Wizard Lord:I can Extract Anything

Chapter 166: Nightmare

Staring at the blood-red moon in the sky, Richard fell into deep thought. Wasn't he in the Insect Hive World? Isn't the Insect Hive World supposed to be in perpetual night? So, what was this moon all about?

How did he switch places in the blink of an eye? Richard looked around and found his surroundings unusually strange. A thin layer of black-red mist enveloped everything. Although the mist wasn't thick, it obscured his view of the environment. As Richard turned, he suddenly froze in place.

Behind him stood a black spire over ten meters tall.

"This is... my Wizard Tower?"

The black spire before him was all too familiar, a place he had lived for decades, knowing every blade of grass and tree.

Richard glanced around again and noticed that the mist seemed to have dissipated slightly. He could now see the entire courtyard.

This courtyard was the one that came with his Wizard Tower.

"This is too strange, like a dream."

Richard was puzzled by his surroundings, but he instinctively activated a magical barrier and initiated his bloodline transformation.

The scene before him was too eerie, arousing a sudden vigilance in his heart.

After raising the magical barrier, Richard suddenly felt a slight change in his environment. The courtyard seemed to become more sinister, with every plant seemingly harboring malice towards him. The familiar Wizard Tower now resembled the lair of a final game boss, evoking fear at first glance.

"The environment is changing due to my emotions," Richard mused, staring at the black tower, deeply pondering.

As a wizard, rationality is one of the most important qualities.

Panicking in the face of difficulties only brings trouble; calmly analyzing the situation is the best path to solving problems.

Although the surroundings were strange, they weren't terrifying enough to make a wizard like Richard panic.

Wizards have conquered countless worlds, with bizarre races and mysterious lands beyond number. Yet, these seemingly terrifying worlds eventually became the playgrounds of great wizards, with the inhabitants either becoming slaves or specimens.

Hearing such stories regularly, Richard couldn't help but develop a subtle confidence.

This confidence convinced him that, as a member of the wizarding community, he could also use his wisdom and power to overcome the difficulties before him and uncover their mysteries.

After calmly considering his situation, Richard decided not to enter the Wizard Tower immediately; it seemed too deliberately set up.

Besides the Wizard Tower, the only place left to explore was the world beyond the courtyard.

Richard took a deep breath, sensing the temperature, humidity, and magical concentration around him.

"Temperature: 21 degrees, Humidity: 50%, Magical concentration: three times that of the Wizard World..."

Richard furrowed his brow. The conditions in this eerie place were identical to those of his residential level.

It was as if he was truly in the residential level of the Tower of Truth.

"Things are getting more interesting..." Richard said with a subtle smile, touching his chin.

To achieve such precise replication, this place definitely had major issues, and Richard had a faint suspicion in his heart.

He turned and opened the courtyard gate, leaving the premises.

From inside, the environment outside the courtyard appeared shrouded in mist, but as Richard entered, the mist turned into an impenetrable fog. Most peculiarly, even when Richard used his mental power to observe his surroundings, all he perceived was dense fog.

The mist seemed to shield against mental probing.

Relying on intuition, Richard wandered outside for a long time, trying various methods to observe his surroundings, but all in vain.

Spells cast into the fog vanished like into a black hole—no sound, no blast waves, no explosion marks, nothing. Even casting spells at his feet yielded the same result.

Richard attempted to open a secret realm, but the dense fog seemed to block it. No matter how much magic he channeled, he couldn't open a spatial rift.

All the means a wizard relies on to survive were rendered ineffective in this fog.

He felt like an ordinary person again.

As Richard delved deeper, a faint voice emerged from the mist, whispering like a ghost around his ears.

Richard stroked his chin, analyzing the situation calmly:

"Interesting, this environment seems to be continuously inducing fear in me. And judging by the courtyard, once I feel fear, the environment changes accordingly, further inducing more fear."

As he walked, Richard's path suddenly brightened, and the dense fog, which had obscured an unknown expanse, finally dissipated.

But as Richard examined his surroundings carefully, he found himself back at the starting point.

The black tower, the garden, and the open courtyard gate were all before him once more.

"Things are getting more interesting," Richard said, looking at the black tower with a glint of excitement in his eyes. "It seems I have no choice but to enter this Wizard Tower."

Without hesitation, Richard reinforced his magical barrier and boldly entered the Wizard Tower.

There was no need to be overly cautious when entering his own Wizard Tower.

The interior of the Wizard Tower was arranged exactly as Richard remembered, down to the stains on the walls and scratches on the handrails.

The only difference was that the tower seemed to have been vacant for a long time, with thick dust covering the floors and furniture, and cobwebs filling the corners.

Richard wiped the dust off the floor and furniture, examining it closely before tasting it. He confirmed it was just ordinary dust, nothing special.

Removing his finger from his mouth, Richard said indifferently:

"With so much dust accumulated, it seems One and Two have been slacking off since I left."

No sooner had he spoken than some noise came from a room on the first floor.

With a creaking sound, as if an old wooden door that hadn't been opened for decades was pushed open, a humanoid creature emerged from the room.

This humanoid had beast ears on its head and a similar build to One. The only difference was its face, which appeared bizarrely smooth like a mirror, devoid of any facial features.

The humanoid bowed slightly to Richard, its voice as hoarse as a witch from a fairy tale.

"Master, you have returned."

Faced with such a strange scene, Richard didn't react with extreme measures, like throwing a couple of annihilation spells.

Instead, he acted as if he had returned to his real Wizard Tower, sternly reprimanding:

"One, what have you been doing all these years? Why is there so much dust on the floor?"

Despite Richard's reprimand, One showed no fear, merely repeating:

"Master, you have returned."

"I asked you a question, One!"

"Master, you have returned."

"Is that all you can say?"

"Master, you have returned."

"…Yes, I have returned," Richard replied helplessly. "Go prepare a meal for me."

"Yes, Master."

One turned and headed into the basement to prepare ingredients.

With One busy, Richard climbed to the second floor and encountered the equally strange Two.

When questioned, Two's responses mirrored One's exactly.

After sending Two away, Richard inspected his laboratory.

His lab was equipped with a dust-free magic array and a self-charging circuit, so when he entered, it was as pristine as he expected.

However, the light from the magical stone lamps had turned an eerie dark red, casting an ominous glow.

The laboratory's equipment was the same, and the various instruments could still operate, responding correctly as Richard remembered... even without the placement of mana stones.

Descending the stairs, the eerie One and Two stood silently by the dining table, waiting for Richard to dine.

On the table were various foods identical to those he had left before.

"Seems the conclusion is quite clear," Richard said calmly.

This bizarre world was entirely constructed from his memories, with everything appearing just as he remembered.

The strangeness of One and Two was likely because he expected significant changes in them over the years, though he didn't know what those changes would be.

From the information gathered thus far, Richard was 90% certain he was dreaming.

And not just any dream, but a nightmare constantly coaxing him into fear.

"But how do I get out?" Richard pondered, furrowing his brow.

Typically, in such situations, self-harm would be the plot device, but he wasn't keen on trying that in this eerie environment.

He was trapped in a dream, not some special illusion.

Waking from a dream required a significant stimulus.

With this thought, Richard flew to the top of the Wizard Tower, looking down with a smile.

In a dream, even a three-step fall could wake him up, so the Wizard Tower should be enough to do the trick.

With resolve, Richard leapt down.

…

Outside the dream, as his body jerked, Richard awoke abruptly.

He rubbed his eyes and surveyed his surroundings.

The faint black-red mist and the blood-red moon in the sky—everything was identical to the scene in his dream, except for the absence of the familiar Wizard Tower.

He seemed to be in a desolate wilderness, with black weeds high enough to reach his knees. Among these weeds, Richard sensed an inexplicable hostility.

This time, the hostility wasn't born from his fear.

"A dream within a dream?" Richard analyzed his situation carefully, seeking a rational explanation.

But a faint voice sent a shiver through him.

"Caw, Richard! Can you hear me?"

"Caw, Richard! Can you hear me?"

"Ulysses' voice!" Richard was startled and quickly responded, "I can hear you."

As Richard replied, a dark shadow rose from his left shoulder, transforming into a black crow.

"Caw, I knew you could wake up," Ulysses said excitedly, "I told you, with all the thoughts you have, a nightmare couldn't fool you. That old mushroom even said you were done for and wanted to divide the spoils. When you get back, you should really give it a good thrashing..."

Seeing Ulysses appear suddenly, Richard felt a strange sense of calm.

At that moment, nothing was more reassuring than Ulysses' chatter.

If Ulysses was still talking, things weren't too dire; there was a way out.

"So where am I now, Ulysses?" Richard interrupted, "I was just in the Insect Hive World, and in the blink of an eye, I'm in this ghostly place."

"Where you are... well..." Ulysses hesitated, "Based on my experience, you should be in the Dream Dimension—this world is likely the Nightmare Wizard World corresponding to the Wizard World."

"Nightmare Wizard World?" Richard frowned at the peculiar name.

"So how do I get out?"

"Well..." Ulysses said awkwardly, "I'm afraid you won't be able to get out anytime soon."

--Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there 

patreon.com/LegendaryTL

Thanks!