Exploring Technology in a Wizard World
Chapter 474 - 473: Illusion, Under My Control

Chapter 474: Chapter 473: Illusion, Under My Control

"Tap, tap, tap..."

The old man stepped back a few steps, putting a safe distance between himself and Richard; his facial muscles contorted, revealing a slightly benevolent expression.

Looking at Richard, the old man spoke, "You see— young man, don’t get agitated, just hear me out.

In truth, I hold no malice towards you. Really. Just as I said at the beginning, my sole purpose is to dissuade you from making some mistakes, not to harm you.

To prevent damage to your real-world body, I chose to use an illusion to meet you.

And the things I said are indeed true— the things you are currently involved in are very dangerous. Although I do not know why you are interested in the secrets in the library, you really should not delve too deeply into these secrets.

The less you know, the safer it is, right? Delving too deeply into the truths of the secrets not only benefits you in no way, but it will also bring you endless suffering!"

"Is that so?" Richard looked at the old man and said, "Based on what you’re saying, I should indeed thank you, since you are offering me a warning out of ’good intentions.’ However... I’ve always been very clear in my thinking, and even with your ’good intentioned’ warning, there are certain things I am bound to do.

Moreover, I really dislike being lectured to, with all the finger-pointing and moralizing, just as you said— I am arrogant, conceited, and dismissive of others.

Lastly, I feel that if you truly wanted to persuade me, you should meet me in reality; that would show more sincerity. Meeting me in this illusion, hiding and not willing to show yourself, along with using intimidation and deceit to achieve some end, makes me... well, somewhat repelled.

So, let’s just end this conversation here. If you have anything else to say, come meet me in reality, and don’t continue to mislead my mind in this illusion. That’s it."

After Richard finished speaking, he stretched out a hand toward the old man.

The old man looked puzzled and blinked, asking, "What are you trying to do?"

Richard gave a light chuckle.

The next moment, the old man’s eyes widened as he couldn’t help but cry out when he saw all sorts of venomous creatures surge out from his sleeves toward his body: spiders, poisonous snakes, scorpions, centipedes...

Some of the venomous creatures crawled into the old man’s ears, nostrils, and mouth; he tried to use his hands to prevent them, but it was futile, and he let out a terrible scream.

The stream of venomous insects grew steadily larger, ultimately enveloping and devouring the old man’s body, forming a "ball of insects." The old man’s voice gradually weakened until it was no more.

Then, with a "pop" sound, the entire "ball of insects" along with the old man vanished as if they were foam.

Richard watched and let out a sigh of relief.

For him, thanks to his continuous training with the Crystal Skull, his spiritual strength was extremely high. Therefore, when he was in White Stone City, even though he fell victim to the spiritual attack magic by member Mu Konni of the Mysterious Organization, it didn’t affect him much.

Now, here in this place, although he didn’t know why he had unknowingly fallen into an illusion, once he realized the truth, he was able to dominate quickly within the illusion using his spiritual advantage, using the venomous creatures to kill the old man as one manifestation.

In fact, as long as he desired and had sufficient spiritual power, he could do anything within this illusion.

But what he wanted now was only to destroy this illusion and return to reality.

He pursed his lips, Richard extended a finger, pointing forward, then stopped as if touching a giant transparent glass.

With a slight effort, a "crack" sound emerged, a large number of cracks appeared on the giant transparent glass, and the library in the reflection became fragmented and broken.

"Crack, crack!"

Richard applied more force with his fingers, and the enormous transparent glass developed more and more cracks until, at last, it seemed unable to withstand the strain and shattered with a loud crash.

Countless fragments fell, opening up like the curtain of a stage, revealing the real world.

Return to reality.

Once back in reality, Richard immediately looked at himself and saw that he was unharmed, standing in front of a gold bookshelf, holding a book with a metallic cover and just turning to the first page.

Clearly, this was when the illusion had been in effect.

Turning his head around, Richard noticed that the entire library was quiet. In the distance, Princess Rose appeared to have tired from reading and was sleeping against the bookshelf. Besides her, there were no third persons in the library, no Seven-colored Spiders, no black venomous wasps, nothing of the sort.

After surveying the surroundings, Richard withdrew his gaze and spoke, as if talking to himself, yet also as if addressing an invisible person, "Well, now we are back in the real world. The person just now, would you care to come out and meet me again?"

"... meet again ..." the echo resonated.

But after Richard spoke, he waited for quite a while, and the library remained unchanged.

"Not coming out?" Richard said, "Alright then, that’s that. Next, I really will start reading these books. After all, I have to thank you—your appearance has confirmed the importance of these books to some extent. Having confirmed that, once I finish them, I should be able to find what I am looking for. This way, I also don’t need to waste time visiting other libraries."

With that, Richard noticed that the library was still silent; he no longer hesitated, turned the metal-covered book, and fixed his gaze on the pages filled with text, reading attentively.

Page after page, page after page...

The library remained silent...

Suddenly, it was dawn.

Outside the library, the faint sound of the Copper Bell could be heard, a method used at the Black Holy Mountain Palace to wake up the maids and manservants, reminding them to start their day.

Sitting on the floor by the gold bookshelf, Richard slowly closed the last book, stuffed it back on the shelf, rubbed his brow, and stood up.

The books on the shelf took up much of the night to read through quickly, consuming quite a bit of energy, yet the gains were substantial. His decision to help Princess Rose in exchange for reading in the library all night appeared, at this moment, to have been quite profitable.

Thinking so, Richard walked over to where Princess Rose, who was still sleeping against the bookshelf, helped pick up a book that was resting on her, and casually stuffed it into a nearby shelf, then snapped his fingers twice.

"Snap! Snap!"

"Hmm?" Princess Rose opened her drowsy eyes, still not fully awake, and mumbled in a slurred voice, "What is it? Don’t disturb me, I want to sleep some more."

"It’s dawn." Richard said, "According to our agreement, you’re supposed to guide me out of this library now, so... maybe don’t go back to sleep."

"Really—?" Princess Rose responded, lowering her head as if to fall back into a deep sleep, but then she suddenly remembered something, stood up abruptly, and widened her eyes.

"It’s dawn! Then—" Princess Rose turned her head around, patting through her clothes’ pockets, her expression both frantic and flustered, as if she had lost something important, she exclaimed, "Where’s my book, where’s my book?"

"Book?"