Lord of the Mysteries

At that moment, Audrey even suspected that the “arrangement of fate” wasn’t for her to head to Hartlarkh to investigate the dragon-worshiping customs. Instead, it was to make her realize that something was wrong, causing her to feel conflicted. It made her use a Virtual Persona in the vicinity of Hartlarkh to secretly guide her two brothers into changing their minds without realizing it. This would inevitably result in her consciousness being specially related to Liveseyd to be discovered by the mind dragon, thus attracting “Him.”

Despite being the one that had been arranged, Audrey couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe. It had to be said that to achieve such an effect, one had to have an extremely high level of confidence in the reactions different people had. It struck fear into the bottom of her heart.

After all, Audrey, a Sequence 4 Manipulator, had felt that the development of the matter was in line with her expectations. She had completely fulfilled her wishes and wasn’t alert at all.

The mind dragon retracted its huge wings and looked down at the blue-cloaked Audrey.

“This is a dream maze formed by many minds. Even if the one who set the trap personally descends, it will take some time to find this room. Besides, I won’t stay long.”

Clearly, “He” had been wary of traps, but “He” believed that certain matters were worth the risk.

Dream maze… This is a Beyonder power of a Dreamweaver, or perhaps the power after a qualitative change? Audrey reined in her thoughts and asked calmly, “What do you wish to know?”

The gigantic grayish-white dragon buzzed and said, “My name is Ariehogg, one of the three remaining ancient dragons.”

“He” means that “He” is one of the three surviving dragons of the Second Epoch, and the rare, known dragons are only descendants of the dragons during the era of the ancient gods? Audrey nodded slightly and didn’t interrupt “Him.”

Behind her was a wooden door that stood without any support in the plains filled with bluish-black weeds. It looked extremely strange.

Ariehogg didn’t waste any time. After introducing “Himself,” “He” asked, “Where did you find Liveseyd?”

Audrey was already prepared as she answered frankly, “In a book named Groselle’s Travels. Rumor has it that it was personally created by the Dragon King Ankewelt.”

“Groselle…” Ariehogg clearly hadn’t heard of this name before. After repeating it, “He” pressed, “What kind of book is that?”

The blonde-haired Audrey gave a simple description:

“That’s a book with a world that’s almost real inside it. At the same time, it can suck in people who meet the requirements or offer their own blood to be sucked in by the book, allowing them to live in that world.”

Ariehogg fell silent for two seconds.

“Is there a sea of collective subconscious in that book world?”

“Yes,” Audrey answered with great certainty. “The City of Miracles, Liveseyd, I saw was deep in the sea of collective subconscious in the book world.”

Ariehogg suddenly breathed harder.

“What did you see in that Liveseyd?”

Audrey recalled and said, “A city filled with towering pillars and majestic palaces.

“In addition, I’ve also entered the residence of the Dragon King. That place can allow every living being’s inner thoughts to echo in the surrounding area. I call it the ‘Hall of Truth.’

“At the end of the Hall of Truth, behind the Dragon King’s throne, there’s an ancient and mysterious bronze door. I’m not sure what’s sealed behind. In short, it’s very dangerous and I didn’t dare approach it at all.”

Audrey was speaking the complete truth; she just didn’t mention the speculations that Mr. World, Mr. Star, and she had come up with.

Ariehogg fell completely silent. It was unknown what “He” was thinking of, or if “He” was analyzing the current situation regarding Liveseyd.

During this process, “His” head drooped down bit by bit, as though “He” was going to fall from the top of a hundred-meter-tall pillar to the ground.

Just as Audrey tensed up from this rather bizarre scene and was about to ask a question, Ariehogg suddenly raised “His” head.

The golden vertical pupil in “His” eyes turned colder as “His” voice once again resounded in the wilderness.

“Liveseyd…”

With a low rumbling of thunder, the things that were hidden in the dark behind Ariehogg quickly became clear. In the gradually brightening scene, their outlines appeared.

They were huge stone pillars that were more than a hundred meters tall. They were either standing alone or collectively propping up numerous majestic and ancient palaces.

These stone pillars and palaces were mainly grayish-white in color as they landed on the island-like foundations. It was identical to the City of Miracles, Liveseyd, which Audrey had just described.

No, this was probably the City of Miracles, Liveseyd.

Only then did Audrey realize that the ancient mind dragon, Ariehogg, was squatting at the top of the thickest, tallest stone pillar.

At this moment, she could faintly feel a subtle change in Ariehogg.

Her green eyes darted about slightly, and the sound of a metal handle being twisted sounded from behind her.

This… Audrey held back the urge to turn her head abruptly. She turned her body warily to the side, allowing her gaze to fall sideways.

The individual wooden door that had lost its external support slowly opened, revealing the visitor’s appearance:

A huge, white rabbit with wiggling ears that walked upright.

Above the gray fog, in the ancient palace, a figure was shrouded in grayish-white fog. He sat at The Fool’s seat at the end of the long mottled table as he silently observed the crimson star representing Justice.

…

Backlund, West Borough, 9 Bellotto Street.

The closer Wendel was to the end of the two weeks, the more he suffered from insomnia. He had to rely on medication to fall asleep.

When he woke up, he was also restless and extremely anxious. He had lost all interest in food and only forced himself to eat the three meals sent by his colleagues to ensure his energy.

He didn’t know what would happen on the date of the trial, nor did he know if there would be an irreversible change in his body.

This kind of fear towards the unknown often made him feel stifled. It was extremely tortuous.

Sometimes, Wendel would even think that it might not be a wise choice resisting his return to Utopia.

Based on his limited experience there, if he obediently returned to Utopia and testified in court, there was a high chance that he would leave safely.

At least up to this point, Wendel hadn’t heard of anyone dying or going crazy because of Utopia. The people there were rather friendly apart from being a little bizarre.

I’m just going to help. They should be grateful to me instead of being antagonistic… The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it would be more comfortable to face the danger.

Of course, he had no doubts about MI9’s protective capabilities. If it wasn’t possible, he felt that he could only consider meeting the Lord of Storms early.

Phew… Wendel exhaled and sat down on his chair. He casually picked up a novel to pass time.

However, his frustration made it impossible for him to immerse himself in the plot. He flipped through the pages more frequently and finally, he snapped the book close.

He closed his eyes and prepared to take a nap.

In a daze, Wendel seemed to return to Utopia and arrived at the court. However, the role he was in wasn’t as a witness but a member of the audience.

Tracey was deemed by the judge to have provided insufficient evidence to support a claim for self-defense and had been transferred to the criminal courts. He saw this lady tearing up in a daze, her smile extremely miserable.

Wendel woke up and stared silently at the wall lamp in front of him. He sat there motionless for a long time.

If the problem is Utopia, and not the residents of Utopia, then me avoiding it might end up killing a poor lady… Wendel retracted his gaze. His resolve had wavered slightly, but he was unable to overcome the fear in his heart.

With his hands on the table, he stood up and walked to the door. He planned to wander about MI9’s headquarters to ease his mood.

After leaving the room and taking a few steps forward, Wendel suddenly heard a colleague in the office discussing the related case of the Utopia.

“Have you heard? The person who entered Utopia was a carriage driver. He sent a merchant from Utopia to the dock area, and with just taking two turns at a crossroads, he found himself somewhere unfamiliar.”

“There’s a need to warn all the carriage drivers in Backlund. Yes, it’s best to draw a parallel between Utopia and the spies, so that they can understand.”

“The way of entering and exiting Utopia is really frightening.”

“Yes. Sometimes, I even suspect that the entrance to Utopia might appear anywhere.”

“There’s definitely a limit to this. It’s not as omnipotent as we imagine… Otherwise, I might find myself in Utopia just by paying a visit to the washroom.”

“According to the current patterns we’ve figured, this is theoretically valid.”

…

When Wendel heard that, his blood vessels on his forehead began to throb. He suddenly felt that even if he was in the headquarters of MI9, he wouldn’t be that safe.

Unless there’s a demigod watching me the entire time, it’s very difficult for me to avoid the fate of returning to Utopia. Perhaps, after I wash my hands and open the washroom door, I’ll discover that it’s the Irises Hotel outside… No, ordinary demigods might not be able to stop such a thing. This doesn’t seem like it’s something humans can accomplish. It’s already extremely close to that of a deity… Wendel instantly panicked, unable to suppress the fear in his heart.

He returned to the room and took out the subpoena from the Utopian court.

Immediately following that, Wendel entered the washroom and held the document as he muttered in fear, “I’m willing to go to court to testify.

“I’m willing to go to court to testify.

“…”

After repeating himself a few times, he reached out to grab the handle of the bathroom door.

At that moment, a black raven flew through the ventilation hole like a ghost and landed in a corner of the washroom that no one would notice.

In the next second, Wendel twisted the handle, pulled the door back, and opened the washroom door.

It was no longer his familiar bedroom but an unfamiliar lobby.