Chapter 46 Time Gap
"You..." I opened my mouth, a bitter taste in it. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Tell you earlier?" Bone Lord snorted. "Would you have agreed if I told you earlier? Or rather, if I had told you, what could you have changed besides adding to your fear? What's coming will come. At least now you know part of the truth, and you know what I need. We're still partners, each getting what we need."
He was right.
Knowing all that just made me feel even shittier, but it really couldn't change anything. I was already tied to him. From the moment I put on this ring, from the moment I accepted his help, there was no getting off this boat.
All I could do was get stronger as fast as possible. Strong enough to protect myself, strong enough... maybe one day, to face the threat of other "Bone Lords."
"By the way, Bone Lord." I lowered my voice, with lingering fear and a hint of anger at being tricked. "Didn't you say I'd gain something in the dream? I didn't feel anything, and this place is so dangerous. You just let me 'touch' it directly? What if I couldn't come back and became one of those light orbs, trapped forever in someone else's nightmare?"
"But you did come back, didn't you?" His voice held not a trace of guilt. Instead, he sounded almost righteous. "No risk, no reward, Charles. If you want to quickly improve your magic control, gain knowledge and power that others don't have, you have to take some risks. And..." He paused, his tone taking on something I'd never heard before, almost seductive. "Didn't you feel it? After breaking free from that dream, your spirit, your magic... something different?"
Different?
Only when he said that did I pull myself slightly away from the terror and fear and start to sense my body.
With that awareness, I froze.
My breathing, which had been rapid from tension and fear, had somehow calmed down. My heart was still beating, but steady and strong, not like before when it felt like it would jump out of my throat. Most noticeably... the magic.
The magic flowing inside me, which had been somewhat drifting and hard to control since recovering, had now become... much more docile.
It wasn't that the amount had increased, but the quality felt different.
Before, channeling magic was like trying to drive a somewhat unruly pony—it took effort and constant attention, always afraid it would buck. Especially in Modern Magic class, when controlling that damn drone, the feeling was even more obvious. Those thin threads of intention were slippery, slipping out of control at the slightest distraction.
But now, the magic flowing within me had become smoother. With just a thought, it obediently gathered at my fingertips, lively yet tame, as if it had gone through some kind of refinement, the impurities removed, becoming more solid and easier to guide.
Instinctively, I raised my hand. Without chanting a spell or making any gestures, I just focused and imagined letting a weak strand of magic emerge from my fingertip.
A faint, almost invisible silver glow actually appeared at my fingertip, hovering steadily, twisting and changing shape slightly with my will.
This level of control...
At least twice as good as before I entered the cave. No, maybe even more.
Before, in Magic Potion class, being able to precisely control the heat and timing of infusion relied more on the old wizard's guidance and lots of practice to develop feel and experience. But now, this was a more fundamental sense of control over magic itself. Like before, I was touching things through thick gloves, and now the gloves had thinned, or even like I was feeling everything directly with my hands.
"This..." I stared in amazement at the docile glow at my fingertip, then suddenly looked up, as if I could see through the ring to the Bone Lord inside. "Is this because of that dream?"
"The compression and confrontation of souls is itself the best refinement." Bone Lord's voice carried a hint of satisfaction. "Your struggle, observation, and survival in the dream inadvertently greatly tempered your mental strength and magic perception. Simply put, your ability to control magic has improved. The quantity hasn't increased, but the quality and degree of control have gone up a level. Congratulations, Charles. These five minutes were more useful than a month of meditation."
The huge surprise hit like a shot of adrenaline, instantly washing away the previous fear and anger.
My magic control had improved.
This was exactly what I needed most right now. Drone operation, more complex Magic Potion brewing, and even learning more advanced magic in the future... they all required precise magic control.
Worth it. This risk was totally fucking worth it.
Wait, Bone Lord said only five minutes had passed outside?
Five minutes?
In that hellish place, I felt like I'd been there for over an hour. The warmth of sunlight on my skin, the spit flying from Klaus's curses, Ms. York's expressions and tone when speaking, even later when I was puzzling over the "traitor's" identity—all those details were so real, the sense of time stretched so long.
And it was only five fucking minutes outside?
I looked up at those quietly hovering light orbs, emitting various colored glows, seemingly harmless, and a chill shot straight from my feet to the top of my head.
This place was too weird.
Time distortion, consciousness invasion, and that strange power to manifest a person's deepest fears and obsessions... this wasn't some "Lake of Souls," this was a massive source of mental contamination, an eternal prison for the mind.
Just then, a strong wave of drowsiness washed over me. I yawned—must be the aftereffect of the dream.
"Going back to sleep."
"Hold on." Bone Lord's voice rang out. "I haven't collected the materials I need yet. Look to your right."
He directed me to look toward the edge of the cave, near the base of those glowing stalactites.