Saul and Penny simultaneously looked at the ribbonfish, both feeling a surge of identical shock.
He understood what Penny ant—it wasn't that the ribbonfish had suddenly beco food. It was that the ribbonfish, which had clearly exhausted its energy inside the interlayer, was now moving again.
Although the ribbonfish had previously recomnded itself to Saul as a delicious al, its mind had obviously been muddled and it didn’t possess true intelligence.
But now things were different. The fact that it responded the mont he uttered the words "Wizard Tower" proved that there was now a real, independent consciousness inside the ribbonfish.
"Little Algae, bring the fish over," Saul said after a brief pause, adding, "And don't eat it."
Little Algae quickly stretched out from Saul's nape, flying above the ribbonfish, and drooled clear saliva.
It wasn’t drooling over the fish at—it was salivating over the unknown consciousness hidden within the big fish.
Little Algae carefully tucked away its sharp teeth, bit the ribbonfish by the tail, and dragged it back to Saul’s workbench.
The fish, dangling by the tail, began to shiver violently during the move, golden scales falling all over the ground.
Saul kept working with his hands while asking, "Who are you? What's your background? How did you get into the ribbonfish’s body?"
He suspected he might have brought back yet another fragnt of a soul from the interlayer, and he was even hoping it might be sothing special like An.
"I..." The ribbonfish thought for a mont, then answered sowhat stiffly, "Wizard Lord, my na is Haywood. I was a Third Rank apprentice at the Wizard Tower."
Saul’s hands froze mid-action. He looked up in shock, "You're Haywood?"
"Yes, ntor Lord."
The question Saul had been about to ask got stuck in his throat.
"What did you call ?"
The ribbonfish trembled again, "M-ntor Lord… Aren’t you a ntor of the Wizard Tower?"
Saul sprang to his feet, lowering his head to look at his own hands. His ntal body was starting to tremble, and magic power was flowing through him more smoothly than ever.
He could feel it—his usually disjointed magic power and ntal force were now harmonizing, complenting each other.
Saul mind moved, and instantly cast a Soul Armor spell.
Feeling the energy on the armor—it was balanced and stable. Magic power and ntal force working together with unprecedented synergy. As a result, the spellcasting strength was five or six tis greater than before!
And this wasn't even him going all out!
Next, a black tentacle extended from the palm of his hand.
The usually magic-intensive spell, Touch of Tornt, had beco more condensed, while the magic power and ntal force required had decreased a little.
Lower consumption, stronger spells.
It was as if he had mastered the knack of learning—half the effort, twice the results.
Saul flicked his thoughts, and the black tentacle retracted instantly—magic controlled freely.
Then his whole body rapidly turned transparent. His arms softened and wriggled, instantly transforming into two octopus-like tentacles, then imdiately reverting.
"Even my control over Soul Resin has beco much more intuitive."
After a few more quick experints, Saul shook his head and let out a helpless, wry laugh.
"Without even realizing it, I’ve already beco a True Wizard? I didn’t even notice?"
“Brother Saul, you didn't notice?" Penny muttered in a small voice beside him, "I thought you knew all along, and just didn’t make a big deal out of it, that's why you were so calm."
In Penny’s view, with Saul’s strong ntal force and abundant pure magic, as long as he completely absorbed the magic gift from the Half-Elf and thoroughly integrated it, he could advance to True Wizard.
The whole process wouldn’t even take three months.
So when Penny noticed Saul’s advancent, it was only slightly surprised at how fast he had grasped it.
Seeing that Saul didn’t show any joy at all, Penny had assud he was simply incredibly composed, and as the cleverest servant by his side, Penny also had to maintain composure and grace.
Who would have thought Saul truly hadn't realized it?
"To think I advanced without even noticing." After confirming, Saul sat down again. "I thought sothing grand and dramatic would happen."
"But thinking about it... My locator has already fused into my soul body long ago. I’m already familiar with the process. I only needed to wait for my ntal force and magic power to grow to the right point to advance."
"Normally, to beco a True Wizard, you have to master at least one Third Rank spell, allowing your ntal force and magic power to interact and resonate properly. But this ti, after absorbing the power from those eyes and mastering the visual rune, it seems to have substituted the need for a Third Rank spell, which is why I advanced without realizing."
"Well, it’s not a big deal. My ntal force grew a little, magic power didn’t change, just my energy utilization beca several tis more efficient… Heh heh, all within expectations, heh heh." Though he thought so in his heart, Saul’s face blood into a wide smile.
Thinking of the ribbonfish claiming to be Haywood, whose origins were still unclear, Saul quickly curbed his excitent and returned to a calm deanor.
He picked up the experint tools from the table and continued working on Senior Byron’s new skin.
Right now, Senior Byron was in a state of sealed consciousness—he would only regain external perception once the new skin had initially fused. Then Saul could tell him the good news.
Without stopping his work, Saul spoke to the utterly stunned ribbonfish, "Are you the Haywood from a hundred years in the future?"
After the rush of excitent, his mind had cleared a lot. Saul rembered that during the construction of his ntal realm, he had included the old Haywood within his ritual circle.
Maybe that was why he had brought Haywood out of the interlayer.
"Haywood from a hundred years in the future?" The crispy ribbonfish tilted its head, recalling carefully. A piece of fish gill cracked off with a snap. "I don't really rember clearly. It feels like a lot of mories rushed into my head but then quickly faded away. I only know that my na is Haywood, and I was a Third Rank apprentice at the Wizard Tower."
Saul placed the treated elf king’s head onto the rack behind him, did a bit of camouflage, and then returned to continue questioning the ribbonfish.
"So, you don’t recognize now?"
This ti the ribbonfish was silent for a mont before saying, "Should I recognize you?"
Saul thought for a mont. Could it be that the Haywood he brought out wasn’t the one from the illusion?
"Then how much mory can you confirm you have? Or in your mory, what year is it now?"
"I rember it should be the year 304 of the New Lunar Calendar. Oh, and tomorrow, I’m supposed to undergo body modification together with Kongsha and Ivan!"
"Modification? Tomorrow?" Saul’s curiosity was instantly piqued.
According to the ribbonfish, year 304 was already thirteen years ago. At that ti, Kongsha would have been just a teenager, probably just reaching Second Rank apprentice.
As for Ivan, Saul wasn’t very familiar with him. But it was surprising to know that over a decade ago, Haywood had already been a Third Rank apprentice.
In all these years, with his talent, he hadn’t advanced to True Wizard?
Saul suddenly noticed sothing odd.
After ntor Monica, he hadn’t heard of any apprentice successfully advancing to True Wizard.
While it was true that the chances were extrely low, wasn’t it a little too strange that no one had succeeded for so many years?
Apprentices like Billy and Jero, who were about to advance, had lingered at the Third Rank for how many years?
Could the fact that no one had advanced for so long an that his own unexpected advancent would cause so unintended consequences?
Saul solemnly placed the ribbonfish in front of him.
"At that ti, were you about to advance to True Wizard?"
The ribbonfish seed to recall sothing painful. Its body twisted and creaked, golden scales littering the table.
"Yes, yes! I had already seen hope for advancent! If I could successfully complete the body modification tomorrow, I would have had a great chance to beco a True Wizard!"
(End of Chapter)
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