Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

"Morokui!!!"

When they awoke, they found themselves back in their familiar homeland, back to where their journey began. Without battle, their bodies couldn't be strengthened; without injury, their scars couldn't be healed. These mantid, maintaining their weakest forms, embarked on another expedition.

And the result remained unchanged. Burrowing underground, disguising itself, lying in wait—the mantis used every method to approach the city, but was quickly discovered by the dragon priest and banished to the other side of the world amidst screams. It regrouped, reached the city, was exiled again; it regrouped again, reached the city once more, and was exiled once more…

Some of their people have gone mad on the path to eternity. They have begun to question themselves, to question the true meaning of their existence, and whether the expectations God holds can truly be met.

After an unknown amount of time, the mantises finally evolved resistance to teleportation spells using their advanced brains. They wept with joy, believing that their long journey was about to come to an end.

Once again, they approached the kingdom of the arcane sorcerers. The mantid was certain it wouldn't be exiled again, but Morok'i was no longer just a matter of psychological trauma. So when they were within a hundred meters of the wall, and the figure still hadn't appeared, the mantid was utterly overjoyed.

"Lord! We have finally won!"

Before the words were even finished, the entire city rose from the ground. Amidst the magical brilliance and the aftershocks of the explosion, the mantis stared blankly as the floating city tore through a spatial rift and disappeared before its eyes.

This time, things have truly changed completely.

The mantis will no longer run away; the City of Wanderings has run away.

Chapter 839 Time-Space Lord

The mages all had excellent memories. Carlos, who was almost fifty years old, could still clearly remember the knowledge his father taught him in the top room of that silver-white tower when he was a child.

Under Morokui's guidance, Carlos grew and unleashed his childlike nature. He flipped through a compendium of various races compiled by his father, finding it fascinating and intriguing to see the exaggeratedly different appearances of other creatures. What impressed him most at the time were the comments written in his father's familiar handwriting.

"They are hostile to us at this stage."

Children don't like such praise; Carlos wanted to be popular and liked by everyone. So, the young sorcerer had an idea.

I want to transform Morokoy into a city where multiple races coexist harmoniously.

"Discrimination cannot be eliminated without it."

“Without hatred, there can be no disintegration.”

"As long as we respect and understand each other, I want the arcane practitioners to become everyone's good friends!"

Morokoy, hearing his son's wild pronouncements, neither agreed nor disagreed; he simply listened patiently, correcting some unrealistic errors in the plan. In the end, Carlos received a revised and scribbled-down plan, with Morokoy also adding another page of illustrations as a bonus.

"Mantis demon?"

"Our irreconcilable enemies. If you find the Mantises' weakness, destroy them; otherwise, avoid them."

At that time, Carlos was full of confidence after completing his grand plan for racial harmony.

"No! Father, please believe me, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests, and no hatred is too great to be eased by time."

"Yes, my child." In my memory, the ancient magic mask slowly approached, the eyes behind it like a sea without light.

"Time cannot diminish the hatred that grows with the passage of time."

"If you unfortunately encounter a Mantis and aren't prepared, remember one thing, Carlos..."

……

"Portal Mage! Don't get captured by the Mantis!" Carlos shouted. The advice that Morokui gave him was absolutely crucial.

"Too late, arcane one." On the outer side of the mantis's forearm is a blade made of exoskeleton. It is a weapon, and also their best capture organ, used to extract magical properties from the prey's bodily fluids and absorb them for their own use.

A mantis discarded the mage's corpse; in the hollow center of its blade, the mage's blood was preserved, analyzed, modified, evolved, and shared with the swarm.

Carlos watched as the enemy's blades turned silver-blue, and the familiar aura of time and space became their power.

"Hahahaha!" The mantis stared at its new weapon, casually slicing open a dimensional portal. "This disgusting power, arcane beings! You too can taste our suffering! Run, run to the ends of the earth! The eternal hunt, no one can escape!"

Battle is inevitable. The mantises are no longer limited by their environment; they can teleport to the side of mages with a wave of their hand and slice through their fragile bodies with their sharp blades. Even mages who hide in the rifts of spacetime will be tracked down by the swarms of insects that have also infiltrated the rifts.

The troops here are a mixed army composed of multiple races. Seeing their lord Carlos being attacked by the enemy, the various races who had received favors from the Wandering City acted decisively. However, their diverse abilities and racial traits also helped the Mantid evolve rapidly. Thick hide, agility, sharpness, ferocity, adversity adaptation, and even magic immunity evolved from hatred.

The question is no longer whether we can defeat the enemy, but how to keep this survivor force alive.

Carlos fended off the swarm's onslaught, his heart sinking at the sight of the carnage around him. He used three jumps to reach unparalleled heights, and amidst the watchful eyes of the crowd, Carlos roared.

"Christo!"

The Crystal Blue Dragon manipulated the frontline lich, teleporting and shifting amidst the holy light. Even as its hands flailed wildly, it didn't forget to use its tail to carve a tributary of the magical web for Carlos. His magical adaptation to Moroki allowed him to withstand the pressure of the web's onslaught, and for a short time, Carlos became a powerful mage with limitless mana. And his talent was…

【Opening the Eyes of a Thousand】

Space was cut into countless pieces, and the folded spacetime portals resembled countless eyes. All the teleportation magic within the area was enhanced, but the underlying magical rules had become disordered in the chaotic flow of spacetime. Only Carlos was able to accurately locate the fragmented space.

The Mantis bravely withstood the dimensional erosion and activated teleportation. He completed the blinking, but ended up in another terrible location: the edge of a spatial rift. His body was split in two and entered different time portals. The swarm of insects looked up and saw Carlos's shattered figure after the light distorted.

Carlos used a portal to build a constantly changing labyrinth, trapping the Mantis.

"The Queen Insect, they've escaped!"

"Don't worry about him. As long as we kill him, we can catch up with those flesh worms anytime. That's right, tear him apart. I have a feeling."

"All the portals are usable, which means he doesn't have the ability to directly harm us."

The Mantis Queen issued commands using the swarm network.

"Pass through all the portals! Don't miss a single one. This space has been fragmented, but it hasn't ceased to exist! There will always be one that leads to the location of that arcane mage. As long as one of our kin is there, we can kill him!"

The swarm began to accelerate its migration.

Carlos, who controlled this space, broke out in a cold sweat. This was no longer a contest of strength; he knew that perfectly well. The reason the Mantis had teleported to the wrong location was actually quite simple: he had opened another portal at the end of the one the Mantis had created, just like his father, Morokui, creating a path that would never end.

However, there are thousands of insects here. Even ignoring the magic loss from the magic net, the mental energy consumed when casting spells is unavoidable, and thousands of them at the same time. Arcane users have extremely high mental energy reserves, but even the highest reserves will eventually run out. The mantid are evolving, accelerating, and constantly adapting to the new spacetime environment. Carlos has no doubt that they will soon become masters of spacetime travel, and that will be the end of his life.

"It doesn't matter, it's not like I haven't died before."

Carlos deeply resented his younger self who didn't like learning about spacetime modeling. If he had studied more about black hole singularities and spacetime paradoxes back then, his move "Opening the Eyes of a Thousand Things" wouldn't just have binding abilities. He simply didn't read enough books.

After Carlos's mental energy was exhausted, the Mantis deciphered the portal's labyrinth, swung its blades, and the Swarm Queen watched Carlos with a hint of excitement in her eyes.

"Your name, Master, I will remember your name."

Carlos bowed gracefully, maintaining his composure.

"Carlos Jan Dorgit, son of Morokui, leader of the arcane, currently."

The mantis's gaze changed, and Carlos sensed a human-like attraction in it. He chuckled and dismissed the nonsensical thought.

"It seems I'm still incredibly charming."

"Yes, the mere thought of destroying Moroko's masterpiece is driving me crazy with excitement."

The Mantis Queen pounced eagerly, her reaction speed far exceeding that of a human. She saw Carlos's pupils dilate, and saw herself reflected in his eyes as he entered predatory mode—dangerous, yet beautiful.

It's like looking in a mirror.

The mirror shattered, and the mantis's blade missed its target; she found herself in another barrier.

Mr. Mirror's Mirror World.

“You need to understand what kind of situation you'll face if you provoke an excellent magic professor. Carlos is the professor's bloodline, and we won't stand idly by.”

Countless mantids followed their queen into the mirror world. Facing the lone lich floating in the air, they observed their surroundings. The impenetrable illusion sent a chill down the spines of the swarm. Spitting out a mouthful of filthy slime, the mantid roared, "Another despicable barrier! The thoughts of you Morokui spellcasters are truly filthy, vile, and disgusting!"

“Uh… thank you?” the lich replied.

Chapter 840 Who is the masterpiece of Morokoy?

"Heal the wounded! Use potions! Don't use those marked with skulls!" The Law Master was organizing the liches to heal the wounded. The mantid attack was successful; the living forces were either dead or wounded, and those rescued by Carlos barely survived. It was only because they were now struggling to communicate that the dead had the opportunity to replenish the medical supplies. Healing the wounded was ultimately the liches' forte, and the Law Master remained completely vigilant, standing outside the barrier set up by the Mirror Master, watching each lich carrying a stretcher with suspicion.

"Put them down! They can't regenerate limbs!"

"You! Don't force the medicine through your nose!"

"Get out of here! Take your artificial heart with you!"

With his mental energy nearly depleted, Carlos was helped to approach Mr. Law, revealing a carefree smile as he expressed his gratitude to the Magic Research Club for their rescue.

"Well done, friend."

“The situation is not optimistic, sir.” Law pulled another human coughing up blood from the barrier and poured the witch’s potion on his wound. “The news from the front is that the [immunity] reaction has begun. These people must be treated immediately and returned to the battlefield. They have no time to rest. So do you.”

Carlos nodded in understanding.

“Don’t worry, I can replenish my mental energy by drinking some elven elixirs. The army’s morale hasn’t changed much, and we can continue fighting. However…” Carlos looked behind Law, where there were overlapping, hazy shadows in the air and crystal-like frames around him. “Is he alright on his own? Because of our mistake, the Mantid has evolved, and the swarm has become quite troublesome. I know firsthand the feeling of being locked up when your joints are locked.”

With his familiar spellcasting skills, Carlos easily recognized that the Mirror Master was from the same school as him and knew that his father was also a teacher at the Lich Academy. The warm friendship between classmates made Carlos worry about his junior brother who was in charge of everything. His other junior brother, the Law Master, responded to his friendship.

“Mr. Carlos, we don’t mean to be rude. But please don’t judge us by the limitations of you living beings. We don’t need rest, we don’t get lost, and we have ample time and energy to study all the knowledge and skills taught by our scholar teachers. Just because you can’t do it doesn’t mean we can’t.” As the first student taught by the Blue Dragon Priest, and Morokui’s own son and eldest disciple, Carlos was inevitably mentioned by the scholar teacher in the teaching mode. The magic god, who was strict with himself, easily created the image of a lazy, good-for-nothing son in front of the group of lich apprentices.

“You have surpassed my son, Jing. You are better than him. Oh, sorry, surpassing him is nothing to boast about.”

"Law, how I wish my bloodline had half your diligence."

"A miracle! Your reckless nature will definitely get you into big trouble, just like Carlos!"

"Inspiration... no, you did a great job, I just remembered that idiot."

The scholar's typical professorial demeanor and excellent teaching ability easily established an image of a "tiger father, dog son" among his students, leading to a certain prejudice against his senior, Carlos. The scholar noticed some of this but said nothing, because academically speaking, Carlos was indeed inferior to his other students.

The law's indifferent reply startled Carlos for a moment, but he quickly relaxed, smiled, waved, and turned to leave.

"Then I'll leave it to you!"

……

The rapid flapping of wings echoed between the bright sky and the water. The mantis swiftly pounced on the lich, but what was truly killed was only the shattered mirror. The hateful figure shattered into more than a dozen pieces along with the mirror, yet still chatted as if nothing had happened.

"You can try time travel to escape this mirror world."

It was no use. The mantis had already tried. This vast, clean mirror world seemed fragile, easily breaking through the spatial barrier, but behind the mirror lay another mirror. The two opposing mirrors reflected countless versions of themselves standing side-by-side—this was the mirror's peculiarity, and also its terrifying aspect. With countless selves gazing at each other, the brain experienced cognitive abnormalities as it processed this mirrored information: a blurring of self-awareness, a blurring of the lines between reality and illusion.

Magic, on the other hand, has a very magical basic concept: if you believe, it exists; if you don't, it doesn't. Knowledge and concepts are the channels through which trust is built.

"Weak mage, your tricks have no effect on me." The mantis, its hardened exoskeleton face unable to display any expression, maintained its fierce tone as it roared at its own reflection.

The swarm of insects, blustering but cowardly, threatened their enemies lurking in the shadows. However, their enhanced compound eyes caught a strange glimpse in the mirror: behind them, their own reflection had changed course. That reflection, filled with resentment and malice, lunged at them.

The blades clashed, the force of the impact sending the two mantises staggering backward. Gazing warily at their reflections in the mirror, a name surfaced in the mantis's mind.

Mirror Demon.

A monster trapped in a mirror yearns to enter reality and replace its original self. In the mirrored world, reality and illusion have become blurred, and these monsters, peering from behind the mirror, crawl out from within.