The Wizard of Truth: Starting with Analyzing All Things

Another half month passed amidst a mix of calm and tension. With the Soul Purification Potion and his own efforts, Luo Wei's soul steadily recovered. Although there was still a long way to go before completely eliminating the influence of the Abyss Mark, at least his daily meditation and low-intensity research were no longer a problem. The sluggish feeling of his soul being possessed by a foreign object still lingered, like a nearsighted person always seeing through a thin fog, reducing his perception and control of energy by one to two tenths of a percent.

Current status: Rowe (Late-stage Intermediate Apprentice)

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Soul state: The Abyss Mark is continuously suppressed, which increases its stability, but still affects mental acuity and endurance.

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Strength assessment: Stable at the late intermediate apprentice level, but due to decreased perception accuracy, more caution is needed in actual combat.

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Research focus: shifting towards theoretical deepening and low-energy-consumption applications, suspending the construction of high-load field areas.

For the past two weeks, he had spent most of his time on the second floor of the library. On one hand, he continued to delve into the theories of energy circulation and field stability found in Karls's notes and the gray slate; on the other hand, he began to systematically consult all the books related to the "Tower of Sleep," "Dreams," "Soul Traits," and "Starlight Moss." The traps of the Gray Tower made him more vigilant and also made him realize that knowledge was the best weapon against conspiracies.

Darkmoon Academy World Encyclopedia: The Dream Dimension

In wizarding theory, dreams are not purely illusions, but rather a special dimension existing between reality and nothingness, formed by the interwoven consciousness of all intelligent beings. It lacks fixed physical rules, its spacetime is chaotic, and it is filled with the subconscious, fragmented memories, emotional energy, and occasional intrusions from other dimensions. Some wizards specializing in spiritual matters believe that the dream dimension is a potential pathway to prying into the secrets of the soul and even to transmitting information over long distances. However, dreams are extremely dangerous, easily leading to disorientation, and may encounter ancient "nightmare creatures" or the malicious consciousness of other explorers. Orthodox wizards generally approach the study of dreams with caution, while the Sleeping Sage is recognized as a legendary figure who pushed this path to its extreme.

Records about the Tower of Slumber are mostly vague and filled with warnings. They only mention that the tower's master, the "Slumbering Sage," was a madman obsessed with exploring the nature of dreams, and his eventual disappearance is believed to be related to a mad experiment attempting to drag the entire real world into an eternal dream. The tower ruins thus became the boundary between reality and dreams, a fragile spatial structure filled with unpredictable dream remnants.

Regarding the concepts of "pure soul" and "compatibility," Luo Wei found an interesting conjecture in a tattered text titled *Ancient Soul Theory Research*. The book mentions that some ancient shamans believed that the soul was not a singular entity, but rather possessed different "inclinations" or "elemental affinities." These inclinations did not refer to common elemental energies, but rather to philosophical concepts such as "order," "chaos," "vitality," "annihilation," "awakening," and "slumber." Souls possessing specific, strong inclinations had a natural "compatibility" with corresponding elemental powers or rituals.

This seems to explain why the Grey Tower needs a specific "container"—what they need is a vessel whose soul's inclination is highly compatible with the "Abyss" or a key element of its plan (such as "Slumber")!

This discovery gave Lowe a clearer picture of his plot against the Grey Tower, but it still did not reveal his ultimate purpose.

As for Starlight Moss, there's still no stable way to obtain it. There's also been no progress with Lilith; the anonymous bounty seems to have never existed, further confirming its trap nature. Lowe temporarily shelved the "Energy Signature" project and instead considered other tracking possibilities.

Late that night, after finishing a round of meditation focused on nurturing his mind in a secret dark room, Luo Wei felt tired and rested on the table for a short nap.

In a daze, he felt as if he were floating. The surrounding scenery blurred and distorted, the walls of the dark room rippling like water. He saw... an endless gray desert, the wind howling, swirling up cold sand. It was extremely similar to the image conveyed by the stone slab, but much clearer!

In the distance of the desert, the dilapidated obelisk still stood, but this time, he noticed that around its base, there seemed to be wisps of extremely faint, wispy...dark red energy threads. These threads emitted a familiar aura that stirred even the mark deep within his soul—the aura of the abyss!

Then, the scene abruptly changed. The gray desert vanished, replaced by the silhouette of a huge, dilapidated tower shrouded in mist—the Tower of Slumber! From one of the tower's windows, a faint, constantly flickering starlight could be seen, giving him a strange feeling, as if it were making a silent cry for help.

Just as he was trying to see the starlight clearly, a powerful and malicious intent surged out from the depths of the tower like a tide, crashing into his consciousness!

"Those who spy...die!"

Luo Wei jolted awake, his back soaked in cold sweat. His heart pounded wildly, and a searing pain shot through the abyssal mark deep within his soul. Clearly, the dream he had just experienced was not an illusion, but rather, his consciousness, drawn by some force, had briefly touched upon a dangerous dream dimension, and perhaps... even glimpsed the true appearance of the Tower of Slumber!

"That desert... the obelisk... the abyss... and the starlight in the Tower of Slumber..." Luo Wei gasped, trying to recall the details of his dream. Was that point of starlight that cried for help the "container" the Gray Tower was searching for? Was that malevolent intent a remnant of the tower's defense mechanisms, or... the people of the Gray Tower?

The dream was too real, and too dangerous. But he realized that this might be an opportunity! Because of the presence of the Abyss Mark, his soul seemed to have a strange "resonance" or "attraction" to places that also contained the abyss's aura (such as the Tower of Slumber), allowing him to vaguely perceive them in his dreams.

This is undoubtedly extremely dangerous; a slight misstep could lead to mental loss or being devoured. However, if this connection can be controlled, it might become a unique means of tracking the Gray Tower!

The next day, Lowe immediately found Lilith and told her about his dream experience (the part with the stone tablet imagery was omitted) and his speculations. Lilith was extremely shocked after hearing it.

"Dreamwalking? Lovi! That's too dangerous! Even formal wizards wouldn't dare explore a place like the Tower of Slumber so easily with their consciousness!" Lilith said worriedly. "Besides, your soul state is special; it's easy for the power of the abyss to take advantage of your vulnerability!"

"I know the risks," Rowe said in a deep voice, "but this may be our only chance to find their stronghold first. We can't always passively wait for them to make their move."

Lilith was silent for a moment, knowing that Luo Wei was right. She thought for a moment and said, "If you insist on trying, you absolutely cannot proceed rashly. I need to prepare some potent 'Soul-Stabilizing Incense' and 'Mind-Cleansing Amulets' to protect your consciousness as much as possible. Moreover, each attempt must be extremely short; if you feel anything is wrong, stop immediately!"

Lowe agreed to Lilith's suggestion. At the same time, he also began to consciously adjust his meditation method, trying to actively guide his consciousness to "recall" and "feel" the gray desert and the Tower of Slumber in the dream while staying awake, in order to train his control over this vague connection, rather than being passively dragged into the dream.

This process was also fraught with risk. Several times he was nearly captured by that malicious intent again, only managing to escape thanks to Lilith's Soul-Stabilizing Incense and his own "Heart of Analysis." But after several attempts, his perception of that "dream resonance" did become a little clearer. Although he still couldn't pinpoint the exact location, he could roughly determine that the source of that abyssal aura was indeed located in the far north of the academy, matching the legendary location of the Tower of Slumber.

Just as Lowe was struggling with his dangerous dream detection experiment, an unexpected turning point occurred.

That day, Pip excitedly ran to find Rowe: "Brother Rowe! Good news! I have a distant cousin who is a long-distance freight merchant. He just came back from the northern border and said that he seemed to have seen the kind of glowing moss you mentioned before on a cliff in the 'Shattered Star Mountains'! However, he said that it was very dangerous there, with winged serpent nests, so he didn't dare to go close to confirm."

Shattered Star Mountains! This is roughly the area north of Darkmoon Academy, where the Tower of Slumber is located!

A thought struck Luo Wei. Was it a coincidence? Or…? He looked at Pip and asked cautiously, “Why did your uncle suddenly bring this up?”

Pip scratched his head: "Oh, I was in a correspondence with him a few days ago, and I casually asked if he had seen any strange glowing plants. He told me about it when he came back this time."

It doesn't seem premeditated. But the timing of this clue's appearance is rather subtle.

Luo Wei didn't act immediately. He found Lilith and asked her to use family channels to verify if there had been any unusual events in the Shattered Star Mountains recently, especially news about winged serpent activity or merchants encountering danger. The feedback came back quickly: winged serpents did exist in the Shattered Star Mountains, which was a common risk, and no special incidents had been reported recently.

This reassured Luo Wei somewhat. Perhaps it really was just a coincidence?

After much deliberation, Lowe decided to take the risk. The Starlight Moss was crucial to his future plans, and the Shattered Star Mountains were close to the Tower of Slumber, where he might find more clues about the Gray Tower. But he would never act alone.

He found Barton (peak of advanced apprentice, who had just finished a short-term elemental body tempering and whose aura was more refined and powerful, having reached the threshold of a quasi-wizard and greatly increased his strength).

"Shattered Star Mountains? Winged Serpent's Nest?" After hearing Rowe's request (the dream exploration part was omitted, only mentioning that it was important research material), Barton grinned and patted his chest. "Perfect! I just mastered 'Exploding Flame Slash' and was just looking for a place to test its power! No problem, leave it to me! When do we set off?"

With Barton as his powerful bodyguard, Rowe felt much more at ease. He also prepared ample potions, concealment talismans, and escape tools. Lilith insisted on going along as well; her potions and detection abilities were indispensable in the wilderness.

The three-person team regrouped, their destination—the Shattered Star Mountains, shrouded in mist and danger to the north of the academy. Unbeknownst to them, a pair of eyes hidden in the shadows were watching their departure, a cold smile playing on their lips.