Chapter 72: The Second Olive Branch

"What is this? A soul sealed within the body?"

Just as the severed head was about to break free from the body, golden runes suddenly transformed into layers of chains, sealing its seven orifices and pulling it back with great effort.

The head struggled, its strength waning, and was on the verge of being dragged back into the male apprentice's body.

Suddenly, it recoiled swiftly, then lunged fiercely in Saul’s direction.

During this abrupt motion, a small gap appeared in the restraint, and from the head’s tightly stretched lips, a desperate cry rang out:

"Help me—"

The golden rune chains tightened again, cutting off the voice abruptly.

That single plea seemed to have exhausted all the head's remaining strength. The golden chains finally succeeded in pulling it back into the male apprentice’s back.

"Hmm?" Rum let out a soft hum. He reached over to a nearby experiment table and picked up an oversized quill.

Dipping the pen tip into a thumb-sized ink bottle, he lifted it, revealing a drop of slightly viscous golden liquid clinging stubbornly to the tip.

Rum moved quickly, adding a few more strokes onto the male apprentice’s back.

The apprentice trembled, his face twisting in pain.

Yet, this very change made him seem more like a living person rather than a mere puppet.

As the rune array was reinforced, his expression gradually returned to calm.

Saul, who had been silently observing, also stopped his meditation.

Once finished, Rum tossed the quill back onto the table, ordered the apprentice to stand up, and checked his condition again.

"Monitor him for a while. Send in the next one."

The third apprentice was brought in. This time, nothing unusual occurred.

The process was swift, as if merely following a routine.

After all three had left, Rum stood in place, lost in thought for a moment, then suddenly beckoned for Saul to come closer.

Saul approached, feeling slightly apprehensive, unsure of how Rum intended to test him.

To his surprise, when Rum stretched out his arm and grabbed Saul’s shoulder, the first thing he said was—

"Have you been having nightmares these past two days?"

Saul's mind immediately flashed to the dreams—the sensation of lying naked on the teleportation platform, the sound of footsteps searching for him, and the pitch-black bottom of the platform.

Mentor Anze had said he was haunted by a vengeful spirit. Could these nightmares be a manifestation of that?

But if that was the case, why hadn’t Mentor Kaz noticed it?

"Yes." Saul displayed an appropriate amount of unease.

"Sid’s vengeful spirit is clinging to you. Looks like you made his death quite agonizing."

"I was defending myself… meaning I was forced to fight back," Saul quickly clarified.

Rum let out a booming laugh, stretching his neck forward—far longer than a human neck should be able to stretch.

"Well then, do you want me to get rid of Sid’s spirit for you?"

Saul froze, needing a moment to process the offer.

Mentor Rum, are you Sid’s mentor or mine? Are you sure you’ve got the right enemy?

This was the same man who had just been complaining about Saul killing his assistant. Why was he now offering to help?

Despite his confusion, Saul was an honest person most of the time.

"I do!"

Rum seemed very satisfied with his straightforwardness.

"Good. Then prove yourself. Kaz said you have an exceptional soul talent. He rarely uses the word ‘exceptional’ to describe anyone. Let me see just how exceptional you are. Tell me, what did you see in those three second-level apprentices just now?"

Saul took a moment to organize his thoughts before recounting everything he had observed.

Rum listened intently, his expression growing more serious as Saul spoke.

"This isn’t just talent… It’s soul intuition."

He reached out, grabbed Saul’s arm, and spun him around in front of him.

Then he retracted his hand, placing it on his belly.

His stomach rippled like the surface of a lake.

"Despite your lack of knowledge in arrays and runes, despite your shallow understanding of witchcraft, you can see through the surface and grasp the essence directly."

Suddenly, Rum clenched his fingers and forcefully tore a chunk of flesh from his belly.

No blood flowed from the wound. Instead, a layer of fat oozed out, sealing it.

Rum kneaded the flesh in his hand.

The lump of meat was pliable, like clay.

In mere moments, he had molded it into the shape of a small doll.

With his pinky, he fished two black, eel-like creatures from a jar and pressed them into the doll’s eye sockets.

The eels wriggled inside, disappearing into the hollow spaces.

Gradually, the doll’s color changed, turning into a pale wooden brown.

This… isn’t this the same wooden puppet the apprentices used to test their mental strength?

Only now did Saul realize that the puppet’s material was never wood to begin with.

He had even borrowed one for study before, yet never noticed anything unusual about its composition.

Rum tossed the newly made eyeless puppet into Saul’s hands.

"Stare at it, then tell me what you hear."

Saul glanced at Rum, feeling a little puzzled, but followed the instruction. He lowered his head and locked eyes with the puppet’s hollow sockets.

"Help me… Help me… I also… Help me…"

The plea for help echoed again, sometimes mixed with other murmurs.

As time passed, Saul’s face grew increasingly pale.

Soon, he found himself unable to focus on the puppet’s eyes intentionally, yet he also couldn’t look away.

This freshly made puppet seemed far stronger—and far more terrifying—than the ones stored in the cabinet.

Still, Rum didn’t call for him to stop.

"Kill me! Kill me!! KILL ME!!!"

A shrill scream pierced through his mind. Saul’s eardrums throbbed with pain, his skull felt like it was spinning inside his head.

He expected Rum to stop the test now, but the man remained motionless.

Saul’s mental strength had improved slightly since becoming an apprentice, but not by much. The strain quickly overwhelmed him, and his vision darkened.

Just before he blacked out, the puppet was taken from his hands.

The piercing screams ceased instantly.

Saul’s legs nearly gave out. He barely managed to steady himself by grabbing onto something—

Wait. What did he just touch?

Realizing what it was, Saul quickly withdrew his hand. A second later, and he would have sunk into Rum’s layers of fat.

Rum didn’t seem to care about Saul’s small gesture. He casually tossed the puppet into a nearby wooden barrel.

"What did you hear?"

Saul took a deep breath, feeling as though his brain had nearly liquefied.

"In the beginning, someone was pleading for help—saying ‘Help me.’"

Rum showed no reaction.

"Then there were some other phrases, like ‘I also want to’ and ‘It hurts so much.’"

Rum nodded slightly, preparing to say something, but Saul wasn’t finished.

"And at the end, there were several sharp cries of… ‘Kill me.’"

Recalling the voice, Saul wrapped his arms around himself, feeling the goosebumps rising.

Rum was about to nod again when his expression suddenly shifted. He lunged forward, grabbing Saul’s right arm in an iron grip.

"What did you hear last? ‘Kill me’?"

A sharp pain shot through Saul’s arm, accompanied by an audible crack.

His face twisted in agony as he let out a cry.

Damn it! So Rum really was waiting for a chance to break my bones!

But the next second, a white light flashed.

His arm was instantly restored—no pain, no damage. Even his headache eased.

"You really heard ‘Kill me’?" Rum’s face twitched, his fat jiggling slightly.

"Yes." Saul rubbed his arm, confirming nothing was broken.

"Was it a man’s voice or a woman’s?"

"A woman’s," Saul answered, noting Rum’s intense focus. "She sounded like she was in extreme pain."

Rum stared at Saul, his expression distant, as if seeing someone else through him.

Then, suddenly—

"Haha… HAHAHA… HAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

He burst into wild laughter.

His hands slapped against his massive belly, producing deep thud-thud sounds.

His entire body trembled, head bobbing forward and back while his flesh remained disturbingly still.

Saul took a cautious step back, afraid that Rum might suddenly explode like an overinflated balloon.

After nearly ten minutes of hysterical laughter, Rum abruptly stopped.

His large eyes locked onto Saul.

"Do you want to become my apprentice?”

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