Chapter 149: Erosion and Personality Collapse

The day after the quarterly assessment meeting ended, Luo En couldn't wait to go to the school library.

As a member of the fourteenth sequence, he now has higher access permissions and can access more hidden knowledge.

This is precisely the purpose of his trip—to use the newly acquired permissions to explore those forbidden areas isolated from ordinary apprentices.

"Third-floor hidden room?"

The gray-robed old man guarding the entrance of the library raised his eyebrows, carefully examining the emblem on Luo En's chest, confirming that the blue light flickering on it had indeed reached the special frequency of the top fifteen:

"It seems you are a beneficiary of yesterday's sequence assessment meeting."

Luo En nodded modestly: "Yes, I hope to take this opportunity to learn more knowledge."

A flash of deep meaning flashed in the old man's eyes: "Knowledge is a double-edged sword, young man. The further you advance, the more you need to pay attention to the abyss under your feet."

"I will keep your warning in mind." Luo En responded politely.

The hidden room was more concealed, and a translucent energy barrier floated quietly at the end of the stairs.

Luo En pressed his emblem against the barrier, feeling a faint spiritual fluctuation sweep over his body, as if confirming his identity and qualifications.

A moment later, the barrier rippled like water, revealing a passage.

The space inside was much smaller than Luo En imagined, but the atmosphere was several times more stifling than before.

Luo En walked straight to the reading room marked "Spiritual Problems and Pollution Research" and pushed the door open gently.

The air in the room was filled with an indescribable stifling feeling, as if it hadn't circulated for many years.

A faint blue magic crystal lamp provided weak lighting, and the walls were filled with various ancient books and manuscripts; some books were fixed to the bookshelves with chains, indicating the sensitivity of their content.

Luo En walked to the guidance stone in the center, remembering the abnormal symptoms of Oliver he had seen before, and placed his palm gently on it:

"Spiritual pollution, Black Wizard path."

A flash of red light flickered on the surface of the guidance stone, seemingly warning of the danger of these topics, but then it still lit up with blue light, guiding him to a specific bookshelf.

In front of a cabinet sealed with special energy, Luo En showed his emblem again.

The cabinet door opened slowly, revealing rows of long-dusty ancient books.

"Complete Collection of Spiritual Pollution Research," "Theory of Consciousness Distortion," "Pollution Transformation and Symbiosis," "The Awakening Path of Black Wizards"...

Luo En's gaze finally landed on the last one; it was a thick, heavy tome with a black cover, with a peculiar symbol of intertwined eyes and tentacles printed on the cover.

He carefully took out this book and immediately felt a cold energy seep out from the book, trying to penetrate his spiritual defense.

Luo En quickly mobilized his spiritual power to isolate this invading energy, and soon eliminated it; this seemed to be purely a spiritual power test.

On the title page of the book, a line of bright red warning text was written:

"This book is for the research and reference of high-sequence members of the Candidate Wizard only; do not attempt to practice any rituals or theories in it; violators will face the 'highest penalty'."

Luo En took a deep breath and opened the first chapter.

"Spiritual pollution is an unavoidable fate for every wizard.

With the improvement of the wizard's spiritual power level and the exploration of abyss knowledge, the accumulation of spiritual pollution will inevitably reach a critical point.

Orthodox wizards choose purification and suppression, while black wizards choose acceptance and transformation..."

The following content described in detail the three stages of spiritual pollution: mild, moderate, and severe.

Mild spiritual pollution is mainly manifested as slight mood swings, sleep disorders, and perceptual abnormalities, which for most wizards can be controlled by conventional means.

And moderate spiritual pollution will lead to personality changes:

"Moderate spiritual pollution sufferers will show obvious emotional loss of control, especially negative emotions will be extremely magnified.

Anger turns into rage, worry turns into fear, jealousy turns into hatred.

In addition, hallucinations will become increasingly frequent; the polluted will begin to hear whispers from the 'Great Abyss' and gradually believe these voices."

In the detailed symptom column, Luo En saw characteristics that almost perfectly matched what he had observed in Oliver:

Violent mood swings, excessive reaction to stress, special patterns appearing on the skin, and non-rational haze revealed in the eyes.

"Typical moderate pollution, and the other party seems to have no intention of suppressing it..."

Luo En confirmed in his heart: "It seems Oliver has indeed embarked on this path."

Continuing to read, Luo En found the record about "Awakening":

"The Black Wizard path is essentially a distorted cultivation that coexists with pollution.

Orthodox wizards view pollution as an enemy, while black wizards view it as a potential source of power, converting pollution energy into their own use through special rituals and mental training.

This transformation is called 'Awakening,' which is the process of complete fusion of spirit and pollution.

Awakening degree is the standard for measuring the black wizard's control over pollution; every 10% increase in awakening degree will produce a qualitative leap in strength and distortion degree.

Moderate spiritual pollution sufferers can achieve about 10% awakening degree through specific rituals.

At this stage, the black wizard's body will begin to undergo benign distortion—the skin may become tougher, the senses will become exceptionally sharp, and the most significant change is the enhancement of spell effects."

Luo En stopped and thought carefully about this description.

A 10% awakening degree can bring such a significant strength change; no wonder someone is willing to take the risk to try this path.

He continued to flip through and found more in-depth content:

"The power of black wizards comes from two main sources: the extreme emotions of living creatures and soul energy.

Extreme emotions, especially fear, despair, and pain, can generate a special energy fluctuation in the creature's body; black wizards can collect these energies through special rituals.

This is why many black wizards conduct cruel living experiments: not only for research, but also to collect these precious energies.

Soul energy is even rarer and more powerful, usually requiring extraction from dying or newly dead creatures through special rituals.

This energy has extremely high conversion efficiency and can significantly increase the awakening degree."

The book described in detail how black wizards combine these collected energies with their own spiritual pollution through special rituals to form a symbiotic relationship.

This symbiosis makes pollution no longer an unordered erosion, but a controllable source of power.

"Black wizard spells will carry a special 'erosion trait,' which can penetrate target defenses and accelerate the target's spiritual pollution process.

This allows black wizards to often occupy the upper hand when facing orthodox wizards of the same level or even higher levels."

Luo En was particularly concerned about this part: the erosion trait sounds extremely powerful, able to bypass normal defense means and directly attack the opponent's spiritual foundation.

However, the book also pointed out the terrifying price of the black wizard path without any taboo:

"With the increase of awakening degree, the black wizard's personality will gradually disintegrate.

All negative emotions are magnified several times, and rational thinking is gradually replaced by instinct.

At 30% awakening degree, most black wizards have completely lost normal social skills and become extremely violent and anti-social.

Black wizards with 50% awakening degree are almost no longer human, and their way of thinking is completely different from normal humans.

They often completely immerse themselves in their own crazy world, driven only by the most primitive desires and impulses.

Awakening degrees above 70% are extremely rare; according to records, black wizards who can reach this level without completely losing control are one in a hundred.

These existences have partially transcended various physical and spiritual limitations and can perceive and manipulate some forces located outside of reality.

As for 100% awakening degree—this is a realm that only exists in legends.

A fully awakened black wizard will transform into an 'Apostle,' a terrifying existence that can be compared to a Great Wizard."

Luo En put down the book and felt a palpitation.

Apostles compared to Great Wizards?

He remembered the book about talent tiers he had read before:

That top Great Wizard "Clock King" with a first-tier talent, at the cost of himself, only completely banished more than a dozen "Apostles"...

It seems that the power of black wizards is indeed tempting, but the price paid is complete self-destruction:

Not the destruction of the body, but the complete alienation of personality and soul.

He took out another book, "Pollution Transformation and Symbiosis," hoping to find more specific descriptions of the awakening process.

This book is more technical, full of complex ritual descriptions and theoretical deductions.

"The core of the awakening ritual lies in guiding the accumulated spiritual pollution to fuse with the externally collected energy to form a special symbiotic circuit.

This process is extremely dangerous; any slight carelessness will lead to mental breakdown and irreversible distortion.

The ritual needs to be carried out in a specific environment, usually a high-pollution area or a relatively weak spatial node.

Black wizards need to prepare special media—usually items or biological tissues containing a large amount of extreme emotions, and a container capable of carrying the fused energy."

The book only roughly described the entire ritual process, including some rune configurations, spells, and spiritual power control techniques.

But the parts involving the key were all deleted, which is understandable; perhaps it is to prevent people from taking risks, after all, the temptation of power is infinite.

Luo En noticed that "Sin Domain Black Crystal," this special material, was mentioned many times in the ritual, which seems to be the key medium for guiding pollution energy.

"Sin Domain Black Crystal is an extremely rare material; it is said that its technology originated from the inspiration that ancient black wizards obtained in the deepest part of the abyss.

It has powerful energy attraction and conversion capabilities and is an ideal medium for awakening rituals.

However, long-term contact with Sin Domain Black Crystal itself will also accelerate the accumulation of spiritual pollution, forming a vicious cycle."

This description reminded Luo En of Marcus's investigation report on Cynthia's disappearance: they found "strange experimental records and alchemy utensils" in her residence.

"So, Cynthia and Oliver may both be attempting this awakening ritual. Cynthia seems to have completed it and chose to defect, while Oliver may be in the preparation stage."

Luo En pulled his thoughts back to the book and continued to read the detailed explanation of the abilities after awakening:

"Black wizards with 10% awakening degree usually have their spell power increased by 30%, and carry a primary erosion effect, which can cause slight spiritual pollution to the target.

At the same time, the black wizard's body will begin to show beneficial distortion, such as skin hardening, sensory enhancement, etc.

Black wizards with 30% awakening degree have reached the realm of formal wizards in strength, and even because of the existence of the erosion trait, they may have an advantage in battle.

Their spells will carry a powerful erosion effect, which can quickly weaken the target's spiritual defense and may cause the target to have hallucinations or short-term mental confusion.

Black wizards with 50% awakening degree have reached the category of Moon-level wizards, and their spells are no longer limited to reality rules and can directly affect the target's soul and consciousness structure."

The book also recorded some cases of famous black wizards and their special abilities.

Luo En particularly noticed a black wizard named "Void Singer."

It is said that when he reached about 35% awakening degree, he created a special spell called "Soul-Eating Curse," which could infinitely magnify the thing the target feared most, eventually causing their psychological defense line to completely collapse.

After several hours of reading, Luo En finally put down the last book and rubbed his sore eyes.

He obtained a large amount of information about black wizards and the path of awakening, but at the same time, more questions arose.

Especially one thought always lingered in his mind: Will the career panel view the black wizard path as an optional career route?

If the erosion power of black wizards can be incorporated into the career system, can the terrible side effects be avoided to achieve a more controllable use of power?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 150 =====