Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

"You said Nightmare Artifact?"

Richard couldn't help but interrupt Bones' narration.

The Nightmare Artifact was something that even Wizards of the Three Rings coveted. How could the news of such a treasure be leaked to a band of "mercenaries"?

Unless these mercenaries couldn't spread the news.

Bones nodded, "Indeed, the bartender spoke of the Nightmare Artifact, and we also saw that thing."

"You actually saw it?"

"Yes," Bones said with a bitter voice, "If it weren't for seeing that artifact, how would we have fallen into such straits?"

Richard nodded, "Continue."

…

When they heard the news of the Nightmare Artifact, everyone present was shocked.

These people weren't young; they had all heard of the Nightmare Artifact to some extent.

Such things, usually in the possession of Nightmare Knights, suddenly sparked greed in the hearts of several Nightmare creatures.

The creatures of the Lawless Land of Nightmares were already a group of bold and reckless beings. Though they sensed something was amiss with this obviously baited news, each harbored a stroke of luck.

What if one of them got their hands on that Nightmare Artifact?

Bones, upon hearing this news, remained neither sad nor happy; he was disinterested in the Nightmare Artifact, wishing only for a stable and predictable life.

The demon bartender poured himself a glass of wine, "Gentlemen, I have told you the information; the rest is up to you. If you return alive, I will waive a ten-year tab for him."

With that, the bartender drained his glass.

Based on the information provided by the bartender, the group quickly found that abandoned Nightmare Territory.

Nightmare Territories are generally the projections of the Material World's creature gathering areas into the Nightmare World, but creatures of the Material World migrate for various reasons, and the Wizard World is so vast that there are far too many suitable places for humans to live.

Thus, a city once populated could easily become a dead city over a few hundred years.

These kinds of territories are what Nightmare creatures call abandoned Nightmare Territories.

A typical Nightmare Lord, when faced with this situation, either seeks out a new territory in the Wilderness or initiates a territorial war to snatch another lord's territory.

And the lord mentioned in this mission was one who attempted to seize territory and ended up being beaten back to his roots.

Having found the place, the group began reconnaissance before the mission.

Being able to survive in the Lawless Land to the level of the Big Nightmare, even a brainless idiot would have certain necessary actions as a conditioned reflex.

From a distance, this territory once pulled into the Nightmare Domain looked very dilapidated, with various brick and stone buildings looking tattered. Vines and spiderwebs were everywhere among the ruins.

A crow flew out of the Scarecrow's body and into the territory's airspace, seemingly without any problems.

But within a few minutes, the Scarecrow's crow suddenly began circling in place.

"There's a spatial anomaly in this territory," the Scarecrow said, "My crow is caught in a spatial loop."

Everyone nodded and began probing the territory with their methods.

Bones' method of investigation was to use the Power of Nightmare to condense into a crow, similar to the Scarecrow.

"Hmm? You use a crow too?" the Scarecrow glanced at Bones, unfamiliar with Bones' means.

Bones nodded, "Mine is different from yours."

Bones' crow was actually an imitation of Richard, as Ulysses' soul projection was always on Richard's shoulder, and he used Ulysses for reconnaissance.

Bones was deeply influenced by this.

The reconnaissance continued for nearly a week, and the outskirts of this abandoned territory were probed by several Nightmares, marking all sorts of spatial anomalies.

However, once their methods of investigation entered the Inner City District of the territory, they became useless, and they obtained no information.

Faced with this situation, the group could only push forward into the territory, using their physical bodies to explore the Inner City.

The periphery of the abandoned territory felt like a ghost town as they walked. The houses, long-corroded by the Power of Nightmare and Dream Rules, looked particularly sinister. It was as if the hollow windows and shadows behind doors all hid unpredictable monsters.

This eerie atmosphere should have been unsettling, but for the Nightmare creatures entering the area, it felt like returning home for the holidays.

"The Nightmare Domain has deeply eroded this land; don't enter buildings carelessly, watch out for the remaining Dream Rules killing you," the Mistcoach suddenly spoke.

Out of these Nightmare creatures, this old timer was the oldest, strongest, and most experienced.

What he said was almost never wrong.

Everyone nodded and cautiously approached the Inner City.

Upon entering the Inner City District, everyone suddenly felt an innate fear.

Here, the corruption by the Nightmare Domain far surpassed that of the Outer City, resembling a miniature Nightmare Domain.

The buildings here were relatively intact, but the sensation they gave was like that of monsters in disguise, lying in wait for their prey to come into their clutches.

"Sigh, this money isn't easy to earn," a Nightmare creature spoke.

This Nightmare creature wore something akin to priestly garb, but its visage was even more horrifying than the demon bartender, its voice fluctuating between gentle and resounding to sharp and hoarse.

As its voice fell, movement arose from inside a nearby house.

Shadowy figures emerged one by one from the houses, charging straight toward the talking nightmare creature.

The other few nightmare creatures, upon witnessing this scene, all clamped their mouths shut.

Speaking might just be a breach of the rules.

The Priest, facing these shadows, suddenly expanded to over three meters in height, his muscles looking terrifyingly robust. He exuded Holy Light, as if a divine being had descended, but his visage became even more ferocious.

Boom boom boom...

The Priest continuously smashed the shadows to pieces, but the houses on the street seemed like a spawning cage that, without a torch inserted, would ceaselessly refresh new shadows.

The other few nightmare creatures watched for a long time, until the fight was over.

This battle could provide them with very important intelligence.

Finally, the shadows climbed onto the Priest's body, dragged him to the ground, and then bit by bit, pulled him into the nearest house.

During this, not one nightmare creature helped him.

...

"Can't speak? How interesting," Richard muttered as he surveyed his surroundings; he too was among ruins, but based on what he could sense from his environment, he should still be in the Inner City District.

"So how come we can talk here?"

Bones shook his head, "Boss, this territory is just tainted by the Nightmare Domain, it's not truly the Nightmare Territory. So, it's normal for some rules to work in certain places and not in others."

"Oh?" Richard looked at Bones with interest. "Did you come up with that yourself?"

Bones honestly shook his head, "The Misty Coachman said it; he's an old thing and knows a lot."

Richard was somewhat disappointed, and then motioned for Bones to carry on.

"Skip the unimportant parts and talk about how to find the Nightmare Artifact, and how it ended up in this situation."

...

The remaining members experienced many bizarre situations within the Inner City and two perished.

After nearly twelve days of exploration, on the thirteenth day, they finally arrived at the heart of the territory—a vast square.

At the center of the square stood a statue not of human likeness. Its ferocious face and twisted limbs were all indicative of a sculpture of the old Nightmare Lord.

But even as just a statue, the pressure emanating from it was suffocating for the nightmare creatures, regardless of whether they possessed a respiratory system.

Hovering in front of the statue's chest was a palm-sized mini-pyramid with the Power of Nightmare occasionally appearing from within, imparting an air of mystery.

"Is this the Nightmare Artifact?"

A pig-headed creature that resembled a Suture Monster spoke up.

As the most experienced of the nightmare creatures, the Misty Coachman carefully examined the black Pyramid, with the Flames in his eye sockets burning more fiercely than usual.

"It should be. But..."

The Misty Coachman was cut off mid-sentence as a ghostly nightmare creature dashed forward.

Seeing this, the few other creatures lusting after the Nightmare Artifact immediately followed the ghost's lead, except for the unmoving Misty Coachman and Bones.

Watching the creatures vie for the Nightmare Artifact, the Misty Coachman casually pinched a tobacco pipe and took a couple of drags before finishing his sentence.

"...This thing is in an activated state; whoever touches it will be out of luck."

No sooner had he spoken than the black Pyramid suddenly erupted with a burst of dark light, shaking the entire Nightmare Territory.

The pressure of the detonation startled the Misty Coachman.

This Pyramid's commotion was larger than he had anticipated.

Under the dark light, all the nightmare creatures fighting for the Pyramid were shattered to pieces, with only Bones and the Misty Coachman spared, having been on the periphery of the square.

But before they could feel relieved,

the dark light dissipated, and the territory's space began to shift.

Bones felt the surroundings change abruptly, the next moment finding himself in this current place.

And with him, multiple nightmare creatures emerged from the ruins.

Some of these creatures were members of the shattered exploration team; others were nightmare creatures Bones had never seen before.

The creatures, upon seeing Bones, commenced their attack without a word.

Although Bones was protected by Armor and wielded the Refined Gold Greatsword, a "bully artifact," he was outnumbered; surrounded by more than ten adversaries, he ultimately succumbed to defeat, severely wounded.

What followed was Richard awakening, and then slaughtering in all directions.

...

Having listened to Bones' account, Richard pondered,

"It seems this black Pyramid is the keystone to controlling the territory, and it involves spatial rules... wait a moment."

Richard's voice had barely faded when his body went limp, and Bones quickly moved to support him.

Not long after, Richard regained consciousness, and from his shoulder emerged a black crow.

"Caw, is this the kid that helped your alter ego escape? How come it looks like it's growing faster than you?"