Chapter 343

Luluwi’s appearance... was deeply unsettling.

Within his own sea of consciousness, Rei Kanzaki remained exactly as he was—no distortion, no alteration.

But Luluwi...

"Luluwi... do you actually like this kind of... grotesque aesthetic?"

"...Grotesque?" Luluwi tilted her head, confused.

What was grotesque about it?

Rei Kanzaki narrowed his eyes slightly.

"You said your sea of consciousness changed because of the Perception Enhancement technique. What was it like at the beginning?"

"At the beginning..."

Luluwi searched her memories—and as she did, the landscape within her sea of consciousness began to shift.

The darkness peeled away.

In its place emerged towering mountains and flowing rivers. In the distance, an endless ocean stretched toward the horizon. The sky gradually filled with phantom images of monsters.

Those were likely the targets she used while practicing archery within her mind.

But soon—

The entire scene was stained crimson.

The mountains began to rot. Aberrant growths spread across the imagined landscape. One by one, corpses appeared upon the barren peaks.

Each of them pinned in place by arrows.

From within this sea of consciousness, Rei Kanzaki began to feel a faint, creeping desire for slaughter.

"...That’s strange. It shouldn’t be like this."

Luluwi’s soft murmur echoed beside him.

"I can’t control it."

She tried to restore the original scene—but every time she manifested it, the image twisted on its own.

The sea of consciousness could be controlled to a certain extent.

But at the same time, it was a reflection of one’s thoughts and spirit.

When Rei Kanzaki himself burned with rage, uncontrollable visions would also surge within his own inner world.

"You said practicing Perception Enhancement caused this. Which one did you train?"

Luluwi replied, "The one you brought back for me—The Compendium of Listening to All Wishes."

That...

Rei Kanzaki remembered it clearly.

He had obtained that Perception Enhancement technique during the second trial phase. It had been sealed within the royal forbidden archive.

He had taken it directly.

And memorized it using his Memory Palace.

It was an exceptional technique—its origin traced back to an ancient Level 9 Observer.

Level 9 class-holders did not possess particularly long lifespans—only about a thousand years.

If they failed to ascend to godhood, or find other means to extend their lives...

Even a Level 9 existence would fade into myth within the vast river of time.

"...Rei Kanzaki, do you think there’s something wrong with my sea of consciousness?"

Rei Kanzaki gazed out across the endless darkness—the stagnant, deathly waters.

Her neck riddled with countless white holes, gnawed through by writhing maggot-like worms.

Her hands stained with blood.

The bow she held—nothing more than a writhing mass of unknown creatures twisted together.

And she was asking if something was wrong?

It seemed Luluwi had already lost the ability to perceive it.

"...There’s a serious problem."

Whoosh—

In a single instant, Rei Kanzaki moved across her sea of consciousness, heading toward the distant region where the worms writhed in tangled masses.

In his ears, the faint calling grew clearer.

The voice spoke in an incomprehensible language—

A grating noise, like fingernails scraping across steel, mixed with dreamlike murmurs.

This voice...

It came from within the sea of consciousness.

But it did not belong to Luluwi.

How could a person’s inner world contain a voice that wasn’t their own?

Since this was only a simulated future—

Rei Kanzaki continued following the sound.

Luluwi’s sea of consciousness was vastly larger than his own.

Within it, one could not fully utilize their real-world power.

The laws here were shaped by Luluwi’s perception. Anything beyond her understanding—even if it could function—would be severely limited in effect.

In simple terms, this place was her imagined world.

Whoosh—

In a short span of time, Rei Kanzaki traveled hundreds of thousands of kilometers across the empty black expanse.

Soon, a figure appeared beside him.

"Rei Kanzaki? Where are you going?"

"I heard the calling you mentioned. I want to see what it is."

But the moment he said that—

A flicker of panic and fear crossed Luluwi’s face.

"...Rei Kanzaki, forget it."

"Luluwi. You know I’m here to help you solve this, right?"

"What are you afraid of?"

Below them, within the stagnant waters, countless black worms surged upward, intertwining in midair.

Buzz!

Suddenly, Rei Kanzaki felt his entire body tremble.

A powerful force of rejection surged toward him.

The sea of consciousness churned violently.

His mind was being forced out of Luluwi’s inner world!

"I said... forget it." Luluwi’s voice grew firm.

Rei Kanzaki stood his ground within the sea of consciousness.

"What exactly are you hiding?"

[Sixth-Tier Mental Magic — Mind-Lost Soul Maze (LV: 501)]

Boom!

In an instant, a dense fog blanketed the entire sea of consciousness.

The force attempting to expel him was abruptly cut off.

Luluwi’s eyes immediately turned vacant.

Mental magic operated directly upon the sea of consciousness and the soul.

By attacking her here, the effect was overwhelmingly potent.

Struck by this Sixth-Tier transcendence-level spell, Luluwi fell into complete stupor.

"...Sorry, Luluwi."

Boom!

Rei Kanzaki accelerated toward the source of the call.

Just how vast was this sea of consciousness?

Half an hour passed.

The voice in his ears grew louder—resonant like a grand bell.

Gradually, fragments of intelligible language began to emerge.

"—Summoned by me—"

"—Come and behold my form—"

"—All who linger within dreams shall see us—"

"—Between the unreal and the real, there forever exists a fissure leading to the Third Domain—"

"—Each time one fissure is sealed, another will open, until we enter—"

"—And then, you shall follow us... into the deep—"

Prayers. Murmurs.

Rei Kanzaki began to see flickering candlelight, shadows dancing along unseen walls.

And yet—

There were no walls here.

No flames.

Only the endless black sea.

The scenery before him grew hazy, illusory.

He slowed his pace, walking across the thick, viscous waters.

"—When forbidden knowledge is known, it must be forgotten. But to forget it, one must first know it—"

"—Do you see the door opening? It has finally taken form. Gaze upon the knowledge long forbidden—"

The whispers intensified.

Noise and meaningless cries intertwined.

Fragments of countless languages merged together—only forming coherent meaning within the chaos.

To those who could not understand—

All they would hear was noise. Disjointed phrases, laden with incomprehensible mystery.

Only those who mastered the decryption technique of the Cryptic Scholars—"Noise Convergence"—

Could extract true meaning from the sentences woven out of hundreds of languages.

Plop—

The empty sea abruptly vanished—

Leaving only the right half of the world intact.

And along with the missing half—

Rei Kanzaki’s left side disappeared as well.

It did not regenerate.

Yet he could still clearly sense the existence of the missing half of his body.