16 The true use of illusory value

Wait a moment, something doesn't seem right...

In an instant, the wry smile on Zhang Yaoyang's face froze suddenly.

He felt there was something off, tentatively raising his hand to touch his eyes, only to feel the cold touch of two icy lenses.

Zhang Yaoyang immediately removed whatever was on his eyes, and then he saw it clearly - a pair of black-framed glasses on his hand.

"Huh?"

Zhang Yaoyang's expression suddenly turned peculiar. These glasses were just ordinary lenses, indistinguishable whether worn or not. That's why he had worn them for half a day without noticing.

Picking up the glasses, Zhang Yaoyang scrutinized them closely, but no matter how hard he tried to remember, he couldn't recall ever putting them on.

These black-framed glasses seemed to appear out of nowhere on his face.

Wait a minute!

Zhang Yaoyang's expression changed suddenly as he recalled something. He hurriedly opened the chat interface and was startled to see that his Illusion Creation Points, which had been over 2900, were now reduced to just over 2200!

Illusion Points: 2281.

Was it true?

Zhang Yaoyang couldn't help but feel a mix of amusement and frustration. Recollecting the recent events, reversing Liu Hai's dream into a huge meeting room using 'Dream Interference' had only cost him a bit over ten Illusion Points; it couldn't explain such a significant drop of over 700!

Moreover, although he had entered Liu Hai's dream, he could still sense his physical body. If someone had slyly put glasses on him, he would have noticed!

Furthermore, who would play such a prank for no reason?

So, it seemed like there was only one answer.

These glasses were none other than a souvenir brought out from a dream.

Zhang Yaoyang suddenly felt the world was a bit mad. He examined the glasses again, but they were just ordinary black-framed spectacles made from standard polymer TR90 and polyethylene resin lenses - utterly unremarkable, the kind that wouldn't stand out in an eyewear shop.

However, there were no marks or logos on them. Normally, glasses frames would have size parameters engraved, but this one was completely bare.

This detail confirmed the glasses' authenticity.

After observing for half an hour and finding nothing unusual, Zhang Yaoyang finally let go of his concerns. He carefully stored the glasses in his pocket and hailed a taxi towards the direction of his school.

After negotiating with the dormitory security, Zhang Yaoyang finally returned to his room. It was already 2 am; he glanced at the corner where Tang Ning usually sat, but she hadn't returned yet. The others were all asleep, oblivious to his arrival.

After a brief wash in the bathroom, Zhang Yaoyang returned to bed, filled with anticipation, and entered the dream world again.

This time, instead of entering someone else's dream, Zhang Yaoyang found himself in his own dream sea.

Within his mind's sea, wild winds howled, and waves surged violently, reminiscent of a silent experience amidst a storm. Only Zhang Yaoyang's self-made boat bobbed on the surface, as if it could capsize at any moment.

Sitting at the bow of the boat in the chilly sea breeze, Zhang Yaoyang pondered briefly, then suddenly reached out - and just like that, a toothpick appeared in his palm.

In the realm of his own dreams, Zhang Yaoyang conjured objects effortlessly. Within this realm, he was a deity, capable of reshaping the world without expending even an ounce of his creative power.

This toothpick seemed ordinary, with pointed ends and a round middle, devoid of any distinguishing marks. Yet, as Zhang Yaoyang brought it forth, he closed his eyes once more. When he opened them again, he found himself back in his dormitory bed.

A surge of nerves gripped him as he tightly clenched his right hand. Bathed in moonlight, he slowly released his grip, revealing the toothpick resting calmly in his palm.

Snap!

With a slight exertion, the toothpick snapped, revealing its delicate wooden fibers.

At last, a faint smile graced Zhang Yaoyang's lips as he once again opened the dialogue interface, noticing a slight decrease in his creative power.

One toothpick, a mere fraction of his creative energy.

"How intriguing," Zhang Yaoyang murmured softly. "Could anything be materialized as long as there's enough creative power? If so..."

Zhang Yaoyang seemed to ponder something before closing his eyes once more.

After a few moments, he reopened them, only to find his palm empty this time.

"No, not everything can be materialized. It must be something I fully comprehend," Zhang Yaoyang muttered silently. Earlier, he had conjured a lighter in his dream, but because he didn't fully understand its internal structure, it hadn't manifested in reality.

With this realization, Zhang Yaoyang quickly reached for his phone, scouring the internet for diagrams of lighters' internal structures. Once he had memorized everything, he closed his eyes again. When he opened them, a complete lighter lay in his hand, and his creative power had decreased by over fifty points.

"A pair of glasses costs over seven hundred points, while a toothpick costs only one. And a lighter costs over fifty points," Zhang Yaoyang pondered once more. What was the underlying pattern behind these conversions?

Contemplating further, Zhang Yaoyang retrieved another toothpick from his dream, this time made of iron. This time, it cost him sixteen points of creative power.

Subsequently, he experimented with copper, silver, and gold toothpicks, costing eighteen, twenty-one, and forty points respectively.

After a moment of silence, Zhang Yaoyang understood that the cost of creative power seemed to correlate with the density of the metal. As for non-metal materials, there seemed to be another set of conversion rules.

However, one thing was certain: the simpler the molecular structure of the material, the lower the cost of materialization. Conversely, the more complex the structure, the higher the cost.

With this understanding, Zhang Yaoyang breathed a sigh of relief. Yet, beyond the novelty, he couldn't help but wear a wry smile. This ability seemed somewhat lacking.

He had attempted to materialize money directly, but the intricate patterns on the bills prevented him from fully memorizing them, rendering them impossible to manifest. And as for precious metals like gold, each gram consumed over eighty points of creative power. With his total of two thousand points, he could only materialize a few dozen grams, which amounted to a mere fraction of their market value.

Unless...

A sudden flicker of determination crossed Zhang Yaoyang's face.

Unless he could find a swift way to acquire more creative power.