Wizard Lord:I can Extract Anything

"Can't get out?" Richard looked at Ulysses, seeking an explanation.

"Ulysses, what exactly is going on here? Why have I come to this so-called Nightmare Wizard World?"

"Caw, well... it was... an accident, an accident."

Ulysses tried to evade the question, but under Richard's persistent questioning, he finally divulged the reason.

"You ended up here because of a disturbance in the geomagnetic field, which caused a spatial rift to open in the Insect Hive World. Coincidentally, that rift led to the Nightmare World. Your soul was swept into the Nightmare World by the red mist."

"However, since you are a wizard and not a native creature of the Insect Hive World, the nightmare red mist transported you to the Nightmare Wizard World."

"Transported to the Nightmare Wizard World..." Richard was taken aback by this revelation. Even with star realm travel on a floating city, it would take over a year to reach the Wizard World from the Insect Hive World, yet he had arrived in the Wizard World within the span of a dream.

"How long was I asleep?" Richard asked, still in a daze.

"About three hours. Because you entered the Nightmare World, the connection between you and those furballs fluctuated, and they immediately notified me. I came out of the secret realm right away."

"Crossing such a vast distance in three hours, the rules of the Nightmare World are truly miraculous."

Having marveled at the Nightmare World's rules, Richard calmed himself and continued to inquire, "So how do I get out?"

"Caw, based on my previous experience, you need to collect Nightmare Power. Once you've gathered enough, the Nightmare World will recognize you as a foreign entity and expel you. This is the most stable way to leave the Nightmare World."

"And how long did it take you last time?"

"Caw... about three hundred years."

Richard furrowed his brows. Three hundred years was a significant period for a first-ring wizard, whose maximum lifespan is about a thousand years, though few wizards actually reach that age.

Human theoretical lifespan can exceed a hundred years, but centenarians are rare.

"Is there a faster way?"

"Caw, yes. If you're lucky and encounter the Dream Gate, you can leave immediately. But the probability of that..." Ulysses trailed off, implying that the odds were far from favorable.

Richard pondered for a moment before asking, "You can come in but can't take me out? Is your soul injury not healed enough?"

Ulysses shook his head, "Caw, first of all, I'm just a soul projection right now; my soul is still in the physical world. Secondly, my abilities aren't suited for this. If I were that old lady who loves playing with incense in our world, even with the power of faith at a basic level, she could pull you back."

Seeing this, Richard could only accept the reality with resignation.

"Tell me how to gather Nightmare Power," Richard said helplessly.

Encountering such an incident on a simple task made him feel his luck had been exhausted by previous gains.

No, how can a wizard talk about luck? It's all probabilities!

"Caw, it's simple," Ulysses flew in front of Richard, "You just need to find a projection of an intelligent creature from the Wizard World in the Nightmare World, then enter their dream and scare them."

"Sounds simple enough," Richard nodded.

"Caw, but this method is slow. Once you accumulate some Nightmare Power, don't rely solely on it. Otherwise, you'd never gather enough even if you collected until you died of old age," Ulysses added. "Every intelligent creature in the Nightmare World carries Nightmare Power, which can be extracted through certain means."

"The simplest way is to consume it, though higher-level nightmare creatures in the Nightmare World typically raise lower-level nightmare creatures to regularly collect nightmare crystals, which are condensed from Nightmare Power. Consuming these nightmare crystals is a faster way to acquire Nightmare Power."

Richard mused, "So, the creatures in the Nightmare World have their own society, right?"

"Caw, that's correct. According to wizard terminology, those higher-level nightmare creatures should be called Nightmare Lords."

Richard nodded and asked one final question, "How do I deal with these nightmare creatures? This world feels... peculiar."

As he spoke, Richard raised his hand, conjuring a black fireball.

"The rules of this world aren't much different from those of the Wizard World. I can still use spells, so can the nightmare creatures here be killed by my spells, or do they require Nightmare Power to be dealt with?"

"Caw, yes, Nightmare Wizard World is a reflection of the Wizard World; all the rules are the same, just with additional rules exclusive to the Nightmare World. Nightmare creatures can still be injured by spells."

"But the abilities of nightmare creatures are varied and strange; to counter these abilities, Nightmare Power is essential."

"Alright, everything's clear," Richard said with a wave of his hand. As long as nightmare creatures could be killed by spells, that was enough.

"Let's find an unfortunate soul and start collecting some Nightmare Power."

…

The environment of the Nightmare World was peculiar, and it seemed that all creatures had become bizarre.

Walking through the wilderness, Richard plucked a flower from a nearby bush. The flower had yellow petals and looked ordinary, but its center bore a wrinkled baby's face.

As Richard touched the human-like face, it emitted a piercing wail, much like a real baby.

Moreover, as one flower began to cry, the entire field of flowers around Richard seemed to awaken, with a chorus of infant cries echoing like wails from hell.

Richard tossed the human-faced flower into his sleeve and hurriedly flew over the field.

Due to the unique rules of the Nightmare World, Richard had nothing but his clothes, which meant he had lost his magical pocket, a spatial tool.

However, according to Ulysses, once he accumulated enough Nightmare Power, Richard could use it to conjure a magical pocket, an ability even more extraordinary than the Power of Faith.

While the Power of Faith could only stop a giant insect, Nightmare Power could manifest physical objects, even finely crafted magical tools.

The Wizard World was vast, filled with many uninhabited areas, and Richard had no idea where he was in the wilderness. He could only wander aimlessly in search.

Soon, the blood moon set.

Daylight broke.

A black sun rose slowly from the eastern horizon, resembling a black hole devouring a star, with a dark center and a white halo around the edges.

Richard glanced at it, and his gaze was immediately captivated.

In the center of the black sun, there seemed to be something—a line? No, given the size of the black sun, that line should be larger than a mountain range.

But as Richard gazed longer, black flames suddenly ignited over his body.

The black flames were intensely hot, yet Richard seemed unaffected, continuing to stare at the black sun as if entranced.

Noticing something amiss, Ulysses shouted, "Caw, don't look at that thing! It's alive!"

Ulysses' voice carried a certain power, and with his warning, Richard snapped out of his trance, quickly averting his gaze.

As he did, the black flames on his body vanished instantly.

"Was that a nightmare creature?" Richard asked, slightly shaken. He had only glanced at it and nearly got burned.

These nightmare creatures had terrifying abilities.

"Caw, so what?" Ulysses said nonchalantly. "The Nightmare World isn't the material world; anything is possible here. For all we know, the place we're in could be part of a nightmare creature's body."

…

The lesson from the black sun deepened Richard's understanding of the Nightmare World. Along his search for intelligent creatures, he approached everything with caution.

After nearly three days, Richard finally discovered a village in the wilderness.

Finding a village meant he could locate more human settlements nearby.

Oddly, when Richard entered the village, he found it completely deserted.

This village wasn't like the abandoned ones he'd seen in the wilderness. The houses, roads, and wells were all intact, and the houses contained usable furniture.

Logically, this village should have been home to at least a few hundred people.

"Caw, perhaps it has something to do with time," Ulysses suggested. "The alternation of day and night is one of your world's rules. Perhaps this rule has interacted with the nightmare rules."

Richard nodded in agreement; Ulysses' theory matched his own suspicions.

Most creatures in the Wizard World work by day and rest by night, so dreams occur at night.

This made the interaction between the day-night cycle and nightmare rules plausible.

Richard found a room in the village and sat down, quietly waiting for the blood moon to rise.

Three hours later, the black sun set, and the blood moon rose.

An intangible change swept through the village.

The entire village seemed to undergo a subtle transformation.

Richard sat in the room, silently opening his eyes.

Though he couldn't meditate in the Nightmare World, sleep had become extraordinarily effective.

Richard only slept for a few minutes, yet he felt as refreshed as if he had meditated.

As the blood moon gradually rose, the village came alive with activity.

Strange creatures emerged from jars and pots, resembling poorly crafted chimeras made by clumsy wizard apprentices—bizarre and grotesque.

Ulysses introduced these little creatures to Richard:

"Caw, these little things are the lowest-level intelligent creatures in the Nightmare World—Nightmare Spirits. They're one of the most common nightmare creatures here, with very low combat power."

As he spoke, a Nightmare Spirit approached Richard and asked loudly:

"Big guy, I've never seen you before! You must have come from outside, right?"