Wizard: Starting from Escape from the Thorn Garden

Chapter 157 Good News and Bad News

The resounding echoes of the successful turnaround still linger in the ancient halls, but a deeper silence, originating from the very rules, has already descended.

For the first time, a clearly discernible weakness appeared in that dark source that throbbed like a heart, constantly pumping out despair.

The surging black tide came to a standstill, and the churning malice, as if stripped of its backbone, became sluggish and listless.

The cold, decaying feeling that permeated the air, though still strong, had lost its vibrant, ever-growing aggressiveness.

Kate collapsed onto the soft cushion of branches and leaves that Ash had just extended, her chest heaving violently, each breath burning with pain. Her mind was like a dried-up well that had been completely drained, filled with waves of tearing emptiness and excruciating pain.

He didn't even have the strength to lift a finger, and his vision blurred at the edges, forcing him to maintain a sliver of clarity only through sheer willpower.

Ashe's situation is equally worrying.

In order to unleash that final, almost self-destructive "Space Cutting - Great Disintegration," she paid a heavy price. More than a third of her crystal leaf body shattered, the main stem was covered with charred and cracked material, and the flowing starlight dimmed to an extreme degree.

The mental fluctuations she transmitted were weak and filled with pain, yet they stubbornly held on, the branches gently curling up to protect Kate at the center, while vigilantly sensing any subtle changes in the surrounding environment.

Amber slumped not far away, her face deathly pale, with pale green life spots still slowly drifting from the corners of her eyes—a sign of excessive burning of her life force.

She looked at the gradually calming source of darkness, then gazed at the "Dream Core" at the center of the magic array, which was now completely dim, cracked, and entangled with residual black energy. Her large eyes were filled with sadness and confusion.

Have we won? Will the erosion of our homeland stop?

"Kate—did we—do we succeed?"

Amber's voice was as faint as a whisper, carrying an uncertain hope.

Kate swallowed hard, her throat feeling as dry as sandpaper.

He concentrated his remaining spiritual power, sensing the energy flow of the magic array through the faint feedback from the Heart of Reincarnation domain and the scanning of the Seed of Origin.

[It has been detected that the core energy flow of the target array has undergone a fundamental reversal.]

Current flow: From being drawn from the earth's veins/stars to being injected into the sealed core.

The output of the dark source energy has been interrupted, and its activity is continuously decreasing.

[Warning: The seal structure is severely damaged, and the intensity of the reversed energy flow is only 3.2% of the original design, making complete suppression impossible; it can only prevent further spread.]

[Energy reaction of the "Dream Core" (target object): Extremely weak, structural integrity less than 10%, on the verge of complete collapse.]

"It's a partial success." Kate's voice was so hoarse it was almost unrecognizable. "The magic circle has reversed, the source of contamination has been cut off. The external erosion—will stop spreading. But the seal—is too weak to completely purify this place. And—"

His gaze fell on the dying amber crystal, and his heart felt heavy.

This mysterious "Dream Core" paid the ultimate price to protect the forest.

"First, recover some strength."

Kate said with difficulty, taking out the highest quality mental energy restoration potion and life essence from her dimensional bag. She took a big gulp herself and handed some to Aisha and sent some to Amber with a gentle breeze.

After taking the medicine, a gentle energy began to nourish the parched meridians and spiritual sea. Although it was only a drop in the ocean, it at least alleviated the despairing feeling of weakness.

As Ashe absorbed the life essence, the rate at which the cracks on her main trunk spread slowed down slightly.

Amber reluctantly accepted the potion, took a small sip, and a faint trace of color returned to her pale face.

Taking advantage of this precious moment to catch his breath, Kate gestured for Ash to carefully support him and slowly approach the center of the magic circle.

The closer you get, the more you can feel how terrible the "core of the dream" is.

It no longer radiates any light; the cracks on its surface are as dense as a spider web, and tiny fragments are slowly peeling away and drifting away, as if it will turn into dust completely in the next second.

"It's going to disappear—"

Amber struggled to crawl over, her eyes brimming with tears as she reached out her hand, but dared not touch it, for fear of hastening its collapse.

Kate frowned.

This "Dream Core" clearly contains immense secrets and power, perhaps related to the fusion of rules he sought, and is even a sacred object of the Light Fairy race.

We can't let it just disappear completely like that.

"Try to collect the fragments; perhaps—there's still a glimmer of hope."

Kate spoke to Amber, while carefully climbing down from Ash's branches. Despite her weakened state, she took out several crystal boxes from her dimensional bag, boxes specifically designed for storing high-energy sensitive substances.

Amber nodded vigorously, a glimmer of hope rekindling in her eyes.

The two began to carefully wrap their palms with the gentlest life energy, picking up the fragments that had fallen off or were about to fall off the "Dream Core" as if they were picking up fragile bubbles, and placing them into the crystal box.

This process must be carried out with extreme caution, as any energy impact could completely annihilate these already highly unstable fragments.

Just as Kate gently placed the last, largest, and cracked core fragment—which still maintained its basic shape—into the last crystal box and closed the lid, another anomaly occurred!

hum!

An indescribable, immense torrent, seemingly containing the memories and emotions of the entire forest throughout the ages, disregarded physical distance, energy defenses, and even Kate's own will, forcibly breaking through his mental defenses and dragging him into a bizarre and fantastical space entirely constructed of thought!

"Kate?!" Ash immediately noticed that Kate's mental fluctuations had suddenly disappeared as if swallowed by a black hole. Although his body was still standing in the same place, his eyes instantly lost focus and became empty and lifeless.

She anxiously touched Kate with a branch, but received no response.

Amber was also startled, looking at Kate who suddenly froze, at a loss for what to do.

Kate felt as if she had fallen into a time tunnel made up of countless flowing lights and shadows, broken sounds, and intertwined emotions.

Various images, sounds, and thoughts surged through his consciousness like a flood bursting its banks.

He witnessed the magnificent cycle of the seasons in the Tranquil Forest, the peaceful frolicking and singing of the Light Fairies beneath the Eversong Tree, and how the "Core of Dreams," like a gentle sun, nourished the collective dream and lifeblood of the forest—

But soon, the scene suddenly turned dark.

The perspective shifts back to this underground hall, and time seems to accelerate.

He saw the indescribable, terrifying being sealed deep within the giant pit. Although its main body could not escape the eternal suppression, the ultimate "nothingness" and "decay" of its nature was slowly and almost imperceptibly seeping out, like mercury seeping into the ground, penetrating the smallest cracks of the powerful seal.

These dissipated dark energies were extremely thin, and at first even the "Dream Core" was unaware of them.

Like the most cunning parasites, they do not attack directly, but quietly attach themselves to the edge of the energy flow of the magic array. As the energy circulates, they gradually and imperceptibly contaminate everything that flows through them, just like a virus.

Year after year, for millennia—quantitative change leads to qualitative change.

Finally, at a certain critical point, these scattered and pervasive dark energies quietly converged within the "Dream Core"—the core responsible for harmonizing and carrying the forest's dreamscape—forming a miniature...

The "Dark Seeds" possess a nascent collective consciousness.

This "Seed of Darkness" is extremely well hidden. It does not possess great power, but it has perfectly stolen and fused with a portion of the essential abilities of the "Core of Dreams"—the power to influence, weave, and even distort the minds and dreams of living beings.

Then came the arrival of the Light Elf expedition team.

Their reckless actions, which caused the magic array to reverse, were not a disaster for the long-dormant "Seed of Darkness," but rather a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The reversal and collapse of the magic array was like a huge breach being blown open in a dam.

Although the power of the sealed body cannot be directly released, this "Seed of Darkness" has partially fused with the "Core of Dreams" and stolen its characteristics.

Taking advantage of this moment of upheaval and chaos, it frantically absorbed the dissipated primal power and completely ignited its erosion of the "Dream Core".

It didn't invade from the outside; it was a cancer cell born from within the "Dream Core."

The inside and outside forces colluded to cause the "Dream Core" to deteriorate and become polluted in an instant, and then seized and distorted it, turning it into a tool for outward spread and erosion.

The scene that Kate and the others had witnessed earlier, where the "Dream Core" erupted with light to repel the erosion, was merely a desperate attempt to save itself in its last moments of lucidity, but it also accelerated the process of being completely devoured by the "Seed of Darkness" within.

The scene in the dream finally froze at a moment not long ago—the moment when Kate successfully reversed the magic circle node and cut off the supply of the Dark Source.

Having lost the continuous support of its own energy, the "Dark Seed" that had already taken shape inside the "Dream Core" made a decisive decision: it abandoned its attempt to completely devour and control this "shell" that was on the verge of collapse.

Instead, it forcibly broke through the final constraints of the "Dream Core," carrying with it the core rules about the influence of the "Dream Core" on the mind and dreams that it had stolen over the years, as well as a portion of pure dark essence.

It transformed into an invisible and intangible stream of thought, extremely concealed, and silently escaped along the energy turbulence generated when the magic array was reversed.

It was not destroyed!

It escaped into the vast and boundless Forest of Eternal Night, carrying with it the stolen and crucial power of "dreams".

The torrent of information from the dream finally coalesced into a clear and urgent thought, like a final testament, deeply imprinted in Kate's consciousness: "—The successor—the seal—erased the main body—but the serpent—left behind an even more cunning venomous egg—"

"It—stole the power of dreams—possessed the seeds to weave nightmares and distort the perception of reality—"

"It is weak—it needs time to grow—but if it is allowed to lie dormant—devouring the dreams of living beings—it will eventually revive—becoming an even more troublesome—source of nightmares."

Only through the power of dreams can one perceive and trace the ripples of dreams they leave behind.

"Fragments—fragments containing the laws of dreams—analyze them—master them—only then—before they completely merge into the dreamscape of the forest—find them—destroy them—"

Time is running out.

All light, shadow, and sound suddenly disappeared.

Kate jolted awake, her consciousness forcibly jolted back to reality, her body swayed, but was firmly supported by Ash's branches.

"Kate! How are you?" Ash and Amber's anxious voices rang out at the same time.

Kate's face was extremely pale, she was panting heavily, and her forehead was covered in cold sweat.

He glanced at the crystal box in his hand containing the largest fragment of the "Dream Core," his expression incredibly complex.

"We solved one problem, but let an even more dangerous one escape."

Kate's voice carried a hint of weariness and lingering fear as he quickly and concisely recounted the truth he had seen in his dream to Ash and Amber.

"—Therefore, the current source of darkness is a weak but dormant seed of a dream demon, possessing the ability of 'dreams.'"

Kate concluded gravely, "If it were to be restored, it would be able to directly erode the sanity of living beings, spread fear and decay in dreams, and even distort the perception of reality."

"At that point, finding and eliminating it again will be incredibly difficult."

Upon hearing this, Amber's face turned deathly pale, and her body trembled slightly.

She never expected the truth to be so cruel; the real enemy had already escaped with even more terrifying abilities.

Ash's mental fluctuations were also filled with worry: "Having the ability to dream means that it can hide deep in the dreams of any creature in the forest, and even weave its own nightmare nest, making it almost impossible to track by conventional means."

“That’s right.” Kate nodded, her sharp gaze fixed on the fragments in the crystal box. “The only clue, and the only possible way to track it down, is these fragments of the Dream Core.”

That consciousness told me that only by analyzing and mastering the laws of dreams contained within the fragments could I perceive the unique "dream ripples" left by the "Seed of the Dream Demon" in the forest, and thus find its hiding place.

He took a deep breath, suppressing his physical weakness and mental exhaustion, and his eyes regained their resolve.

"We must return to the Eternal Song Tree immediately and inform Elder Qingye of the situation here."

While the erosion of forests may stop, a greater threat has already begun to lurk.

We need a completely safe place so I can analyze these fragments as quickly as possible.

"At the same time, the entire Evernight Forest must be closely monitored, especially for any reports of unusual dreams, mass hysteria, or mental pollution."

The "Seed of Nightmare" is currently very weak and needs nourishment to recover; it will definitely make a move.

Kate carefully put the crystal box away.

This adventure is far from over; in fact, a more covert and dangerous hunt has only just begun.

And he may be the only hunter still holding a shotgun.

"Let's go, get out of here as soon as possible," Kate said to Ash and Amber.

Although the gloomy aura within the ruins had subsided, it was still unsettling, and no one knew how long the fragile, reversed magic array would remain stable.

Ashe shrank in size and wrapped her arms around Kate's wrist.

Amber also mustered her spirits and stood up.

The three took one last look at the source of darkness, which had calmed down but whose hidden dangers remained, and at the empty base in the center, which was now just a few remnants. Then they turned around and quickly left along the way they had come.