Diary of a Dead Wizard

Haywood's expression shifted slightly. "Let’s talk about this back in the storeroom."

Saul was indeed eager to return—tonight’s painful experience made him long for the safety of having his soul firmly inside his body.

Just as the Tower Master had said, it was not a good thing for him to have his soul out of the body.

But… would following Haywood back lead to another unexpected danger?

The diary didn’t appear.

“Hey, diary bro, you didn’t break, did you?” Saul asked mentally.

The diary flipped a page, facing its cover toward him.

“Good, not broken. That means Haywood doesn’t plan on doing anything to me—for now.” The candlelight illuminated the road ahead, and Saul felt more confident. “If Haywood really tries anything, maybe I can escape through the candle duct.”

Perhaps sensing Saul’s burning gaze, the steadily flickering flame suddenly trembled.

"How much did you see just now?" Saul suddenly asked, diverting Haywood’s focus.

Haywood smiled. "Since you left Mentor Kaz’s lab."

He knew there was no point lying to Saul, so he simply spoke the truth. "That servant named George—his soul has already mutated. If you weren’t protecting him, I believe by tomorrow, he’d end up on some apprentice’s lab table."

Saul frowned. He knew he could protect George for now, but not forever.

And honestly, he had no intention of doing so forever.

He had helped this time because George had once helped him, and seeing George had brought back memories—those old memories had conveniently helped Saul stabilize his consciousness.

So, he gave George a chance—to become a wizard apprentice.

In fact, that was the only way George could survive for the time being.

If he gave up the path to becoming an apprentice, his fragile human mental resistance would break down within a year due to the extra head in his mind. He’d go insane.

Watching Saul deep in thought, Haywood added, “Of course, since you’ve asked, I’ll arrange it. Let him consider at his own pace—until he either becomes an apprentice, or dies.”

He stepped in closer. “For people like us, bringing a lowly servant into the wizarding world is nothing more than a word.”

Saul’s face broke into a bright grin. “Then I must thank you! You’re really kind, Senior!”

Haywood froze. For some reason, Saul’s beaming smile gave him more unease than his earlier gloomy expression.

Under Haywood’s escort, Saul returned to the first floor of the East Tower.

Standing before the bronze gate, Haywood stepped forward to push it open without needing Saul to explain.

The terrifyingly thin arms were no longer visible outside the gate, but Saul still kept on high alert as he passed through the door Haywood had opened.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly. He returned to the second storeroom and re-entered his body.

However, when passing through the corpse-filled room, his soul kept getting stuck to corpse—it took considerable force to peel himself free each time.

Luckily, his body still lay motionless on the single bed, unchanged.

That eased Saul’s lingering worries.

When he opened the door and stepped out of the second storeroom, he found Haywood still waiting outside.

“Now then, Senior,” Saul said with a steadier tone, now back in his body, “Can you tell me how you found out that my soul was out of my body? After all, I have to report the bizarre experience last night.”

Haywood let out a long sigh. “This... does have something to do with me.”

He suddenly pulled down his hood and turned his head, showing Saul the back of it.

Where a grotesque witch’s face had once been, there was now only bald, scar-riddled skin.

“I haven’t had a chance to introduce her,” Haywood turned back and casually put his hood back on. “That woman’s name was Heidi—she was a curse I crafted from my twin sister.”

Saul blinked.

Twin sister?

“My parents were both Third Rank wizard apprentices,” Haywood explained. “They made several modifications to their bodies that had major effects, but weren’t suitable for them. After reaching Third Rank, they had no chance of becoming True Wizards.”

He then offered Saul a word of advice. “Before you become a True Wizard, I wouldn’t recommend modifying any vital organs.”

Hearing that, Saul suddenly thought of Kongsha.

The organs that the senior sister transformed are no longer called important organs, they are fatal organs.

Haywood continued, “They tried every method to have children. But when my sister and I were born, something went wrong.”

“Our mother mutated during childbirth. My father had no choice but to kill her in order to save us. Even so, my sister was affected—her head was normal, but the rest of her body was the size of a pinky finger.”

Haywood remained calm even as he spoke of his mother’s death and his sister’s deformity.

“My sister was kept in a jar, and I carried her everywhere—studying, living, playing… Until I was six, and my father decided to turn us into a Twin Curse to extend his life.”

Saul kept a blank expression. He wasn’t the least surprised by how this turned out. Wizards simply weren’t normal people.

In fact, he suspected Haywood and his sister had been born solely for the sake of prolonging their parents’ lives. There had probably never been any “fruit of love” to begin with.

What did pique Saul’s curiosity was—how did a six-year-old Haywood survive an assassination attempt by a Third Rank wizard apprentice?

Haywood seemed to read his look and smiled slightly as he continued. “Fortunately, my father had never stopped me and my sister from going out. So quite a few people knew about us. That year, the Tower Master personally came and wanted to take me in.”

“My father disagreed at first, but later… he gave his silent approval.”

Saul sneered. Probably the kind of 'approval' that comes from being dead.

At this point, Haywood’s expression shifted subtly, tinged with guilt and sorrow.

“Unfortunately, I disappointed the Tower Master.”

He abruptly cut off the unpleasant topic and replaced his expression with a smile.

“After entering the Wizard Tower, I transferred my sister from the jar to the skin on the back of my head. I had cared for her for years—so she was a bit spoiled,” Haywood finally circled back to last night. “But I didn’t expect her to foolishly believe that if you died, the silver eye would become hers.”

“So… my soul ended up out of my body and accidentally entered the lower floor because of her?” Saul asked in a low voice.

The second storeroom wasn’t a place just anyone could enter—it housed important materials for the Wizard Tower!l 

“There are twenty-two floors in the Gorsa Wizard Tower, including the basement, but that’s the structure for ordinary people, or ordinary apprentices. In reality, the Tower also has interlayers.”

Interlayers?

Saul immediately recalled those countless staring eyes, the noodle-like thin arms, and the mouths that could only scream about being hungry.

Those monsters must live in the interlayers.

“There’s an interlayer between the first and second storerooms. The corridor we’re standing in now is the only passage through.”

He paused for a moment.

“She knew your soul was unstable, so she risked crossing the interlayer to get to you. I think she wanted to drag your soul into the interlayer—then you’d die without anyone knowing why. But the outcome… is that you ran out from the basement tunnel, and Heidi didn’t come back.”

Saul: In that case, allow me three hearty laughs.

(End of Chapter)