Chapter 55: Love-Brained and Research Maniac

“Here!” Rocky didn’t hesitate—he slapped two magic crystals down on Duke’s desk.

Duke blinked, snatched the crystals, yanked Rocky’s arm aside, and stuffed them right back into his pocket, patting it twice for emphasis.

“Hey, I was just joking. You actually took it seriously?” He shook his head and sighed. “Didn’t think you really liked Jenna that much.”

Seeing Rocky’s reddened eyes, Duke quickly added, “Alright, alright, I’ll tell you. You know how bad Saul’s temper is. When you meet him, just talk it out calmly. Jenna might not… Anyway, whatever happens, stay calm. Don’t fight him. You can’t beat him. If something really happens, come back, and we’ll figure it out.”

Even Doze, standing off to the side, felt something was off in that weird tone.

Sure, Saul’s skeletal hand was scary—but judging by Duke’s words, he clearly had more than just that.

So why had Duke kept calling Saul useless before?

Doze shot Duke a suspicious glance but didn’t dare ask.

After leaving Duke, Rocky wanted Doze to come with him to find Saul.

But Doze’s eyes darted, and he stayed silent for a long time before finally refusing.

He even tried to talk Rocky out of rushing over, saying Jenna might show up soon.

But Rocky couldn’t shake the unease inside him. He felt like he had to see Saul immediately.

After meeting Duke, the way he talked about Saul only intensified the panic gnawing at Rocky’s heart. It was like something was tearing at him from the inside, leaving no room for doubt—he just needed to ask Saul face-to-face.

That afternoon, Saul’s experiment was interrupted once again by furious pounding at his door.

He frowned slightly but kept his hands steady, slowly adding something to the test tube.

The liquid inside began to swirl on its own, forming a tiny underwater vortex.

Saul exhaled and reached for another material with tweezers, apparently ready to add it in.

Just then, his diary flew out, exhausted, and predicted yet another impending explosion.

Saul shook his head and picked a different material.

The diary didn’t go back; instead, it showed him yet another cause of death.

Saul put that one down, too.

Bang, bang, bang!

The knocking turned to hammering.

Saul picked up a third material.

The diary sluggishly flipped its pages, writing out a fresh death scenario.

“Is this formula at its limit too?” Saul muttered.

Behind him, the banging turned into full-on pounding.

Saul finally put down the test tube and tweezers—and gave his diary a break.

He walked to the door and, in the gap between knocks, suddenly flung it open—just in time to catch the fist flying toward his face. He pushed back with the rebound force, and the person outside stumbled backward, crashing into the hallway wall.

A cry of pain echoed out.

It wasn’t Duke—it was Rocky.

Saul raised an eyebrow, but then again, it made sense. Duke was too scared of him these days to knock like that.

Without a word, Saul cast a Zero-Rank spell.

Demoralized Gaze.

Rocky froze on the spot, trembling all over—lips quivering, limbs shaking.

Clang!

A small knife slipped from his hand and clattered loudly to the floor, echoing through the empty hallway.

Saul glanced at the knife with disdain.

A wizard apprentice trying to attack with a blade? Have the past two months been all about romance for this guy?

“You, you…” Saul was surprised Rocky could still speak. “You actually know spells?”

Rocky stared at him, fear and shock on his face.

This guy had practically dropped out, hadn’t even shown up to public classes—yet he’d already mastered his first spell faster than Rocky himself?

It didn’t even occur to Rocky that Saul might know more than just one spell—his mind couldn’t process that possibility.

Saul, on the other hand, was confused why Rocky seemed so shocked.

Wait… does he not even know a single spell yet?

No way. I already know four.

“Who told you to come find me?” Saul didn’t bother answering Rocky’s question. His voice was impatient.

At the same time, he stepped back slightly, ready to duck behind the door.

He wasn’t about to get splashed with blood again.

Rocky’s answer caught Saul a little off guard.

“Jenna’s been missing for three days. I’m worried about her, so I came to check.”

Rocky seemed to have shaken off the effects of Demoralized Gaze, but his sweat-soaked face still showed just how terrifying the experience had been.

“Who told you I was here?” Saul’s eyes flicked to the knife on the floor. “And you seem pretty sure I had something to do with Jenna’s disappearance.”

“D-Duke,” Rocky answered weakly.

Duke again?

When did that dimwit become mastermind material?

He’s probably just someone’s puppet.

“You knew Jenna vanished after coming to see me, and you still came alone.” Saul stared at the boy—no, “boy” was more accurate than “young man.”

Under Saul’s gaze, Rocky suddenly felt like the person in front of him wasn’t a fellow apprentice, but a Second-Rank wizard who could snuff out his life in an instant.

They’d only been apprentices for less than three months… Could the gap really be this wide?

The fire in Rocky’s heart was thoroughly extinguished. Now, he was just scared.

He lowered his tone, his stance, and even his head.

“Saul, do you know where Jenna is? I’m really worried about her.”

You’re already caught in a conspiracy and still worried about someone else?

Saul almost wanted to grab him by the collar and shove Jenna’s corpse in his face.

Too bad everything in that big chest got cleaned up every night by the giant outside the door.

Saul opened his mouth, then closed it. Eventually, he just said, “Jenna’s not here anymore. Go back.”

What he really wanted to say was, This isn’t something you can get involved in. It’s not too late to walk away.

But he didn’t say that.

Rocky lifted his head, eyes rimmed red, lips pressed tight. He’d already picked up on the truth hidden in Saul’s vague reply.

“…Thank you.”

He lowered his head again, stumbled a few steps, and leaned on the wall as he walked away from the second floor of the East Tower.

Watching Rocky’s back disappear, Saul quietly closed and locked the door.

At first, he thought Rocky might be another human bomb someone sent after him but it looked like it was just youthful passion messing with the kid’s head.

Either way, the girl he was looking for wasn’t going to show up again.

Is Sid the one pulling the strings behind Rocky and Duke, too?

What’s he trying to do?

Dragging so many people into this—doesn’t he worry about getting caught?

Or did Brown’s death push him over the edge, and now he’s betting it all on one reckless plan?

Waiting for the plot to surface was agonizing. But with Saul’s current strength, that’s all he could do.

Besides, Sid was always hiding in the shadows—Saul couldn’t even get close to the source of the problem.

He had to force Sid to step into the light.

If he could grip the strings tied to Rocky and Duke, maybe he could yank the puppeteer out from behind the curtain.

“…Still, Rocky resisted Demoralized Gaze way better than Brown. He recovered fast.”

Saul’s mind shifted back to spell mechanics.

“Is it because wizard apprentices have higher mental power than ordinary people? The same spell that completely crushed Brown only froze Rocky for a few seconds.”

He thought back. “About five seconds, I think. That’s plenty if the target is close. Enough to kill someone. But if I were using it on a Second-Rank apprentice, maybe it’d only freeze them for one second.”

No wonder Zero-Tier spells were also called “tricks.”

They really weren’t much use between wizards.

The encounter had sparked new thoughts.

Maybe his second body-modification potion was failing because the base liquid just wasn’t strong enough to carry powerful materials. Without that strength, the potion couldn’t stabilize.

Just like Zero-Tier spells—they only go so far. And with the materials on hand, the chances of designing multiple viable modification plans were slim.

Still, Saul had no better way to level up quickly.

He’d died so many times in that diary already…

Fortunately, the notebook didn’t seem to run out of pages—only the front part had been used so far.

In the test tube, the underwater vortex reformed again.

Saul picked up a material that had failed yesterday.

The diary wrote: You didn’t die any prettier this time…

Unbothered, Saul picked up the second one.

The diary: You died a little prettier this time.

Totally unfazed, Saul reached for a third—

“How did you even come up with this?”

A voice suddenly rang out behind him.

Saul’s heart clenched, but his left hand stayed rock steady. The liquid in the test tube didn’t ripple.

He calmly returned the tube to the rack and turned around with a respectful bow.

“Mentor Kaz.”

This guy wasn’t exactly the most responsible—he hadn’t checked on Saul for nearly ten days.

But Saul made sure to keep the respect on his face.

Kaz picked up the test tube Saul had just been using and examined it closely while Saul subtly glanced toward the door.

Still wide open. The lock was fine.

Right… Regular locks probably don’t mean much to wizards anyway.

Kaz inspected the tube for a bit, then sighed and set it back down.

“This formula is not going to work. At least, not for now. You’re missing critical materials and live feedback reactions. A lot of these adjustments have to be based on clinical results. Making guesses like this—”

Kaz shook his head and turned toward Saul—only to stop mid-sentence when he saw Saul’s left hand.

“Uh… What happened to your hand?”

(End of Chapter)

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