Wizard: Start with Biological Transformation to Grind Experience novel Chapter 30

Chapter 30: 030: Fool

Richard's corpse collapsed lifelessly to the ground, and the undead servants trailing behind him froze as if a power source had been suddenly cut off, before one by one falling down as well.

The noisy forest regained its silence in that instant.

"Huff huff! Huff huff!"

The heavy sound of Lynch's breathing echoed through the woods.

After a while...

"Clang!" The heavy Cross Sword dropped to the ground.

Lynch sank down onto the ground, exhausted.

His gaze was dazed—sometimes falling upon Richard's body, the head severed cleanly from it, and sometimes shifting to the nearby undead servants—as though struggling to process what had just occurred.

"I... I did it? Did I really do it?"

He could hardly believe it.

It was a strange mix of emotions. Joy? Excitement? Perhaps all of these. But above all, an overwhelming exhaustion.

It felt as though all the strength had been drained from his body, leaving him utterly spent; his spirit sagged in unparalleled weakness. At this moment, all he wished for was to collapse onto the ground, sleep deeply, and escape from the burden of thinking or acting.

But the tree desires silence, and yet the wind does not cease.

Before Lynch could catch his breath, a plume of black smoke suddenly rose from Richard's body. The smoke hovered midair like a hunting hound sniffing for prey, then darted forward like an arrow directly toward Lynch.

Lynch was too drained to evade; the speed was far beyond anything he could react to. In an instant, the black smoke burrowed into his body.

One catastrophe followed another!

Before Lynch could comprehend what the black smoke was about, a deafening rumble—'Boom! Boom!'—sounded near his ears. He looked up and saw an enormous figure climbing up the slope, its long arms reaching outward.

It was none other than the horrifying alchemy creation that always stayed at Richard's side!

"Ha... Haha!"

Watching the towering monstrosity before him, Lynch was struck with an inexplicable bitterness. All his efforts, his struggles, his desperate fight to survive—it all seemed like a cruel joke. Was this the way fate toyed with him?

He didn't bother to dwell on why the spellcaster's death hadn't stopped the servants from moving, why they could operate autonomously. He simply gave in to despair, closing his eyes in resignation.

Yet the anticipated outcome—death—never arrived. Lynch waited, and waited, but still, nothing happened.

Slowly, his survival instincts began stirring again, taking hold of his rational mind.

He opened his eyes, only to discover that the alchemy creation before him wasn't attacking him. Its behavior... seemed odd.

It stood on the grass, swiveling its head to look around. First, it directed its gaze at Richard's fallen body, then raised its two long mechanical arms to examine them closely. Afterward, it lowered its head to inspect its torso, as if scrutinizing itself.

The pair of cold, emotionless eyes that were once devoid of life now carried a spark of expression.

Sorrow? Grief? And a touch of desolation?

After staring for a while, a tear slid from the corner of the creature's eye. Without a word, it moved its massive frame with a melancholic air and slowly walked away, vanishing into the depths of the forest.

"This is..."

The sudden twist of events took Lynch entirely by surprise. Only after the creature had disappeared into the distance did he feel the thrilling rush of surviving such calamity.

"That black smoke!"

A memory flashed in his mind—the black smoke just moments ago. He hurriedly sat up and carefully began examining his body.

After an intense inspection, he found no visible abnormalities. Yet, there was now a black-marked symbol imprinted on his chest.

"An imprint... Is this a Spiritual Imprint?"

The mark's sensation reminded him of the Spiritual Imprint that the Tower had once planted on the apprentices—but this one seemed deeper, more profound.

Unable to deduce its nature after extensive checking, Lynch gave up. Seeing that it didn't seem harmful, he decided to address the matter later, once he returned.

"Lynch..."