Only three days remained.

But Oqili had no intention of waiting until the last day to make his escape.

“That one, that one… and this one,” that night, Oqili had no choice but to start preparing his escape plan ahead of time. He told Saul a list of ingredients. “When you’re preparing potions tomorrow, make sure to set a little extra of these aside, and hand them to me in secret. I’ll be concocting a new potion tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night?” Saul feigned hesitation. “But I might not be able to…”

“We’re out of time. If you can’t complete the near-Second Rank breakthrough tomorrow, then during the escape, I’ll just have to take on more risk myself.” Oqili said helplessly.

Saul lowered his eyes, looking somewhat discouraged. “Then… I’ll leave it all to you.”

The next day, the Old Witch remained seated in the corner of the lab, overseeing the two as they worked.

Since Saul was the primary operator of the experiment, Oqili could only assist here and there. Most of the potions were also Saul’s responsibility to prepare.

Following Oqili’s instructions from the day before, Saul took a little extra of each material. But the number of ingredients Oqili needed was quite large, which made Saul’s actions inevitably a bit conspicuous. And he couldn’t use his storage vessel—any sudden magical fluctuations would be instantly noticed by the ever-watchful Old Witch.

Luckily, the Old Witch no longer stood directly behind them, so making small moves was somewhat easier.

Saul noticed Oqili also took a bit from the potions Saul had already completed.

The two cooperated, covering for each other, and finally managed to secretly stash away some materials.

But in order to hand the extra ingredients over to Oqili, Saul had to frequently lean in close to him, pretending to discuss the experiment.

After enough times, it naturally aroused the Old Witch’s suspicion.

“What are you two whispering about all the time?” The Old Witch raised the wooden stick in her hand, thought for a moment, and then brought it down on Oqili’s calf.

“Mmgh!” A chunk of flesh was instantly torn from Oqili’s leg.

He stifled his scream, his face flushing red from the effort.

Saul eyed the Old Witch’s wooden stick warily, but still took the initiative to explain: “Oqili’s too nervous. He keeps making little mistakes.”

“Mmgh!” Oqili widened his eyes but didn’t say a word. His face only grew redder.

The Old Witch let out a cold snort, sweeping her gaze over both Saul and Oqili. But she couldn’t figure out where Oqili had hidden the materials, and so failed to find anything. “I don’t care what you two are plotting. If you try anything funny, I’ll skin you both alive!”

Now that they were being closely watched, the little tricks naturally had to stop. Thankfully, Saul had already handed all the necessary potions to Oqili, so the two could continue the experiment openly.

From then on, the Old Witch stood constantly beside Saul, but she found nothing suspicious again.

When it came time for rest, the Old Witch’s earlier suspicions had not yet abated. She no longer allowed the two to stay in the lab overnight, and instead locked them back in the stifling cages.

As Saul crawled into the wooden cage under the Old Witch’s watchful eye, he uneasily glanced at Oqili in the neighboring cage.

Oqili seemed to have curled into a ball from fear.

Saul turned his head and met the Old Witch’s eyes—like lightbulbs, half-lidded and still terrifying.

“If you can complete the transformation experiment on Oqili tomorrow,” she said, “I’ll make an exception and take you as my apprentice. If you fail—you’ll become my slave!”

Saul wasn’t too interested in either role, but right now he could only watch as the Old Witch turned and left, the severed limb behind her swinging in a semicircle through the air.

Once she was gone, Oqili immediately sat up. “You didn’t really think she’d make you her apprentice, did you?”

“No.”

“Good.” Oqili glanced once more in the direction the Old Witch had gone, a hint of joy flashing across his face. “Didn’t expect her to actually lock us back in the cages tonight.”

Saul looked confused. “She locked us up again. We can’t use magic. Why are you so happy?”

Oqili kept his eyes on the door, grinning. “Because locking us up means she’s got no time to watch over us. Either she’s left the area—or she’s entered deep meditation.”

“Either way, it means no one will disturb us for a while tonight!”

Oqili immediately sat up and pulled out the hidden potions from his clothes to begin mixing them.

Since he couldn’t exactly bring back lab equipment in his clothes, he could only resort to the most primitive methods, concocting the potion on the ground.

There was a certain rustic charm to it—like hand-mixing rice.

Before long, Saul smelled a strange scent coming from Oqili.

“It’s done.” Oqili raised his hand, carefully scooping up the sticky, pitch-black potion that looked like mud, and began smearing it onto the bars of the cage.

The miniature formations drawn on the wooden bars were quickly covered.

Saul watched closely from the side.

That muddy-looking potion wasn’t just covering the formation—it was suppressing its effect without destroying it.

That caught Saul’s attention.

“If we destroyed the formations directly, the Old Witch would notice right away. But this way, there’s no alarm.” Saul nodded, memorizing Oqili’s technique.

By now, Oqili had covered all the miniature sorcery formations, and with a light push, opened the cage door and slipped out.

At this point, he could’ve left Saul behind and fled on his own.

After all, Saul no longer seemed to have any value.

But he didn’t hesitate at all—grabbing the rest of the potion, he ran over to help Saul escape his cage as well.

That surprised Saul.

[Herman: I thought he’d just run off on his own.]

[An: Heh, I doubt it’s that simple.]

Oqili quickly opened the cage door and held out a hand to Saul. “Hurry up!”

Saul didn’t take his hand, but instead ducked his head and crawled out on his own.

Halfway through, Oqili grew impatient. “Faster!”

He grabbed Saul’s arm and half-dragged him the rest of the way out.

“The potion’s effect—the one from that ‘Love Soup’—should be wearing off by now. Are you still feeling disoriented?”

Saul cooperatively raised his hand and checked. “I’m fine now.”

Oqili nodded. “Then we move now!”

Saul frowned. “How? The Old Witch is probably in one of the outer rooms.”

“She’s got a habit—every time she locks us up, she goes into deep meditation. If we leave now and stay low—keep our magic and mental energy suppressed—she won’t notice. And tomorrow’s a big day, so she’ll definitely want to rest well.”

The Old Witch had used this cage to imprison Oqili and the others for many years, and so trusted it completely. She likely never expected that Oqili had already found a way to escape long ago—he’d just been waiting for someone to cooperate.

“In the worst-case scenario, she hasn’t gone into deep meditation.” Oqili looked Saul in the eyes. “Then it’s do-or-die time. Reaching near-Second Rank was for this moment. Remember—don’t get bogged down. If there’s an opening, run!”

Oqili raised his hand to show the last bit of potion in his palm.

“The formation at the cave mouth can’t stop us.”

Saul thought Oqili’s plan wasn’t fully solid—but since they were already out of the cages, even an imperfect plan had to be carried out.

The key thing was—Oqili didn’t have any more time.

“Then let’s go.” Saul hesitated for a second, then asked, “Can we bring my coachman?”

Oqili clenched his fist and nearly swung it at Saul. “You’d better worry about yourself right now!”

Saul made a troubled face and nodded. “Alright then.”

(End of Chapter)

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