Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles—"The Art of War".
The unparalleled reputation of mages came not only from the power of magic but also from the mysterious characteristics of magic.
The iron fist of bureaucracy had completely sealed off all the mysteries of magic from the real world.
Most people would only be able to come into contact with the names of spells and the secret energy particles.
Although Lin Qi, who had been blessed with the identity of a mage apprentice, have yet to study the most important spells, he had already obtained the most crucial permission in advance!
It was similar to being added to an upper-management level WeChat group after a promotion.
Mage apprentices had the "right" to know the secrets of the magic world.
That was why he knew that no matter how powerful an "illusion" was, it had to be executed in person.
To kill Lin Qi head-on, he had to get past Mo Feng first!
The "battle" between two mages was not as simple as the death of a mage apprentice.
It was probably the beginning of a city disaster.
From the very beginning, the entire chessboard had been set up layer by layer, causing people to be wary of taking action.
Mages in video games also had to walk in front of the monsters and choose "Magic" before clicking on "Spell Target" or "Release Area".
It had not reached the ridiculous method of having to—Press "enter", input monster's name, press "enter" again, complete murder.
The mages of Planet Blue would be restricted even if they had a "ultra-distance" spell.
This was also why Lin Qi guessed that the world in front of him was a "dream".
The ghosts in the mirror, the singing in the toilet, the words 'die' on the television, the strange sounds from the wardrobe, the shouting outside the door, all these were indirect methods to try and evoke the deepest fears in his heart!
A pure "illusion" could use "vicious techniques" to fight him head-on and kill him.
There was no need to go around in circles.
The only explanation was that the other party needed him to believe that he had really died in this "dream"!
After learning the principles of illusion, Lin Qi examined his own logic from beginning to end and analyzed if there were any flaws in this chain of reasoning.
He was like a small boat in the stormy sea, ready to die at any moment from the churning waves.
On one hand, his external body was still undamaged, and it was very likely that Mage Mo Feng had discovered something amiss.
On the other hand, not only could his "memory palace" help him compare this dream from reality, it could also allow him to withstand the mental impact of spells.
Lin Qi slowly took a deep breath to calm his heartbeat that perhaps did not exist.
Instead of taking the initiative to wake up, waiting passively was also a method.
He could drag this out until the next morning. When Mo Feng discovered something unusual, he could find professionals to wake him up.
But the problem might not be that simple?
Lin Qi gave a soft sigh.
It was too passive to rely on others to save him.
He didn't dare bet on it.
He had to try and wake himself up!
In essence, it was a battle between him and the Luo mage couple.
If he did not take the initiative to cross the river, he would really be ridden on for life.
There were three ways to wake up from a dream.
The first method was to find the flaw in the dream realm and wake up from activating the consciousness.
This was also the first method Lin Qi used.
Many people who tried to control their "lucid dreams" often failed to pass this barrier and woke up on the spot.
However, it was clear that he had failed and did not wake up.
The second method was to mobilize the body's consciousness and wake the body up.
Lin Qi quietly tried to open his eyes, but no matter how hard he tried, he only managed to open the eyelids in this dream realm.
Failure.
The third method was to die in a dream and wake up in fright.
He quietly looked at the large curved floor-to-ceiling glass window in the presidential suite. It was extremely difficult to install this kind of glass on dozens of floors. The cost and manual labor fees would be no less than hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In the real world, Mo Feng was in the suite. Any movement would definitely wake him up.
If Lin Qi committed suicide in a "dream" using a silent method like a razor to cut his wrists, it was very likely that the mastermind would replicate it in real life through "sleepwalking" method. Then, his body would really be dead.
Therefore, he had to choose a grand incident like "jumping off a building" to warn Mo Feng.
Lin Qi reexamined the completeness and safety of the whole "plan," contemplating possible loopholes.
In the end, he quietly flipped through the chapter in the "Renovation Memories" in his memory palace regarding "tempered glass"!
Tempered glass was a type of reinforced glass. When an external force was applied to it, it would offset the surface tension and increase its strength. If he were to throw a stool at it, the entire tempered glass surface might not even budge.
But.
There was a 0.3% chance that tempered glass would self-explode!
Glass impurities, processing skills, installation methods and daily use, all of these could cause the tempered glass to explode.
The corners were the weak points of the tempered glass.
The tempered glass in some household glass bathrooms would explode after an external force was applied to a corner.
Lin Qi picked up the fire extinguisher placed in the corner of the suite, and with all his strength and pride as a man, he slammed it into the corner of the glass!
"Crack crack!"
The sounds of cracking could be heard.
Lin Qi looked at the shattered spiderweb-like tempered glass surface and smashed it again without hesitation!
"Bang!"
Instantly, countless glass shards exploded and flew out of the window, falling to the ground.
Lin Qi waited quietly for more than ten seconds.
If he was really being controlled by "sleepwalking" in reality, Mo Feng would have woken up by now.
The next moment, Lin Qi walked to the hole in the broken glass. Strong, noisy wind due to the high altitude kept blowing at him.
When people were high up in the sky, they would feel a strong pressure in the hearts due to their innate aversion towards risk.
As expected, even if he were to "simulate" jumping off a building in a dream, he would still need to muster his courage.
Lin Qi shook his head and turned to go back into the room. But in the next moment, his foot slipped, and he seemed to lose control of himself as he fell off the building, back first.
The sounds of glass shattering.
The swooshing sound of something falling from the sky.
An incomparable sense of weightlessness.
The entire gray sky turned into darkness and attacked him.
In that instant.
Lin Qi suddenly woke up. The night sky was dark and he couldn't see his fingers when he stretched out his arms. The night-light clock in the corner showed three-thirty in the morning.
He sighed softly and looked at the wall helplessly.
"Multiple dream layers. Will there be an end to this?"
"You have corrected the errors in the dream which I pointed out earlier. But then I did not reveal everything."
Lin Qi pointed out with a mocking smile.
No one could know that a candidate with a basic knowledge of 250 points and a mediocre memory would have a "memory palace" that could be taken out and used anytime.
He had subconsciously taken a glance at the layout of the suite before he went to bed. At this moment, he was using it to compare it to the actual scene!
However, this time, the entire dream remained calm and still, as though it was mocking silently him—
No matter what you try, you can forget about waking up.
Once, when Lin Qi was still in a half-asleep state of consciousness, he felt a "ghost" push open the door and walk to his bedside. He was startled into wakefulness.
However, the process of being startled into wakefulness was part of the dream.
That night, Lin Qi kept repeating the process of being startled into wakefulness. But his dream never stopped.
This was the unsolvable aspect of multiple dream layers.
Nevertheless, Lin Qi remained calm, as if he didn't care.
"You used multiple dream layers to target me, but in reality, you revealed your fear. It made me confirm that you really can't do anything to me in this dream realm."
"As long as I don't believe that I'm dead, I won't die quietly in the dream."
Killing someone in a dream and then disguising it as a sudden death was probably the reason why the Luo mage couple dared to make this move.
He had underestimated the fearsomeness of a mother who lost her child and her rationality. She was just blaming everything on him, designating him as the person who triggered the sudden death.
However, Lin Qi suspected that this "dream technique" was probably executed by a more powerful sorcerer.
With such unpredictable methods, it was no wonder that mages became the nightmare of many people.
Lin Qi regained his composure and mocked.
"Alright, for the next period of time, I will stay in the dream realm and wait to be awakened."
"I know that you will use many methods to create 'fear' in my dream."
"However, I won't be playing along with you anymore. Goodbye!"
As he spoke, Lin Qi poured all of his consciousness into the memory palace in his mind.
Then, everything in the dream realm was completely sealed off.
He just shut himself off and watched the movie "The Exorcist" in his memory palace to boost his courage.
------
"Lin Qi, Lin Qi?"
A familiar voice called out, and Lin Qi felt a buzzing in his ears as well as the feeling of being pushed around.
He suddenly opened his eyes.
He was on a plane with Mo Feng sitting beside him.
Mo Feng was surprised to see Lin Qi open his eyes. "He really woke up? I thought the old man's method of just to keep calling you would be ineffective."
Lin Qi was slightly confused.
After he sealed his consciousness in the "Memory Palace", he remained silent the entire time. He estimated it was only about eight in the morning.
He turned around in a daze. The cabin was decorated with wooden textures, and there were only a dozen luxurious seats.
Corporate airplane?
"Where are we going?" Lin Qi asked, his throat dry.
"The capital! When I woke up at six in the morning for my morning exercise, I noticed that something was wrong with you. I determined that you were trapped in a dream, so I contacted the Association of Mages and the academy. I arranged for a corporate airplane to take us back to the capital, and then I asked a mage specializing in curses to treat you. I didn't expect you to wake up on the way."
Wang Ruoling was sitting opposite him, looking curious.
"But how can I confirm that this isn't just the next scam in the multiple dream layer?"
Although he more or less believed this was reality, Lin Qi was still cautious.
Mo Feng smiled at this. "That's easy, flight attendant, open the cabin door! Lin Qi, you'll be free to fall for a while, and I'll use the Flight Technique to go down and fish you back. If you're not startled into wakefulness, then you must be in the real world."
"…"
"No need, I believe you."
At this moment, Mo Feng looked down at the clouds.
"Alright then, the distance is about right at this moment." He smiled and said to Lin Qi and Wang Ruoling.
"Welcome to the holy land of magic, the mysterious grounds, the perfect kingdom of mages, the Magic Capital."