Hall of Knowledge

As the gray-white lettering vanished from Lu Yuan's sight, he felt a sharp crack deep inside his brain, as though some kind of restriction had been shattered.

The familiar sensation of words twisting and reforming before his eyes did not fade as it usually did. Instead, it grew even more intense.

The words in his vision began to pour forth madly. No longer confined to books, they crawled up Lu Yuan's arm like black vines and engulfed him in an instant.

"Hmm?"

Book Spirit Mo Shui, perched atop the Bookshelf, suddenly raised his head. For the first time, surprise—and... killing intent—appeared in those pitch-black button eyes.

"This scent..."

He stared fixedly at Lu Yuan, who had been wrapped into a cocoon by black words. The newspaper wings behind him spread fully open, and countless densely packed runes lit up across his pale yellow skin.

"If you are devoured by knowledge, I'll make sure you die an ugly death."

Lu Yuan had no idea what was happening outside.

He felt himself falling.

He passed through countless layers of clouds made of words, symbols, and murmurs before finally landing on a deathly silent land.

There was no sky here, only a vast expanse of chaotic Gray Mist.

Lu Yuan rose to his feet and looked around.

Before his eyes stretched a boundless Wasteland, scattered with several buildings of entirely different styles.

Every building radiated a completely distinct presence. They were the manifested halls unique to the [Knowledge Path].

"So this is the so-called 'Path of Transcendence'?"

Lu Yuan remained rational and did not act rashly.

He remembered Old Morgan saying that whenever someone entered the Knowledge Path, they would see a "road" that belonged to them alone.

He looked to the left.

There stood a warped tower woven from black and blue.

Its surface was dripping wet, as if it had just risen from the Deep Sea.

Through the tower's windows, Lu Yuan vaguely saw an endless Deep Sea. Countless figures swam through its profound darkness, while in the even deeper, utterly black depths, an enormous shadow too vast to describe faintly emerged.

With only a single glance at that shadow, Lu Yuan immediately felt suffocating pressure crashing into him head-on.

[Deep Sea Scholar: Explore the ancient secrets beneath the boundless Deep Sea. But tiny human, how deep can you dive?]

The gray-white prompt was brief and cold.

Lu Yuan shifted his gaze and looked to the right.

There stood a red castle that seemed to have been cast from blood.

Countless branching tendrils spread across its walls like blood vessels, silently throbbing as viscous red fluid continually seeped from them.

Within the castle, Lu Yuan saw a kingdom filled with slaughter and blood. There, countless withered creatures slaughtered one another in the darkness. The dead merged into pools of blood, while the living continued to wail.

[Flesh Scholar: You will embark upon the path of understanding life. But amid that endless blood and wailing, how far can you go?]

Farther away stood another ruin entwined in green vines.

Painful human faces grew from those vines, while their roots churned and writhed beneath the soil, guarding a Black Giant Tree at the center that pierced straight into the clouds.

[Forest Scholar...]

Lu Yuan walked across the Wasteland, passing one building after another, each representing a different direction of Deep Study.

They were all calling to him.

The whispers of the Deep Sea, the temptation of Flesh, the murmurs of the forest... every voice promised great power.

Perhaps others who entered this hall would lose themselves among these choices.

But Lu Yuan did not.

He walked past those magnificent halls without expression, his gaze terrifyingly clear.

"Too narrow."

That was Lu Yuan's judgment.

"If I choose the Deep Sea, I can only understand the Deep Sea. If I choose Flesh, I can only study life. The road is too narrow. This isn't what I want."

He possessed an [Experience Bar], as well as that "translation" ability that could analyze all things.

His road should not be restricted to one narrow field.

Lu Yuan continued onward until he reached the very center of the Wasteland.

There was only one solitary building here.

It was a black tower with a pointed roof and circular base, devoid of any decoration and giving off no alluring presence—only an unchanging loneliness that seemed eternal.

The tower door stood slightly ajar.

Lu Yuan pushed it open and entered.

The hall was empty, containing only countless blank books floating in the air.

At the end of the hall stood a broken human figure.

The shadow stood there, flickering between light and dark as though it might dissipate at any moment.

As Lu Yuan entered, the shadow seemed to awaken. It bowed slightly and spoke in a hoarse voice.

"It has been a long time since anyone made it here."

"Where is this?" Lu Yuan asked.

"This is the Hall of Scholars."

The shadow raised a hand, and the blank books around them began turning their pages. Though there were no words on them, Lu Yuan could sense the immense torrent of information contained within.

"On the path of [Forbidden Studies], the minds of the overwhelming majority are not strong enough to support them in glimpsing the full picture of this world. So they chose compromise. They chose Deep Study and became scholars of the Deep Sea, Flesh, Curse... and so on."

The shadow looked at Lu Yuan. A trace of approval seemed to appear on its blurry face. "And those who can come here are all one-of-a-kind madmen. You refuse to compromise and vainly seek to understand everything."

"Scholar..." Lu Yuan savored the word.

"It means you can explore this world's deepest secrets, whether they belong to Deities, Demons, or Ancient Gods." The shadow's tone became grave. "But this is also the most dangerous path. Because once you know too much, you will become a thorn in the eyes of all existences."

"Especially those indescribable existences. Their secrets are not for humans to know."

Lu Yuan nodded. "I don't care."

"Very good."

The shadow said no more. It extended one finger and lightly touched Lu Yuan's forehead.

"This is your reward, and also the Key that opens this path. Hide it well—and hide yourself as well."

Boom!

A massive flood of knowledge surged into Lu Yuan's mind in an instant.

[Class Advancement Successful: Forbidden Studies—Seeker 0/50]

[Core Skill Obtained: Forbidden Studies—Deep Study]

[Forbidden Studies—Deep Study: Drawing on your vast knowledge, you can perceive a target's deeper traits and strip them away, reorganizing them into knowledge unique to yourself.]

As the system prompts appeared, the surroundings began to collapse.

"Go back."

The shadow waved a hand, and a kaleidoscopic vortex appeared behind it.

Just as Lu Yuan was about to be swallowed by the vortex, he heard the shadow murmur:

"I blocked the Outsider's gaze for you. Before you truly advance to Scholar, do not come back so easily."

Outsider?

Lu Yuan's heart skipped a beat.

Was it that Deep Sea existence that had been entangling him in his dreams?

Or did something even more terrifying lurk behind this so-called Strange Dream...?

Before he could figure it out, a powerful sensation of weightlessness struck him, and his consciousness instantly plunged into darkness.