Wizard: I Have a Nightmare World

Lynn had no idea how long he had been sitting in that half-collapsed stone chamber.

In the nightmare world, there is no sunrise or sunset, no timekeeping, only eternal gray fog and silence.

The only way he could perceive the passage of time was through the cycle of mental energy consumption and recovery.

He has completed five full cycles of mental energy, each cycle being roughly equivalent to fifteen minutes in the real world.

This means he has been in this stone chamber for nearly five hours.

Sweat dripped from his chin onto the ground, pooling into a small, dark puddle on the black, sticky surface.

His face was so pale it was almost transparent, his lips were dry and cracked, but his dark purple eyes were surprisingly bright.

Because he finally succeeded.

In the consciousness space, the three suppressed magic circuits have completely resumed normal operation.

He had already removed the six silver-white energy chains, and the three loops were now glowing with a stable silver-white light, harmoniously intertwined with the other six loops to form a complete energy circulation network.

The mixed totem energies that once frantically devoured his spiritual power have been assimilated by him by more than 90%.

He could sense the fragments of memory remaining in those energies being enveloped, broken down, and absorbed by his mental power, eventually transforming into strands of pure mental power that merged into the depths of his consciousness.

He even felt his mental energy become more solid after absorbing these memory fragments, as if it had undergone a tempering process.

"It's finally solved."

Lynn let out a long breath, opened his eyes, and a relieved smile appeared on his lips.

He stood up and stretched his somewhat stiff body, feeling the fullness brought by the smooth flow of magic within him. It was a long-lost sense of comfort, like a river that had been blocked for a long time finally being cleared, and the water flowing freely again.

However, the moment he stood up, something unexpected happened.

An almost imperceptible tremor emanated from the deepest part of the magic circuit.

The tremor began in the very center of the vortex node in his first successful assimilation circuit.

Inside the node that he had completely cleaned, a tiny black particle suddenly appeared, like a seed buried deep in the soil that had finally found its chance to sprout.

The black particle expanded and spread at an astonishing speed, like a drop of ink entering clear water, quickly turning the entire loop dark black.

Then, the same black particles appeared simultaneously in the second and third loops.

Lynn's smile froze on his face, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"No! That's not right!"

He suddenly plunged into his consciousness space, trying to mobilize his mental energy to suppress the black particles, but it was too late.

The moment those black particles came into contact with his mental energy, they exploded like a powder keg that had been ignited.

boom!!!!!

An extremely violent energy erupted simultaneously from the three paths, like three black torrents crashing through the consciousness space.

The vortex nodes he had just constructed crumbled and disintegrated one by one under the impact of this energy, turning into countless tiny energy fragments.

Lynn only had time to let out a muffled groan before his consciousness space, like a mirror struck by a heavy hammer, cracked and shattered.

The intense pain felt like a thousand red-hot steel needles piercing his brain simultaneously, tearing Lynn's consciousness into countless fragments in that instant.

His body collapsed and disintegrated like a sand sculpture in the nightmare world, turning into wisps of gray mist that dissipated into the air.

A moment later, in the center of the stone chamber, the dissipated gray mist re-condensed, slowly outlining a human figure.

Lynn's body reformed.

He suddenly opened his eyes, panting heavily, his forehead covered in cold sweat, his hands braced on the ground, his whole body soaked as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

The feeling of having his consciousness forcibly torn apart and then reassembled made him tremble uncontrollably.

"That was...that was close!"

Lynn's voice was hoarse and weak. He looked down at his hands, which had just been reassembled. They looked perfectly fine on the outside, but only he knew that the three magic circuits in his consciousness space had completely collapsed.

All three paths shattered, turning into energy fragments scattered throughout the consciousness space.

What sent chills down his spine was that the black energy particles did not disappear after destroying the circuit. Instead, like a seed, they were deeply embedded in the barrier of his consciousness space, quietly lying dormant, as if waiting for the next opportunity to strike.

"I thought I had been completely assimilated... but in reality, that was just an illusion."

Lynn sat on the ground, closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness into the depths of his consciousness space, carefully observing the black particles embedded in the barrier.

He discovered that these black particles were not entirely the same as the energy of those multicolored totems.

They are purer, more ancient, and carry a decaying aura that seems to come from the depths of the world's origin.

Those colorful totem energies are merely their outer garments; they are the true core.

"Were you deceived?"

Lynn opened his eyes, a bitter smile appearing on his lips.

"Those multicolored totem energies just showed that I had assimilated them, so I thought I had solved the problem."

"But in reality, those black particles are the real hidden danger. They have been lurking deep inside, waiting for me to let my guard down before destroying my escape route in one fell swoop."

Lynn was silent for a moment, then stood up and dusted himself off. Although the magic circuit had collapsed, he was not discouraged.

First, this is a nightmare world, and he has countless opportunities to try again.

Secondly, he has accumulated a wealth of experience and knows which paths are impassable and which directions are worth exploring further.

Third, and most importantly, he has discovered the real problem.

"Those black particles are not simply remnants of totem energy; they are the very essence of corrupting energy."

Lynn's gaze fell on the entrance to the stone chamber, on the outline of the ruins shrouded in gray mist. He finally understood why the stone slab he had brought back from Crimson Rock Fortress had made him so uneasy.

Those corrupting energies are a kind of link between the totem world and the nightmare world.

It appears on monsters in the Nightmare World, on loot in the Totem World, and even in the totem energy structure he tries to integrate into the magic circuit.

This power system was corrupted by corrupting energy from the very beginning.

If he didn't possess the immortality of the Nightmare World, if he hadn't attempted to assimilate these energies here, but instead rashly did so in the real world...

Lynn couldn't imagine the consequences.

He took a deep breath and then slowly opened his eyes.

"It's almost time."

He felt the pull of the real world becoming increasingly intense.

"It's time to go back. At least now I know who the real enemy is."

Lynn stood up, took one last look at the outlines of the buildings that were faintly visible in the gray fog deep in the ruins, then closed his eyes and let the pulling sensation pull him away from this gray and white land.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw the rough stone walls at the top of the cave.

A sliver of dark red moonlight shone through the crack in the cave entrance, casting a narrow strip of light on the ground.

Amber was curled up in his pocket, breathing evenly, clearly still not awake.

Outside the cave, the sounds of Du Wei and Cullen talking in hushed tones could be heard, occasionally punctuated by Scarlett's brief and concise responses; everything seemed normal.

Lynn sat up, about to stretch his stiff shoulders, when he suddenly heard an unusual sound.

That was a commotion coming from afar.

It wasn't the roar of wild beasts, nor the rustling of leaves in the wind, but human voices, many human voices.

Lynn frowned, slowly walked to the cave entrance, and looked out.

Seeing the scene outside, his brow relaxed. On the trade route below the hills, a group of people dressed in dark gray uniform robes were moving slowly.

The group consisted of about thirty or forty people. The leader rode a jet-black warhorse with a banner hanging on its back, embroidered with a long sword dripping with blood.

The people from Steelscale Academy have arrived.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the trade route, another group of people dressed in silver-white robes was approaching, numbering around thirty or forty.

A banner embroidered with thorns and silver rings fluttered in the night wind at the center of the procession.

Lunar Ring Academy has also arrived.

Lynn stood at the cave entrance, watching the two teams approach the hills from two directions, and a strange feeling welled up in his heart.

Du Wei walked to his side, followed his gaze to the two teams, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

Looks like I won't be able to sleep tonight.

He patted Lynn on the shoulder, his tone slightly teasing.

"Welcome to the true Astral Expedition! Now the real show begins!"