A Psychiatrist's Bizarre Game Journey / Dream of the Mist

"Oh, no need, no need. I think your previous suggestion was great! I agree, I completely agree! There's no need for you to turn me into a tentacle monster, it's too tiring and too much trouble for you! I'm easily satisfied!"

The witch immediately understood, her eyes filled with tears, and she expressed her deepest gratitude to Zhou Ke'er, choking back sobs as she choked on her words.

Zhou Ke'er nodded in satisfaction, feeling that she had done another great thing today.

It seems that Mr. Shuren's famous saying can even be extended to other worlds, and the so-called "window theory" is indeed true.

With tears in her eyes and her legs trembling, the witch walked unsteadily toward the door, turning back every few steps. It took her five or six minutes to finally open the door with trembling hands.

The door was opened, and sure enough, several guards appeared outside, with their leader—or rather, the person in charge—standing in front of them.

Anyway, Zhou Ke'er wasn't quite sure what the official title should be according to this world, so she just called him the person in charge.

They wore tattered armor, bearing traces of burning and cracking, clearly indicating that they had suffered considerable damage from the meteorite attack.

The leader carefully surveyed the room before cautiously asking the witch, "Honorable witch, I am Kamand, the commander of the town's garrison. As for that demon... the demon you banished, do you know why it broke the peace agreement and invaded and attacked this place without warning?"

“Ah…Aba…”

The witch opened her mouth, but because she was too nervous and was also being lazy, all she could manage was "abba aba," making her look completely dazed.

But the scene of her defiantly confronting the meteorite was too deeply ingrained in their minds. Even if she had genuinely been mentally challenged, let alone just a slight display of idiocy, there would still be plenty of people praising her. So, these guards subconsciously assumed that there must be some deeper meaning behind the powerful witch's answer!

"Dear person in charge, please allow me to explain—"

At this moment, Zhou Ke'er, who had already been displaying a pitiful and severely injured appearance, was sitting on the ground, holding the unconscious Fiss in her arms. Her appearance was so heartbreaking that it would bring tears to anyone's eyes. She slowly spoke, her voice filled with gratitude and sorrow, "Just now, this great witch was healing our injuries, but unexpectedly, she was interrupted by that demon's sudden attack. Not to mention, that wretched demon even barged in. To prevent that demon from harming us, the kind and great witch didn't restrain it too much, but instead quickly drove it away..."

A hint of disappointment flashed in the eyes of the person in charge, but he still expressed his understanding and gratitude once again for the witch's shop's great help.

"Oh, right..."

As if he had thought of something, the person in charge quickly continued, "..."

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855. "Grand Ambitions and Hegemonic Ambitions"

The person in charge continued, "Later, the archmage sent from the capital will also come to pay a visit to Her Majesty the Witch, to express his gratitude for your contributions to protecting our land..."

However, before he could finish speaking, a teleportation array suddenly lit up in the distance, and a figure appeared on the array.

"No need to wait any longer, I've already arrived."

A voice that sounded like it had a lot of breasts came from the teleportation array, followed by a series of footsteps, and a woman dressed in a magician's outfit, looking like a classic older sister magician, walked out.

The guards tactfully saluted the other party, reported their arrival, and then immediately withdrew to avoid disturbing the conversation.

The witch's eyes widened when she saw the other person: "Mentor Rosalind?! It's you!"

"What do you think, Xiao Wei Ze? My former student has quietly mastered such great power in this remote place, even surpassing me as his teacher. How can I just sit in the mage tower and do nothing?"

The female mage, known as Rosalind's mentor, walked towards the witch from the teleportation array with a smile. "To be honest, I did think you would achieve something, but I never imagined you would grow so quickly and become so powerful. I really misjudged you."

Vizé forced an awkward smile—let alone getting stronger. During the time she'd been in this godforsaken place, she'd spent every day researching potion-making. It was a miracle her magic power hadn't plummeted; how could she possibly get stronger?

However, she quickly retreated into the room and awkwardly extended her hand to invite, "Ah, this... the room is a bit messy, please don't mind, mentor, come in and sit down."

There was nothing else Wei Ze could do but pray that Zhou Ke'er wouldn't cause any trouble at this time, otherwise she would be in big trouble.

Zhou Ke'er sat cross-legged in the corner, while Fiss lay beside her. He didn't say a word, acting as if he were invisible. He just watched Rosalyn come in, and a "brilliant" idea quickly popped into his mind.

Soon, Rosalind entered the witch's shop hut, waved her hand, and a small box appeared in her hand containing several ornate medals: "Although I don't think these little metal pieces are actually very useful, they still represent some kind of honor. The council has decided to award you honor medals, but they don't know your profession, so they brought me a medal for each profession—although logically, since you were once my student, you should obviously be awarded this Archmage honor medal, but we can't rule out the possibility that you'll change professions—so I brought them all."

As she spoke, a shimmering blue light flashed in Rosalind's eyes, "However, it seems you haven't turned around..."

Rosalyn abruptly stopped speaking without warning. Her smile froze, slowly fading, and quickly replaced by a look of horror: "What...what is this?! Impossible, this is madness, madness! What's going on! How come you're covered in corrupted energy?!"

Zhou Ke'er blinked—this so-called "fallen energy" must be what this sub-world calls "evil," right? This sub-world seems to have quite a deep understanding of evil, after all, even a little witch in such a remote area knows about the existence of evil, so it's impossible for the mage from the capital to be ignorant.

Vizé's expression grew increasingly awkward. Sure enough, she had just been clinging to a sliver of hope that the evil spirit that Zhou Ke'er was entwining around her wouldn't be noticed by the other party—after all, as long as you don't use magic power to observe, you can't see this thing with the naked eye—but who would have thought that just because of this damn medal, Rosalyn would subconsciously open her magic eye to confirm it?

"Bang!"

With a soft thud, Rosalyn stood up, her face deathly pale. In her haste, she even knocked over the chair she was sitting on. She stumbled backward, staring at Vizar in terror: "You... what kind of evil god have you come into contact with? Why is your body filled with corrupted energy! No wonder... no wonder you suddenly became so strong, it's because of this! No, this is a disaster even more terrifying than a demonic invasion!"

Muttering incredulously to herself, Rosalyn had long since lost her initial composure. Her once dignified appearance now looked extremely disheveled. She practically tumbled and crawled as she turned around, about to flee towards the door.

"Wait! That's not how it works! Professor, let me explain!"

Vizé instinctively reached out her hand—since she had already made this move, Zhou Ke'er naturally wouldn't hesitate to help—immediately, a thick black mist surged from Vizé's outstretched hand, sweeping towards Rosalin like a tidal wave.

Before Rosalyn could stumble out the door, she was already tightly bound by the black mist and dragged back from the doorway.

"What...what are you going to do?!"

Rosalyn stared wide-eyed at Vizer, her face completely drained of color. She struggled desperately in mid-air, her body emitting a shimmering blue light of magical energy, but to no avail. She was trapped in the black mist in a very sorry state.

Wei Ze hurriedly shook her head, wanting to explain, but at that moment Zhou Ke'er's voice appeared in her mind—"You want to tell the truth? You want to betray me? I respect your choice, but I still advise you to consider the consequences. For example, the life of this mage, and your own life. Oh, right, I'm going to repay you, so naturally I won't kill you, but I'll do it in a different way—as I said before, turning you into a tentacle monster isn't a bad option, what do you think?"

Vizé had to retract the defense that was about to come out.

Rosalind looked at the silent Vizé, her heart filled with despair. She seemed to have already foreseen her fate, and her whole body trembled uncontrollably. "Fallen energy... Fallen energy is corrupting me! Please! Don't! Let me go! Please!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ke'er sensed it with a puzzled look—because he hadn't actually used any evil energy to directly corrupt the other party, had he? He had merely used evil energy to bind and envelop the other party.

Oh, I see... It seems that although the people of this sub-world have some contact with and understanding of the supernatural, their understanding is not deep. They mistake the external supernatural clinging for direct erosion... That makes things easier.

A brilliant idea popped into Zhou Ke'er's head.

Then his voice rang in Vizer's mind again: "I've got a great idea—become my priest, and let us spread the word about me, this 'god,' throughout the world!"

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856. Evil spreads!

"!!"

Before Wei Ze could even be surprised to hear Zhou Ke'er's voice in his mind, he was struck dumb by what Zhou Ke'er said. He couldn't help but look at Zhou Ke'er in disbelief, his eyes wide—could this evil god be trying to destroy or conquer this world?!

A world where everyone turns into a tentacle monster, or a world where everyone is forced to worship and worship tentacle monsters... I don't want that!

Unsurprisingly, Vizé immediately wanted to shake her head in refusal, but before she could say anything, Zhou Ke'er's voice rang out again: "Have you thought this through? If you become a priestess of this 'sect,' then as someone responsible for spreading the faith and performing rituals, at least you won't be turned into a grotesque creature because of—you call it 'corruption,' right—due to the influence of corruption. However, if you're unwilling, then I'll have to choose someone else, and what about you…"

Sure enough, this threat never goes out of style; it seems that becoming a tentacle monster is an unacceptable thing for normal people.

Wei Ze shrank his neck again, revealing a smile that looked more like a grimace, and nodded frantically in agreement, like a ticking timer.

Rosalind, who was struggling, quickly noticed the strange expression on Viz's face. While resisting the evil influence, she tried to persuade Viz, "Little Viz, were you also coerced by some evil god? Those damned guys must have plotted to corrupt you with their corrupting energy, forcing you to do their work, right? Was that guy just giving you instructions? Don't submit to them! Once you submit, there's no turning back!"

Compared to Zhou Ke'er's imminent threat, Rosalin's meaningless persuasion seemed pale and powerless. Weize clearly saw that Rosalin herself was in dire straits and hadn't even thought of a solution. If she had a solution, she would have stated it during her persuasion, instead of just telling Weize "not to submit"—so Weize finally accepted reality.

Once I accept my weakness, then I am invincible!

Wei Ze closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and after a change in expression, she quickly opened her eyes again—at this moment, her mindset had completely changed.

If her previous resistance was a fantasy that there was still a way to negotiate or resolve the issue, now that she saw the archmage sent by the capital—even Rosalyn, who was once her mentor and was more than one level stronger than her—completely powerless to resist, Viz finally lost all hope of resistance.

Since she has already fallen to such a state, in order to survive better, all she can do is submit to Zhou Ke'er's coercion and wholeheartedly and sincerely act as an accomplice to evil. Obviously, the more people she harms, the greater the benefits she brings to Zhou Ke'er, the safer she will be, and at the same time, she will also receive corresponding benefits.

When he opened his eyes again, a sinister glint of malice had begun to flash in his eyes. Looking at Rosalyn, who was struggling helplessly, he thought viciously to himself, "Don't blame me, I just want to live a good life!"

Zhou Ke'er touched her chin—Huh? The sense of déjà vu is so strong, it feels like some kind of character replica? Now Zhou Ke'er is playing the role of Nyaruko, and isn't Wei Ze the original Zhou Ke'er?

Sure enough, people eventually become the kind of person they hate the most.

Looking at Wei Ze, who had now made up his mind, Zhou Ke'er felt as if she were seeing herself—although he himself hadn't betrayed her so quickly, the eldest brother wasn't laughing at the second brother, they were only about fifty or a hundred steps apart.

There was nothing Zhou Ke'er could do; he admitted to being a scoundrel. But what could he do? Being too weak meant he could only become a traitor, making him the second Rayleigh.

Besides... given Zhou Ke'er's almost godlike aura of intellectual impairment, if he really went to help Renault, who knows how many times things would go wrong like before? It's more like Zhou Ke'er went into the midst of evil gods and became a traitor, who knows, she might actually be helping them...

Shaking her head, Zhou Ke'er pulled herself back to reality and focused her gaze back on what was in front of her.

Zhou Ke'er snapped her fingers, and immediately a terrifying, menacing phantom appeared behind Wei Ze, as if it were a projection of some being.

It was obvious that the reason Rosalin hadn't noticed him was because Zhou Ke'er had already set up a diversion in the area where she was. Otherwise, no matter how critical the situation was or how stupid Rosalin was, she couldn't possibly have failed to notice the two strangers sitting peacefully in the corner under such circumstances.

Vizé's body stiffened slightly, but she did not resist, allowing the phantom behind her to manipulate her.

Then she slowly walked forward, following the movement of the illusory figure, reached out, spread her five fingers, and pressed them on Rosalyn's head.

Soon, a bright blue light appeared on Rosalyn's body and flowed into her body through Viz's hand. At the same time, the black mist attached to Viz's body was exchanged for it.

"No...no! Ahhhhhh!"

Rosalyn's face contorted in rage, her body convulsing. After her final screams, she collapsed, letting the black mist bind her in mid-air. Her eyes rolled back—most of the magical energy within her had been transferred to Vizer's body, replaced by a surge of malevolent energy that not only filled the original space of magical energy but also overflowed, constantly eroding the remaining void.

Zhou Ke'er slowly walked behind Wei Ze and whispered in a sinister villainous voice, "Very good—now, you have helped me gain my first familiar, and you will also share the power I have gained. As long as you continue to repeat this process, you will be able to obtain unimaginable power."

Vizé felt an unprecedented abundance of magical energy within her, and her eyes began to flicker with a dark and uncertain light—in just an instant, she possessed enough magical energy reserves to rival those of a Grand Magister, just waiting to be able to use it skillfully—she had essentially transcended the boundaries of so-called talent, effort, and time. As long as she continued to repeat what she had just done, she could easily become unimaginably powerful.

Of course, Zhou Ke'er will always be the biggest beneficiary. Although Rosalin, who is currently corrupted by evil, is far from being worthy of being called Zhou Ke'er's "familiar," and it might be more appropriate to call her an evil "servant," the evil replenishment and rank feedback generated from her will not be reduced as a result.

Zhou Ke'er is also fully capable of increasing her strength at this stage with almost no restrictions by accumulating the number of these "servants".

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Not really in the zone

Not really in the zone

I've been feeling a bit down lately.

Do not know what's going on

I'll take a day off to adjust.

It's probably something like academic anxiety... right?

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857. World Quest, now open.

It was probably two months, or maybe three months later?

Zhou Ke'er did not specifically keep track of the time.

The plan to use the evil to invade this subworld went much more smoothly than expected. This kind of evil energy was a complete dimensional reduction attack on the natives of this subworld. Although they had some contact with and understanding of it, they had almost no way to fight against it.

Even more remarkably, some people who had been exposed to evil energy for a long time came to join Zhou Ke'er's cause before her evil spirits even came knocking on their door.

Faced with this situation, the native inhabitants of this sub-world did attempt to resist, but ultimately, there are obvious differences in the power systems between sub-worlds. The top combat power of this world... is just so-so.