Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2995: Chapter 2996: Temporary Storage

On the surface of the Indestructible Heart Mirror, a lustrous orb of light, as if milky-white liquid were flowing within it, flickered in and out of sight.

Angel extended a finger and lightly touched the orb.

In an instant, streams of information surged into his mind.

After perceiving all the information, Angel let out a long breath.

This information was a message from Laplace, which recorded in detail the tests on the sturdiness of the Heart Space’s passage. Ignoring the testing procedure, the final results were encouraging.

Laplace even said in the message, in a tone of disbelief: ”This is the sturdiest mirror passage I have ever seen. Not only has its bearing Energy Level reached an unknown tier, even the amount of matter it can bear is almost indistinguishable from reality.”

The so‑called ”unknown tier” meant a level Laplace had not yet probed— in other words, it exceeded the upper limit of her explorations. That is to say, this passage might be able to bear Legendary Level energy.

As for the amount of matter it could bear being close to ”real,” this meant: whatever the situation is like in the Reality Realm, so it is in this passage.

Spatial sturdiness, material bearing capacity... everything was almost the same as reality.

This meant that there was absolutely no problem with Angel entering or exiting the Heart Space; he could enter the Heart Space via the Indestructible Heart Mirror anytime, anywhere.

Even if he were attacked while in the mirror passage, as long as it was not an attack from a Legendary Wizard, he could basically rest easy for a short period of time.

From the test data and results, it was clear that the ”sturdiness” of the Indestructible Heart Mirror was not only reflected in the mirror itself and the strength of the Heart Space, but also extended to the solidity of the mirror passage.

It could only be said that Alchemy Tools imbued with a Mysterious Aura truly possessed a strength far beyond imagination.

Having obtained this information, Angel also relaxed a bit.

After confirming that entering the passage would be safe, Angel began to manipulate the Power of the Nightmare Realm and the corresponding Power of Space, covering his hands as he slowly reached toward the mirror surface.

At the moment his hand touched the mirror, the feedback was not hardness and coldness; the mirror was like the surface of a lake, easily penetrated, and ripples spread across its mercury‑like surface.

Once his hands entered the mirror, it was as if they had entered a wind‑sucking Wind Cave. With just a single thought from Angel, without him exerting any force, he was pulled into the interior of the mirror by a strange power.

From the outside, it looked as though he had plunged into a lake, disappearing without even a ”splash.”

Only the faint human silhouette on the Indestructible Heart Mirror remained...

After entering the mirror, Angel’s expression was one of blank astonishment.

Because the interior of the mirror at this moment was nothing like what it had been before.

Beyond the mirror was not the Heart Space, nor could it even be called the Mirror Domain; at most, it could be considered a Buffer Zone. Only after leaving the Buffer Zone would one enter the mirror passage, and after passing through the mirror passage, the final destination would be the Heart Space.

Angel was currently in this Buffer Zone.

Previously, Angel had entered the Buffer Zone. At that time it had been utterly dark, with both sides seeming like the Void, and only at the end had there been something resembling a ”Door,” guiding Angel forward. Behind that Door lay the mirror passage.

But now, the Buffer Zone had completely changed.

Rather than calling this a Buffer Zone, it would be better to call it a carefully arranged hall of Nobility.

It not only had four walls, but also a ceiling overhead, from which bright crystal chandeliers hung, illuminating the hall as bright as daylight.

Sofas, long tables, flower vases, hanging fabrics, carpets, oil paintings all around... nearly everything that could be found in a noble hall was present here.

Thinking of the pitch‑black void from before, then looking at the bright splendor now, Angel even felt a sense of having lived another lifetime. And yet, just a few hours ago, this place had not been like this...

However, although the entire space looked filled with luxury, everything carried a hint of unreality.

Angel was quite certain this was not an Illusion Technique, yet no matter how he looked, it did not feel real.

Was this sense of unreality caused by his own momentary daze?

Angel hesitated for a moment, then paced forward to a small vase on a nearby table. In the vase was a cluster of blooming Big Mary Roses.

He slowly reached out, attempting to take one of the roses from the bottle.

However, when his hand touched the rose, it shattered before his eyes like broken glass.

Angel was very sure that his fingertips had not received any feedback of material substance.

This showed that his judgment was correct. These things that appeared to be physical objects were all illusory. Only, this was not an Illusion Technique, but rather...

”A projection.” At this moment, a familiar indifferent voice came from behind him.

Angel turned around to see the only large Door in the hall open, and Laplace, her long white hair trailing behind her, walked in from outside.

Laplace seemed to have guessed Angel’s thoughts. ”This is not an Illusion Technique,” she said. ”I used Aggregation Energy to project the images from my memories here.”

As she spoke, Laplace walked over to a nearby sofa. She did not even touch it with her hand; merely brushing it with her hair caused the sofa to shatter into fragments.

Laplace said, ”The arrangements here are taken from some noble hall of a Mortal Kingdom in the Southern Domain about a thousand years ago. I don’t know exactly whose it was.”

Angel asked, ”You saw this in the Sea of Void Mirror?”

Laplace nodded. ”Yes.”

After a brief pause, Laplace continued, ”I suppose you must be wondering why I bothered to create such a projection.”

As she spoke, she walked to the other side of the hall and picked up a small booklet from the carpet.

This booklet, unlike the other furnishings, did not shatter at the slightest touch. It rested steadily in Laplace’s hand.

Angel also noticed the peculiarity of the booklet, but one glance was enough for him to understand the reason.

On the cover, a line of dual‑semantic characters unique to the Psychic Realm was clearly written: Wish Book!

This Wish Book was a physical object, and therefore would not shatter as easily as the other projections.

Laplace said, ”Creating the projection is to test this place’s tolerance to energy. Placing a physical object here is to test the upper limit of its load‑bearing capacity for matter.”

In fact, even without Laplace’s explanation, the moment Angel saw the Wish Book, he had already guessed as much.

Previously, Angel had already put the Wish Book into his bracelet, intending to take it out of the Mirror Domain; but just before he left, Laplace called out to him and asked him to leave both the Wish Book and the teapot behind.

Laplace’s reason was: they would be needed later during testing.

Now, seeing the Wish Book, Angel immediately understood that Laplace was testing this Buffer Zone’s upper limit for bearing material.

Angel glanced around and indeed found the gemstone teapot placed beside the fireplace.

Angel: ”So, how did the test turn out?”

Although Laplace had given Angel a test report, the results in it leaned more toward the mirror passage; as for this Buffer Zone, Laplace hadn’t mentioned it.

But seeing how the place had changed so drastically now, Angel knew that Laplace must have tested it as well. It was just that the results hadn’t been directly told to him.

Laplace: ”It’s a bit worse than the mirror passage in terms of sturdiness.”

Angel wasn’t surprised by this. It was normal for things to have flaws, and this was, after all, only a Half-step Mystic Object, not a true Mysterious Object. What’s more, judging from the current situation, the Indestructible Heart Mirror already had very few defects. Besides, if you compared it with things of the same category, this Buffer Zone absolutely counted as sturdy; it couldn’t even really be called a flaw.

It was only when compared to the mirror passage and the Heart Space that it might fall a bit short.

”Let’s talk about energy first. Its capacity for containing energy is acceptable; it can hold about seventy to eighty percent of the total energy of this Avatar of mine. Using the Wizards’ Realm’s classification, that’s roughly at the level of a Level 1 True Knowledge Wizard.”

This capacity sounded quite good, but when you thought about how the mirror passage’s capacity could practically surpass Legend, it immediately paled in comparison.

”In other words, if a Wizard above Level 1 True Knowledge were to run rampant here, wantonly using energy to destroy things, it is possible for them to destroy this Buffer Zone.” Laplace added, ”However, this place is no longer within the Mirror Domain, so you don’t need to worry about Mirror Domain creatures coming to sabotage it.”

”What you do need to pay attention to is this: in Reality, you’d best not let anyone who can destroy the Buffer Zone get their hands on Cha Cha’s mirror—the Cha Cha Mirror.”

Angel nodded: ”I understand.”

This only required a bit of attention. After all, among the Transcendents who could freely enter the Mirror Domain in Reality, setting aside that odd bunch in the Underground Aqueduct, there was really only Lady Mirror.

Moreover, Angel would never casually take out Cha Cha’s... the Indestructible Heart Mirror and lend it to strangers.

”As long as you understand.” Laplace paused for a moment, then continued, ”As for the upper limit of material endurance, compared to the upper limit for energy, it’s much weaker.”

As for how much weaker, Laplace found it difficult to give a precise number. Because under the rules of the Mirror Domain, material and energy were fundamentally different.

Laplace thought for a bit, then simply used Angel as an example and said, ”If everyone were like you—entering and exiting with their Bloodline aura fully restrained—then bearing more than twenty living people at the same time wouldn’t be a problem.”

It wasn’t that one had to restrain their Bloodline aura; it was just that in Laplace’s example, the Bloodline aura was a variable. If you factored in variables, even a simple example would become complicated.

”If it’s non-living material, and we likewise disregard energy leakage, then this hall’s space is the upper limit of what can be contained. If there is energy leakage, then part of the capacity will be occupied by the energy.”

Laplace projected the nobles’ hall from her memory, not only to test, but also to let Angel know the capacity limit here.

Angel looked around at the space of the hall and said softly, ”It’s even bigger than the space in my bracelet... In that case, this place could completely serve as a Storage Space.”

Laplace: ”It can, but there’s no need. You can simply put whatever you want to store into the Heart Space; the space there is even larger.”

Angel thought for a moment. ”True.”

Still, this Buffer Zone could indeed be used as a temporary Storage Space. As for the issue of energy leakage, he just had to refine a container that sealed off energy.

But Angel was only thinking about it. If he truly treated this place or the Heart Space as Storage Space, he himself was not willing.

After all, the first principle of Storage Space was: safety.

Although the Buffer Zone had a large storage capacity, one had to always keep the energy limit in mind. If, by accident, that limit were exceeded, the Buffer Zone would inevitably collapse.

A normal Storage Space, on the other hand, directly gave you a fixed capacity; if you exceeded that capacity, you simply couldn’t store anything more inside, and there was no need to worry about the space collapsing.

Also, while the Heart Space could be used for storage, it was still accessible from within the Mirror Domain, and who knew whether some accident might occur.

All in all, if you wanted a reliable and safe Storage Space, you still needed to refine a specialized one.

You could cut corners, but you had to bear the risk.

Angel had already made up his mind: the Buffer Zone could serve as a ”temporary” storage place, and the Heart Space could also store things—but only general, common materials. Anything even slightly precious had to be stored in a true Storage Space.

”By the way, you just mentioned living beings and material. What about energy beings?” Angel asked curiously. ”For example, if an Elemental Creature comes in here, is it counted as energy, or as a living being?”

Laplace: ”If an Elemental Creature can restrain its energy aura, it will be counted as a living being. If it can’t, then a lot of factors need to be considered... I’ll give you a formula for the endurance limit later; you can substitute the variables yourself to calculate it.”

Angel fell silent for a moment, then nodded lightly. ”...Alright.”

Laplace: ”You’re going to the Heart Space? Hmm... Do you need me to dispel this projection?”

Angel looked around, thought it over, and said, ”Dispel it. A projection is false in the end; I can construct a real one.”

Laplace, indifferent, simply nodded and tapped lightly at the Void. The brightness around them vanished in an instant, and all the furniture and decorations turned into fragments.

However, after Laplace shattered the memory projection, Angel began to manipulate energy. Very quickly, the surrounding Void brightened once again.

Space reconstruction, memory restoration.

Everything was exactly the same as before, but now, if one were to touch the furniture, it would no longer shatter.

The sofa had the softness of a sofa, the carpet carried a gentle tactile feel, and the Big Mary Rose released a rich, fragrant scent...

Laplace looked at the reconstructed space before her and raised an eyebrow slightly. ”So this is what you call ’real’.”

Angel said calmly, ”As long as it feels real, then it is real.”

These things were indeed not real, but structures Angel had created with Nightmare Illusion.

It wasn’t that Angel was unwilling to make them real; it was simply because this Buffer Zone’s endurance for energy was somewhat higher. Using real material to build a space would clearly impose a much greater load than constructing it with Nightmare Illusion.

Since Nightmare Illusion could provide truly realistic sensations, using it to construct the space was much more cost-effective.

Laplace couldn’t be bothered to argue with Angel over what was real and what was fake. She simply turned around and walked into the mirror passage.

Angel, satisfied with a glance around, followed Laplace toward the Door, heading to the Heart Space.