[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-diary-of-a-dead-wizard":3,"chapter-diary-of-a-dead-wizard-diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-283":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Diary of a Dead Wizard",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1380804,1828,"Chapter 283: The Guest Becomes the Host","diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-283",283,"\u003Cp>As Saul successfully marked the vine with his mental signature, everything around them slowly began to come back to life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The vine obediently extended its roots deeper into the soil, and even the dampness within the underground passage began to gradually dissipate. A small white mushroom even sprouted beneath Saul’s right foot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Looks like the Elder Vine really recognised you. I can feel Black Castle recovering quickly,” Yura said, gazing upward, “Alright, let’s get out of here. It’s too damp—I think this body’s joints are about to grow mold.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul was still observing the changes around him, but at her words, he slowly lifted his foot to follow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This vine beneath the Black Castle truly was something strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Saul began to move away from the root system, he could feel one particularly active root suddenly sprout from the main body, following his footsteps as he walked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every time his foot landed, it felt as though it touched the root through a thin layer of soil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul found it fascinating. He raised his right hand and reached out toward one of the walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately, the root system split in two. One branch rapidly and playfully extended upward, and just as his palm touched the soil on the side, a small tip popped up and gave him a gentle “high five.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The roots split again, growing even faster to meet his left palm under the soil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Palm touched root once more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Heh.” Saul couldn’t help but laugh aloud this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ahead of him, Yura turned around in confusion. The puppet’s head twisted all the way backward, “What are you doing?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uh…” Saul suddenly realized how childish his actions must have looked. Especially to someone else, he probably seemed like an idiot playing around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ahem.” He awkwardly withdrew both hands and discreetly wiped the dirt off his fingertips, “I was just… feeling the vine’s changes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I definitely wasn’t taking the root for a walk!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yura gave him a suspicious look, then turned her head back forward after a few seconds. Her neck joint made a creaking noise like wood rubbing together. Maybe she really was growing mold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two of them left the underground cavern, exited through the wine cellar, and shut the secret door behind them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was only then that Saul completely lost contact with the root system underground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, after he and Yura left, the root—once quietly growing beneath the earth—suddenly trembled, weakly but noticeably.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Who… exactly is he? Why did a mere mental connection allow him… to take over my entire body?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The faint voice was no longer impatient like when it had just spoken to Saul. Instead, it quivered slightly, mirroring the subtle trembling of its physical form.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[And… who are you? What did that boy leave inside me?!]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one answered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The puppet body housing Yura’s soul was really falling apart now and not just in the sense of growing mold. Her whole movement had begun to slow down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m heading back now. I’m requisitioning your coachman,” Yura said, speeding up her steps—though even her hip joint was beginning to make strange noises.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Vini, are you alright? Do you need me to do anything?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m fine. There’s something inside this puppet body I didn’t expect. I need to get back and clean it out. No need to see me off.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that, Yura pushed open the castle’s main gate and bolted out like the wind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Outside, the coachman was still waiting in place—squatting beside the road and examining the wild grass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, he felt a gust of wind sweep into the carriage, followed by a voice so phlegmy it sounded like it was wrapped in mucus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Back to the Tower!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Startled, the coachman stood up at once—only to find Saul still standing at the gate, not having gotten in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The boy’s expression was a little dazed and uncertain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul nodded slightly at him, gesturing for him to depart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only then did the coachman scramble into the driver’s seat, bow slightly toward Saul, and drive the carriage swiftly away from Black Forest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, Saul was the only one left in the entire Black Castle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned, and saw that on the long, narrow door of the castle, where an eye had once been, a black tendril had suddenly stretched out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It looked… very familiar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Little Algae?” Saul immediately reached behind his neck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A small, black tendril extended from there, wrapping briefly around Saul’s index finger before quickly releasing and retracting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When did Little Algae sneak in there? Wait… don’t tell me the one playing pattycake with me in the soil earlier was you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Realizing this, Saul quickly returned to the underground passage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as he stepped through the wine cellar’s hidden door again, he noticed something was different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The air was still damp, but no longer suffocating. The ground had become looser and slightly muddy underfoot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Saul reached the thick vine from before, he was shocked to find it had already “slimmed down” a size in just a few minutes!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Little Algae?” Saul called out to it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[No, I am not—but if by that you mean the black tendril that took root in my body… I believe it is trying to respond to you.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the deep voice fell silent, several black tendrils suddenly grew out of the soil around Saul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt just like the abandoned underground laboratory beneath the Wizard Tower again—where corpses floated on the surface and giant tendrils as thick as barrels stretched out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul looked down and stomped his foot again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ground squished under him, sticky and slightly sunken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It really was becoming more and more like a swamp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why did Little Algae move into your body?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[…Was that not your doing? Just now, when you connected to me with your mental power… whimper…]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wait. Was this big guy… crying?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[…Your powerful mental energy exceeded the bounds of the connection and took over my entire body. After patrolling through the forest and the castle, you retreated.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[But you left behind… Little Algae. It’s now frantically devouring my nutrients.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul was dumbfounded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So that stifling, imprisoned feeling earlier wasn’t just from the mental link?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was because he’d mentally groped this thing from top to bottom—and then, before leaving, left behind an uninvited guest who took over the house and started raiding the pantry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Could you maybe control it a little? At this rate, my extremities will wither, and the whole castle will collapse.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Little Algae,” Saul called after a moment of silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A thin black tendril emerged from the back of his neck and opened a shark-like mouth at him, clacking its teeth with a “ka ka ka.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Take it easy, don’t eat too much. We’re going to be staying here for at least ten more days.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Algae happily nodded and retracted again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul turned back to the vine root, “Is that better now?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[…Thank you for your generosity. I also apologize for my rudeness when we first met.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s fine,” Saul said, leaving the vine where it was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps because of the new “owner,” the atmosphere within the Black Castle was different now. The tall, narrow buildings began to seem less grotesque.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More in line with Saul’s aesthetic tastes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t bother finding Mochi Mochi’s room and simply entered a guest room at random, sitting on a long, narrow bed that looked more like a coffin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The carriage trip takes ten days at least… so for now, it’s just me here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul thought of the bag of Grinding Sound Fruits he’d managed to bring from Grind Sail Town.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Honestly, there’s no need to return to the Tower. I can completely rebuild a Mental Realm Formation right here. This is my turf now!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1289,"2026-06-05T22:22:08.872Z",1,"novelbin.me","df00cf07a09740d0927a6d4c01599ff3f665ca3eaf056c439f919c81e4913ea4","diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-284","diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-282",1037,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fdiary-of-a-dead-wizard-cover.jpg"]