The Wizard's Pursuit of Truth

A fair hand caught a drifting maple leaf, then gently released it. Dark eyes watched as it fluttered down, returning to the world.

The maple leaves seemed to be everywhere, drifting through all four seasons as if they would exist for all eternity.

The young man in the black Wizard Robe still had a fair complexion, like a youth who had yet to shed his boyishness.

But his dark eyes held a mature solemnity forged by worldly experience.

A beauty mark near the corner of his eye added a touch of bewitching charm. His lips were thin, and his fair skin seemed to drain the color from them, giving his complexion a somewhat sickly pallor.

It was as if he hadn’t seen the sun in a very, very long time.

His long, black hair was fine and smooth. As the autumn wind blew through the dense Ancient Forest on either side, it stirred his locks, lending him a more androgynous air.

Walking along the familiar cobblestone path, he saw that not much had changed within the Three-Layered Space. The trees were still as tall as ever, and the various environmental zones remained sharply delineated.

This seclusion had been a bit too long.

He even felt a sense of unreality.

He had lost all track of time, immersed in the process of his Wizard Experiments.

The satisfaction from his increased Power was a reward ten, even a thousand times more gratifying than lust or money.

Tugging at his long hair, Wang Ya could only shake his head with a helpless sigh. Cutting his hair now wouldn’t be so easy.

Even drawing a single drop of his own blood had become a troublesome affair.

As he walked, his figure appeared somewhat blurry in the light, as if he didn’t quite exist in this world. It was a quality he shared with the Illusory Dream Wizard.

An ineffable, unique sense of mystery, permeated by the aura of Dream Power.

His increasingly androgynous features were perhaps also related to his mastery of Dream Power.

Wang Ya even began to wonder if all Dream Wizards eventually became androgynous. ’Perhaps the face hidden beneath the Illusory Dream Wizard’s Wooden Mask is just like that of the Kelan Wizard.’

’The unsolved mysteries of the Dark Land... I wonder when I’ll get a chance to unravel them.’

A smile touched Wang Ya’s lips. Teleportation Fluctuations enveloped him, and in the next moment, he appeared outside the Illusory Dream Tower.

His Speed was terrifyingly fast as he moved. No, it wasn’t walking; he was floating. Wang Ya’s feet never touched the ground.

「...」

Wang Ya strolled through the streets of the Business District. Maple leaves drifted on the increasingly cold autumn wind. This year’s Winter Day was approaching once again.

The buildings lining the streets were unchanged. Plenty of Wizards bustled by, yet it was as if none of them saw Wang Ya. They walked right past without a single glance.

Wang Ya ambled down the street, letting his black hair drift freely in the autumn breeze, his gaze carefully observing everything in the Dark Land.

With every step he took, the white gleam deep within his pupils grew a fraction brighter.

His aura grew more ethereal and indistinct, as fleeting and unpredictable as a dream.

There was a purpose to all of this. After establishing a Dream Territory, a Dream Wizard needed to anchor it in the real world to strengthen the connection with their personal domain in the Dream World.

This was to prevent the Dream Territory from dissolving back into the greater Dream World.

He had successfully created his Dream Territory, but developing it to the level of the Illusory Dream Wizard’s would still require a long period of accumulation.

He couldn’t help but recall the process of establishing his roots in the Dream World. There had been several close calls that startled him, making him think he was about to fail.

「...」

The Black Curtain Licorice had played a crucial role in helping Wang Ya establish his roots in the Dream World and form his own Dream Territory.

Wisps of white smoke drifted and spread. Oddly, though the licorice burning was black, the smoke it produced was white... This white smoke formed a protective ring around Wang Ya.

As the white smoke grew denser, the circle expanded outward, driving away any nearby Dream Creatures.

Wang Ya now stood in a Primitive Forest, one unlike the last. Here, the roots and branches weren’t swapped; instead, a dense tangle of branches and leaves packed the space, even sprouting directly from the soil.

Anyone with trypophobia standing here would be driven mad by the incessant spiritual pollution just from a single glance.

Fortunately, the white smoke carved out a safe space for him. Until the Black Curtain Licorice ran out, Wang Ya could focus on sinking his roots into the Dream World, dyeing it to become his own territory.

Neurons in the pons of his brain fired. A massive amount of Extraordinary Spiritual Power and Dream Power materialized around him as tangible color.

The color that appeared was a pure, immaculate white, so pristine it seemed any other color would tarnish it upon contact.

’The Illusory Dream Wizard’s color must be yellow,’ he thought, ’judging by his Wizard Robe and the falling maple leaves.’

As for the different colors of Dream Power within the Dream World, Wang Ya wasn’t entirely sure. He was now fully engrossed in suffusing the land beneath his feet.

This was the process of forcefully embedding his personal consciousness into the soil of the Dream World, leaving behind his unique mark.

For some reason, Wang Ya had a strange sense of déjà vu... He quickly pushed the odd thoughts from his mind and focused on recalling the Illusory Dream Wizard’s words—the taboos and the key points of establishing his roots.