Chapter 38: Ubice's Nightmare

Chapter 38: The Nightmare of Yubis

The Mage Tower, the library.

Lewin searched for information on the dark god Yubis.

Yubis was said to be a deity of dreams—formless, ineffable. Those with heightened intuition might glimpse Yubis in their sleep, hear its murmurs whispering through the veil of slumber.

Some were consumed by nightmares, their minds eroded, their sanity unraveled.

Others gleaned forbidden knowledge from those whispers, receiving power bestowed by Yubis himself.

Thus, Yubis came to be known as the God of Nightmares.

Dreams were too mysterious, more elusive than the divine realms above the heavens. Even mages understood little of them.

To this day, no mage had ever beheld the true visage of the nightmare god Yubis.

The book carried a warning: never seek knowledge from a dark god.

The moment you acquire such knowledge, you have already paid the price.

Many powerful mages had sought to prove whether the nightmare god Yubis truly existed.

After gathering vast forbidden lore, they descended into madness, losing all reason.

The more rational a person was, the harder it became to fall under a dark god’s sway—unless one willingly cast aside reason.

Mages were the least susceptible to a dark god’s corruption, yet because of their insatiable hunger for knowledge, they were also the most likely to abandon their sanity.

For a mage, knowledge *was* power.

Lewin set the book down. The accounts of mages losing their minds were horrifying.

A single deranged archmage could effortlessly obliterate an entire town.

One dared not imagine the catastrophe should a legendary mage lose control.

The book summarized it in a single sentence:

*When the legendary mage Marnan went mad, Yanxia City was reduced to dust. Not a soul among its million inhabitants survived.*

“Too dangerous. I should stay far away from cultists of the dark gods.”

Lewin decided he wouldn’t leave the Mage Tower again until the black-robed cultist was dealt with.

His basic meditation technique needed only six hundred more experience points to advance—perfect timing to focus entirely on cultivation.

Eager to break through soon, he spent a small fortune purchasing a vial of magic potion.

Lewin returned to his room with the potion in hand.

“This potion should be enough to push me through!”

He glanced at the wall. The patterns upon it twisted and reformed into words:

[Basic Meditation (Perfected)] 3402/4000

...

Three days later, grim news arrived.

The apprentice mage sent to hunt the black-robed cultist of Yubis had died.

The number of apprentices in the Mage Tower had dwindled to nineteen.

Lewin’s heart clenched—he hadn’t expected even an apprentice to perish.

“I wonder how the Mage Tower will respond now? Will they send a first-tier mage?”

He watched closely.

After all, the cultist was hiding somewhere within Mapleleaf City—far too close for comfort.

Like a time bomb buried beneath his feet, Lewin felt no sense of safety.

“I hope they eliminate the black cultist of Yubis soon.”

He cared deeply about this matter.

“What? Master Guze is going after the cultist?”

When Lewin heard the news, he was stunned.

Guze said, “The loss of an apprentice mage has shaken the tower. The senior mages have decided to send three apprentices to finish this once and for all.”

Lewin asked, “Why not send a first-tier mage?”

Guze shook his head. “The first-tier mages are all occupied. They don’t have time for this.”

Lewin hesitated, then said, “Master Guze, let me go with you.”

Guze replied, “No need. The team has already been chosen. You stay here and train in peace.”

Worried, Lewin looked at Guze and said, “Then wait a moment, Master Guze.”

He cast a spell—the Invisible Armor.

Moments later, Guze saw a shimmer of magical light ripple across his body. He touched his arm and felt a hard, protective shell beneath his robes.

His expression shifted. “This… is the Invisible Armor spell?”

Lewin nodded. “Invisible Armor lasts much longer than a Magic Shield.”

“Let me teach you how to activate and dismiss it.”

Soon, Guze mastered the spell’s control. He smiled. “Honestly, it’s unnecessary—I always cast a Magic Shield before battle.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Lewin said. “What if you’re ambushed?”

Guze nodded, accepting the gesture.

“Alright. I’m off. Don’t worry about me.”

Fully equipped, staff in hand, Guze left the room.

Lewin watched as the three apprentice mages departed the Mage Tower.

“May everything go smoothly.”

Anxious for Guze’s safety, Lewin found it impossible to concentrate the entire day.

He couldn’t meditate.

So he turned to spell practice instead.

Now that he was an apprentice mage, he could finally use the training grounds without restraint.

He fired countless Small Fireball spells at targets.

Under his control, the fireballs traced intricate paths through the air before striking their marks.

He was attempting to manipulate the fireballs mid-flight.

Theoretically possible—but extremely difficult.

It was like trying to change the trajectory of a bullet after it had been fired.

After relentless attempts, he finally managed to guide a fireball around an obstacle, hitting the target hidden behind it.

“The books say master mages can use their mental force to precisely control a spell’s power—so they can unleash area attacks without harming allies.”

"My spiritual power..."

Li Wei attempted to project his spiritual force outward.

It was extremely difficult. His skull felt like an eggshell encasing his spirit—hard, unyielding, impossible to break from within.

Only in a meditative state could he pry open the tiniest crack, allowing his spiritual force to slip out and grasp at stray magical elements.

"Meditative state!"

The thought struck him. He stood still, stilled his breath, calmed his mind, and sought to enter that deep trance.

By focusing solely on spell cultivation, he forgot to worry about Gu Ze’s safety—

and precisely because of that, he slipped into meditation more swiftly.

Li Wei sensed the drifting magical elements around him. His spiritual force could capture them, draw them near—

but nothing more. He could do nothing beyond that.

He tried casting a spell while still in meditation.

The moment the intention arose in his heart, he was jolted out of the trance.

"Failed."

He wasn’t surprised. The meditative state required inner emptiness, total concentration on magical perception.

The only act permitted was absorbing magical elements to cultivate magical energy.

Constructing a spell matrix—a process so intricate, so complex—how could one maintain emptiness then?

Unless he could form the spell with a single thought.

A subconscious act, effortless, instinctive—like breathing.

If he could do that, it would be no different from instantaneous spellcasting.

But Li Wei was not yet capable of such mastery.

The next day, when Li Wei finished his morning practice, it was already noon.

He went to Gu Ze’s room and knocked—no answer. Gu Ze hadn’t returned.

"It’s been a full day… Why hasn’t he come back? Could something have happened?"

A knot tightened in Li Wei’s chest.

"Magic steward, check the progress of the mission to hunt down the Ubieth cultist."

Magic steward: "At noon yesterday, the apprentice mages dispatched by the Mage Tower joined forces with the Adventurer’s Guild squad and entered the underground drainage tunnels west of the city. No updates have been received since."

"Noon yesterday? Damn it—something is wrong!"

A whole day had passed, and Gu Ze and the others still hadn’t returned.

A cold premonition settled deep in Li Wei’s heart.

(End of Chapter)