A Beekeeper in a Magical World

Hua Mi had been attempting to access this thing for a while now, but his mental strength had always fallen short. Yet, after the recent exploration in the Misty Mountains, his mental control had notably improved, reaching the 5th stage of "Bee Power".

In this world, there wasn't a clear-cut ranking system for mental strength. Most professions didn't prioritize its cultivation, sticking to a "just enough" principle. Take mages, for instance. While training mental strength was compulsory, they seldom devoted much effort to it. As long as it was sufficient to wield magic, they stopped at a critical threshold.

What was this threshold? It meant that once mental strength reached a certain point, pushing further led to a steep decline in the enhancement of casting speed and such. So, rather than spending a lot of time on mental cultivation, it made more sense to practice more spells or enhance magical skills.

That was the consensus among mages: mental strength had a limit, while magical power had none. But Hua Mi was different. His growth relied heavily on mental strength. The higher it soared, the greater his ability to control the bee swarms.

To objectively measure his own prowess, he devised a rough yet simple grading system: segmentation. Essentially, the number of swarms he could control equated to the number of segments.

Considering that a swarm comprised around 10,000 to 20,000 bees, the simultaneous control of swarms matched his mental strength segments.

For instance, if it were 20,000 bees from a single swarm, it was relatively easier to control. But if it came from two swarms of 10,000 each, the difficulty lay somewhere between controlling 1 and 2 swarms.

In summary, he believed that with his current 5th stage of mental strength, he was capable enough to attempt breaking through the "firewall" of the Contemplation Sphere.

Taking out the sphere, he unleashed his mental strength, forcefully probing inside! However, even with his current 5th stage mental strength, breaking in remained a challenge.

Hua Mi concentrated his mental strength into a "sharp blade", engaging in a tug-of-war with the sphere's barrier. Persisting, he finally managed to breach it slightly.

The mental blade punctured a hole in the sphere's barrier.

What followed was a breakthrough, smooth and unstoppable.

Hua Mi's mental strength smoothly infiltrated the sphere.

It was a fragmented space, enveloped in a vast expanse of white mist.

The first notable sight was a row of golden symbols hovering above the mist.

Not human language or elvish, in fact, he wasn't even certain if it was a language. Describing it as abstract stick figures seemed fitting.

But its presence within the Contemplation Sphere indicated its importance to the grey-robed figure.

"Is it some kind of code?" Hua Mi pondered, wondering if there was a treasure hidden somewhere, and these symbols represented the passcode to its location. Yet, possessing the code without knowing the location was of little use.

Temporarily setting aside the symbols, Hua Mi observed more within the Contemplation Sphere.

His mental strength delved deeper.

Amidst the mist emerged an image. Presented in a first-person perspective, the scene was clear but somewhat shaky.

It seemed to be a dimly lit small room.

The walls were unevenly stacked stones without a single window, illuminated by a few dirty oil lamps that hindered the light's spread.

At the center was an operating table with a corpse, showing signs of decay with a ghastly magic circle drawn in blood on its pale belly.

Numerous jars of varied sizes lay beside it, containing murky liquids and strange organs soaking within.

"What an eerie scene," Hua Mi remarked. With his mental strength breaking the contemplation sphere's defense, this place had completely opened up to him.

He could freely control the playback speed of this imagery, performing fast forwards or rewinds.

After rapidly viewing the whole scene, Hua Mi realized it portrayed the entire process of creating a revenant.

The ritual involved three main stages: handling the corpse, summoning the spirit, and eventually merging the two.

Hua Mi had no intention to learn or practice such a taboo ritual. Anything deemed taboo surely had reasons behind it, and who knew what consequences might arise during the process.

"Could there also be a record of a demon summoning ritual in here?" Hua Mi skipped this part, pushing his mental strength further through the fog.

He spotted a piece of paper.

On a black background, white text appeared somewhat eerie. Gold filigree adorned its edges, giving it an oddly magnificent appearance.

He couldn't decipher the text on it, different from both the earlier symbols and human languages. However, upon closer inspection, beneath the unfamiliar text, there were annotations in common language, albeit tiny compared to the other text, causing him to overlook them initially.

Without examining it thoroughly, an inexplicable unease swept over Hua Mi. Although unable to comprehend the writing, those worm-like characters seemed to instantly stir up his emotions, evoking a cold and frenzied sensation, accompanied by murmurs.

The robe of tranquility seemed ineffective.

Even with his current mental strength and the robe's effects, he couldn't resist this influence.

Hua Mi hastily diverted his mental strength, ceasing to delve into the content on the paper.

Those unknown characters seemed to possess a certain power; despite being unreadable, they could impact those who observed them.

Staring too long might lead to irreversible consequences.

"Demonic script?" Hua Mi speculated. Perhaps this was the contract signed between the grey-robed figure and a demon.

Though he had been focusing on learning other species' languages lately, demon language wasn't within his plans.

His stance on demons in the Nine Hells was strictly to keep a respectful distance.

To have one's soul plunge into the Nine Hells after death was the most wretched fate imaginable. In this world, the harshest curse upon someone was, "May your soul descend into the Nine Hells after death."

Continuing to delve, Hua Mi soon reached the final part of the Contemplation Sphere's record: a drawing.

To be precise, a half-drawn image.

It depicted a partial magic circle with incomplete annotations...

Fortunately, these annotations were in human language.

It stated that this drawing contained an ancient secret: [Astral Projection].