Diary of a Dead Wizard
Chapter 438: Elf Skin and the Black Iron Coffin (3)

After Saul walked out, Agu led him even further.

There was no one within a hundred meters around them.

Only then did Agu quietly ask Saul, "Master, did you see my two souls in the library?"

Agu tightly clasped his hands together, visibly uneasy.

Before the Wizard Tower collapsed, he had gone to the library once but hadn’t seen his other two souls. Now that the Wizard Tower had fallen, he followed Kaz to clean up the ruins but still hadn’t found the middle-aged and elderly administrators. This made him very anxious.

Could the two of them have been affected by the chaotic layers during the riot? Could they have been eaten by the powerful vengeful spirits in those layers?

To allow him to come out and find Saul, the other two had almost given all their strength to him. Now, without the protection of the library, they might not be able to handle a regular vengeful spirit!

The more Agu thought about it, the more nervous he became. But when he looked up, he found Saul staring off into the distance with a vacant look in his eyes, as if lost in thought.

"Master?" Agu asked cautiously.

"Huh?" Saul snapped back to reality, touching his nose. "Don’t worry, all the vengeful spirits from the Wizard Tower... they’re all with me."

"??" Agu suddenly realized that Saul, being able to directly absorb vengeful spirits without being tainted by their evil thoughts, might have... really consumed all those spirits from the Wizard Tower?

Even if he couldn’t be polluted, wouldn’t he have gotten sick from eating so many? Wouldn’t it have killed him?

Saul saw the shocked expression on Agu’s face and immediately understood where his thoughts were going.

"It’s not what you think," Saul said. "You remember how I went through the Bronze Gate to delay the collapse of the Wizard Tower, right?"

Agu nodded.

"Later, Master Gorsa came in. There, he... gave me the true core of the Wizard Tower."

"The true core of the Wizard Tower?" Agu was somewhat shocked.

Clearly, even after being a vengeful spirit in the Wizard Tower for hundreds of years, Agu had no idea what the core of the Wizard Tower was.

Saul didn’t elaborate further; instead, he fell into a moment of reflection.

...

"Do you remember I once told you that the structure of the Wizard Tower was based on the Rock Giants?"

In the bizarre, colorful world, Gorsa found Saul.

At that moment, Saul was staring blankly at a black box in front of him.

The long fingers that had led Saul here had disappeared.

Inside the world beyond the Bronze Gate, this black box was the only deep color in the otherwise kaleidoscopic surroundings.

The box was covered in cracks, rusted, and looked very old.

Hearing Gorsa’s voice, Saul turned his head, only to be stunned by the sight of a strange man.

But the voice was indeed that of Master Gorsa, so... had even his eye color changed?

Had he been tainted?

When Gorsa had teleported Saul and Keli away, Saul had understood that Gorsa had stabilized his condition.

Once he fully recovered, even several First Rank wizards wouldn’t be his match.

Moreover, the diary hadn’t indicated any further danger.

That was why Saul felt at ease detoxifying Keli on the 20th floor.

He hadn’t expected that Gorsa would return and undergo such a drastic change.

Not only was the pink bandage gone, but even his eye color and appearance seemed to have changed significantly.

Though his appearance had changed, his aura had not.

He seemed gentle, yet his depths were unfathomable.

And... it seemed like he had become even stronger!

However, due to the difference in strength between Saul and Gorsa, Saul couldn’t fully assess the changes in the latter.

Gorsa was also gazing at the shattered black box. "This is the core of the Wizard Tower. You can call it the Black Iron Coffin."

A coffin? Saul had thought it was just a box.

"Place your hand on it and feel it," Gorsa said, nodding toward the box.

Saul placed his hand on the box.

Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…

Saul’s eyes gradually widened. "This... is a heartbeat?"

"You can think of it as a heartbeat. It was created using the life-infused Black Iron and some special, rare magical creatures, based on the structure of the Rock Giants. Though it’s called a coffin, it’s... well," Gorsa paused with a slight smile, "it is indeed a coffin. Many lives are buried within it."

With a single wave of his hand, the colorful halos around them began to expand and contract violently, twisting and distorting.

Then, within these colors, black substances suddenly began to extricate themselves.

These things were thick and foul-smelling, with faint murmurs and groans emanating from within.

If they had been ordinary wizard apprentices, just the sight of these things would have been enough to traumatize their spiritual bodies, with weaker ones possibly being directly polluted.

The black substances seemed to be drawn by some kind of force and all slithered into the damaged Black Iron Coffin.

Once all the black substances had entered the Black Iron Coffin, the surrounding swirling colors suddenly quieted down, as if they had lost their life.

Gorsa extended his hand and gripped the floating Black Iron Coffin. His brows furrowed sharply, then slowly relaxed. He then handed the Black Iron Coffin, small enough to be held with one hand, to Saul.

"I originally intended to leave the entire Wizard Tower to you. But I thought, instead of using someone else’s things, you'd probably prefer having your own Wizard Tower."

"My own... Wizard Tower?" Saul stretched out both hands, looking down at the Black Iron Coffin that Gorsa had placed in his palm.

The Black Iron Coffin, originally larger than his palm, suddenly began to shrink when it fell into his hands.

As its size compressed, the cracks on its surface closed due to the pressure, and the rust fell off.

It eventually transformed into a small iron block that could be firmly held in a fist.

"This is the core of the Wizard Tower, and also its embryo. Of course, it's no longer as pure as before. It contains all the vengeful spirits from the layered sections, as well as the spirits from places like the library," Gorsa retracted his hand. "But it may not be a bad thing for you. After all, heh, you’ve already started stealing from home, haven’t you?"

"Uh..." Saul was at a loss for words.

He considered himself quite courteous; at the very least, he hadn’t emptied the candle’s pipe the moment he realized he could directly absorb fragments of vengeful spirits.

"The Wizard Tower probably can’t be saved," Gorsa said, somewhat nostalgic but not sorrowful. "After I leave, you can freely distribute whatever’s left in the Wizard Tower. If you don’t mind, you can leave something for Kaz. That old man... he’s a bit too naive."

"I understand, Master." Saul gripped the Black Iron Coffin tightly with his right hand. "But Master, how do I turn this into my own Wizard Tower?"

"Find a suitable place, plant it. It will connect with your spiritual body based on the materials you provide and become your sanctuary. Of course, it might occasionally become a burden, like it did for me."

Gorsa slowly turned around, his platinum eyes fixed firmly on Saul.

His gaze still put immense pressure on Saul.

"Saul, if you’re not satisfied with just being a First Rank wizard, if you want to explore more profound and soul-related secrets, if you want the power to speak your mind in the future... I suggest you build your Wizard Tower in the Borderland."

Saul looked up, blinking.

The Borderland?

Is that the place where even true wizards have to tread carefully, filled with death and corruption?

...

Coming out of his recollections, Saul raised his right hand, showing Agu the Black Iron Block in his palm.

"They are here. Once I rebuild my Wizard Tower, I will reunite you with the other two soul fragments."

Not only that, Saul intended to have Agu merge with the other two souls and return to his complete, original self.

The original Agu had lived through the previous and current masters of the Wizard Tower, but due to the long-term soul fragmentation, he had lost many important memories.

If Saul could restore Agu’s memories, he would certainly help him in the future to establish a new Wizard Tower.

After comforting Agu, Saul returned to the underground laboratory.

Keli’s condition had stabilized, and the rest of the progress would have to depend on her.

Things like the locator device, of course, had to be researched and created by her, as it would be the most suitable for her.

He just didn’t know what she would turn into in the future.

A walking heavy metal?

(End of chapter)