The Wizard of Truth: Starting with Analyzing All Things

The journey back to Darkmoon Academy was even more silent and hurried than the way there. All three were injured and on edge, fearing the Grey Tower's pursuit would follow. Only when the familiar silhouette of the castle, shrouded in protective magic arrays, appeared on the horizon did they breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Instead of returning to their respective residences, the three went directly to Field's laboratory. When the Master saw their disheveled appearance, especially Rowena's even paler complexion than when he left and the increasingly restless abyssal mark in his soul, his brows immediately furrowed.

"Nonsense!" Master Field was genuinely angry, but more than that, he was filled with lingering fear and worry. He immediately had Rowe lie down in the Fountain of Life and personally prepared a more potent Soul-Cleansing Potion. "Shattered Star Mountains, Dark Moon Rift, and a variant of the Abyss Projection! You three mid-level and high-level apprentices dared to venture into places like that?! If Walter hadn't been in seclusion consolidating his cultivation, I would have made him go and bring you back!"

Barton scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed; this adventure had indeed far exceeded his expectations. Lilith obediently handed over the collected starlight moss samples and gave a detailed report of what had happened, including the final shadow tentacles and the beacon at the bottom of the pool.

Upon hearing the words "Shadow Devourer" and "Beacon," Master Field's expression turned extremely grave. He carefully examined the starlight moss, and after confirming its authenticity, he said in a deep voice, "This is indeed a hundred-year-old starlight moss, of excellent quality. But the information you brought back is even more important. The Gray Tower can not only operate in the Tower of Slumber, but also set up such concealed trap beacons in the Shattered Star Mountains. Their infiltration capabilities and their use of the power of the Abyss are far more profound and skillful than we imagined."

He looked at Luo Wei, who was meditating in the spring with his eyes closed: "You were right to attack the beacon with light energy at the end. Those pure shadow creations are extremely afraid of light and purification power. But your soul... this time you forcibly activated your power, which greatly reduced the previous suppression effect. For the next month, you must stay in the academy to recuperate. You absolutely cannot use more than 30% of your mental power again, otherwise the mark may go out of control."

Lowe nodded slowly in the water, indicating that he understood. This adventure had come at a great cost, but it had also made him more clearly aware of the gap between himself and real danger, as well as the severity of the trauma to his soul.

Current status: Rowe (Late-stage Intermediate Apprentice)

•

Soul Status: The Abyss Mark has become active again due to forced spellcasting, resulting in decreased stability. It requires long-term rest and suppression.

•

Movement restrictions: Master Fields has mandated that you refrain from any high-risk research or field missions for one month.

•

Future directions: shift towards theoretical research on absolute safety and refinement of low-energy-consumption skills.

With the help of the Fountain of Life and more potent potions, it took Lowe three days to initially stabilize the agitation of his soul imprint. Afterward, Master Field strictly forbade him from entering the laboratory or the dark room, and he could only spend most of his time in the quiet dormitory or the library's reading area.

This mandatory "vacation period," while restricting Luo Wei's movements, also gave him time to reflect and contemplate. Unable to conduct field construction experiments, he devoted all his energy to theoretical research on starlight moss and reviewing his experience in the Shattered Star Mountains.

Lilith took some of the starlight moss samples back to her pharmaceutical lab for analysis. A few days later, she approached Rowe with a mixture of excitement and confusion.

"Love, guess what I found?" Lilith pulled out a thick analysis report. "The energy fingerprint of this starlight moss is indeed unique, making it perfect for marking. But strangely, when I analyzed its microstructure, I discovered that its fluorescent properties are extremely similar to the resonant matrix used in a very obscure ancient sorcery—'Starlight Communication'!"

Darkmoon Academy World Encyclopedia: Starlight Messaging

An ancient secret technique for transmitting information over extremely long distances and across dimensions using specific stellar power and resonant materials. This method does not directly transmit physical objects or energy, but rather encodes information into specific starlight fluctuations, transmitting it through the omnipresent power of the universe. It possesses extremely high concealment and resistance to interference, but its preparation is complex, its transmission speed is slow, and it requires a certain stellar affinity between the caster and receiver. It has long been replaced by more convenient magical communication arrays or crystal ball communications. It is only occasionally mentioned in situations where secrecy is paramount or in special environments.

"Starlight Communication?" A thought struck Luo Wei, and he took the report, carefully reviewing it. Lilith's analysis revealed that the fluorescent nature of the starlight moss was a "natural resonator" extremely sensitive to the fluctuations of specific stars. With proper energy guidance and encoding, it might indeed be possible to achieve some form of extremely covert information transmission or...marking!

"In other words, we might not need to make it as complicated as an energy aggregate," Lilith's eyes lit up. "We could directly try using it to create a miniature 'receiver' or 'beacon.' As long as there are other starlight mosses of the same origin activated in the distance, the receiver here could produce a weak resonance response!"

This discovery undoubtedly provides Rowe with a new and simpler approach to his tracking plan! If the Grey Tower also used Starlight Moss in the Tower of Slumber (whether as a ritual material or for other purposes), then theoretically, they could create a detector to remotely sense its presence!

However, challenges remain: how to guide and encode the energy of the starlight moss? How to create a sensitive receiver? These require extensive experimentation and sophisticated rune inscription techniques, far beyond what Rowe can accomplish in his current state.

"We need a helper, an expert in ancient runes and microscopic energy manipulation," Rowe pondered. He himself was skilled in macroscopic field and structural analysis, but not so much in microscopic manipulation.

Lilith thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps we could try contacting Harald, the rune instructor? Although he's only a first-ring wizard, his expertise in basic and ancient runes is widely recognized in the academy, and he's an upright person who should be trustworthy."

Lowe noted the name down and decided to visit him after the ban was lifted.

While Rowe and Lilith were focused on their research into the Starlight Moss, Barton also made new progress. Combining his insights from fighting the Shadow Tentacles in the Shattered Star Mountains with the elemental combat techniques previously taught by Master Walter, he had surprisingly mastered a technique for highly compressing fire energy to form a temporary defensive force field, which he called "Flame Aura." Although its defensive strength was still insufficient to withstand attacks from a fully-fledged wizard, it provided considerable protection against energy shocks and physical attacks from apprentice-level individuals, making up for his previous weakness of focusing solely on offense.

Barton (Peak Advanced Apprentice) New Progress: He has mastered the defensive combat skill "Flame Body Protection", achieving a balance between offense and defense, and taking another solid step towards the realm of a quasi-wizard.

Everyone on the team is growing and preparing in their own way.

However, the peaceful days did not last long. One night, as Lowe was fast asleep in his dormitory, that strange dream returned unexpectedly.

This time, he wasn't actively exploring; rather, he was forcibly pulled into the dream dimension by a powerful force.

The scene remained the same: a gray desert and a broken obelisk. But this time, something had changed! Dark red, vein-like energy lines converged from all directions, connecting to the base of the obelisk, making the lingering abyssal aura even more intense and active. The obelisk itself also seemed to glow with some blurry, distorted runes.

In the direction of the Tower of Slumber, the faint starlight pleading for help flickered, like a candle in the wind, threatening to go out at any moment. But at the same time, another powerful consciousness, filled with greed and malice, like a colossal beast awakening, slowly spread through the depths of the tower, even overpowering the previous intent that had intercepted Luo Wei.

Immediately afterwards, a vague, intermittent, yet urgent thought forcefully pierced through the barrier of the dream and was directly imprinted into Luo Wei's consciousness:

"...Time...is running out...'The 'Eternal Slumber'...is about to be 'Awakened'...to stop...them...the 'Key'...lies within...'memories'..."

His thoughts abruptly ceased, and Luo Wei was once again detected by that powerful malicious consciousness, a mental shock even more violent than before crashing down upon him!

"Get out! You bug!"

Luo Wei sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for breath, drenched in cold sweat. The mark deep within his soul burned with unbearable pain, but he couldn't care less about that; the mental message was flashing rapidly through his mind.

"Slumber? Awakening? Key? Memory?" These words are full of metaphors. Considering the Gray Tower's activities in the Tower of Slumber, is their ultimate goal to "awaken" some terrifying being "slumbering" within the tower? And to stop all this, a "key" is needed, a key hidden within a certain "memory"?

Whose memory is this? The slumbering sage's? Or some being connected to the tower?

This dream conveyed a wealth of information, yet it was also far more perplexing. The plea for help seemed to be fading, while the evil presence within the tower grew stronger. The situation was rapidly deteriorating!

The next day, Lowe immediately told Lilith about his dream and Barton, who had just mastered a new combat technique. All three of them felt that the situation was serious.

"We must get the news to Master Field or Master Walter as soon as possible!" Barton said in a gruff voice.

"But we have no concrete evidence, only Rowe's dream..." Lilith hesitated. In the wizarding world, which values ​​empirical evidence, dream prophecies have limited persuasive power, especially since Rowe bears the mark of the abyss, making it easier to question whether they are hallucinations caused by corruption.

After a moment of silence, Lowe made his decision: "We can't wait another month. I must master the detection technology for Starlight Moss as soon as possible. Lilith, make an appointment with Mentor Harald for me. Tell him... I have a question about ancient starlight runes that I'd like to ask. We need a presentable and feasible solution to convince the masters to take action."

He looked out the window at the gloomy northern horizon, a sense of urgency filling his heart.