He hadn’t expected Nathan to bring the white porcelain cat directly to the trade location.

“Do you trust me this much?” Saul appeared surprised.

“Actually, I thought you would follow me last time and directly steal it. But not only did you not steal it, you seriously helped me think through modification plans. So I thought I’d give it to you directly to show my sincerity.”

Saul wasn’t moved. “I was just worried that forcible seizure wouldn’t be effective. After all, there are often hidden rules in the wizarding world that can’t be detected.”

He tapped his fingers on the table twice, then suddenly asked, “This cat’s gratitude… don’t you have another one? Or even more?”

Nathan was genuinely stunned. He stammered, “I, I, actually… yes, I do have more, but, but this isn’t something where more is better. Good luck often comes with misfortune.”

Saul picked up the flower wine on the table and took a sip, stopped pursuing the matter, and waved his hand to store Nathan’s white porcelain cat in his storage device.

Seeing this, Nathan’s pupils contracted slightly, and his lips parted to reveal a small gap between his teeth, but in the end he bit down tightly and said nothing.

“Then let’s begin now.” Saul had no intention of going back on his word. He threw the modification plan he’d casually made over the past two days onto the table in front of Nathan. “Look it over carefully first. If you really can’t understand it, then come ask me, but keep thinking.”

After obtaining the white porcelain cat, Saul went straight back to the inn.

He used several instruments to detect radiation from it and found almost nothing.

This matched what he had sensed through his mental power.

Next, Saul was about to follow Nathan’s instructions and pet the cat’s head.

But Herman in the diary spoke up.

[Master, let me do it instead. Your rank is too high—this little cat might not affect your luck.]

Saul thought this made sense.

This cat had previously affected the airship, indirectly helping merchant Mike beat him.

But Saul himself hadn’t been affected at all.

If he hadn’t been paying attention to the white porcelain cat, he probably wouldn’t have been able to detect its mischievous methods.

Saul pulled Herman out of the diary and also grabbed the orange cat Kate, who was watching the excitement nearby.

“Herman has first-rank strength, but he’s a spirit body bound to the diary, so he might not be able to test out the white porcelain cat’s operating principles either. So Kate, you try it too in a moment.”

Kate’s whiskers perked up. He shuffled over to the white porcelain cat and rubbed its body with his tail.

Nothing happened.

“Pet its head.”

“Actually, my state isn’t very stable either. This isn’t my real body, after all.”

“But you’re about to be permanently bound to it. Be good, pet its head. If you do well, I’ll have someone craft you a new body.”

This was the first time Kate had heard Saul discuss his body situation.

He asked eagerly: “Really? Can you really help me switch my body back?”

“I have rich experience in both soul extraction and vessel creation, but you can’t expect me to help you for nothing. You need to cooperate with me in recording all experimental data about yourself.”

“No problem!”

With the basic deal struck, Kate actively stepped forward and petted the white porcelain cat’s head.

Saul had been watching the white porcelain cat’s movements the entire time.

This time, Saul finally sensed again that strange fluctuation he had felt on the airship.

“What do you feel?” Saul quickly asked Kate.

“It feels like I have a mouthful of water that I really want to spit out.”

Saul nodded and raised his hand to take out the Dead Wizard’s Diary. “Keep it in for now, don’t spit.”

The diary began collecting information about the surroundings. Straight lines projected from the outside world onto the diary, becoming readable information.

In this examination, Saul finally found a very hidden piece of information among the complex information lines.

“There’s a curved wavy line on Kate. This line is currently carefully avoiding other straight lines, and since there’s already a lot of surrounding information, it’s easily obscured, making people think there are no abnormal conditions at all.”

Then Saul casually made a die from nearby materials and had Kate and Herman compete in games of luck.

At the same time, he had Kate “spit out the water in his mouth.”

After playing more than ten times, Kate was always the winner.

During this period, Saul kept holding the diary, observing Kate’s condition, and then saw that hidden wavy line affecting the dice.

Because the force was so small and the speed so fast, Saul almost missed detecting its influence.

“You can stop now.”

Sensing that the power on the white porcelain cat had changed, Saul immediately had Kate stop the dice game.

Then he brought over a wooden basin from the inn and created some clear water to fill it.

“Would you like some water to drink?”

Kate walked over reluctantly. “Lord Saul, although I look like this now, I still prefer drinking from cups.”

“Washing your hands is fine too.” Saul just wanted Kate to come into contact with water to test.

Nathan had said the white porcelain cat brought not only good fortune but also misfortune.

The third-level apprentice Paul on the airship had warned him that people who touched the white porcelain cat all drowned.

Combined with Crum, who had mysteriously drowned in the frozen house.

Saul concluded that when the white porcelain cat’s power encountered water, it would produce new magical reactions.

So he had Kate directly contact the water source.

Although Kate had also heard about not being able to approach water, since he was a second-rank wizard himself and didn’t know about Crum’s death, he wasn’t particularly resistant to water. Knowing Saul wanted to conduct an experiment, he ran to the wooden basin and jumped right in.

However, the seemingly rough bottom of the wooden basin was unusually slippery. After the orange cat jumped in, he slipped and fell flat in the water, with his mouth and nose submerged.

Even more bizarre was that the water seemed to have autonomous consciousness, actively flowing toward Kate’s mouth and lungs, completely ignoring the effects of gravity.

“Smack!”

Saul slapped the edge of the wooden basin.

The basin didn’t tip over, but the water inside suddenly returned to normal gravity, flowing back to the bottom with several splashes.

Only then did Kate finally jump out of the basin, shaking the water from his wet fur.

“There’s something wrong with this water. As a second-rank wizard, I actually couldn’t breathe in there.”

“Could you still cast magic then?” Saul asked him.

“Yes, it’s just that I thought such a little bit of water wasn’t necessary…”

Saul nodded. “So even though you were drowning, you still had the power to save yourself. This is somewhat strange. If you had the power to save yourself, why did the third-rank wizard Crum drown?”

Kate: “?! What did you say?”

Saul then told Kate about his deal with Ophelia at the White Glass Palace. “Since they both mysteriously drowned, I temporarily connected the two cases. Today I saw wavy lines avoiding all straight lines on your body. It seems the white porcelain cat really is connected to Crum’s death.”

Before Saul could finish speaking, he saw pearl-sized tears squeeze out from the corners of the orange cat’s eyes.

“Wuuu, even third-rank wizards die, and you’re still using me for experiments?”

(End of Chapter)