Chapter 416: Shedding the Outer Shell

Although Keli was dissatisfied, she still moved quickly and efficiently as she tidied up the lab bench. There were a lot of things she needed to prepare all over again.

Halfway through cleaning, she bit her lip and said to Saul, “The soul toxin was something Billy researched. My Alpha isn’t any weaker than that!”

But when she got to this point, she still seemed a little dejected.

“It’s just that I still haven’t come up with an antidote. Sigh… Master said that if that’s the case, then I shouldn’t use it so casually in experiments.”

For any power that’s difficult to control, it was only right to treat it with caution.

Saul also understood Mentor Gudo’s concern.

He turned to look toward the corner at the far end of the room.

There, two glass spheres of differing sizes were sealed tightly, containing the Alpha toxin and the diluted Beta toxin.

Perhaps for a long while yet, they would remain floating quietly inside.

“Well then, it looks like I don’t have a reason to linger here anymore.”

Saul closed his notebook. After all, he was only assisting Keli with her research. Now that Keli’s project was halted, even if he wanted to continue his own part, he’d have to go back to the Second Storeroom.

That was his turf.

“But you guys are researching soul toxins—do you plan on using it somewhere?” Saul asked as he packed up, pretending to pose the question casually, even if he felt a little bad about it.

“My master specializes in the poison element after all. Now that the resurrection experiment has seen some hope, he’s turning back to his original research. I haven’t had a detailed look at the soul toxin yet, but once I do, maybe it could still be used for our project.”

Keli winked playfully at Saul, clearly not intending to give up on her adhesive improvement experiments just yet.

So, that night, the message quill in Saul’s Second Storeroom began to move.

The massive feather pen flew up, scribbling a few lines onto the paper below.

“Got locked up by Master Gudo for emergency research. Won’t be let out for at least ten days, maybe more. Luckily I redeemed a message quill from the registry room in advance. Let’s keep in touch this way.”

“You can redeem message quills too?” Saul was a little surprised.

He didn’t visit the registry room often.

In the past because he was too poor; now because he was too rich.

These days, he gets most of his materials straight from the storeroom. If the Second Storeroom didn’t have it, he went to the First.

Though the First Storeroom managed by Haywood wasn’t as valuable, it was open to all mentors and apprentices and had a very complete stock of materials.

Saul grabbed the message quill, which was about to return to its place, spun it in his hand a couple times, stuffed it into his compressed pouch, and then tossed it back a few seconds later.

“Not bad. I’ll go apply for one too.”

With Keli’s experiment going underground, Saul began publicly testing the compatibility between Blue Water Soul and rejection-delaying potions, while privately continuing his investigation into the Blue Water Soul’s internal nature.

But after several days, there still hadn’t been much progress.

Another night came. After setting aside his materials, Saul looked over to the shelf where Senior Byron was stored.

“If the senior wasn’t still recovering, I’d call him out to discuss things.”

Byron had single-handedly developed the gray matter potion, so his expertise in this area was undoubtedly deeper than Saul’s.

Saul pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d been running nonstop these past few days, going without sleep, relying entirely on meditation. His brain was starting to go numb.

Tonight, he needed a proper rest—to recharge—so that tomorrow he could leave the tower and retrieve Agu’s consciousness, place it in a vessel, and continue with the experiments.

Saul had personally tried the gray matter potion. Normally, he wouldn’t have taken that step unless he had no other choice, but with the experiment at a standstill, he had to blaze a new trail.

After a quick wash-up, he lay down on his single bed, intending to get a good night’s sleep.

But tonight’s rest was doomed to be a fitful one.

Sometime before midnight, while Saul was still under Penny’s influence dreaming that the sky is the first, the earth is second and he is the third, he suddenly sensed something off.

Saul’s eyeballs shifted slightly, but he didn’t open them.

At the same time, Penny whispered in his mind, “Brother Saul, someone’s approaching!”

“Got it. Don’t alert them just yet.”

In an instant, Saul’s brain snapped fully awake, but he maintained the appearance of being asleep.

A spirit had just poked its head into the Second Storeroom through the interlayer—then quickly withdrew.

“Are they trying to confirm what I’m doing? If I pretend I didn’t notice, will they come in?”

With the protection of the bronze doors, no one was getting in without permission.

And as far as Saul knew, there were only three people capable of slipping through the interlayer into the storeroom.

First, Tower Master Gorsa, but he had no reason to test Saul like this, since Saul wouldn’t be able to detect him at all.

Second, Heidi. While she probably wouldn’t dare launch a sneak attack on Saul again, a bit of spying wasn’t out of the question.

Third… was Yura.

After Byron had his accident, Saul had a feeling Yura had been paying close attention to his reaction.

After all this time, could she be here to test him again?

Saul wasn’t worried about most things, but the last thing he could allow was the discovery of Senior Byron’s presence on that shelf.

Right now, the intruder was only observing. If they made a move to come in, Saul would have to break cover, even at the cost of revealing his sharp perception, and scare them off.

But just then, Penny flew to his ear and whispered, “Brother Saul, she didn’t come in. She went deeper into the interlayer. I’m going to check it out.”

Penny fluttered up into the ceiling and into the interlayer.

Worried about Penny going alone, Saul immediately went out-of-body and followed her in.

Seeing Saul follow, Penny quickly flew over with a report.

“Brother Saul, she didn’t come in. She went deeper inside the interlayer.”

Saul didn’t immediately pursue. Instead, he looked up at the eyes above.

These were the same eyes that had dragged him into an illusion last time in the interlayer and tried to invade his mental realm.

But they hadn’t succeeded—Saul’s mental realm was guarded by stars on the outer boundary, and those stars devoured the intruders.

Ever since then, the moment these eyes made contact with Saul, they immediately looked away, as if terrified he might catch them peeping.

Their attitude had definitely changed, but at least now they didn’t try to obstruct or harm him.

After confirming the intruder’s direction with Penny once more, Saul carefully floated in that direction.

The interlayer was pitch black, filled with chaotic, misty impurities. Occasionally, an eye would drift past.

All in all, if one wanted to hide here, as long as they weren’t noticed by the eyes, it was a decent choice.

Saul carefully used the darkness and swirling impurities to conceal himself as he made his way toward the deeper parts of the interlayer.

Before long, he spotted a familiar black silhouette.

“Yura? Does she usually move around in the interlayer too?”

Just as Saul was puzzled, he suddenly saw Yura’s black silhouette begin to reveal her true appearance bit by bit.

Saul had seen her real form once before, but just that once.

Ever since then, Yura had almost always remained in her shadowy form—clearly, she was more comfortable that way.

This time, not only did she shed her black silhouette, she peeled it off like a skin and casually tossed it aside, letting it drift in the darkness.

Without the shadow to block his view, Saul could finally see Yura’s expression.

She was looking at the discarded shadow-skin with obvious loathing.

“Yura’s shadow form was made using Ivan’s body… Hm, looks like she doesn’t feel very grateful for the sacrifice made by Gorsa’s student.”

Now, when Saul looked at Yura, there was already a bit of disgust in his gaze, a bit of scrutiny, and the rest of his feelings were all carefully hidden behind a polite smile.

“She came here deliberately, first to check whether I was asleep, and then to come to the interlayer’s depths and shed her skin…”

“Shed her skin?” At that thought, Saul suddenly flipped open the Dead Wizard’s Diary and reviewed a few entries from the past days.

“Shed her skin? Shedding outer garments?”

“Resentment shedding its outer shell?”

Realization dawned on Saul. He finally understood which person the fourth entry in the diary’s long-term warning was referring to!

(End of Chapter)

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