Wizard's Journey

Chapter 503 You Monster

Ten days later.

With a "poof," the Nightmare Shadow within the sealing magic array vanished in a puff of black smoke, and Grimm's plan to capture experimental specimens failed once again.

Slightly disappointed, the plan to capture experimental specimens for several consecutive days had failed.

Green did not show the expected frustration, but remained calm and composed as a wizard. After standing there for a while, he suddenly blinked and seemed to have discovered something.

A fine layer of black powder appeared on the floor inside the sealing magic circle, as inconspicuous as dust.

After lightly touching it with his hand and then rubbing it vigorously, Green confirmed that what he saw was indeed black powder that appeared after the Nightmare Shadow dissipated, and not so-called natural dust.

"Hmm!? Looks like we've finally made some discoveries!"

Overjoyed, Green squatted down.

He tore off a blank sheet of paper and used it to collect all the black powder from the decaying floor, placing it in a clear glass test tube as a specimen, awaiting further observation.

There was only a thin layer of black ash in the experimental tube, negligible and very rare.

Tick, tick, tick...

After several hourglasses, the clock's chimes gradually faded, and another day in the nightmare world was about to end.

Green sighed, however, as there had been no progress in the study of the powder in the test tube.

The only certainty is that this seems to be related to some terrifying creatures in the nightmare world. Without any evidence, Green felt that these black cigarette ashes were the metabolic waste of these terrifying creatures!

After collecting all the black ash, Green turned to look at the world rift on the wooden bed in the room, which was gradually beginning to heal.

"ha……"

A yawn as someone stretched could be heard, sounding like the blissful voice of a woman who had slept soundly all night and was about to get up.

"Hehe, sister, you've been in good spirits these past few days. Haven't you been having that nightmare anymore?"

The little girl next to them was laughing and joking, and the sounds of two girls laughing and playing could be faintly heard.

"Yeah, maybe I really have let go. After all, what's done is done. Our long wizarding journey ahead doesn't need much emotion, only loneliness. I advise you to stay away from that guy too. Men are all the same..."

The brief sounds gradually subsided as the cracks in the world healed, and the nightmare world returned to silence once more. The entire world began to transform from the desolation, oppression, and ominousness of the night into the illusion and distortion of the day.

Ok?

Green seemed to have gleaned something from the words of the two girls in the wizarding world today.

Perhaps it was Green's own association in his mind. Generally speaking, when women talk about unfaithful men, they inevitably have a tragic story after a beautiful memory, which leads to hatred from love.

Having experienced genuine emotions, Green, despite his dull childhood and lack of understanding of the delicate emotions between men and women, was still able to appreciate the sincerity of love in one's heart.

Perhaps the cause of the nightmare shadows in this room is humanity itself in the wizarding world?

The ugly red-haired monkey is the true form of the nightmare world, or perhaps a cover of black and gray, while the baby under the light of awakening is a scene from the witch's apprentice's nightmare.

"Squeak squeak squeak squeak..."

As the black sun of the nightmare world rose, the black ash that Green hadn't been able to figure out all night suddenly began to vibrate violently inside the glass test tube.

It seems to be constantly being purified and disappearing by some mysterious rule of the nightmare world.

Surprised, Green quickly collected the remaining black ash from the glass test tube into the dimensional gap.

"Is this why I felt so safe during the daytime in the nightmare world?"

Aside from being attacked by the terrifying creature that had targeted him when he first entered the nightmare world, Green spent the next ten days or so in this small house researching the Shadow of Nightmares and ice magic. He has now gained a basic understanding of the nightmare world's structure and is attempting to advance to the level of a second-tier wizard within it.

These days have been quite peaceful, and nothing dangerous has happened.

"It seems that the Shadow of Nightmares cannot be studied during the daytime in the Nightmare World."

Taking out his book on ice elemental sorcery, Green suddenly remembered something: Could Soram's strange talent of immortality be related to the Nightmare World?

With a glint in his eyes, Green gradually put aside his random thoughts and began to concentrate on studying the knowledge of ice elemental magic.

……

Ten days later.

After dispelling the nightmare's shadow once more, and glancing at the clock that was beginning to return to normal, Green lay down on the ground and carefully collected the cigarette ash with a piece of paper.

In the endless world seen by wizards, whether it is the material world, the illusory world, or the void world, there is a fundamental principle, or the basic principle of wizarding knowledge: nothing can be created out of nothing, and everything must follow the conservation of energy and mass.

The absence of black and gray in this nightmare's shadow must represent a reduction in some aspect.

What Green wanted to know was, if he kept killing this Nightmare Shadow again and again, and "indirectly sealed" the black ash it dropped in the dimensional gap, preventing the Nightmare World's daytime from purifying it and replenishing it, what would happen to this Nightmare Shadow?

Will it die?

With these thoughts in mind, Green decided to conduct an experiment to gain a deeper understanding of the secrets of observing the Shadow of Nightmares.

I remember my mentor Peranos once said that if I were to advance to the level of a Saint Mark Wizard and enter the Nightmare World, I should try to stay in that world for as long as possible.

Although the nightmare world cannot be completely destroyed, as long as each generation of wizards continues to weaken it, the limits of these nightmare creatures' ability to parasitize and manipulate mental power can be infinitely reduced, approaching zero.

That means that although the Nightmare Shadow can be reborn infinitely after being killed, it is indeed weakened. In fact, in just the past twenty days, Green has felt that the Nightmare Shadow on the wall clock in this room has weakened considerably.

This so-called weakening does not refer to its own life, but rather to its ability to forcibly parasitize and control.

It seems that these black and gray hues represent its parasitic ability.

So, what will happen if one day the Nightmare Shadow is dispelled and the Black Ash can no longer appear, and it loses its ability to parasitize and control?

……

Three months later.

As night falls, the nightmare world begins to transform from a distorted illusion into a dilapidated reality, and the ticking of the pendulum clock on the wall of the room gradually becomes clearer.

After about an hourglass period of time, another hour passed.

Having already grown accustomed to the rules of the nightmare world, Green naturally closed the wizarding knowledge book and glanced at the world crack that was gradually appearing on the wooden bed. It resembled a twisted vortex, with a diameter of less than half a meter.

"We might see some results today."

Approaching the clock, Green waited silently in the form of the Nightmare Shadow.

Tick, tick, tick...

As the pendulum ticked, the clock gradually lengthened, and a stream of black liquid flowed down the wall clock. This low-level nightmare shadow seemed to be a life form devoid of intelligence and driven entirely by instinct, or some kind of natural phenomenon in the nightmare world. It showed no fear of death, or perhaps even a sense of dread towards Grimm.

However, at this point, its weakness was already quite obvious.

Despite still attacking Green, the Nightmare Shadow, weakened by its current state, was no longer able to affect the Wizard's Shield.

Even from within this ugly red-haired monkey, a soft, pure white light emanated, like the light that awakened Green.

It seems that this is because Green has been collecting black ash for more than three months, causing the Nightmare Shadow to be unable to block what is inside the body.

This thing is very likely the origin of this Nightmare Shadow!

As the Grimm's Horned Skull Magic Wand slammed down, this time the Nightmare Shadow let out a mournful howl and dropped an astonishing amount of black ash, instead of turning into a large cloud of black smoke and flying into the clock as before, leaving only a small amount of black ash on the ground.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick!

The clock has stopped swinging!

"This is……"

In Green's eyes, an infant composed of pure white and soft light appeared. The true origin of this nightmare shadow was actually this?

Or perhaps the source of the witch apprentice's nightmare was this baby?

"Waaaaah..."

To Green's astonishment, the baby, radiating a soft, white light, suddenly opened its eyes and instinctively began to cry towards Green's back.

"Waaaaah, my child, my child! You monster, get away from my child!"

Green turned his head and looked at the witch apprentice who had crawled in from the other side of the world rift, who was holding a magic wand and pointing it at him in a panic.

(End of this chapter)