Chapter 245: Spell Solidification |
Saul first took out a Shadowfeather for inspection.
Though the name sounded elegant, in truth, the Shadowfeather’s appearance was nothing to write home about.
The quill was thick and coarse, with three uneven rows of feathers along its shaft.
The feathers were sparse, with gaps in between—almost as if someone had plucked it bald.
Still, under Saul’s mental probing, he could clearly sense the dense dark-elemental particles clinging to its surface.
After checking just one feather, Saul tucked the box into his robes and opened the second metal container.
This one was quite small. A gentle flick was enough to pop the lid open.
Inside was the same black bean-like object, its smooth surface reflecting a human face.
Once again, it was not Saul’s face.
But Saul paid the man’s expression no mind; his gaze was focused on the diary.
As the diary flew into the air, displaying the same text as before, he knew the Seed of Malice in front of him hadn’t been switched out by Kujin.
This time, Kujin had finally learned to behave.
He then went on to explain to Saul the method for cultivating the Seed of Malice, as well as how to incubate it.
“No problem,” Saul said with a smile, handing over the Obsidian Amber he had prepared.
Kujin accepted it with some nervousness, closed his eyes to sense it for a moment, then opened them again and let out a long breath of relief.
“Everything’s fine on my end too.”
“Take care, I won’t see you out,” Saul said, stepping back behind the massive metal door.
Kujin froze for a moment. He had just lifted his foot to leave but hesitated, a conflicted expression spreading across his face.
“Saul, can I ask… what happened to Ferguson?”
Ferguson had been missing for so long that he was officially presumed dead, yet no one had ever seen his body.
Saul raised his hand and knocked on the bronze door. “He’s inside the door.”
Kujin didn’t quite understand at first, but his expression quickly changed. His lips turned pale and pressed tightly together.
He didn’t ask anything else—just gave Saul a nod and turned to stride quickly away from the first floor of the East Tower, disappearing into the dark.
Saul slowly closed the door.
Returning to the storage room, he casually set the metal box containing the Shadowfeather on the table and focused all his attention on the Seed of Malice.
“The door to a new world,” he murmured with a smile. “I’m really quite curious.”
The diary had not issued any death warnings, but just like the cocoon of the Nightmare Butterfly, while in its cocoon form it posed no serious danger to Saul—who knew about once it hatched?
Following the instructions Kujin had given, Saul wiped away the unique mental imprint on the Seed of Malice and replaced it with his own.
In that instant, the seed’s smooth surface began to warp, growing uneven. Even its shape began to shift.
As Saul watched, the seed in his palm gradually transformed into a regular icosahedron. He blinked, a little confused.
“Didn’t he say it would take at least a month—from erasing the old imprint, to overriding it with a new one, to the seed finally adapting?”
Saul tossed the seed up and caught it twice. Its surface had changed from a mirror-like gloss to a matte texture.
No more ghostly face—less eerie now, and more mysterious.
“Looks like, at the very least, I’ve succeeded in layering my own mental imprint onto it. The Seed of Malice is formed from consciousness, so its outward form changes according to subjective mental influence.”
He fetched a petri dish and added the basic cultivation fluids Kujin had mentioned, then gently dropped the seed in the center.
Once immersed in the fluid, the seed gave a few rolls, then unexpectedly came to rest upright—balanced on a single edge.
At that moment, a black, slender tendril crept out from Saul’s nape, cautiously reaching toward the seed.
It opened a tiny, jagged mouth, its black tongue seeming to want a lick of this newcomer.
But at the crucial moment, Saul grabbed Little Algae’s head.
“Not for eating.”
Watching Little Algae’s trembling tongue stuck between its own teeth, Saul chuckled and let go.
Immediately, Little Algae lifted its head.
“Pluru pluru pluru!”
It actually stuck its tongue out at Saul—only to yank it back before he could react.
“This guy’s getting more and more humanlike,” Saul said, amused.
He placed the petri dish on the shelf and returned to the long table.
“Tomorrow morning I’ll look for Senior Byron—hopefully he hasn’t gone out yet. Then I’ll head to the 19th floor of the East Tower. If I remember right, the records on stabilizing soul bodies are on the second bookshelf. Hopefully I’m not mistaken.”
Due to his schedule, those two tasks would have to wait until morning. For now, Saul found himself at a bit of a loss for what to do next.
His gaze drifted around the storage room and eventually settled on the lead box holding the Nightmare Butterfly.
But he quickly shook his head. “Better wait until I finish the locator before checking that.”
With nothing else pressing, Saul decided to pull out Soul Armor and begin constructing it within his mental body.
His mental body was currently extremely powerful—strong enough to construct at least five First Rank spells simultaneously.
By contrast, a typical Second Rank apprentice could only manage two.
This didn’t mean Saul merely had twice the mental energy of others at his level. Each spell constructed within the mental body exponentially increased in difficulty.
By that logic, Saul’s mental strength was approximately ten times that of an average Second Rank apprentice.
So far, he had only solidified one spell within his mental body—the Soul Borer spell he had used to advance to Second Rank.
Due to the special circumstances at the time, that construction wasn’t particularly ideal.
And with various matters taking precedence, constructing Soul Armor had always been pushed down the list. Despite the outside world seeing him as one of the top Second Rank apprentices, he had only ever solidified one First Rank spell. His progress had been delayed.
Now that he had some breathing room, Saul finally had the time to dive into research.
Constructing spells within the mental body was a form of spell solidification.
Spell solidification could be done in enchanted items, scrolls such as parchment, or directly within the mental body.
Once solidified, spells could be cast almost instantly. This was one of the most common techniques for a wizard, and often their most critical lifesaving trump card.
Time trickled away as he studied.
Morning sunlight spilled over steep cliffs and mountain peaks, casting golden light across the old gray-black exterior of the Wizard Tower.
A new day had dawned.
Saul rubbed his slightly sore eyes.
He’d accidentally pulled another all-nighter. Only just now had he meditated for half an hour for some brief recovery.
A glance at the time—it was already 6 a.m. Just right to go find Senior Byron before he left, and avoid a wasted trip.
But just as Saul lifted himself off the chair, a long-unused messaging pen flew out of its holder and landed on the white parchment he’d long since laid out.
“Oh, work’s come in.”
There was no helping it—he walked over and looked down at the message the pen had written.
“Huh? Just three ordinary items?” he murmured, stroking his chin. His eyes finally landed on the name signed at the bottom. “Mentor Anze?”
He had just attended an exchange meeting yesterday, hosted by Anze’s student, Lokai. And now today, Anze was summoning him.
“Could these two things be connected somehow?”
Regardless, Saul moved into action.
Whether or not the two events were related, the task had to be completed.
Anze hadn’t requested many items, and with Little Algae enthusiastically helping, Saul soon wheeled the cart out of the second storage room.
On his way out, he unexpectedly ran into Heywood, who had just exited the first storage room.
Heywood didn’t look well—possibly still upset about Kongsha’s stubbornness the previous day.
But when he saw Saul, he still managed a smile. “Morning. Looks like your all-nighter really paid off.”
Saul instinctively rubbed under his eyes—then remembered he couldn’t get dark circles anymore. He looked back in confusion. “How could you tell?”
(End of Chapter)