Chapter 34: “Leave It to Me, I’ll Handle Everything.”

When An Luo went to the trading post, he saw that John was there too.

He carried a cage of frogs, apparently planning to take them back for experiments.

Many Wizard Apprentices tried to make their own potions or tools. This not only made completing tasks easier but, if they had talent and produced high-quality items, they could sell them through Alden for some extra cash.

For example, the Scent Agent that An Luo had bought before was made by another Wizard Apprentice.

Making these required experiments, and frogs were the most common choice.

Because they were cheap.

An Luo hesitated a bit, unsure whether to greet him.

He thought that, if possible, after successfully escaping later, he wanted to follow John for a while to adapt to this world.

But if he greeted him, he worried that John would be targeted by Meieruita.

After some internal struggle, An Luo decided to forget it.

John was such a rare good person; it was better not to drag him into being targeted by the protagonist.

He turned to leave, but John noticed him and quickly caught up after a few steps.

“Are you okay?” John didn’t dare ask too specifically and vaguely said, “Nothing wrong, right?”

“I’m doing great.” An Luo felt a little touched.

To be honest, although he had helped John, it was only because he had spare money and a bit of worthless sympathy at play.

If he hadn’t had the money, he definitely wouldn’t have raised funds to save John.

In short, John was just cannon fodder he had casually written, and he couldn’t even remember John’s name. Saving John was only because he was the only purely good person.

When he created John, it was very casual, and deciding John’s life or death was casual too.

In this world, the only character An Luo had seriously shaped and poured all his emotions into was one: Meieruita.

He let Meieruita walk the best path, research the highest-level Witchcraft, step onto the peak, and possess unrivaled power.

He even carefully considered the ending, choosing one that Meieruita might like the most.

He meticulously shaped every aspect of Meieruita, investing the most effort into him.

If creating characters was like Nüwa making humans, then Meieruita was the only one An Luo handcrafted carefully, while the others were just mud splatters he flicked off.

Just the difference between big mud spots and small ones.

Not to mention effort—he treated them entirely as tools, with no emotions involved at all.

Since An Luo hadn’t put heart into treating them, he naturally didn’t expect them to treat him with heart.

But he had helped John once with almost no cost, and John remembered it. Even after discovering that An Luo had deceived him and suffered unwarranted disaster because of it, John still held no grudge and proactively came to check on him.

A faint complex emotion surged in his heart.

“If you need any help, I’ll definitely assist,” John said earnestly.

“You’re not mad at me?” With no one around, An Luo dropped his disguised hoarse voice and spoke softly: “I brought disaster upon you for no reason.”

John shook his head.

He suddenly felt like a little lamb, and An Luo was the shepherd holding a staff.

When he was young, he devoutly believed in the Goddess in the church. Every time he entered the chapel, he felt a peace and joy from the bottom of his heart. His mother said it was the Goddess blessing them, the devout believers, granting them tranquility and happiness.

Later, when his sister fell ill, John desperately prayed to the Goddess. He made wishes, saved his own food to secretly offer to her, tried to behave well and be a good child, hoping the Goddess would heal his sister.

But nothing happened.

No matter how hard John tried, the Goddess’s grace never descended upon his sister.

Later, he joined the Wizard Tower and became a Wizard Apprentice, only then learning that the Goddess didn’t exist.

So the nonexistent Goddess couldn’t heal his sister.

He could only rely on himself.

The Wizard Tower was terrifying. John worked hard to earn Contribution Points and finally saved enough to buy a Healing Potion, but then he couldn’t pay his identity monthly fee.

Time ticked by, and panic weighed heavier on John’s heart.

He had heard the screams of Wizard Apprentices who couldn’t pay their identity fees at night.

John prayed to the Goddess in his heart once more.

Save me, Your Holiness the Goddess.

Even though he knew she didn’t exist.

At that moment, a voice rang out: “Here.”

The light of hope descended without warning.

“I don’t know who you are, and I don’t necessarily need to,” John said. “If you need help, please tell me.”

“Thanks, but no need.” An Luo thought for a moment and shook his head. “I’m doing well.”

Such a pure good person—An Luo decided to minimize contact with John.

He was a dangerous figure at the top of Meieruita’s “must-kill list.” If he escaped later with John and got caught by the pursuing Meieruita, wiping them both out, it would be harming a good person for nothing.

Unlike those characters with malicious intent, An Luo hoped John could live on.

Best if he left this evil Wizard Tower and returned to the ordinary world.

It wasn’t great there either, but with the Witchcraft learned in the Wizard Tower, he and his family should have no problem living a peaceful life without worrying about food or clothing.

“Hang in there for five years,” John heard the benefactor, hidden under his cloak, say gently. “After five years, you’ll be free.”

“Make sure you live on.”

With that, he turned and left.

The frogs in the cage John carried croaked “ribbit ribbit ribbit.”

He watched that mysterious back figure and felt peace and joy once more.

Bless him, Your Holiness the Goddess.

After An Luo’s figure disappeared around the opposite corner, John turned to head back to his dormitory.

As he turned, he saw Meieruita standing behind him, not knowing when he had arrived.

This dangerous Wizard Apprentice’s face was expressionless, clearly having just emerged from a nearby hidden corner—he didn’t know how long he had been listening.

Those gray-green eyes looked at him, reminding John of a starving wolf in the forest.

John’s heart pounded wildly.

What to do? It was him again?

He was about to say something when the other brushed past him and walked forward.

His footsteps were so light they were almost inaudible, vanishing down the long corridor in moments.

Like a silent ghost.

An Luo returned to the dormitory, and soon Meieruita came back too.

He brought some Man-Eating Flower Fruits.

Ever since that night, Meieruita brought some of these fruits back every day, at irregular times depending on when he went out.

Although An Luo knew it was Meieruita’s appeasement tactic, he still found it enjoyable.

He would deal with the future later; for now, he would enjoy it.

After lunch, feeling the atmosphere was okay, An Luo tentatively suggested, “Meieruita, could you teach me how to sense Magic Power?”

First came a stretch of silence.

An Luo thought Meieruita wasn’t willing and tried to smooth it over: “It’s fine, I’ll try on my own.”

“Okay.”

“Hm?”

An Luo looked up and saw Meieruita push back his chair, stand, and walk toward him.

Confirming he hadn’t misheard, An Luo got excited.

Even if he was a total waste, with the protagonist’s guidance, he could definitely sense a bit of Magic Power!

He quickly took off his shoes, sat cross-legged on the bed, and looked at Meieruita expectantly.

Meieruita glanced at An Luo and said concisely, “I can’t make you understand with words.”

An Luo had a faint premonition but still hesitated: “Then…?”

Meieruita placed a hand on An Luo’s shoulder, leaned down, and said calmly, “You once told me that those Ancient Runes you gave me should normally be transmitted and learned through the soul.”

“Y-Yeah.”

“That’s the only way,” Meieruita said. “So, what’s your choice?”

Soul Transmission was a method chosen only by very intimate people, requiring mutual trust. One side selected what to impart, achieving partial soul fusion to pass on their knowledge and thoughts.

But generally, no Wizard would agree to this.

Even after signing a Contract, they wouldn’t allow another to touch their soul, because if the imparter overstepped, their lifelong knowledge could be directly stolen.

They usually opted for Soul Plunder, like the Soul Search Technique in cultivation novels—a one-sided extraction that met strong resistance, yielding only fragmented knowledge shards, and leaving the victim an idiot afterward.

So although Soul Transmission was a setting, no one in the entire novel ever used it in practice.

It was just a setting; An Luo had only mentioned it briefly without detailing.

An Luo’s heart sank.

Meieruita couldn’t wait to make his move.

During Soul Transmission, the recipient could guard their thoughts and not leak secrets, but the human brain wasn’t a machine—it would always leak a little.

Just like after watching a horror movie, involuntarily imagining some terrifying ghost on the way to the bathroom at night.

Even desperately telling yourself not to think about it made it harder to control.

Thus, the imparter could follow the leaked info in reverse, breach the defenses, and see the other’s thoughts crystal clear.

An Luo was almost certain Meieruita planned to seize all the plot, settings, and Chinese Rune knowledge in his head.

After that, An Luo would be useless, and Meieruita would surely act against him.

He wouldn’t even need to do extra—just crush the Puppet Doll blocking An Luo’s Curse, and An Luo would be done for, with no responsibility tracing back to him.

He thought he could stall a bit longer, but the protagonist moved so fast.

An Luo almost instinctively wanted to refuse.

But he hesitated.

Fortune favored the bold. He couldn’t sense Magic Power now, couldn’t use Witchcraft, or activate Runes.

Forget escaping Meieruita later—even surviving independently in the Wizard Tower was questionable.

He needed Magic Power to live in this world.

After trying for this period, An Luo knew he absolutely couldn’t sense it on his own.

—He had a clear self-awareness.

This was the only way.

Fine.

An Luo gritted his teeth. No choice—time to gamble.

He had written quite a few Runes lately, some useful. If he reacted fast enough, after learning to sense Magic Power, he might activate the “Dispel Curse” paper and temporarily save his life.

Meieruita lowered his eyes, not urging, just waiting quietly.

Finally, An Luo decided. “Okay.”

He quietly slipped his hand into his pocket, gripping the “Dispel Curse” paper tightly.

“Relax.” An Luo wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but Meieruita’s voice seemed gentler. “Don’t be nervous.”

A cool hand gently grasped An Luo’s right hand. “Leave it to me. I’ll handle everything.”

An Luo closed his eyes.