Dark Wizard: Rise! My undead army!

Inside Cersei's office, Gregor remained immobilized, forced to watch helplessly as Cersei slowly rose from her seat and walked toward him.

In those calm gray eyes, a hint of "interest" finally surfaced that sent chills down his spine.

"Alright, you old madman."

Sersi’s voice remained steady, yet it sent chills down Gregor’s spine.

"Now it's just the two of us. Let's have a good talk about your 'Death Transformation' project, about the key periods in your life over the past hundred years, and..."

She paused slightly, and a wisp of silver-gray soul energy from her fingertips gently caressed Gregor's face.

"You owe me something..."

...

After the dizziness subsided, Lynn's feet touched solid ground again.

As the air, thick with bone meal and the stale scent of negative energy, filled his nostrils, Lynn realized he was standing outside the dusty, scratched metal door of Gregor's Laboratory.

My master's wife is indeed incredibly powerful!

Lynn touched his nose, glanced at the tightly closed laboratory door with lingering fear, and then, thinking about the eerie atmosphere in the room just now, couldn't help but shiver.

Once the mentor is imprisoned, he'll likely find it difficult to leave unscathed...

I guess I'll have to leave something behind...

He silently drew a crooked and mournful rune in his mind for Gregor.

"Mentor... good luck to you. I hope Deputy Tower Master Sersi... just wants to 'discuss' the project's progress."

He turned around decisively. To avoid Gregor's retaliation, Lynn decided not to go near the lab again today, and would take a stroll outside first.

Hmm... I'll go turn in the quest first, then have a big meal to soothe my fragile heart!

...

Upon arriving at the quest lobby, the process of submitting the "Wailing Rift" quest went surprisingly smoothly.

The duty officer simply scanned the nameplate and the [Condensed Tear Crystal] using a special bone instrument.

Once the energy characteristics matched the mission location, "Difficult Mission Completed" was recorded in Lynn's apprentice file. After collecting the mission items, 200 contribution points were transferred to his account.

The whole process ended in just a few minutes, without causing any disturbance or attracting any attention.

Lynn liked this low-key approach.

But what he didn't know was that just as he turned to leave the counter, in the corner of the hall, a gray-robed apprentice who had been hunched over and seemed to be flipping through a scroll of missions slowly raised his head.

His eyes, hidden beneath the hood, watched Lynn's departing figure before he silently blended into the crowd and hurried toward the laboratory area.

The atmosphere in Morpheus's laboratory was extremely heavy.

"...He's back? When? Where did he come from?"

Morpheus's voice was extremely hoarse, with the distinctive tone of a villain.

On the bone experiment table in front of him, there was also a notebook about maximizing the pain of soul separation.

"Just now, I turned in the Wailing Rift quest in the quest lobby."

The apprentice who came to deliver the news trembled involuntarily.

"Our people have been watching the main gate, the public teleportation array, and several public transport stops, but we haven't seen him anywhere... It's like he vanished into thin air within the academy and then reappeared out of thin air."

Morpheus's thin fingers tapped lightly on the table, making a soft "tap, tap" sound.

"Appeared out of thin air? Heh... It's probably some kind of disguise magic... I'll make a few [True Eyes of Truth] for you next time."

His gray eyes rolled.

"However... it's also possible that someone used private channels to send him directly out of the academy."

"It's not surprising that Gregor, that old madman, has some 'gadgets' in his lab, even though he's not mentally sound."

He waved his hand, as if shooing away a fly:

"Go ahead, and when the next mission is issued, pay close attention to his and Gregor's lab."

"Now that he's back, he'll have to show his face eventually, he'll have to keep growing... and he'll eventually reveal his weaknesses."

"Yes, mentor."

After the apprentices left, Morpheus looked out the window at the gloomy sky, a cold smile curving his lips.

"Young man with exceptional soul talent... your soul will one day become one of my finest collectibles."

...

Unaware of this, Lynn was indulging in the joy of "treating herself."

He didn't go to the apprentices' canteen; the food there was too ordinary for Lynn, who was quite wealthy.

I've been on this trip, and I've had to bleed myself and overdraw my mental and magical energy. I really need to replenish myself properly.

They turned into a well-regarded wizard restaurant inside the academy, known for its "good" prices – "Ghostfire Kitchen".

This place offers ingredients from various dimensions. Although they are expensive, they can satisfy the appetite to the greatest extent and have a beneficial effect on the wizard's body.

Previously, Lynn would only look from the outside, but now she has generously ordered a table full of delicious food.

The appetizer is chilled abyssal oysters, served with sour lemon juice and mint flakes, which are refreshing and appetizing, and can also slightly boost mental awareness.

The main course is 【Charcoal Grilled Thunder Rhino Beef Steak】, made from the tenderest tenderloin of Thunder Rhino. Grilled over charcoal, it is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, containing gentle lightning energy that can slightly stimulate cell activity.

The side dish is stir-fried moon mushrooms, a specialty of the Eternal Night Cemetery. They have a crisp and tender texture and are said to have a calming effect.

The staple food is "Dragon Blood Rice," which is grown by irrigating with the blood of dragons. It not only fills the stomach but also nourishes the body.

The meal is finished with a soup, a stew of pork bone marrow, a morning dew mead, and a final dessert of berry tart.

This meal was arguably the most comfortable meal Lynn had ever had since she came into this world.

Of course, it was also the most expensive meal.

This meal cost him a full 50 contribution points, but Lynn ate to his heart's content. The fatigue and tension from the past few days of travel were soothed by the delicious food.

After eating and drinking his fill, he didn't dare go straight back to the lab to avoid trouble. Instead, he slipped back to his apprentice dormitory, which he hadn't been to for months.

The cramped room remained dilapidated, covered with a thin layer of bone dust.

The room had been badly damaged from previous "hunting" attempts here.

Lynn didn't care. After a quick cleanup, he released a few undead minions to keep watch, and then he began to examine the gift his master's wife had given him.

--------

[Target]: Tear of Tranquility and Peace

[Rank]: Peak First Ring (Special Auxiliary Soul Artifact)

[Composition]: [Soul-Condensing Stardust], [Fragments of the Law of Tranquility], [Anti-Spying Rune Array]...

【effect】:

1. Mental Anchoring: Passive effect, continuously stabilizes the wearer's mental sea, greatly reducing the risk of mental shock and soul damage caused by external impacts, violent emotional fluctuations, or cultivation errors.

2. Mental Barrier: Passive effect. Generates a spiritual protective membrane that can effectively resist and weaken mental erosion, consciousness manipulation, emotional guidance, and low-intensity soul attacks of level one or below.

3. Spying and Scratching: Automatically blurs the mental energy characteristics and soul fluctuations unconsciously emitted by the wearer, making it more difficult for specific tracking or long-distance soul perception to lock onto.

Injecting spiritual energy can be actively activated, causing temporary disruption and deviation in the results of spiritual detection and prophecy spells targeting the wearer (the effect decreases for second-ring and above).

[Status]: Full of energy, core imprint not activated (requires long-term wear or infusion of one's own spiritual energy to nurture and establish a deep connection).

...

Wow... a top-tier first-level magical artifact.

Our teacher's wife is really generous!

Next time, you should shout a few more times.

Lynn hung the Tear of Tranquility around her neck with satisfaction, then fell asleep.

An occasional nap can soothe the mind and relieve mental stress.

I slept soundly and deeply that night, without any dreams.