InkQuillWrites

Saul fixed his remaining right eye on Hayden, watching as the color drained from his face. From what Saul knew, Hayden had been hiding in the morgue, avoiding classes, research, and progress—probably just waiting until he turned thirty so he could leave the Wizard Tower and live a free, low-profile life. But reality wasn’t as simple as he had imagined. Now, the reclusive Hayden had finally come face-to-face with a truth he had never understood. His entire demeanor collapsed; his body wavered, and he placed a hand on the tool bench, scattering the neatly arranged instruments into disarray—just like his current state of mind. "I told you not to hide. Don’t hide, you coward. Now look, it’s over! It's all over!" Despite his pale face, Hayden suddenly spoke words completely at odds with his expression. Seeing him like this, Saul pinched his own chin, deep in thought. After living as neighbors for two years, Saul had long noticed Hayden’s personality issues—he seemed to have de...

Saul was very polite, but his attitude left no room for refusal. Hayden hesitated for a long time before finally agreeing. Because Saul added one last sentence outside the door, "Senior Hayden, do you know why apprentices who fail to advance to the third level before turning thirty are expelled from the Wizard Tower?" Hayden’s hand, which was gripping the door frame, suddenly tensed. He stared at Saul’s nameplate for a long moment before finally opening the door. "Come in, then. I’m not comfortable going anywhere else." Saul gladly accepted and stepped into the second morgue, a room that was almost never open to outsiders. The moment he entered, he was stunned by its layout. It was too neat, too clean! Unlike Saul’s messy experiment table and cabinets stuffed to the brim, Hayden’s morgue was as tidy and spotless as... an exhibition hall? The walls at the far end were lined with display cabinets, stretching from floor to ceiling. Each cabinet had glass doors, allowin...

Saul suddenly stood up, the chair behind him crashing to the ground with a loud "clang." Angela, who had already been distracted, was startled. A pair of clear, watery eyes peeked out from above the book pages, flickering like a frightened fawn. She was fifteen years old, just beginning to show the grace of a young woman, and stood out among the group of wizard apprentices due to her striking appearance. Unfortunately, beauty had no value in the world of wizards, and weakness only served as an invitation for others to attack. Watching Saul step around the experiment table and approach her one step at a time, Angela’s expression shifted from confusion to wariness. She stood up, gripping a black short wand in her hand. "Saul, what do you want?" Saul’s face was dark and sullen as he stared at Angela’s exposed, fair neck without responding. Angela grew even more nervous. Saul’s expression was completely different from before—it was as if he had become a different person...

Saul hadn’t seen himself in a very, very long time. So much so that he stared blankly for a few seconds before realizing that the person lying there was his past self. A nearly thirty-year-old, scruffy, dark-eyed corporate slave. To this day, he still didn’t know why he had transmigrated. Had he died from overwork late at night, or had he collapsed from alcohol poisoning? His memories before arriving in this world felt as if they had been plundered—everything was hazy, like a dream. "So, what I fear is my past life’s death? Is there something particularly terrifying in the memories I’ve forgotten?" Inside the library, the white mist thickened, blurring his vision. "Time is limited, and the mystery of transmigration is clearly beyond my reach right now." Saul reached out toward the body in front of him. "Blindly seeking the unknown only leads to being consumed by it. Better to go with the flow." The moment his hand touched the corpse, his vision blurred, an...

Saul ran down the corridor. He had just created a new Dead Man’s Flower, and the moment he planted it in the hallway, he instantly regained consciousness. Yet, this time, the dream did not end. Finally, someone had discovered his crimes and was now chasing him down. That terrifying hunter had already raised his bow, ready to loose the arrow at any moment. Saul was forced onto a ramp, but another figure emerged at the top. The person blocking his path had only half a face, making Saul, who was sprinting at full speed, almost stumble and fall. It was Kongsha—someone he hadn’t seen in a long time! “Got you,” Kongsha’s red lips curved into a faint smile. Saul turned back. The pursuer behind him, holding a silver-blue longbow, had a grim expression. The hunter was a Level 3 Apprentice. Compared to him, the seemingly terrifying Kongsha was actually the safer option. Saul heard himself chanting a spell at an incredible speed—so fast that even he couldn’t make out the runes within it. But as h...

Act on impulse. After confirming that the diary didn’t issue any warnings, Saul climbed up as if stepping onto another level. Soon, his head emerged through the floor of the fourteenth level. The lights were on—clearly, someone was inside this dormitory. A Level Three Apprentice’s dormitory was twice the size of a Level Two Apprentice’s. After making sure there was no danger, Saul fully emerged and started exploring the room. Despite its increased size, the extra space wasn’t used for luxury. It was as austere as a monk’s quarters. Those who indulge in pleasure can never become Level Three Apprentices before the age of thirty. Besides the usual living room and bedroom, the dorm also had a sizable storeroom and a compact laboratory. Just as Saul was about to enter the lab to check what its owner was researching, the diary suddenly appeared with a warning: "Don’t look around recklessly. Be careful, or you’ll be sealed!" "So, what Level Three Apprentices research is still d...

"Ah—" With a sudden scream, the desperate cry abruptly turned into a mindless howl. The sound pierced through his eardrums, and Saul quickly stepped back a few paces. The shrill cry, which had come so suddenly, was cut off just as abruptly. Saul looked up and found that Madam Yura's face had disappeared, but he simultaneously realized something even more absurd. His body had fallen to the ground with a "thud" right in front of him. Looking down at his chest, sure enough, the Soul Gathering Lantern had lit up again. His soul had been forcefully expelled from his body by Madam Yura's scream. Saul couldn't help but rub his temples. "So how incompatible are my body and soul that I can just fall over from walking or get knocked out by a scream?" Thankfully, he spent most of his time alone, but if this happened in front of others—if his soul suddenly detached and his body collapsed—that would be a serious problem. He still felt uneasy when recalling ...

The front-facing witch's face suddenly turned to the side, revealing yet another face beneath the hood. Judging from the nose and chin, it appeared to be the face of a young man. His features were sharp, with a prominent nose bridge—he was likely quite handsome. The man's face spoke, "I can trade with you for academic credits and promise to give you a pair of highly functional eyes in exchange." Having undergone several rounds of corporeal modifications, Saul wasn’t opposed to replacing body parts. But eyes—those were crucial and dangerous organs. Whether the man was after his eyes or the cocoon, Saul had no intention of handing them over easily. "I! Want! Them!" The witch's face didn't give up. She even began acting like a spoiled child. Seeing that face act coy was truly disturbing. "Quiet!" the man reprimanded, but after the witch fell silent, he sweetened the deal. "I can guarantee the eyes I give you will be absolutely useful. If ...

Although Mentor Rum appeared displeased, he still allowed Saul to leave. However, shortly after Saul departed, someone knocked on Rum's door again. "Mentor." It was Nick's voice. After receiving permission, Nick entered. A smile had been hanging on his face the entire time, a stark contrast to his usual expressionless demeanor. Rum glanced at Nick a few times and immediately understood his condition. "Have you almost fully absorbed the potion?" Nick's smile brightened. "Yes, Mentor. I can feel my emotions becoming more stable. I no longer have to suppress myself like before." To his surprise, Rum sighed. "You’ve been stuck at Level 2 for so long that I’ve started to doubt whether this path is truly suitable for you." "This is the path I chose for myself, Mentor. There's no need to worry." As Nick spoke, his expression suddenly changed, and tears began to flow uncontrollably. Rum was not surprised—he knew this was a neces...

Gathering all the materials took Saul nearly ten hours. Moving everything safely onto the cart consumed almost the same amount of time. In other words, by the time Saul finished organizing everything, it was already the early morning of the 30th. Saul rubbed his sore arms, aching from lifting and carrying, and set the cart aside. It was still before six in the morning. The East Tower wasn’t safe yet—it was best to wait until the candlelight turned white before heading out. Since there was still some time, Saul picked up a light igniter and navigated through the rows of shelves, making his way to the back of the corpse storage area. He hadn’t checked the number of lit candles today. The number of burning candles couldn’t fall below eighty-one; for safety, it was best to have more than a hundred. "One, two, three..." Walking along the walls surrounding the corpses, Saul counted each lit candle. "Hiss..." He had just counted the tenth candle when he saw it extinguish i...

Saul brushed past himself. He watched himself follow Kujin with curiosity, walking from his right side to behind him. As he disappeared from his own peripheral vision, the scene before him shifted again. Saul was still standing there, unable to move, but now he was looking at the back of someone else's head. He had been teleported to another standing position. As he struggled against the nausea and dizziness, Kujin appeared again, walking past Saul. This time, Kujin’s arm brushed against Saul’s shoulder, knocking him slightly off balance. Kujin immediately turned back, steadied Saul, and then continued walking. The next moment, Saul saw himself catching up again, even glancing at him. Each time he disappeared from his own view, Saul’s perspective would shift again. And so it went, over and over—Saul was repeatedly moved backward, watching himself and Kujin pass by again and again. Until the two of them had made their way through the entire crowd of corpses. Finally, Saul understood...

At that moment, the first man who had entered stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Billy. “Aren’t you going to do something about your brother’s death?” Billy, however, didn’t care at all. He continued walking inside, found a document, and began flipping through it. “If you care so much, you handle it.” The first man hit a wall but didn’t get angry. Instead, he asked with interest, “Any new developments in the tower over the past six months?” “Jero, you just want to know who else has died, don’t you?” A female apprentice who had just entered smiled seductively, resting her elbow on Jero’s shoulder. Jero pushed her arm off with a single finger. “Don’t do that, Rita. I only sleep with the dead.” Rita, a third-level apprentice, rolled her eyes. “Aside from Bill’s death, nothing major has happened recently. Oh, but Byron and Wright, who traveled with him, brought back a sailing ship. They exchanged it for quite a few academic credits.” Jero’s eyes immediately lit up. “A sailing ship...