Diary of a Dead Wizard

Time rewinds, back to when Gorsa was still undergoing his advancement.

Saul first sent Little Algae to prepare all the materials needed for Keli’s formula—having all the ingredients ready was the main reason Gorsa had sent him to the 20th floor.

Meanwhile, Saul himself quickly drew a mental realm formation on the ground.

Entering the 20th floor required passing through a bronze gate, and anyone else capable of getting in was either already dead or engaged in a deadly fight—no one would have time to wander here.

Saul needed to heal Keli, and every second counted, but with a few assistants, the process could be several times faster.

So once he confirmed that Keli could hold on a little longer, he immediately began summoning helpers.

All four souls were pulled straight from the diary.

As for vessels?

Frankly speaking, the 20th floor had no shortage of them.

Saul worked fast—within three minutes, the room was already bustling with four figures moving around.

One was preparing potions, another setting up the formation, another assisting, and one stood guard at the door…

The only one not present was Agu.

Familiar with the wizard tower more than anyone, Agu had been sent out by Saul to gather materials.

Just earlier, the tower had suffered an interlayer upheaval; its internal damage remained unclear.

And those vengeful spirits in the interlayer—no one knew what state they were in now.

To make sure Agu could return without being blocked by the bronze gate, Saul had kept the gate open.

Herman was stationed by the ramp to guard the entrance and keep unrelated people out.

Just recently, a riot had broken out between the 1st and 20th floors’ interlayers, claiming the lives of many apprentices, but most of them had been controlled and delivered as food for the noodle-handed entity.

A small number of apprentices had obediently hidden in their dorms and avoided wandering—those were the ones who survived.

But most apprentices weren’t that obedient.

They lived day-to-day beside bizarre dangers, and in the face of a tower riot, few were willing to simply hole up and wait it out.

So this group of adventurous apprentices became the second wave of casualties.

Still, among them, a few managed to survive out of sheer luck.

And that survival only made their adventuring spirit burn even brighter.

Two or three of them, upon noticing that the danger had subsided, followed the retreating arms and ended up at the 20th floor.

The one leading the group was a seasoned Third Rank apprentice. He’d once made it to the 20th floor by chance but had been scared off by the bronze gate.

This time, seeing that the arms were no longer grabbing people, he boldly followed them again and reached the 20th floor.

There, he found the bronze gate surprisingly wide open.

And in front of the gate stood a woman with a blank expression.

“Turn back. This isn’t a place you should be.”

Even though the three were moving cautiously, the woman at the bronze gate noticed them instantly.

The lead Third Rank apprentice wasn’t willing to just leave. He couldn’t sense her power clearly, but figured she wasn’t yet a true wizard, so he pressed forward under her gaze.

“There were tons of vengeful spirits just now in the wizard tower. We came to check if everything's okay, see if you need any help.”

“Help is not needed,” the woman replied coldly. “Leave.”

Now closer, the Third Rank apprentice sensed that her magical fluctuations were roughly on par with his. With two companions backing him up, he grew even more confident.

He approached with a smile. “Are you sure? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before. I’d say you’re the one causing the problem here.”

Herman suddenly stood, darting from the gate to the apprentice like a lightning strike.

Before the apprentice could even react, he felt a chill in his chest, and then nothing at all.

Herman dropped the corpse from his hands and glanced at the entrance of the ramp. The two apprentices hiding behind immediately turned and fled in terror.

Shaking the blood from his hands, Herman returned to sit calmly before the gate.

Naturally, Saul had noticed the commotion outside, but he had no objections to Herman’s handling of it.

His command to Herman had been simple: Keep outsiders from entering—politely.

Herman had done just that.

Not long after, Saul noticed Herman slowly retreating step by step into the laboratory.

He paused his movements and turned his head to look, only to see Herman’s limbs entangled in a layer of shimmering, silken threads, delicate as gossamer.

“So that’s why those people came running down from above,” Lokai walked in with a smile. His right hand was slightly raised, each finger connected to a thread-like filament, manipulating Herman’s movements. “So it was you who came back.”

He tilted his head to glance at the person lying beside Saul but didn’t recognize who it was.

“If you’re here, then it seems Master Anze ran into trouble. Let me finish what he started and take care of the one that slipped through.”

Saul glanced again at Herman, whose face remained expressionless and… innocent. Ignoring Lokai’s threat entirely, Saul simply lowered his head and resumed working on the reagents.

Ann, who was assisting, stepped forward. “Master Saul is busy. Come back later. If you're in a hurry, feel free to kill him first.”

Herman: “……”

Lokai: “……”

Lokai was a bit confused. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go.

Had subduing that woman so easily given him the wrong impression?

Alarms suddenly went off in his mind. He began to step backward.

“Since you're here, don’t leave. You might come in handy,” Saul said casually, not even lifting his head.

That confirmed Lokai’s fears—just like the way the vengeful spirits had abruptly retreated into the interlayer, something was going in a direction completely out of his control.

He might never have had the chance to leave in the first place!

Lokai immediately used Herman as a shield, putting him between himself and the others, and turned to run.

At that moment, two figures appeared at the entrance, completely blocking the way out.

One was Agu. The other—shockingly—was Byron!

“As per your instructions, I went to the second storage and happened to see Master Byron awaken. I thought you might need help, so I brought him with me,” Agu bowed to Saul from the doorway. He glanced briefly at Lokai, now caught between them, but said nothing more. “I’ll continue searching for the materials.”

Saul nodded, then seemed to remember something and asked, “Did you see Haywood?”

Agu shook his head. “The first storage is a mess, looks like someone broke in. There are only a few corpses inside now.”

Saul paused briefly. “Go on then. If you see Billy, tell him—if he doesn’t want the gray matter incident exposed, he’d better come help.”

“Yes.” Agu departed again.

Inside the room, Lokai, who was being blatantly ignored by everyone, was utterly stunned.

At this moment, he suddenly realized—he could no longer read Saul at all.

“How do you know about the gray matter and Billy’s connection?” he couldn’t help asking.

Saul didn’t respond. Instead, he turned to Byron, who was also looking a bit confused. “Senior, you’ve recovered?”

Byron entered the lab, deliberately ignoring Lokai in the middle. “Yes. But let’s not talk about me. Need help?”

He heard Saul’s words and understood that Saul currently needed more hands.

“Yes,” Saul raised his head again, though he still didn’t leave Keli’s side. “I could use some help.”

Without another word, Byron came over and lowered his head to examine the reagents Saul was mixing.

He glanced at the parchment beside Saul, densely packed with notes, and frowned. “Something involving metals… and toxins… this is?”

He took a closer look at the person lying in the stone coffin. “Is that Keli? She…”

Byron finally recognized who it was and frowned.

“She’s been poisoned by metallic radiation. The parchment contains the antidote’s design. The red parts are my revisions. But I’ve never worked with metal elements before, and my knowledge of toxic elements is limited to what I’ve read. Senior, can you check if the theory holds up?”

“I’m not well-versed in either field either… but I think your reasoning is sound.”

Saul nodded and looked at the notes Keli had left behind. “To save her, we need to first remove the radiation poison from her body. Only then can we remove the metal from her surface and treat her damaged limbs and organs. Keli’s idea was to use electromagnetism… but Mentor Monica is currently unstable… right, where’s Jero?”

Finally, Saul turned his head to look at Lokai.

The latter was now surrounded by Ann and Morden, with no path of escape. Herman, the supposed hostage, was utterly useless.

He stared blankly at Saul, unable to comprehend how things had reached this point.

(End of Chapter)