The moment Saul got his hands on the powder that retained traces of the crisis, he immediately began his research.

However, after studying it for quite a while, he still couldn’t analyze its exact components.

It didn’t seem like soil, nor was it any kind of crystal—he had absolutely no clue what it was.

“It’s like a substance I’ve never seen before.” Saul decided to consult the local, the Old Witch, to see if she might recognize it.

And so, after spending four days in the basement, Saul finally emerged.

“I thought you’d died in there.”

The Old Witch was standing right at the basement exit, looking very displeased.

Having lived in the Wizard Tower for over a month now, she had gone from a two-head-tall toddler to a four-head-tall little girl.

From a baby to a petite loli.

“I ran into some problems during the experiment. Took longer than expected. By the way, Old Witch, you’re well-informed and a long-time resident of the Borderland. Ever seen a material like this?”

Saul placed the petri dish in front of the Old Witch.

“Where did you get this stuff?” The Old Witch gave it a casual glance—then her expression changed drastically.

“So you do know it.”

“Well… telling you’s no big deal, I guess. Sooner or later, if you stay in the Borderland long enough, you’ll run into it anyway.” The Old Witch’s expression turned complicated. “This is residue from a source of pollution in the Borderland. We call it Eerie Sand.”

“Eerie Sand?”

“It’s been found that every location where Eerie Sand appears… ends up with a new rule. Heh, congratulations. The rule of Rhine Lake that you just deciphered? It’s now obsolete. Next, we’ll have to risk our necks figuring out the new rules here.”

The Old Witch didn’t look too pleased.

Every time new rules were explored, the cost was heavy—many lives lost.

And even then, people often failed to uncover all the rules. As a result, there were occasionally wizards who just dropped dead in the places they’d lived for years—seemingly for no reason.

Saul thought to himself, But the diary hasn’t indicated any danger yet. Plus, that soul inside it who might be Camus… still shows no signs of awareness.

He asked the Old Witch again, “Is this Eerie Sand dangerous? Or does it have any use?”

“Not much use. It’s like the residue left after all energy has been drained. Of course, there’s still some radiation pollution. If you give it to an ordinary person, it’s definitely fatal.”

Indeed, there was a trace of radiation on the Eerie Sand, but for apprentices at Second Rank or higher, it didn’t pose much threat.

Just then, Marsh—who lived outside the tower—came dashing in with hurried footsteps, panting, his face full of anxiety.

“Milord, Rhine Lake—Rhine Lake is frozen!”

Saul and the Old Witch exchanged glances and stood up at the same time.

When they came outside, they saw that the dense fog, which previously limited visibility to under ten meters, had somehow thinned out quite a bit. What remained was a dreamy, ethereal mist—like a scene from a fairyland—floating above Rhine Lake and the island at its center.

Even from dozens of meters away, Saul could clearly see that the surface of Rhine Lake was now covered in a thick sheet of ice.

This made the temperature around the lake island drop even further. Though March marked the beginning of spring, it now felt like February, the air piercing through skin with its chill.

Saul walked briskly to the lakeside and stared at the ice.

Those wraiths he had once seen beneath the lake, the ones who had stared back at him in their confusion—were now obscured from view. He wondered what state they were in now.

Luckily, his experimental subjects hadn’t run out yet.

Saul called over the stiff-faced Kent.

The Old Witch squinted.

She instantly recognized that Kent was not a living person, and that he was likely of the same nature as that steward.

But as for how exactly he was constructed… she didn’t know. Not that she cared to figure it out either.

There were too many unknowns in this world. She wasn’t interested in solving each and every one.

But things like the rules of Rhine Lake—things that directly affected her—she was still willing to use her brain on.

She walked over to Saul’s side and pinched a bit of air between her fingers, shaping it into a small bird with whirlwind wings.

“Go!”

With a soft shout, she released her hand.

The little bird flew straight toward the ice, full of heroic resolve as if on a suicide mission.

But the moment it crossed the boundary between the lakeside and the ice above, it abruptly vanished.

Its whirlwind wings dispersed into a wisp of breeze—yet the breeze didn’t even disturb the faint surrounding mist.

“A magic-sealed zone?” The Old Witch’s face darkened even more.

By this point, Kent had reached Saul’s side.

Though the Old Witch’s air bird had vanished, Saul still ordered Kent to step onto the ice.

Kent lacked any sense of danger. Once Saul gave the command, he moved forward.

Likewise, the moment he stepped onto the ice, he vanished entirely.

Saul had been watching him closely. This time, he noticed it: as Kent crossed the boundary between shore and lake, the elemental construct spells around his body instantly dissolved.

And his soul, almost too fast for the eye to track, was dragged beneath the ice by some mysterious force of rule.

Saul pondered for a moment, then walked to the lake’s edge.

“Hey, don’t go looking to die!” the Old Witch shouted to stop him.

“I know.” Saul, while monitoring the diary’s reactions, tried to use it to retrieve Kent’s soul from the depths of Rhine Lake.

And he succeeded—easily pulling Kent’s soul back into the diary.

Apparently, the rules of Rhine Lake didn’t prevent souls from leaving. But more likely, the diary’s power simply overrode this region’s rules.

Saul fetched a new soul body used for experiments and embedded a summoning spell coordinate into it.

But this time, after the soul entered the lake beneath the ice, Saul was unable to summon it back.

The coordinate vanished the moment the soul crossed the lake’s surface.

“Magic vanishes once it enters Rhine Lake’s range. Souls get pulled beneath the ice. So… what about using physical means to retrieve the soul?”

Saul had Little Algae split off a long tendril, like a fishing line, and cast one end toward the lake.

This new tendril couldn’t split again on the ice, but its mouth at the tip could chew.

It chewed for a full ten minutes before it gnawed a small hole into the ice.

Then it slipped in and used its mouth to carry the fallen soul back out.

It returned, inch by inch, and brought it to Saul.

Back in the Elven Valley, Little Algae had devoured a piece of Veiled Crystal Essence and mutated.

As a result, unlike other creatures from the Soul-Devouring Mire, it could touch physical matter, soul bodies, and even mental entities like Nightmare Butterflies.

But when the split-off part of Little Algae crawled back to shore and opened its mouth to Saul—

Saul and the Old Witch saw clearly: this wasn’t the same soul body Saul had thrown in earlier.

“Well, yeah, asking your clone to tell one soul from another is a bit much.”

Saul patted Little Algae on the head.

“That pet of yours is something else,” the Old Witch said, eyes full of envy as she looked at Little Algae.

Powerful, obedient, and useful.

Saul didn’t respond. Either way, not for sale.

He walked back to the lakeside. “Soul bodies get pulled into the lake bottom. Magic gets nullified. But Little Algae can move on the ice and even chew through it… Looks like the rules here aren’t that strong—at least not instantly lethal.”

“But… Little Algae is a magic beast, so it can go up there. What about us?”

Saul stepped forward tentatively.

The Old Witch’s eyes went wide. She didn’t even have time to stop him—Saul had already taken a second step.

Now he stood fully on the ice.

Her jaw dropped, her head practically tipping backwards.

“You… you lunatic!”

(End of Chapter)

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