Chapter 306: The Manual |
But Saul quickly overturned this line of thought himself.
If Kujin had taken over the second storage room three days after Saul left, then at that time, Saul hadn’t yet been branded with the Soul Devouring Flower.
He hadn’t even arrived in Grind Sail Town yet, so theoretically, the plan to brand him hadn't even started.
Kujin’s appearance should have nothing to do with the mark.
Both Rum and Anze issued tasks within those three days. Could there be some connection between them? Was assigning Kujin to the storage room done with another purpose in mind?
Even though he figured it unlikely that Kujin was the mark’s sustainer, Saul still had the diary release the flattened, weakened mark, just to be sure.
There was no reaction from the mark.
“As expected. The sustainer would need frequent contact with me, and Kujin clearly doesn’t fit that condition.”
Kujin had no idea that at the moment Saul accepted the manual and imprinted his mental power onto it, he had already thought through so many things.
After Kujin left, Saul, out of caution, checked the mark again. Still no change.
He didn’t delay any further and immediately used the communication pen to inform the Tower Master of his return, requesting that he come in person.
“Now it all depends on how the Tower Master decides to deal with this mark.”
Saul finally let out a breath after writing the final word.
The Tower Master would probably arrive quickly upon seeing the message, but it was also possible he was busy and would need to delay.
Still, Saul was confident that this time, Lady Yura wouldn’t be sent in his place again.
While waiting, Saul remained mentally tense. To keep himself occupied, he picked up the manual Kujin had just handed over and began reviewing the storage records during his absence.
As Kujin had said, the first senior who temporarily took over Saul’s duties had been hit with two tasks right after starting.
Saul carefully reviewed the task requirements and found they weren’t for particularly important materials—at the very least, none had official serial numbers.
But the deadlines from the Mentors had all been rather tight, so that senior had likely been running around in a panic for some time.
And with his repeated requests afterward to be transferred, Saul guessed that Mentor Rum or Anze might’ve even scolded him.
“Seen this way, it really does seem like they were intentionally pushing him out.”
Saul flipped to the next page.
Kujin had taken over the storage room. During his time in charge, a few mentors continued submitting tasks.
Overall, it had clearly been busier than when Saul had been there.
Work tended to bully the newcomers—fresh hands always attracted the trickiest problems.
During his half-month at the second storage room, Kujin had received four assignments.
Two from Mentor Anze, one from Mentor Monica, and one from Mentor Kaz.
“Mentor Kaz?” Saul flipped to the next page. “Ah, Kaz’s task was an intake and transfer.”
“The item was… Nick’s corpse…”
A dark light flickered through Saul’s eyes, though his face remained expressionless.
He kept reading.
“The body has just been processed and is currently being stored in a stone coffin… to ‘air out.’”
Saul closed the manual and got up to go inspect the stone coffin.
“Airing out” was, just like Saul’s habit of calling corpses “guests,” a euphemism.
It meant a brief period of isolation and observation, to monitor for any further anomalies.
Since he was now back on duty, Saul naturally had to inspect this dangerous item.
Just as he stood up, a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder.
Saul was about to break free, but then he caught a glimpse, from the corner of his eye, of the pink bandages wrapped around that hand, and instantly stopped his reflexive reaction.
In the next second, darkness fell. Saul passed through a shadowy gap filled with countless eyes and arrived in a strange room in an instant.
It was very dark.
So dark that he thought, for a moment, that the spatial traversal hadn’t yet ended.
There were no ever-present candles like those in the Wizard Tower.
Not a single one.
Saul had to rely on semi-immersive meditation to barely make out his surroundings.
“This is the very top floor of the Wizard Tower,” said Gorsa, letting go of Saul and stepping back two paces.
The room was so narrow that after just those two steps, Gorsa’s back touched the wall.
“Sit wherever you like.”
After taking a good look around, Saul realized how unusually cramped this room really was.
Barely a meter wide, and just over two meters long.
Calling it a “room” was generous—it could barely fit a single bed.
And right now, there was no bed. Not even a chair. Just a soft carpet spread across the floor.
It looked more like a coffin.
If Saul really took Gorsa’s suggestion to “sit wherever,” he’d have no choice but to sit on the floor.
So he chose to remain standing.
Gorsa seemed to have only been polite. Since Saul didn’t sit, he didn’t comment further.
“I can tell your soul body is remarkably stable. You’ve already fused with the locator, haven’t you?”
Saul was surprised, but kept his face earnest as he nodded. “Yes, Tower Master. You could tell?”
Gorsa didn’t explain how he’d noticed. He simply stared at Saul for a while, then said with a hint of admiration, “You’ve just entered Third Rank, yet you’ve already fused the locator into your soul body… You’ve overcome the hardest step in advancing from apprentice to True Wizard.”
“So it was like that!” Saul thought. “The hardest step in my apprentice phase was turning the diary into my locator, but once I did, I reached a level in this regard close to that of a True Wizard!”
“You came to me right after reaching Third Rank—looks like the enemy you encountered this time was troublesome. Tell me. What happened in Grind Sail Town and the Black Castle?”
Saul licked his dry lips and began slowly recounting everything he had experienced over the past month.
He had already considered along the way what to say and what to omit, so his storytelling now came smoothly.
Gorsa merely listened quietly. In the darkness, it was impossible to gauge his emotions.
But Saul instinctively felt that he was calm throughout. As if Nightmare Butterfly being killed by Kismet, Saul being ambushed at the Black Castle, or the suspicion toward Kema Duchy were all trivial matters.
Gorsa only moved his neck slightly when Saul mentioned the strange fluctuation in his soul body during the fight with Cadis.
When Saul finished, the room once again fell into silence. The Tower Master across from him remained still, as if turned to stone.
Then Saul heard a shuffling sound. Squinting hard into the dark, he saw Gorsa slide down against the wall and sit on the floor—
A live demonstration of what “sit wherever you like” meant.
In the darkness, Gorsa seemed utterly at ease, but Saul sensed something a little off about him.
“Tower Master… are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Just thinking about what you’ve been through. Trouble and accidents really seem to follow you closely.”
A soft chuckle drifted from the other side. In this darkness, Saul couldn’t make out his expression at all.
“Did he bring me here just so I wouldn’t be able to observe his state?” Saul lowered his gaze.
Gorsa continued, “Kismet will soon be forced to leave the Western Continent—you don’t need to worry about that. As for the one who ambushed you outside the Black Castle, it’s almost certainly a Land Drifter. They wouldn’t have attacked you without a reason. It’s not worth the cost.”
He asked Saul about the disturbance he’d sensed within his soul body.
“Do you still feel anything wrong?”
Saul paid attention to the faintly flickering, near-death mark inside him, while furrowing his brow and recalling carefully. “I don’t feel anything wrong now. Maybe it was just my imagination.”
“Then let me take a look.” Gorsa said it casually, yet made no move to get up.
Saul was still puzzled when he suddenly saw something lunge at him from the darkness ahead.
But Gorsa still sat where he was.
(End of Chapter)
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