Sanders

Perhaps the Nightmare Stone on the ship below resonated with one of the same origin. Their spatial particle frequencies were similar, accidentally linking to the Nightmare Realm? Sanders wondered.

Such exceedingly unlikely coincidences had occurred before in history. If overlap between planes was not carved open by force, it could only be attributed to coincidence.

Sanders's initial excitement slowly subsided. If he had truly found a fixed entrance to the Nightmare Realm, there would have been no need to specifically seek out Gloria... Sanders had lived for centuries. After sorting through his emotions, he quickly dismissed the sudden aura of the Nightmare Realm.

Seeing that Sanders did not reply, Flora did not press him. As the student who had followed Sanders the longest, Flora naturally understood him well. If there was something he did not wish to say, no one would get an answer by asking.

At that moment, a black-feathered owl suddenly flew in from outside the tent. After circling twice, it landed on Flora's shoulder. Then visible ripples spread from the owl's beak. Flora analyzed the information within the ripples, and before long, a smile suddenly appeared at the corner of her lips.

"Teacher, Aisha told me that the blood battle in the fourth cabin has ended. The victor was Baruba." Aisha was this black-feathered owl, and also Flora's beloved alchemical magical pet.

"Oh?" Sanders cast a careless glance toward the southwest. An indescribable ripple of magic flickered in his eyes, and in his vision, the distant scene seemed as close at hand—

The fourth cabin was an enclosed, enormous quadrilateral stone room.

At this moment, a bald youth with a bare upper body and dark brown, nearly black skin stood atop a mountain of corpses piled from human bodies. Red light flashed in his eyes as ancient, fluorescent-blue totems slowly spread across his muscular body...

Like other wizard organizations, the wizard organization Sanders belonged to—Savage Cave—would naturally travel to various places to receive talented apprentices whenever the sea routes thawed. However, their recruitment process was nothing like the gentle methods of the Bauhinia.

All talented individuals were proportionally assigned to different cabins for blood battles. Only those who survived in the end were elites among elites. Only those who had endured bloody combat could become new apprentices of Savage Cave.

The bald youth in the fourth cabin was the sole survivor of that cabin.

Sanders smiled with gentle elegance, his eyes carrying deep meaning. "Heh, I never expected the final victor to be a half-blood of an otherworldly barbarian and a human."

"Hehe, what a pity that he is not truly a human of this world. Without corresponding strength, the will of the world will sooner or later expel him, unless he is banished to another plane." Flora also used an eye-related wizardry, watching the man still panting amid the mountain of corpses and sea of blood. "Teacher, do you have any arrangements for him?"

"The path of wizards seeks truth and peers into the ultimate end of the universe, using one's own knowledge to lever the fundamental forces of the cosmos. Such a grand art cannot be compared with those otherworldly abilities of extremely limited applicability. It is precisely because the wizard's path is universal across all worlds that alien races have coveted it for so long." Sanders pondered for a moment. "Although the identity and background of this half-blood of an otherworldly barbarian and a human are clear on the surface, we cannot rule out the possibility that some great power from another world has tampered with his bloodline inheritance. The chance that he is a spy is low, but it cannot be ignored."

"Once we return, observe him for a while. If he shows any unusual behavior, kill him. If he is harmless..." Sanders's lips curled slightly. "Have him cultivate the bloodline branch. Once he has fused with a bloodline, refine him into a substitute puppet."

Whether or not he could become a spy, he was destined to meet no good end. Who could blame him for having half his bloodline come from an otherworldly lifeform?

In the eyes of wizards, otherworldly lifeforms that intruded into the wizard world without passing through proper channels either became slaves, became experimental material, or turned into white bones and merged with the soil. The first two were the methods of wizards. The last was the great power of the world's will.

"The victors of the other eight cabins have also emerged. Excluding the one in cabin four, our Savage Cave has recruited only eight talented individuals this year..." Flora sighed theatrically. "Sigh, we did not even reach double digits. When we return, those dissenters will surely nag us again. They may even propose abolishing the recruitment rules of the death cabins."

Sanders smiled faintly, utterly unconcerned. "There is no need to care about their thoughts. They themselves understand that if we adopted the broad-net recruitment methods of the three organizations aboard the Bauhinia, Savage Cave would not rank among the top ten in the Southern Region. Only by enduring blood battles can one understand the true rules of the wizard world."

Flora scrunched up her face. "Sigh, forget it, forget it. Let's not talk about that. Teacher, once we find the Barbie Restaurant, why not just kidnap Gloria directly? Otherwise, every time we need to locate coordinates, we have to come find her. It's exhausting enough to kill us!"

Yet Sanders shook his head and laughed. Although Gloria was not particularly strong in combat, she had created all manner of bizarre wizardries. If he acted, he might be able to win, but capturing her alive was absolutely impossible.

If not for my greed for a higher realm in my early years, causing me to seal the half-channel within my body, how would things have come to this... Sanders sighed silently to himself.

It was another gloomy night. Fierce winds howled outside, and torrential rain hung like an unbroken curtain of water, showing no sign of stopping. The sea danced wildly beneath the wind, and enormous waves made the Bauhinia sway violently back and forth like an out-of-control baby's cradle.

Angel did not sleep at all that night. He could only focus on keeping his body balanced. It was not until the next day, when the wind calmed and the sun shone brightly,

that Angel, his limbs exhausted, barely managed to return to his bed. With his mind light and unsteady, he fell into a deep sleep.

He slept straight through until the moon hung high in the sky.

When Angel got up, the pendant hanging from his chest choked him slightly. He drew it from inside his undershirt. A transparent oval crystal had been set within a metal mesh pendant.

"Outer Eye..." Angel silently looked at it, suddenly thinking of his home thousands of miles away, of his brother, and of Mentor Jon.

Come to think of it, he had been away from home for nearly five months. He had yet to reach the continent where wizards lived. He did not know whether, five years later, he could return home in time.

With a sigh, Angel stopped dwelling on troubling matters. He tucked the pendant back into his undershirt, where it rested against his chest. This glass bead had come to this world alongside Mentor Jon; perhaps it held some mystery. Naturally, Angel had to keep it safe.

After getting up, Angel continued living according to his routine: eating, solving problems, sleeping.

Three points, one line.

Another week passed. As Angel walked past the dining hall that day, he inadvertently glanced at the mercury mirror hanging by the entrance.

In the mirror, Angel's appearance had changed completely. The originally handsome and refined young nobleman now looked somewhat gloomy. His eyelids drooped, dark circles ringed his eyes, his lips were gray and cracked, and his complexion was pale and wan.

In such a short time, exhaustion and pressure had driven him into this state.

He had even forgotten when he had last laughed heartily.

Angel washed his face at the basin, submerging his face in the water and hoping the coolness would settle his thoughts. The five-year deadline had weighed on him until he had nearly forgotten his original purpose. Even the etiquette carved into his bones had been ground into dust.

His state of mind was unhealthy now, yet he had no desire to change it. At least... until he solved the puzzle Mentor Jon had left behind, he did not intend to relax his taut nerves.

Besides, aboard the Bauhinia, which had no entertainment facilities, the other talented individuals could practice meditation. Other than solving problems, what else could he do?