Chapter 256: The Seam |
Saul had no idea how Gorsa managed to divide the souls of so many people.
Using the diary, he could also collect people’s consciousness and soul energy, but he was merely operating the tool—he had no understanding of the underlying principles.
Besides, judging from how Morden and the others behaved, it didn’t seem painful inside the diary.
At the very least, they didn’t cry out for help, and their consciousness remained clear—they could communicate just fine.
From this, it seemed the diary’s method was far superior to the Tower Master’s.
Seeing the corpse swarm calmed by the red candle, Saul finally relaxed.
But then he realized that he probably shouldn’t build the mental realm inside the storeroom anymore.
What if next time he stayed too long on the meeting platform—would these corpses lose control and lunge at him?
Would the red candle still be able to calm the erupting corpse swarm?
“Next, I need to find time to make a trip to Grind Sail Town. The secret behind the Grinding Sound Fruit is rather sensitive, so I should avoid bringing others.”
Saul shook his head, “Still, I’ll need to bring a driver. I can’t drive a carriage, and more importantly—I don’t know the way.”
A person suddenly came to mind— a coachman with a white mushroom growing from the top of his head.
“Once I’ve solidified the Soul Armor spell into my mental body... I’ll head to Grind Sail Town.”
However, by the time Saul actually left the Wizard Tower and set off on his journey, a month had already passed.
Originally, he was supposed to leave half a month ago, but the day before departure, he discovered that the Seed of Malice he had planted had borne red fruit overnight.
According to the cultivation method Kujin had taught him, this meant the Curse had matured.
As long as he extracted the fruit and activated it with magic and blood, he could obtain a Curse under his control.
This was the advantage of hatching a Curse with a Seed of Malice—lower risk, though the chance of getting a powerful Curse also decreased.
However, since this particular seed had been rated by the diary as “a door through which a new world may be glimpsed,” Saul naturally postponed his trip.
But after spending several days catalyzing the fruit, what he got in the end was... something very strange.
So strange, in fact, that even the diary gave only a single explanation:
August 11, Year 316 of the Lunar Calendar, Clear skies
This is a seam.
You may hide inside it and secretly observe the outside;
Or crouch outside it and secretly observe within.
In truth, the diary didn’t even need to explain it. When Saul marked the Curse with his mental imprint, it transmitted some vague information to him the moment it was born.
Curses were different from magic—they were a more dangerous form of energy manipulation.
Although Curses cultivated through Seed of Malices were much safer...
If their master behaved in extreme ways or violated the Curse's principles, there was still a risk of backlash.
The information conveyed by this Curse was: Seam — a defensive Curse, good for hiding and spying.
Saul looked down at the two thin pieces stuck together in his hand, no more than ten centimeters long, and fell into thought.
They looked like tightly pressed lips. Front and back, they looked exactly the same.
Nothing like the bloody or terrifying Curses Saul had imagined.
He played with the seam in his hand for a moment, then suddenly pressed it onto the wall of the storeroom.
The “seam” stuck immediately and didn’t fall off.
Its appearance changed, too—what had looked like lips now resembled an ordinary crack in the wall.
“So well hidden! Like this, no one would notice anything unless they were specifically investigating.”
Saul reached out and tried to pry the crack open.
As he applied force, the seam parted slightly, revealing a darkness within.
He leaned closer, but couldn’t see anything through the gap.
“Does it need a special activation? Or...” Saul thought for a moment, then imitated a peeking posture—he placed both hands on either side of the seam and slowly brought his head close, pressing his right eye to it.
“This is what you call peeking, right?”
Sure enough, as Saul’s eye met the seam, the dark screen inside lit up suddenly like the opening of a film.
Saul had thought that through the seam, he might see Senior Heywood in the next room, or maybe the eyes lurking in the interlayer of the Wizard Tower.
But to his surprise, what he saw was a lush green meadow.
Saul froze for a moment and pulled back slightly. The seam immediately returned to a black screen.
He quickly pressed his eye to it again, and once more saw the grassy field.
Dewdrops sparkled on the grass, reflecting the sunlight—it was a peaceful, sunlit world.
“So this spying view isn’t the room next door, but rather some unfamiliar, unknown place.”
Saul kept watch for an hour, and then checked for a few minutes every hour.
Later, he settled into a routine—observing for a few minutes at the same time each day.
But after several days, the scene remained unchanged. It was always that same field, and that world was always basked in sunlight.
It wasn’t a frozen scene—Saul saw dew dripping and blades of grass bending in the wind.
After several days with no new discoveries—
Saul paused his investigation into the spying function and decided to test the hiding feature.
“This seam is so small. Spying, I get—but hiding? How can I possibly fit in there?”
He pried the seam open again and tried to put in something small he was holding.
But his feather quill was stopped by the black screen—no matter how hard he pushed, it wouldn’t go through.
“So objects can’t be hidden inside? That rules out using it as a storage pouch.” Saul clicked his tongue, then summoned Little Algae to see if its tendrils could get in.
But Little Algae got shut out too.
Not knowing what Saul wanted, it rammed its head into the seam and ended up with a big bump.
It was like crashing into a real wall.
It pulled back and looked up at Saul. Even without eyes, its drooping mouth conveyed its grievance loud and clear.
Saul patted the sore spot, “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t explain properly. You just need to slide in, not charge at it so hard.”
Still, he didn’t ask Little Algae to try again and instead had it return.
Whether you rammed or slid, the seam didn’t open. No point trying again.
“After being marked by my mental imprint, is it that only I can use it?”
But the seam was so small—even his head wouldn’t fit. How was he supposed to hide?
He glanced at the diary, but it gave no reaction.
Saul took a deep breath and tried sliding his right hand inside.
His fingertip met the black screen—and encountered no resistance. It was like slipping into butter—smooth and effortless.
“I can go in, just as I thought—ah!”
No sooner had the thought formed than a tremendous pulling force gripped him.
Next came a wave of dizziness—like that night he’d been sucked into a long tunnel by melting wax.
“Back then I was in soul form. But now I’m flesh and blood.”
The vertigo passed as quickly as it came.
Saul didn’t lose consciousness, nor did he go mad. He moved slightly and found himself inside a giant box.
It was extremely narrow on all sides—he could only curl up and hug his knees inside it.
“I thought I’d be pulled into the world I was spying on. Looks like that’s not the case. The two functions are completely separate—spying is spying, hiding is hiding.”
Saul reached out and touched the walls of the box. From the texture, it seemed to be made of stone.
Running his fingers along the surface, he felt some kind of pattern carved between the stones.
“Runes? Or a magic formation?” Saul tried casting a spell to create a tiny flame, but found that magic was frozen here.
Magic in this space felt like water turned to ice—completely immobile.
“But if I can’t use magic here, what force pulled me into this place?” He shook his head with difficulty. “Let’s see what it looks like spying out from hiding.”
The only light came from the seam, filtering weakly into the box.
It was barely enough to illuminate anything.
Saul leaned forward and, mimicking a spying posture, pressed his right eye to the seam again.
As expected, he saw his Second Storeroom—his workplace.
And in it... the ghostly figures made of mist, scattered across every corner of the room...
(End of Chapter)
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