[{"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-547":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},1380868,1828,"Chapter 547: Driven Mad by Perfectionism","diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-547",547,"\u003Cp>Camus went silent again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was as if every one of her actions existed solely to point out the flaws in Saul’s experiment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet when Saul brought the materials back over, crouched down in front of her again, she said nothing once more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just twisted her neck and kept staring at his back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first glance, it was actually kind of creepy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing that Camus still wouldn’t move, Saul looked down at the beaker in his hand, then casually tossed in a magic crystal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Camus’s head snapped around. “The magic power in magic crystals is impure. It’s not suitable to be added directly to the materials.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul responded immediately, “But to strip and purify this layer of... energy shield on you, only magic will work. Mental force would cause contamination.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Camus went silent again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul’s teeth ached.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a moment of thought, he tossed in another magic crystal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This batch of materials was basically ruined anyway—but that didn’t matter. The source of materials was right in front of him, and staying perfectly still for his use.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The magic power in magic crystals is impure. It’s not suitable to be added directly to the materials.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second crystal landed in the beaker, earning him the exact same line from Camus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The corner of Saul’s mouth lifted slightly as he stood up again. “Little Algae.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A black vine-like tentacle emerged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since the mission to plant Little Algae had been disrupted by Camus last time, Saul hadn’t let it go underground again—just in case it caused any more danger below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So for now, it still stayed parasitized at the back of Saul’s neck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not in a rush to rebuild its foundation, it spent its days happily playing with the occasionally-emerging Penny.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Little Algae, I’ve got a task for you. Here’s a beaker, and here’s a pile of magic crystals...” Saul paused mid-instruction, thinking it was a bit wasteful, so he ground the thumb-sized crystals down to millet-sized fragments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your task is to count to ten—then drop one crystal fragment into the beaker.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Algae nodded happily, splitting off a thin tendril that carefully picked up a tiny fragment with its tip, then went plop as it dropped it into the beaker.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The magic power in magic crystals is impure. It’s not suitable to be added directly to the materials.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sure enough, Camus’s mechanical warning came again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time Saul didn’t get mad. He simply turned back to his experiment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wasn’t even annoyed by the repeated voice behind him—just treated it like background music.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You like pretending to be a robot, huh?” he thought, distracted. “Let’s see if you’ve got the patience of a machine, then.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten minutes later...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Algae still hadn’t finished tossing all the fragments—it tended to mess up its counting between one and ten, and the timing of each count varied wildly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Saul heard a different voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is meaningless,” the voice said softly, almost like a sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul didn’t even look back. “How is it meaningless? It’s called ‘OCD therapy.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No reply again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul didn’t call it off. Little Algae kept tossing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Plop!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know what else to say except that.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perfect. Finally, something other than repetition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul wiped the smile off his face and turned around. “Communication should depend on the situation, the person you’re talking to, and the prior context. For example, if I ask you—who are you? Where did you come from? Why did you come up from underground?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Camus was silent for a moment, then finally tried to answer: “I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Amnesia?” Saul had considered the possibility. After all, she was in a soul state now—who knew what she’d been through between life and death?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So before you woke up this time, did you remember anything at all? Try to recall—don’t just say ‘I don’t know’ right away.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Camus froze as if her system had crashed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, Saul patiently waited five minutes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Water everywhere... I was disappearing...” Her voice trembled slightly, though her face remained expressionless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Water? Could it be Lake Rhine?” Saul frowned. That didn’t seem right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something from below the lake that could absorb spirit bodies and magic shouldn’t have been able to completely trap a Third Rank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Maybe she was caught by some powerful rule, or killed and had her power stripped away,” Saul speculated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he asked, “You said you were disappearing—was that why you created this protective layer around your soul body?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Camus fell into thought again, but this time for a shorter period.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I think so.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul asked a few more questions—some he repeated in various ways—and finally came to a conclusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Camus had amnesia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There’s one black diary page left... Should I try putting her in the diary?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the diary’s purification ability, it might help Camus recover her memory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul was tempted to try, but when he went to implement it, he ran into a problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He couldn’t absorb Camus!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even just trying to pull in a finger—he failed!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was as if she wasn’t a pure soul anymore, affected by some other power or pollution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There’s definitely some other secret beneath that pale-gray outer layer.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the diary couldn’t absorb Camus’s soul, then a Third Rank wizard posed a far greater threat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But a Third Rank who had lost her memory, yet still retained instinctual knowledge? Saul didn’t have the heart to discard or destroy that soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Better to keep her around and observe.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul didn’t dwell on it too long.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He reinforced the formation restricting Camus—and very bluntly discussed with her how best to limit herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Camus didn’t seem to think there was anything odd about that. With her usual blank expression, she answered Saul’s questions earnestly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Apparently being bound wasn’t a problem. Watching Little Algae mess with materials seemed more important.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Saul was happily watching Camus “weave her own cocoon,” Little Algae—whether zoning out or just completely messing up its count—finally reached ten again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Plop!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It tossed another crystal into the beaker.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The magic power in magic crystals is impure. It’s not suitable to be added directly to the materials.” Camus couldn’t help herself—she blurted it out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Algae grinned and wobbled happily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul: “...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You can stop now, Little Algae.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And just like that, Camus obediently remained confined in the underground first floor of the Wizard Tower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not only did she cooperate with Saul’s experiments, she even helped with improving her own restraints.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the look of her, she seemed to genuinely enjoy researching knowledge. She didn’t care at all about being trapped in a space less than four square meters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the Old Witch heard that the wooden puppet of a soul had started speaking, she couldn’t resist coming to watch the show.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this point, the Old Witch had transformed from a chibi four-head-tall girl into a five-head-tall one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From little loli to big loli.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Body was passable now—but the head was still just as hideous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul noticed that Camus was staring at the Old Witch’s exposed arm but said nothing, so he asked, “What do you think of the Old Witch’s body transformation?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Camus withdrew her gaze. “I don’t comment on failed creations.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who are you calling a failed creation?” The Old Witch could tolerate Saul—but not Camus. Especially since she didn’t know Camus’s potential identity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She immediately sealed the air around Camus and began compressing it inward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Camus didn’t budge an inch—her form remained completely unaffected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Old Witch’s eyes flickered, then she abruptly switched spells, extracting all energy from around Camus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet there was still no reaction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only then did Saul step in. “Can’t you tell her soul is... off? Why are you getting worked up?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was much more interested in that protective layer surrounding Camus now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One of the reasons for keeping her around was to find a way to wrap himself and the other soul bodies in that same layer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, that was only if the grayish-white shield didn’t harm his own soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So the test subjects... would have to be the other soul bodies first!\u003C\u002Fp>",1350,"2026-06-05T22:22:21.061Z",1,"novelbin.me","d268e19df384a2e9975ebe5fe21f55408f05d0e949ebc0fb9e39e20e06b525f1","diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-548","diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-546",1037,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fdiary-of-a-dead-wizard-cover.jpg"]