Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-554

Kireina was diving within her Dream World, floating in the middle of the dark and starry space, as she glanced at a gigantic bubble ahead of herself.

Inside this bubble there was a whole different landscape than the outer space of her main Dream World, there was a scorching and hellish world made out of red rocks and lava, filled with volcanoes and seas of melting rocks, it was Hephaestus former Dream World, which she had assimilated into her main Dream World when she rescued Palikoi from captivity (Blaze).

"It's all done, I think…" she muttered, as the landscape inside the bubble that was a smaller Dream World, moved as if it were a living being of its own.

"Thanks, it seems that even as an Avatar of yourself, I can still be useful and grow stronger," said the mass of rocks, lava, and volcanoes, shaping itself like a titanic woman with similar appearance than Kireina, but made entirely out of rocks, flames, and lava… instead of horns she had gigantic volcanoes atop her head, her eyes were blazing with undying fire and her clothes were made out of lava and stone.

This was Kireina's Avatar, the Lava Golem that she used to assimilate Hephaestus' Dream World by abusing her Soul Uroboros' effect. After Kireina left the Dream World, it was automatically added into her main Dream World, but instead of disappearing, this avatar gained consciousness of its own while retaining Kireina's personality and memories, becoming something similar to a Slime Clone, to an extent.

The avatar that had taken her shape, was a gigantic being of thousands of kilometers, bigger than most planets in the Dream World of Kireina. But it was still rather small compared to Bilili.

Her entire body began to glow in a brilliant light, and her body became a bit bigger, she suddenly gained a long dress made out of lava and flames even more beautiful than the one she had, and she gained a new pair of blazing eyes on her forehead. Her claws grew sharper and she seemed fiercer than before.

This change occurred due to the faith of the people that inhabited the many planets in Kireina's Dream World. After introducing her as a new goddess, the beings inhabiting this place slowly adapted her into their religions and started to worship her properly after a few years.

Of course, time went by differently in Kireina's Dream World, so it happened after a few days in the real world.

"Now that I've become an official Goddess in this Dream World… should I have a new name?" asked the Lava Golem.

"I can't simply call you Lava Golem… I don't think the people call you like that either, so we'll give you a new name… hm, how about Vulcan?" I asked.

"Sounds good to me," said Vulcan, nodding.

"Bililililililililililili"

Bilili appeared from within the background of the vast space, greeting Vulcan with her new name.

"I guess you won't feel as lonely with me her enow, Bilili," said Vulcan.

Because it inherited Kireina's mind and memories, it knew everything about Bilili from the moment of its creation and knew that Bilili often felt alone in the vast space, mostly because it couldn't be seen by others nor interact as much with its believers aside from doing little miracles or giving small oracles.

"Now that I am true Goddess, let me bless you," said Vulcan, waving her giant hands and releasing a small piece of its red-colored Dream Soul.

As Vulcan became an official God born from Dreams, Kireina felt the blessing of Vulcan surging from within her body…

"Another blessing? Well, it will be welcomed" said Kireina.

[Day 255]

[Kireina] gained +460 Skill Points and Subclass Skill Points due to the prayers of your believers!] (Added!)

[Kireina] gained 9.743.644.123.213 EXP due to the prayers of your believers!]

[Kireina] leveled up!]

[LEVEL 100/250] [EXP 2.815.717.682.497/47.000.000.000.000] (Added!)

Today I woke up with good spirits after having explored a bit of my Dream World.

It seems that my clone, the one that was a giant Lava Golem that pretty much assimilated the entire Dream World of Hephaestus, had finally become a worshiped god through the rest of the Dream World where Bilili inhabits.

So, there are two new gods… but this Lava Golem cannot simply be called Lava Golem, so I called her Vulcan.

Similarly to Bilili, it is a god born from dreams, but it has my personality and memories as it was used as my avatar.

Its powers seem weaker than Bilili, but as long as it keeps being worshiped inside the Dream World and as times go in faster in there, it will reach a stronger existence.

And about what it can do, it seems to have similar powers to Bilili as well, which is strengthening my authority over dreams. Bilili helped me a lot in fighting against Geggoron.

Also, Vulcan seems to have powers over the Fire and Earth Attribute alongside Dream Attribute, so it could also help strengthen my Helios Skill.

As it continues to be worshiped, Vulcan will develop more… but for now, she seems to have given me a blessing. I also gave her one long ago when she just appeared in my main Dream World, this is also why it has been accepted as a god by the inhabitants of the main Dream World so fast.

Just like Bilili, it cannot get outside of the Dream World, as it will dissipate into pink dust, but it can still manifest its powers through our connection that we established by blessing each other.

Vulcan also blessed Bilili and vice versa, so both can strengthen each other.

Because Vulcan is exactly like me, it could be considered as a Clone, and it brings Bilili a lot of company… but it also needs to meet my family every so often so it can also be happy by itself, which I don't mind.

Ding!

[Kireina] Acquired the [Blessing of Vulcan, the Goddess of Volcanic Landmasses Born from Dreams] Skill!]

Volcanic Landmasses… so that is the title they gave to her?

It works, I guess…

Unlike the gods from the 'real world' or Genesis, where we need to raise to godhood through a Divine Trial, becoming a Living Deity and then a Demigod, a God, a Great God, and a Supreme God, in my Dream Worlds, gods are born only through worship and faith alone, so it could be considered that the laws of my Dream World vastly differ from reality.

Although Vulcan already existed, unlike Bilili who was completely born from beliefs. Perhaps due to having a previous existence, it was easier for it to grow stronger and finally become a Goddess.

Channeling Vulcan's powers could make some of my abilities stronger, but a lot of practice would be needed.

I have been also wondering if I should foment the creation of more Dream Gods inside the Dream World… perhaps I have discovered a new way of becoming even stronger…

But for now, it is enough with two gods existing at the moment inside the Dream World, if I introduce too many, the inhabitants of the Dream World might become too exhausted over praying towards so many gods… and I also fear that the Dream World itself may collapse, so I have to level up the skill as well… somehow.

After having a nice breakfast with my family with the meat of the freshly hunted boss, we decided to move forward at last.

Reaching floor 81 through the long stair, we were greeted with a larger biome than we expected.

The walls and ceilings of these floors were expanded tenfold, creating huge landscapes even inside a closed space such as a Labyrinth-type dungeon.

These floors were filled with special flora that was all around Thunder Attribute. From the grass to the trees to even the dirt.

The grass was yellow-colored, and always released small sparks of electricity when we walked over it. There were large and dense forests one after another made by many types of different trees that had Thunder Attribute properties, some bearing delicious fruits of all kinds.

We were currently walking through a dense forest that had many rivers, even the rivers were fairly dangerous, as aquatic reptile monsters and giant fishes would pop out of them sometimes to attack us while we were not paying attention.

"So if I remember correctly, there should be a large area around floor 84 where many Lizardmen tribes live…" I said while extending my hair like sharp threads and slicing a large group of Flying Thunder Lizard Fishes, which had the bodies of cow-sized lizards covered in purple-colored fish-like scales, while also having the heads of piranhas or barracudas, they flew through their wings in their upper limbs which had membranes that made up the wings, their tails were long and sharp, and released sparks of electricity that gave them greater propulsion while flying in midair.

The pieces of Flying Thunder Lizard Fishes fell into meaty chunks, they had a bloody and salty flavor, so I devoured them quite fast as a snack.

"Tribes? Of intelligent Lizardmen? Perhaps we should recruit them into the Empire, guu!" said Rimuru, as she extended her hands into rainbow-colored tentacles and entangled a giant Thunder Tyrannosaur King, that looked almost exactly than a tyrannosaur from the earth, but it was covered in purple scales and feathers colored by the many shades of yellow, it had many spikes atop its body which it used to charge electricity, which it would release in cannons of pressurized thunder from its gaping mouth, it seemed to be an apex predator amongst the vast Thunder jungles of these lower floors, but for Rimuru it was nothing but a snack. She used her tentacles to digest the monster alive in mere seconds.

"Yeah, I was planning on recruiting them as they might bring more diversity with the Lizardmen species we already possess. Lizardmen are in the lower numbers compared to everyone else, so new members of their species might allow them to mate faster" I said, firing red-colored lasers from my eyes as I destroyed a Giant Thunder Dragonfly Emperor, which was a dragonfly the size of an elephant that was flying right towards us.

It was purple-colored, and it possessed jaws similar to those of crabs, as it flew, its wings would emit a loud sound as if thunder were falling from the sky, easily revealing its position. Its entire body was vaporized instantly, so I was not able to eat it.

"Though are you sure that they can mate, Honey? The species might be way too different" said Zehe, as she used her raw strength to slice in half a Giant Thunder Pterodactyl with her long and black-colored claws that surged from her hands.

The Giant Thunder Pterodactyl was a monster of the size of a truck when it had its wings extended, and similarly to the Dragonfly, it charged its wings with electricity that surged from within the horns across its body and the large purple-colored jewel on its chest. Its appearance was that of the Pterodactyl from the earth, but it was covered in purple and yellow scales.

After evolving into a Baphomet, Zehe had gained a lot of physical strength, which she decided to try out with these weaker monsters. She was practicing the ability to extend her claws into deadly scythes. But she could also go into a more physical stance and fight into a more beastly form, but she often felt ashamed or embarrassed when trying to do so, Kaguya was trying to teach her how to enter into a 'Feral Mode', but it was complicated for someone so refined like Zehe.

"Have you forgotten that Kireina-sama can bless them so they can have high conception chances? Even if their species do not specifically match, as long as they are lizards, it should be possible. After all, have you heard of a lamia being pregnant with a fairy before? She had already done such miracles before, fufufu…" laughed Nesiphae, remembering how she got pregnant with my seed and gave birth to Amiphossia. Something that could only be described as illogical but happened thanks to my unique existence.

As she said such words, Nesiphae was waving her giant axe around while slicing a whole colony of Thunder Wyrms and Giant Thunder Worms, that surged from within the vast underground of these floors, which had a lot of dirt for some reason, making it easy for many ground dwellers to inhabit and use such dirt as their home.

Nesiphae also tried out new weapons that she had been storing inside her Item Box, such as a longsword coated in poison and a spear, but her proficiency with Axes was still the greatest amongst the weapons she possessed. But now that she had four arms, she wanted to experiment more. Even if she would usually use her axe and then a shield.

"That's… you're right, Nesiphae," said Zehe.

"I wonder what culture they have… It would be nice to investigate about that!" said Charlotte.

"I think we could expect them to be a bit savage, as most Lizardmen are," said Lilith.

"No, these are supposed to be way calmer and intelligent, as they're being led by Elder Dragons," I said.

"Elder Dragons?!" asked Athos, appearing from within Amiphossia's party.

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