It was only to be expected that more and more people would gather to listen—there was nothing unusual about that. However, when William Carter noticed that among the audience there were more and more magic apprentices, and then, one day, he discovered that one of these apprentices was surrounded by a vast, immeasurable sea of magical elements, William Carter finally, albeit belatedly, realized that he was in big trouble!

To be honest, it wasn’t really William Carter’s fault for being slow on the uptake.

He was just bored and decided to tell a group of little girls and boys a mythological novel that was a household name in China in his previous life. —Wasn’t it just a story?

But now, judging from the increasingly awed and inexplicable expressions of many of the magic apprentices listening, William Carter was utterly shocked to realize that maybe, just maybe, they didn’t see it as just a story!

By this day, his audience had grown to include more than a hundred magic apprentices!

Among them was Cleo Carter, the level-six magic apprentice from town who had deliberately befriended William Carter. But at this moment, the apprentice who was usually the highest-ranked in town was completely overshadowed.

William Carter was startled to find that there were more than twenty magic apprentices whose strength surpassed that of Cleo Carter!

And as for the one mentioned earlier, their power made William Carter feel a spontaneous sense of awe just by looking at them!

Heavens!

When did the town get so many magic apprentices? And each one was more advanced than the last. Could it be... could it be that they had all come because he started telling ""Journey to the West""?

William Carter couldn’t believe his own judgment, but he couldn’t help but feel that this was indeed the case!

Looking around at the dense crowds inside and out, so many of them high-level magic apprentices. If that was the case for magic apprentices, what about warriors?

Were there also many level-four, level-five, level-six warriors among his listeners?

At this moment, William Carter couldn’t help but recall a saying: “Black clouds press down on the city, threatening to destroy it; the wind fills the tower as the storm approaches!”

And he was the city about to be destroyed!

At this thought, William Carter shivered with a chill!

He had been careless!

He had forgotten!

He had forgotten that this was not the world of novels where gods and demons flew everywhere and monsters roamed the land, but rather a surreal world of mages and warriors!

The things he talked about, the tales of Journey to the West—in his previous world, where martial power was low to nonexistent, hardly anyone would take them seriously. But in this world, how could people not draw connections to reality?

Once they had that realization, then what?

Then William Carter would have to tell them it was all pure fiction?

But someone would have to believe him!

At this moment, William Carter’s face turned completely pale!

It was also at this moment that William Carter finally, deeply, and thoroughly realized that this world was vastly different from his previous one! Many things that were utterly ordinary in his past life could cause a huge stir if brought here!

Although he had been somewhat aware of this before, there was no doubt that his understanding had been far, far from enough!

But now, the question was, who could tell him what he was supposed to do next?

Chapter 12: Surprise—Shock First, Joy Later!

After realizing that he might have accidentally caused an unimaginably huge problem, William Carter felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Now he truly understood what it meant to be riding a tiger and unable to get off.

Even scarier, he wasn’t riding just one tiger, but dozens or even hundreds! And in front of these tigers, he, a mere level-three magic apprentice, was like a monkey—completely insignificant.

Although this analogy was a bit hurtful—not just to his feelings, but to his pride—unfortunately, it was the truth.

“I just casually tossed an apple, but accidentally smashed the sun!” That was the truest reflection of William Carter’s feelings at this moment.

William Carter felt so aggrieved he wanted to cry, but he had no choice but to put on a smile and finish telling today’s story.

When the evening’s storytelling ended and the crowd dispersed for the night, Captain Owen finally, belatedly, came to find him, saying that something seemed off in town lately. William Carter could only roll his eyes. Seriously, isn’t it a bit late for you to say that, big brother?

The rice has long gone cold!

Captain Owen just mentioned it in passing, without showing any real anxiety, which William Carter found quite odd. But he didn’t feel it was appropriate to ask. —Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t know how.

Was he supposed to say, “Captain, I think my storytelling has caused some trouble”?

First, the trouble hadn’t actually happened yet, and might not even happen at all. Second, Captain Owen was just a lowly level-three warrior himself, also not much help!

That night, William Carter was unusually unable to enter a meditative state, tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep—a serious case of insomnia!

The next day, seeing the crowd of listeners, even larger and denser than yesterday, William Carter finally made up his mind: no matter what, today he would abruptly end the story—force a conclusion!

At this point, he had reached the twenty-seventh chapter of ""Journey to the West"": “The Corpse Demon Tricks Tang Sanzang Three Times, The Holy Monk Regrets Banishing the Monkey King.”