The Wizard's Secret Journey

Chapter 209 Return (4.2k)

When faced with dire circumstances and filled with fear, some people panic, their minds go blank, and they act solely on instinct.

But some people find their minds clearer and work faster when they are in dangerous situations.

Lynn was the latter type of person; his mind was like lightning, and he quickly grasped several key pieces of information.

'The later shadow figure stopped the previous Devouring Shadow from killing me, and it seems to recognize Black Moon Academy!'

Lynn forced a respectful smile, his Adam's apple bobbing as he said slowly, "Senior."

This name seemed to have scratched the itch of the shadowy creature, which laughed heartily, causing a cool breeze to rise.

"You're quite clever... senior? I've never seen such a pleasing Black Moon Academy Holy Son before. Not bad, you're quite good..."

Lynn felt a little relieved and then smiled.

But then, the figure suddenly stopped laughing and asked in a low voice:
"I saw you talking quite a bit with those Spirit Crystal Clan members while I was asleep, and you even stole a lot of World Blessings, tsk..."

Lynn tensed up again, gave an awkward laugh, and quickly took out the World Blessings, saying respectfully, "I didn't know this world belonged to you before, senior. Now I'm returning it to its rightful owner."

Although the shadow figure has no facial features, strangely enough, anyone can clearly read its expression.

After hearing Lynn's words, the shadowy figure was stunned for a moment, glanced at him again, and then put away the World Blessing.

Faced with life and death, Lynn watched as all the dazzling gold crystals were taken away, but he felt no heartache whatsoever. Instead, he continued to explain:
"It was my mistake to tell those Spirit Crystal Clan members about your existence. I am very sorry, senior."

The shadowy figure chuckled softly, "Who told you you did something wrong?"

"By telling those Spirit Crystal Clan more secrets, you have provoked their desire to retaliate, which will only help me devour this entire world faster."

Lynn's mind flashed to Weston's resolute face, but he said aloud, "Oh, that's good."

The shadow figure noticed Lynn's emotions and said coldly, "In the Astral Plane, countless races perish every second for various reasons. Back then, your Black Moon Academy was also ruthlessly wiped out simply because you accidentally came into contact with those things."

"You, the Holy Son of Black Moon Academy, still possess such pointless compassion?"

Lynn was taken aback, and quickly shook his head, saying, "Senior, I am not being merciful, I just sometimes feel sorry for my own kind."

The shadowy figure's cold expression softened slightly, but he lost interest in continuing the conversation with Lynn and instead said:
“I’m not a stingy person. Since you’ve helped me, I should give you some reward.”

The figure in the shadows waved gently.

Lynn's vision went black, and he fell into a strange state, losing all sense of direction and time.

When Lynn woke up, he found that he had been moved to a different spot.

He was now in a stone cave, with a simple stone bed in the center, on which Felicity lay!

"Now that you're awake, quickly take your companions and leave this world. I've slipped you some gifts; they're in your storage ring... Oh, and I don't need those world blessings, so I'm giving them to you too."

Immediately afterwards, a familiar voice from the film crew rang in Lynn's ears.

“Remember, never inform any Gunn wizard of my existence, including the Black Moon Clan.”

"Don't be afraid of scrutinizing your sorcery. I've slightly raised your level and set up protection for you. Unless you're a wizard of the fifth rank or higher, no one can see through your lies... Of course, this only applies to lies involving me."

"The world's blessing has returned?" Lynn was initially delighted, then somewhat stunned. "But... what do you mean by 'slightly improving one's cultivation level'?"

“…Okay, senior.” He suppressed his turbulent thoughts for the time being, and did not dare to rejoice at his escape from death. He simply followed the shadow man’s instructions and walked toward Felicity.

Just as Lynn took a step, he heard Felicity, who was lying on the stone bed, let out a soft groan.

The old wizard awoke at that very moment, just in time, and it was immediately clear that it was the work of the Shadow Man.

“Lynn?” Felicity said weakly.

"You're awake, Lady Felicity?" Lynn replied, his eyes catching sight of something else beside the stone bed—a portal beacon.

"Where's Durant? What happened?" Felicity struggled to sit up and looked around.

"Durant is dead, Lord Felicity." Lynn picked up the portal beacon and said in a deep voice, "There is some unknown danger in this world, but Lord Durant insisted on seeing it as an opportunity and went to continue exploring after you fell into a coma."

"I advised Lord Durant to return to Gunn World first and then make plans, but he did not listen to me. Instead, he left us here and left alone with the portal beacon."

"Fortunately, Durant didn't go too far. He didn't carry the portal beacon with him, but hid it near the previous camp. If he were to die unexpectedly, he would inform us of the portal beacon's exact location through the timed messages on the communication board."

Felicity instinctively pulled out her communication card, and sure enough, a message from Durant popped up.

After reading it in silence, he sighed and said, "Before I lost consciousness, I advised Durant that there was no need to take such a risk, but he refused to listen and argued with me before deciding to go alone."

"I didn't want him to take any risks, so I agreed to use number 006 to check on him while I was at it, but I never expected..."

"Please accept my condolences, Your Excellency Felicity," Lynn said, offering his words of comfort.

Regardless of how Durant treats Felicity, Lynn can see that Felicity at least considers Durant a trustworthy friend, and is even willing to send a 006 puppet to scout ahead for him.

Perhaps it was precisely because Felicity did this that Durant did not choose to push things to the extreme...

Felicity rolled out of bed, closed her eyes briefly to sense her surroundings, and said dejectedly, "Number 006 has completely disappeared."

He took a deep breath, picked up the portal beacon beside him, and said in a deep voice, "No matter what, we can't stay in this world any longer. Let's go back to Gunn now!"

"Okay." Lynn nodded repeatedly, feeling completely relieved. While waiting for Felicity to open the portal, he instinctively opened the Insight Panel, only to be suddenly stunned!
在境界一栏，原本【一阶中级巫师（3/100）】的字样却已经变为了【一阶中级巫师（3+100/100）】

"!" Lynn could sense that as long as he meditated once more, he would naturally be promoted to a first-tier advanced wizard!
'Is this just a slight elevation of my realm...' Lynn clicked his tongue in amazement, gaining a clearer understanding of the power of the Shadow Man.

Although the difference between a first-tier intermediate wizard and a first-tier advanced wizard is indeed only an increase in mental strength and magical power, there are not many essential differences.

But to be able to so easily elevate a first-tier intermediate wizard to a first-tier advanced wizard in an instant... Lynn had never even heard of such a thing, let alone seen it!
Moreover, such a gift from the Shadow Man wouldn't have any negative effects; it's incredibly powerful! "The portal is ready. Hurry up, it won't last long!" Felicity's voice came.

Lynn snapped out of his daze and followed the old wizard through the portal.

……

Beneath the Mother Pillar of Twilight lies a void that even the will of the Mossy World cannot detect.

The shadowy figure, now a pitch-black mass, sighed and muttered to himself, "Thirty thousand years ago, I owed your Black Moon Academy a debt of gratitude, and now I've repaid it... Don't call me stingy, it's just that the Black Moon Holy Son who came was so weak and couldn't bear any more power."

"Besides, my power can't be brought into the light... Also, actually, your Black Moon Academy only helped me with a small favor..."

The shadowy figure's voice became indistinct at this point. He spoke at length, seemingly about the cataclysmic war that took place 30,000 years ago, and how brave he was back then, how he seized the opportunity to escape decisively, and how he managed to survive to this day.

It continued to mock many indescribable names. Most of them came from Black Moon Academy, while others were from unknown places. All of them were renowned figures, but in the eyes of the Shadows, they were a bunch of fools who couldn't judge the situation.

The shadowy figure talked for a good half day before suddenly realizing, "No, I need to change the position of this world... Damn wizards, instead of spending so much time exploring the astral plane, they should spend more time completely dealing with those things!"

As the shadowy figure spoke, its ink-like body gradually unfolded, revealing its true form.

It was a giant dragon!
A dragon whose flesh and blood are shadows and whose bones are withered vines!
As it exerted its power, the mossy world began to shake violently, slowly detaching itself from its original position.

……

……

"That is all the information I have, Your Excellency."

Inside the interrogation room, Lynn spoke slowly.

The second-tier wizard opposite Lynn scrutinized him for a moment, then slowly nodded:
"Thank you for your cooperation, Lynn. You can leave now."

Lynn nodded his thanks and left the interrogation room with a sense of relief.

As Lynn walked down the corridor, he ran into Felicity, who had also finished her interrogation. The old wizard looked tired, and a hint of guilt flashed in her eyes when she saw Lynn.

Lynn noticed Felicity's mood, smiled and comforted her, "Don't worry about it, Lady Felicity. You didn't know that such dangers existed in the Mossy World, nor did you know that Durant would be so crazy."

Felicity sighed; a day had passed since they returned to Gunn.

When they first returned, they only needed to report the details of the mission and could leave on their own without any danger.

— Accidents are inevitable during world exploration missions, and deaths are common. As long as your identity is not questionable, you will not encounter any trouble.

But today the World Conquest Association has found them again and begun a new round of questioning and investigation.

It is said that... it's because the world of moss has disappeared!
This gave Felicity quite a fright.

In the astral plane, the locations of most worlds are fixed. Once the specific coordinates of a world are known, a portal can be built to travel to that world.

Even in the Wizarding World of Gunn, its location within the astral plane is fixed; however, compared to most worlds, its location information has more robust security and encryption measures.

Only a very few worlds will shift their positions, such as fragmented worlds that have not yet stabilized.

Although the Mossy World is a fragmented world, it has largely stabilized. While its location information is still slowly changing, with more effort in observation and correction, it can be ensured that a portal can be established between it and Gunn at any time.

However, early this morning, a new exploration team composed of second-tier Silver Ring wizards was about to head to the strange Mossy World again when they discovered that the world had vanished!
The wizard in charge of setting up the portal changed several nearby locations, but failed to connect to the world. He then changed several formulas and spent a long time deriving them, but the portals he finally set up only connected to a void!
The wizards at Silver Ring Academy had never encountered such a situation before, and immediately called Felicity and Lynn back.

"Anyway... I'm still sorry, Lynn," Felicity said. "Originally, because of the special nature of this world, we might have received some extra rewards from the Association. But now that the Mossy World has disappeared, according to the Association's style, there will be no rewards."

"Moreover, we've only completed half of our mission this time, and we'll probably only get half of the original reward... But don't worry, I'm mostly responsible for this, so you can keep 80% of the reward."

“No need, Lady Felicity, I didn’t contribute anything.” Lynn shook his head. “Besides, you informed me of the potential risks before we explored the world.”

"Since I am still willing to participate in the mission, it means that I am aware of and willing to take those risks. Of course, I cannot turn back and blame you now."

This was Lynn's honest opinion. Of course, part of it was also because he had gained a lot from this exploration mission, so he didn't care about the troubles and dangers that had already passed.

Felicity wanted to say something more, but Lynn advised, "Your dolls have all perished in that world. If I were to accept more compensation, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

“…Alright.” Felicity, considering her current financial straits, didn’t insist any further.

However, when he turned to look at the handsome young man next to him, he found him even more pleasing to the eye.

True character is revealed in times of crisis. Although this young wizard is not particularly powerful, his character is extremely reliable, and his talent is quite remarkable...

Thinking of this, Felicity's eyes suddenly darkened. Young Durant was just like that, only he was stuck at the advanced first tier and couldn't advance, watching helplessly as his former friends advanced to the second tier one by one, while his own lifespan dwindled, and ultimately…

Shaking her head, Felicity stopped thinking about it and said to Lynn:
"Lynn, there's a witchcraft seminar and trade fair in a couple of days. Would you be interested in going?"

"This is a high-barrier seminar. Those who can participate are the best among first-tier wizards. Many of them are revered as masters in certain specific fields, just like I am in the field of puppetry."

"If you come, you should be able to gain some knowledge."

"A wizarding seminar? No problem."

Lynn was surprised that Felicity would suddenly extend such an invitation, but he was indeed interested, so he nodded in agreement.

Now that his cultivation level is improving rapidly, his sorcery skills often lag behind. Although he has the talent to understand the principles of sorcery, he still needs to find the right direction in advance. This seminar is a good opportunity to see what kind of sorcery these top first-level wizards use!
Lynn and Felicity parted ways at the entrance of the World Conquest Association, then hurried back to their residence.

'The investigation has been successfully completed, and no one should disturb my meditation anymore... I need to go back and meditate quickly. I'm just a little short of completely digesting the Shadow Man's gift and advancing to the first-tier advanced wizard level.'

"To be honest, I haven't had a chance to carefully consider what I've gained this time... I'll think about it after I get promoted..."

(End of this chapter)