Diary of a Dead Wizard
Chapter 472: The Dark Spirit Blade and the Eye of the Abyss

In the days that followed, Saul took part in several more missions with the Cleansers.

Each mission required at least three wizards. Although Bayton Academy covered a vast area and had a large population, there were few wizards with formidable combat prowess who also enjoyed confronting wraiths head-on.

Most people here preferred conducting research in laboratories. As a result, after completing several missions, Saul began seeing the same familiar faces repeatedly.

During this period, Julie came looking for Saul multiple times, but each time he turned her away.

It wasn’t that Saul was entirely averse to developing deeper relationships with other female wizards—he just preferred to steer clear of wizards who could stir up emotions so easily.

When Saul wasn’t out on missions, he holed himself up in his newly rented rooftop room, conducting experiments.

The frequency of wraith appearances in Caugust City was clearly abnormal. Saul believed it was being influenced by some unknown factor.

Thus, he began investigating the trigger that caused souls to turn into wraiths. He wasn’t doing this to solve the city’s underlying problems, but rather to carry out a long-planned experiment—Soul Armament.

The two abnormal soul bodies he had captured, John and his girlfriend, served as both experimental material and subjects.

John, in particular, stood at the border between vengeful spirit and wraith, making him an especially rare opportunity to observe the transformation process into a wraith.

Once Saul figured out what triggered the creation of wraiths—or at least identified the factors most likely to cause soul contamination and mental disarray—he could begin modifying the four consciousnesses in the diary.

Even Morden, the strongest among them, was still lacking in combat capability. They couldn’t cast large-scale spells, and the tiny amount of magic within their vessels wasn’t enough to sustain prolonged battles.

Under normal circumstances, this might have sufficed, but Saul was about to venture into the Borderland. He had to do everything in his power to enhance his combat ability.

At the same time, Saul also began studying the knowledge left to him by Second Rank wizard Jasim right before his death.

That little black worm hiding deep in his mental realm had always been suppressed by the diary and the mental platform. It wasn’t until Saul actively investigated it that he discovered its secrets.

After a few days of study, he discovered the worm was a highly unusual soul fragment. It worked by splitting off a portion of one’s own soul, using it to carry a piece of consciousness into another person’s mental realm.

Through this method, the inheritor could instantly grasp certain knowledge—or come to understand some hidden truth.

But when Saul understood the principles behind it, he merely scoffed and felt no gratitude toward Jasim’s so-called gift.

The reason? This kind of spell carried massive hidden dangers, and the risks were deeply embedded.

Once Jasim passed the knowledge on to Saul, he himself lost all memory of that information. While he could relearn it later through external means, if no one reminded him, he might forget it forever.

Jasim had already resolved to die at that point, so he had no reason to worry.

But the spell posed significant risks to Saul as well.

While Saul could absorb Jasim’s knowledge through the soul fragment, he was also forced to take in Jasim’s other thoughts and intentions.

In other words, if Jasim had infused the fragment with even a trace of his own worldview, beliefs, or obsessions, Saul might slowly start becoming someone like him.

It was a subtle, gradual influence—at first, perhaps not strong enough to change the recipient’s decisions.

But over time, it would take root like a seed, slowly altering the recipient’s thoughts. If not discovered and removed in time, the person’s character might be drastically reshaped. A murderous tyrant might turn into someone who couldn’t help but give to every beggar they saw.

When Jasim calmly went to his death, Saul had already realized that the man must have held incredibly strong convictions.

And people like that—could they really pass on their knowledge without also passing on their ideals?

With that in mind, Saul decided not to absorb the knowledge directly. But that didn’t mean he was going to abandon the inheritance.

Thanks to the diary, he had another method—he filtered the soul fragment.

He directly infused the inheritance into the black page where Gudo resided!

The originally weak Gudo immediately grew several times stronger after merging with the soul fragment.

Then, under Saul’s command and the diary’s control, Gudo repeated the knowledge he had gained word-for-word to Saul.

As Saul expected, Jasim’s inheritance was precisely the powerful black blade he had once wielded in frontal combat—Dark Spirit Blade.

It was a formidable dark-element spell capable of striking both soul bodies and physical ones. Moreover, it could split into hundreds of fragments to attack multiple enemies simultaneously.

Of course, the fragments weren’t as powerful as the complete blade. But Jasim was a top-tier Second Rank wizard—just one fragment could kill a Third Rank apprentice, and several combined could take out a First Rank wizard of average strength.

It was an exceptionally powerful dark-element spell, and it was perfect for Saul, who still lacked a truly destructive offensive spell.

However, just as Saul was happily copying the spell’s rune structure, Gudo—having absorbed Jasim’s inheritance—suddenly began speaking to himself, completely disregarding the consumption of soul energy.

[Ah, so that’s how it is. I finally understand why the Tribunal sent people to hunt us.]

[So much manpower and resources, just to chase a few First Rank wizards…]

[Sigh, maybe if I had known sooner, I would’ve just gone back willingly.]

[No, maybe I would’ve gone mad with fear and started causing chaos.]

[Jasim was truly admirable—to know all this and still calmly hunt us down.]

[Maybe that’s the reason he became a top-tier Second Rank.]

[Without that kind of unwavering conviction, how could anyone break through the barrier between First and Second Rank?]

By this point, Saul had finished transcribing the entire, intricate rune structure of the spell.

He had filled over twenty sheets of parchment.

If he added his subsequent breakdowns and personal insights, it would be enough to compile into a full spell book.

But Saul didn’t continue. He stared at Gudo’s self-muttering, a trace of doubt in his expression.

“Jasim’s knowledge—what else was hidden inside it?”

[He brought with him the secret behind the founding of the Tribunal.]

“What is it? You seem quite moved by it.”

[The secret behind the founding of the Tribunal.]

Saul raised an eyebrow. For the first time, a consciousness in the diary had avoided answering him directly.

Was it because the soul fragment Jasim injected had truly affected the consciousness? Or was the consciousness itself resisting the diary’s control?

Either way, Saul had to get to the bottom of it.

“I order you to state the secret directly.”

[I… I…]

Gudo’s white script began to distort.

Clearly, he was struggling to resist Saul’s command.

Cracks began to form across the black page.

This had never happened before!

But in the end, the diary prevailed. Gudo’s writing, as though penned by a hand under duress, began appearing in jagged, stretched strokes, as if the hand had trembled violently.

[The Tribunal was founded because the Eye of the Abyss is expanding! To halt its spread, they—]

But Gudo’s writing stopped abruptly, because with a loud crack, the entire black page shattered.

Saul stared in stunned silence as the fragments crumbled into black dust, which was slowly absorbed into the eerie starry void within the consciousness.

In the end, he had failed to uncover the secret of the Tribunal.

It was the first time the diary had failed to control an awareness sealed within a black page.

And it made Saul finally realize the true power of the Tribunal.

“The Eye of the Abyss…” Saul murmured softly.

He recalled that enormous sinkhole on the far side of the planet.

It seemed to reach deep into the planetary core. Other than that, Saul couldn’t think of anything else that could possibly live up to the ominous name “Eye of the Abyss.”

“The Eye of the Abyss… is expanding?”

(End of Chapter)