Mage Daniel watched in horror as the entire world slowly collapsed before him—the magnificent Arcane Spire, the unparalleled temple of Magic, the world brimming with light and hope, all crumbled silently in front of him, while a terrifying consciousness swiftly descended upon him.
Descending "before him" was just an illusion; having deeply understood the secrets of the mind, Daniel was well aware of the true facts—his mind had been invaded, and the power of this invader was beyond comprehension. Daniel constructed illusions and bait within his mind to shield any probing and encrypt his mories, but the invader seed to completely ignore these defenses, crushing everything. Within that fleeting second, he only felt a vast stream of information being forcibly poured into his brain, a stream he stood no chance of resisting.
Under such an overwhelming impact of information, all ntal barriers and mory buffers proved utterly useless.
In his remaining shred of reason, Daniel recalled the information recently published on the ntal network, including data about the "Wanderers from Outer Realm" and intelligence about the Eternal Sleepers’ bishop who perished at the hands of one such Wanderer. He realized what these incredible volus of information in his mind truly were, and upon realizing all this, his primary reaction was to imdiately cut off from the network—
His consciousness swiftly jumped between the ntal network and the real world, and in a stroke of luck, lasting less than a millisecond, he saw his magic laboratory on the Typhon border, with the awkward female apprentice handling samples at the nearby experintal table. He summoned all his strength to raise his hand, but in the next instant, he found himself back in the endlessly collapsing dream realm.
The palaces and buildings around him continued to collapse at a slow pace, while the passersby in the city dissolved into the air like abstract oil paintings. The old mage squeezed out the last breath from his lungs and shouted one last word: "He’s in the network—"
Yet his shout was only a fignt of his imagination; in fact, he stood dumbfounded, while a voice exploded in his mind: "Don’t move, I’ve caught you!"
Following that sentence, the scene around him was finally completely altered.
The glorious dream city vanished, leaving only an endlessly vast water surface in his vision, with bizarre tal platforms towering over it. A sky without stars or celestial bodies stretched over this water body, countless massive geotric figures ceaselessly shifting and reconfiguring above, creating various incomprehensible scenes. And the master of this world, a man with short pale-golden hair, quietly stood before him.
That was the visage of Charlie the First, the founding monarch of the Anzu Kingdom. In the "eternal dream-realm," many liked to shape themselves into this form, but the old mage knew that the present "Charlie the First" was an entity far scarier than any Eternal Sleepers.
"Wanderers from Outer Realm..." he muttered to himself.
"Honestly, I don’t quite like the na you all have given , it sounds rather awkward," Gawain said as he scrutinized the old mage before him—the persona dragged in was a middle-aged man adorned with a starry mage robe, grasping a gem magic wand, exuding a dignified and calm aura. But in this "world of crevices" abiding solely by the rules set by Gawain, the outsider had all disguises stripped away, revealing a shriveled, weak old man in a black mage robe. "Your na is Daniel... interesting, a Typhon Empire person, isn’t it?"
"How did you know..." The old mage first widened his eyes in shock, but then promptly realized that raising such a question was foolish: against a Wanderer from Outer Realm, what resistance could human intelligence muster?
Yet, in truth, Gawain didn’t know much—the knowledge to leverage his powerful mory impact to demolish most brain defenses of the Eternal Sleepers’ cultists, or setting traps and breaches within the ntal network to isolate an Eternal Sleepers’ follower and pull them into an anomalous data space, he possessed. But extracting mories was far more sophisticated and complex, and although he had knowledge in this area, he was far from mastering it.
He rely read this old mage’s surface mories—and even within those surface mories, there were already many intriguing things.
This old man nad Daniel was a mage before becoming an Eternal Sleepers follower, and a mber of the Typhon Imperial Mage Association.
That evil cult absorbs new mbers which is quite normal, targeting everyone from impoverished commoners to aristocrats with empty souls. Viscountess Lilith Kant of Kant territory was led astray by evil cult followers, much like Bard Wendell from a past encounter with the Oblivion Association believers. Yet from what Gawain knows, it’s rare for a mage to fall into becoming an evil cult follower—mages possess a unique worldview and belief system, as they are firstly wielders of supernatural power and are thus difficult to tempt with such forces. Moreover, they possess a broad belief in the Goddess of Magic, Milmina, considered to be the source of all Magic; if a mage truly decides to believe in sothing, wouldn’t believing in a Goddess of Magic be stronger than a group of dreaming lunatics?
But having witnessed Daniel’s surface mories, Gawain realized that if a mage, old and on the verge of death, hits a wall on their magical path, finding themselves cornered, while possessing exploitable weak points in their will... then indulging in dreams seems not impossible.
In the aspect of "compensating for regrets brought by reality," the Eternal Sleepers indeed possess a great advantage.
On the other hand, the old mage Daniel fully regained his composure after the initial terror. He had secretly tried escaping this place or casting spells, only to realize he was utterly trapped here, even his magical power seed frozen—within this ntal domain, mind control ant everything else ceased, regardless of possessing world-shattering power outside, he couldn’t resist the master of the dream. Thus, he decisively chose self-preservation, striving to lower his stance: "What... what do you wish to gain from ..."
Mages are a pragmatic group, sothing that doesn’t change under any circumstances. Daniel won’t pretend under this situation, especially when confronted by a Wanderer from Outer Realm, an inscrutable entity likely devoid of human emotions.
Since this "Wanderer" hasn’t taken his life yet, it indicates he still holds value to remain alive; he must strive to survive.
"Gain what..." Gawain pondered seriously while stroking his chin, "Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it... dragging you here was rely an experint, I don’t see you having any other value. Or rather, what do you think you can offer ?"
Just an experint...
The old mage’s heart sank, the situation began veering toward a dire direction.
He was regarded as nothing but an experintal subject—like the animals he threw to his apprentice Mary to handle.
Is this truly the attitude of the "Wanderers from Outer Realm" toward human beings?
Gawain did not leave the old mage to wallow in his imagination—though letting him do so might seem quite interesting, Gawain wasn’t online for pleasure. Now assured of Daniel’s ability to recognize reality, he waved his hand: "Alright, relax, we can sit down and talk leisurely."
A small round table and two chairs appeared out of thin air on the tranquil, mirror-like water surface. Gawain was the first to sit down, and after a brief hesitation, Daniel cautiously sat down as well, yet he still dared not relax his focus on Gawain’s every move.
"How long have you been an Eternal Sleeper?"
Daniel was montarily stunned, not expecting this non-human presence to actually start chatting with him, but he quickly responded, "I ca 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 mage with a smile yet not a smile. "Indulging in dreams is not a ans to solve problems."
"...Mortals are creatures limited by their talents," the old mage shook his head bitterly. "My talent led to an early end in my quest for truth."
"Is being an Eternal Sleeper a form of redemption for you?"
"...Perhaps you could say that."
"Interesting," Gawain lightly tapped the table. "Then I’m very curious, if a greater redemption were placed before you, would you betray the Eternal Sleepers?"
Daniel stared blankly at Gawain, appearing sowhat at a loss.
"I need a servant," Gawain said with a smile, deliberately making himself appear mysterious—since those Eternal Sleepers who love internal drama had woven an impressive persona for him, he didn’t mind using it for a mont. "I’m not omniscient nor omnipotent, and there are many things unsuitable for to handle myself—therefore, I have chosen you."
In fact, it was chosen arbitrarily.
"Chosen... ?" the old mage said hesitantly. "What do you want to do?"
"To be my eyes and ears within Typhon borders, and among the Eternal Sleepers," Gawain said while closely watching the old mage’s eyes. "Of course, you will receive equivalent compensation in the process—I very much believe in equivalent exchange."
Though Daniel did not hope for more benefits beyond "survival" from this encounter, he still instinctively asked, "You an... compensation?"
"For you, it may be a greater redemption," Gawain laughed. "It’s knowledge that will allow you to continue on the path of exploring the truth."
Daniel’s breath caught.
...
Mary nervously watched the ntor’s movents; she had maintained this posture for a long ti.
After that bizarre sentence, the ntor seed petrified, frozen with a lingering expression of fear on his face. She wanted to step forward and push him or call out, yet ultimately she restrained this impulse—the ntor likely beca like this due to magical backlash, and rash contact was not a good idea at this mont.
However, no matter how she examined the surrounding blood-red magic symbol arrays, she couldn’t find any traces of a spell going out of control.
Should she call other apprentices in? Should she call the old butler in or... should she take this opportunity to release the shackles from her neck?
Countless thoughts—tense and terrifying—violently clashed in the heart of this low-ranking female mage. She felt her limbs start to tremble, as a reckless impulse to take a desperate gamble was gradually taking over, but just before she made the worst decision, she saw her ntor’s eyes suddenly blink.
This almost made her cry out.
The old mage wearing a black robe had finally awakened. His rigid muscles slowly recovered, and his turbid eyes turned clear again. He saw the female student standing before him, who appeared tense and fearful.
The old mage didn’t know how long he had lost consciousness, but it was evident this student hadn’t fled.
Mary spoke with a trembling tone, "ntor... are... are you okay?"
"I made a deal with a terrifying presence," the old mage said in a hoarse voice.
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