CHAPTER 94: ANTI-CLIMAX

Harry stood in his room, his head touching the roof.

His breathing was fast, and he could see his essence was half depleted—a considerable amount.

He could kill hundreds of beasts with that much essence, and yet here he stood, dumbfounded, having no idea where it had all gone.

Things were hard to digest, but he was getting to the point "mind manipulation"

Harry didn’t know he had already figured this out a couple of times before, but he would have been proud seeing how fast he sorted through his thoughts this time.

Still, he had no idea what was happening. His mind went to the pen and paper he had, but he couldn’t remember writing anything on them.

He remembered bringing them out with the intention of writing, but not the words he wrote.

This time again, he restricted himself from opening the pen and paper, coming to the conclusion that there were some trigger points that caused him to lose memory.

As he was lost in thought, a man with an axe lunged at Harry from behind.

Harry wasn’t ready for the attack and barely managed to save his neck and heart area. Still, the axe pierced his shoulder—yet no blood came out.

Harry snapped back to reality, shadows rippling and holding the man with twisting chains made of darkness.

Harry punched at full force. Just as the punch was about to land, he noticed the man’s hollow eyes. The man wasn’t in his senses, but it was too late for Harry to back off.

His punch landed on the chest.

Crunch

The sound of bones churning and snapping echoed in the room. His hand almost came out through the man’s back.

The man spat blood, but there was no sign of pain on his face.

He tried to retrieve the axe, but as his hand rose, his body fell.

The eyes looked as empty as before, but this time, the person was dead.

Harry looked at his hands. He hadn’t expected the man to be so weak.

He reached for his shoulder, pulling out the axe and throwing it on the corpse.

The robotic movements and emotionless eyes indicated the man was being controlled.

Harry didn’t know what was happening. Was this the first time he’d been attacked, or was it a regular occurrence?

He kicked the corpse, storing it in his beast space.

He was getting restless thinking of potential threats. Finally he gave up and was about to get the paper that he wrote something on, seeing no way out.

But as his hand approached the space ring, his eyes fell on his palm.

"Don’t read"—the words were written in black ink, smeared with the man’s blood.

His mind ran at full potential, trying to decipher the message from his past self. He was sure if he had written it, there must have been a reason.

Harry didn’t dare override his own message and walked out.

The atmosphere was as serene as ever. But something felt different to Harry. At regular intervals, he was forced to face one or two students. By now, he had already killed five.

He stored most of them in the beast space, but those he left on the ground for even a moment rotted within seconds—a cute little blue plant growing from their stomachs.

Harry was beyond belief. Things were beginning to make sense, but he kept his own thoughts restrained, forcing himself not to focus on the obvious.

He had figured out that it was all being done by the majestic tree that encompassed the entire area.

"How can I survive this thing?" Harry put all his thoughts together, but nothing came to mind.

The concept of leaving the settlement felt strange to him—so strange that he couldn’t even think of it.

It was like trying to find something that doesn’t exist in the world.

To his surprise, the attacks stopped. He wasn’t sure of the reason, but one possibility came to mind.

I’m storing these corpses inside so whatever is happening to them after death isn’t occurring inside the beast space.

It meant the tree was hesitant to give me more corpses.

It couldn’t attack him directly and could only control average cultivators. Otherwise, it would’ve already sent a level seven or eight to kill him.

Finally, a breather. Harry used his Inspect skill on the tree.

[Dreamthorn: Elemental Master Level 9

Master in controlling and consuming subjects]

As he used the Inspect skill, he felt uncontrollable pain in his head—then his consciousness was pulled to a different plane.

Harry stood amidst an infinitely large ocean. A humanoid figure stood before him, vines curling up and down its form—its entire body made of leaves and greenery.

It was his soul sea.

"Why are you fighting so much? At the end of the day, everyone returns to nature," a calm, soothing voice said to Harry.

Harry looked into the beast’s eyes. "Dreamthorn," he said with curiosity.

"Hehe... that’s what you call me," the figure laughed. "Call me whatever you want. Just give up. It’s the rule of life."

The voice was so serene and alluring, it almost made Harry agree.

He looked behind him. Two orbs were still floating in his soul sea.

The process looked half-completed, but it was still going.

Following Harry’s gaze, the leafy figure turned to look at the orbs.

"Wait... Spiritual Sage?" the figure backed away, nearly falling. The calmness vanished from her voice.

"No... no, maybe Celestial Sage?" she exclaimed and vanished from his consciousness.

Harry’s awareness returned. He looked ahead at the tree, perplexed.

"That was... anticlimactic," Harry laughed.

"Please leave the area," a voice entered his mind.

He looked in all directions but couldn’t find anyone. Then his eyes fell on the tree.

"Yes... I’m talking. I won’t stop you. Just leave."

Harry was surprised to hear that.

"What about the other students?" he asked, his memories beginning to return—all the plans he had made, now gone to waste.

Now the tree was rolling out the red carpet.

As Harry tried to test his fate and save some students, at least that’s what he said to himself but in reality he was just checking if the tree was really leting him go or will backstab later.

a loud roar came from the opposite side of the jungle.

It was the exact opposite of the side from which Harry had entered.