Discovering a Blind Spot

Thor climbed upward, his head covered in slime and his arms clutching the box.

Perhaps because he had broken some sort of illusion, he found he had successfully reached the sixth floor of the East Tower, where the rune wall that once made the newcomers dizzy stood to his left.

Even with Thor's current mental power, he dared not look at it for long.

For some reason, the blurred world became clear again, and only then did he notice a stinging pain on his forehead.

It was likely from when he had bowed against the wall just now; he had used too much force, causing a small scrape on his forehead.

"Damage the enemy by a hundred, suffer 0.1, worth it."

He then thought of a serious matter, "I need to go back and wash up quickly; I wonder if it will get infected."

However, he had to give the item in his hands to Senior Sister Kongsha first; Thor did not want to sleep while holding a dead man's head.

He passed through the corridor back to the West Tower and continued climbing up the ramp.

The sixth to ninth floors were the activity areas for level-one apprentices.

It was just past eight o'clock, and although the East Tower was as silent as a grave, the West Tower was still quite lively.

Some people saw Thor walking slowly upward and began to whisper.

Others noticed the yellow leather Thor was holding and cast curious gazes, but they dared not approach because of Thor's reputation.

Thor ignored the surrounding gazes, walking step by step with a very steady gait.

Leaving the area of the level-one apprentices, the tenth floor, where the level-two apprentices resided, returned to silence.

No one was wandering the hallways, chatting, or sharing their insights from the day's studies.

The dormitory doors here seemed to remain tightly shut, regardless of whether it was day or night.

Thor tilted his head slightly.

He still remembered the scene he saw when he came to clean the hallway back when he was a servant.

The crying behind the doors, the messy trash, and that pool of blood...

It really was the pool of blood that changed his fate.

However, before Thor could reflect any further, a soft sound suddenly came from ahead.

Thor immediately snapped back to reality and looked up at the ramp.

At the turn leading to the twelfth floor, in the place obscured by shadows, a pair of black leather boots poked out.

He did not know how long they had been standing there.

Thor did not stop his pace, but he raised his guard and walked forward slowly, his gaze moving slowly upward from the boots.

The man standing at the turn gradually revealed his true face.

It was Sid, who had been away from the tower for over a month.

He watched Thor silently, his expression dark and gloomy.

But as Thor drew closer, the corners of his mouth suddenly curled into an exaggerated, cold arc, "Don't you know how to greet a senior?"

"Hello, Senior." Thor greeted him honestly, even bowing slightly.

"..."

Sid had not expected Thor to be so obedient, unlike the child who had been so terrified of him a month ago that he had nearly killed him.

After Thor finished his greeting, he kept a calm expression and continued upward.

He wore a polite smile, though he did not know what kind of eerie image this smile would present with the slime on his head, but he maintained a respectful tone.

"Thank you for your guidance, Senior. I will strive to continuously increase my value."

Sid sneered, dismissing Thor's oblivious statement with disdain.

"If talent could be made up for by hard work, there wouldn't be so many desperate bones beneath our feet."

Thor did not retort; he just watched Sid quietly.

Will he attack me directly? It's not late yet, but there's no one around; it's a good opportunity.

But the Hardcover Book did not appear.

Sid doesn't dare to make a move. Thor became increasingly composed.

The other party ignored Thor further, shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, and walked downward with a swagger.

He seemed to be in a good mood.

Thor waited until Sid's figure disappeared before turning to continue walking.

"He doesn't dare, or rather, he cannot make a move on me." As he walked, Thor pondered, "I should have realized it sooner. He couldn't kill me in the library, and later he sent Brown to harm me. Sid has always wanted me dead!"

"But he has never directly tried to kill me." Thor's eyes grew brighter and brighter. "It couldn't be because of the mentor. When I was still a servant, he could have killed me with almost no cost, yet he still didn't make a move!"

"Could it be that Sid is unable to kill people?"

Thor immediately dismissed this thought.

Sid had killed that chubby boy who relied on bribery to pass the test right in front of all the newcomers.

"Could it be that he... cannot kill me?"

The more Thor thought about it, the more he felt it was possible.

He glanced at the Hardcover Book out of the corner of his eye. "Sid is looking for a diary, and that diary is the same as the Hardcover Book on my shoulder. He doesn't necessarily want to kill me to silence me. He might want to kill me to get his hands on this Hardcover Book!"

Although this guess was incredible, whimsical, and lacked evidence, it could explain Sid's strange behavior all along.

He wanted Thor dead, yet he refused to do it himself.

Thor stopped in his tracks, staring blankly at the small parcel in his hands, his consciousness already drifting far away.

Tonight was actually an excellent opportunity for Sid.

Thor was holding a head that was a forbidden-to-remove anomaly, with unknown slime still hanging off it.

If Sid had killed him, he could have completely blamed Thor's death on the anomaly he had encountered.

Yet Sid didn't make a move, only offering a few painless taunts.

"If you kill the owner of the Hardcover Book, you can't obtain the Hardcover Book!"

This sentence suddenly surfaced in Thor's mind.

"If I'm not mistaken, Sid knows a lot about this Hardcover Book. No, that's not right... if that were the case, why would he have thrown the Hardcover Book at me?" Thor felt a bit troubled; the Hardcover Book was too mysterious and lacked any self-introduction, so he had to figure many things out on his own.

"Whatever, whether Sid knows about the Hardcover Book's ability to predict death or not, he and I are already locked in a life-or-death struggle. My strength isn't enough right now, so I can only take things one step at a time, while seeking protection from a powerful figure."

Thor resumed his ascent.

"Sid will definitely make another move." After taking only two steps, Thor suddenly stopped again. "Something is wrong, Sid's attitude today was off."

When Sid saw Thor today, he was gloomy at first, but later his mood became pleasant.

He must have already planned a new course of action.

Thor recalled the words Sid had just spoken.

"Do you really think the mentor cares about the life or death of a level-one newcomer? As long as someone more valuable appears, you are just trash that can be discarded at any time."

Mentor, newcomer, someone more valuable...

Thor narrowed his eyes. "Sid went out this time to look for a newcomer... did he find someone who could replace me in the Corpse Room?"

If Kazi had not protected Thor, Thor would not have had a month to catch his breath.

But the prerequisite for Thor receiving protection was likely because he was doing work for Kazi.

Kazi did not want his newly recruited laborer to die so quickly.

But what if someone more suitable for the Corpse Room work appeared than Thor?

Kazi might not insist on keeping this job for Thor.

Thor did not believe that Kazi had much of a mentor-student bond with him.

Especially since he had become increasingly proficient at handling the Corpse, this mentor rarely even came to the Corpse Room to guide his studies anymore.

Counting on the mentor to protect him out of old sentiment was unrealistic.

Thor looked down at the parcel in his hands and decided to quicken his pace to find the backer he had just sought out.

I've done all the work for you, surely you can't just stand by and watch me die?

Do you still want your brain or not?

Kongsha was not very pleased that Thor had come straight to knock on her door.

She yanked Thor inside, watching the boy stumble and fall to the floor, while the eyeballs inside the glass jars pressed tightly against the edges, turning red and bloodshot as if they might explode at any moment.

"Why did you come straight up here?"