The Dreamer's POV

I zoomed past trees, vines, and eccentric creatures. The terrain, though beautiful, got boring quite soon, and my search was taking longer than I had expected.

<Immersion> was active, and so was my <Dragon Eyes>, my senses were boosted a hundred times over by the skills, and yet, the hidden city was out of sight.

I heard an aggressive sound from below, and I saw that it was a monster plant trying to get to me. It grew sideways by a tree, and it stretched, snapping it's teeth to get to me. Unfortunately for it, I was farther than it could reach, and a mere plant carnivore couldn't hope to bite through my shield.

I sighed and continued on.

My <Immersion> covered thousands of kilometers in radius. I could sense creatures getting eaten alive, could see bugs getting broken in the digestive juices of certain plants, I could feel the delight a predator felt as it chewed on its meal. So many emotions and I was privy to them, I could feel them, could distinguish them, and I felt like every spark, every burst of feeling drifted atop my hand with me watching, pulling the strings that gave rise to what they felt.

It was like I was in control. I could feel the life energy of trees thousands of meters away, and I should be able to sense the coldness and the feeling of a different city. I should be able to feel it.

"Just how much further does this forest go?"

[Solar Flare is seeking to leave your <Personal Space>]

[Do you want to summon Solar Flare?] [Yes/No]

'That's strange.' This was absolutely unprecedented, no item had ever had the will of its own.

Intrigued, I chose to summon it, and the large intricate coin appeared in front of me. It brimmed with its golden light, and then it slowly began drifting forward.

"Okay?"

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This was an interesting development, and I thought it too much to be a coincidence for the solar flare to suddenly choose to appear before me.

'It must be moving to the hidden city. Perhaps that's its purpose.'

I thought, optimism seeping into me once again. I needed something to keep me going, and this was it.

The coin drifted, scooting past trees and little animals who were enamored by it, and I simply followed.

After about what I guessed was ten minutes, the coin stopped and then it began blinking.

There, I understood that something was on.

I lowered myself to the bottom, the soil wet and soft. I darted my eyes back and forth, looking for a clue.

'The Hidden City has to be here right? But I must say, whoever thought to hide this city must be quite adept at the task.'n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

<Immersion> didn't pick anything that wasn't the mundane plants and animals. What was going on?

I looked up, squinting my eyes on the large coin above.

"Hmmm…" I then zoomed up to the coin, crouched to it in the air, and I flicked it with a finger.

Its blinking suddenly stopped, and it grew brighter than I had ever seen it be.

Light shimmered from it, and sprinkled like lines of rain. I instinctively put on Haven out of fear that it might be destructive. It wasn't.

The sprinkled light did the magical outlandish thing of bringing the city into view. Opaque structures surfaced first and then they filled with form as the light sprinkled some more, and before I knew it, the light blast even wider, sprinkling more of the city into life.

"Holy cow…" My mouth was agape, I couldn't help it, I haven't seen anything as magical as the city.

The buildings were white, all of them, uniform in their appearance. It was pristine, and surprisingly it showed no sign of invasive plant life, hinting that it truly wasn't here, or that there was something that stopped plants from encroaching.

And speaking of plants , the trees that were around me earlier look to be much further now. They were at the edge of the city, and I hadn't seen them move one bit.

"What sorcery is this?"

The first floor was extremely interesting, especially on the appearance of the doors tying to my exclusive skills, this floor was beginning to get close in terms of peculiarity.

The hidden city seemed like a ghost town at first until I noticed strange creatures scantily materializing between the buildings.

They were of bright colors, slimy, and their bodies looked like amalgamation of threads, save for their large round heads.

They had no feet and they beat in the air like they swam through it, phasing through buildings and appearing grossly uninterested in anything.

"The worms are the netizens of this city?"

That wasn't likely, the city design, the buildings, the infrastructure, all seemed vaguely similar to that of humans. Yes, whatever the builders were, whoever, they certainly weren't these jellyfish looking things here. Heck, they phased through the buildings themselves, and there was something ethereal to them, like they were at the precipice of life and death.

"Spirits." I realized.

Yes, they were spirits.

The solar flare artifact still glowed above, unmoving from its position. It showered its radiance below, and with the trees' canopies blocking out the sun, the artifact was like a new sun, like an object of worship.

I descended, and felt the white ground with my boots. Being in the midst of these great and large trees was soothing, everywhere was comfortably cool, but soon as I undid Haven, I felt an otherworldly coldness from the city, one that felt like a sign to send away foreigners.

"What is this?" I asked, <Immersion> granted me the awareness because I was largely resistant to things such as temperature change, without it, I wouldn't feel the sensation.

This coldness however didn't seem like one of my immediate surroundings, it didn't seem like a physical component, but rather something that targeted my spirit.

I noticed the sensation, but it had no effect on me.

'Perhaps I should keep Haven active, it feels like something's lurking, something that even immersion isn't picking up.'

"Not a very hospitable way to receive guests. Now let's see what this city is about."