Wizard: Unlimited Profession Slots Chapter 718 - 334: Spirit Dew (Part 4)

With the flow of time, the faint spiritual force started to grow more potent.

Anxiety gripped the team members tighter, as their mutual trust slowly frayed apart.

Ron watched the unfolding events with serene composure, driven solely by scholarly curiosity.

"Intriguing mind games." He pondered internally:

"No direct domination, just heightening the existing dark feelings within the victim. Such an approach stays hidden and proves tougher to resist."

Farther into the woods, an enormous flesh-rooted tree unleashed even fiercer emanations.

Vague human visages appeared on its bark, as if whispering tales of deep grief.

A youthful adventurer called Tom found himself utterly drawn to these apparitions.

Visions of his late father, old childhood friends, and everyone he longed for appeared before him.

"Tom!" Martin’s call echoed distantly: "Don’t look at those illusions!"

Yet Tom was fully lost in the flood of recollections.

The psychic pull from the flesh-rooted trees blurred the line between truth and fantasy for him.

Even more horrifying, signs of the same affliction spread to the rest of the group.

The woman Knight beheld her partner vanished in the initial Abyss venture, while the man Apprentice witnessed his teacher slain by Abyssal Creatures.

"This... isn’t real!" The male Apprentice wailed in agony, hands pressed to his skull: "They are all dead!"

Sensing the peril, Martin unleashed Spiritual Protection Magic to try scattering the illusionary grip.

However, the delay proved fatal; the woodland’s psychic assault had burrowed deeply into each mind.

The ensuing chaos shocked even Ron.

Rather than the visions slaying the explorers, they turned on one another in brutal frenzy.

Warped by the psychic distortion, they perceived allies as foes and comrades as perils.

The female Knight snapped first; her Sword Blade stabbed clean through a teammate’s torso.

"You’re not the real Tony!" She bellowed in fury: "The real Tony wouldn’t look at me like that!"

In his final moments, the Apprentice unleashed a bursting incantation that swallowed the female Knight and Martin in flames.

Moments later, the scene crumbled swiftly amid this cycle of self-inflicted ruin, wiping out the whole squad in mere minutes.

Tom was the final soul to snap back to awareness.

As the visions faded, his gaze fell upon the mangled remains of his fellows, with the flesh-rooted trees voraciously drinking up the pooling blood.

Here, the recollection suddenly halts.

Ron gradually lifted his eyelids, his expression remaining utterly impassive.

With steady calm, he jotted down his findings in the journal:

"Spirit-induced traps, utilizing the target’s memories and emotions as weapons. Attack method is indirect but deadly, causing internal conflict by amplifying negative emotions."

After a brief halt, he resumed his entry:

"This mechanism is of high value for training psychological resistance to simulation devices. If a similar environment can be recreated, it could provide targeted anti-illusion training for users."

[Historical Research (Proficient) Experience Points +1]

[Current Progress: Historical Research (Proficient 26/100)]

Ron felt pleased with the outcome of his examination.

Despite the memory brimming with sorrow, the embedded technical details held immense worth.

True to his role as a scholar, he aimed to pull valuable insights from every occurrence.

The hour grew late, yet Ron’s energy remained vibrant.

The day’s achievements surpassed his hopes, from ideas for profession advancement routes to lessons drawn from the Memory Crystal, all steering fresh paths for his studies.

"Tomorrow, I will meet Eve again, perhaps also Cassandra."

Checking the clock, almost midnight: "Maintaining optimal condition is more important than forcing work."

Ron cleared his workspace, securely packing away every item.

From the pane, the soaring spires of the Central Lands loomed silent beneath the stars.

These timeless structures had borne witness to the triumphs and declines of myriad Wizards, and this evening, they beheld a budding scholar pushing for greater heights.

"As long as the method is correct, everything is just a matter of time."

Ron extinguished the Magic Crystal Lamp, staring silently into the void from the shadows.

The evening breeze swept over the Crystal window frame, producing a faint howl.

That noise appeared to lament for elements on the verge of vanishing, though it might merely stem from the unintended harmony of gusts and architecture.

Within this perilous realm, the sole unchanging truth is transformation.