Single Wish: Rise Of The Omniscient Paragon

The tunnel was narrow. It was just enough for a single person to walk through comfortably, but not too tight. As Corey walked deeper and deeper into the tunnel, the temperature dropped.

But this temperature was not normal. It wasn't the type that truly affected one's physical body.

Instead, it affected one's spirit.

'Spiritual energy? And it's extremely dense?'

Corey furrowed brows slightly as he observed and analyzed the spiritual energy in the air.

Because of how dense the spiritual energy in the tunnel was, most people that could sense it would have rushed to absorb it so that their spiritual energy and mental energy could increase drastically.

However, Corey knew that the spiritual energy was impure.

Very impure.

It was like the spiritual energy was a mixture of several different spiritual energies that once belonged to several individuals.

Corey had his thoughts on what could be the source of the spiritual energy, but he decided to wait.

Corey looked at the walls.

They were made of dark grey stone that were cold to the touch, and on it were faintly etched carvings.

Most were damaged beyond recognition, but Corey could still make out some images.

'One shows humanoid figures reaching for the stars. Another shows a group of humanoid figures clawing at their own faces as their eyes were gouged out.'

Corey's eyes narrowed slightly as he kept on walking deeper while observing the carvings.

'There are also carvings of tall, cloaked figures with mage staffs offering scrolls to three humanoid creatures with antlers and blindfolded eyes.'

'One shows people bowing before cracked mirrors or standing in circles with their hands pressed against each other's chests.'

Corey knew that none of what he was seeing made any sense, but his curiosity and budding desire to know more made him to continue his observation of the carvings.

His eyes narrowed as he walked slowly with extremely silent footsteps while his hands brushed across the carvings.

The texture was rough, and Corey could feel how time and the spiritual energy in the tunnel were one of the two causes of the deterioration of the carvings.

Another were claws.

Corey stopped at one point because the carvings had become more incomprehensible.

Some carvings overlapped with others, while some were carved sideways, or even upside down.

And on top of these carvings and the following carvings were jagged claw marks that cut deep through the stone.

"I wonder if these claws deliberately tried to destroy these carvings or if it was a result of something else."

Corey muttered as he felt like there was no need for these particular carvings to be destroyed since it looked like there was nothing noteworthy in them, and also because the carvings seemed to be made in a hurry...

"Or when one is in a state of madness... Or both."

Corey continued, but some minutes later, he stopped and stared at one wall.

The wall had two carvings, and these two carvings were the largest and most 'complete' carvings Corey had seen.

One depicted figures bowing before something that looked like a tree, or maybe a corpse with roots for legs.

He shifted his gaze to the other, but then he paused.

"What?"

He quickly turned back to the carving, and he was stunned to see that it was a tree with leafless branches, but when he blinked, it changed to a corpse with roots for legs.

"The hell?"

Corey frowned deeply, and he cautiously took a step back from the wall while keeping his gaze on the carving .

He hurriedly checked his mental space, and his gaze became solemn when he saw a foreign energy trying to invade his mind.

Fortunately for him, his mind was one of the most powerful aspects of his uniqueness.

'If it were any other person with weak mental defences, their minds would have been corrupted and the carving of the tree would be engraved in their mental space.'

'Later on, they'll become a corpse and their legs would transform into roots... Maybe they'll eventually become another tree.'

Corey hurriedly destroyed the foreign energy by using his vast and extremely pure spiritual energy.

He took another glance at the carving before shifting his gaze to the second carving.

The second carving showed a figure with no eyes standing before a crowd. The crowd was kneeling, but their heads were twisted the wrong way.

Their bodies were facing the figure with no eyes, but their heads were facing backward.

Almost like they dared not look at the figure who was like a god before then.

Corey's gaze moved to the figure's hand.

Hanging on the tip of his finger was crown made out bones, the crown seemed to be broken in two.

Corey frowned, and his lips parted open to speak as his eyes glazed over.

"Mors-"

A sharp bright violet and sky blue light erupted from his eyes as Corey regained his focus.

But his instincts screamed at him.

Without hesitation, his body moved before his main consciousness could react.

His right hand shot forward, and he held an arm by the wrist.

In the blink of a Tier 6's eye, Dreamfire appeared on his hand, and it burned greatly.

Just as Corey's mind was able to catch up with what was going on, a loud shriek shook his mind and the walls, causing Corey to have an extremely solemn expression.

Corey increased the output of his Dreamfire, and the shriek became louder as the pale arm he was holding released a grey smoke as it burned.

Corey felt the arm struggling to escape his grasp, and without hesitation, he left it and took several steps back.

The moment he left the arm, the arm shot back into the wall, and Corey remained in a defensive position for some time as he observed the wall.

His eyes cautiously moved to the carving, and he saw that the arm that was not holding the crown was severely burnt on its wrist.

Not only that, the figure without eyes was now looking at him, and so was the kneeling crowd.

The expressions of fury and killing intent was palpable to Corey, and he took another step back out of caution.

He looked at for a few more seconds, and when nothing happened, he left and went deeper into tunnel.

A few minutes later, he reached the end of it and saw a grand hall.