The one who caught Saul was the steward, Hope.
He helped Saul through the main gate, then glanced up at the sky.
Just now, the mist had surged, but now a small patch of sky above was visible.
In that patch of sky, a colorful butterfly was fluttering in circles.
The mont Saul stepped into the Wizard Tower, he imdiately felt the drowsiness lift sowhat.
From a state where he could fall asleep standing up, he transitioned to simply yawning incessantly.
Following the steward’s gaze, he looked up as well and saw the sa butterfly.
Only, behind the butterfly in the sky, a thin veil of cloud had ford a blurry human face.
“A Dreammaker?” Saul murmured.
But even such a soft voice was t with a response.
“Yes.”
The voice echoed from inside his brain, making one wonder whether they had already fallen asleep without realizing it.
“I want your Nightmare Butterfly.”
Just as Saul was about to speak, the voice cut him off again.
“Don’t lie to . I saw it.”
The words stuck in Saul’s throat. He pursed his lips, quietly considering his options.
The worst-case scenario had arrived faster than expected.
“Seems I underestimated the power of a Third Rank wizard.”
“Hand over the Nightmare Butterfly, and I’ll recognize your claim to Rhine Lake. If you don’t, I’ll make you beco Rhine Lake.”
The voice carried no strong emotion—rather, it sounded drowsy, like the remnants of a yawn.
It didn’t feel like a threat—more like the mutterings of a drear.
Saul furrowed his brows.
He could hand over Penny.
After Clark left, he could use the diary to summon the Nightmare Butterfly back.
He only needed to feign ignorance afterward, blaming Penny’s disappearance on Clark’s negligence.
But he couldn’t be sure Clark wouldn’t cast so binding sorcery the mont he got Penny—or worse, destroy her outright.
The other party wanted Penny likely for so magic, not to keep her as a pet.
“If the worst cos to worst, I might have to burn a golden page again. But I know almost nothing about Clark—it could take dozens of deaths just to find a way to survive.”
Just as Saul was weighing which card to play first, the steward Hope beside him suddenly spoke.
“This is the Glare family’s Wizard Tower. May I ask the esteed Dreammaker what business brings you here?”
At the ntion of the Glare na, the face in the sky turned its gaze toward the steward.
This ti, Saul didn’t hear a voice in his mind, but the steward’s expression changed slightly, as if he had heard sothing.
After two seconds, he calmly replied, “My current master indeed isn’t of Glare blood. But his ntor—my forr master—is currently at the Wall of Sighs. Should the Black Tide break out, you may get to et him and fight alongside him.”
The face in the sky stopped drifting.
A mont later, Saul once again heard a voice in his mind.
“Your master is Gorsa?”
It seed the other party had deduced Gorsa’s identity from Hope’s explanation.
Though Saul didn’t know how the connection was made, this was no ti to keep secrets.
“Yes,” Saul answered.
The cloud-ford face slowly blinked.
“Tell your ntor—now he owes .”
The butterfly suddenly fluttered its wings and flew off into the distance. The cloud face dispersed with the breeze.
Gray mist once again enshrouded the island at the lake’s center.
With the drowsiness gone, Saul stepped outside the Wizard Tower.
“Does Clark have so grudge with my ntor?”
Behind him, Hope shook his head. “I’m not sure, Master. I simply thought to state our identity first. If the other party insisted on becoming an enemy, then we’d still need you to step in.”
Perhaps Hope was just trying to save Saul’s pride.
But since there were actual benefits gained, Saul didn’t care much about appearances.
“Didn’t think Master Gorsa actually knew the Dreammaker. He never ntioned it before.”
When Gorsa had suggested Saul enter the Borderland, he hadn’t ntioned any contacts. Saul had assud either his ntor had no connections here—or that his popularity was just as terrible as it was back in the Western Region.
Who’d have thought this big na could actually be wielded against a Third Rank wizard?
As for the favor now owed… well, the Dreammaker said it was Gorsa who owed it.
Had nothing to do with Saul!
Feeling completely justified, Saul walked over to the prone Old Witch.
“Old Witch, wake up. The enemy’s long gone.”
The Old Witch opened her eyes, clear and alert—not like soone who’d just woken up.
She sprang up from the ground, glanced at the sky, then at Saul beside her—her expression not very surprised.
“I knew you had to have so backing,” she said proudly, as if she had driven Clark off. “But what exactly did you two say? Who is your master? Why’d even Clark run off?”
Saul didn’t answer her questions. “I don’t think Clark was scared off. He probably just weighed the pros and cons and decided it wasn’t worth it.”
“Let’s head into the tower. Don’t let your guard down. Clark left for now, but he may return. After all, my master isn’t actually here.”
Perhaps Clark’s intrusion into the Purity Wizard Tower had made too much noise—soon, the incident spread from a secret among a few people to a new rumor across the Borderland.
Many of Dodge the wizard’s old clients had heard that Rhine Lake now had a new master—one even recognized by Dreammaker Clark.
After all, the man had lived through Clark’s visit—this, to outsiders, was equivalent to being acknowledged.
And Saul’s ability to heal pollution began to spread in limited circles.
Jiajia Gu clearly didn’t want to lose such a miraculous healer, so he only shared Saul’s information with those he deed trustworthy.
In the Borderland, Jiajia Gu was far from the only one threatened by pollution and facing potential death at any mont.
Unless they had no choice, wizards were reluctant to expose their vulnerable bodies and ntal realms to others.
Thanks to his master’s na, Saul won himself another month of peace and quiet to develop and upgrade his Wizard Tower.
Steward Hope added new furnishings to each floor of the tower.
And after experiencing its protection once, Saul finally began to feel a strong connection between himself and the tower.
He took out most of his experintal equipnt and potions from his storage and placed them on the third floor of the Purity Wizard Tower.
With a drop of Black Tide and two bottles of pollution sources from the Borderland, Saul resud his research.
A month later—
Agu finally awoke.
The diary flipped open.
Agu: Master.
Saul, tinkering in the basent, stopped what he was doing and turned his attention to the particularly intact black page in the diary.
“Any new feelings?” he asked casually, setting aside the carving knife he had been using for the formation.
Agu: I… can’t quite say.
“But why did it take you so long to rge your other two soul fragnts?”
Saul picked up a detector from the lowest shelf and began walking around the room.
Agu: I had been separated for too long. During the fusion, it almost felt like those were two different people, so it took a long ti to accept their experiences and beliefs.
“Back when An secretly went to absorb a stranger’s soul, it didn’t take nearly this long. Did you run into so difficulty?”
An: Wahhh, Master, I was wrong! That wasn’t absorption, it was devouring! I only devoured Dumor’s energy and select mories—I spat the rest back out!
“Oh, is that so.” Saul paused, looking over his other black pages—none as intact or smooth as Agu’s.
“So that ans even Herman’s soul, which I extracted directly from his corpse, wasn’t that complete… Is that because my technique’s lacking, or had Herman’s soul already been harvested by soone else?”
Then again, maybe he accidentally shattered it during that ntal realm battle with the wraith Morden.
“Well, whatever the case—glad you’re awake.”
Saul walked a few more steps, arriving at a corner of the Wizard Tower’s basent.
At that mont, the detector pointed to a number that was highly similar to what he had just calculated.
“This is the spot.” After a few minor adjustnts, Saul locked onto the precise location.
Then he raised his hand to call the steward over.
“You said the Wizard Tower can be further expanded—well, I want to dig downward here, create a new chamber at least five ters high.”
Hope smiled respectfully. “You possess the heart of the Wizard Tower—you may communicate with it directly.”
Was Hope referring to… the black iron coffin?
(End of Chapter)
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