It must be said that Ulysses's words made a lot of sense. This was the Tower of Truth, the residence of the Truth Wizards. At most, the Dreamwalkers Club had only provoked a Nightmare Lord.
But how dare a mere Nightmare Lord cause trouble at the Tower of Truth? Did they really think the Tower of Truth only had residential floors?
With renewed confidence, Richard landed on the ground. He pulled out his Mithril Staff from his pocket and cast two layers of mental protection on himself.
This was not the Nightmare World, so the ability to turn illusions into reality should not manifest here. Therefore, Richard focused his protection on the mental level.
The unreasonable dream-inducing ability of the Nightmare Red Mist was a lethal weapon second only to the Great Wizard. If one couldn't see through the Nightmare's disguise, even a Third Circle Wizard could die in the Nightmare.
Richard stepped forward and rang the doorbell.
Ding-ding-ding...
A cacophony of doorbell sounds echoed from within the Wizard Tower.
Richard frowned slightly. At first glance, the doorbell sound was just a bit noisy. But upon closer listening, one could detect subtle wails hidden within the noise.
For a Wizard with keen hearing, this bell sound was like something straight out of hell, sending chills down one's spine.
Richard waited for a while, but no Wizard emerged from the tower.
"Are they not here today?" Richard speculated.
Just as Richard was about to leave, the door to the Wizard Tower suddenly opened.
A Wizard, emaciated and resembling a mummy, walked out of the tower.
Looking at this Wizard, Richard inexplicably felt a sense of familiarity. He searched his memories and soon matched this terrifying face with one from his past.
Richard was horrified to realize that this mummy-like Wizard was likely the head of the Dreamwalkers Club.
When Richard had met him before, he had been a vibrant Second Circle Wizard, full of hope for the future.
But the Wizard before him now was not only gaunt but also had a vacant, lifeless gaze, as if he had endured prolonged torment and completely lost hope in life.
"Who are you looking for?" the head asked dazedly.
His voice was hoarse and rough, like two stones grinding against each other.
"I'm looking for you, Head," Richard said calmly. "We met once in the Nightmare World over two hundred years ago. I wonder if you still remember."
The head looked at Richard blankly, as if trying to mobilize his stiff brain.
Soon, the head's expression suddenly became animated.
"I remember! I remember!! I remember you, Master!"
The head's previously lifeless expression suddenly came alive. He hurriedly opened the gate to the courtyard and welcomed Richard inside.
Seeing the head's drastic change in attitude, Richard knew that the head likely saw him as the last hope for salvation.
The problem he was currently trapped in was clearly related to the Nightmare Wizard World. And in his eyes, Richard was precisely a Wizard who studied the Nightmare World.
This identity naturally made him pin his hopes on Richard.
"Head, I think it's better to clarify things before I enter your Wizard Tower."
Richard looked at the head, his expression suddenly turning serious.
"What exactly did you provoke? Why does your Wizard Tower look like it was dragged out of the Nightmare World?"
The head's body stiffened, and then he gave a forced smile.
"It seems Master has already noticed."
"It's hard not to notice," Richard said indifferently.
The smile on the head's face gradually faded, replaced by indescribable regret.
"Master, you must have visited the Nightmare Knight's manor back then, right?"
Hearing this, Richard already had some suspicions.
The problems of the Dreamwalkers Club were likely related to the item that the Third Circle Wizard had taken from the Nightmare Knight Amade's manor.
"I did," Richard nodded, then asked in return, "What exactly did that Third Circle Master take that turned you all into this state?"
A bitter smile appeared on the head's face: "Master is indeed wise, figuring it out so quickly.
What Master Farit took was a piece of a Nightmare Lord's body."
Hearing this answer, Richard was first shocked, then filled with elation.
The body of a Nightmare Lord, and it had caused such a commotion.
This was perfect refining material! However, Richard did not let this joy show on his face.
If he revealed his joy, it would discount the price he could demand later.
So Richard deliberately made his expression grim and said in a low voice, "Let's talk inside."
The head immediately stepped aside and quickly walked to the door of the Wizard Tower, opening it for Richard.
The two entered the Wizard Tower.
As the door closed behind them, an inexplicable eerie atmosphere instantly filled the tower. Under the influence of this atmosphere, every corner of the Wizard Tower seemed to hide a pair of eyes, every shadow concealing a monster.
The reception hall of the Wizard Tower seemed to have been neglected for a long time, with cobwebs and dust everywhere.
Richard waved his hand, and a faint breeze carrying wails swept the dust away from the hall.
Noticing the change in the spell, Richard's expression darkened further.
The two sat down, and the head began to recount what had happened after Richard left, with a bitter smile on his face.
"After you left, Master Farit and Amade had a fierce battle. In the end, Master Farit managed to escape Amade's territory with the Nightmare Lord's body.
After escaping, the Master found a secluded corner in the Nightmare World, saying he wanted to conduct an experiment.
We Second Circle Wizards naturally didn't dare to disturb him and soon left the Nightmare World due to spell restrictions.
But ten years later, when we re-entered the Nightmare World, we found a crystal ball at the spot where we had left.
The crystal ball contained a message instructing us to come to this Wizard Tower and perform some tasks. The message was signed by Master Farit."
"So you came here?" Richard frowned. "Were you not cautious at all?"
The head shook his head with a bitter smile and continued, "At that time, this Wizard Tower was not in its current state.
So when we arrived, we didn't notice anything strange.
But as we followed the instructions and reached the basement, we realized something was wrong.
In the basement, Master Farit had sealed his body in a coffin, with a layer of sealing magic applied outside.
The message from Master Farit included a diagram of a Magic Array, instructing us to draw the array in the basement and activate it.
He promised great rewards once these tasks were completed.
But the problem lay precisely in this Magic Array."
The head led Richard to the entrance of the basement. At the entrance, the dense Nightmare energy was so strong that Richard almost hallucinated.
Richard's expression changed slightly, and he added a few more layers of mental protection before following the head into the basement.
The further they descended, the thicker the Nightmare energy became.
In the material world, the Nightmare energy appeared ethereal, like wisps of ghosts.
Upon reaching the basement, Richard immediately saw the coffin mentioned by the head.
It was a black stone coffin, covered with countless densely packed runes that flowed endlessly. Below the coffin, a clearly damaged Magic Array was continuously extracting Nightmare energy from the coffin.
"When we were setting up Master Farit's Magic Array, we made a mistake with one rune, causing the entire array to malfunction as soon as it activated. An unknown force instantly engulfed us and this Wizard Tower.
If it weren't for the protective measures of Master Farit's Wizard Tower, even the surrounding towers might have been affected.
After being engulfed by that force, we were cursed. Whenever we began to meditate or rest, we would fall into terrifying nightmares.
For over two hundred years, I haven't meditated or rested once."
Hearing this, Richard couldn't help but feel a chill. Over two hundred years without rest—it was no wonder some Wizards had gone mad.
The head looked at Richard with pleading eyes.
"Master, I know you have deep knowledge of the Nightmare World. Please, you must help us. As long as you can free us from this curse, we are willing to give you all our possessions."
Ulysses's voice timely echoed in Richard's ear.
"He's been tainted by Nightmare rules, equivalent to being attacked by rules. This fool is thinking of it as a curse; how can he solve the problem?"
Richard remained expressionless and communicated with Ulysses via mental message: "Can the Healing Art cure this?"
"Yes."
Richard felt reassured and then furrowed his brow as he spoke to the head: "Head, your problem is quite difficult to solve."
"Difficult?" The head's eyes lit up—difficult meant it could be solved, just that the price wasn't high enough.
"Master, please name your price. As long as you can remove this curse, we will scrape together whatever we can."
Richard shook his head: "No need to scrape everything together, but you will have to pay a price. I need all your research materials on the Nightmare World and the ritual magic to enter the Nightmare World.
As for other things..."
Richard looked the head up and down and finally sighed.
"You can keep the rest."
From head to toe, the head didn't have a single decent piece of Magic Equipment, indicating his financial situation wasn't great. Richard wasn't particularly interested in his meager possessions.
"That's all?" The head was pleasantly surprised.
"That's all. However, you'd better prepare an explanation, because I'm going to unseal the coffin later."
Richard turned his gaze to the sealed stone coffin.
"Ulysses, do you think the Third Circle Wizard inside is still alive?"
Ulysses teased, "Do you want him to be alive or dead?"
Richard glanced at him: "I'm being serious. If he's alive, I'll save him.
I imagine this Wizard would be willing to trade his research materials for his life."
"Haha, because of these fools' mistakes, this Wizard has likely turned into a half-Nightmare, half-flesh monster. If we don't deal with what's inside the coffin, this place will eventually become a boundary between the Nightmare dimension and the material world.
Of course, for you, it's just a matter of getting a few Third Circle Wizards to seal it."
Richard frowned slightly: "So, the contents of the coffin pose a threat to the Tower of Truth, right?"
"Indeed."
Richard nodded, his expression instantly turning serious.
As a holder of the Second Class Honor Medal of the Wizard World, he had a duty to resolve this future threat to the Tower of Truth.
Yes, that was it—he definitely wasn't coveting the Nightmare rules inside the coffin.
Definitely not!
(End of Chapter)