Once the preparations were ready, they headed toward the castle in the distance. For the first time in weeks, they felt that they were actually approaching something. However, in the end, that also worked to make them worry a little bit. After a while, the castle was so big that they arrived in a part of the world covered in the castle's shadow, and that shadow was dozens of kilometers large.

"I am starting to think that we should enjoy this chance to grind more," Femradiel said. "This power is beyond what we already have seen until now, and we have seen and fought against troublesome foes."

​​

"If we defeat him, we will have that chance whenever we feel like it," Ryan said. "We can't afford to stay away for much more time away from reality. We don't know if the flow of time here is different or not."

"Do you think we will be able to create a place like this if we defeat him?" Femradiel asked. "That would be awesome… and quite scary. This is like an alternative reality… beings made of flesh shouldn't have the power to create this."

"Perhaps one day we will create a place crazy enough, but at the beginning, only a small version of it," Ryan said.

It was hard to believe that was possible, but once the group reached the gates of the castle, they saw how huge the building was… if they were inside an illusion, they wouldn't think that was possible, but the castle was at least eight kilometers tall and fifty large. Hypnos sure was trying hard trying to make an impression…

Considering that Hypnos created a game world, Ryan imagined he would put some watchdogs on the gates to welcome the visitors, but he didn't do that. As soon as they got close enough, the gate opened as if it was welcoming the guests. Ryan shrugged while looking at the two others who were showing tense expressions. They sure didn't know how to appreciate a good mood… or perhaps Ryan was just a weirdo for liking that kind of tension.

As they crossed the interior of the castle, they didn't find anything special or out of place. Everything seemed weirdly dark, though. Only a few giant torches were illuminating the place, and they were too far away from each other to make the place really illuminated. The dark atmosphere didn't fit that whole situation, even more so when they saw so much color outside the castle for several days.

After a while, Ryan began to worry because fighting in his draconic form would be a pain indoors. Not to mention, he was pretty sure that the castle wasn't just there to improve the mood of the fight…

After a while, they reached the other side of the castle, and there they found the throne room. That part of the castle was a lot less dark if compared to the others. Instead of torches, some golden candelabrum and giants' candles illuminated the golden room. On the opposite side, Ryan, Femradiel, and Alissa found what seemed to be a man with golden hair sitting here sleeping. Aside from the golden hair, he didn't look any special, but that wasn't the case… the man wasn't physically imposing like Thanatos, but he was exactly like him. Ryan confirmed that when Hypnos opened his eyes and showed that same glow with his golden eyes.

Hypnos

Class: ???/???/???

Race: --

Rank: --

Health: ???/???

Mana: ???/???

Stamina: ???/???

Strength: ???

Dexterity: ???

Speed: ???

Intelligence: ???

Endurance: ???

Control: ???

Mentality: ???

Luck: ???

Recovery: ???

Willpower: ???

Coins: --

Status: --

Skill List

Offensive Physical Skills: ???, ???, ??? …

Passive Physical Skills: ???, ???, ??? …

Spells: ???, ???, ??? …

Support Skills: ???, ???, ??? ...

"Welcome, dear guests…" Hypnos said. "I hope you have liked the world that I created to entertain you humans and the female dragon. What do you think about it?"

"Well… you certainly managed to keep us busy, but not in a fun way," Ryan said. "The monsters spawn too fast, and the numbers are always the same, so that give us the time to obtain strength and get used to them. I guess that is also a good way to prepare for the next stages. Still, the rewards weren't good enough. Why would a fire dragon five us one fifteen hundred points? They certainly should have given us at least ten thousand. The fact that there is no inventory or saving screen is also a problem. Aside from that…"

Ryan was forced to stop because Alissa and Femradiel were looking at him with dubious eyes. Ryan certainly was talking a lot, but at least Hypnos was paying attention to it. At least it looked like he was paying attention…

"What? He asked me to review this game world of his," Ryan said.

"Well, I guess your review makes a lot of sense considering that you are a player," Hypnos said. "However, I didn't create this to completely please you guys. I created it to be fun for me and somewhat fun for visitors like you."

"This certainly isn't a game that is going to sell a lot," Ryan said.

"That much is fine… now, onto business," Hypnos said, and then the air around him changed. "Return to me my brother's soul, and I will let you leave this world. If you do that without making me waste my time, I will hold no hard feelings against you."

"That seems like a good deal," Ryan said. "Here is my counter offer: give up on your domain that is connected to Earth, and I return it to you. Your brother used and tormented the souls of my parents, and I believe he is paying for that. If you don't want that, then offer at least that much for compensation."

"He is the god of death, and that is what he does. He uses souls," Hypnos said. "That is his nature. You can't change a god's nature. You also can't negotiate with a god. You either obey, or you are crushed."

"Well, it seems we have a problem here," Ryan shrugged. "I was never much of a negotiator anyway."