Chapter 55: Love-struck and Research Fanatic

"Here you go!" Without hesitation, Rocky took out two magic crystals and slapped them onto Duke's desk.

Duke was momentarily stunned. He grabbed the two magic crystals, pulled Rocky's arm, stuffed them back into his pocket, and pressed down firmly.

"Hey, I was just joking. Did you really take it seriously?" Duke sighed and shook his head. "I didn’t expect you to actually like Jenna that much."

Seeing Rocky's reddened eyes, Duke quickly added, "Alright, alright, I'll tell you. You know how bad Saul’s temper is. When you meet him, make sure to talk things out properly. Jenna might not... In any case, stay calm no matter what you see. Don't fight Saul—you're not his match. If something really happens, come back, and we’ll figure it out together."

That strange tone made Doze, who was listening nearby, feel uneasy.

Saul’s skeletal hand was indeed powerful, but from Duke's words, it seemed like Saul had more than just that ability.

So why did Duke always say that Saul was useless before?

Doze glanced at Duke suspiciously but didn’t dare to ask.

After leaving Duke, Rocky wanted Dozer to come with him to find Saul.

However, Doze hesitated for a long time without agreeing.

He even tried to persuade Rocky not to be so eager to find Saul, suggesting that Jenna might appear soon.

But Rocky felt an overwhelming sense of unease. He had to see Saul immediately.

After hearing Duke's description, Rocky’s fear intensified. It was as if something was gnawing at his heart, leaving no room for thought—he only wanted to find Saul and get an answer.

That afternoon, Saul’s experiment was interrupted by a violent knocking on the door.

Saul frowned slightly but kept his movements steady, carefully adding a substance to a test tube.

Inside the test tube, the liquid began to spin on its own, forming a small underwater vortex.

Saul exhaled, picked up a tool with tweezers, and was about to drop it into the test tube.

At that moment, his diary flew out wearily, forewarning an imminent explosion.

Saul shook his head and switched to a different material.

The diary didn’t return. Instead, it provided yet another description of how he would die.

Thor set down the material once again.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The knocking grew louder.

Saul picked up a third material.

The diary weakly flipped a page, recording a new death scenario.

"Is this approach also at its limit?" Saul muttered to himself.

The knocking had turned into pounding.

Saul finally put down the test tube and tweezers, sparing his diary.

He walked to the door and, timing it precisely, opened it in the brief pause between knocks. At the same time, he swiftly caught the fist that was about to slam into his face. With a push of counterforce, the person outside stumbled back and crashed into the corridor wall.

A pained groan followed.

The person outside was Rocky—not Duke.

Saul was slightly surprised, but upon second thought, it made sense. Duke was too timid to knock like that when facing him.

Without hesitation, Saul cast a Tier-0 spell.

Demoralizing Gaze!

Rocky, who had been about to charge forward, suddenly froze. His lips and limbs started trembling uncontrollably.

Clang!

A small knife hidden behind Rocky fell to the ground, making a crisp sound that echoed in the empty corridor.

Thor glanced at the knife with disdain.

A wizard apprentice resorting to knife attacks? Has he spent the past two months at the wizard tower doing nothing but indulging in love?

"You... you..." Rocky, to Saul's surprise, managed to speak despite the spell’s effects. "You actually know wizardry?"

Rocky looked at Saul with a mix of fear and shock.

A guy who had given up on himself, skipped public classes, and seemed utterly hopeless—how had he learned a spell faster than Rocky himself?

It never crossed Rocky's mind that Saul might know more than one spell. That was simply beyond his comprehension.

Saul, on the other hand, was surprised that Rocky was so shocked.

Had he still not learned a single spell?

That couldn't be—Saul already knew four.

"Who sent you here?" Saul asked impatiently, unwilling to answer Rocky’s question.

At the same time, he took a half-step back, ready to retreat behind the door at any moment.

He didn’t want to get bloodstains on himself again.

Rocky’s answer, however, surprised Saul.

"Jenna has been missing for three days. I’m worried about her safety, so I came to find you."

Rocky seemed to have shaken off the influence of Demoralizing Gaze, though the sweat on his face still showed the terror he had just endured.

"Who told you I was here?" Saul glanced at the knife on the ground. "And why are you so sure Jenna’s disappearance is related to me?"

"D-Duke," Rocky answered weakly.

Duke again?

Since when did that idiot become a mastermind?

Most likely, he was just a puppet.

"You knew Jenna disappeared after coming to see me, yet you still came alone?" Saul stared at the boy—or rather, the kid.

Being under Saul's gaze gave Rocky a strange illusion.

It was as if he wasn’t facing a fellow apprentice but a powerful second-tier wizard who could end his life at any moment.

It had been less than three months since they became apprentices… Could the gap between people really be this vast?

Rocky's fiery determination was doused, and he finally understood fear.

He lowered his voice, his posture, and even his head.

"Saul, do you know where Jenna is? I’m really worried about her."

You’re already caught in a conspiracy, and yet you’re still worried about someone else?

Saul almost wanted to grab Rocky by the collar and show him Jenna’s corpse.

Unfortunately, the things inside the big chest were cleared out every night by the giant guarding the door.

Saul opened his mouth but only said, "Jenna is no longer here. You should go back."

What he really wanted to say was: This isn’t something you can interfere with. There’s still time to turn back.

But he didn’t say it.

Rocky looked up, his eyes reddened. He pursed his lips, having already sensed the truth from Thor’s vague words.

"Thank you."

He turned, staggering as he walked down the corridor, using the wall for support.

Watching Rocky's retreating figure, Saul closed the door with a complicated expression and locked it.

At first, Saul thought Rocky was just another pawn sent to him, but it seemed like he was merely driven by young love.

Regardless, the girl he was searching for would never appear again.

And the one pulling the strings behind Rocky and Duke—was it also Sid?

What exactly was he planning?

Pulling so many people into this—wasn’t he afraid of being caught?

Or had he lost his rationality after Brown’s death and decided to go all-in?

Waiting for the conspiracy to surface was agonizing, but with his current strength, Saul had no choice.

Sid remained in the shadows, making it difficult to address the root of the problem.

He needed to force Sid into the open.

Grabbing hold of Rocky and Duke—maybe that would let him pull the real puppet master into the light.

"However, Rocky's resistance to the Demoralizing Gaze is much stronger than Brown's, and he recovered so quickly."

Saul's attention quickly turned to witchcraft.

"Is it because the mental power of wizard apprentices is much higher than that of ordinary people? So the witchcraft that completely made Brown sink can only make Rocky paralyzed for a short period of time."

Saul recalled, "It was paralyzed for about five seconds. However, if the distance is not too far, it is more than enough time to kill someone. But if it is used to deal with a Level 2 apprentice, it may only last for one second."

Among wizards, it's really not very useful.

The experience just now gave Saul some new ideas.

His second batch of witch body-modification potion seemed to be stuck due to the insufficient efficacy of the base liquid, unable to provide strong enough medicinal properties, which prevented the potion from stabilizing.

It was like a Tier-0 witchcraft spell—its effectiveness was limited. Therefore, using the materials he had on hand, the probability of developing multiple modification plans was very low.

But right now, Saul had no other way to quickly improve his strength.

In the diary, he had already died countless times.

Fortunately, the diary seemed to have an endless number of pages, and so far, only a small portion had been used.

In the test tube in his hand, the underwater vortex formed once again.

Saul picked up a material that had failed yesterday.

The diary displayed: "You didn’t die in a particularly graceful way..."

Saul remained expressionless and reached for the second one.

The diary displayed: "You died a little more gracefully this time."

He was already used to it. He picked up the third one...

"How did you come up with this?"

A voice suddenly came from behind him.

Saul's heart tensed, but his left hand remained as steady as a seasoned veteran, and the potion inside the test tube remained completely still.

He placed the test tube back on the rack and turned around to bow respectfully.

"Mentor Katz."

This mentor was not responsible at all—he hadn’t come to teach Saul for nearly ten days.

But Saul couldn't afford to show any less respect on his face.

Katz picked up the potion Saul had just set down and examined it closely, while Saul glanced toward the room's door.

The door was wide open, and the lock was intact.

Well, ordinary locks probably couldn’t stop a sorcerer anyway.

After looking at the potion for a while, Katz put the test tube back with a hint of regret in his voice.

"This plan is impossible to succeed. At least for now, you're missing key materials and a live reaction feedback process. Many plans need to be adjusted based on clinical responses. If you're just guessing like this..."

Katz shook his head and turned to Saul—but his words stopped mid-sentence when he saw Saul’s left hand.

"Uh… what happened to your hand?"

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