The Shadow Realm!

A flicker of surprise crossed Pei Ze’s eyes.

He had heard his instructor talk about the Shadow Realm in his Planar Studies class.

The Shadow Realm was an Outer Plane, similar in nature to the Bottomless Abyss where demons dwelled, and the Nine Layers of Hell, home to devils.

There was no sun, moon, or stars in the Shadow Realm; the sky was a perpetual, gloomy expanse.

No humans lived there, only all sorts of strange and wondrous Magical Creatures, such as Shadow Horses, Shadow Sea Serpents, and Shadow Minotaurs.

It was said that millennia ago, the Shadow Realm was the domain of the Dark Night Goddess, Shire.

But later, the Dark Night Goddess went missing during a battle with the Wizards, and since then, the Shadow Realm has become ownerless territory.

It wasn’t just Wizards; many planar races would often pop over to the Shadow Realm to try their luck, either gathering materials or capturing its ghostly creatures.

Pei Ze had never imagined that an entrance to the Shadow Realm was hidden beneath the academy.

As for the other one, the ’Dark Well,’ he had never heard of it.

Noticing that Pei Ze was staring at the room on the far right, Fan He explained, "There are four or five Dark Wells in that room. If you toss a Dark Stone into a well, you can meet beings from other worlds and even trade with them."

"However, the creatures you encounter are completely random, and what you can trade for depends entirely on luck and judgment. Every year, people get swindled and suffer heavy losses, but there are also lucky ones who obtain treasures that even Wizards would covet."

As he said this, a flash of envy appeared in Fan He’s eyes, as if he was thinking of one such lucky person.

Pei Ze’s interest was piqued. He quickly asked, "How do you get Dark Stones?"

Fan He smiled. "Dark Stones are very precious. They can only be exchanged for with Merit Points."

’Merit Points again!’

Pei Ze asked in surprise, "What exactly are Merit Points?"

Fan He explained patiently, "Merit Points are much more valuable than Contribution Points. You can only earn them from important missions issued by the academy. They can be used to redeem precious resources that you can’t buy with Contribution Points or Magic Stone Coins."

"What kind of resources?" Pei Ze was intrigued.

"For example, Transcendent Potions," Fan He said, listing them as if they were his own treasures. "This potion clears the mind and enhances your cognitive abilities, which in turn increases the efficiency of constructing Will Runes and learning Magic models. It lasts for up to three days."

Pei Ze’s eyes lit up.

He remembered the Transcendent Potion; he had read about it in a book once.

It was a Tier Two Potion!

It was said that with a Transcendent Potion, one could construct a Will Rune below number 10 in just three or four days.

For Will Runes above number 10, it would only take five or six days.

The benefit of such a potion to a Wizard Apprentice was simply immense!

The only drawback was that the Transcendent Potion was addictive. It couldn’t be taken repeatedly in a short period, or it could easily cause irreversible damage to one’s Spirit.

The weaker a person’s constitution, the longer the interval required before they could take it again.

Fan He continued, "There’s also the Vile-Phantasm Potion. Taking it enhances your Spiritual Power, even more effectively than Ten Thousand Flowers Honey. The only side effect is that it causes intense, excruciating pain and hallucinations."

"Besides those, there are Blood Demons, wizarding artifacts, various familiars and slaves, and so on. You can even exchange them for entry into the Realm of Truth."

’You can even exchange for a spot in the Realm of Truth!’

Pei Ze was truly astonished this time.

’It seems these Merit Points really are precious.’

"Of course, the number of Merit Points needed to exchange for a spot in the Realm of Truth is beyond your imagination," Fan He said with a chuckle.

A thought stirred in Pei Ze’s mind. ’I wasn’t very interested in that mission to hunt down the heretics before, but now... maybe it’s worth a try.’

If he could earn some Merit Points, even if it wasn’t enough for the Realm of Truth, exchanging them for a few Vile-Phantasm Potions would be great too.

He estimated that even after he finished constructing all 32 Will Runes, his Spirit attribute would still be quite a bit short of 160 points. It would be much better if he had potions or miraculous items that could increase his Spiritual Power.

Fan He pointed to the stone door, beside which was a stone stele inscribed with the three words ’Realm of Truth.’ He said, "The entrance is right over there. You can go straight in."

Pei Ze nodded and walked toward the stone door.

As he passed through the center of the hall, he suddenly felt a wave of energy wash over his entire body. For an instant, he had the feeling of being seen through completely.

Fortunately, the strange sensation vanished the next moment.

Pei Ze’s heart tightened.

’I was just wondering why such an important place was unguarded. It seems there is a guardian; I just can’t perceive their existence. Clearly, this guardian’s power far surpasses my own.’

Pushing aside his stray thoughts, Pei Ze quickened his pace and arrived before the stone door.

Within the stone doorway was a slowly rotating silver curtain of light, dotted with countless shimmering points of light, and nothing else.

Pei Ze stared for a long moment but found nothing unusual. Wasting no more time, he took a deep breath, strode through the stone doorway, and his figure instantly vanished into the silver curtain of light.

His vision was instantly filled with silver; all he could see was a vast, boundless expanse of it.

It felt as if only an instant had passed, yet also as if millions of years had gone by. The silver gradually faded, like thick dust being wiped away, revealing a deep blue void and starlight within.

When his consciousness cleared, Pei Ze looked around and found himself in a vast, starry sky. Myriad stars were scattered all around him like chess pieces on a board, and a brilliant galaxy stretched across the heavens above, a magnificent sight to behold.

Gazing at the starry sky and the galaxy, Pei Ze couldn’t help but feel a sense of his own insignificance rising from deep within.

’This starry sky and galaxy are probably the manifestation of the knowledge grasped by that great Wizard. And the gap in knowledge between myself and that great Wizard is like the gap between me and this cosmos before me—they are simply incomparable. On this path of pursuing truth, I still have a very long way to go.’

After a long while, Pei Ze finally pulled himself from his thoughts. He took a deep breath and immersed his mind in the surrounding starry sky.

Gradually, he forgot his own existence, as if his entire being had merged with the cosmos, comprehending the changes of the myriad stars.

Every time a star twinkled, a new sliver of insight would appear deep in his mind, like a falling strand of rain merging into an ocean of knowledge.

An unknown amount of time passed before Pei Ze suddenly awoke with a jolt. In that instant, he saw the starry sky before him shatter, the galaxy annihilate, and a blinding light flood his entire field of vision.

The next second, his feet felt solid ground beneath them.

Pei Ze forced his eyes open despite the discomfort, only to find that he had returned to the front of the stone door and was standing blankly beside the stele.

’It’s over?’

Pei Ze was a bit dazed. It took him a long moment to come to his senses. He turned to Fan He, who was standing nearby, and asked, "Senior, how long was I in there?"

Fan He smiled. "About a minute."

’Only a minute?’

Pei Ze rubbed the bridge of his nose. ’Why did it feel like so much longer?’

"Inside the Realm of Truth, the perception of time’s passage is vastly different from the outside. It’s a normal phenomenon," Fan He explained, adding as an afterthought, "That’s what Yin Xue said."

"How do you feel now?"

Pei Ze looked at his own palm, and after several seconds, he managed to squeeze out a single word.

"Great."

As if a heavy burden had suddenly been lifted, Pei Ze felt incredibly light all over, and his head had a cool, refreshing sensation, like he had just eaten mint.

’Perhaps this is what Yin Xue mentioned—a sign of one’s aptitude improving.’

But other than that, he didn’t feel like he had gained any new information in his memory.

None of the new Magic, course knowledge, or metamagic techniques that Yin Xue had mentioned were there.

’Could it be that I’m different from the others? Did I not get an extra epiphany?’

Pei Ze was stunned. ’If that’s really the case, then I’ve really gotten the short end of the stick.’

Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he quickly chanted in his mind:

"Omniscience, inspect my status."

[Spirit 72.23]

[Constitution 40.24]

His Spirit and Constitution attributes were the same as ever, and there were no changes to his three missions.

However, as Pei Ze’s gaze moved downward, he was surprised to find that below the mission log, where there was once nothing, new text had appeared.

[Power of Rules]