wasn't a very clever witch. Even if she found Jasmine in this dream, she didn't know how to restore her memories. She could only clumsily tell the truth and then take Jasmine back as her disciple.

Because of a deep connection that felt like a soul connection, Jasmine really liked this cheap master, but for some reason, she couldn't recall any memories of them together.

Even now, she remains a standard resident of this dream world, the youngest daughter of Duke Geraint, unlike Anne, who sensed something was wrong and out of place before even meeting Joan and Duke.

Or rather, people like Annie who are able to realize the truth of dreams are extremely rare, a few individuals.

The reason the brain in the vat is terrifying is that the person inside cannot see the truth. The Truman Show is a classic because it showcases the absurdity and madness of a character stepping out of their own box and into a higher world to see the truth. Even if a normal person were told the truth, they wouldn't believe it. Jasmine's reaction is that of a normal person; Annie, who immediately believed it, is definitely mentally unstable.

Of course, Anne herself doesn't deny that she's a bit morbid.

"Master Rose, please come back with me. With your help, even if Father ultimately fails, he will surely be alright!"

“Duke and Amber are with your father. Even if I don’t go, nothing will happen, right?” Rose sighed, then said firmly, “I won’t go, and I won’t let you go.”

As a conservative woman in her fifties, Rose naturally looked down on Duke, who was involved in multiple relationships, and thus harbored prejudice against him. It wasn't until this collaboration that Rose truly grasped Duke's abilities. However, she hadn't yet truly felt the full extent of those abilities.

Rose didn't know exactly how strong Duke was (not many people in the entire floating city knew either; who would have thought that the esteemed newcomer king of the floating city was actually a wanderer who had just reached level 10), but she had seen the news and knew that he was currently ranked number one on the newcomer list and had successfully completed several witch games, including a crown-level witch game.

Since Duke Geraint's rebellion was orchestrated by Duke, Rose felt there was nothing to worry about there.

"Why?" Jasmine, of course, didn't understand Rose's reasoning. She frowned, her tone becoming slightly more intense. "Why won't you let me go back?!"

“Because right now you’re just holding them back, understand?” Rose clapped her hands and said slowly, “You used to be too fixated on my lightning magic and never found a path that suited you, which is why you haven’t become a witch yet. Now that you don’t have that fixation or worry, this is a great opportunity for you to create your own unique spells. I won’t let you miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Jasmine stared at her cheap master for a long time before sighing, "Master, if I meet your demands, you'll let me leave, right?"

“Of course,” Rose smiled. “As long as you can become a witch, I will take you to the duchy immediately.”

"Then let's get started."

Jasmine mustered her courage, eager to set off right away. Seeing her enthusiasm, Rose was equally pleased.

She was just about to begin the first step of her speedrun tutorial on the witch when, at that moment, Rose seemed to sense something and suddenly turned around to look in a certain direction—she sensed the presence of a god there.

Aphasia?

"That's the direction of the duchy... Master, what did you sense?!"

"No, it's nothing." Rose frowned, trying to comfort Jasmine who was starting to worry again. "It's just a little strange..."

Before she finished speaking, she suddenly looked in the exact opposite direction from the duchy. This time, Rose's reaction was even stronger than before, because she could at least sense what the aura of the mute was, but the feeling coming from this direction was something that even the experienced Thunder Witch couldn't understand.