Chapter 151: The Cause of Syrus's Death

“Lin Wei…”

The two had just stepped out of the Forest Shadow Tower when Noritz suddenly spoke.

“Lord Noritz…” Lin Wei answered.

Noritz pursed his lips and pondered for a moment. “There is something I want to tell you about the death of Seles.”

After witnessing Norensius’s resolute attitude in protecting Lin Wei, Noritz had already made up his mind to befriend him. It was certainly not a deal that would leave him at a loss.

If Lin Wei survived under Norensius’s protection, he would undoubtedly become a full-fledged wizard in the future—and not merely one, but a wizard blessed with extraordinary talent in biological mutation studies. Biological mutation studies and potioncraft were the two most important auxiliary disciplines in the wizarding world aside from the core curriculum. Forming a friendship with a future master of biological mutation studies was absolutely something worth celebrating.

Even taking a step back, if Lin Wei were ultimately offered up as a sacrifice, Noritz would still gain Norensius’s support.

“The death of Mentor Seles?” Lin Wei’s pupils contracted.

Seles was the only person here who had no conflict of interest with Lin Wei and who had continually supported and promoted him. So long as it did not involve too great a loss to himself, Lin Wei was willing to personally slay Seles’s enemy.

“Your mentor Seles was once one of the participants in the Life Ignition Experiment. However, after a conflict arose between him and the man leading the experiment, Mantusen, he was made a sacrifice in an accident…” Noritz did not elaborate on the details.

“Mantusen?” The wizard who had targeted him immediately surfaced in Lin Wei’s mind. “So that is the source of their hostility toward me…”

“At the time, Lord Ritula’s life energy had been exhausted. To preserve his life, the dean personally ordered the assembly of more than a dozen full-fledged wizards within the academy who were exceptionally skilled in experimental procedures. Your mentor Seles was among them.”

“Everything should originally have proceeded according to plan, but… Lord Ritula’s body suffered a fatal backlash.” Noritz continued to explain. “That backlash was a hidden attack planted by an enemy of the Fanged Blood Shadow, and it erupted during the treatment. Lord Ritula’s remaining life energy was on the verge of being completely depleted. To save the situation, they could only carry out a life-energy conversion experiment, sacrificing the lives of two people to preserve Lord Ritula’s survival…”

“So my mentor, Wizard Seles, was one of those two?” Lin Wei’s voice was somewhat heavy.

Noritz nodded.

Lin Wei was silent for a moment. “Was he forced into it by Mantusen?”

“Yes,” Noritz replied.

The source of Seles’s death had finally been uncovered. Although Lin Wei was currently incapable of dealing with Mantusen, that did not prevent him from placing the man on his future kill list.

“Mantusen… I will take care of him for you.”

Just as Lin Wei was making his calculations, Noritz suddenly spoke.

Lin Wei was startled at first, but he immediately understood Noritz’s meaning. The man was extending an offer of goodwill.

Lin Wei was somewhat surprised. He had clearly not expected that merely a hint of Norensius’s intention to protect him would make Noritz willing to sell him this favor.

“But he is a full-fledged wizard…” Lin Wei did not refuse. In truth, this was only a signal Noritz was sending him. He had to respond in kind.

Noritz smiled. He knew that Lin Wei had accepted his goodwill. “Although we are both first-rank wizards, the difference between him and me… is enormous.”

When the interests involved in a struggle promised an excess return, Noritz did not mind establishing a friendship with a wizard apprentice.

“Then I will trouble you, Lord Noritz…”

Lin Wei and Noritz exchanged smiles, each harboring his own ulterior motives.

…

Inside Lin Wei’s room.

After leaving Norensius’s office, Lin Wei parted ways with Noritz and found Lorna, to whom he recounted everything that had happened.

Lorna regarded the matter with great importance. Whether it was the obstruction of the sacrifice or the ignition of the life energy within that human-skin skeleton, neither could be ignored. After Lin Wei informed him, Lorna first sent him back, then quickly reported everything to Griess.

Inside Lin Wei’s room.

In the cramped space, Lin Wei sat before his desk, clasping his hands together and resting his chin on the backs of them. His eyes were filled with thought.

“Norensius…”

For a time, Lin Wei did not know what to say about the man. Norensius was clearly helping him, yet at the same time he had added unforeseen variables to every step Lin Wei would take from this point onward.

“For now, there is no need to consider him. The sacrifice of the Sacred Orb is such a grave matter that Griess will certainly make a wise decision.”

Although Lin Wei possessed talent, he still lacked the absolute strength of a full-fledged wizard. He remained merely a pawn in the struggle between the Wizard Academy Alliance and the Fanged Blood Shadow, utterly unable to leap from the board and become the player moving the pieces.

“But one thing is certain: even if I am no longer the sacrifice, the ritual offering to the Sacred Orb cannot possibly be halted. There will still be new sacrifices presented to the Sacred Orb… In other words, as long as the Sacred Orb continues to exist, the preparations I made earlier will remain useful…”

Through the blood of Lilistin, Fenier, and Boonshiu, Lin Wei had already deduced the elders’ bloodline powers. He was also in the process of deducing the operating principles of the strange apparatus obtained from the Setori family, as well as the method by which it harmonized with bloodline power.

From the very beginning, Lin Wei had never intended to be an obedient sacrifice. He gathered data and performed deductions so that, when he was offered up, he would possess one more bargaining chip for self-preservation—and, ideally, be able to seize a certain amount of benefit as well.

“Core Sphere, retrieve the bodily data of that human-skin skeleton again.”

While conducting the experimental procedure that day, Lin Wei had secretly examined that man’s data. More precisely, everyone present had been scanned by the intelligent core sphere. Yet aside from that human-skin skeleton, not a single person’s data could be read.

The gap between a wizard apprentice and a full-fledged wizard was simply too vast. With Lin Wei’s current strength, he was fundamentally incapable of completing such an examination.

[Unknown: Strength: 0.1; Agility: 0.2; Constitution: 0.7; Mental Power: 2.1]

The skeleton’s bodily data was quickly retrieved by the intelligent core sphere.

Lin Wei narrowed his eyes slightly, studying the string of figures again and again, as though contemplating something.

“His mental power is only at the level of an ordinary human…” Lin Wei murmured. “If I cast the Dream Halo on him, would I be able to alter his memories right now? Once Ritula’s body returns to normal, would that mean I could possess a slave of elder rank?”

“Perhaps it is worth trying…”

If he succeeded, Lin Wei would gain another means of self-preservation during the Sacred Orb sacrifice.

“Core Sphere, devise a plan to invade and alter Ritula’s memories!”

Lin Wei issued the command silently.