Chapter 400 : Anesthetics and Targeted Drugs

“This is the optimized adhesive?” Saul took the beaker Keli handed him, lowered his head to take a look, and said, “The color is almost transparent, with a bit of a pungent smell.”

“Yes. This adhesive actually mixes in a lot of special materials, including the Beta compound we just discussed, which are toxic. So when using the adhesive, it causes significant pain to the soul body. If the soul body resists too violently, it could cause tearing, damaging both the soul and the vessel.”

Keli stared at the beaker in Saul’s hand, frowning slightly. “But most of the toxicity inside can’t be removed, or if it’s removed, it would affect the adhesive’s stickiness. So right now, our research direction is to find a way to reduce the pain the optimized adhesive causes to the soul body, without decreasing its adhesiveness.”

She watched Saul take a deep breath and said, “If we can pull this off, we can move on to the final test.”

The final test—was when Lady Yura would personally step onto the stage.

If it succeeded, then the resurrection experiment that had taken decades would finally be declared complete.

Even if it wasn’t perfect, even if it involved some bending of concepts, it would still lift the shackles from most people inside the Wizard Tower.

Looking at Keli’s sparkling, expectant eyes, Saul only managed a soft “Good luck” before turning his head away, unable to bear it.

On the surface, the experiment seemed near its end—even Saul’s own preparations to “delay vessel rejection” might not even be needed.

But Saul knew it wasn’t going to be that simple.

If the resurrection experiment could really end so smoothly, then the gray matter shouldn’t have become Senior Byron’s death sentence.

From this seemingly stable and smooth experiment, Saul sensed a faint, creeping unease.

The calmness on the sea’s surface was just an illusion—the storm might be about to break!

When Saul turned around, he happened to be facing another experimental station, and Keli followed him over.

Thinking Saul was curious about the experiment here, she said excitedly, “This is a little idea I had—to separate the soul body and individually paralyze the consciousness. But I’m not really an expert on souls.”

She patted Saul’s shoulder. “That’s where you come in, genius boy!”

“No wonder you were so eager to rope me into the experiment. You already had a job lined up for me!” Saul tapped her nose “grumpily.”

Keli showed no sign of guilt. She grabbed a pen off the table, stuffed it into Saul’s hand that was pointing at her, and curled his finger around it, making him grip the pen.

“Please, please! If you can pull this off, I’ll even give you a surprise!”

“I’m holding you to that.” Saul chuckled, withdrew his hand, sat down at the experimental station, and started twirling the pen while flipping through Keli’s earlier notes.

Actually, the field Keli was trying to research was something Saul had already dabbled in, and he’d made some progress, too.

However, much of that progress was thanks to the Dead Wizard’s Diary.

Thus, when Saul saw Keli’s concept, he immediately thought of the black pages representing soul bodies, and how he himself had to replenish each soul body’s soul energy.

The Basic Knowledge of All Things also mentioned that the soul wasn’t a single, complete entity. It could be further divided.

At the structural level, a soul could shatter into countless tiny fragments.

At the energy level, after a soul’s energy was stripped away, a soul body would remain, and even the soul body could be further split. A single thought, a single memory could be separated out.

But a complete soul body couldn’t exist alone. It needed the support of soul energy to keep operating.

However, Basic Knowledge of All Things only introduced the basics; it didn’t cover any practical application.

And despite having read many books on soul studies, Saul hadn’t found any method to individually separate a soul body.

Only the Dead Wizard’s Diary had achieved this.

A soul’s consciousness body could exist in the form of pages, turning chaotic thoughts into organized, clear sentences.

The black pages could also integrate multiple fragmented souls, fusing their consciousness bodies into one.

Because the black pages needed regular replenishment of soul energy, Saul had once wondered whether they were something other than a simple soul body—some special form of soul.

But a normal, complete soul couldn’t just “replace all its soul energy” like a full-body blood transfusion.

Thus, the black pages were indeed a special way for a soul body to exist—one that could absorb external energy.

In short, the more Saul learned, the more he respected—and feared—the diary.

In many ways, the diary was absurdly powerful beyond reason.

Just like those “golden finger” systems in novels—you could use them, but you’d have no idea who coded them or what rules they operated by.

Saul stopped twirling the pen and looked up at Keli.

“You handle the anesthetic formula. I’ll try to find a targeted drug for soul bodies.”

“Anesthetic… targeted drug…” Keli repeated the unfamiliar terms twice, then quickly understood what he meant.

“No problem!” she gave Saul a thumbs-up.

Saul looked away, and happened to catch sight of Billy, sitting off alone and absorbed in something.

Using Transmission Magic, Saul asked Keli, “I remember Billy’s specialty is soul toxins. Didn’t you discuss it with him?”

He recalled that Billy had connections with both Lokai and Jero.

The last time Billy had been threatened by Heywood, both of them had stepped in to help defuse the situation.

Saul wanted to figure out whether Billy had played any role in this resurrection experiment.

Keli rested her elbow casually on the table and replied via Transmission Magic, “He’s not involved. He’s close to advancing. Ever since he surpassed his master’s progress in soul toxin research, he barely participates in any of the master’s organized experiments. He’s fully focused on preparing for his advancement.”

Billy’s about to advance? Saul had thought that aside from himself, the Third Rank apprentice most likely to advance next was Heywood.

But now it seemed that even among Third Rank apprentices, just like among First and Second Rank, the strongest wasn’t always the one who advanced first.

Thinking of Kongsha, Saul silently added to himself:

The strongest didn’t always advance at all.

Putting down his paper and pen, Saul walked toward Billy, under Keli’s slightly puzzled gaze.

“Ever since we left Grind Sail Town, I haven’t seen you. Heard you didn’t come back for a long time. Were you injured when you left?” Saul wore a casual, polite smile.

Billy didn’t stand up. He lifted his eyes to look at Saul, and the large expanse of whites in his eyes made him seem rather eerie.

He was even gloomier than the last time they met.

“Escaped with my life. Took half a year to recover.” He asked Saul, “What about you? I didn’t see you come out through the city gate.”

Saul replied earnestly, “The town has two gates.”

Billy didn’t quite believe that Saul had fled in the same way—injured, soul-body damaged, barely crawling out.

But he had no proof.

“Did you run into Lady Yura when you left?”

“…Yeah. Actually, I owe it to Lady Yura that I even got out.”

“Why was she there?” Saul hadn’t brought the Red-Eyed Puppet Doll with him on his trip to Grind Sail Town, and he had acted covertly.

Logically speaking, Lady Yura shouldn’t have known where he had gone.

“I don’t know why she happened to be there.”

“Was she alone?”

Billy fell silent for a few seconds. “If Lady Yura didn’t tell you, it’s not my place to say.”

Saul raised his eyebrows slightly, thinking: Now you remember to keep her whereabouts secret?

On the surface, Saul just nodded. “Got it. Secret mission, right?”

He hadn’t expected much from the start.

Saul glanced at the materials laid out in front of Billy. “I won’t disturb you, then. Best of luck with your advancement.”

He had just turned to leave when Billy’s voice reached him through Transmission Magic again:

“Saul, don’t get too involved in too many things. It’s unnecessary, and dangerous.”

(End of Chapter)

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