Chapter 441: The Sky City Lord, Ophelia

Saul left the confused Little Algae behind and walked alone to the second floor to inspect the things it had brought up.

There wasn’t much dust on the letter—it was probably delivered here sometime in the past few months. The book wrapped in tree resin seemed to have been submerged in water; it still bore traces of algae.

Saul opened the letter first. The signature at the bottom was “Sander.”

He thought for a moment before recalling—it was that man who had hidden his sister in a box to avoid the ship fare, only to discover after disembarking that his sister had died.

But it wasn’t suffocation that killed her—she died in the soul tide at Blue Water Bay.

The contents of the letter were simple. Sander claimed he had discovered the cause behind the soul tide at Blue Water Bay and hoped Saul would come investigate if he had the time.

Sander was probably trying to ask Saul to resolve the issue at Blue Water Bay, but lacking the means to pay the proper price, he had chosen instead to dig up some secrets, hoping to lure Saul over.

To be fair, for the sake of his sister, Sander was indeed taking a great risk.

However, the secret of Blue Water Bay likely involved the gray matter, and the gray matter was the secret weapon Anze and the others planned to use against Master Gorsa.

Saul opened his diary in his mental realm.

“I’m so bored. Have you taken control of me? Want to make a deal?”

Currently, the only remaining consciousness within the diary was Lokai’s.

And the white writing on Lokai’s black page was already far less distinct than when it first appeared.

If Lokai couldn’t enter the mental realm and receive Saul’s soul energy as sustenance, he would completely vanish once his last bit of energy was consumed.

Though Lokai had only ever reached Second Rank in the end, as the leader of the apprentice Mutual Aid Society in the Wizard Tower, the information and knowledge he possessed were far beyond the average apprentice.

Still, Saul had no interest in making any deals with Lokai.

The diary would compel Lokai to speak the truth anyway, and Saul had no desire to keep this man’s consciousness around.

“Gray matter was discovered in Blue Water Bay. Did you ever find out how it formed? And how is it related to the soul tide?”

Saul figured that while Sander clearly intended to use him to uncover the secret behind the soul tide, he certainly wouldn’t dare lie.

If he said there was a secret, then there must truly be something he had found.

With Saul’s question, even if Lokai wanted to hide something, he couldn’t.

“The soul tide was actually caused by a great battle at Blue Water Bay a hundred years ago. A lot of people died, and some terrifyingly powerful magical artifacts were used, which led to the sea being polluted overall. Though there was some cleanup afterward, a vast amount of resentment and evil thoughts was left behind.”

“The lingering evil thoughts continue to harm others, creating more deaths—which is why the soul tide reemerges every few years.”

“Later, we discovered an enormous concentration of evil thoughts hiding beneath the sea. Combined with the fact that Master Gorsa’s condition was growing strange, we came up with the idea of using those evil thoughts to hasten his corruption and take the opportunity to kill him.”

Saul tapped his fingers lightly on the desk. “So Lady Yura was convinced by you all, and she used herself to absorb the evil thoughts, intending to infect Master Gorsa at the critical moment.”

“Yes, though it wasn’t exactly that we persuaded her. She had long since given up the will to live. She was willing to kill the very man who kept resurrecting her—Gorsa.”

Saul didn’t ask why Yura didn’t want to be resurrected anymore.

Ever since he learned that the heart-wrenching “Kill me” inside the puppet came from Yura, he could well imagine—living in a state between life and death, constantly used in resurrection experiments, could never be anything close to comfortable.

Maybe only the words “a fate worse than death” could describe it.

“You all discovered something was wrong with Gorsa’s body, gained Yura’s cooperation, then found the evil thoughts capable of corrupting him and used the Grinding Sound Fruit to conceal Yura’s anomaly… that’s when your reversal plan began. But it was full of uncertainty. Weren’t you afraid of failing?”

“Since we chose to become wizards, we must dare to take risks. The mediocre will never become True Wizards. Master Anze wanted the Wizard Tower, Mentor Rum wanted to split Gorsa’s corpse with Mentor Gudo, and I wanted to freely select Third Rank apprentices to cultivate parasites.”

Saul had to admit—each of those was a very tempting reward, enough to risk one’s life for.

“Seems like your harvest at Blue Water Bay was quite rich. The reason the soul tides stopped appearing frequently these past years—is that because you removed the evil thoughts beneath the sea?”

“Actually, the frequent soul tides before were due to someone cultivating evil thoughts. A tide every few months is far beyond what’s normal for the western Stat region.”

“Then where exactly do those wraiths reside, and what keeps making them stronger?”

But Lokai didn’t know the origin of the wraiths either—they were merely the ones picking the fruit.

It was just that the one who planted the tree had never shown up.

In the end, Lokai could only tell Saul where the soul tides were originating from.

At that point, his diary page had worn so thin that only a faint trace remained.

Though Saul hadn’t yet unraveled the mystery of Blue Water Bay, at least he now knew where to go for clues.

Finally, Saul pulled his hand away and asked one more question.

“Who else have you planted parasites on?”

Lokai didn’t want to say.

But he couldn’t resist the urge to confess.

…

The continent of Iskaper sat between the Stat and Nephret continents.

It was closer to the Stat continent.

On the northern coast of Iskaper lay a special archipelago—the Sky Island.

At the center of the Sky Island stood the legendary Sky City, known throughout the entire wizarding world.

As the name implied, Sky City was a floating city suspended in the sky.

Though its area was not large, it gathered the top wizards from all three continents.

It was said that unless one had the strength of a Second Rank wizard, they wouldn’t even be allowed to set foot in the city.

The City Lord of the Sky City was a Fourth Rank wizard.

And apart from those mysterious Fifth Rank wizards who might no longer exist in this world, the Fourth Rank represented the pinnacle of power.

On this day, Sky City’s Lord Ophelia held a secret meeting with someone in her White Glaze Palace.

“You’ve been stirring up trouble outside these past few years, and recently stayed in the western Stat region for quite a while. What—don’t want to come back and see me anymore?” Ophelia sat inside a transparent glazed vase, with only her head protruding.

Her body, suspended in the transparent glass, resembled a blended mess of crushed strawberry and banana milkshake—red, yellow, and white viscous fluids entangled and fused together, with no way to distinguish limbs or organs.

And in this White Glaze Palace, there were over a thousand such vases.

Kismet stood below, gazing up at the high platform. More like an offering than a guest, he looked at Ophelia with a smile on his lips, though his eyes were slightly dim.

“Of course not, dear Lady Ophelia. The reason I stayed so long in the western Stat region was all to gather more pages of Fate.”

Ophelia’s head rotated a full circle, the liquid inside her glass vase swirling slowly along with it.

“You said that as long as you gathered enough pages of Fate, you could find your original master. But by now, you must have at least four pages, right? Why is there still no sign of your former master?”

Kismet’s eyes dimmed further, and he replied helplessly, “Maybe my original master has been gone too long, too far away… perhaps these pages just aren’t enough for him to sense me.”

“Fine then,” Ophelia said flatly. “I’m still willing to let you continue trying. But just remember. I am your master now. Don’t go running off the moment your old one returns.”

Kismet’s smile became strained. He lowered his head and murmured softly, “I wouldn’t.”

Ophelia suddenly laughed. Her neck extended half a meter from the vase—had the proportions not been so off, it would’ve made a stunning swan’s neck.

“Your blood is flowing faster now. What’s wrong, unhappy?” Her laugh turned a little cold. “Do you not see me as your master? Don’t forget—it was I who awakened you from chaos!”

“Or… do you still want to return to being a mindless, unfeeling feather pen?”

(End of chapter)

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