Chapter 74: Explaining What a Locator Is with an Example

Rum extended both hands toward the small window and chanted a spell.

With a bang, the black window slammed shut, instantly dimming the room by several degrees.

Immediately afterward, the window expanded outward, stretching across the entire outer wall of the "room."

Saul watched the transformation unfold before him and momentarily forgot to breathe.

Like opening a surprise gift, the black window slowly tilted outward.

Sunlight seeped through the cracks and gradually widened, spilling into the room bit by bit until it filled the entire space.

The sunlight was somewhat dazzling, but Saul was reluctant to blink.

Beside him, Mentor Rum said, "Go take a look."

Saul cautiously dragged his feet toward the window, inching closer as the scenery outside slowly came into view.

In the farthest distance, the sky was a clear, deep blue, with drifting clouds carried by the wind. The sun hung slightly askew above, its halo making it impossible to gaze at for too long.

Beneath the sky lay black mountain ranges, undulating endlessly. Dense forests filled the valleys between the peaks, stretching onto the plains nearby.

Scattered villages and winding mountain roads appeared within the forested landscape. The closer terrain was an open plain, barren of any human or animal presence.

The world was so tranquil that it resembled a painting.

"Hello, new world," Saul greeted it in his heart.

Suddenly, a sharp cry shattered the peace.

A dark shadow streaked across the sky above him, soaring into the distance.

Saul looked up and saw an enormous bird slicing through the wind at incredible speed, disappearing into the clouds.

It seemed like someone was standing on its back.

This sudden shift snapped Saul back to reality, reminding him that he was not looking at a serene countryside but at an extraordinary world where wizards and powerful forces existed.

"Beautiful, isn't it? Take a closer look," Rum suggested from behind.

Saul’s gaze gradually lowered. The deep green plain began to fade, revealing patches of brownish-yellow soil, then scorched yellow, and finally a mixture of black and charred terrain.

As he looked down further, he saw that just dozens of meters below him was a bubbling, churning swamp.

Occasionally, bones and weeds surfaced with the bursting bubbles, only to be swallowed back into the mire after brief struggles.

A few broken corpses floated on the swamp’s surface.

Some faced upward, some downward, others with their feet above the murky water. They drifted aimlessly, bobbing along with the thick, sludgy waves.

Suddenly, a black, mud-covered tentacle silently emerged, wrapping around one of the corpses and slowly pulling it downward.

The corpse, of course, did not resist, sinking gradually into the mire.

As the tentacle disappeared, Saul had a fleeting sensation of something cold and slithering brushing against his skin.

Where exactly was the Gorsa Wizard Tower located? Why was there a swamp beneath it, brimming with corpses and monsters?

Would the apprentices studying wizardry here eventually sink into the mire, or would they rise with the wind?

The beauty and tranquility were gone, replaced by unease and fear creeping into Saul’s heart.

Rum's voice sounded again from behind him.

"Scary, isn’t it? Now look at your feet."

Saul instinctively looked down, and his pupils constricted sharply.

At some point, he had unknowingly stepped to the very edge of the black window.

In fact, most of his right foot was already hanging over the edge!

In the next second, he would plummet down, joining the floating corpses in the swamp.

Saul snapped back to his senses, yanking his right foot back and stumbling backward, retreating all the way to the far end of the room until his back slammed against the wall with a "thud."

Rum chuckled twice at Saul’s frightened reaction.

He leaned forward, and a mass of flesh oozed toward Saul’s feet, radiating warmth.

Then, he reached out his palm and covered Saul’s eyes.

"Beauty and fear both tempt you toward the abyss. A locator is like the black window—it supports your spiritual form when you are lost. But remember, a locator can only delay your collapse. In the end, you must sort out your own consciousness to remain lucid."

When Rum lifted his hand again, the room had returned to its original state. The massive outer wall had shrunk back into a one-meter-square window, its black glass swung open, allowing a single beam of light to peek inside…

Saul had been truly terrified just now.

It wasn’t the distant mountains or the soaring birds that scared him, nor was it the swamp full of bones.

What frightened him most was that he still had no idea how he had stepped outside the window in the first place.

In his memory, he had merely leaned closer to the window.

Yet, this experience, combined with his previous modifications, deepened Saul’s understanding of locators.

Locators help wizards recognize their own existence, preventing them from getting lost between the known and the unknown.

However, their abilities are ultimately limited. If one blindly relies on a locator without controlling their desires, they will eventually exceed its protective range—either ending up as a pile of flesh or transforming into something else entirely.

Moreover, a locator is highly personal information. Understanding someone else’s locator could mean holding their fatal weakness. As such, inquiring about another person's locator is considered a taboo.

Saul was still deep in thought when Rum's voice drifted over.

"I personally explained half a lesson to you, and you’re not even my apprentice. Hmm, let’s call it 10 academic credits."

Mentor, you’re robbing me!

Saul gaped at him.

"Or, you could work for me for ten days?"

Saul shut his mouth.

So this was what it was all about.

He recalled the conversation between Mentor Kaz and Rum when Kaz had brought him here—it had been about Saul helping Rum with some tasks.

Since that was the case, Saul saw no reason to refuse.

But there was one condition he had to clarify.

"Mentor Rum, I’ve only been studying for three months. I don’t know what I can do."

Rum's eyes widened. "Now you remember you’re a newbie? Look at what you’ve done—is that something a newbie should be doing?"

His belly bulged like a toad.

"Go to the second laboratory on the fourteenth floor and find Nick. Oh, and have him deal with that evil spirit on you."

This was serious business!

Saul immediately straightened up. "Thank you, Mentor Rum. I’ll go right away!"

Without hesitation, he bowed respectfully to Rum and strode out.

Just as he reached for the curtain covering the doorway, Rum's voice came again.

"Before you advance to a second-level apprentice, think carefully. Choosing an attribute that doesn’t suit you can be a painful thing."

Saul froze. Rum's words sounded like they came from personal experience.

Did that mean Rum didn’t actually like his current field of research?

Saul lifted the curtain and stepped out, glancing back one last time.

Inside, the candlelight had dimmed, leaving only a single beam of light streaming in.

Like a mountain of flesh, Mentor Rum sat in the shadows.

Everything was obscured.

The heavy curtain soon stopped swaying, blocking Saul’s view completely.

After leaving Mentor Rum’s room, Saul hurried toward the laboratory.

He had already felt that the nightmare issue couldn’t be delayed. Even if Mentor Rum hadn’t helped him today, he would have gone to find Senior Byron or someone else.

The good news was that, in Mentor Rum’s eyes, dealing with this vengeful spirit was a trivial matter. He didn’t even bother to take action himself—he simply assigned a senior apprentice to help Saul.

“Hopefully, that senior is easy to talk to.” Saul thought to himself.

Leaving Rum’s room, he quickly made his way toward the ramp. The mentor’s floor was much quieter than the apprentices’ levels.

The three Level-2 apprentices who had been waiting at the door earlier were nowhere to be seen.

As Saul walked through the dimly lit corridor, illuminated only by bright candlelight, a strange thought suddenly crossed his mind.

This Wizard Tower imprisoned the servants. It imprisoned the apprentices.

Did it imprison others as well?

Was the only truly free person the tower’s master—the one Saul had once jokingly called “Pink Lord”—Tower Lord Gorsa?

When Saul saw the Tower Lord today, he was wrapped entirely in a reddish-brown cloak and robe. The only visible part of him was his chin, which revealed that even in private, Gorsa kept his entire body wrapped in pink silk bandages.

Was such a Tower Lord truly free?

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