Saul stroked his chin. “Are you sure the wraith is gone? I was just about to strike it when you suddenly woke up.”
“Uh!” Shaya froze, his face scrunching up. “Don’t tell you were holding back on purpose…”
He instinctively tensed up, ready to defend himself. But midway through his words, sothing seed to occur to him. He shut his mouth and, rather obediently, pulled out the ditation diagram from his pack.
Saul accepted the diagram and stowed it away in his storage device with a flip of his hand.
Truth be told, there were many ways he could’ve taken the diagram from Shaya. Before leaving the Wizard Tower, he had purposely brought along so lightning-elent spell materials.
The materials from the Wizard Tower were all of high value—more than enough to trade for a ditation thod Shaya didn’t use.
But Saul had wanted to see what exactly the wraith lingering on Shaya really was.
“Alright, I’ve given you the thing. Now get lost,” Shaya began ushering him out.
Saul didn’t take offense at this guy’s habit of discarding people the mont he was done with them.
Even if Saul had cured his nightmares, he hadn’t cured his paranoia.
Saul also wanted to return quickly. But just as he turned to leave, he caught sothing in the corner of his eye—Shaya suddenly turned pitch black.
Yet when Saul spun around, fully alert, Shaya had returned to normal.
And judging by the look on his face, Shaya seed unaware anything had just happened.
“What is it? Don’t tell you’re asking for more paynt?” Shaya took a half-step back upon seeing Saul’s serious expression.
Saul narrowed his eyes. Above Shaya’s head, he saw a thin line curling upward.
The end of the line vanished into the air, disappearing without a trace.
Troubled, Saul left.
Shaya was now the third person he’d seen take on a different form in his vision.
A wizard apprentice whose head turned into the shape of a watcher-bird. A regular store clerk who appeared as a scorched corpse. And now, Shaya, who had beco a shadowy figure.
Just what was happening to these people?
Or… was sothing happening to his own eyes?
As he walked, Saul pressed lightly on his eyelid.
At that mont, he saw two Third Rank apprentices walking toward him.
“Wizard Saul, Dean Pond requests your presence at the clock tower.”
Bayton Academy’s clock tower was a tall, slender spire located near the center of the academy grounds.
Unlike the ever-present hourglass lamps inside the Wizard Tower, the academy used more chanical clocks to keep ti. Even Caugust City beyond the walls did the sa.
Saul followed the two apprentices into the clock tower and was surprised to discover it held more than t the eye.
The top floor of the tower concealed an enormous interior space.
He rembered that Bayton Academy sold mobile houses that looked small on the outside but contained vast internal rooms.
It seed this spellwork had also been applied here.
From the outside, the top floor appeared no larger than a few square ters. In reality, it spanned over a hundred.
The space had no partitions or wall decorations. As soon as Saul entered, he saw Dean Pond seated behind a long table. Across from him, a woman sat properly on a sofa.
The woman had shoulder-length black hair and a thin, drawn appearance. Not exactly beautiful, but her eyes were strikingly bright.
As Saul approached, the woman suddenly looked up. Her burning gaze exerted more pressure than even Dean Pond’s presence.
Yet judging by the spiritual energy radiating from her, she was only a First Rank wizard.
Dean Pond smiled and greeted Saul. Seeing that he was staring at the woman, he made the introductions.
“This is Beth. Like you, she’s a First Rank wizard, but she’s close to advancing, so she doesn’t spend much ti at the academy.” Dean Pond’s expression was filled with pride as he looked at her. “Once she completes her promotion, she’ll be taking my place as the next dean.”
Beth rose and gave Saul a slight nod. She seed the silent, reserved type.
The standard black wizard robe hung loosely on her thin fra.
Though it was sumr, her collar was buttoned all the way to the top.
Only her face and her pale, equally thin hands were visible.
Saul also noticed that when introducing Beth, Dean Pond had not ntioned what elent she specialized in.
After introductions, the three of them sat down, and Dean Pond finally brought up the real reason he had summoned Saul.
“The root creature that you and Julie encountered before has appeared again. This ti, the Third Rank apprentice who encountered it didn’t make it back alive.” Dean Pond’s smile vanished.
“When Julie first reported the incident to , I imdiately sent people into the underground waterways to investigate. Aside from discovering that the soil had beco loose, we found nothing else. The root creature was gone.”
“This ti, after the creature reappeared, a true wizard who was present managed to bring back a piece of its root.”
Dean Pond raised his hand, and a transparent, sealed test tube floated above his palm.
Inside was a white root segnt about the length of a finger.
It floated quietly within the tube, rising and falling as if it were nothing more than a normal radish hair, showing no strange traits.
It was indeed the sa root Saul had seen before. At the ti, he had taken great care not to let any part of his body be taken by the creature, so he hadn’t brought back a sample.
“After Beth studied it, she found that the root tends to pursue creatures with magic radiation. However, it also displays a certain reaction toward soul bodies.”
“Still, after just a few experints, its activity level dropped rapidly. Now, it’s essentially inert. Saul, did you bring back any pieces of the root creature when you encountered it last ti?”
Saul shook his head. “When the root network grows, it becos extrely hard to deal with. Julie and I were facing it for the first ti, and for safety’s sake, our first instinct was to withdraw.”
“I see.” Dean Pond’s expression remained unreadable. “In that case, if you encounter it again and are able to bring back a sample, the academy is willing to exchange it for magic crystals or spell materials.”
Saul’s eyes lit up.
Clearly, Bayton Academy was very interested in these roots. They must’ve discovered sothing about it but hadn’t shared the details with him.
If that was the case, Saul decided that next ti, he would keep a portion for his own study before handing over the rest.
Outwardly, however, he simply nodded readily. “Sure.”
Dean Pond then asked about the battle with the root creature. After thanking Saul for his cooperation, he dismissed him.
Throughout the entire conversation, the female wizard nad Beth hadn’t said a single word.
She simply sat quietly with lowered eyes, appearing utterly uninterested in monsters or battles.
As Saul left, he gave the woman another glance. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was far from ordinary.
After Saul was gone, Dean Pond stood at the window, watching until Saul had walked a good distance away before turning back to Beth.
“What did you sense?”
Beth slowly raised her head, as if moving in slow motion.
Even her voice was languid, like soone not fully awake.
“He’s very alert. He didn’t notice.”
“If I wanted to keep him in Bayton…”
“There’s no chance.”
(End of Chapter)
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