Chapter 171: Ticklish Flesh

The sudden silence lasted for a long time.

Seeing that Kongsha remained silent, Saul grew anxious. His eyes were still wrapped in bandages.

"It seems my concerns were unnecessary," Kongsha finally spoke, but she hesitated to give Saul any direct advice. Instead, she phrased it more tactfully, "If you're interested in methods to strengthen your spiritual power, I can take you somewhere. There, you will surely find a suitable Locator."

"Locator..." Saul already had the diary, but he had yet to figure out how to turn it into his personal Locator.

If he could study other Locator methods, it might broaden his understanding.

"Kongsha, Locators aren’t easy to find, right? Is the place you’re talking about especially dangerous?"

"Yes! But only in dangerous places can powerful Locators be found. Saul, you are indeed… outstanding right now, but if you want to continue on the path of a wizard, you can't be satisfied with your current achievements. Sometimes, if you stop to rest, you’ll find that when you try to move forward again, you’ll never be able to catch up."

The eyeballs in Kongsha’s skull retracted one by one, as if they too felt the weight of her sorrow.

"Could this be Kongsha’s personal experience?" Saul pondered. "Sorry, I still need to think about it."

Despite his interest, Saul didn’t agree immediately.

Kongsha's shoulders slumped slightly. "I can give you the Locator method first. Even if you don’t use it, you can sell it at a high price to others. For a Level 2 Apprentice, Locators are always the rarest resource."

The demand for Second Warehouse jobs was clearly high. Saul hadn’t even warmed his seat before so many people had already set their sights on him.

Ferguson openly wanted candles, while Kongsha sought the Elven Whispers, No. 117.

The first item—candles—was something Kujin had mentioned before. It seemed useless but was actually of great value. If Saul took it out, he would be leaving himself vulnerable, giving Kujin and the others leverage over him.

The second item was something Senior Byron had warned him about—never touch Elven artifacts before reaching Level 3.

Saul found it odd. Their wizard script included Elven language, so why were Elven-related objects considered taboo?

But back then, Saul had been too weak, neither having the energy nor the qualifications to investigate.

Now, he had the chance to learn more. But until he was confident, he wouldn’t carry Elven-related objects around like Kongsha and Sid.

Just holding the Elven Puppet—an object that made wizard apprentices afraid to activate their spiritual power—was enough to pique Saul’s curiosity.

Wasn’t this a perfect weapon against wizards?

"Alright, Kongsha, if I’m ready within ten days, I’ll come to your dorm at our previously agreed time."

Saul wasn’t just brushing her off. If he didn’t want to cooperate, he would have given a much shorter deadline, forcing her to give up hope.

At 3:05 PM, Saul finally returned to the Second Warehouse.

He first checked the communication pen and found no new tasks today.

Then, he walked through the pile of corpses to the wall, confirming the number of lit candles.

91.

That number was risky. Saul quickly increased it to over 100.

He held up the lighting device and waited for a moment—none of the candles suddenly extinguished.

Satisfied, Saul nodded. "No wonder Kujin said the Second Warehouse is the safest place. This task is easy!"

The next second, he put away the lighting device and brought over a large box, placing it beneath an unlit candle.

Holding a beaker in his left hand and a small knife in his right, Saul climbed onto the box.

Standing at the same height as the candle, he used the knife to slice off a small piece of wax and dropped it into the beaker below.

He crouched down, set aside the knife and beaker, then stood back up and used the lighting device to ignite the candle.

No surprises—the candle lit up, but it was noticeably shorter than the others.

Saul glanced around the warehouse. Every other candle was of uniform height.

Only the one he had cut was shorter.

"The candles in the wizard tower never go out, and no one ever replaces them. So why are they all the same height, as if precisely measured?"

Saul jumped down from the box, grabbed the beaker and knife, and returned to the long table.

"I used to think some servant or apprentice was responsible for replacing the candles. But only I and the Tower Master can freely enter the Second Warehouse. No one else comes in, so it must be wizardry at work."

With that realization, Saul suddenly set down the beaker, picked up the knife, and ran back to the large box.

He pushed the box beneath a damaged candle holder, climbed up, and used the knife to pry the holder from the wall.

The base of the holder was nailed in with six long iron spikes, requiring all of Saul’s strength to pry it loose.

As it detached, the spikes fell out, clattering onto the floor.

Saul transferred the knife and holder to his left hand, then pressed his right hand against the wall, leaning in to inspect the hole left behind.

Inside the wall, beneath the base of the holder, was a one-centimeter-wide tunnel, dark and deep.

Saul cautiously moved his fingertip closer.

"Light Spell."

The warm glow from his spell faintly illuminated the tunnel.

Inside wasn’t rough earth or smooth metal piping, but something wrinkled and fleshy—like blood vessels or intestines.

At the bottom of the tunnel, there was a thin layer of dried white residue.

Saul immediately glanced at his left hand.

The base of the damaged candle holder he had removed also had a thin layer of dried white residue.

"Could these be the same substance?" Curious, Saul tried scraping some of the white residue from the tunnel with his knife.

But the blade was too wide, and the residue was deep inside—he couldn’t reach it without breaking the wall.

He considered fetching a needle or tweezers, but before moving, he muttered to himself:

"If I touch it, will it be dangerous?"

The diary remained silent.

He answered himself: "It shouldn’t be dangerous. After all, candles are everywhere in the wizard tower, and the rulebook only says not to extinguish them—it never says we can't touch them. My job constantly involves handling candles, so accidental contact is inevitable. Since the rules don’t forbid it, the candles themselves must be harmless."

With that, Saul stuck his fingertip into the tunnel—the diary remained silent—and scraped out some of the white residue.

As he curled his finger, he suddenly felt the tunnel twitch.

It was like a ticklish reflex, a slight contraction.

The movement was so subtle that Saul almost thought he had imagined it.

He reached in again—no reaction.

Then, he lightly scratched the tunnel wall, as if tickling it.

Suddenly, the tunnel shuddered again.

This time, he saw it clearly—the tunnel was alive.

And it had a ticklish reflex!

With a complex expression, Saul pressed the removed candle holder back into place. Of course, he still took some of the white residue, but he didn’t dare disturb the "blood vessel."

Back at the table, he arranged three samples:

1. A small piece of candle

2. The white residue from the tunnel

3. The white residue from the candle holder

He conducted a series of basic tests.

All three substances behaved identically—they were the same material.

"So the candles are supplied through these tunnels. That’s why they never burn out or shrink."

"And the Second Warehouse's candles behave the same as those outside, except they can be extinguished. Meaning… other candle holders must also have a living tunnel beneath them."

Saul suddenly shuddered.

"Are we living inside… a giant organism?"

In the cold warehouse, biological materials were neatly arranged—severed limbs, dissected organs—all meticulously cut.

Even their smooth edges couldn’t hide the pain suffered upon death.

"Is the wizard tower… a synthetic lifeform? Is it filled with the remnants of countless creatures?"

Countless creatures meant countless grudges. That’s why the wizard tower must never fall into darkness.

Because in darkness—dormant fears awaken.

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