Diary of a Dead Wizard-Chapter 318: Agreement Reached

Gorsa laid his cards on the table.

He finally revealed the real reason he had been watching Saul.

But this revelation chilled Saul to the bone. For a moment, he recalled the rough texture of black leather on the conveyor belt in the morgue.

He swallowed hard. His heartbeat, which had nearly stopped from the shock, gradually resumed.

"It might not be the worst outcome yet. If Master truly wanted to dissect me, there would’ve been no need to wait until now—let alone tell me outright at this moment." Saul tried hard to comfort himself, to calm down. "In this world, soul separation and possession aren’t rare occurrences. What makes me special is simply that I can ignore bodily rejection. If I put it out in the open, maybe I can even bring it to the table and study it together with my master."

His mind spun rapidly, and in the shortest possible time, he had already decided on his response.

“I-I didn’t do it on purpose. When I woke up, I was already in this body.”

Saul didn’t deny it. Denying what had already been discovered would only make Gorsa look down on him.

Better to admit something not too important, and do it in a frightened tone.

“I don’t even know why I survived. I wasn’t a wizard before—just an ordinary person. I didn’t even know about wizards. I came from a small town…”

Gorsa waved his hand casually. “Heh, no need to say all that. I don’t care about your past. From the moment I first saw you, I confirmed that you weren’t a wizard. Your mental aptitude may be strong, but it’s like an unpolished gem—completely undeveloped. Since you weren’t a wizard, even if you were a king in your original world, it makes no difference to me.”

He extended his index finger and gently tapped the spot between his brows. “I even suspect that the peculiarity of your soul doesn’t stem from your original self. Instead, it came from the experience between leaving your original body and entering this one—which was also just an ordinary person’s body. That transitional process may have altered you in a way that produced positive feedback… or, we could call it a kind of beneficial alienation.”

Saul’s mouth opened slightly.

He had never considered this possibility.

He had no memory of his death in his past life or his possession in this one, and he had never truly thought about why his mental aptitude was so high.

In his previous world, “transmigration” and “rebirth” weren’t novel concepts—they were frequently mentioned in countless novels.

But most of those stories only used it as a hook to start the plot. No one ever explored the mechanisms behind it.

As for the enhancement of his mental aptitude, Saul had simply attributed it to soul strengthening during the world-crossing.

But as for how it strengthened—he had never given it real thought.

The matter was too distant for him. Without the power of a Fourth Rank wizard or higher, how could he hope to unravel the mysteries of world-hopping?

But now, prompted by Gorsa’s words, Saul suddenly realized he had fallen into the trap of being too close to see the truth.

In a world filled with high-level powers, transmigration might not be so rare. The one thing that made him truly special was that he came from a world with completely different foundational laws.

His old world was too different from the wizarding world. Going home… might not be something that spatial travel alone could solve.

Gorsa did not interrupt Saul’s thoughts. He knew Saul had secrets, but for now, he was only concerned with the source of his soul’s uniqueness.

“I don’t remember anything from that time.” Saul strained to recall the transitional phase between his past and present lives, but nothing came to him.

He didn’t know how he died, nor how he lived. One moment his eyes closed, and when they opened again, he was in this not-yet-cold body.

“Of course, since your original identity was neither wizard nor supernatural being, surviving in someone else’s body might’ve just been a matter of chance. Your memory loss is likely a self-preservation mechanism of your consciousness.”

Gorsa chuckled and shook his head. “To study the special nature of your soul, we can still use many gentle experimental methods. But if we want to trace its origin—that part of history contains high-level knowledge… your consciousness may not be able to withstand it.”

“You mean, studying what happened to me before I arrived in this body… might harm me?”

“Exactly. Whether you came from far away or another world, the reasons and experiences of your soul’s traversal are knowledge you cannot bear. Even I would face tremendous danger trying to explore it.”

Gorsa narrowed his eyes. “But Saul, if I reach the point where I truly can’t hold out any longer and the resurrection experiment still hasn’t succeeded, I may have to risk exploring that dangerous knowledge.”

His meaning was clear: if he personally probed Saul’s history, it could cause irreparable harm—even lethal corruption.

So, the choices were: either complete several resurrection experiments within ten years, something that generations of mentors had failed to do; or uncover the secret of his soul’s uniqueness and replicate it in Yura’s soul; or become an experimental subject and endure others’ perilous research.

“I might not even have ten years. Master won’t wait until the last moment to start studying my transmigration. His research will take time. I may only have five years… maybe even three…”

Though Gorsa hadn’t said it outright, Saul knew: as a wizard, one must always maintain a sense of urgency and vigilance.

Faced with such a future, with no options left, Saul felt no resentment.

The moment he chose to become a wizard, he had already understood that selection and elimination were the main themes of the Wizard Tower. At the very least, Gorsa had given him the chance to prove himself.

“I understand, Master.” Saul raised his head, eyes burning with awakened fighting spirit. “I’ll give it my all to assist you in completing the resurrection experiment.”

Gorsa’s eyes curved again. “Very good. I also promise, during the course of the experiments, I’ll ensure all mentors fully support your work. If you complete the experiment, or make significant contributions, I will protect your consciousness, not investigate your past, and keep your secrets safe. This is a fair exchange… Heh, not that you have a choice.”

Saul laughed as well. “No reward, Master?”

Gorsa raised his hand again and knocked on the wall beside him. “I already told you at the beginning—if you survive, this Wizard Tower will be yours.”

So that’s what he meant!

A Wizard Tower…

Saul, too, reached out and stroked the rocky wall beside him. For someone like him—without any family or factional backing—it was truly tempting!

Agreement reached!

Even though his identity was already exposed, Saul was still curious—how exactly had Gorsa figured out he was a transmigrator?

If another powerful Second Rank wizard came along, would they also be able to tell that his soul wasn’t the original one?

He’d been in close contact with Kira before—had she noticed?

What about Kismet? Could he have known all along?

If one day he ran into a completely unrelated Second Rank wizard, would he be picked up and thrown straight onto a lab table?

“Master… when did you first realize that my soul didn’t belong to this body? Can others tell as easily?”

“The day you first appeared,” Gorsa’s tone remained gentle, but it sent a chill down Saul’s spine.

Like an early spring breeze—warm at first, but still cold to the bone.

“Th-the first day?”

“At the time, I was on a night patrol and suddenly saw a boy with a large wound on his head, stumbling around the West Tower.”

“That was you, Saul. You’d only just entered this body then, and your body and soul hadn’t fully synchronized. Heh, now and then I could see your soul leaking out from your body.” Gorsa’s voice carried a hint of amusement, as if he could still recall Saul’s helpless and flustered state just after transmigrating.

(End of Chapter)