Chapter 361: Finish Talking Before You Go Mad

Mark fell silent for a moment, as if pondering how to explain the changes in himself.

“Just tell him the truth. Or do you actually want to stay here forever?” Suddenly, a voice came from Mark’s palms.

Saul had long known that the mouths in Mark’s cracked palms had consciousness, but now it seemed that consciousness was surprisingly independent and rational.

“Are you a Wraith from the candle duct?” Saul suddenly asked.

Mark jolted and turned to Saul. “How did you know?”

“Yes,” replied both mouths on Mark’s hands simultaneously. Their voices were not quite in sync, creating a disjointed, echoing effect.

Saul nodded and answered Mark, “I’ve seen another one that crawled out of a trash can.”

An shifted her feet slightly, but since Saul didn’t look at her, she pretended to know nothing.

“Alright.” Mark spoke helplessly. “You are the Tower Master’s apprentice, after all. I suppose there aren’t many secrets in this Wizard Tower you haven’t figured out.”

Lowering his voice, Mark continued, “What you saw outside wasn’t the whole me. It was a fragment of my soul body that had been severed. The Elven Valley has now been sealed off. No one can leave. Kongsha said that among all the apprentices, only your mental strength might be able to solve the situation here. The others either don’t dare come, or they don’t care about the lives of those stuck here.”

Saul interlaced his fingers. “But when Kongsha sent me here, she only mentioned Veiled Crystal Essence. She didn’t say anything about you running into trouble.”

Mark froze again. “That’s impossible. The Veiled Crystal Essence was just the compensation we could afford. The most important thing was the distress call. I remember Kongsha used Monroe’s Seeker Split to send the message. Did something go wrong with Monroe?”

“If all he’d done was ask for help, I probably wouldn’t have come.”

Mark’s expression shifted with realization. “Right. That does sound like a huge mess.”

He looked at Saul, unsure if the young man regretted coming.

But Saul was thinking of something else. “You’re saying Monroe has two bodies? One in the Elven Valley and one in the Wizard Tower? And they can communicate thoughts between them?”

“I’m not exactly sure how his ability works, but it has to do with his locator. It’s also why he’s able to learn so many spells while still a Second Rank apprentice.”

Mark gave a bitter smile. “It’s also the reason he hasn’t advanced to Third Rank.”

He looked at Saul with unconcealed envy and jealousy in his eyes.

“Not everyone is as lucky as you, Saul. Actually, I’ve never seen an apprentice with a smoother path than yours.”

Saul lowered his gaze.

He understood. From an outsider’s perspective, it looked like his journey from First to Second to Third Rank had been nothing but a steady, upward climb.

But in truth, the challenges he had faced and the enemies he’d encountered were far beyond what his strength level should’ve been dealing with.

The reason it took him more than two years to go from First to Second Rank was because, back then, he had so few methods—his only means of increasing magic was through body modification and improving those modifications. Aside from that, it was pure accumulation through foundational knowledge and raw growth in mental strength and magic.

Once he’d built that foundation, he was immediately thrown into chaos, facing freakish foes like Morden, Ralph, Kismet, and Penny.

Even inside the Wizard Tower, he was constantly targeted by wraiths trapped in the interlayers.

Had it not been for the diary’s death warnings, he would’ve died long ago—his bones turned to ash.

But high risk brought high reward. Every time he barely escaped death, his mental strength would be enhanced through some miracle, and his magic would accumulate in turn.

As a result, his spellcasting always lagged behind his mental strength and magic.

Even though he’d already reached the threshold of advancement, he still had to go back and learn the foundational knowledge appropriate for his level.

You could say he’d been force-ripened. Whether there were hidden dangers because of this—how serious they might be—even he couldn’t say for sure.

Only those unaware of the costs would feel that kind of envy.

Saul didn’t want to explain.

There was no point.

Those who hadn’t lived it couldn’t truly understand. They wouldn’t even believe it.

Mark also realized he’d said something wrong. After a dry cough, he changed the subject and began explaining his group’s situation.

“Back when Kongsha got the key to the Elven Valley, she brought two powerful Second Rank apprentices here. But in the end, only she came out alive. Later, she gathered over a dozen more people to enter together.”

“Over a dozen?” Saul found that a little absurd. “Don’t you care about the legends surrounding the elves?”

If the diary hadn’t told him to come, he wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with elves.

Mark raised his head. He spoke with difficulty. “We knew. But what does that change? Kongsha’s clever—she found people just like her: Second Rank apprentices nearing thirty with no hope of advancing.”

“Unless we resigned ourselves to dying of some inexplicable contamination after thirty, we were all willing to give it one last shot.”

“I see.” Saul nodded. “Then why did you ask me for help? And how did you use Monroe to get the message through?”

“You’ll understand once you see Kongsha. But if I said nothing, you wouldn’t come with me.”

“I’ll make it quick.”

“After entering the valley, we started searching for the Veiled Crystal Essence Kongsha mentioned. But I knew she was also looking for elven ruins—that seems to be tied to her advancement. I also knew others were after elven artifacts. The more dangerous a thing is, the more powerful it tends to be. Wizards have always loved risk.”

“Following the path Kongsha took last time, we found two Veiled Crystal Essences but nothing more. Two pieces aren’t enough to go around, so we ventured deeper into the forest. Though some strange things happened along the way, there wasn’t much real danger. That made us let our guard down—we thought the Elven Valley was just a slightly tougher expedition.”

“But no one expected that just as we were about to leave, we’d stumble upon the elven palace.”

“The elven… palace?”

Weren’t elves all about nature? Why would they build a palace?

Saul shook his head.

The elves in this world were different from the ones he’d read about in books. He couldn’t rely entirely on old impressions.

He signaled Mark to continue.

“We were just as surprised. Of course, the palace had distinct elven characteristics—mostly shaped from plants. Even the tables and decorations inside were still growing. They all followed a predetermined plan, exquisitely arranged—no sign of overgrowth or chaos.”

“Everything seemed tranquil and harmonious. But after combing the place, we found nothing of value—not a single elven relic. Then, just as we were preparing to leave in disappointment, everything in space came to life.”

Mark shuddered violently and froze, stunned, saying nothing more.

“Mark! Mark! Mark!”

His hands started calling out to him, voice after voice, increasingly shrill, but none of them could rouse his consciousness.

Saul shot to his feet.

Mark’s state was clearly the result of a mental disturbance triggered by a traumatic memory. Voice alone wouldn’t be enough to snap him out of it.

At that moment, Herman suddenly spoke up. “Master, allow me.”

Herman didn’t want Saul to expend his mental energy recklessly.

In this place, it was impossible to soothe mental turbulence—spells had to be used sparingly.

But they, as awareness constructs, didn’t have that worry. If something went wrong due to mental turbulence, Saul could just recall them into the diary.

“I’ll try basic consciousness stimulation first. If that fails, I’ll move on to Cognitive Resurgence.”

Agu also came over. They both understood that what Mark had to say was too important—they had to wake him up.

Even if he was going to go mad, he had to finish talking first.

Mark’s arms hung limp. The mouths in his palms were trembling uncontrollably under immense pressure.

(End of Chapter)

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