Magician Daniel watched in horror as the whole world slowly collapsed in front of him - the magnificent arcane spire, the unparalleled magic palace, the free and wanton world full of light and hope, just so silently. It was disintegrating in front of him, and a terrifying consciousness was quickly coming to him.
Coming "in front of" is just an illusion. Daniel, who has an in-depth understanding of the mysteries of the mind, knows exactly what the real fact is - his mind has been invaded, and the intruder has reached incredible power. extent. Daniel constructed illusions and decoys in his mind that could block prying eyes and encrypt memories, but the intruders seemed to completely ignore those defenses and overwhelmed everything. In that brief second, he only felt his brain. He was forced into an extremely huge torrent of information, and he had no way of resisting that torrent of information.
Under such a huge impact of information, all mental barriers and memory buffers are useless.
With the only trace of reason left, Daniel remembered the information released on the psychic network not long ago, the information about the "outside wanderer", and about the man who died at the hands of the outside wanderer. He realized what the huge information in his mind was that could not be processed by the human brain. After realizing all this, his first reaction was to immediately cut off the Internet——
His thoughts quickly jumped between the spiritual network and the real world. In a lucky moment of less than a millisecond, he saw the clumsy female apprentice in his magic laboratory on the border of Typhon. He was processing samples next to the experimental table not far away. He raised his hand with all his strength, but in the next moment, he found himself back in the collapsing dream world.
The surrounding palace buildings were still slowly collapsing, and the pedestrians in the city were dissolving in the air like abstract oil paintings. The old mage squeezed out the last trace of air from his lungs and gave out his last shout: "He is on the Internet -"
However, his shouting was just a fantasy in his mind. In fact, he just stood there blankly, and a voice exploded in his mind: "Stand there Don't move, I've caught you!"
After these words, the surrounding scene finally changed completely.
The glorious dream city disappeared, and there was only an endless expanse of water in the field of vision. There were strange metal platforms one after another on the water, and a sky without any stars or celestial bodies covered this area. Over the water, countless huge geometric images were constantly changing and reorganizing on the sky, forming various incomprehensible scenes. The master of this world, a man with short light blond hair, stood quietly in front of him .
That is the face of Charles I, the founder of the Kingdom of Ansu. In the "Eternal Dream", many people like to portray themselves as this image, but the old mage knows that this "Charlie" in front of him "One Life" is an existence more terrifying than any eternal sleeper.
"Outlander..." he murmured to himself.
"To be honest, I don't really like the name you gave me. It sounds very awkward," Gawain said while sizing up the old mage in front of him - before this person was dragged in. , his image is that of a middle-aged man wearing a starry magic robe, holding a gemstone staff, with a majestic and calm temperament. However, in this "crack world" that only follows the rules set by Gawain, outsiders are forcibly removed. After removing all disguises, he was just a shriveled and thin old man wearing a black mage robe, "Your name is Daniel... interesting, a Typhon, right?"
"How do you know... "The old mage's eyes widened in astonishment at first, but then he realized that it was foolish to have doubts on this issue: How much resistance can the human mind have in the face of this extraterrestrial wanderer?
But in fact, Gawain really doesn't know much - he can use his powerful memory impact to destroy the mental defenses of most of the Eternal Sleeper cultists, or use the mental defenses he has set up in the psychic network. The trap vulnerability isolates an eternal sleeper from the main network and pulls it into the abnormal data space, but reading the memory is a more advanced and complex operation. He has knowledge in this area, but he is still far from being proficient.
He only read the surface memory of this old mage - there were already many interesting things in that surface memory.
This old man named Daniel was first a mage before becoming a believer in the Eternal Sleeper, and he was also a member of the Mage Association of the Typhon Empire.
It is normal for cultists to recruit new members. From poor common people to empty-hearted nobles, they are all their targets. The original Viscountess Lilith of Kantland was bewitched by cultists. He had just gone astray, and the same was true of Bud Wendell, the cultist of the death of all things he encountered earlier. But as far as Gawain knew, there were very few mages who degenerated into cultists - because mages have special abilities. In terms of world view and belief system, first of all, they are already users of extraordinary power, so it is difficult for them to be bewitched by extraordinary power. Secondly, they have a broad belief in the magic goddess Myrmina. This goddess is considered to be the source of all laws. If A mage really decides to believe in something. Isn't it better to believe in a magical goddess than to believe in a group of dreaming lunatics?
But after reading Daniel's superficial memory, Gawain realized that if an aging mage reaches the end of the road of magic and reaches a desperate situation, and at the same time he himself is... There are still weak points in his will that can be exploited... Then it doesn't seem impossible that he is addicted to dreams.
In terms of "making up for the regrets caused by the real world", the Eternal Sleeper really has a great advantage.
On the other hand, the old mage Daniel finally regained his composure after the initial panic. He had secretly tried to escape from this place or cast some spells, but found that he had been completely trapped here, and with it The spiritual power also seems to be frozen——In this spiritual realm, controlling the mind means that everything is over. No matter how powerful the world is outside, he cannot fight against the master of the dream, so he decisively chose to protect himself and tried to lower his posture: " You...what do you want from me..."
Masters are a pragmatic group, and this will not change under any circumstances. Daniel will not force anything in this situation, This was especially true after he knew that the person in front of him was still an "extraterrestrial wanderer", an indescribable thing that probably did not possess human emotions.
Since this "wanderer" has not killed him yet, it means that he has the value of continuing to live, and he must let himself live.
"What to get..." Gawain touched his chin and thought seriously, "To be honest, I really haven't thought about it... Pulling you over is actually just an experiment, I didn't see that you What other value is there? Or, what do you think you can give me?"
Just an experiment...
The old mage's heart sank, and the situation began to take a turn for the worse. The direction has developed.
He was treated as a guinea pig - just like the animals he left to his apprentice Mary to handle.
Is this the true attitude of "outlanders" when looking at humans?
Gawain did not let the old mage continue to think about it alone - although it seemed interesting to do so, Gawain did not go online just for fun. After confirming that this person named Daniel After the Typhon was able to recognize the reality, he waved his hand: "Okay, relax, we can sit down and talk slowly."
A small round table and two chairs appeared out of thin air Appearing on the calm, mirror-like water, Gawain took the lead to sit down, and Daniel also sat down cautiously after a brief hesitation, but he still did not dare to relax and paid attention to Gawain's every move.
"How long have you been an Eternal Sleeper?"
Daniel was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that this inhuman existence would actually start chatting with him, but he still answered quickly. : "I came into contact with them more than ten years ago."
"Because you encountered problems in your magic research in the real world?" Gawain looked at the old man in front of him with a half-smile. Mage, "Indulging in dreams is not a way to solve problems."
"...Mortals are creatures limited by their talents." The old mage shook his head bitterly, "My talents allow me to The path of exploring the truth has come to an end early."
"Is the Eternal Sleeper a kind of salvation for you?"
"...Maybe you can say so."
"Interesting," Gawain knocked on the table lightly, "Then I would like to know, if another greater salvation is placed in front of you, would you betray the Eversleeping One?"
p>Daniel looked at Gawain blankly, seeming a little at a loss.
"I need a servant," Gawain said with a smile, deliberately making himself appear inscrutable——Since those eternal sleepers who have a lot of inner drama have created a pretty exciting persona for him, he really doesn't mind using this persona. "I'm not omniscient and omnipotent. There are many things that I can't do on my own - —So, I chose you."
In fact, I chose you randomly.
"Choose...me?" the old mage said hesitantly, "What do you want me to do?"
"As my eyes and ears, the eyes and ears in Typhon, in eternal sleep "The eyes and ears among the people," Gawain said while staring closely into the old mage's eyes, "Of course, you will also get equal rewards in this process - I very much follow the principle of equal exchange."
Although Daniel did not expect to get any more benefits from this contact besides "survival", he still subconsciously asked: "You mean...reward?"
" For you, that may be the greater salvation,” Gawain laughed, “It is knowledge, knowledge that allows you to continue on the path of exploring the truth.”
Daniel’s breath was. One choked.
......
Mary stared nervously at the instructor's movements. She had maintained this posture for a long time.
After those weird words, the instructor seemed to be petrified and froze there, with a frightened expression on her face motionless. She wanted to push forward or scream, but in the end she I still restrained this impulse - the mentor was most likely to be like this due to the backlash of magic, and it would not be a good idea to contact him rashly at this time.
However, no matter how she checked the blood-red rune circles around her, she could not find any trace of out-of-control spells.
Should we call other apprentices in? Do you want to call the old housekeeper in? Or...should I take this opportunity to remove the shackles from my neck?
Countless thoughts—nervous and scary—conflicted violently in the heart of this low-level female mage. She felt her hands and feet began to tremble, and an impulse to take risks at all costs was gradually gaining the upper hand. , but just before she made the worst possible decision, she saw her mentor's eyes suddenly blink.
This made her almost scream.
The old magician in black robe finally woke up, his stiff muscles slowly recovered, and his cloudy eyes became clear again. He saw the female student standing in front of him, and the latter seemed A look of nervousness and fear.
The old magician didn’t know how long he had been unconscious, but the student obviously did not escape.
Mary spoke with a trembling tone: "Teacher...are you...are you okay?"
"I made a deal with a terrible being." The old magician Said in a hoarse voice.