The Wizard's Pursuit of Truth

Night fell like a curtain, but flames painted the darkness with a glow like daylight. They were special fireworks, set off at the docks of Hanhai Wizard City. A rare smile appeared on the faces of the mortal laborers, their eyes filled with hope for the future.

The great ships, returning from their long journey across the Endless Sea, brought with them the joy of a bountiful harvest. It was the annual Harvest Festival. However, as a Wizard Freshman, Wang Ya was destined to miss the grand spectacle of the hunting fleet from the Dark Land.

The colorful lights reflected on his fair cheeks as he silently closed the window of his mansion room. The large bed had been sprayed with some perfume; the scent wasn’t strong, but rather a faint, fresh fragrance. On the empty desk sat a golden pocket watch. A closer look revealed its engraved patterns weren’t very refined, meaning that even in the Mortal World, a watch like this wouldn’t be worth much.

Wang Ya had traded a Healing Potion for it, and everyone believed the two were not of equal value. They were even laughing at him behind his back.

After all, it was just a mortal object. The true value of precious gold lay in the refined Golden Essence, which could be mixed into the creation of Witchcraft Artifacts as a neutralizing agent. It would take thousands of such watches to refine any significant amount, and even then, it wouldn’t be worth as much as a single Healing Potion.

But... Wang Ya believed it was an exchange of equals. This pocket watch was special, so much so that he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

A fine, fragmented blue light emanated from his pupils.

[Target: golden pocket watch]

[Details: An ordinary, completely unremarkable, mortal golden pocket watch?]

[Notice: This item lacks constant information and exists in a state of continuous informational variance. Its true state cannot be determined, nor can it be definitively defined as a ’pocket watch.’]

Wang Ya was stunned. This was the first time he had encountered something like this. The last object to give him such a strange feeling was the unknown medal inside the red metal ring, for which he had found no specific function or information.

He would probably only get answers by consulting that sealed diary, but it still had ten days of analysis time remaining.

This golden pocket watch was definitely special; the Eye of Truth could not be wrong. Wang Ya focused on the concepts of ”its true state cannot be determined” and, in particular, the two words ”informational variance.”

’Could it be that the pocket watch... isn’t a pocket watch? Can it turn into something else?’

The weight in his hand felt no different from ordinary metal. He opened the cover of the golden pocket watch. Inside were a very ordinary hour hand and minute hand, neither of which was moving. It seemed the internal spring was broken. The inside of the cover had space to hold a small note or some other small item.

It was all very, very ordinary. Wang Ya couldn’t find anything special about it, let alone anything Extraordinary.

He tried turning the hour and minute hands, and his keen Perception Power instantly detected that something was amiss.

’Are you kidding me?!’

A look of horror crossed Wang Ya’s face, and he nearly threw the golden pocket watch from his hand. There were new marks on the desk—water stains that he had already wiped clean with a cloth.

He had clearly wiped them away, yet the water stains on the desk... Wang Ya was terrified. The unknown is the greatest source of fear. He didn’t know if he had triggered something. This golden pocket watch... ’How is something like this even possible?’

[Notice: Informational variance has occurred. Record One.]

Wang Ya touched the desk with his finger. It felt real. The water stains were real. His expression flickered with uncertainty as he looked back down at the golden pocket watch in his hand.

No matter how he looked at it, it was just an ordinary, couldn’t-be-more-ordinary golden pocket watch, with no Extraordinary Fluctuations whatsoever. He wasn’t sure if turning the hands had caused this. If it had, then this was terrifying.

This thing simply defied all logic.

He now had two choices. One, continue to turn the hour and minute hands. Two, close the golden pocket watch and bury it in the deepest corner of his Silver Bracelet.

Wang Ya couldn’t be sure of the consequences of the first choice. They were unknown, and it could harbor great danger.

The best choice would be to seal it away for now. It was best not to meddle with things one didn’t understand until the time came when one could.

But his curiosity was nagging at him, urging him to choose the first option.

He went to the washroom and splashed his face with water. Now, Wang Ya’s State was calm and rational.

’I didn’t inject any Particle Energy. It’s not like the old man never touched the golden pocket watch; he must have tried to repair and adjust it. After all this time, did he really never notice anything special?’

’There has to be a key to this. Either turning the hands isn’t dangerous, or...’

[Target: Wang Ya]

[Scan Complete: State is optimal. No negative effects detected.]

’This is too strange. To accomplish anything, there must be a gain and a cost—that’s a law of conservation. It makes no sense that I could use the Ability of this mysterious pocket watch without paying some price!’

For a moment, Wang Ya’s imagination ran wild as he considered all sorts of bizarre costs, like luck, lifespan, or even his soul.

Finally, he steeled himself and used the pocket watch again, adjusting the hour and minute hands back to their original position.

His eyes scanned the room’s environment, trying to spot any differences or changes, but he found nothing.

He frowned, then adjusted the hands backward by about an hour.

Wang Ya’s pupils contracted. Something had changed. It wasn’t the desk this time. Instead, a book had appeared on it—the Witch Book, ”Particle Energy Stable State,” which he had been reading earlier.

He silently extended his Spiritual Power to observe the inside of his Silver Bracelet and, sure enough, that very book was missing.

This was utterly baffling. It was as if the watch didn’t abide by the rules of reality. How on earth did it take this Witch Book, and in what form, to place it on the desk?

Wang Ya couldn’t understand it. His mind was a complete mess, and he felt his entire understanding of Extraordinary Knowledge was being thrown into chaos.

”Informational variance...” he mused, and something seemed to click. ’Could it be that because the ”informational variance” I’m providing isn’t specific enough, it’s causing random changes in the target?’

[Notice: Informational Variance Two. Test commencing.]

Wang Ya took a feather pen and wrote a few lines in a notebook. He then tore out the page and tucked it into the compartment in the watch’s cover.

He turned the hour and minute hands.

He looked inside his Silver Bracelet and saw the ”Particle Energy Stable State” Witch Book.

In that instant, he understood the special nature of the golden pocket watch and why the old man had never discovered it. If the change wasn’t given a specific target, the effect was random, affecting an object, or perhaps even a person.

The changes were so subtle that without keen powers of observation, they would be impossible to notice.

He wrote a note about himself, tucked it inside, and discovered he couldn’t turn the hands forward, only backward. After a moment of disorientation, he found himself standing at the door to his room... The time matched up.

Wang Ya took a deep breath, his heart pounding with excitement. This golden pocket watch was incredible. It was as if, had he been walking down the street an hour ago, he could now turn the hands back one hour and instantly appear on that same street.

However, his tests also revealed some limitations.

It only worked for the past 24 hours, and the ”past” had to be a specific, designated target. This ”past” didn’t interact with the actual past; it was like a rule existing independently of reality, forcing a change.

The statement ”fire is water” should be impossible, but under the influence of an item like the golden pocket watch, it could be made true.

If used correctly, this would become Wang Ya’s greatest trump card.

The only fly in the ointment, as Wang Ya discovered after testing it the next day, was that for a specific target, the hands could only be turned once per day. For an unspecified target, it could be used three to five times.

Finally, Wang Ya gave the golden pocket watch a new name: ’Abnormal Item.’ It was the ultimate abnormality, one that could make other abnormalities a reality.

He took the Nightmare Flower out of his Silver Bracelet. Under the warm lamplight, it shimmered with a hazy, dream-like color, covered by a faint, rippling membrane that looked as if it might shake loose and dissipate at any moment.

Whoever consumed it would enter a dreamlike state—a dream that was also an unprecedented nightmare.

If one could endure it and pass its trial, their Spiritual Power would increase substantially.

Wang Ya held the Nightmare Flower directly to his face and inhaled sharply. The copious scent released from its stamens flooded his respiratory tract. A profound sense of dizziness washed over him, followed by the beginning of the nightmare.

His expectation before taking it was an increase of at least one point to his Spiritual Power.

「Time passed, and the next day arrived.」