The Wizard's Pursuit of Truth

SPLASH!

A torrential downpour left the Wizard City drenched and muddy. Dark clouds gathered, and the entire sky, along with the city’s surroundings, seemed to be enveloped by a pair of invisible, giant hands.

The atmosphere was exceptionally oppressive and gloomy. The streets were nearly deserted, with only the crisp sound of rain striking the stone slabs.

At the Wizard City’s entrance, the massive gates were shut tight. The void seemed to ripple as a figure stumbled out of it in a sorry state. The fluctuations of the Witch Array Technique on his body slowly dissipated, making further spatial transfers impossible.

His black Wizard Robe was soaked in blood. He gazed at the enormous city gates, a flicker of desire for survival in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by terror. He glanced back, where the darkness seemed to come alive, transforming into a surging tide that rushed to engulf him.

The Particle Energy within his body could no longer support the Witchcraft required for the task.

At this point, he steeled himself, bit directly into the veins of his wrist, and a surge of Biological Energy instantly gushed out along with a copious amount of blood, covering his Dark Wizard Mark.

His hand then detached on its own. With his last bit of strength, he used a final Blood Witchcraft, forcing the Witch Array Technique on his body to completely break down in the process, to send the severed hand away.

The figure in the black Wizard Robe still hadn’t given up on survival. He tried to push open the city gates but couldn’t budge them. The encroaching darkness from behind completely submerged him.

A blinding flash of lightning illuminated a bloodstain on the gate. It seemed to have seeped deep into the material. The crimson mark began to recede inward before vanishing completely.

”This is your fault. You actually let him escape to this place and send out a message.”

A man’s voice spoke from within the darkness. ”The Dark Land will definitely notice something is wrong and send Wizards over.”

Another voice, this one a woman’s with a sharp edge, chimed in. ”What are you afraid of? The entire Celestial Wings Wizard City is shrouded in Lord Rilis’s Witchcraft. We even set up a Witch Array in advance. Even if he sent his hand out, it’s impossible for it to transmit a message to the Dark Land.”

”Besides, Celestial Wings Wizard City has always been the most stable of the Wizard Cities. We’ve never had any problems. Countless Wizards from the Dark Land’s headquarters have come and gone, and none of them ever discovered us.”

The woman’s voice softened a bit. ”Relax, it’ll be fine. With Lord Rilis here, these are just trivial little problems.”

”Fine,” the man said, sounding somewhat resigned. ”But just to be safe, let’s classify this Wizard’s death as an accident. Have the City Lord’s Mansion Wizards draw up a relevant report and send it back to the Dark Land.”

...

「Illusory Dream Tower.」

Wang Ya had already decapitated all of the Gundas’ Dogs. Their balance could no longer be maintained, which would greatly reduce their value, so he might as well use them directly to complete his consciousness coexistence experiment.

He watched the scene unfolding in the massive cultivation tank: the heads were devouring each other, their fleshy tendrils burrowing into one another as they fought for dominance.

Wang Ya was also quite curious about the final outcome. If one could achieve dominance and absorb the others, it would reveal a hidden Extraordinary Trait he hadn’t discovered before.

It wouldn’t be a major issue for Harak, who already possessed some traits of a Gundas’ Dog, to gain this additional Extraordinary Trait.

[Analysis Complete: Estimated completion time for the consciousness coexistence experiment is in 70 days.]

This made Wang Ya raise an eyebrow. ’That’s too long,’ he thought. ’Over two months.’

But there was nothing to be done about it; he could only wait for the results.

The bodies of the Gundas’ Dogs weren’t wasted either. Having lost the control of the heads’ fleshy tendrils, they could no longer maintain a stable form and reverted to their most basic Gendas Flesh cells.

The contents of the cultivation tank had become a crimson, muddy sludge of flesh.

It was perfect for a fusion experiment with the sub-body of a Blood-sucking King Vine.

It took about three days for Wang Ya to successfully cultivate the sub-body of the Blood-sucking King Vine. The effects of the Water of Life Source could only be described as surprisingly effective.

Next, he weakened the Gendas Flesh to a certain degree so that its innate, instinctual traits wouldn’t be too powerful.

Only then did he pour the crimson sludge into the cultivation tank containing the Demon Plant Sub-Body.

He only chose one Demon Plant Sub-Body for this.

Wang Ya then left it alone, letting it fuse and transform on its own. Success or failure, it would still be a learning experience.

The transformation process for Magical Plants was much, much slower than for flesh-and-blood creatures—it was a gradual, subtle process.

Wang Ya left that experiment room and entered one dedicated to Witchcraft research.

’It’s time to perfect my Dream Witchcraft.’

A fine, blue luster glinted in his pupils.

Wang Ya directed the Eye of Truth’s analysis toward the vast collection of Wizard knowledge he had purchased from the Land of Inheritance.

[Estimated Analysis Time: 38 days.]

The time required was within his expectations. After collecting and recording this new knowledge, the Eye of Truth had grown even more powerful. Before, the process probably would have taken a third longer.

The analysis time for his Flame Demon Witchcraft was also greatly reduced.

’My mandatory task... with my status as a Child of the Dark and my Level 3 Authority, I can only postpone it until the end of this month at most.’

He should have completed the mandatory task long ago.

But for various reasons, he had been unable to get away.

His brow furrowed slightly. ’The end of the month probably won’t work either. I’ll have to use that other method.’

If he accepted a Wizard Task from the Library first, the mandatory task couldn’t be assigned to him until the first one was complete.

However, this could only postpone the mandatory task for about two months at most.

After that, it would be compulsory.

That would be enough time.

By then, Wang Ya would have also completed the research for his Wizard Experiments.

The Wizard Task he accepted through his Wizard Mark read:

[Death of a Blood Wizard]

[Coordinates: Divine Eagle Territory, Celestial Wings Wizard City]

[Details: A Blood Wizard named ’Klau’ died in an accident. The culprits were determined to be wild Extraordinary Creatures, a final ruling made by the City Lord’s Mansion Wizards of Celestial Wings Wizard City. However, Klau’s father believes there are problems with his son’s cause of death and has requested a Wizard from headquarters to investigate.]

[Reward: 20 Dark Points, 20 Magic Stones (Further compensation can be discussed in person)]

[Task Duration: Ten years]

[Task Level: D]

Ten years was the maximum duration that could be set for a D-level task.

Furthermore, it was nearly impossible for there to be any issues with a Wizard incident that had already been ruled upon by the City Lord’s Mansion Wizards.

Perhaps the father of this Blood Wizard, Klau, simply couldn’t accept it.

Wang Ya himself was only doing this to delay the arrival of his mandatory task.

’Going to Celestial Wings Wizard City won’t be a hassle, either. The Teleportation Array can solve everything.’

...

「Three days later.」

The Eye of Truth’s deduction and analysis of the Flame Demon Witchcraft Stream was complete.

The enhancements focused on three main aspects.

Diversity in offense, defense, and movement.

That’s right, the three aspects were also mutually compatible.

The Flame Demon Doppelganger itself was a special Witchcraft state, and the Flame Demon Domain it formed within a fifty-meter radius was like a jack-of-all-trades.

Its weakness was that when facing an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, it became particularly troublesome if his Biological Force Field was completely crushed.

In the laboratory, Wang Ya’s thoughts diverged. Although the Eye of Truth had analyzed a path forward and provided a concrete prototype for creating a new Witchcraft, he still had to combine it with his own ideas to decide whether to proceed in that direction.

’I’ve hit a limitation. The Flame Demon Doppelganger is the core, but the Biological Force Field is the arm I use to wield that core. Since the Biological Force Field can be suppressed by powerful enemies, what if I combine it with Dream Body Witchcraft and Dream Bubble Witchcraft...’

Wang Ya’s eyes brightened, the idea becoming clearer the more he thought about it.

’Of course. Dream Witchcraft and Fire Element Witchcraft should be used in tandem.’

Wang Ya envisioned a scenario: within the range of his Flame Demon Domain, his Dream Body would appear directly in front of an enemy and plant a Dream Seed inside them.

This would also be a way to compensate for the shortcomings of Dream Witchcraft.

The only thing to consider was how to fuse the two types of Witchcraft, and how to make the Flame Demon Domain break free from the confines of his own Biological Force Field, penetrate the opponent’s, and pull them directly into his domain, thereby turning it into Wang Ya’s home ground.

The enhancements would have to start with the Flame Demon Domain.