Diary of a Dead Wizard-Chapter 387: A New Plan

"Wuuu... wuuu..."

The sound of crying echoed in Saul's mind.

As he was walking out of the forest, Saul said helplessly, "Penny, why are you crying again?"

"Wuuu... I almost got Master into trouble..."

Saul tried comforting her for a few sentences, but it was useless, so he simply changed the subject.

"Didn't you say you were searching for the meaning of your existence? So, did you find it?"

Unexpectedly, Penny cried even louder. "I thought I found it... but it turns out my perception was tampered with... wuuu... wuuu... waaah!"

Saul was covered in black lines. Although Penny always had a little girl’s voice, she had never been this emotional before.

It was probably a side effect of her tampered perception. Maybe only time could heal her.

"But why are you searching for the meaning of your existence anyway? Are you... confused about something?" Saul asked curiously, partly to pull himself out of his earlier gloom.

"Wuuu... Brother Saul, did you know? Nightmare Butterflies are not natural creatures. We were actually created by a wizard."

"What?" Saul was startled. "Nightmare Butterflies, who can observe history, are creations of a wizard?"

Thankfully, he'd absorbed a lot of knowledge recently and quickly calmed down.

"What about the wizard who created you?"

"He went insane."

"…Uh, okay then."

"Was he very powerful?"

"I only know that before I left him, he had been a Fourth Rank Wizard for quite a while."

"A Fourth Rank Wizard could create creatures that exist between consciousness and reality, able to observe history and enter dreams?"

"Brother Saul, there’s a big difference between wizards and wizard apprentices. The power gap between each wizard rank is huge."

Penny then explained what she knew about the differences between the ranks of wizards.

Apprentices could only attack point-to-point, but true wizards could launch area attacks.

This was because they could already influence the flow of magic in a certain area.

Moreover, their spell attacks could carry certain attributes from their locator devices.

In other words, locator devices were no longer purely defensive but they could now play a role in offense.

By the Second Rank, wizards could compress their own magic and mental power, allowing them to store much greater amounts of energy.

They also gained greater resilience, which helped them resist corruption and endure the strain caused by unleashing power.

Third Rank Wizards were even scarier. They could turn their locator devices into converters, capable of harnessing external power. Thus, a single strike from a Third Rank Wizard could destroy an entire city.

As for the Fourth Rank, Penny didn't explain. She said her understanding might be wrong, and if she said something inaccurate, it could corrupt Saul's mind.

It seemed she felt guilty about today's mistakes, otherwise, she wouldn't be so proactive in teaching Saul knowledge.

"And what about you, Penny? What was your peak strength?"

"A-around Second Rank, I guess... but there were some Third Rank Nightmare Butterflies too. Just not in the Western Continent."

Not even fully Second Rank? No wonder she got chased around by Kismet like a rat.

As they talked, they had already exited the forest.

Their carriage still stood quietly outside, the horses even nibbling at a fresh pile of grass nearby.

When Saul approached the carriage, several black tendrils suddenly burst out from the ground, bouncing toward him.

But when they tried to merge into the back of his neck, they were blocked as if hitting a pane of glass.

The tendrils wobbled on the ground pitifully, so Saul had no choice but to scoop them all up.

"Little Algae hasn't woken up yet, so you guys will have to wait outside for now."

As Saul got closer to the carriage, one of the tendrils suddenly opened a mouth and bit at the hem of his robe.

Saul paused, a thoughtful look flashing through his eyes. After adjusting his emotions, he stepped forward and opened the carriage door.

Inside the carriage, Gorsa, wrapped in a reddish-brown cloak and covered entirely in pink bandages, raised a hand also wrapped in bandages and greeted Saul.

"You're back?"

Saul immediately bowed his head in greeting. "Master—"

His words cut off because he spotted something next to Gorsa's hand.

A severed head.

Mark’s head.

Mark’s eyes were bulging wide, his mouth slightly open, completely unprepared for death.

Saul's heart thudded violently twice. He suppressed his breathing and slowly looked up at Gorsa.

Gorsa's eyes were still curved in that smiling expression. "He impersonated you and tried to use the half-elf to escape. That might have cut off your future path. So I killed him to vent your anger."

Saul's mouth opened wide, screaming internally: Whose anger exactly?!

Seeing Saul believe it, Gorsa's smile deepened.

"Just kidding."

He lightly patted Mark's bloodless head. "This guy consumed too much Veiled Crystal Essence and began to mutate. If we let him live, he would’ve kept breeding more Veiled Crystal Essence users. That would be bad for the Wizard Tower’s development."

Gorsa’s silver eyes swept over Saul, a hint of interest flashing in them. "How many did you eat?"

Saul quickly shook his head. "None."

"Good child." Gorsa's eyes curved into an even bigger smile. "I figured you wouldn’t need it anyway. Come on, get in. I'll take you back and tell you about the new developments in Kaz and Rum’s resurrection experiments. It's quite delightful news."

Saul didn’t dare delay and hurriedly climbed into the carriage.

He was about to ask about driving the carriage when Gorsa casually tossed a magic scroll outside.

The scroll transformed into a faceless humanoid figure. After bowing politely to Gorsa and Saul, it climbed into the driver's seat, flicked the reins, and the carriage started moving.

Saul closed the carriage door, and the sounds outside immediately grew faint.

He glanced at the severed head being used as Gorsa’s armrest, then quickly shifted his gaze elsewhere.

After a moment of silence, Gorsa finally spoke.

"Kaz and Rum discovered a new dark-attribute material. They named it Blue Water Soul."

"Blue Water Soul?" Saul asked in surprise. "Was it found in Bluewater Bay?"

Gorsa smiled. "So you've been there too. It's quite a rare material... though sadly, it’s piled up from human deaths."

The soul tides at Bluewater Bay were indeed dangerous for ordinary people, and the soul fragments inside were very unusual. Saul and Byron had studied them before but couldn’t find their origin.

Gorsa reached into his cloak and pulled out a transparent orb from between the bandages. Inside the orb, a misty, cloudlike substance floated gently.

"This is a semi-finished product. Rum found a material that can reduce the toxicity of Blue Water Soul, which in turn enhances soul strength. Meanwhile, Gudo has developed a toxin that can paralyze both body and soul, creating an adhesive effect between them..."

"In short, if this experiment succeeds, we can create a vessel for Yura that will last ten years without triggering mutation. Following this line of research, it’s estimated we can eventually extend it to fifty years."

Saul listened intently. This approach was somewhat similar to his own thinking, though the focus was different.

Both aimed to extend the time a soul could stay in a vessel to reduce the frequency of body switches and minimize soul-body pollution.

As Saul was still pondering the new plan, Gorsa looked over at him. His silver eyes were particularly striking in the dim carriage.

"That's good too. This way, I won't have to risk activating the backup plan. After all, the backup plan has only been in research for a few years — it's still quite unstable."

Saul suddenly felt a chill sweep down his spine, as if something icy had brushed along his back.

(End of Chapter)