Crystal Wall Defense

"Nightmare World: Zero-Ring access."

Yin Ming closed his eyes and sensed the Zero-Ring Apprentice region of the Nightmare World.

Within his perception, nineteen Crystal Wall Bubbles appeared. Based on Toad Xujiu's theory of judging strength by bubble size—

There were nine Senior Wizard Apprentices, seven Intermediate Wizard Apprentices, and three Junior Wizard Apprentices.

The weakest were, instead, the rarest.

No wonder. A complex rune composed of eighteen spell formulas was difficult for Junior Wizard Apprentices to inscribe.

"Creation!! First, I'll strengthen the defensive measures inside the Crystal Wall Bubble."

Yin Ming did not command his Crystal Wall Bubble to pursue the bubbles of other wizards.

Nor did he transform into an Ethereal Toad and roam the dreamscape to hunt wizards.

The efficiency was too low. Most Wizard Apprentices possessed overlapping knowledge, and besides—there was a certain degree of danger.

The lost alchemical civilization could likewise use minuscule amounts of energy to pry loose and unleash incomparably powerful force.

This aligned closely with the philosophy of technological civilization: sacrificing control over power in exchange for a vast increase in power.

A firearm could still be used after falling into someone else's hands.

A simple Alchemical Bomb, though it possessed the destructive power of First-Ring Wizardry—

Its explosive force was not concentrated enough, it did not distinguish friend from foe, and if it exploded inside the cramped Crystal Wall Bubble, the best possible outcome would be mutual destruction.

Zero-Ring Wizardry: Wizard's Hand. Unless one wanted to injure oneself, it would never harm its user.

Yin Ming could accept that degree of risk, but he clearly had the ability to reduce it to the absolute minimum.

Charging headlong into unavoidable danger made one a warrior; charging headlong into avoidable danger made one a foolhardy brute.

"First, an exquisite-iron firearm. Then high-explosive bullets powered by Element Crystals."

Recalling firearm blueprints in his mind, Yin Ming used the extraordinary metal exquisite iron as raw material and manifested a six-barreled Gatling gun.

Smokeless powder ignited the energy of the Element Crystals, producing tremendous recoil.

Yin Ming definitely could not control it, but the Lava Troll form could.

As for fixing it in place and setting up a defensive cannon, Yin Ming had considered that as well, but ultimately chose to abandon the idea.

If one strike failed to kill, the weapon might instead fall under the enemy's control. Wizards had ever-changing methods; wizards who simultaneously possessed life-saving wizardry and object-manipulating wizardry might be few, but they certainly did exist. Yin Ming would rather reduce the upper limit of his power than lower his control over it.

"Rat-a-tat-tat..."

Ghostly blue flames emerged from the barrels, and the six barrels began spinning rapidly.

Bullets poured from the chamber at a rate of 1,200 rounds per second, easily piercing through the dream Crystal Wall and vanishing into the dark, boundless Nightmare World. Once manifested matter left a dream bubble, it continuously melted away like snow beneath a blazing sun.

The bullets could threaten Second-Ring Warlocks, so long as they did not encounter elemental creatures like Lava Trolls.

A faint smile appeared on Yin Ming's face. He dismissed the miniature Lava Troll form. The Nightmare Rune was a Permanent Rune; the next time he entered the dreamscape, the manifested objects would still remain.

"Not enough! Manifest some highly concentrated uranium as well. Use Element Crystals for detonation to trigger nuclear fission and make one—no, two miniature atomic bombs."

Yin Ming manifested two shell-shaped bombs as tall as a person, replacing conventional gunpowder with Element Crystals. Their gun-type design contained such immense potential energy that his wizardly intuition sent wave after wave of heart-pounding alarm through him.

If this thing exploded, the outcome would absolutely be mutual destruction. But as long as he added an outer shell and calculated the detonation time correctly, it could be used to ward off external enemies.

At the same time, it could serve as a deterrent when necessary. As long as the other party realized they would perish together, it could stop conflict before it began.

"Let's experiment with it—no, conduct a test blast."

If the Nightmare World had not perfectly reproduced uranium's material properties, this thing would be nothing more than an oversized firecracker.

In the future, if he used atomic bombs to deter enemies, finished spouting threats, and then failed to even blow open an exquisite-iron casing, being killed would be one thing—but if he survived, how embarrassing would that be?

Yin Ming designed a timed detonation device. The bomb's interior was completely sealed, while air for activating the Element Crystals was reserved inside.

A plump black bomb was thrown out, and Yin Ming controlled his dream bubble to flee at high speed.

[10, 9, ...]

As Yin Ming's mental countdown ended, two pieces of uranium ore at the critical point collided inside the bomb's chamber.

There was no sound, no mushroom cloud.

A massive spherical ball of light appeared in the Zero-Ring Wizard Apprentice region.

A dream bubble that happened to lie within the blast radius was instantly engulfed and swallowed by the explosion's radiance. Once the light dissipated, not even the slightest scrap remained in its place.

An incomparably brilliant aurora appeared in the pitch-black void.

"Lord, Third-Ring Wizardry energy fluctuations have been detected in the ninth Zero-Ring Apprentice region, and the energy level is Fourth Ring."

In the Void Abyss, a mass of shadow kowtowed toward an open space. There was no altar, no statue; it simply spoke to an ordinary black-stone mountain before it.

After waiting a long time with no response whatsoever, the shadow knew the Lord was uninterested. Only then did it rise and leave dejectedly.

"Hiss..."

He had manifested too many things.

Yin Ming felt an agonizing headache.

Activating the Nightmare Rune between his brows, he reluctantly left the Nightmare World.

To return to the real world after entering the Nightmare World, one had to remain there for a full three hours. Devouring other wizards would stack both time limits.

[...]

Inside the meditation room, Yin Ming's consciousness regained clarity. Sure enough, an additional Nightmare Rune had appeared in his sea of consciousness.

Two Zero-Ring Wizardries: Shadow Touch and Touch of Corrosion.

One First-Ring Meditation Method: Giant Spirit Meditation Method.

One Zero-Ring extraordinary knowledge: Tree Magical-Plant Cultivation.

The speed at which he acquired knowledge was practically like riding a rocket, and the magical-plant cultivation knowledge among it was even a non-sale item.

Devouring memories to obtain extraordinary knowledge complemented the Scavenger Gourd to a certain extent. Even with some unknown risks, Yin Ming felt it was well worth it.

The meditation room door opened. A note was pasted in front of it, containing only two short lines:

Scholar Eno, the other party has agreed to the trading terms you proposed! —Left by Anthony Silvercoin.

"They agreed!"

Yin Ming's expression shifted slightly in surprise. He had nearly forgotten there was such a transaction.

He wrote the formula for Golden Sore Medicine's raw materials, along with some of the extraction methods for those materials, onto a sheet of white paper, casually put it into an envelope, and headed toward the dungeon's exchange building.

"Scholar Eno, you're a god! From now on, I won't take a single coin from your business." When Anthony Silvercoin saw Yin Ming, he greeted him with a face full of smiles. "The other party agreed to your trading terms, but they require a face-to-face trade. You choose the time and place."

The Golden Sore Medicine formula surely held some hidden value. It was absolutely not as simple as merely being a Zero-Ring healing potion. Both the buyer and the holder had discovered this, while he, the middleman, was the only one kept in the dark.

"No need! This is the Golden Sore Medicine formula. Just handle the trade for me!"

Yin Ming did not wish to deal with powerful wizards or warlocks, so he pushed the envelope before Anthony Silvercoin.

"This... What if the other party looks at the formula, decides it isn't worth that price, refuses to pay, or tries to lower the price?"

Anthony Silvercoin could not believe that a formula worth Second-Ring core cultivation knowledge had been placed before him so easily.