Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2303: Chapter 2304: Backup Plan

Activation, dissolution, and murmured invocation almost proceeded together.

At the very moment the effect of the Scroll of Fortune ended, the glowing sphere began to tremble slightly. A light spot, which shouldn’t have appeared at that moment, because of the fortune moment, was released from within along with the trembling of the sphere.

As soon as the light spot appeared, it seemed restless, as if it wanted to escape the confined space around it.

”Get ready, don’t let it escape!”

Sumishe immediately responded, ”Understood.”

With those words, Sumishe’s figure flashed, rushing directly in front of the light spot. Angel then gently pushed the light spot through a ”Fusion” with the green pattern, and it entered Sumishe’s forehead.

Once the light point embedded, Sumishe’s gaze slowly began to lose focus...

Angel then re-constrained the Principal Body of the Nightmare Domain and retreated to stand beside Sanders and Rhein.

They didn’t say a word, just nodded to each other and focused all their attention on Sumishe.

Rhein was very curious about the entire process of authority fusion and the changes it would bring to the dream body.

Sanders, on the other hand, silently recalculated the probability of Sumishe assuming the authority. This time, Sanders used various formulas for an overall calculation. If Sumishe could successfully bear it, it would be an excellent sample for Sanders, potentially increasing the success rate of assuming authority and preventing authority loss.

The silent atmosphere lasted for quite a while.

”Why is there no reaction?” Rhein broke the silence first, asking curiously.

From Rhein’s perspective, Sumishe exhibited no changes other than slightly dazed eyes.

”It’s currently in the preliminary fusion stage. At this stage, with Sumishe’s ability, he should easily resist the impact of the authority on his Mind Space,” Sanders said, who had also previously fused authority and understood this point.

Rhein: ”Will he succeed, then?”

Sanders: ”It’s uncertain. It’ll depend on his performance during the deep fusion of the authority.”

Rhein nodded, continuing to use spiritual power to observe the changes in Sumishe.

At this point, Sanders looked at Rhein: ”However, if it were you, my lord, I believe the vast majority of authorities could be easily fused.”

After Sanders finished, Angel also nodded in agreement: ”Lord Rhein could also attempt to fuse the authority.”

Rhein, however, smiled and shook his head. ”Let’s discuss it in the future. What the Wilderness of Dreams currently needs is a phase of development and adaptation, not just for itself but also for the Southern Domain Wizard World.”

”It is already good now to hide the reality within illusion. If we reverse it, seeking the illusion within reality, I fear that by then even the Barbarian Cave would not be able to contain the scale of the Wilderness of Dreams.”

Although Rhein did not specify, his words circled around the core idea of ”profit-seeking.”

Currently, the Wilderness of Dreams has already shown a strong relevance to interests, enough to change the era. Yet, the Wilderness of Dreams still looks merely like a ”dream,” with a sense of reality, but upon deeper interaction, it’s known to be mostly an illusion.

Under such circumstances, Rhein feels that with the Barbarian Cave’s foundation, it can still contain the scale of the Wilderness of Dreams.

However, if the Wilderness of Dreams were to become a real... world, a world created with various rules, by then it would inevitably become a target for everyone, possibly attracting the attention of the true giants in the Origin World.

This is not good for the Wilderness of Dreams, the Barbarian Cave, nor for Angel.

In Rhein’s view, the more authority there is, the closer the world approaches reality. Therefore, it’s better to proceed slowly.

Moderated development is more appropriate.

Sanders can understand what Rhein means. He doesn’t entirely agree, because the Principal Body of the Nightmare Domain now consumes very little, and it’s a bit early to talk about moderation. However, he also respects Rhein’s opinion.

Since Rhein is currently not prepared to accept the authority, Sanders didn’t question further, especially since there are still several people on Illusion Demon Island who could take the lead.

Once enough samples have been gathered, and the authority system is fairly organized, targeted selection can proceed again.

...

An hour later.

The long calm expression of Sumishe finally showed a second expression.

His eyebrows frowned slightly, while sweat began to appear on both sides of his forehead.

After another hour, Sumishe’s frowned brows deepened more and more, even his facial features became uncontrolled, appearing ferocious. The sweat on his forehead continuously seeped out, and his once flowing blonde hair became somewhat damp.

”At this time he should have entered the formal fusion; a large amount of information related to the authority is surging like a torrent into his mind,” Sanders said. ”However, he hasn’t reached his limit yet.”

Sure enough, in the next half-hour, apart from Sumishe’s somewhat uncontrollable expression, everything else remained normal.

Until another half-hour passed, and now three hours since Sumishe accepted the authority, his condition finally showed some variations.

”Ah—” A piercing scream erupted from Sumishe’s mouth.

He still did not awaken, but his body’s instincts began to feedback various pains incurred during the bearing of authority.

Originally, Sumishe was standing, but amid waves of agonized yelling, he could no longer stand, collapsing to the ground. A large amount of sweat mixed with blood seeped into the ground.

Sanders softly said, ”He has entered deep fusion; success or failure depends on whether he can hold on.”

Sumishe’s miserable state did not diminish with time; instead, it grew increasingly terrifying.

Sanders had maintained a cold observance but finally sighed looking at the collapsed Sumishe, ”I’ll observe the situation in reality.”

After Sanders went offline, he quickly logged back in.

”How is his situation in reality?” Rhein asked.

Sanders’ tone was somewhat serious, ”Worse than expected. The mind space’s surging information has caused his brain to react drastically, leading to neural signal disorder, and his body is being impacted likewise. However, with Flora present, there is no immediate danger, but his body is already in a poor condition; if this continues for much longer, his physical body is likely to collapse.”

Rhein frowned, ”Physical body collapse? How long can he sustain it?”

”At most half an hour.”

Sanders paused and looked at Angel, ”If in the end, he still cannot fully assume the authority, we’ll need your help...”

Angel nodded; if the authority couldn’t be borne, he could only let the authority return to the earth.

Ten minutes later, there was no abatement in Sumishe’s dire condition.

After another ten minutes, the situation remained unchanged.

Time continued to flow; watching Sumishe’s condition worsen without any sign of recovery, Sanders’ gaze turned heavy as well.

Angel looked at the time; there were less than five minutes remaining of the previously mentioned half-hour.

Angel: ”Shall we end it now?”

Sanders said half an hour, but that was actually the maximum limit. Sumishe might not last the entire half-hour.

Sanders pondered, ”Let’s wait a bit longer.”

Another three minutes passed, and seeing that time was approaching the limit, even Rhein, who had been observing, couldn’t help but suggest, ”Let’s call it this time.”

Sanders’ Adam’s apple moved slightly, and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

”Alright...” Before he could finish the sentence, Sanders’ voice suddenly halted, and his eyes stared intently at Sumishe.

Angel and Rhein quickly looked over, only to see that Sumishe, who had appeared to be at his limit, was starting to improve. Though still sweating profusely, his brows visibly relaxed, and instead of screaming, he was breathing heavily.

”It seems like he succeeded?” Rhein’s eyes flashed with surprise.

Sanders did not speak but continued watching Sumishe, his eyes flickering.

Angel remained silent, immersing his thoughts deeply into the Mind Space, where a tall and robust tree stood in this dark and profound space.

On this lush giant tree that seemed to reach endlessly upward, each branch bore not leaves but glowing points representing authority.

At this moment, there were eight bright spots on the branches.

Seven of these spots were shining brightly, representing the activated authority in the Wilderness of Dreams, excluding the Ability Tree itself.

There was only one spot that looked blurry, as if it could extinguish at any moment.

Angel understood that this was the spot Sumishe was currently absorbing. This flickering spot was located on the main branch, and its volume was quite large, even surpassing the ”Energy Selection” and ”Energy Level Limitation” authority spots by quite a margin. It was only slightly smaller than ”Tree Civilization,” indicating that this authority was indeed inclined towards one of the primary rules.

Such a primarily rule-oriented authority and no wonder Sumishe struggled with just one.

Angel silently observed the constantly flickering authority spot. From the current situation, it seemed that Sumishe hadn’t fully integrated yet.

And it appeared there was still some distance before the authority would take shape.

But why did Sumishe’s demeanor appear more relaxed than before?

While Angel was puzzled, he failed to notice Sanders’ silhouette gradually dispersing, but after a moment, Sanders’ form gathered again.

”A small episode occurred in reality,” Sanders said softly.

Rhein looked over curiously, ”What happened?”

Sanders: ”It was a desperate counterattack, a gamble, but it was won.”

In the confused eyes of Angel and Rhein, Sanders proceeded to tell what he had seen.

When Sumishe showed obvious signs of relaxation, Sanders felt a bit strange. As someone who had integrated with authority and could sense energy flow, Sumishe didn’t seem to be finished with the integration process. But why did he appear relaxed?

With this doubt, Sanders returned to reality. Then he discovered the reason.

It turned out that Sumishe had made a bet. Before entering the Wilderness of Dreams, he had left a contingency plan, activating his Abyss of Magic Nightmare Realm in a moment of crisis.

Sumishe attempted to leverage the Principal Body of the Nightmare Domain in his Abyss of Magic to share the pressure caused by the authority of the Wilderness of Dreams.

Sumishe’s own Abyss of Magic Nightmare Realm had already reached its limit. If it were reopened and failed, he could only perish. Thus, it was a gamble, a desperate counterattack made by Sumishe.

His luck was apparently quite good.

This recklessness of Sumishe earned him precious time.

”Ordinarily, a typical Nightmare Realm cannot substitute to bear the authority of the Wilderness of Dreams, but this particular authority seems to be highly compatible with Sumishe’s Nightmare Realm. The high compatibility allowed him to succeed. Moreover, this compatibility even hinted at the restoration of the previously shattered Abyss of Magic Nightmare Realm—a double victory.”

When the Abyss of Magic Nightmare Realm activated, the information streams that surged out managed to transfer to the Principal Body of the Nightmare Domain. This was the reason Sumishe’s expression had become somewhat relaxed.

Hearing this, Rhein couldn’t help but laugh, ”Sumishe is indeed vigorous, and his luck is favorable.”

Rhein heard that when Sumishe broke through to a True Knowledge Wizard, it was also through sheer determination. Now, in a desperate situation, he gambled and ultimately won.

Thinking of this, Rhein couldn’t help but sigh, ”If Flora could put aside her overly cautious nature, she might have already embarked on the path of True Knowledge.”

Of course, such a sentiment is not necessarily reflective. Flora might not have Sumishe’s luck, and relying solely on determination could very well increase the likelihood of failure.

Sanders: ”Speaking of Flora, this time Sumishe was fortunate, earning time through a gamble, but the opportunity for this gamble came because of Flora.”

Sumishe couldn’t perceive the outside world under the deluge of information streams, let alone reality.

The reason he could activate it smoothly was that before entering the Wilderness of Dreams, he gave Little Red the permission to access his Nightmare Realm.

Having pre-informed Flora that if an incident occurred, she should activate the Abyss of Magic Nightmare Realm for him.

Flora’s judgment of timing was highly accurate, successfully executing the contingency left by Sumishe.

So, Sanders would say this was an opportunity brought by Flora.

During their conversation, on the other side, Sumishe’s authority bearing was finally approaching its conclusion.

...

With external Abyss of Magic Nightmare Realm sharing the pressure, there was little doubt about Sumishe’s authority bearing.

The only variable was whether the information streams shared in the Abyss of Magic Nightmare Realm could be absorbed by Sumishe.

After all, the Abyss of Magic Nightmare Realm existed in reality, while the Wilderness of Dreams was in the rift between the Dream Realm and reality. Although the information itself was conceptual, might time-space differences present an obstacle?

After absorbing the information streams released by the authority itself, Sumishe began attempting to perceive the information streams within the Abyss of Magic Nightmare Realm.

To his surprise, despite every Abyss of Magic Nightmare Realm and Wilderness of Dreams existing in two different spaces, he could clearly perceive the information streams stored within the Abyss of Magic Nightmare Realm.

His Mind Space became the medium for sensing the two Nightmare Domains.

Though he still couldn’t control the Abyss of Magic Nightmare Realm through the consciousness of the Wilderness of Dreams, he could absorb the stored information back into the consciousness.

Sumishe decisively commenced the integration of information.

As the information flowed back, the once missing piece of authority was finally completed.

When the authority coalesced into a whole, the authority’s information that Sumishe hadn’t had time to view before finally emerged in his mind.