The Wizard's Pursuit of Truth

An ink-black darkness gradually swallowed the entire Wizard Ship. The red carpet seemed to lose its color, fading to gray, then to pitch-black.

As this startlingly pervasive, living darkness crept over the red wooden door.

Inside the Captain’s Room, the lit candle flames grew even fainter.

The figure on the sofa had been sitting there for who knows how long, a faint layer of dust settling upon him.

PFFT!

One by one, the candle flames sputtered out. Tuta Wizard finally opened his cloudy eyes, staring at a silhouette taking shape in the darkness before him.

A powerful aura erupted from him, and as his robes billowed, his slightly stooped figure suddenly seemed more immense than a mountain.

An invisible pressure pulverized everything—the sofa, the walls, the ceiling, and even the viscous, ink-like darkness that attempted to coil around him.

The Particle Energy flowing through his body manifested in reality. It was an astonishingly powerful Energy, transforming into a turbulent, dark wave of light that pulsed outward in all directions, proclaiming his presence.

Tuta Wizard possessed a presence that was impossible to ignore. Even in a crowd, he would be the first one you noticed.

It was as if he were the center of the world.

With every step he took through the congealed darkness, specially modified Extraordinary Creatures—tens, even hundreds, of times stronger than the Thorny Sea Beast—were pulverized into dust and vanished.

He emerged from the red-carpeted corridor and stepped onto the deck.

The darkness could not come within ten meters of Tuta Wizard. The dark Particle Energy bloomed like an ethereal flame, forming a lotus shape of strange and exquisite beauty.

His skeletal right hand, thin as a withered bamboo stalk, emerged from his robe and grasped a ghastly white Bone Staff.

As a continuous stream of Particle Energy flowed into it, the Bone Staff grew from its original length of a few dozen centimeters to 150 centimeters, long enough to touch the deck.

He threw back his hood, revealing an old, scarred, and wrinkled face. But surprisingly, it held no trace of twilight weariness. Instead, it radiated a fiery intensity, a power that seemed capable of shattering the very heavens and earth.

It was an exalted, turbulent power, reminiscent of the most passionate and vibrant peak of youth.

From the deep sea surrounding the Wizard Ship, more darkness surged forth. As a hazy, half-hidden figure emerged from the shadows, all of the darkness gathered in its hands, forming a twenty-meter-wide Dark Chaos Cave.

A powerful suction burst forth from it, making it seem as if the entire Wizard Ship would be sucked in and torn to pieces.

Tuta Wizard’s pupils contracted as he finally recognized it, his expression turning to astonishment. ’Dark Heart Witchcraft... So that’s what this is.’

The figure didn’t answer. Instead, it hurled the Dark Chaos Cave—a product of the Witchcraft—directly at Tuta Wizard.

If it wasn’t stopped, the immense Particle Energy contained within would swallow the entire Wizard Ship and everything in a fifty-meter radius. Its power was terrifying.

If an Official Wizard had cast it, the area of effect would have been between one hundred and two hundred meters.

Tuta Wizard’s expression turned grim. He slammed his ghastly white Bone Staff heavily onto the deck. With his feet as the epicenter, a vast amount of his Spiritual Power and Particle Energy began to drain as countless Wizard Runes activated in his mind.

Dark Element Particles began to gather around him. In the blink of an eye, the formless, intangible Particle Energy fully manifested its particle Traits, solidifying into a fifty-meter-wide, blooming dark lotus.

Each petal was so lifelike it seemed real. The lotus enveloped the entire Wizard Ship, and then it, in turn, wrapped around the Dark Chaos Cave. The cave’s powerful suction had no effect on the flower.

Tuta Wizard’s figure vanished. When he reappeared, he was directly in front of the other figure, which floated in the Void.

A powerful Witchcraft blossomed in his hand, forming a dark longsword. It was composed of highly condensed Dark Element Particles and possessed three Traits: corrosive, erosive, and toxic.

The figure’s pupils contracted, its face showing a hint of terror. It clearly hadn’t expected Tuta Wizard to still possess such combat Power.

”They all say you’re so old you’re about to die, but I never expected...”

”Being old and near death doesn’t mean I’m an invalid.”

Tuta Wizard sneered and swung the Witchcraft sword in his hand without hesitation. He followed up by unleashing a barrage of Low-tier and Middle-tier Witchcraft as if they cost him nothing.

The figure began to fight back against Tuta Wizard. The battle was fierce, with every exchange aimed to kill.

The surrounding sea was gradually affected by the Particle Energy and high levels of radiation released by the two combatants. Soon, countless marine creatures were floating on the surface, deader than dead.

Mortals, or Wizards with too little Power, aren’t even qualified to witness a battle between such powerful beings.

There’s a high chance that simply watching would expose you to lethal levels of Energy radiation, causing widespread necrosis and ultimately, death.

Fortunately, the Wizard Ship itself was equipped with radiation shielding.

Wang Ya was oblivious to the terrifying battle raging outside. He was holding his breath, completely focused on the analysis from his Eye of Truth.

But it was useless. The creature in the hallway wasn’t a zombie; it didn’t hunt by heat, but by smell.

The dagger in his hand shimmered with a blue luster, clearly coated in a potent poison.

At his mental command, Harak stood motionless as a statue on the other side of the door.

CRASH!

The door was smashed open. With its limited intelligence, the Thorny Sea Beast didn’t bother with stealth or ambushes; it only knew to use the most brutal method—to drag the Wizard Freshman from the room, kill him, and devour him.

At that same moment, the blue-gleaming dagger plunged into its almond-shaped eye socket.

The analysis and calculations from the Eye of Truth could create a three-dimensional projection, materializing everything within a five-meter radius outside the room.

That was why Wang Ya’s strike was so precise.

Intense pain and the loss of its sight sent the beast into a howling frenzy, and it thrashed wildly around the room.

Harak beat its wings. Its steel-like feathers were impervious to the Thorny Sea Beast’s bone spikes. Its Iron Claws shot out and seized the creature’s spine.

With a sickening CRACK.

With its spine broken, the Thorny Sea Beast could only twitch and flop around like a lobster on a cutting board.

The outcome was never in doubt. With its head crushed by Harak’s Iron Claws, the Thorny Sea Beast fell silent.

The vicious bone spikes along its spine were the Thorny Sea Beast’s strongest weapon, but they were also its greatest weakness.

Wang Ya breathed a sigh of relief and pulled the shattered remains of the door closed, even though a large gap was left in the middle.

”This Thorny Sea Beast is unusually large.”

Normally, their scale color and size shouldn’t be like this.

[Notification: Thorny Sea Beast Heart detected. Contains Extraordinary Material. Can induce benign mutations in both Extraordinary and ordinary creatures.]

Wang Ya’s eyes immediately lit up.

....