Wizard: My career panel has no upper limit

Chapter 443 Pheromones

This is the fourth Timehound!
While Ron was focused on the battle ahead, it silently slipped into the consciousness space through another rift.

Moreover, it had clearly witnessed the entire battle and knew how formidable its prey was.

So when they made their move, they went all out, even burning their very essence like the first hunting dog.

As the spike pierced through, it was accompanied by a terrifying, wailing sound!
——Flowing wall

The silvery-gray liquid barely formed a barrier in front of him.

But this attack was far more powerful than before. Although the spike was momentarily blocked, it still pierced through the defense.

"Pfft-"

A sharp pain instantly spread throughout his body, and Ron felt an excruciating agony.

The consciousness's right arm was completely pierced, and spiritual energy flowed out of the wound like a spring.

He could feel the barbs on the spike writhing wildly, trying to tear open a larger wound.

"First, stabilize the situation..."

The silver pocket watch sensed the danger to its owner and automatically activated its time reset function.

Warm, time-energy enveloped the wound, and the damaged structure of consciousness began to repair itself rapidly.

But just as the healing was about to be completed, the hound, in a state of explosive power, delivered its second blow.

The target this time is the top.

If you are hit, it will be an instant kill, and even if there is a time reset, it will not save your life!
The spikes hurtled in like the Grim Reaper's scythe, carrying a deadly intent.

The shadow of death was reflected in Ron's eyes, and time seemed to stand still at that moment.

At the critical moment, the stand-in puppet suddenly rushed out from the side.

Although it had just been attacked, the puppet's abyssal crystal core was still barely functioning.

Its purplish-black body stood in front of Ron, taking the fatal blow with its own flesh.

"Click——"

The puppet's chest was completely pierced, and the internal crystalline core shattered into countless fragments.

But it bought Ron valuable time.

"Thank you, old buddy."

Ron gritted his teeth.

In a desperate situation, he made an extremely dangerous decision.

He took out the cursed paradoxical die and activated it without hesitation.

"The King of Absurdity's warning... there's no time to worry about that now!"

The polyhedron trembled violently in his palm, and the number of dots on its surface began to change wildly.

1, 3, 6, ∞, ?, ※……

Each transformation is accompanied by a slight distortion of the laws of reality.

Space began to exhibit illogical geometric structures, and the flow of time became erratic.

Under the influence of this paradoxical force, the attack trajectory of the fourth hound took an unexpected turn.

The spike, which was supposed to hit its mark, suddenly deflected fifteen degrees to the right just before it was about to pierce Ron's head.

It narrowly missed his ear, shaving off only a few strands of hair.

But the backlash from the paradoxical force came immediately.

Ron felt immense pressure on his consciousness, as if an invisible giant hand was twisting the very essence of his being.

Blood gushed from his nostrils, and his vision began to blur.

However, the paradoxical force has a more pronounced effect on the enemy.

The fourth hound appeared extremely uncomfortable in the paradoxical field, its movements becoming sluggish and stiff.

Its silver body began to show spiderweb-like cracks, and its time manipulation ability almost completely failed.

"The opportunity... only comes once..."

Despite the excruciating pain, Ron mustered his last bit of mental strength.

The remaining mental energy was poured into a "mental blast," creating a devastating shockwave around the hound.

The hound let out a final, piercing howl, as sharp as shattering glass.

It struggled desperately to activate the time reset, but the interference of paradoxical forces rendered the ability completely unusable.

—Sonic oscillation erosion state

Twisted murmurs echoed in the space of consciousness like a funeral dirge, ancient and evil syllables tearing apart the very foundation of the hound's existence.

Finally, the fourth Timehound's body could not withstand the multiple blows and began to collapse from the inside.

The silver light burst forth like fireworks, then dissipated into countless points of light, all of which were absorbed by the pocket watch.

[Charging complete! New features unlocking...]

The cost of victory was extremely high.

Ron's mental energy was almost completely exhausted, his consciousness space cracked in many places, and he was so weak that he almost fainted.

The backlash from the paradoxical dice continued, and he could feel that his consciousness structure was undergoing some kind of irreversible change.

"There are...three more..."

He leaned against the canyon wall, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with trembling hands.

At the edge of the consciousness space, an unprecedented commotion arose from the remaining three spacetime rifts.

Three surviving hounds lingered behind the crevice, their silhouettes barely visible in the darkness.

They sometimes gather together, sometimes disperse, as if they are having some kind of heated "discussion".

Through the deep perception of the "Eye of Observation," Ron is able to capture fragments of information they convey.

It was a pure conceptual exchange that transcended language:
"Danger. This wizard is not the prey."

"Four members of the same clan. All vanished in a form of resistance never seen before."

"We must report this to our superiors."

The tragic deaths of their four companions completely shattered these predators' understanding of the world.

Throughout their long existence, the Timehound has always been at the top of the food chain.

They hunt those who leave their mark on time and space, like spiders preying on insects trapped in their webs.

Few prey can turn the tables on their hunters, let alone kill four of their own kind in succession.

………………

Although he was so exhausted that he could barely stand, Ron's reason told him that he must not show any weakness at this crucial moment.

He forced himself to stand up quickly, despite his exhaustion.

"Micro-structural adaptation. The final one."

A faint light emanated from his body, constructing a gigantic, illusory figure at the edge of his consciousness.

The distorted syllables slithered around the projection like living snakes, exuding a strong sense of erosion of reality.

"Who else?"

Ron's voice was amplified through the projection, carrying the bloody intimidation of having just killed four of his own kind.

The sound travels through the spacetime rift, echoing layer by layer in the dimensional angles.

The faint echoes of the high-dimensional murmurs still reverberate.

Those lingering, distorted syllables, like invisible venomous snakes, constantly reminded the hounds of the danger posed by the wizard before them.

The discussion among the three hounds behind the crack became even more heated.

Their outlines began to fluctuate wildly, clearly indicating serious internal divisions.

The two smaller hounds clearly preferred to retreat immediately.

Their forms are becoming increasingly blurred, ready to disappear into the depths of time at any moment.

But the lead elite hound, which was clearly much larger, seemed unwilling to give up.

It lingered at the edge of the crack, constantly releasing tentative mental fluctuations.

Ron could sense the meaning behind these fluctuations: the leader wanted to confirm his true state.

"Very smart, but not smart enough..."

He maintained the imposing posture of the projection while calmly analyzing the situation in his mind.

Although Timehounds are intelligent, their thought processes still follow the basic behavioral logic of wild animals.

When faced with uncertain threats, they will instinctively seek the course of action that results in the least loss.

The key now is not to provoke them excessively and to convince them that the cost of continuing the attack far outweighs the benefits.

“Iai'leth”

Ron softly recited fragments of his ramblings.

In the Time Hound's perception, a whisper is more terrifying than a roar. It suggests that the caster still retains abundant power and can unleash an even more powerful attack at any time.

Finally, after several minutes of "discussion," the three hounds made a decision.

The two smaller ones were the first to retreat, their figures disappearing like smoke into the depths of the spacetime rift.

But before leaving, the leader did something that made Ron's heart sink.

Its massive body began to emit a special "pheromone".

This pheromone contains detailed combat records:
The enemy's approximate strength, the attack methods used, and the casualties inflicted.
"Reporting to the Dog King, a higher-level hunting team is needed."

The fragmented pieces of concepts, transmitted through the spacetime rift, made Ron's expression even more grim.

After releasing its pheromones, the lead hound also quickly vanished into the void.

The last spacetime rift slowly healed, and the space of consciousness returned to calm.

"Next time they come, it might just be the King of Dogs' own pack of hunting dogs."

Ron smiled wryly as the projection began to slowly fade away.

The Dog King, as Yutel once mentioned, is a terrifying existence at least comparable to the Dark Sun level or even the level of a Grand Wizard.

That was the ruler of the entire race, possessing the ability to hunt in groups by arbitrarily creating spatial and temporal angles.

Even a great wizard, if not skilled in time manipulation, must carefully consider whether to fight the pack of hounds led by the Dog King.

With my current strength...
"One needs to break through to the Dark Sun level to have any fighting power, but that will take a long time."

He shook his head, temporarily suppressing his worry.

The most important thing now is to recover and prepare for a potentially greater threat.

………………

As the smoke of battle gradually dissipated, Ron began to carefully examine his condition.

The injuries sustained in the battle have been completely healed thanks to the time-resetting ability of the silver pocket watch.

However, damage to the consciousness space cannot be repaired by external forces.

Seven cracks of varying depths are distributed like a spider web across every corner of the spiritual realm.

Five of the wounds were relatively minor and could heal in about a week with the natural recovery of mental energy.

However, the other two cracks penetrated deep into the core of the consciousness structure, with traces of corrosion left by the spikes still remaining at the edges.

"These two dishes will need at least half a month to fully recover."

Ron carefully examined the injuries, secretly relieved.

If it weren't for the robust structure of the "knowledge triangle," which provides additional protection...

This level of damage was enough to plunge his consciousness into permanent chaos.

On the other hand, the hunting mark on his left chest was precisely removed after multiple time resets.

But the lead hound used a more advanced tracking method, and pheromone traces have already been spread.

Although the marks are not as obvious as before, they will still be tracked by high-level Time Hounds.

"Clearing pheromones likely requires deeper processing."

He made this important matter a note in his mind.

A method to conceal time traces must be found, otherwise similar attacks will continue to occur.

"The cost is indeed high, but it's much better than death."

He turned to look at the paradoxical die that had just played a crucial role.

At this moment, the polygon was lying quietly in a corner of the consciousness space, but its surface had undergone a strange change.

The points on the six faces, which were originally constantly changing, have now all turned into blood-red "∞" symbols.

The infinity symbol writhed slowly like a living thing, each pulse accompanied by a faint but distinct ominous aura.

In the symbolic system of occultism, the blood-red infinity symbol represents "the beginning of a cycle".

Today's victory will inevitably bring even greater challenges.

Moreover, this challenge will escalate in a spiral until a certain critical point is reached.

"An infinite loop. Does this mean this is just the beginning?"

Ron frowned as he stared at the dice, trying to decipher the hidden prophetic message within.

As he observed, the six infinity symbols began to slowly rotate, their speed increasing.

The rotating symbol occasionally flashes numbers:

7、13、21、34、55
Each number appeared only briefly, but Ron memorized them all thanks to his photographic memory.

"Sequence?"

He quickly discovered the pattern: the numbers followed a classic mathematical sequence.

In the context of mysticism, these numbers may represent time intervals.

Each number may be able to deduce the timing of a key event.

However, the dice did not reveal the specific details of the incident.

It just lay there quietly.

The crimson infinity symbol continued to writhe, waiting for the wheel of fate to turn again.

"Anyway, at least we're safe for now."

………………

At the deepest part of the river of time lies a realm where even the concepts themselves have become blurred.

Here, the words "past," "present," and "future" lose their meaning.

Time is like a chaotic mass of primordial matter, which is both liquid and gas, both solid and plasma.

Countless timelines converge, separate, and recombine here, forming a dazzling and complex network.

Each tributary carries fragments from different timelines.

Some are lost histories, some are uncertain futures, and some are possibilities that will never happen.

Deep within the heart of this chaos, a colossal figure huddled in its lair.

The Dog King, ruler of the Time Hounds.

Unlike the previous Dog King, whose body bore the scars of countless battles, the new Dog King's body showed no signs of combat.

Its rise was not achieved through direct confrontation, but rather by emerging from the remnants of the tribe after an unprecedented catastrophe.

The name of that disaster remains a taboo subject that the Time Hounds dare not mention to this day—the arrival of Clock King Erica.

The King Dog is in a deep hibernation.

In the depths of time, hibernation is a necessary survival strategy.

Excessive activity leads to rapid energy depletion, and although there is plenty of time here, replenishing energy still requires an extremely long period.

Suddenly, a faint information fluctuation pierced through the Dog King's dormant state.

That was a signal from its hounds, transmitted through the swarm network.

The signal contained anxiety, fear, and an urgent desire to devour and consume.

The Dog King's enormous eyelids slowly opened, and the time vortex in its pupils began to spin faster.

Having just woken up, it was extremely agitated.

The King of Dogs let out a deep roar that echoed like thunder through the river of time.

What kind of enemy did its tribe encounter that required it to ask for help?
While ordinary time-hunting hounds aren't particularly powerful, they're sufficient to handle most unexpected situations.

The being that can instill fear in them is by no means a simple entity.

"Those old guys who are good at manipulating time, didn't they already reach an agreement with us? Could it be that some fool is being unreasonable again..."

The information fluctuations contained detailed battle reports.

The Dog King has read the key information:

A young wizard who possesses extraordinary time manipulation skills.

It not only limited the advantages of the Time Hound, but also demonstrated a certain high-dimensional pollution ability.

"Only a Moon-level being, yet it managed to kill four hunting dogs..."

The dog king's anger began to turn into curiosity.

It hasn't encountered a truly noteworthy opponent in a long time.

Most of those daring enough to venture into the realm of time are easily dealt with by its minions.

Prey that can be a challenge for hounds actually triggers their hunting instincts as apex predators.

After all, it has never faced a real challenge since that disaster.

As a new king rising from the remnants of the race, it has always been eager to prove its strength.

(End of this chapter)