Chapter 324: Accidental Discovery
Eventually, the west of the Dream World transformed into a terrible battlefield filled with smoke, corpses strewn everywhere, broken battle flags, blunt swords and spears, and damaged shields—a scene resembling the end of the world.
Negative energy gathered here slowly. This was the energy of death. Regrettably, the foundation of this power was based on Level 1 Runes, unable to truly merge and mutate with the battlefield.
Ace looked at his Mental Imagery World and exclaimed in admiration: “As expected. As soon as I entered the realm of Level 2 Life, I formed a true Mental Imagery World. This is the advantage of the Wizard’s path!”
The light-like Divine Clone said in an ethereal voice: “Many Runes within the Dream World are Level 1 Runes. We need to utilize the Pocket World’s Origin to upgrade all these Runes to Level 2!”
A smile appeared at the corner of Ace’s mouth as he said softly, “That might consume a vast amount of the Pocket World’s Origin, draining the pond to catch the fish. Is it appropriate?”
The Divine Clone continued in a lofty voice: “The divination for the Outside was Great Fortune, while for the Inside it was Great Misfortune. I’m afraid there really is danger lurking that we don’t know about. We must improve our strength as much as possible. Only the improvement of personal strength can truly cope with all changes!”
As he spoke, Ace had already made up his mind. He decided to disregard the recovery ability of the Pocket World and consume a large amount of the World Origin to deduce the corresponding Level 2 Runes for himself.
The spells he planned to deduce were: first, Shadow; second, Necromancy; third, the Six-Element Cycle of Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Life, and Death; fourth, Astrological Projection Divination and Astrological Meditation Method; and fifth, Simulation Rune Group.
As for Runes related to illusions, they could be replaced by dreams. And regarding Runes for covenants, he could directly learn from the records of the Spirit of the Book.
Spells and paths required more specialization at higher levels. The reason Ace could attend to so many was thanks to the path he chose.
The so-called dream was precisely using the virtual as a cornerstone to turn the virtual into reality, but the foundation remained the dream.
In Ace’s design, this core was a composite of four elements: Dream, Manifestation, Deconstruction, and Simulation. This was the root of Ace’s path; everything else was a manifestation, detachable external software.
Using the dream as a cornerstone, enriching the dream with deconstruction and simulation, and then using manifestation to turn the dream into reality—if one day Ace reached the end of this direction, perhaps he would no longer need any external plugins!
Dream is reality; dream can simulate everything.
“The only difficulty now is how to force the Pocket World Origin to be driven by me!”
Layered and dazzling Rune structures emerged in Ace’s eyes. It seemed as if a universe was being born and destroyed within his eyes. The rules of the Pocket World could hardly hide in these eyes. The manifestations of the Pocket World gradually dissolved in his gaze, revealing the underlying world rules and origin consciousness.
He decided to enter the source of this Pocket World to replicate the required rules (Level 2 Runes) there and find a way to coerce the origin.
Ace spent nearly a hundred years in the Pocket World, while only four days passed in the Main Material Plane.
…
In the High Tower Territory, Advanced Wizard Apprentice Sulu was attending an academic gathering.
From every angle, Sulu did not possess the most important objective and neutral research spirit of a Wizard. In fact, Sulu didn’t care much for these things; he simply craved power.
Luck favored him, allowing him to discover the formula for the Potion of Youth Preservation. Only then could he barely advance to Advanced Wizard Apprentice by relying on resources, but the chance for further progress was extremely slim.
“Warren, you are the most promising one. Your Mental Power has reached 9.2 unit, and you have such a deep understanding of elements. We are going to pour all our resources into you now. Once you advance to Formal Wizard, you must help me out!”
Sulu put his arm around Warren’s shoulder, rambling in a low voice.
Warren smiled somewhat helplessly. He and Sulu had completely incompatible personalities and hobbies, yet they managed to become good friends. Sulu was willing to bet everything on Warren, gambling on Warren advancing to Formal Wizard.
If one said Sulu had no thoughts of his own and did it purely for a friend, even Warren wouldn’t believe it.
People like Sulu wouldn’t get up early without profit, but he laid all this out in the open, making it impossible for Warren to dislike him; instead, he felt Sulu was quite decent.
“I have to go to the High Tower. Today, Excellency Caruso wants to discuss the concept of the 2-Ring Perfect Transformation Spell with me. I can’t accompany you to the gathering.” Warren said to Sulu with a trace of apology, unfolding his Magic Carpet, getting up, and sitting on it.
“Hurry up and go. Mine is just a small gathering to see if I can pick up something cheap. Sooner or later, we’ll make you like Caruso, addressed as ‘Excellency’ by others.”
Sulu waved his hand grinningly, turned around, and left.
The gathering he attended was called an academic gathering, but in reality, it was just a private transaction of magical items among apprentices. Sulu just wanted to see if there was a chance to get some good results.
The gathering was in Nightlight City’s East District, in a somewhat gloomy villa.
Sulu arrived just in time; the gathering started shortly after.
Apprentices went on stage one after another to introduce their new inventions. A fat apprentice with a face full of acne was speaking, spittle flying: “My product absolutely has the potential to sell big. Investing in me is definitely right. This is a Magic Carpet that can scratch itches automatically.”
The fat apprentice plopped down on the Magic Carpet he invented, letting out a comfortable sound one would make when picking their butt.
The people below waved their hands one after another, throwing various rotten fruits up there, quickly driving him down.
The fat apprentice curled his lips in dissatisfaction and flew away on his automatic itch-scratching Magic Carpet.
Several more apprentices went on stage. Sulu listened with waning interest; not a single one was worth throwing flowers for. This gathering was purely a waste of time.
Just then, Sulu saw an acquaintance.
This acquaintance looked very unwell, and his body seemed somewhat abnormal. Sulu didn’t greet him but quietly followed behind, staring at his condition.
“This guy seems to be called Carlo. Before he went to the Magic Castle for school back then, I even introduced him to join Warren’s tutoring class. But his state is very wrong. There’s something strange!”
Thinking this in his heart, Sulu quietly followed Carlo. Soon, he saw an incredible scene: Carlo’s shadow actually gradually thinned, changing from a human figure into a hollow, terrifying shadow raven. The raven’s eyes burned with strange flames.
Just making eye contact gave Sulu a burning sensation, and his heart seemed somewhat unbearable with pain.
“Pain? Lord Ace seems to have a paper researching some believers of pain. The invasion of Devil Worshipers a few years ago also caused a lot of trouble. Could it be…?”
Distracting thoughts arose in Sulu’s mind. His eyes shone; what he saw was not danger, but a huge opportunity. Yes, only with danger comes opportunity. If things remained plain, what chance would Sulu have to leap into the spotlight and gain Lord Ace’s appreciation?
Thinking of this, Sulu’s heart grew somewhat excited. If he really discovered a hidden danger for the territory and thwarted a devil’s conspiracy, it would definitely be a great merit worthy of a personal audience with Lord Ace!
(End of this chapter)
Advance chapters at Nightjar Reads · nightjarreads.com