No matter how much Saul was complaining inwardly, Gorsa always did things his own way.
At this mont, he was intently focused on the stone coffin beside him, not at all concerned with how Saul had dealt with the notebook that had fallen to the ground.
It wasn't until Saul walked back over that Gorsa half-lifted his eyes. "You look quite spirited today. Seems like your experint has made good progress."
Saul directly dragged Bill over behind him—although Bill was only a Second Rank apprentice, he was fairly well-known within the Wizard Tower thanks to his Third Rank top-tier brother, Billy.
"I'll just demonstrate it for you," Saul said straightforwardly, without wasting words. He used Bill's corpse to give Gorsa a live demonstration.
Saul’s experint was aid at the special repulsion effect between vessels and soul bodies. Although he hadn't yet figured out the source of this repulsion, it didn't stop him from using his own experience and the reactions of the four souls recorded in the diary to delay the onset of the repulsion effect.
However, Saul couldn’t allow his soul body to directly enter the vessel in front of Gorsa—not yet. After all, extracting his soul body still required entering the ntal realm.
That was Saul’s trump card. It couldn't be exposed so easily.
Even without a soul body entering the vessel to provide direct feedback, as soone who had been conducting resurrection experints for decades and had studied countless soul bodies and vessels, Gorsa could understand the gist just by observing Saul's process.
Naturally, Saul didn’t make Gorsa guess blindly—he respectfully presented his research notes.
Gorsa read through Saul's latest notebook and used his special thods to inspect Bill's corpse, then fell into a long silence.
After quite so ti, Saul himself started zoning out, already pondering whether he should change locations for his dream excursions tonight, when Gorsa finally spoke.
"I thought you would start from the soul body."
His voice was sowhat conflicted. It was clear he saw the feasibility of Saul's thod but was also quite covetous of Saul’s unique soul body properties.
Saul, of course, understood—back then, the reason Gorsa had taken a liking to him was precisely because Saul could completely rge into others’ bodies without being repelled or polluted.
That was a trait countless wraiths and vengeful spirits would kill for.
At this point, Saul spoke candidly: "I did try to understand my own peculiarity. But you likely know too Master. Understanding oneself is often the hardest thing of all."
Gorsa nodded. "Self-awareness is as complex and indistinct as exploring the void."
Saul continued, "I also tried to study the origin of my peculiarity, but unfortunately, I truly don’t know. In fact, I don’t even rember how I entered this body. And before I ca here, I wasn’t a wizard at all."
Gorsa nodded again. "The last part, I believe. Ignorance like yours can’t be faked."
Saul: "..."
So basically, Gorsa still held so doubts about everything else he said. But he wasn’t digging deeper, probably because he didn't want to recklessly ruin such a rare and valuable specin.
Precisely because of that, Saul had to further emphasize his uniqueness. Before he had the strength to protect himself in front of Gorsa, he needed to make sure Gorsa couldn't bear to destroy him.
"I’ve tried many thods to trace my own history," Saul added, "but they all ended in failure. I think... maybe my level of knowledge simply isn't high enough yet."
At that mont, Gorsa suddenly spoke up: "Or... I could take a look myself?"
Saul froze.
In that instant, countless thoughts raced through his mind.
One ending where Gorsa peered into his mind and uncovered all his secrets.
Another where Gorsa’s invasive probing turned him into a vegetable.
But what stirred Saul’s heart the most was the possibility—what if, when Gorsa tried to explore his history, he encountered the sa nightmare butterfly danger Saul once did... and then... and then got captured by the diary, becoming Saul’s servant!
The very thought was thrilling!
Saul spread his hands wide, his entire body trembling slightly, "If you wish... just be careful. There may be unknown backlash."
Who would have thought—Gorsa imdiately curved his eyes into a smile. "Then forget it."
And with that, he simply lowered his head again and resud examining Saul's notes.
Saul was left standing there, completely abandoned.
His whole body felt drained. He didn't even know whether he should feel relieved or disappointed.
But Gorsa had already shifted the conversation.
"I can tell your experint is quite mature," Gorsa said. "This doesn’t look like sothing you just ca up with recently. You didn't co here so cheerfully just to show off your results, did you?"
Back to business. Saul stopped daydreaming and answered frankly, "Yes, Master. I want to hear about the new resurrection experint plan you ntioned. If you find it suitable, I’d like to participate."
As he spoke, Saul patted Bill beside him. "Moreover, I believe my thod is no worse than the Blue Water Soul. In fact, it has one distinct advantage."
"Oh? What is it?"
"The materials for my thod are all docunted by the Wizard Tower. There are no unknown elents like the Blue Water Soul, which ca from elsewhere and hasn’t been fully analyzed. Such exotic materials, though intriguing, could easily cause unforeseen accidents during the final experint."
Gorsa fell silent again.
His silver eyes shifted from Saul's face to the notes in his hands, then to the stone coffin before him.
Finally, his gaze returned to Saul.
"How did you know I was about to start the final experint?"
"I guessed," Saul said, "but mainly because you suddenly purged the Land Drifters. That captain, Wilder, wasn’t he the leader of the Land Drifters?"
"You figured it out back then?"
"At the ti, I just thought Master might be planning sothing major."
Gorsa raised a hand and pressed it to his chest. "Things have progressed faster than I anticipated."
He seed unwilling to elaborate, and waved it away. "If you want to join, then join. Besides the Blue Water Soul, I've tried plenty of dangerous things. If your thod proves better, we can use yours—or run both in parallel."
Mission accomplished. Saul smiled all the more obediently. "Thank you, Master. May I also take the notes on the Blue Water Soul experint back with to study?"
Gorsa waved his hand indifferently, and a stack of books half as tall as a person appeared by Saul’s feet.
Saul quickly stored them in his compression bag.
"From Bayton Academy?" Gorsa asked, glancing at the bag hanging from Saul's waist.
"Yes, I bought it on an airship. But it’s probably not as convenient as your storage thods, Master."
"They’ve been focusing on these little gadgets in recent years," Gorsa said, "but sadly, not delving much into the higher realms of knowledge. Heh, wizardry isn’t ant for mass adoption. It could even bring disaster."
Was Master Gorsa implying sothing deeper?
Saul made a ntal note of that.
He too had once imagined that soday a powerful wizard might create a magical, modernized world.
But from the sound of it, things weren’t so simple.
Wizardry, after all, was far less reasonable than science.
(End of Chapter)
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