After Saul’s advancement to third rank, if there was one companion who had changed the most, it was Little Algae, whom he had planted underground in the Purity Wizard Tower.

In the Golden Pages’ simulation, Little Algae had once mutated into a giant tentacle monster due to Black Tide pollution.

In reality, because of Saul’s seal, the Black Tide hadn’t erupted on a large scale.

However, when Saul finished dealing with matters outside and returned to the Purity Wizard Tower dragging his weary body, what greeted him was a room packed full of massive black vine-like tentacles.

Little Algae… had rioted?!

Through Saul’s emergency rescue, steward Hope, who had nearly been crushed into pulp, was barely saved.

And Hope’s first words upon being rescued were “Camus ignited Little Algae.”

Saul squeezed through the gaps between the massive, thick tentacles and finally made it to the second basement level, where he finally understood what “ignited” meant.

There were no actual flames on the second basement level.

But numerous pale souls seemed bewitched as they rushed one after another into Little Algae’s root system.

And every time a soul entered Little Algae’s body, the black tentacles would grow stronger.

A small basement room could no longer contain more than a dozen tentacle appendages nearly a meter in diameter.

The ground had sunk, the floor was torn apart, and the first basement laboratory looked like it had been hit by a hurricane, with everything scattered across the floor.

The fragile glass instruments had been smashed into pieces.

Saul had no time to feel sorry for his wasted resources as he searched for Little Algae’s main body among several rioting black tentacles.

When Saul found it, the once cute and adorable demonic creature opened a shark-toothed giant mouth at Saul and bit down viciously.

Fortunately, having advanced to the third rank, Saul could now borrow external magic power to forcibly suppress the frenzied Little Algae.

Then Saul transformed his own flesh and blood into tentacles and entangled with Little Algae.

The suction cups on his semi-transparent tentacles greedily absorbed the dead spirits inside Little Algae.

However, Little Algae itself fed on death, and the spirits entering its body were quickly digested.

Saul could only absorb souls that had just entered Little Algae’s body.

In the end, Saul had to combine the power of Nightmare Butterflies and consciousness space to finally calm the rioting Little Algae.

However, Little Algae’s size could never return to its original dimensions.

It was like a stomach that had been overstuffed, losing its elasticity and being expanded several times over.

Breaking from his memories, Saul came to a corner of the first basement laboratory and used his mental power to open the sealing formation on the ground.

The pitch-black formation that had merged with the floor rotated clockwise and cracked open an entrance in the center.

Saul jumped through the entrance, landing gracefully on the soft, bouncy tentacles.

To accommodate the wildly growing Little Algae, Saul had used magic spell to expand the second basement level tenfold.

But even with the much larger space, Little Algae could only coil inside, with even movement being very difficult.

Despite the space being so cramped, Little Algae still “welcomed” Saul the moment he jumped down.

A tentacle suddenly burst through gaps in the vines, then split open its mouth, trying to bite off the intruder’s head.

Saul raised his hand to block, and a black barrier appeared between them.

Little Algae’s sharp teeth only bit the barrier a few times before the magical barrier began making tearing sounds of “creaking.”

But Saul flipped his hand, and the hemispherical protective barrier inverted to cover Little Algae’s head.

Faced with the inward-curving circle, even Little Algae’s sharp teeth had nowhere to bite.

The angle was too tricky – it couldn’t even get a proper bite.

This was a way of interaction that Saul had developed that wouldn’t harm Little Algae while preventing it from attacking him.

Essentially, it was putting a muzzle on the frenzied Little Algae.

After discovering it couldn’t bite Saul no matter what, the massive black tentacle finally quieted down.

Once calm, with some rationality returning, Little Algae finally recognized Saul.

Its head rubbed against Saul’s chest through the magical barrier, then listlessly collapsed onto its own body.

Saul crouched down and patted Little Algae’s body comfortingly. “It’s okay, I’ll cure you.”

Although this Little Algae was much more powerful than before, a demonic creature that had lost its reason would only become a complete monster.

Saul would absolutely never allow such a thing to happen.

“Sorry, even though you showed signs of violence before, I didn’t seriously investigate the cause.”

Little Algae, trapped in the magical barrier, flicked the tip of its tentacle to comfort Saul in return.

Saul told Little Algae, “My research has made new progress. Let me see where exactly your problem lies.”

The diary appeared in Saul’s palm again, quickly flipping to a blank page.

Little Algae turned its head, not knowing what Saul was doing.

To outsiders, Saul was simply holding a dark red hardcover book quietly.

But in Saul’s eyes, the world’s operation suddenly became traceable.

The cramped room, the massive black tentacles, the concealed underground… all became cubes wrapped in countless lines.

These lines converged above the diary pages and projected into lines of text.

[Lunar Calendar Year 320, April 5th

If the foundation of pain is not resolved,

Then tragedy will only continue endlessly,

But when you desperately try to approach the truth,

You’ll discover the truth is a weight you cannot bear.]

Saul looked at the text in the diary and frowned. “Too abstract.”

After gaining control of the diary, Saul had transformed the completely passive death warnings into a form of death exploration.

But precisely because it was exploration lacking clear targets, the answers he sought became even more vague.

Saul made adjustments to the diary and finally reacquired information from the surroundings.

Thinking of the “source” mentioned in the diary, his gaze fell beneath Little Algae.

The numerous souls that had originally invaded Little Algae came from underground, but they weren’t the undead from Rhine Lake.

They came from deeper underground, just like Camus had originally.

Although these souls weren’t as powerful as Camus, they were numerous and all contained Black Tide pollution within them.

Using themselves as nourishment to invade Little Algae, they seemed to be planning to transform Little Algae into a monster.

After Saul had initially controlled Little Algae, the undead continued to emerge from underground.

It wasn’t until Byron and he used the Inertization Formula to jointly seal the underground that Little Algae was prevented from being continuously polluted.

“It seems the source affecting you is still underground.”

But whenever Saul wanted to enter the underground to investigate, the diary would issue death warnings, preventing him from taking risks.

Although Saul had once broken through the diary’s death warnings, that was only under desperate circumstances, after trying multiple methods and finding a thread of hope among numerous death scenarios.

But now, he naturally wouldn’t casually risk his life in unprepared dangers.

Saul adjusted the diary, letting its power attach more to the underground.

This time, the text in the diary changed.

[Lunar Calendar Year 320, April 5th

The tower is built on a cliff about to collapse,

Danger is destined to come, but if you don’t bring the key to touch the devil’s box,

It at least won’t be opened so quickly.

Before you prepare the antidote, going to grab the viper’s tail will result in a very surprising death~]

(End of Chapter)

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