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Wade narrowed his eyes slightly at the man's words.
"Tell me… is this a request, or a demand?"
After all, a request and a demand were two very different things.
A request could be declined.
But a demand… wasn't so easy to refuse.
Especially given Wade's current situation—if this cloaked figure was making a demand, then it was nothing short of a blatant threat.
"This is a request, Wade," the man said calmly.
Seeing that Wade still seemed wary, he added, "I know the way I look now makes it hard for anyone to trust me… but I have no reason to lie to you. If I wanted to force you, well—pardon my bluntness—but with your current strength, you wouldn't be able to stop me."
As he spoke those words, the surroundings shifted dramatically.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them were no longer in the garden pavilion—they were standing atop the mouth of a volcano.
Molten lava bubbled and flowed within the volcanic crater, radiating an intense heat that made Wade's skin sting.
At that moment, Wade recalled a certain trait of the Nightmare Magic.
At its highest level, Nightmare Magic didn't just force someone into sleep and manipulate their dreams—It could trap others in a dreamworld entirely of the caster's making… a world from which they could not escape.
As long as the victim remained within the dream constructed by the caster—and the caster's soul was significantly stronger, then the trapped individual would effectively become part of that dream, completely under the caster's control.
And right now, Wade was inside a dream created by this cloaked man.
In other words, if the man wanted to, he didn't need Wade's permission. He could've simply manipulated him into doing whatever he wanted—instead of bothering with all this conversation.
Gulp~
"I understand now. You really have no reason to lie to me," Wade said with a nod.
As soon as he spoke, the surroundings shifted again—returning to the fragrant garden from before.
"Forgive me," the man said softly. "That was merely to prove I wasn't lying to you…"
Wade waved his hand. "Since this is a request… then, if I refuse, will you let me leave?"
The cloaked figure paused for a moment, but still nodded. "Yes."
"In that case… I'm sorry, sir—or madam, I suppose… but I can't agree to your request."
Wade rejected the plea without hesitation.
This time, the cloaked figure was genuinely stunned. That… was not the response he expected.
By all logic, Wade shouldn't have refused—at the very least, not so bluntly.
"Can you send me back now?" Wade's calm voice interrupted the stranger's thoughts.
The figure took a deep breath. "Of course I can. But… may I ask why you refused?"
Wade looked at him steadily. "Because I don't want to end up like you."
The figure was stunned again. That answer—unexpected, yet somehow completely understandable.
He had thought Wade still didn't trust him. But he hadn't considered this reason…
Wade continued, "I know what kind of person I am. My desire for power is no less than anyone else's… and because of that, I can't guarantee I'd be able to resist the temptation."
"If I recklessly absorb this kind of magical power… there's no telling if one day I'll end up just like you."
The cloaked figure fell into a long silence.
After a while, he let out a heavy sigh.
"You're smarter than I was back then… much smarter. If I had your self-awareness at the time, I wouldn't have ended up like this…"
"It's true—I longed too much for freedom, and I didn't think things through. I sincerely apologize to you again."
"If you want to leave, you can go at any time… just return the way you came."
"If you change your mind, you can come back the same way."
"And even if you don't… you're still welcome to visit and talk. I don't want to spend the last stretch of my life in complete loneliness."
"Oh, and… if it's just to talk, you don't need to come all the way here. Just fall asleep using the Nightmare Spell and call out to me in your dreams."
"As a return," the figure said, "I will do everything I can to teach you my Nightmare Magic… It's a good spell. As its creator, I don't want it to be lost to time."
As his final words fell, the entire garden began to distort. The dreamscape around Wade receded like the tide...
And then, Wade found himself once more standing in the barren stone chamber.
The long staircase lay behind him.
It was as if he had never gone anywhere—that everything just now had been nothing more than a fleeting dream.
Well… it had been a dream, technically.
Wade turned around and looked at the staircase.
"How much time do you have left?" he asked.
"About two years, give or take… This cloak won't be able to hold out for much longer," the figure's voice replied. "So if you want to master Nightmare Magic, you'll need to hurry."
Suddenly, Wade asked, "The ancient magic inside you… can I have a sample of it?"
A few seconds later, a small bottle appeared, floating in front of him.
Inside the small bottle swirled a dense black mist. As it churned, faint glimmers of eerie blue light shimmered deep within the darkness…
"If I want to contact you in a dream," Wade asked, "what should I call you? I can't exactly go around yelling 'hey, weird guy,' can I?"
"Weird guy?" the figure chuckled. "Heh… being called a weirdo isn't the worst thing. Still, if you prefer something else, you may call me the Dreammaker."
"Dreammaker? You're not even willing to tell me your real name?" Wade sighed. "Forget it—'weird guy' it is, then. Goodbye."
He took the bottle and strode back down the long staircase.
Several minutes later, Wade returned to the Forbidden Forest through the stone toad.
True to his word, the strange man had done nothing to stop his departure.
When Wade reached for his wand in his pocket, he noticed that the lighter had somehow returned to him as well—nestled quietly back where it had come from.
Staring again at the faint blue glow flickering from its surface, Wade frowned slightly.
In truth, Wade hadn't been completely unmoved by the power of ancient magic. If he truly felt nothing, he wouldn't have asked the man for a sample.
As he'd said himself—he was someone who desired power.
But unless he could first determine whether this power came with dangerous side effects, he would never recklessly absorb it.
Even if the power of ancient magic already existed within his body—yet to be fully awakened… It was precisely that strange man's tragic fate that had pushed Wade's caution toward ancient magic to its peak.
Had that man really ended up like that simply because he couldn't control his own hunger for power?
Or… was there something deeper at play—could ancient magic itself corrupt the mind?
There was still too much unknown.
After all, Wade's shallow understanding of ancient magic came only from the game he'd played before crossing into this world.
But now, he was living in a reality far more tangible than any game.
And in this world, one could never be too careful.
Wade tucked the lighter back into his pocket, intending to Apparate back to Hogsmeade—
BoOOoM!
Suddenly, a thunderous noise echoed from somewhere in the distance, followed by the crashing of trees and startled shouts.
Wade frowned, raising his wand and casting a Disillusionment Charm over himself.
A second later, his figure melted into the shadows.
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Read ahead: P^treon: Captain69
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