Saul stood on the frozen lake, feeling the chill seeping up through his feet.

But aside from the cold, there didn’t seem to be any danger.

“The diary didn’t give any warning, but I didn’t expect there to be any danger at all.”

He took another couple of steps forward—still, nothing happened.

The only issue was that he couldn’t cast spells.

The magic he’d just circulated vanished the moment it left his body.

Saul released his soul body to trace the path of those elemental particles.

He discovered that the particles were also flowing beneath the ice.

“So I just can’t cast spells. That means I’ll have to walk whenever I leave the island in the middle of the lake. Hm… it’s kind of far. Maybe I should buy a car?”

Saul walked straight to the center of the lake, then slowly made his way back.

The Old Witch watched from the side, intrigued, and finally couldn’t resist stepping onto the ice herself.

Before long, even Marsh and Little Algae joined in, running onto the frozen surface with excitement.

Only the butler remained inside the Wizard Tower, smiling as he watched them.

After a few minutes of play, Saul left the others and returned to the tower.

The change in Lake Rhine was most likely caused by Camus, whom he had just picked up.

Besides her, nothing else out of the ordinary had happened today.

Saul headed down to the basement, preparing to study Camus.

The butler, although a soul body, had a layer of magic called the “Template” that allowed him to move and interact with objects like a normal person.

Camus had displayed the same trait.

It was precisely the plaster-like coating on her body’s surface that made Saul curious.

While she remained unconscious, the only thing Saul was interested in was that layer of coating on her.

He planned to study the “Template” magic and the coating on Camus to see if he could combine the two and develop a new spell—one that could be used by the four consciousnesses inside the diary.

At first, he had wanted to use corpses as vessels to carry the consciousnesses, allowing them to act independently of the diary.

But over time, and after several adventures, he’d come to realize that forcing flexible soul bodies into clunky corpses didn’t offer much of an upgrade.

Seeing the butler today—and Camus, who shared the same texture—sparked an idea.

He could give the consciousnesses a protective outer shell, allowing them to move around externally.

Even without bodies, without magic, and unable to cast spells, they could still fight purely as soul bodies, just like the mouths and hands in the Black Iron Coffin.

Especially now that he’d already developed “Soul Armament”—he had outfitted An with spider legs made of soul fragments, and those could serve as her weapons.

Without the burden of a corpse, she could retain the stealth of a soul body.

Her combat style would be based on ambushes.

It didn’t sound very honorable, but survival was all that mattered.

Watching Saul run his experiments, a few of the smarter consciousnesses quickly caught on to what he was doing.

Agu and Morden immediately started offering suggestions.

…

“Hold still. Mm, not bad.” Gorsa straightened up, a pleased smile on his face.

Today, for once, he wasn’t wearing a wizard robe or a cloak that covered his entire body.

He wore a white lace shirt with long pants and boots—a fashion trend that had become popular in recent years in Nephret.

Elegant, yet conservative.

He dressed like this because he planned to sneak out of the Wizard Tower.

Half a month ago, another wave of the Black Tide had struck the Wall of Sighs.

A towering black flood, massive as a mountain, crashed down on the even mightier wall with an overwhelming force that could crush anything in its path.

Though already immensely sturdy, the wall still suffered some damage.

The receding tide took away bricks and stones, leaving behind a battered surface and a host of terrified wizards.

But the crashing of the tide was only the prelude to the real crisis of the Black Tide.

The Wall of Sighs—manned by most of the world’s top Third Rank wizards—soon faced an outbreak of pollution.

Strange, writhing, and twisted monsters began to spawn along the tide-battered walls.

Immediately afterward, deadly spells—some dazzling, others silent—rained down on the creatures.

Some were obliterated in a single blow, reduced to powder and swept away by the next wave of the tide.

Others were more tenacious and agile, still capable of posing a threat to the patrolling wizards atop the Wall of Sighs.

Out in the sea beyond the wall, clusters of wizard towers dotted the ocean like stars in the night sky.

These towers were mostly provided by the Glare Family, cementing their supreme status in the wizarding world.

The wizards stationed in these towers—known as tower guardians—were typically powerful Third Rank combatants with strong survival abilities.

They didn’t participate in the wall’s battles; they had a more critical role: stopping or killing the colossal monsters that occasionally emerged from the deep sea.

Thankfully, such monsters were rare—otherwise, no number of guardians would be enough to hold the line.

Gorsa was one of the tower guardians stationed closest to the deep sea, and in the last battle, he had fought valiantly and slain a monster with unmatched bravery.

Unfortunately, he’d fallen into the Black Tide–tainted sea during the fight. Though he teleported out at the fastest possible speed, his entire body had suffered corrosive injuries, forcing him to retreat behind the Wall of Sighs to recover.

Fortunately, the most dangerous phase of the Black Tide had already passed, and the Fourth Rank wizard overseeing the Wall gave him official leave.

With official approval, Gorsa retreated to the Glare Family’s territory and went into seclusion.

At least, that’s what it looked like on the surface.

In truth, he had smuggled his apprentice Haywood in with him.

Today, he wrapped Haywood entirely in pink bandages and draped him in a reddish-brown cloak inscribed with healing formations.

Even if someone saw through the bandages, they’d only see a real injury victim beneath—Haywood’s body was covered in open wounds, and his five facial features—except for his eyes—had become nothing but five holes.

A genuine wounded man.

“Take a look.” Gorsa pulled out a palm-sized mirror and held it up to Haywood. “Do you like pink?”

Haywood wanted to say he liked it, but he just couldn’t get the words out.

At times like this, Gorsa really missed his little apprentice.

But appearance didn’t matter. The true purpose of the pink bandages was to mask the aura of a Third Rank apprentice.

Haywood had recently failed in his attempt to become a true wizard and was now completely useless.

But Gorsa had given him one last chance to stay:

He would become Gorsa’s stand-in.

A shadow detached itself from Gorsa’s back, quickly morphing into the form of a beautiful noblewoman.

Haywood, recently flayed and heavily wounded, could only lie on a recliner and weakly greet her.

“Lady Yura.”

Seeing Haywood like this, Yura’s eyes flickered as though a memory stirred, but the image in her mind was quickly swallowed by a haze.

She didn’t respond to Haywood’s greeting. Instead, she turned to Gorsa, who stood there like an arrogant noble.

“Your injuries are truly healed? Do you have to leave now? Didn’t Wizard Mofei give you six months to recover?”

Gorsa flicked his fingers, making the mirror spin between them.

“I have a lot of places to visit. Just do your best to support Haywood’s disguise and don’t get exposed. Oh, and teach Heidi how to maintain her form.”

Another shadow crept out from the back of Haywood’s head, though this one remained unstable, like a reflection on water constantly rippling.

Heidi had also been transformed into Yura’s current appearance, though the materials used weren’t as high-quality, making her form unstable.

Which meant this time, Yura couldn’t accompany Gorsa on his trip.

But Yura didn’t mind.

“Where are you going…?” she asked, face emotionless, voice flat.

“First to the southern islands of Nephret,” Gorsa said, not hiding anything. “There’s a material there I’m interested in.”

He stopped the spinning mirror. The reflection now faced him, capturing the light of anticipation in his eyes.

“Then, I’ll make a trip to the Borderland. There’s a little fellow there who interests me even more.”

(End of chapter)

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