Wizard: I'm leveling up by AFK in another world

Glug... Glug...

The sound of water around me grew increasingly noisy, as if countless wet, slippery hands were scratching at my eardrums.

Claire felt a strong sense of suffocation.

He tried to open his mouth to breathe, but what rushed into his throat was salty, fishy seawater.

Once he had adjusted, he saw towers made of flesh and blood and blue stone bricks standing in the deep darkness.

The tower's surface was covered with a thick carpet of fungi, embedded with countless eerie green eyes that rotated frequently, as if monitoring this twisted underwater city-state.

"This is... the sea race empire of the Blue Sea Realm?"

Claire's remaining sanity teetered on the brink of madness, but he still forced himself to analyze everything before him.

The camera suddenly zoomed in.

Claire's perspective shifted to the interior of the largest tower.

In the center of the hall, which was dozens of meters high, a dozen or so deformed and swollen fish-men were suspended in mid-air by thick blood vessels.

Their abdomens were cut open, and their original internal organs had been removed, replaced by translucent sacs that were still pulsating.

Before them, a group of fish-men dressed in gorgeous robes were expressionlessly stuffing all sorts of random things into the bellies of their "kin".

"...using souls as kindling... to ignite the fires of the abyss..."

The hoarse voice rang out again, accompanied by the violent convulsions and screams of the sea creatures hanging in the air.

Claire clearly saw that as the victims let out mournful screams, streams of visible gray mist poured out of their seven orifices and were greedily absorbed by the strange sac.

Inside the translucent capsule, various substances spontaneously combusted without fire, rapidly dissolving and ultimately transforming into drops of golden liquid that emitted a dazzling light.

The fishmen poured the golden liquid into glass bottles. As the last drop was collected, the thick blood vessels trembled, pulling the completely dead "crucibles" into the darkness above.

hum!

Void oscillation.

Something so vast and unimaginable seemed to cast a glance down from the dome.

With just a faint wisp of will, Claire felt as if she were being gripped tightly by a giant hand, unable to move at all.

"This is... an echo from the abyss?"

Claire suddenly realized that everything happening before her eyes was remarkably similar to what was described in the book.

The phenomenon recorded in the book occurred to the sea tribe priest who presided over the ceremony, but at this time there was no ceremony, and the one who "heard" the echo was him, who was the sacrifice.

Just then, the sea tribe priest, dressed in magnificent robes, turned his head and his indifferent gaze fell on Claire.

"Bring it over," he said.

Two merman warriors emerged from the darkness beside the hall, grabbed Claire, and led her toward the sea priest.

Upon arrival, the sea tribe priest brandished his coral staff, and a black stone altar rose out of thin air from the ground.

Claire was stripped naked and tied to a stone platform.

He felt the delicate patterns on the altar drawing heat from his body, and a nauseating, fishy stench emanated from above.

woo-

The deep sound of horns rang out from all directions, making the seawater tremble.

The sea tribe priest walked slowly forward, his coral staff replaced by a sharp blade that looked like it was made of bone.

It pulled open its sleeves, revealing its sickly grayish-white skin underneath.

The bone blade was raised high, but the sea priest did not rush to strike, instead uttering a series of obscure syllables.

Is it going to be made into a crucible?

Claire closed her eyes.

Even he himself was surprised that, with a sharp blade pointing at him, he felt no reaction, but rather a profound calm.

at last.

The bone blade fell with a chilling whistling sound, aimed directly at Claire's heart.

It's sizzling!

A dazzling blue arc of electricity suddenly exploded in the seawater.

The sea-folk priests, the black stone altar, and the flesh-and-blood tower were like shattered mirrors, instantly covered with cracks.

"Warning: Mental threshold is critical."

"Initiate mandatory intervention procedures."

A emotionless, mechanical synthesized voice rang in Claire's ears, completely drowning out the ancient chanting.

boom!

The illusion shattered.

Claire opened her eyes abruptly and found herself slumped on the library floor.

The booklet titled "A Record of the Phenomenon of 'Abyssal Echoes' in Sea Clan Sacrifices" was lying not far away, and the moving eye on the cover was now tightly closed, presumably dead.

Before him floated the Silent One, composed of brass gears and crystal eyeballs.

Several cold, mechanical tentacles were pressed against his neck; the electric current that had pulled him back from the illusion was clearly the work of the Silent One.

"Apprentice Claire Lewis."

The Silent One's crystal eyes shimmered with a rhythmic light, the message seemingly conveyed through mechanical tentacles:

"Your current mental stability is below 20%. It is recommended that you stop reading immediately and seek medical treatment."

As he spoke, the armor plate on the Silent One's abdomen slid open, revealing a tray.

Two bottles of medicine were neatly arranged on the tray.

One bottle is light blue and has a refreshing minty scent.

The other bottle contained a grayish, pasty substance that looked like some kind of building material.

"I don't eat concrete," Claire said instinctively.

"What you're referring to should be the Hibernian Nutritional Supplement, chocolate flavored. It's rich in all the nutrients a wizard apprentice needs, and one bottle can sustain you for three days of intensive reading. It costs one magic stone per bottle."

"The other bottle contains the Celestial Bell Type III Mental Stabilizer. It can purify pollution while also helping to restore mental strength. It costs five magic stones per bottle."

The silent one paused for a moment, then said, "You are currently eligible for a new student discount. The two potions are priced at four magic stones."

Claire was a little stunned. He couldn't quite accept that the Silent One, whose name sounded so mysterious and powerful, would also be involved in sales.

However, thinking back to the bronze gate from before, I felt relieved.

Moreover, he actually needed the two things the Silent One was selling.

"Two sets, please."

He took out eight magic stones and handed them over.

Thank you for your patronage. The meaning of life lies in the pursuit of ultimate truth. Happy reading!

The Silent One withdrew its tentacles and pushed the two vials of potion in front of Claire.

Then, the lump of brass quietly rose into the air to find its next unlucky victim.

Claire picked up the blue bottle of Heavenly Sound Bell and tilted her head back to gulp it down.

The icy liquid slid down his throat, instantly turning into a chilling current that rushed straight to his head, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

But the effect was immediate. He felt the chaotic whispers in his mind clear away, and the eerie feeling of being watched disappeared.

"call……"

Claire let out a sigh of relief, her eyes regaining their clarity.

Then he felt an unprecedented hunger, so he ate the lump of porridge again.

It tastes like cheap chocolate mixed with sawdust, and the texture is so rough it hurts your throat, but the warm, full feeling after you eat it is very comforting.

After he was satisfied, he began to recall everything that had happened before.

Although the illusion was dangerous, I seemed to have discovered some ancient secret hidden deep in the sea.

For example, the wizards observed that the sea monster potion masters used themselves as furnaces, but the sea monster priests in the illusion transformed the "offerings" into crucibles.

And that immense will that seems to be worshipped by the sea people is clearly not the so-called sea god Egil.

After all, although the latter was called the Sea God, he was actually just an ordinary Level 3 native.

Claire brings up the panel.

[Blue Sea Clan's Knowledge of Potions (3/7)]

"It went up by two points."

Claire glanced at the clock on the semi-transparent platform and realized that he had been there for two days.

No wonder I'm so hungry.

"One point a day, at this pace, you can finish reading it very quickly."

With that thought in mind, he sat back down in front of the pile of books and began reading again.