Chapter 332: Useless? |
Saul spent the entire night asking the Nightmare Butterfly questions and intermittently reading the notes, finally gaining a rough understanding of her current condition.
According to Haywood's notes, the eggs laid by Nightmare Butterflies were not their offspring—but rather, new bodies for themselves. Unless something went wrong, a Nightmare Butterfly could achieve rebirth by transferring her consciousness into one of her eggs.
In doing so, she would inherit her previous memories—what they referred to as their “history.”
However, this process could go awry.
Haywood had heard from the Tower Master that the moment of consciousness transfer was also the Nightmare Butterflies’ most vulnerable time.
Some true wizards—Haywood noted “at least Second Rank”—were known to target this exact moment to capture Nightmare Butterflies.
Of course, the butterflies' death throes were also terrifying. There had been higher-ranked wizards who died attempting such captures.
Also, the notes recorded that the transfer process often required the use of dreams—the more powerful the target’s mental presence, the better the dream.
This could greatly shorten the butterflies’ period of weakness.
“Yes, and to draw power from your history, she observed you.”
Saul: “…No wonder she mistook me for someone else back then.”
His history involved crossing between worlds and not just from a big world to a small one, either. These were worlds with fundamentally different underlying rules.
Even he had nearly gotten lost when trying to observe his own past—there was no way he could’ve helped someone else.
“Do you remember what you saw during the observation?”
The little butterfly flapped her wings. “If I remembered, then I wouldn’t be me anymore.”
“Fair enough.”
Saul felt a bit disappointed. If he could use this opportunity to learn what had happened during his crossing, perhaps he could finally understand whether something had changed in his soul.
But even after going through that vague and inexplicable crisis, Saul still hadn’t figured out whether anything special had happened to him during the crossing.
As for the observer, Penny—she had merely peeked at a fragment of his history, and that alone had cost her part of her own. She’d become a haughty little butterfly.
“Why do I feel like I’m a bomb?” Saul shook his head. Exploring the secrets of world-crossing was even more dangerous than he’d imagined.
“So I should still focus my resurrection research on removing the soul’s rejection of its vessel. Studying the peculiarities of my own soul might not yield any results. And if I end up getting Master Gorsa involved…”
Saul knew too well what becoming someone else’s research subject could lead to. Hayden and Herman were living examples.
Your life wouldn’t be your own. Neither would your gender.
Thinking of that, Saul looked at the Nightmare Butterfly again.
“Do you still have the ability to observe history?”
“Nope!” The butterfly answered cheerfully.
“What about altering other people’s memories?”
“Nope!”
Saul crossed his arms. Back in the day, he naturally wouldn’t want the Nightmare Butterfly to have such mind-warping powers.
But now that she’d become his bookmark, he naturally hoped his pet would be a little stronger.
Then again, if she still had her former powers, he probably wouldn’t have been able to subdue her at all.
He simply asked, “So what powers do you still have?”
“I dunno!”
Saul sighed and was just about to put the Nightmare Butterfly away, when she suddenly sensed his intention and fluttered up pitifully.
“Brother Saul, can I not go back to that dark and scary place?”
“You don’t want to go back? Can you really stay outside for long periods?”
“Why not? I was always outside before.”
Saul thought for a moment. The Nightmare Butterfly was, after all, a lifeform that existed between a wizard’s body and her consciousness.
Maybe she was different from a wizard apprentice’s soul in his book and could indeed act independently.
Thinking of this, Saul agreed to her request. “Alright, you can stay out for now. If anything feels off or you want to go back, just call me.”
“Thank you, Brother Saul, you’re the best!”
The Nightmare Butterfly spun in the air, then landed on Saul’s cheek, brushing him gently with her antennae.
Saul only felt a faint chill.
“Nightmare Butterfly… forget it, I’ll just call you Penny from now on. Even if you’ve lost your past, you’re probably still her.”
“Okay! I like the name Penny!” The butterfly had no resistance to the name, accepting it gladly.
“Penny, why can your consciousness exist independently from your body? A soul without a vessel should be fragile—easily corrupted or mutated.”
“Because I have history! Knowing history lets me affirm my existence, and the more history I know, the more stable my power becomes. Even if I get hurt, I can recover by revisiting my history.”
“But now you’ve lost most of your memory. Doesn’t that make you vulnerable?”
“Normally, yes. But my situation is special now.”
“You mean your connection to the diary protects you?”
“So that dark place is called a diary? Weird name.”
Saul didn’t bother explaining, and Penny didn’t need to understand it.
In any case, the Nightmare Butterfly’s method of survival as a separate consciousness wasn’t something a wizard could copy.
Saul paused his study of Penny, returned the notes to the sealed lead box, and went back to the lab to clean up the mess.
He still hadn’t figured out what had caused Herman’s sudden change when entering the female corpse.
That afternoon, when Hayden came by as usual, he noticed that the tall man who always followed Saul around was nowhere to be seen.
Before he could ask, he spotted Herman standing in the outer section of the second storeroom, eyes closed, amidst a cluster of corpses.
He immediately tensed. “Lord Saul, she…”
Saul followed Hayden’s gaze and understood at once, but only replied mildly, “There was a little mishap with the experiment.”
Hayden’s heart lurched. He followed Saul nervously.
Herman’s “death” had him on edge. He hadn’t expected Saul to burn through a test subject so quickly.
Though he’d mentally prepared himself to be used in various experiments when he joined the spirit infusion trials—after all, even ordinary apprentices were often voluntold into such roles—seeing a test subject consumed in front of him still filled him with fear.
As Hayden walked much more slowly than usual into the lab, he was stunned by the device before him.
“An electro-sense chair?”
In an instant, memories of his recent time as an experimental subject flooded back—his new body’s dull sensory feedback, the endless painful tests—it all made his heart race.
He froze on the spot, unable to take another step forward.
He imagined electric currents surging through him, goosebumps all over but in reality, only his eyelashes quivered.
Hayden knew he couldn’t disobey Saul’s orders. Even if he were to die the next moment, he would still have to cooperate.
But knowing that didn’t make his body any less frozen.
Saul walked over and powered up the device. Noticing Hayden’s fear, he took the initiative to explain the experiment.
“Today, I’m researching how corpses repel souls. You’ll sit in the chair, try to separate your consciousness from your body, and I’ll record your body’s reactions.”
He adjusted the chair and looked back at Hayden.
See? No electricity.
But Hayden still stood there dumbly, like someone had hit pause.
Saul frowned. “What’s holding you back?”
Hayden’s trembling pupils shifted from the machine to Saul’s face. Her mouth moved, but no words came out.
Just as Saul was about to issue a firm command, Hayden suddenly shuddered.
The aura of fear washed away like a receding tide. When she looked up again, her eyes gleamed with resolve and a trace of madness.
“He’s afraid. I’m not, my lord,” Hayden’s second personality spoke, her face twisting into a rigid smile.
(End of Chapter)
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