Senior Byron… has grown stronger again!
The mont Saul saw that the eavesdropper was Byron, the wariness and anger in his heart dissipated more than halfway.
At the sa ti, he couldn't help but marvel at how Byron was getting closer and closer to becoming a True Wizard.
Keli had just walked past him monts ago and hadn’t sensed anything at all.
And judging from the fact that Byron could now speak freely, it seed he was on the verge of solving the problem of ntalizing the locator.
He no longer needed the pressure from wraiths to push himself forward.
Maybe in another two months, the Wizard Tower would gain a new True Wizard.
Saul was genuinely happy for Byron.
“Do people in your hotown celebrate birthdays and give gifts?”
Sohow, Senior Byron managed to make the act of receiving gifts sound like a forced obligation.
“It’s just a childhood habit. Keli and I only give each other gifts for fun, to make a little fuss over it.”
“Mm.” Byron nodded, then pulled a thread-bound notebook from his cloak and held it out to Saul. “A birthday gift for you.”
Saul froze for a mont. Before he could ask anything, Byron lowered his head.
“…Fine, not a birthday gift. It’s actually my research notes on the grey matter. Consider it repaynt for the study credits I owed you. I value this notebook at three hundred credits, so now you owe seventeen.”
Byron paused, then added, “Let’s just call those seventeen credits your birthday gift.”
Saul shook his head and sighed. “A senior will always be a senior.”
He didn’t stand on ceremony with Byron. Taking the notebook—clearly organized with great care—he flipped through it casually.
Grey matter—that was the mysterious substance he and Byron had discovered on the seafloor of Bluewater Bay. It emitted a strange magical wave.
At the ti, Byron had suspected that the stone’s energy was what had caused changes in the soul fragnts, drawing them together to form the soul tide.
After that, the two of them each collected a portion to bring back for research. But because Saul had been focusing on absorbing soul fragnts and was already burdened with research and study tasks, he had shelved the grey matter—just like he had done with the nightmare butterflies.
He hadn’t expected that half a year later, Byron would hand over his findings directly.
“Senior… is your current progress thanks to the grey matter?”
If it were sothing ordinary, Byron wouldn’t have valued it at three hundred study credits or gone out of his way to deliver it.
“Mm.”
Saul hadn’t expected that the unexpected find would turn out to be the key to Byron’s advancent.
He quickly found the key section of the notes: the grey matter could simultaneously increase both the soul body’s and the physical body’s capacity for dark-elent particles, while also shielding the user from intrusive thoughts to so extent.
Byron had refined the grey matter into a potion.
At the end of the notes, Byron had written: This potion can moderately enhance the drinker’s ntal power, which may aid in becoming a True Wizard.
Seeing Saul flip to the last page so quickly, Byron added an explanation: “My ntal strength has already reached the standard for a True Wizard. My Magic has long surpassed the threshold. Only the ntalization of the locator is missing the final step. Probably in another six months to a year…”
Byron didn’t finish his sentence.
He had never been one to boast before doing sothing, so even though he was already confident he could beco a True Wizard, he swallowed the rest of his words.
But Saul understood perfectly, and once again felt genuinely happy for Senior Byron.
“Take your ti reading it. If you have any questions, co find in the dormitory. I won’t be going out again before my advancent.”
“Alright.” Saul nodded with a smile.
After all these years, it was rare to have a Third Rank apprentice so close to becoming a True Wizard. No doubt the Tower Master and ntor Kaz would begin to pay closer attention to Senior Byron as well.
With business concluded, Byron left.
Saul was in high spirits, still flipping through the notebook as he walked back to the second storage room.
“I always suspected the grey matter wasn’t ordinary, just didn’t have the ti to research it. I can’t believe Senior Byron discovered so much.”
If Saul wanted to make use of the grey matter, he could actually rely on the diary’s preemptive warning trait to recreate the potion without knowing its composition or chanism, much like Byron had.
But ever since becoming a Third Rank apprentice, Saul had warned himself again and again—unless absolutely necessary, he must never again rely on the diary to make potions or construct formations.
Otherwise, with his shaky fundantals and constant guesswork, he’d be ruined sooner or later.
Still, the notes showed that although Byron had figured out the properties and uses of the grey matter, he hadn’t yet uncovered its origin.
That, of course, was the hardest part.
But Saul speculated it definitely involved a massive amount of death.
What he hadn’t told Byron was that his own ntal strength had long since exceeded the standard for a True Wizard—perhaps even more so. It was just that his Magic still fell a bit short.
And the locator problem that plagued most Third Rank apprentices? He had solved that even before breaking through to Third Rank.
At his current pace, barring any accidents, he too could et the minimum requirent for becoming a True Wizard in another six months or so.
Much of this progress he owed to the waters of Bluewater Bay.
During the snowy winter, he had made two more trips there to collect soul fragnts. Both tis, he had entered that strange state surrounded by chaotic thoughts and glimpsed the fine thread that connected all things.
Unfortunately, the diary had filtered out all the thoughts before he could touch the thread, pulling him back from the brink of ntal contamination.
Still, those two intrusions had further strengthened both his magic and ntal power. They drastically shortened the ti he needed to accumulate progress toward becoming a True Wizard.
The only thing that left Saul puzzled—or perhaps regretful—was that on those two trips, he hadn’t encountered another soul tide.
When he asked around, he learned that Bluewater Bay hadn’t seen a soul tide in over half a year.
Starting from one month before his first visit, the area had returned to a peace it hadn’t known in a century.
But for the locals, that was undoubtedly a blessing.
On his second visit to Bluewater Bay, he once again saw the boy Bambu collecting shells.
It seed Bambu’s life had improved thanks to the soul tide’s disappearance. His clothes and shoes were noticeably cleaner and sturdier than the first ti Saul had seen him.
Saul rely watched the hardworking boy from afar. He didn’t approach to greet him.
After all, they were not people from the sa world.
In the end, Saul silently turned and left.
After that second departure from Bluewater Bay, he never returned.
Most of the glowing soul fragnts had already been absorbed by him.
That place had lost its final appeal.
The recollection ended as Saul, still holding the notebook, arrived at the second storage room.
“Senior Byron refined the grey matter into a potion, which apparently boosted his ntal power quite a bit. In a few days, I’ll be going to the Elven Valley. I could try making this potion myself. If I can raise my ntal power just a little more, all the better.”
Though Saul’s ntal strength already exceeded most True Wizards’, who would complain about getting even stronger?
This birthday had turned out surprisingly joyful.
In this terrifying world of wizards, in the pressure-cooker of a Wizard Tower where lives were gambled daily, he had actually t two pure-hearted people—two sincere friends… it was truly unbelievable.
Saul held the notebook in his left hand, and the Alpha necklace in his right.
He even childishly looped the chain around his finger and spun it.
But after two twirls, he hooked his finger and gripped it tightly again.
“This isn’t an ordinary necklace. The pendant’s glass, and if it breaks, that wouldn’t be good.”
He had no intention of being the one to test Keli’s creation.
But the next mont, Saul suddenly stopped in his tracks.
His right-hand ring finger gently rotated the glass orb in his palm.
“Smash… it?”
His steps slowed as he pushed open the storage room door with his elbow.
As soon as he entered, he saw Nick at the front of the corpse group.
From within Nick’s body, waves of ntal suggestion were still radiating outward.
[Smash it… smash it… smash it…]
(End of Chapter)
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