Chapter 59 – Raber’s Heart

Of course, the Dean and Adele had come not only to ask if the two were safe but also to understand how this incident had occurred.

The sudden disappearance of the two could only be explained by space magic, and their miraculous return to the academy without being lost in the endless spatial turbulence was unprecedented in the entire Magic World.

Before their arrival, they had also heard Ansel’s description: “Two miraculous lads who swam back during the Seasonal Tide.” Naturally, they had laughed it off.

Ansel had personally seen the sea beast bring them back from the sea, so he firmly believed in the “swimming back” theory. However, Sylvester had clearly sensed spatial fluctuations on the sea surface, and Adele had also detected an aura similar to soul power—they simply couldn’t believe that this had nothing to do with the students’ bizarre reappearance.

When faced with the Dean’s questions, they answered.

Daniel, seeing Lin Wei’s earnest and honest expression, secretly pursed his lips—this kid was definitely not telling the whole truth, or perhaps not the truth at all.

In fact, Daniel’s guess was completely correct.

“I recognized its shape and then plucked it,” Lin Wei said.

“Exactly, your friend has already told us that. What happened afterward?”

“We were sucked into a vortex and arrived at a place resembling a passage. It was gray-black, with many strange fissures around, as if space itself had cracked open.”

Mr. Sylvester frowned deeply: “Think carefully, what color were the fissures? Were they fixed?”

“Pitch black,” Lin Wei answered without hesitation. “Their shapes resembled lightning, constantly flickering.”

Mr. Sylvester cast an inquiring glance toward Lin Wei’s side, and Duan Yu nodded at him.

“According to your description, this is almost identical to spatial fissures… Each fissure connects to an unknown space, and many Archmages have been lost within them. If that’s the case, how were you able to return?”

Just as Lin Wei was about to answer, he suddenly felt an unusual sensation on his soul—a contract had been imprinted on his soul!

He maintained his composure, calmly meeting Sylvester’s gaze, while his peripheral vision caught Adele giving him a slight nod.

Although the mark was simple, it was still a genuine contract seal. It was only because he was very familiar with the soul power used to form contracts that he didn’t react excessively—the soul was the most precious thing to a Summoner.

Immediately after, a wave of soul communication came through—a message from Adele.

She said: “Hide what you think should be hidden.”

In that brief moment, Lin Wei didn’t have time to think of anything else and replied to Mr. Sylvester in a normal tone: “When I saw the fissures, I was terrified, but they didn’t cause any real harm to me… As I mentioned earlier, this place was like a passage. There were no spatial fissures in the passage, and we fell along it until we reached the end, where there were several exits.”

“Exits?” Mr. Sylvester’s frown deepened.

“I knew we had to choose one of the exits, so I trusted my intuition and entered the one that felt the most familiar through my spiritual perception.”

“Then,” Lin Wei sighed, “we fell straight into the sea during the Seasonal Tide! My body was quite weak, and I fainted in the cold seawater at that moment. Thankfully, Ansel’s sea beast friend saved us both. When I woke up, I was back on Siren Island, and my friends had also returned. From them, I learned that nearly twenty days had passed since we disappeared, yet it felt like only a moment to us.”

“You traversed space and even traveled through time!” Mr. Sylvester’s frown eased, and his voice was almost like a mutter to himself. “Could it be that the laws of space and time are interconnected? And all our research on the laws of space has overlooked time…”

At this point, his eyes grew eager: “Is the object that took you on this adventure still with you?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Sylvester,” Lin Wei said with a pained expression. “It probably fell into the sea when I unfortunately fainted.”

All of Lin Wei’s reasons were very thorough and flawless—the Dean was deeply disappointed. He then asked a few more trivial questions, expressed regret once again over the loss of the plectrum, and discussed with Lin Wei the possibility of finding it at the bottom of the sea.

When the white-robed Archmage left, he glanced at Adele, who smiled and said: “I came only to visit my student. Since I’ve confirmed that he’s safe and sound, there’s no need for me to stay—I’ll leave with you.”

Mr. Sylvester nodded and stepped out of the room.

Lin Wei thoughtfully watched Adele’s retreating figure. The fine specks of light scattered on her robe swayed slightly with her steps, like drifting starlight.

After another message came through, the soul contract slowly faded away.

Lin Wei suddenly asked Haitie, who was still in the room: “What’s the relationship between the Magic Academy and the Astrology Tower?”

“There’s no special relationship…” Haitie, though puzzled by his question, quickly answered. “They seek each other’s help when needed, but otherwise, there’s no contact—at least I haven’t seen any.”

Lin Wei muttered “strange” but didn’t say anything more.

“Hey, you two,” Daniel said, crossing his arms. “Did you really go through a spatial turbulence—and then just fell into the sea?”

Lin Wei, meeting Daniel’s clearly skeptical gaze, sighed helplessly: “I did deceive Mr. Sylvester in some aspects… but it can’t be considered malicious—even if he got the plectrum, he wouldn’t be able to research anything noteworthy.”

“Is it still with you?” Daniel immediately caught on.

The Goddess’s plectrum had not been lost. In fact, after Lin Wei plucked the strings and fell into the soul passageway with Duan Yu, before losing consciousness, he had left the message about “the land where the moon never sets” and had also placed the plectrum in the Mage’s hand. Naturally, there was no chance of it falling into the sea due to fainting.

Back in the Death Swamp, after learning the origin and function of the plectrum, Lin Wei had prepared for this—the plectrum would remain in his hands. First, it was useless to anyone other than a Summoner, so there was no need to hand it over to the Magic Academy. Second… having fused with a part of the Goddess’s soul power, he hadn’t fully unraveled the Goddess’s secrets. There might come a day when he would need to enter the hall again. Moreover, a medium for spatial teleportation could be an unexpected lifesaver in adventures—whether facing an unbeatable foe or something else, it was an effective means of survival.

And Adele’s subsequent words greatly alleviated his guilt over fabricating lies. After all, he was Adele’s personal student—there was no reason not to follow her instructions, even when facing the Dean.

These were things his companions needed to know, as they would eventually use the underground palace and the plectrum. The existence of the elemental spirits couldn’t be hidden either. So, Lin Wei skipped the part about the Goddess’s consciousness and memory and briefly explained the whole incident.

“It seems…” Daniel looked them over, and just as Lin Wei thought the knowledgeable Alchemist was about to make some profound insight, he continued in an admiring tone: “You two struck it rich!”

Lin Wei: “…”

“Elemental spirits, spatial mediums, a top-tier summoned beast!” Daniel said. “And even a rare magical plant… Can I see them?”

After appraising the elemental spirits’ appearance, sporting a fresh bite mark on his hand, examining the unremarkable plectrum, and hearing about the type of magical beast Lin Wei had contracted, Daniel’s full attention turned to the magical materials taken from the Raber Vine in Duan Yu’s spatial ring.

“Dual-element thorns, hallucinogenic flowers—this is an Alchemist’s dream…” Daniel examined each item, stopping at one in particular.

“Raber’s Heart,” he carefully picked up a pale green, translucent fruit. “Even my teacher’s lab doesn’t have something like this—and you got two of them!”

“Is it valuable?” Lin Wei asked.

“This vine is already rare, especially the high-tier ones,” Daniel held the fruit up to the light, its thin skin tightly wrapping around the crystal-clear core and abundant juice, making it look plump.

“Moreover, this fruit is absolutely never sold in the Trade House—if you took it to an appraiser, the Magic Association would buy it at a high price and never sell it again.”

“Because it’s poisonous?” Lin Wei remembered the description of this magical plant in the Compendium.

“Exactly, the Magic Association prohibits the circulation of highly toxic substances unless a senior Alchemist makes a special request… And this miraculous fruit, only my teacher would have the qualifications to apply for it!” Daniel said proudly. “To prepare it properly requires extremely refined skills and remarkable intuition. Aside from my teacher, no Alchemist would have the confidence—of course, that doesn’t include me.”

“So,” Lin Wei said after listening to Daniel’s boasting about his teacher and his own abilities, “what exactly does it do?”

“Raber’s Heart—the poison of forgetfulness, the devil’s fruit,” Daniel gazed at the fruit, entranced. “Its juice, when highly diluted, becomes a mild sedative with excellent pain-relieving effects—it doesn’t heal injuries, of course, but creates illusions. If the concentration is slightly higher, it exhibits a very special effect—irreversible forgetfulness, with the degree of forgetfulness increasing with the concentration. Only the best Alchemists can precisely control the concentration…”

“What if it’s not diluted?”

Daniel answered without hesitation: “Your soul will be as blank as a newborn’s, turning you into a complete idiot or a breathing corpse.”

The Alchemist’s words successfully conveyed the fruit’s dreadfulness—he managed to take one for himself, planning to study it with his teacher.

Lin Wei also learned about Daniel and Haitie’s experiences in the past few days, including the early arrival of the Seasonal Tide, the perilous night spent in the Death Fang, and the man rescued from the ship bearing the Flaming Rose emblem…

When the two left, leaving only him and Duan Yu in the room again, Lin Wei lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling: “Gregory… This is terrible.”

Duan Yu walked to his bedside: “Have you fully recovered?”

“Not really. Although a lot of troubles have suddenly appeared, I still feel very sleepy…” Lin Wei sighed, casting a hopeful glance at the Mage. “I want to sleep a bit more. If you don’t mind staying by my side during this time—the Goddess’s consciousness hasn’t completely dissipated, and your spiritual power makes me feel very safe.”

Duan Yu didn’t refuse. He sat down at the nearby desk, seemingly acquiescing, and Lin Wei felt the faint golden spiritual power around him grow denser.

His previously forced alertness quickly relaxed, and he was soon on the verge of falling asleep.

“By the way,” Lin Wei’s voice was thick with drowsiness, “though I don’t know how my teacher managed to form a temporary contract… she asked me to meet her in the library this afternoon. Please remember to wake me up.”