Three days later.
Angor made significant progress in studying “Silent Detainment”. Currently, he was still not familiar with the last rune he needed to draw. He could have done it using the tablet’s help, but he would like to finish the rune without relying on the device.
Before he could get to the final phase of his study, however, another urgent matter interrupted him.
He felt his mana pool bloated.
In fact, he never saw his mana pool so “full” before. It was so obvious that he had reached the final bottleneck of his apprenticeship. To further improve his mana pool, he had to become a wizard.
“The final limit...”
He now felt a terrible sensation all over his body as if he were trapped in a muddy swamp, unable to move. He almost had several large shackles tying up his body and soul. He just couldn’t see them.
He had heard from others many times that breaching the barrier between two major levels would be troublesome, and that the one before the level of a wizard was the biggest one he would meet in his life.
Due to his many “tricks and cheats”, he did not meet with such obstacles when turning level-2 and level-3. Now he felt more laden than ever.
He had to endure the weighty feeling and fully prepare himself before attempting to tackle the limit. According to Sunders, doing so too early and carelessly would only lower his chance of success while causing injuries to his mindspace.
Of course he didn’t have what it took to take the challenge right now.
He stood up from his seat somewhat sluggishly and planned to work on the domain sphere again. Since he might get hurt like how he did the last time, he was going to do it outside Padt Manor.
He took Toby with him.
He determined a spot at the edge of Yamei Province to execute his plan. The nearest human settlement, which was Moonwater City, was thousands of kilometers away.
He cast Dream Enkindle and entered the dream wasteland without a problem.
Soon, he found the domain sphere and caught it in one hand.
Next, he took a deep breath and began “reading” the green sigils swirling on the surface of the sphere.
The first incomplete model—Bind—soon appeared in his mind, which was what kept the domain sphere in place.
Following this one, he reached Dissolve, which was used for extracting power from the sphere, while the last one, Fusion, would transfer the power to himself.
He clenched his teeth and activated “Dissolve”.
The green sigils moved around the sphere quicker than before, causing shiny glitters to fall off the object.
Then, he triggered “Fusion”, and the scattering glitters rushed into his head like a stream of water.
The first thing he felt was a giant headache.
Once again, he saw his vision broadening as if he were the creator of this small world, who was free to look at his creation from far away.
He saw the edge of the dream wasteland, beyond which was complete darkness. By penetrating the darkness, one would probably reach the Dream Realm.
That towering monster was gone. Angor wondered if the blond stranger persuaded it into leaving.
At least he saw no danger in his view.
The fusion soon ended, by which time he was rather glad to find out that he did a lot better than the last time. He was still left panting on the ground, unable to move, while bearing with the searing pain stinging the center of his brain. Yet there was no bleeding or loss of consciousness this time.
...
Inside the Foundation City, all the citizens briefly stopped moving as they suddenly felt the world around them gaining more clarity.
“Why-why am I feeling so warm in my heart all of a sudden? As if I saw my dear mother...”
Someone almost cried.
“Same! I feel... safe.”
“It came from outside the city, I think?” A man looked at the city gate, but no one could leave because they were strictly forbidden from going outside.
Meanwhile, Freud also felt the strange aura from the top of Skyward Tower.
“That appears much like the sequence of a law. But different... This one is almost illusionary. Is Mister Padt accepting a new domain power?”
Freud knew about the domain sphere because Angor explained it to him once. With Follower’s Oath, Angor had no problem revealing such secrets.
A uniformed woman approached him and interrupted his thoughts, “Mister Dison, Alda delivered a message.”
Freud took a cramped scrap and saw several poorly-written letters on it.
[HELP]
“Don’t mind him.” He tossed the paper on the ground. “Ignore this stuff if he sends it again.”
“Acknowledge, sir.” The woman stepped back to her post.
Freud looked at the Ocean Theater in the distance. He couldn’t see through the walls, but he more or less knew what was going on in there.
Jon was probably giving Alda piano lessons again.
In Freud’s view, it was a win-win if little Alda got to learn a new skill and provide Jon with more company at the same time.
It seemed Sunny was over there as well, but she was better suited to become a singer.
...
Angor spent over ten hours on the ground before he could feel his legs.
He made sure his mind was working properly before checking the new power he just gained.
“Hope I can find my magic powers back in the dream wasteland,” he muttered to himself. “If so, I can finally get to alchemy practice as Freud suggested.”
Currently, he was a common mortal in the dream wasteland just like Freud, Jon, and everyone else. However, he didn’t need to worry about safety problems because he could still use his green sigils to command nightmare energy.
As soon as he found his full power back, he would like to do alchemy practices that he couldn’t do elsewhere in the dream wasteland.
“Gatekeeper?” He frowned as he read the power’s name from his mind. This sounded similar to the last one—Dream Gate.
“I can use this power to govern who can enter the dream wasteland. Wait...”
This one could not help him achieve his “costless alchemy practice”, but it was a very important power nevertheless. Previously, the Dream Gate only told him people and items that were going to arrive at the dream wasteland, and he could not stop them. Now, however, he was free to keep something out. He could even forcefully remove something from the dream wasteland that already existed there.
He finally had an active defense mode!