I, a cultivator, have ended up in the wizarding world

Chapter 635 Dividing the Loot and Heading to a Strange Dimension

Two sealed containers floated silently above the fountain plaza, slowly rotating under an amber glow.

A test tube containing salty fingers, the blue light creating an eerie contrast with the pale fingers.

A container holding a graffiti ball, its surface shimmering with runes, and a faint humming sound could be heard emanating from within.

The atmosphere in the square subtly changed the moment the seal was completed.

The nine wizards were scattered around the square, neither too close nor too far apart.

Their eyes were all on the two containers, but no one spoke first.

The term "dividing the spoils" is not very polite, but everyone present knew it, because that was what was going to happen next.

The sorcerer in his dark blue robe coughed lightly, breaking the silence: "Two anomalies, nine people. What are your thoughts?"

"I think we can separate these two anomalies," the gaunt wizard pushed up his nose. "Although these anomalies have been compressed into a conceptual aggregate, they can theoretically be divided. As for how many parts to divide them into, that depends on how we decide."

"Nine portions," said the burly wizard. "One portion for each person, fair."

"The Graffiti Ghost can be divided into nine parts, but the Salty Fingers can't," the young witch shook her head. "The way this thing works is completely different from the Graffiti Ghost; dividing it would destroy its integrity. Its research value would be greatly reduced."

"So you mean, someone gets the salty fingers, and the others get to share the graffiti and weirdness?" The burly wizard frowned. "Then who gets the fingers?"

No one responded.

After a moment of silence, the cursed witch spoke, her pale gray eyes beneath her hood calmly fixed on the two containers.

"The graffiti's eerie intensity far surpasses that of Salty Fingers. Even if divided into eight parts, each part is still more eerie than Salty Fingers."

Her words were blunt, but they reflected a fact that everyone present understood, and were the reason for their hesitation.

Salty fingers are merely a low-level, bizarre mechanical execution of rules.

It can kill, make people taste salt, and cause kidney failure, but that's all.

It has little research value for wizards.

The graffiti is eerie and different.

It can rewrite reality, twist the arm of a level six wizard across half a town, and maintain amazing vitality even when compressed to its limit.

Even if divided into eight portions, each portion is worth more than a whole salty finger.

"If I had to pinpoint what's so strange about the salty fingers over the separated graffiti," Jemin began, his tone flat, "it's probably that it's a complete entity. For research, there's a difference between a complete sample and a segmented sample."

"But that distinction isn't important." The life-type wizard waved his hand. "We'll be going to that bizarre plane soon. Wizard Austin said there are all sorts of strange things there. We won't lack complete samples then."

This statement sounds like a declaration.

Jemin glanced at him, then at the expressions of the other wizards.

Although it wasn't explicitly stated, the atmosphere was already quite clear.

Everyone tends to give the salty fingers to one person, while the others share the bizarre graffiti.

Jemin glanced at the two containers floating in the air, then at the eight wizards around him, and nodded slightly: "Then I'll take the salty fingers."

The wizards were somewhat surprised to hear this.

"I have no objection," the cursed witch was the first to speak.

"Agreed," the young witch nodded.

The other wizards nodded in agreement, and no one raised any objections.

Faced with the strange looks from the wizards, Jemin didn't say anything.

For him, the eerie value of salty fingers outweighs the eerie value of graffiti.

After all, he had already fully understood the rules related to graffiti and had collected a lot of data when he came into contact with the graffiti.

Therefore, for him, another, lower-level, complete weirdo is of higher value.

"That graffiti is strangely divided into eight parts." The wizard in the dark blue robe looked at the cursed witch. "You divide it? You're most familiar with the structure of cursed beings."

The cursed witch nodded and walked toward the floating container.

She extended her left hand, and the black rune appeared in her palm.

The runes slowly rotated, emitting fine black threads that penetrated into the container and enveloped the curled-up graffiti ball.

The graffiti ball trembled violently the moment it was split, and the graffiti patterns on its surface changed wildly, as if it were making a final struggle.

But the cursed witch's method was extremely precise; the black threads cut into the conceptual crack inside the graffiti ball like a scalpel, dividing it into eight roughly equal parts.

Each part was individually encapsulated in a black sphere formed from the power of the curse, suspended in the air, emitting a faint, ever-changing color.

"Take it," said the cursed witch.

Each of the eight wizards took a black sphere, and Jemin also reached out and put the test tube containing the salty finger into his inner world.

With the spoils divided, the next step is to collect the "rewards".

With the spoils divided, the next step is to collect the "rewards".

The sorcerer in a dark blue robe walked to the center of the square and drew a rune in the air with his hand.

The runes flickered in the air a few times before connecting to the magic network terminal.

"Task completed." He tapped on the terminal and uploaded the completion marker.

Almost at the same instant, the air above the square vibrated violently.

A massive spatial rift tore open from the void, as if someone had slashed the amber sky with an invisible blade.

The crack stretched from the ground to the sky, hundreds of meters long and tens of meters wide, with its edges glowing with a ghostly blue light.

A phantom image materialized from the light emanating from the crack; it was the projection of Wizard Austin.

After the projection of this level eight archmage appeared, his pale blue eyes calmly swept over everyone in the square.

His gaze lingered for a moment on the spot where the two containers had been suspended, then he nodded slightly.

"The efficiency is not bad."

His voice wasn't loud, but every word carried a weight that made people unconsciously straighten their backs.

"I'll open the entrance to the mission reward for you now." Austin raised his hand, and the hundred-meter-high spatial rift became more stable under his movement, the eerie blue light at the edges transforming into a stable silver-white. "The other side of the rift is that strange plane. I've already invaded its interior, so once you cross over, you'll be directly in that world."

The originally dark spatial rift suddenly became transparent, revealing a scene of another world on the other side.

Wizard Austin then added, "I have a few requests."

The wizards listened quietly.

"First, I will not forcibly limit your power level; you can cast spells freely in that plane. However, I hope that when you are capturing the strange entities, you will limit your power as much as possible. Do what you can on a small scale, and avoid large-scale destruction. The environment of that plane is very fragile and cannot withstand the full power output of a high-level wizard."

"Secondly, if possible, I hope you can disguise your identities and not be discovered by the native inhabitants of this plane. There are still many unclear aspects regarding the conditions for the birth of the supernatural. If you want this plane to continue to produce supernatural beings, it is best not to destroy this plane or the social structure of the native inhabitants."

"The bizarre is indeed a rare research resource." The wizard in the dark blue robe nodded. "We understand. In order to turn it into a 'renewable resource,' maintaining the social structure and basic state of the plane is necessary."

The other wizards nodded in agreement.

This is not some noble sentiment, but purely a matter of self-interest.

Any wizard can easily calculate which is more valuable: a plane that continuously produces strange phenomena, or a plane that stops producing strange phenomena after being destroyed.

"Very good." Austin's projection nodded. "Then, I'll give you all a hint."

His expression became slightly more serious.

"In this dimension, there is a strange phenomenon I call 'Night'."

"Night?" The young witch frowned.

"It means nighttime literally," Austin said. "Never put yourself in complete darkness at night. It can be dangerous."

"How dangerous is it?" the life-type wizard asked.

"For you, this darkness isn't particularly dangerous," Austin said calmly. "But it has a troublesome characteristic... it's essentially connected to the entire plane. If you resist too fiercely, your power will travel through its 'body' and be transmitted into the entire plane's legal structure, potentially causing irreversible damage."

"The way to avoid it is simple: just make sure you're in a state of light even in the dark," Austin said, shrugging. "It's that simple. No fighting, no sealing, just light a lamp. I'm reminding you because I'm afraid you're unaware of this characteristic and might just destroy it as soon as you arrive, which would ruin the ecosystem of this plane."

"Understood."

The wizards present all nodded, indicating that they understood.

"As for the other anomalies," Austin's projection began to become transparent, "how to discover and capture them is up to your own abilities. Good luck."

The phantom image vanished.

A hundred-meter-high spatial rift floated steadily above the plaza, opposite which lay a desolate wasteland shrouded in night.

The young witch was the first to set off.

She walked toward the crack, and before crossing it, she raised her hand and condensed a fist-sized ball of energy in her palm.

The orb of light emitted a soft white glow, enveloping her entirely in a halo.

Then she stepped inside.

The figure disappeared on the other side of the crack.

Other wizards followed suit, and each person who crossed the rift would first light a source of light.

Some were orbs of light, some were glowing runes, and some were magical artifacts burning with flames.

No one finds it troublesome; it's a small, easy action that can protect the ecosystem of the entire plane, so it's a worthwhile investment no matter how you look at it.

Jemin was last in line.

He walked to the crack, looked at the dark wasteland on the other side, and raised his foot to step in.

Then his feet stopped in mid-air.

It wasn't that he didn't want to go, but that he couldn't.

The moment Jemin's body came into contact with the crack, he felt a strong sense of repulsion.

That feeling... is like trying to stuff an elephant into a refrigerator.

Jemin paused for a moment, then realized why.

Because his true form is now a thousand-meter-tall Dharma image.

Although he looks no different from an ordinary person now, that's just an illusion.

An appearance that is presented after the true self is compressed, folded, and disguised.

Its essence remains that dark gold, thousand-meter-tall behemoth.

This spatial rift is hundreds of meters long and tens of meters wide, which is more than enough for the size of an ordinary human body, or for a level six wizard who has not fully developed the solidified domain of the law.

But it's too narrow for a statue that's a kilometer tall.

Jemin stood in front of the crack, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Just then, he felt a gaze fall upon him.

The silvery-white light at the edge of the crack trembled slightly before settling back down.

But Jemin keenly noticed that the "texture" of the light had changed—before, it seemed like an automatic program with pre-set parameters.

Now, it has come to life, as if something has been injected into it.

Austin's phantom image reappeared.

But this time, the phantom was different from the previous ones.

Its eyes were no longer that unfocused blue, but had become lively and deep.

Clearly, after noticing the unexpected turn of events, Wizard Austin turned his attention back to the present.

"Um?"

Austin's gaze fell on Jemin, his pale blue eyes narrowing slightly.

With that one glance, Jemin felt that his disguise had been seen through.

"Interesting," Austin said softly.

His phantom circled around Jemin, his eyes scanning Jemin's body from head to toe before stopping directly in front of him.

"Your research is very interesting, little one. You are indeed still a level five wizard, and haven't even completed the solidification of your laws yet, but..." Austin tilted his head slightly, "your current form of existence is already somewhat similar to the solidified law domain of a level six wizard."

"It's just a trivial study." Jemin bowed respectfully.

"Insignificant?" Austin repeated the word, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Little one, excessive modesty is arrogance."

Jemin felt a little embarrassed upon hearing this, since he couldn't very well say that it was actually the power of another system.

"Alright, let me see... Your 'existence' is already over a thousand meters, no wonder you can't get through." Austin chuckled, his smile full of interest in new things. "This crack I made is based on the 'existence' size of a standard level six wizard, it's definitely too small for you."

He raised his hand and waved it casually.

The hundred-meter-high spatial rift expanded violently under his movements, like a giant door being pushed open.

The crack's edge stretched from a hundred meters to over a thousand meters and quickly stabilized.

The wasteland across the crack offers a wider view as the crack widens, and faint firelight can be seen flickering in the distance under the dark sky.

Austin's phantom turned around, and his lively eyes looked at Jemin again.

"Good job, kid," he said. "I have high hopes for you."

Then the phantom disappeared.

Jemin stood before the widening crack, remained silent for a moment, and then stepped inside.

The figure disappeared into the silvery-white light.

(I had some things to do today, so this is the only chapter.)