Chapter 393 : Soul Extraction

“What is ‘Gray’? What could make Byron go so far as to leave that word on his pen?”

While thinking blankly, Saul plunged downward at high speed.

As soon as he returned to the dormitory, he immediately grabbed his compressed bag and pushed the door open to leave.

“Ash… The thing Byron and I have both been involved with recently is the Gray Matter. Could it be that he found something abnormal within the Gray Matter? But if it were just that, it shouldn’t have attracted such a deadly ambush—unless he told the person who harmed him about his research, and the Gray Matter has some critical importance.”

Saul hurried up the ramp, following the turn upward.

Two First Rank apprentices were coming down together from above. When they saw Saul, they immediately made way, but dared not utter a word.

Since leaving his dormitory, Saul had been walking with his eyes slightly narrowed, looking like he hadn’t slept and had no spirit at all.

As he passed the two juniors, his pupils only shifted slightly, then quickly returned to normal, as if he looked down on them entirely.

The two apprentices, seeing that Saul had no intention of acknowledging them, quickly sped up their pace to descend to a lower level, breathing a sigh of relief.

But what they didn’t know was that Saul had already observed the fluctuations of their mental waves carefully through semi-immersive meditation.

“The frequency of their mental waves is very high, but there’s not much magic leaking. They’re very nervous—using low-level apprentices to monitor me?”

Saul arrived at the floor where Byron’s dormitory was located and immediately glanced at the nearby rooms.

Just as he stepped into the corridor, the door to the room on Byron’s left opened, and a figure stepped out.

Seeing Saul, the person froze for a moment, but still nodded in greeting.

Although he was also a Third Rank apprentice, he was one who had advanced using borrowed locator formulas. His talent and strength were average—belonging to the kind who could only assist mentors or stronger Third Rank apprentices.

Saul squinted at him, noticing that the other’s mental force was well-contained.

But that didn’t matter.

After all, how could it just so happen that every time I pass by, someone “happens” to come out?

All these coincidences… are just too coincidental, aren’t they?

Saul directly took a sidestep, blocking the man’s way.

“Senior, do you live next door to Byron?”

“Uh, yes.” The other stammered slightly.

“I have some business with him.”

“Ah, he… seemed to have gone out. I saw him leave with his pack today.”

Saul smiled. “I know. But I want to be the first to see him when he returns…”

“Then, should I… notify you if I see him back?”

“No need for the trouble.” Saul lifted the compressed pack in his hand and shook it lightly. “I’ll just move into your room.”

The Third Rank apprentice instantly froze.

But Saul didn’t give him any chance to refuse.

He directly grabbed the man’s sleeve and pressed his hand onto the doorknob.

“Open the door.”

The apprentice was utterly stunned by Saul’s move.

“B-but…”

“You can just find another room to move into. All the necessary materials can be collected at the registration office—put it all on my tab.”

“But I didn’t plan on moving—” the apprentice still tried to refuse, but when he looked into Saul’s eyes, terror suddenly swept across his face.

He was shocked to see Saul’s appearance changing bit by bit.

His figure stretched taller, his brow bone widened, and his pale skin turned a waxy yellow.

Every new feature was disturbingly familiar…

Before his eyes, Saul was slowly, piece by piece, transforming into him!

“Go to the registration office now and find a new room. Or I’ll use another method to r-e-p-l-a-c-e you.” Saul’s voice gradually deepened until it exactly matched the apprentice’s own voice.

The apprentice’s legs nearly gave out. Had Saul not been holding his arm, he probably would’ve collapsed on the spot.

He couldn’t tear his eyes away from that changing face, but under Saul’s pressure, he could only stiffly, with great effort, open the door.

Once the door opened, Saul released his arm and walked straight into the dormitory.

The Third Rank apprentice could only watch helplessly as Saul entered and immediately changed the room’s permissions.

Bang!

The door slammed shut.

The apprentice turned around in a daze and staggered like a sleepwalker toward the East Tower.

“I… I need to change dormitories. Yes… if there’s a fee, put it on Saul’s account.”

He repeated this sentence over and over in his mind, stumbling forward in a trance.

Saul didn’t care whether the man would first go to the registration office or rush off to report to Lokai about what had just happened.

As soon as Saul entered the new dormitory, he immediately swept his gaze around.

“No valuables. Looks like this guy mainly stays in the lab.”

A silver butterfly fluttered out from Saul’s eye, landing on his right shoulder.

“Brother Saul, why didn’t you let me erase his memory just now?”

Just before they entered, Saul had authorized Penny to assist in muddling the apprentice’s consciousness.

If the man hadn’t finally given in, Saul wouldn’t have minded helping him change identities entirely.

“No need,” Saul said as he unpacked pieces of sorcery materials and tools from his compressed pack. “No matter how covertly I take over this room, Lokai, who’s watching me, would find out.”

“Since I saw them taking Byron away, Lokai wouldn’t possibly ease up on his vigilance toward me. Instead of layering on more secretive moves and making them even more wary, it’s better to be straightforward—it might even put them a little more at ease.”

With that, Saul picked out a few materials that were currently usable and dumped them onto the long table in the room.

The long table, at least, was clean.

Saul quickly processed the materials and then picked up a hanging brush from the table.

He spread out his left hand, palm facing upward.

The skin of his palm automatically split open into a wound about three centimeters long and one centimeter deep.

Bright red blood welled up from the cut but stopped overflowing once the hollow of his palm was filled.

Then he moved into the equally clean front hall, dipped the brush in his blood, and began drawing a sorcery formation on the ground.

The silver butterfly lifted off, asking with disbelief, “Brother Saul, what are you doing?”

“Drawing a soul extraction formation. This room is closest to Byron’s and can cover his dormitory perfectly.”

Saul had drawn this formation several times before, and his hand was practiced.

Only this time, time was tight—he had no chance to slowly prepare the materials needed for the array.

But after undergoing his second sorcerous body reconstruction, Saul’s blood could store special magic power, making it usable in emergencies.

He quickly completed the soul extraction formation, placed the corresponding sorcery materials at the nodes, and finally piled enough magic crystals onto the energy supply point.

After placing down the remaining materials, Saul flicked his wrist to heal his palm and then stood in the center of the formation.

“Senior Byron… You were able to endure in the corpse chamber alone for over ten years, and you dared to fuse a wraith into yourself to strengthen your soul for the sake of becoming a True Wizard. You shouldn’t have died so easily. Even if only your soul remains—come, help me condense the fifth black page, and together, we’ll have our revenge!”

Closing his eyes, Saul stirred his spiritual body, sending a surge of magic into the formation.

The blood-red array burst into pale flames, flowing across the entire formation like liquid. The fire tongues stretched outward, licking at nearby objects but igniting nothing.

Fragments of debris floated into the formation, but none of them belonged to Byron’s soul.

As the minutes passed, the magic fueling the formation gradually ran dry, and the flames inevitably weakened.

Saul’s expression shifted from solemnity to disbelief.

“No soul body?”

“Why is it so clean?”

“Even if the attacker destroyed his soul, there should at least be fragments left!”

While Saul waited anxiously and unwillingly, the white fire flickered weaker and weaker until it completely extinguished.

No black page materialized before him.

Saul’s arms slowly lowered.

“Brother Saul…” Penny hovered in front of him, her voice cautious. “Maybe I can try sneaking into Lokai’s dream and see what exactly they did?”

“No need!” Saul suddenly opened his eyes, sharp as blades. “There’s definitely a true wizard monitoring Lokai. With your current strength, you’d easily get trapped.”

But Penny soon noticed something strange.

The frustration on Saul’s face had vanished—replaced instead by a faint glow of excitement.

“Brother Saul, are… are you okay?” Penny’s voice shrank even smaller, afraid he was about to lose control and do something drastic.

Saul’s lips slowly curved upward.

“It’s too clean.”

“Huh?” Penny was confused.

“I said,” Saul repeated, voice low, “Senior Byron’s room… is too clean

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