Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

Dago and the girl eventually settled down in a remote, secluded mountain forest.

He casually named this farm girl, who once didn't even deserve a name, "Tracy".

This is a kind of almost cruel remembrance, and also a kind of condescending charity.

From that day on, Tracy became like a devout shadow, taking care of all his needs in this wilderness.

In return, Dago began teaching Tracy to read, identify herbs, set traps, and even how to fight the most brutal hand-to-hand combat with the wild beasts of the forest using the simplest weapons during those long and tedious years.

Besides maintaining essential survival education, Dago devoted almost 100% of his energy and computing power to studying the vast sea of ​​"Primordial Spirit Script".

Every so often, under the quiet, deserted moonlight, the golden ladybug, representing the will of Arahant, would emerge from the sky as promised, bringing with it a series of extremely complex new spiritual runes that contained the laws of the universe.

However, this calm does not mean absolute safety.

The Black Serpent Knights, a church that appears with a frequency highly consistent with the golden ladybugs, are like mad dogs, relentlessly pursuing their prey.

Every few months, this elite killing machine, armed to the teeth, would comb through the entire forest like a comb, frantically searching for the "canary" that had inexplicably escaped from Pope Sekaterin's bedside.

To avoid these keen-nosed hounds, Dargo and Tracy were forced to relocate time and time again.

They retreated deeper and deeper into the abyss-like primeval forest, constantly moving away from any edge where they might encounter human habitation.

Five years later, with the exponential increase in search costs, the Black Serpent Knights began to appear less frequently.

Ten years later, no trace of outsiders could be found in this ancient forest.

After thoroughly searching every corner within the reach of the Deeply Intoxicated Church's influence, leaving no stone unturned...

The high and mighty, all-powerful female pope seemed to have finally had her last bit of obsession worn away by time, and had completely given up on finding her male lover named "Dago".

Time, in this secluded mountain forest, has become the cheapest thing.

Year after year has passed.

Day and night alternate, and the seasons change.

Finally, on a bitterly cold winter night, with howling winds and snow blocking the mountains.

Tracy, who had served and looked up to Dago her whole life, ultimately could not withstand the erosion of time.

She sat quietly by the warm campfire, the oil in the lamp finally burning out.

In the final moments before her consciousness faded, she felt no fear of death.

She could only recall that breezy afternoon that year, how that man, covered in blood yet as radiant as the moon, had entered her insignificant, ant-like life without warning.

He used ruthless methods to lead her step by step out of the abyss of ignorance filled with mud and pig manure.

He gave her the wisdom to read, the courage to wield a knife, and the strength to fight in this cruel world.

Most importantly, he gave her life, which was originally gray and stagnant like a dead lake, a vibrant color that she never dared to dream of.

Tracy smiled a deeply satisfied smile and peacefully closed her eyes.

In the third year since Tracy died.

After struggling to survive for so long, Dago finally reached the end of his physical body in this "reincarnation".

In the final moments of life, as consciousness is about to completely dissipate in the dying moments.

A strange hallucination appeared in Dago's already cloudy eyes.

In a daze, he saw a gigantic black serpent, obscuring the sky and the sun, slowly emerging from the depths of the universe's nothingness, tightly coiling around the entire collapsing world.

On the back of that terrifying black serpent, Sekaterin, wearing a dark gold crown and holding a scepter symbolizing supreme papal authority, was silently looking down at him with a superior yet chilling gaze.

It was just like... that one morning many years ago, when he decided to leave her, and the last look she gave him.

"Buzz—"

A sharp, piercing tremor suddenly erupted from the depths of my mind, like a sharp sword cleaving through the illusion of a dream.

Dago gasped sharply, his eyes snapping open in the real world!

The scene before my eyes instantly became clear.

It remains the same clean and bright base of the Tower of Knowledge, radiating a faint glow.

Those circular bookshelves, symbolizing endless laws and despair, like a towering steel forest, once again ruthlessly occupied his entire field of vision.

"Click click click..."

His body and brain were like a precision gear machine that had been buried underground for hundreds of years and rusted.

The moment it restarted, it emitted a teeth-grinding grinding sound.

The rust marks representing memories of "reincarnation" began to peel away bit by bit under the erosion of immense spiritual power.

Finally, the sense of age and vicissitude in Dago's eyes, like that of a centenarian, receded rapidly like the ebb tide.

Just as the silt churning in murky water gradually settles to the bottom of the cup, the wizard's cold eyes regained their icy clarity.

"Phew... How long exactly did I stay inside this time?"

Dago struggled to move his Adam's apple and spoke in a low voice.

He found his voice to be terribly dry and hoarse, as if two rough pieces of sandpaper were rubbing against each other.

The physical body in reality is clearly in a state of extreme dehydration due to the prolonged separation of the soul from the body.

"Based on the real-world time flow, it takes exactly eighty-five days."

Arajan's familiar, slightly solemn voice rang in his ears right on time.

"During these eighty-five days, as your base station, I forcibly transmitted a total of four hundred and thirty-two ancient spiritual script law data to you."

Arajan paused, his tone tinged with inquiry: "Now, tell me, after the immense shock of your soul's return and the cleansing of your memories... how much of those imprints do you still retain?"

Dago did not answer immediately.

Without making a sound, he activated his mind and quietly opened the system panel hidden deep within his retina.

His gaze swept over quickly.

Below the secondary rune list in the [Skills] section, the previously empty area is now filled with densely packed ancient spiritual runes that exude an ancient charm, forcibly occupying large areas of the blank grid.

Since these runes are the most basic strokes of the universe and not fully developed wizard skills, the panel does not display the usual "proficiency" progress bar.

Dago glanced at the final total—four hundred and thirty-one.

The 432nd Primordial Spirit Script that Arahan forcibly transmitted into the dream at the last moment was not fully analyzed and imprinted by him because the life value of that body had completely dropped to zero and the soul vessel had collapsed.

"Probably... less than half."

Dago lowered his eyelids slightly, concealing the glint of shrewdness in his eyes. He deliberately hesitated for a moment before telling Arajan a flawless lie in a slightly regretful tone.

As a seasoned veteran who has weathered the storms of this cruel wizarding world, he would never easily reveal to anyone, not even this ancient being, the ultimate secret that he possesses a "system panel"—a device capable of solidifying concepts.

"Phew...less than half? That's already a miracle."

Arazan visibly relaxed, then spoke in a reassuring tone:

"Don't be discouraged, Dago. You must understand a fundamental principle: no matter how realistic the world constructed by 'Amber Heart' may be, a dream... is ultimately just a dream."

"The moment your soul forcibly returns from a higher-dimensional dream to your physical body, this dimensional crossing inevitably causes a violent tearing of memories."

"The things you painstakingly comprehend in your dreams are like seashells left on the beach when the tide goes out; some of them will inevitably be swept away by the tide of reality."

Arajan's tone even carried a hint of undisguised admiration: "You should know that you are not the first wizard in history to come up with the idea of ​​cheating by exploiting the time difference of the 'Dream of Reincarnation'."

"But those pioneers who consider themselves geniuses, after waking up from the dimensional tear, are already happy to pop champagne if they can retain a third of what they gained in the dream."

"If word got out about your retention rate, it would be enough to make those old monsters from ancient schools of thought drop their jaws in astonishment."

"Since you already knew this path would work... why didn't you just tell me in the first place?"

Dago raised an eyebrow slightly, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger, and calmly asked in return.

"Don't be so arrogant, kid. Don't forget, you're still just a beginner when it comes to 'Spiritual Amber'!"

Arajan's tone instantly turned serious, even carrying a stern warning: "Although your performance in the first Spiritual Heart Tempering was nothing short of monstrous, as the nominal 'guide' of your lineage..."

"My primary responsibility is to ensure that your soul doesn't get completely lost and assimilated in that endless cycle of reincarnation, turning you into a madman who can't distinguish between reality and dreams!"

"Some shortcuts require an extremely strong mental fortitude as an entry ticket."

Dago fell silent.

A moment later, he slowly raised his head. His eyes, which had regained their clarity, now held a hint of unsettling confusion and deep reminiscence.

"In the final moments of this cycle of reincarnation..."

He seemed to be talking to himself, "I clearly saw a black snake, an enormous snake whose body stretched across the universe, large enough to swallow the entire world whole..."

Arahan's voice abruptly and deathly fell silent the moment he heard the words "black snake."

The only sound in the entire space was Dago's faint breathing.