However, despite Charles’s quiet muttering, Dark remained nowhere to be seen.
Seeing this, Charles sighed regretfully, feeling as though he had just missed out on a fortune.
But immediately afterward, his gaze fell upon the incredibly realistic desolate coastline around him.
The churning black, viscous seawater looked like crude oil.
There were also jagged rocks and gray-white sand everywhere.
No matter how he looked at it, this place certainly didn’t seem ordinary.
Suddenly, a thought emerged in Charles’s mind.
“Why not give it a taste?”
He immediately pinched his nose and found a puddle where the thick black seawater had collected.
He took a mouthful of the foul-smelling black seawater.
To his surprise, the Deep Blue System really did convert it into a considerable number of Deduction Points.
“Deduction Points +200.”
That was already more than Charles would normally accumulate after eating who knew how many meals.
But here, all he needed to do was drink a mouthful of seawater.
And right before Charles was an entire black ocean, endlessly churning!
Charles took a deep breath, his eyes filled with wild joy.
If he drank the entire black ocean surrounding R’lyeh, how many Deduction Points would that give him?
He was afraid the number would have to be calculated in the hundreds of millions!
Charles then reached out.
Within this dream, a wand actually appeared in his hand—the only wand he had ever physically encountered in the real world.
After reciting the incantation, a high-frequency laser shot from the tip of the wand, effortlessly cutting a strange black rock into pieces.
Charles picked up one of the pieces and tossed it into his mouth.
A flavor even more disgusting than the seawater spread throughout his mouth.
But immediately afterward came the beautiful notification from Deep Blue.
“Deduction Points +400.”
Charles took a deep breath.
Judging from this, the jagged rocky beach might actually contain even more Deduction Points than the black ocean.
Even the outer regions contained so many Deduction Points.
Then what about the ancient city called R’lyeh at the end of the rocky beach?
If he ate that entire city, including everything inside the central temple, how many Deduction Points would he get?
And if he invested all those Deduction Points into Lumos, what would the already-developed Eternal Blazing Sun become?
Charles couldn’t even imagine it!
At this point, the fear he had felt when he first arrived here had completely disappeared.
Instead, he felt as though he had stumbled into some kind of paradise.
R’lyeh ❌
Deep Blue’s All-You-Can-Eat Buffet ✅
“Thank you, Ancient Ones.”
“Thank you, Old Ones.”
“Praise R’lyeh.”
“Then I won’t hold back.”
The next moment, Charles began eating as though he were dipping pieces of a baguette into mushroom soup.
He held pieces of black rock in one hand, dipped them thoroughly into the viscous seawater with the other, and stuffed them into his mouth.
One notification after another announcing increases in Deduction Points continuously echoed inside Charles’s mind.
After biting off several pieces of Dark and obtaining more than thirty thousand Deduction Points, Charles’s total Deduction Points began skyrocketing like a rocket.
Before long, they had once again surpassed 50,000 points.
An expectant expression appeared in Charles’s eyes as he asked Deep Blue inside his mind. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
“If I continue deducing Lumos and upgrade the Eternal Blazing Sun again, approximately how many points will I need?”
Deep Blue gave him an answer.
“Based on the previous deduction process, the Eternal Blazing Sun may have several possible upgrade paths.”
“For example, it could continue evolving toward a celestial body.”
“The density of the sphere released by the spell could be increased, along with its energy level, while also adding a powerful gravitational restraint effect.”
“Another possibility would be to strengthen its energy-radiation effects and develop it in the direction of a gamma-ray burst to increase its destructive power.”
“…”
“Estimated requirement: at least one million Deduction Points.”
When Charles heard that number, he would have been shocked before.
He would have wondered how long it would take him to accumulate that many points.
But now, Charles only wanted to say—
“Only one million?”
If he stayed in R’lyeh, he could probably eat his way to more than a million Deduction Points in a single day!
“When the time comes, I’ll just add another dish to the menu.”
“Gamma-Ray Burst Roasted Old Ones!”
However, just as Charles excitedly imagined this, he suddenly realized something.
The scenery of R’lyeh around him was rapidly fading away.
Charles only had enough time to hurriedly swallow one final huge mouthful of black rock fragments.
Then he could only watch helplessly as R’lyeh disappeared before his eyes.
His dream shattered.
Reality descended.
And the place where Charles actually was gradually became visible.
It appeared to be a hospital room.
The bedsheets, curtains, and drapes were all clean white.
Sunlight streamed in through the window, making the room look exceptionally warm and bright.
But in Charles’s eyes, all of this was not worth even a single hair compared to the eerie and terrifying scenery of R’lyeh.
Glorious Old Ones.
Magnificent Old Ones.
Please!
Let me go back to R’lyeh one more time!
I admit I got a little carried away earlier.
The whole “gamma-ray burst” thing probably sounded a little scary.
But believe me!
It’s just like warming yourself beside a little space heater during winter.
It’s warm.
It’s comfortable.
Believe me!
Charles sat up blankly in the hospital bed.
His face was filled with grief and regret as he muttered.
“I’m such an idiot.”
“An absolute idiot.”
“I was so focused on all that stuff…”
“Why didn’t I eat a few more bites?”
“A free Deep Blue buffet with no entrance fee…”
“Where am I ever going to find something like that again?!”
However, while Charles was drowning in the grief of losing R’lyeh, the people gathered around his hospital bed were looking at him with expressions of sorrow.
“Charles Evans…”
“This child only just escaped death…”
“Has he gone mad?”
“Yes.”
“We can’t even imagine the kind of horrific torture he must have suffered at Dark’s hands.”
“Just now, while he was asleep, I heard him shouting Dark’s name.”
“He was even saying things like ‘give me another bite.'”
“That deranged dark wizard must have tortured him through starvation.”
“Poor child.”
“This is the fault of our magical world!”
Dumbledore sighed.
He drew his Elder Wand and spoke softly.
“Let me use some magic to calm him down.”
“After he has rested for some time, perhaps the shadow of this terrible experience will gradually fade from his mind.”
“Hogwarts will always have its doors open to you, child…”
A silver light appeared at the tip of the Elder Wand, resembling the glow of a Patronus.
Just looking at it gave one a soothing sensation, as though all worries could be forgotten.
Dumbledore slowly moved the Elder Wand closer to Charles and spoke softly.
“Sleep.”
“Go back to sleep, Charles.”
“Forget the terrible things you experienced…”
Everyone else also wore solemn expressions, as though they were praying for this unfortunate child who had been caught up in such a horrifying incident.
But just as the light of the Elder Wand approached Charles, he had already recovered from his grief over losing R’lyeh.
Or rather…
A new thought had replaced his longing for R’lyeh.
The old bearded man standing before him was obviously Dumbledore.
Then the wand in his hand must be the legendary Deathly Hallow—
The Elder Wand.
It was said to possess unparalleled magical power.
In the original Harry Potter story, even when Voldemort and the Elder Wand clashed, he could only helplessly have his Killing Curse reflected back at him by a single Expelliarmus.
The magical power contained within this object was absolutely at the pinnacle of the magical world.
Then…
What if he took a bite?
How many Deduction Points would it give him?
Therefore, the next moment, under the stunned gazes of everyone in the hospital room—
Charles opened his mouth.
And bit down on the Elder Wand.
The spell Dumbledore had been preparing was instantly disrupted by Charles’s sudden action.
“???”
“How long has he been starving?”
“Has he actually become so hungry that he’s resorted to chewing on a wand?!”
“Dark!”
“Look at what your wicked soul has done to this poor child from the depths of hell!”
(End of Chapter)