Wizard: I Have a Nightmare World

Du Wei's words temporarily put aside Lynn's worries about the magic loop, and she followed him out of the cave.

In the open space outside the cave, Kuren had already spread the heavy animal hide bundle out on the ground, and the contents inside shimmered with various colors in the purple sunlight.

Scarlett stood to the side, her short bow already sheathed, but her eyes still warily scanned the edges of the dense forest.

"Come, look at our harvest."

Kulen grinned, squatted down, picked up something from the pile of spoils, and weighed it in his hand.

It was a short spear that was entirely crimson red, with fine totem patterns engraved all over its body. From the tip to the end of the spear, there was a smooth, flame-like pattern that shimmered in the sunlight like flowing lava.

The tip of the short spear was inlaid with a crimson crystal core the size of a fingernail, which emitted a warm aura.

"This is the weapon used by that first-ring totem master in Crimson Rock City. It's a fire-attribute totem spear, and it's of good quality. After that guy died, this thing became ownerless."

Cullen handed the short spear to Lynn, who took it and could feel a warm power flowing along the spear shaft.

He closed his eyes and probed it with his spiritual power, immediately feeling a violent surge of fiery energy within, like a caged beast ready to break free at any moment.

"Good stuff, but it's a pity I don't use polearms."

Lynn returned the short spear to Cullen, his gaze continuing to sweep over the pile of spoils.

There were also several totem weapons of good quality, some totem cores, and some herbs and ores wrapped in animal hides on the ground.

Du Wei squatted down and counted the items one by one, occasionally picking one up and weighing it in his hand before tossing it aside.

"The profits from Chiyan Fortress are more than I imagined."

As Du Wei counted the items, he said, "These totem cores alone could fetch a good price if brought back to the Fog World."

"These herbs and totem weapons are not very useful to us, but we can use them to trade with Steelscale and Moonring for what we need."

Lynn's gaze swept over the spoils of war, and suddenly his eyes locked onto something in the corner.

It was a palm-sized stone slab, made of what looked like some kind of black rock, with fine lines covering its surface.

Those patterns are not totemic runes, but more like some kind of naturally formed energy circulation structure.

But what made Lynn's pupils shrink was that the direction, structure, and density of those patterns were almost identical to the patterns on the black crystal core he had brought out from the Nightmare World.

He strode forward, squatted down, picked up the stone slab, and examined it carefully in his palm.

The stone slab felt cool to the touch, its surface smooth as a mirror, and the patterns gleamed with a faint black sheen under the light.

Lynn tentatively probed the stone slab with his mental energy and immediately felt a cold and ancient energy surging out from it, spreading upwards along his mental energy.

That feeling was exactly the same as the corrupting atmosphere he had experienced in the nightmare world.

"What's wrong?"

Du Wei noticed Lynn's unusual behavior, walked over to him, and his gaze fell on the stone slab.

"Do you recognize this?"

Lynn was silent for a few seconds, then slowly shook his head.

"I don't recognize it, but the smell of this thing makes me very uncomfortable."

He didn't tell the truth, but he didn't lie completely either.

The odor emanating from the stone slab made him very uncomfortable, because it shouldn't be here.

"Where was this thing found?"

Lynn looked up at Cullen.

Kulen scratched his head and thought for a moment: "It seems to have been found in the secret room of that first-ring totemistrar in Crimson Rock Fortress."

"When we attacked his residence, there was a locked iron box inside. The rest of the items were ordinary, but this stone slab looked a bit special."

"A secret room? The personal collection of that first-ring totemistrar?"

Lynn's brow furrowed even deeper.

Why would a totemist in a totem world collect a stone tablet that carries the corrupting aura of a nightmare world?

The connection between the two made him feel an inexplicable unease.

"Is there something wrong with this thing?"

Du Wei noticed Lynn's unusual behavior and asked in a low voice.

"Maybe I'm overthinking it, but this thing is indeed quite special, and I'd like to take it back and study it."

Lynn was silent for a moment, then spoke.

Du Wei didn't ask any further questions and nodded: "Okay, anyway, it's spoils of war, it doesn't matter who takes it."

Upon hearing this, Lynn put the stone tablet into his spatial ring and checked a few more items among the loot. Only after confirming that there were no other items with a putrid smell did he feel a little relieved.

But a shadow always lingered in his heart.

Why would something from the Nightmare World appear in the Totem World?

Is there some kind of connection between these two worlds? Or has that second-ring totem master already come into contact with the power of the Nightmare World?

These questions were like needles pricking his heart, making it difficult for him to find peace.

Night fell quickly, the purple sun sank below the horizon, and in its place hung a dark red moon in the sky, casting an eerie red glow.

The five members of the seventh logistics team took turns keeping watch at night, and Lynn volunteered to stand guard for the second half of the night.

He sat down on a rock outside the cave entrance. Amber was curled up in his pocket, fast asleep, her little hand still clutching a berry she had brought back from Red Rock Citadel.

Lynn looked up at the dark red moon, his mind replaying the scenes from the daytime: the vortex structure of the black crystal core, the backlash from the magic circuit, and that stone slab reeking of decay...

As midnight fell, that familiar pulling sensation arrived precisely on time.

Lynn did not resist, allowing the force to drag his consciousness into the nightmare world.

When he opened his eyes, he was already standing at the entrance to the ruins, where the traces of yesterday's battle with the Ember Knights and Totem Warriors were still clearly visible.

The shattered stone slabs on the ground, the remaining marks of battle, and the lingering energy fluctuations in the air all reminded him that this was not a safe place.

Lynn did not rush into the ruins, but instead found a relatively intact stone building on the edge of the ruins as a temporary base.

It was a half-collapsed stone chamber. Three walls were still relatively intact, but one wall was half-collapsed, and you could see the gray fog outside.

The floor of the stone chamber was covered with a thick layer of ash, and the air was filled with the smell of old smoke.

Lynn spent about ten minutes setting up a few simple warning runes at the only entrance to the stone chamber.

He learned these runes from books he found in the library. Although they were not as good as Du Wei's alchemical traps, they at least gave him enough warning time when something approached.

After doing all this, Lynn sat cross-legged in the center of the stone chamber, closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness into his mental space.

Within the space of consciousness, the magic circuits continued to operate slowly.

The six stable circuits glowed with a soft, silvery-white light, while the three suppressed circuits were dim. Six energy chains wrapped around them, like three imprisoned beasts, which were quiet for the time being but could break free at any moment.

"This problem must be resolved as soon as possible!"

Lynn took a deep breath and began to try to use his mental power to touch the three suppressed circuits.

He no longer tried to forcibly dispel the totem energy remaining in his memories, but instead adopted a different approach.

Since these totem energies have already been integrated into his magic circuits and cannot be easily separated, why not try to completely assimilate them?

He carefully guided a portion of his mental energy into the first suppressed circuit.

The mixed-color energies immediately swarmed forward like sharks smelling blood, attempting to devour his mental energy.

But this time Lynn did not back down. Instead, he took the initiative to contact his mental energy with those mixed energies and tried to use his mental energy to envelop them, gradually assimilating them into his own mental energy system.

It was an extremely slow and painful process. Each wrapping was like trying to grab a handful of burning coals with both hands. His mental energy was constantly corroded when it came into contact with those mixed energies, but he gritted his teeth and repeatedly gathered his mental energy to continue wrapping, dragging, and assimilating.

Time passed slowly in silence.

After an unknown amount of time—perhaps half an hour, perhaps an hour, or even longer—Lynn finally succeeded in assimilating about one-tenth of the mixed-color energy in the first loop into his own mental power.

Although it was only one-tenth, the light in that loop was noticeably brighter, and its operating speed returned to normal.

What surprised him even more was that the assimilated spiritual energy actually carried a faint trace of totem energy characteristics.

That energy no longer repelled his magic; instead, it began to slowly merge into the magic circuit, forming a strange coexistence with his magic.

"This is the right direction."

Lynn opened his eyes. Although his mental energy was greatly depleted, his eyes shone with excitement.

"If I continue to assimilate in this way, I will not only be able to completely solve the backlash problem, but I may also be able to integrate the advantages of totem energy into my magic system, forming a completely new magic circuit structure."

He glanced at the warning runes at the entrance to the stone chamber, and after confirming that there was nothing amiss, he closed his eyes again and continued to devote himself to this long and arduous assimilation process.