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 moment Saul stepped into the Wizard Tower, he immediately felt the drowsiness lift somewhat.

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 same butterfly.

Only, behind the butterfly in the sky, a thin veil of cloud had formed a blurry human face.

“A Dreammaker?” Saul murmured.

“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 me. 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 become 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 dreamer.

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 some binding sorcery the moment he got Penny—or worse, destroy her outright.

The other party wanted Penny likely for some magic, not to keep her as a pet.

“If the worst comes 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 esteemed Dreammaker what business brings you here?”

At the mention of the Glare name, the face in the sky turned its gaze toward the steward.

This time, Saul didn’t hear a voice in his mind, but the steward’s expression changed slightly, as if he had heard something.

After two seconds, he calmly replied, “My current master indeed isn’t of Glare blood. But his mentor—my former master—is currently at the Wall of Sighs. Should the Black Tide break out, you may get to meet him and fight alongside him.”

The face in the sky stopped drifting.

A moment later, Saul once again heard a voice in his mind.

“Your master is Gorsa?”

It seemed 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 time to keep secrets.

“Yes,” Saul answered.

The cloud-formed face slowly blinked.

“Tell your mentor—now he owes me.”

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 some grudge with my mentor?”

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 mentioned it before.”

When Gorsa had suggested Saul enter the Borderland, he hadn’t mentioned any contacts. Saul had assumed either his mentor 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 name 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 someone 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 some 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 deemed trustworthy.

In the Borderland, Jiajia Gu was far from the only one threatened by pollution and facing potential death at any moment.

Unless they had no choice, wizards were reluctant to expose their vulnerable bodies and mental realms to others.

Thanks to his master’s name, 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 experimental equipment 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 resumed his research.

A month later—

Agu finally awoke.

The diary flipped open.

Agu: Master.

Saul, tinkering in the basement, 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 merge your other two soul fragments?”

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 time 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 some difficulty?”

An: Wahhh, Master, I was wrong! That wasn’t absorption, it was devouring! I only devoured Dumor’s energy and select memories—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 means 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 someone else?”

Then again, maybe he accidentally shattered it during that mental 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 basement.

At that moment, the detector pointed to a number that was highly similar to what he had just calculated.

“This is the spot.” After a few minor adjustments, 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 meters 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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