Free Web NovelChapter 1: Chapter 1: Eye of Truth
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Hundreds of pairs of sheepskin boots stepped one after another across a floor paved with obsidian tiles.
Stone pillars lined the corridor, their etched runes glowing with a mysterious light.
Mo Ning, dressed in a standard-issue blue robe, moved forward mechanically with the crowd.
He carefully controlled his gaze, neither looking left nor right, nor letting his eyes linger on any single object for too long.
It was the first lesson he had learned in this world: excessive curiosity could lead to death, while appropriate discretion was the best protection.
In the Holy Spear Kingdom, Mo Ning had once witnessed a heart-stopping scene—a maid, out of curiosity, had touched a certain witchcraft item a few too many times. Her right hand instantly burst into ethereal blue flames, the flesh curling and charring in the silent blaze.
A Court Lady had merely glanced over, her tone filled with indifference. "Send this idiot back."
But in the kingdom’s Royal Library, an old man had looked at him with a gaze full of admiration:
"I’ve been observing you for half a month. You’ve remained cautious and discreet, not ostentatious like the other chosen ones. That’s a rare quality. It shows you have a very clear mind and powerful self-control."
The old man had also kindly warned him, "Child, until you become powerful, caution and discretion are your best protection."
The group of newcomers continued forward.
The group, consisting of 268 people, came from the seven kingdoms within the Black Tower Wizard Academy’s sphere of influence.
All of them had passed the "spiritual resonance" test at the age of 15.
When a Crystal was placed on their foreheads, the faint glow it emitted proved they possessed a Spiritual Talent far beyond that of ordinary people.
In their respective kingdoms, they were the enviable chosen ones, but at the Black Tower Academy, they were merely rookies at the very bottom.
Because talent was merely the ticket into the Wizard World.
"After you enter the Wizard Academy, if you want to stay," the Apprentice in charge of the test had said, his tone filled with indifference, "you must diligently practice the Basic Meditation Technique and form a Spirit Ring deep within your soul within two years."
"The speed at which you form your Spirit Ring determines the level of your aptitude," the Apprentice added, his expression impassive. "Anyone who fails to form a Spirit Ring after two years is trash."
He paused, then spat out his final sentence: "And the Academy does not shelter trash."
After a few seconds, suppressed gasps of amazement rippled back from the front of the group.
"Look up! Oh my god!"
"Where did the roof go?"
"Is this Witchcraft?"
Mo Ning finally couldn’t resist and tilted his head up slightly.
A single glance was all it took to leave him stunned.
Because there was no roof above them at all.
There was only a solid, pure, bottomless darkness.
Light distorted strangely as it touched the edges, as if being silently devoured by the darkness.
"Silence."
A calm voice spoke. It wasn’t loud, yet it clearly cut through all the whispering.
At the very front of the group of newcomers, the gray-robed Apprentice leading the way turned around.
He was about thirty years old, with a pale, gaunt face and a pair of gray eyes set in deep-sunk sockets.
His pupils held no warmth, only scrutiny.
Two silver threads were embroidered on the right breast of his robe, the mark of a Second Level Apprentice.
His name was Lai Te. He had briefly introduced himself earlier as the one responsible for guiding the newcomers from Lakefront Manor into the Academy.
"This is the Eternal Night Sky."
Lai Te’s voice spread clearly through the corridor.
"This is a permanently solidified Third Level Witchcraft. It has hung here since the founding of the Black Tower, and it has guarded the Academy for 1,327 years."
He paused briefly, his gaze sweeping over the faces filled with curiosity.
"Any life that enters this corridor without the permission of the Academy’s Witch Spirit will be instantly devoured by the Eternal Night. They will fall endlessly through eternal darkness, fully conscious, yet unable to perceive the passage of time."
"They remain this way until their bodies dehydrate into husks and crumble to dust, their souls slowly dissipating into the void, ultimately becoming a part of this very sky."
Hisses of intaken breath sounded through the crowd.
Mo Ning thought to himself, ’Sounds a lot like being adrift in space from my past life.’
The corner of Lai Te’s mouth quirked into a tiny smirk. He tilted his head back slightly, looking down on the group of newcomers with a condescending air.
Ever since they met him at Lakefront Manor, the man had maintained an arrogant attitude, treating the newcomers as if they were nothing, but no one dared to say a word.
"Third Level Witchcraft implies a volume of knowledge so vast it’s hard for ordinary people to imagine, as well as a Spiritual Strength of at least 1,500 points."
Hundreds of faces simultaneously showed expressions of shock.
The threshold for the spiritual resonance test was only 0.5 points, and forming a Spirit Ring only required 1 point.
1,500 points? It was a number that shattered their understanding of the world.
Mo Ning, however, was not too surprised.
A First Level Apprentice and a Third Level Wizard were five whole major levels apart. A 1,500-fold difference in Spiritual Strength sounded reasonable.
The "gift" that came with his transmigration had a unique function: analyzing a target’s psychological state by observing the most subtle changes in their facial expressions.
He called it the "Character Analysis Model."
Mo Ning glanced at Lai Te’s face and keenly perceived a shift in his mental state.
He thought silently, ’Next, Mr. Lai Te will probably scold us with something like, "You idiots, you didn’t understand what I said at all."’
Lai Te saw what the newcomers were amazed by, but he frowned.
As if a puppet controlled by invisible strings, the Apprentice spoke in a chiding tone, "You ignorant fools. You completely missed the point."
The atmosphere among the crowd instantly turned cold.
An imperceptible curve formed on Mo Ning’s lips as he thought, ’The precious knowledge contained within a Third Level Witchcraft is far more important than 1,500 points of Spiritual Strength.’
As if on cue, the Apprentice then said:
"The precious knowledge contained within a Third Level Witchcraft is far more important than 1,500 points of Spiritual Strength."
Mo Ning glanced at the Apprentice again and instantly came to a conclusion: ’He’s about to go into lecture mode.’
"Analyze, deduce, feedback." This was the method for perfecting his Character Analysis Model. Each tiny improvement might seem insignificant, but they would accumulate and eventually lead to a qualitative change.
His judgment was immediately confirmed.
Lai Te paused, then emphasized, "If any Official Wizard in the Academy had to choose between the two, they would undoubtedly choose the former without hesitation."
"Because to a Wizard, knowledge is power. Endless knowledge is equivalent to endless power, enough to rival the gods."
Lai Te ended his lecture with one sentence: "The reason the Black Tower is an ’Academy,’ and not some other name, is because we firmly believe..."
Mo Ning beat him to it, thinking, ’That only knowledge is the eternal cornerstone of a Wizard.’
Lai Te immediately "repeated" the line: "That only knowledge is the eternal cornerstone of a Wizard."
Many of the newcomers showed looks of realization and deep thought, the awe in their eyes deepening.
In the eyes of the other newcomers, this Second Level Apprentice was incredibly knowledgeable and wielded power far beyond that of ordinary people, filling them with awe.
But Mo Ning sensed another, deeply hidden side to the Apprentice. Lai Te was genuinely enjoying the newcomers’ looks of awe.
Analyzing his deeper psychology, Mo Ning saw that this man merely used knowledge as a stepping stone to climb higher, to obtain greater power and more authority.
Mo Ning calmly came to a conclusion: ’Lai Te doesn’t truly believe in knowledge.’
"The Black Tower Academy has over two thousand Official Wizards, but only the three deans are capable of casting Third Level Witchcraft," Lai Te said, returning to the original topic.
His gaze was like a cold needle, piercing the crowd.
"The vast majority of you, had you not passed the test and stepped foot in here, would never have witnessed a complete Second Level Witchcraft in your entire lives, even if you lived to be 200, let alone a Third Level one."
Mo Ning lowered his eyes and silently chanted in his mind, ’Eye of Truth!’
In the next moment, an illusory eyeball that only he could see quietly materialized in the upper right of his vision.
It was woven from strands of flowing light, and deep within its pupil, a nebula seemed to rotate, exuding an ancient and mysterious aura.
This was the "gift" that had come with him when he transmigrated—the Eye of Truth.
The moment the eyeball formed, a torrent of whispers flooded his ears.
It was not the speech of humans, nor the communication of any known living being.
The sound was muffled, as if someone were explaining profound knowledge from behind a thick curtain of water—so close, yet impossible to discern clearly.
At the same time, a clear stream of information was branded directly into his consciousness:
[Eye of Truth is analyzing target: Third Level Compound Witchcraft - Eternal Night Sky]
[Alert: Target witchcraft far exceeds current knowledge base level. Multiple secret locks exist internally. Only limited analysis of the outer structure is possible.]
Mo Ning knew that his "cheat" contained a miraculous power, and that using it like this wouldn’t trigger the witchcraft, so he could analyze it without worry.
Analyzing with the Eye of Truth consumed one wisp of the Light of Knowledge, and it took fifteen days to condense a single wisp.
In the past, he could only analyze some Low Level Witchcraft Items. Now that he had a rare chance to encounter a Third Level Witchcraft, he decided to give it a try.
Within the pupil of the illusory eyeball, the rotation of the nebula suddenly accelerated.
A wave of slight dizziness washed over him, as if countless tiny needles were gently pricking his cerebral cortex.
The operation of the Eye of Truth was naturally extremely covert, and with Mo Ning’s careful concealment, no one knew that this seemingly ordinary newcomer was audaciously attempting to pry into the mysteries of a Third Level Witchcraft.
Lai Te seemed to greatly enjoy the feeling of being looked up to by the rookies, and continued, "Many of you don’t truly understand what a Third Level Witchcraft signifies."
"Starting tomorrow, you will begin courses related to Witchcraft and gradually learn about all aspects of the Wizard World."
"Then you will understand that both the Level Zero Witchcraft of the Apprentice stage and the powerful Third Level Witchcraft are all constructed from standard ’Spirit Seal Units.’"
"The simplest Level Zero Witchcraft, like the Light Technique, contains only one Spirit Seal Unit, while the more commonly used Magic Hand is composed of 8 standard Spirit Seal Units."
"A First Level Witchcraft has at least a hundred Spirit Seal Units. For example, the Blast Flame Technique, which almost every Wizard studies, contains 172 units."
Lai Te paused, his gaze sweeping over the focused faces, and deliberately posed a question:
"Does anyone know how many Spirit Seal Units the Eternal Night Sky contains?"
The newcomers shook their heads blankly.
Lai Te’s lips curved up slightly as he slowly uttered a number: "Over 130,000!"
Gasps of shock erupted all around.
"That many?"
"That’s astonishing!"
The simple comparison of a few numbers made everyone deeply understand the meaning behind a Third Level Witchcraft.
It was a truly insurmountable chasm!!
Just then, the Eye of Truth suddenly trembled for an instant before dissolving into specks of starlight and fading away.
[Analysis Complete!]
The two words abruptly entered his mind.
In the center of Mo Ning’s vision, a cluster of faint light, also visible only to him, quietly appeared.
