Diary of a Dead Wizard-Chapter 395 : Searching and Hidden Dangers

Little Algae, who had just woken up, had no idea what had happened.

It was merely playing around with the little butterflies it could see but never touch, just like usual—only this time, it actually managed to bite one.

Staring at the Nightmare Butterfly twitching on the ground, it turned to Saul, a little flustered.

Saul patted Little Algae’s head. “It’s fine. Penny… probably just got a little carried away.”

When Little Algae fell into a deep sleep after devouring the Veiled Crystal Essence, Saul had already expected it might undergo some changes. Being able to touch Nightmare Butterflies was unexpected, but not entirely surprising.

After receiving the half-elf’s gift, Saul himself had gained the ability to touch Nightmare Butterflies. However, aside from that, he hadn’t yet discovered any other uses.

“Alright, I’ll apologize to you on Little Algae’s behalf.” Saul picked Penny up from the floor, finding that although she was damp, there was no sticky, saliva-like feel—rather, it was more like tiny water droplets condensed on a windowpane in winter.

“To make it up to you, I’ll give you half a piece of Veiled Crystal Essence.”

The moment Penny heard that, she sprang out of Saul’s hand and shrieked, “A whole piece!”

Saul smiled.

“Fine, half a piece, deal!” Penny immediately changed her tune.

Still, since Saul needed Penny’s help for tonight’s Dreamscape Drifting, he didn’t let her absorb the half piece just yet—he didn’t want her overeating and falling asleep like Little Algae.

That night, Saul returned to the dormitory next to Byron’s and fell asleep.

For many wizard apprentices, sleep was considered a waste of time. Only when they accumulated a lot of exhaustion would they take a brief nap to balance their state.

Even though sleep and meditation had the same effect on recovering the mental body—meditation even being slightly more efficient—the feeling of waking up refreshed from a deep sleep was irreplaceable.

Thus, every apprentice still chose to sleep once in a while. Plus, thanks to the stewards and servants on the lower floors of the Wizard Tower, Saul didn’t have to worry about dream power becoming too scarce inside the tower.

When Saul opened his eyes again, for a moment, he couldn’t even tell if he was dreaming.

Because he was still lying in the same unfamiliar dormitory, and everything around him seemed unchanged.

But when he sat up, he realized there was now a pair of silver butterfly wings on his back.

The wings looked like silver metal, intricately worked and carved, yet when Saul reached back to touch them, he felt a layer of fine, soft fur.

Sensing the information emerging in his mind, Saul carefully controlled the wings behind him, making them flutter slowly. Once he felt he could move them freely, he began beating them at a high frequency.

He didn’t feel like he was moving himself, but the scenery around him rapidly receded.

It was like sitting on a high-speed train, watching fences and trees flash by outside the window.

The wings suddenly stopped beating, and Saul plunged into a bizarre, kaleidoscopic world.

All around him was a sea of shifting, blending radiance. Besides the colorful glow, he could see several small children sleeping amid the light.

These children, who had humanoid forms, were likely manifestations of the dreamer’s consciousness, and they seemed harmless.

This time, Saul gently fluttered his wings to move toward the sleeping children.

But as he got closer, he realized with a jolt: none of the children had faces.

Their bodies were normal, but their faces—completely wiped clean, as if erased by some unseen hand.

Perhaps it was Saul’s shock that caused a ripple in his consciousness. Perhaps he had simply gotten too close. One of the faceless children stirred, its blank head turning toward Saul.

"Not Senior Byron," Saul immediately judged from the mental fluctuations he sensed. Before the other children could all turn to face him, he rapidly beat his wings.

High-frequency wingbeats allowed him to jump between different dreams, different consciousnesses.

Slow wingbeats let him move within the same dream.

Though the legends of Nightmare Butterflies sounded mysterious and powerful, they weren’t without limits—otherwise, they wouldn’t have been chased so desperately by Second Rank wizards.

They harmed or influenced people mainly by subtly, gradually altering their memories.

Their primary method was Dreamscape Drifting.

When Saul’s surroundings stabilized again, he found himself facing two gigantic, opposing faces.

The faces loomed into the sky. Even after flying for a while, Saul only managed to travel from one mouth up to a nose.

“With faces this huge, it’s hard to even tell what they look like.”

Saul was just pondering how to influence them when one of the faces suddenly opened its eyes.

It seemed to notice Saul’s presence, straining to glance downward with its eyeball.

Then it abruptly opened its mouth, unleashing a gust that blew Saul straight onto the other face’s nose bridge.

And that face, too, was roused from sleep.

“This one’s not Byron either.” Saul confirmed quickly and, without hesitation, beat his wings.

The two colossal faces instantly retreated into the distance.

After that, Saul cruised through dozens more dreams.

He even suspected one of them belonged to some sort of wraith.

Tonight, Saul didn’t encounter anything overly dangerous—but he also didn’t find any trace of Senior Byron’s soul.

Despite Penny’s assistance, after exploring dozens of dreams, Saul’s mental body became exhausted and he was forcibly ejected from the dreamscape.

This time, he quickly sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.

For the next three days straight, Saul spent his days researching the gray matter potion, and his nights half searching for Byron, half sleeping.

Unfortunately, the distance between dreams usually had no relation to the physical distance between the dreamers. So even though Saul was sleeping in the room next to Byron’s, he still couldn't locate his senior’s soul.

The longer it dragged on, the more anxious Saul became.

On the fourth morning, Saul’s dormitory door was suddenly knocked.

Still asleep, Saul instantly opened his eyes and sprang out of bed.

He rushed to open the door, and to his delight, found Keli standing outside.

“You finally made it.” Saul breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly ushered her inside.

Keli had dark half-moons hanging under her eyes. She collapsed onto the dorm’s only chair.

“I’m dead tired. I had to make ten batches of premium adhesive these past two days. And I had to do it all in front of the Tower Master. My legs are still like jelly.”

Although Keli had been terrified when she first met Gorsa, after three days working under him, she had grown much more at ease.

This time, her legs were truly weak from exhaustion, not fear.

Saul had originally wanted to ask her about the adhesive anyway—that’s why he’d left the note at her dorm. Now he eagerly served her water and food.

“Could you give me the formula for the premium adhesive?”

Keli was still gulping water. When she heard that, she put the cup down and looked at Saul.

She hesitated only slightly. “Sure. Anyway, our master never said it had to be kept secret from you.”

With that, she stopped drinking and immediately grabbed the pen and paper from Saul’s desk to start writing.

Having made ten batches already, she could practically recite the formula backward.

Saul watched as she carefully wrote out the entire process, all while thinking to himself whether these materials might have any hidden dangers when combined.

However, the formula heavily relied on elements Saul wasn’t familiar with, leaving large parts of it a mystery to him.

So when Keli finished writing, Saul asked her to explain every part he didn’t understand.

Though not yet a Third Rank apprentice, Keli was incredibly knowledgeable, especially about adhesives and various toxins.

She patiently explained everything to Saul.

“Keli, do you think this potion has any hidden dangers?”

“Hidden dangers?”

“For example, if someone added a certain elemental material to it, could it turn into a deadly poison or something?”

(End of Chapter)