As the ashen script faded from Lu Yuan's vision, he felt a crisp crack echo from the depths of his mind, as if some sort of restriction had been shattered.
The familiar sensation of words twisting and reorganizing in his sight did not vanish as usual; instead, it grew even more intense.
The characters in his vision began to pour out frantically, no longer confined to the book. Like black vines, they crawled up Lu Yuan's arms, submerging him in an instant.
"Hmm?"
Ink, the book spirit hanging from the top of the shelf, suddenly snapped its head up. For the first time, surprise and... murderous intent appeared in its pitch-black, beady eyes.
"This scent..."
It stared intently at Lu Yuan, who was wrapped in a cocoon of black text. The newspaper wings on its back unfurled completely, and countless dense runes lit up across its pale yellow skin.
"If you are swallowed by knowledge, I will make sure your death is quite unpleasant."
...
Lu Yuan was oblivious to the situation outside.
He felt as if he were falling.
He plummeted through countless layers of clouds composed of words, symbols, and whispers, eventually landing on a land of deathly silence.
There was no sky here, only a chaotic expanse of grey mist.
Lu Yuan stood up and looked around.
What met his eyes was a vast, boundless wasteland, with a few buildings of wildly different architectural styles standing sparsely across it.
Each building exuded a completely different aura, serving as a concrete manifestation of a hall unique to the Knowledge Pathway.
"Is this the so-called 'transcendent pathway'?"
Lu Yuan maintained his Sanity and did not act rashly.
He remembered Old Morgan saying that when anyone stepped onto the Knowledge Pathway, they would see a "road" that belonged to them.
He looked to his left.
There stood a twisted tower woven from shades of black and blue.
The tower's walls were damp, as if it had just surfaced from the deep sea.
Through the tower's windows, Lu Yuan could faintly see an endless ocean. In that profound darkness, countless figures swam past, and in the even deeper, pitch-black abyss, shadows so massive they were beyond description loomed.
Even a single glance at those shadows made Lu Yuan feel a suffocating pressure wash over him.
【Deep Sea Scholar: Investigate the ancient secrets beneath the boundless deep sea. But oh, tiny human, how deep can you truly dive?】
The ashen prompt was brief and cold.
Lu Yuan looked away and turned toward the right.
There stood a crimson castle that looked as if it had been cast from fresh blood.
Countless branches spread across the castle walls like blood vessels, pulsing silently as thick, red liquid continuously seeped out.
Inside the castle, Lu Yuan saw a kingdom filled with slaughter and gore. Countless gaunt, withered creatures fought in the darkness; the dead merged into pools of blood, while the living continued to wail.
【Flesh Scholar: You shall set foot on the path of understanding life. But within those endless bloodstains and wails, how far can you travel?】
Further away, there was a ruin overgrown with green vines.
Each vine sprouted agonizing human faces, and their roots twisted and writhed in the soil, guarding a massive black tree in the center that pierced the clouds.
【Nature Scholar...】
Lu Yuan walked across the wasteland, passing one building after another, each representing a different direction of specialization.
They were all calling to him.
The whispers of the deep sea, the temptation of the flesh, the murmurs of the forest... every voice promised great power.
Perhaps others who stepped into this hall would lose themselves among these choices.
But Lu Yuan did not.
He walked past those magnificent halls with a wooden expression, his eyes terrifyingly clear.
"Too narrow,"
Lu Yuan evaluated inwardly.
"Choosing the deep sea means only understanding the deep sea; choosing the flesh means only researching life. The path is too restricted. This is not what I want."
He possessed an experience bar and the translation ability that could analyze everything.
His path should not be limited to a single, narrow field.
Lu Yuan continued forward until he reached the very center of the wasteland.
Only one solitary building stood here.
It was a black spire with a circular core. It lacked any decoration or alluring aura, possessing only an eternal, unchanging loneliness.
The tower door was slightly ajar.
Lu Yuan pushed the door open and entered.
The main hall was empty, save for countless blank books floating in the air.
At the end of the hall stood a tattered figure.
The shadow stood still, flickering in and out of existence as if it might dissipate at any moment.
As Lu Yuan entered, the shadow seemed to wake. It bowed slightly and spoke in a raspy voice.
"It has been a long time since anyone has reached this place."
"Where is this?" Lu Yuan asked.
"This is the Hall of the Polymath."
The shadow raised a hand, and the blank books around them began to flutter. Although there were no words on them, Lu Yuan could feel the massive flow of information contained within.
"On the road of Forbidden Lore, the minds of the vast majority are not strong enough to support them in glimpsing the full picture of this world. Therefore, they choose to compromise. They choose to specialize, becoming scholars of the deep sea, the flesh, or curses..."
The shadow looked at Lu Yuan, and a hint of appreciation seemed to appear on its blurred face. "But those who can reach this place are all unique madmen. You refuse to compromise, desiring to understand everything."
"Polymath..." Lu Yuan chewed on the word.
"It means you can explore the deepest secrets of this world, whether they belong to deities, demons, or ancient gods." The shadow's tone turned serious. "But this is also the most dangerous path. Because you know too much, you will become an eyesore to all existences."
"Especially those indescribable beings. Their secrets are not meant for humans to know."
Lu Yuan nodded. "I don't care."
"Very well."
The shadow wasted no more words. It reached out a finger and lightly tapped Lu Yuan's forehead.
"This is your reward, and also the key to opening this path. Hide it well, and hide yourself as well."
Boom!
A massive surge of knowledge instantly flooded into Lu Yuan's mind.
【Class advancement successful: Forbidden Lore - Seeker 0/50】
【Core skill obtained: Forbidden Lore: Specialized Research】
【Forbidden Lore: Specialized Research: Based on your polymathic knowledge, you can gain insight into the deep characteristics of a target, then strip and reorganize them into knowledge that belongs uniquely to you.】
As the system prompts faded, the surrounding scenery began to collapse.
"Go back."
The shadow waved its hand, and a bizarre, kaleidoscopic vortex appeared behind it.
In the moment before Lu Yuan was swallowed by the vortex, he heard the shadow whisper a single sentence.
"I have blocked the gaze of the Outsiders for you. Until you truly ascend to a Polymath, do not return so easily."
Outsiders?
Lu Yuan's heart skipped a beat.
Was it that deep-sea existence that had been haunting his dreams?
Or was there something even more terrifying behind these so-called Strange Dreams?
Before he could figure it out, a violent sensation of weightlessness struck, and his consciousness instantly plunged into darkness.
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