Wizard: I Add Points and Hunt Monsters

"Well, a pleasure to meet you."

The clown smoothed down his curly hair and bowed slightly. "My apologies for meeting you like this."

Wei’en watched his affected performance, his scalp prickling.

’You’re a Forbidden Item, a calamitous existence. Being so polite just makes this ten times more stressful.’

"May I ask... what you need from me?"

"Oh, this? I just came to have a little chat with you."

Wei’en: "..."

"Is that so hard to accept?"

"No, not at all."

The clown pinched his thumbs and index fingers together, swung his arms out, and wagged his head from side to side. "Tsk, tsk," he clicked his tongue. "Such a dishonest child..."

ROAR!

Before the words had even faded, the clown opened his mouth and bellowed.

He lunged forward, the blood-red, bulbous nose of his mask pressing against Wei’en’s. His eyes turned a solid crimson as he stared, wild and vicious, into Wei’en’s own.

"Is this easier to accept?"

A real bead of sweat appeared on Wei’en’s forehead. He retreated slightly. "I... I suppose so."

’If I had a choice, I’d prefer the gentlemanly act from before...’

SNAP!

The clown gave a disdainful little laugh and casually snapped his fingers.

The dim room brightened. The rustling and whistling of the wind outside vanished in an instant, and the surroundings became unnaturally quiet.

"Sit."

Wei’en scanned his surroundings and found he was now in an exquisite living room. In front of him was a square red table, and behind him, a red sofa.

He hesitated for a moment before sitting down.

"A drink?"

Before he could answer, the clown expertly uncorked a bottle of wine, poured two shallow glasses, and slid one of the silver-stemmed goblets toward him.

"..."

’This has to be a dream, right?’

’How could I taste anything in a dream?’

Still, Wei’en steeled himself, picked up the glass, and took a sip. When you’re outmatched, it’s best to be cautious and keep a low profile.

The clown raised his glass, clinked it against Wei’en’s, and said with a playful laugh, "Drink up, drink up. Whenever I’m feeling a bit more lucid, I come here for a drink. The taste is quite good."

’Lucid?’

’Come here... This isn’t a dream?’

Wei’en considered it, but it seemed impossible. ’How could this not be a dream?’

With that thought, he looked up. The Xiaoxi were all here?

But it was as if they couldn’t see the clown. They just stared at Wei’en curiously while opening their mouths wide to devour the Meditation.

’No, no, this can’t be the True World!’

Then he checked his panel. Information flooded his mind: basic attributes, skills, contracts, specializations... they were all there??

Wei’en murmured, "So this place... isn’t a dream?"

"Is that so strange?"

The clown took a sip of wine and said with a half-smile, "I am certain that where I am is reality. But how can you be certain that where *you* are is reality?"

’Impossible, this can’t be real!’

Wei’en still didn’t believe it. As a final test, he tried to retrieve a material for a Mechanical Puppet from his Space Ring.

A gear appeared in his hand, complete with a notch he had accidentally made on it...

"It’s really here, and it’s exactly the same..."

"HEE HEE HEE HA HA HA..."

Seeing this, the clown burst into manic laughter. He collapsed back onto the sofa, clutching his stomach and howling with laughter, all sense of decorum gone.

His feet kicked gleefully in the air, as if he had just witnessed the most ridiculous thing in the world.

Wei’en clutched the gear. The hard metal and its cold touch snapped him out of his shock.

He put the gear away and watched the hysterically laughing clown with a complicated expression.

’My good sir, if you had this kind of power, you should have said so earlier...’

’I didn’t act too rudely just now, did I?’

’Or... should I learn from him and bow, too?’

’Yeah, I’ll try it in a bit!’

After a while, the clown finally stopped. The smile vanished from his face, and his eyes suddenly became dead and silent. "I haven’t laughed that happily in a very long time..."

Wei’en forced a smile. "Is... is that so?"

’From the look of you, you don’t seem happy at all, Master Chou!’

"Yes. Not since I left Lilith."

’Lilith?’

’That name... the Empress of the Third Epoch Turing Empire?’

’Leonard?’

A flicker of understanding crossed Wei’en’s face. He asked cautiously, "The Lilith you speak of... is she Lilith Oracio Leonard?"

"Lilith... Yes, that’s the name..."

Hearing the name, the clown seemed to deflate as if his body had been hollowed out. He collapsed onto the red sofa, gasping for breath. "HUFF... HUFF..."

After a long moment, he struggled up and roared hoarsely, "In this world, there is no other Lilith! None!!"

"Of course, of course, absolutely not." Seeing the clown’s savage expression, Wei’en could only agree. "What you say is definitely, certainly, absolutely correct!"

’What kind of lunatic invading reality is this? He’s so unpredictable!’

"I’m not a lunatic!"

Wei’en froze. "Uh, you..."

’He can hear my thoughts? A Mind Reading Skill??’

"It’s not mind reading,"

The clown’s expression returned to calm, his tone flat. "When you’ve lived as long as I have, surrounded by hypocrisy and falsehoods day in and day out, you’ll develop this ability too. I’ve just, hmm, seen a lot."

’You know exactly what I’m thinking, and you still say it’s not a Mind Reading Skill?’

"I didn’t come here to discuss with you whether or not this is a Mind Reading Skill."

The clown’s eyes turned crimson again. "Or perhaps you’d like to test whether you can truly die here?"

Wei’en said quickly, "No, of course I don’t."

He cleared his mind of all thoughts, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the clown’s face... or rather, on the protruding part of his mask, with focus and determination.