Chapter 349: Long-Term Warning

Monroe’s face was streaked with blood, yet he seemed completely numb to it. Saul didn’t enter immediately. Instead, he stood at the doorway, watching Monroe hold up his hand—thumb and forefinger close together—as if pinching something invisible.

Saul nearly asked, “What are you holding?” But just as he opened his mouth, he swallowed the words back down.

Because he saw it—Monroe’s fingertips were ever so slightly indented, as if he really were holding something.

Saul took a step forward, his foot landing on the doorframe.

Even now, the diary offered no hint.

“No major danger,” Saul muttered, though it wasn’t as if the diary’s silence gave him any real peace of mind.

After these few years as a wizard apprentice, he was no longer the same greenhorn who had needed the diary’s help to tell apart white mushrooms from poisonous ones.

With his mental sensing and instinct alone, Saul could more or less confirm that whatever was in Monroe’s hand wasn’t dangerous to him.

But it was definitely… strange.

“Do I really want to take this thing?” Saul thought. “Whether Kongsha meant it for me or not, it’s bound to be a hassle.”

Even though he was confident he could handle what Monroe was offering, Saul was still weighing whether it was worth accepting.

He already had plenty of troublesome things on him, not to mention a mission that might end in five years—or any day now.

But just as he hesitated, a voice suddenly shrieked in his ear—eager, frenzied.

“Ahhh! Brother Saul! I want it! Brother Saul, I want it, I want it, I want it!”

A flash of silver light—and Penny appeared, landing on Saul’s left shoulder, shouting into his left ear, then hopping to his right shoulder and blasting his other ear with the same magical noise.

“Brother Saul! I want that thing! Master! Give it to me, I want it!”

Saul felt dark lines forming across his face.

“Quiet!” he barked in his mind.

The diary promptly flipped open in response, as if ready to stuff Penny back inside.

The crazed, obsessive voice vanished immediately, but the Nightmare Butterfly didn’t give up. It fluttered in front of Saul, tracing a figure-eight in the air.

By now, Saul had gotten good at ignoring that flickering silver light even as it hovered in plain view.

He stepped forward and entered the room, coming to stand directly before Monroe.

Monroe, after finishing his last sentence, stood perfectly still, waiting for Saul.

Saul didn’t reach out right away. Instead, he asked inwardly, “Penny, what is Monroe holding?”

“It’s Veiled Crystal Essence,” Penny answered. “Just like me, it exists in a liminal state between the physical and the conscious. Master, if you give it to me, I can regain a lot of strength!”

“Veiled Crystal Essence?” Saul had heard the term before, but here, it seemed to be referring to a substance—something as mystical as Penny herself.

“Master, you can only store Veiled Crystal Essence using flesh and blood. Any other sealing method you try will likely result in it being lost.”

“Is that because flesh and blood can make contact with it?” Saul asked inwardly.

“Not exactly. Hiss-hah, hiss-hah…” Penny actually started making drooling sounds. “When you store it in your flesh, your mind automatically recognizes there’s something there. Your nerves then relay a discomfort, helping you track it in both body and mind.”

“But if you store it in a box, and you look at the empty box and wonder for even a second if there’s anything inside—poof! You’ll never find the Veiled Crystal Essence again.”

“…Tch.” Penny’s explanation piqued Saul’s curiosity. “Interesting.”

No longer hesitating, he extended his hand under Monroe’s fingers and slowly moved upward.

No longer a rookie in the wizard world, Saul didn’t need Penny to remind him. He began mentally whispering to reinforce his perception.

“There’s a completely transparent object there. My hand is about to touch it.”

“There’s a completely transparent object there. My fingers are five millimeters away.”

“I should be touching it… now.”

Just as the thought came, Saul’s fingertips brushed something.

It had no temperature—or perhaps it simply matched the surface temperature of his skin.

But he could feel it. He was sure. His fingertip dimpling ever so slightly confirmed the contact.

Then he brought his thumb up to meet it.

From above and below, he mimicked Monroe’s posture, pinching the Veiled Crystal Essence.

Once Saul had a firm hold, Monroe finally released it.

“You’d best store it somewhere that makes you feel uncomfortable the moment you think about it,” Monroe said, pointing to his own eye socket. “That way, even if you forget its existence, your body’s subconscious will raise an unpleasant alarm, and help you remember.”

He sounded much more normal now.

Indeed—fear comes from the unknown.

But when you start operating on the same wavelength as a so-called lunatic wizard, you realize—they’re the sane ones. You were the ignorant fool stumbling through chaos.

“This was something Kongsha left with me the last time she returned,” Monroe explained. “She said that one day, you’d come looking for her. When that day came, I was to give this to you.”

As he spoke, he bent down to pick up the eyeball he’d just thrown away.

It was now cloudy and misshapen.

He didn’t bother brushing off the dust—just stuffed it back into his mouth.

Crunch. Crunch.

Some translucent fluid dribbled from the corners of his lips.

“She also said… crunch crunch… if you want more, go find her on the eastern cliff of Hanging Hands Valley.”

Saul’s fingers instinctively tightened around the Veiled Crystal Essence. A faint prickling pain came from his fingertips.

“Eastern cliff of Hanging Hands Valley?”

“It’s the Forest of Seasons!” Penny’s voice returned now that the silencing was lifted, whispering softly. “At least, that’s what we call it. The wizarding world usually refers to it as Elven Valley.”

Elves.

Saul’s heart skipped a beat.

Kongsha wanted to lure him into Elven Valley?

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Saul wanted to say.

But just as he made up his mind to walk away, the diary flipped open. On its white pages, black words began to emerge.

November 13, Year 316 of the Lunar Calendar,

Madness called to you—

You turned away.

Chaos asked you to dance—

You declined.

Pain served you a feast—

You folded your napkin.

Hatred bared herself before you—

You closed your eyes.

So when Life abandons you,

Do not complain of your powerlessness.

“…A death warning.”

And based on the language—it wasn’t an immediate one.

This was like the first fork in a major quest line. A single wrong choice could alter the entire ending.

This wasn’t the diary’s first long-term warning—but it was the first long-term death warning.

Saul grew instantly serious. The sensation of the Veiled Crystal Essence in his hand became even more tangible.

“I understand.” Saul stared at Monroe, trying to gauge how much more he knew. “I’ll go when I need to.”

Monroe smiled. “No rush. The snow’s coming. You’ve got time—go when it melts.”

Penny added, “The Forest of Seasons doesn’t have winter. So you won’t be able to get in during the snow season.”

Even with the death warning, Saul didn’t panic.

He even chuckled a little. “Perfect. I hate the cold.”

(End of Chapter)

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