These past few days, he had extracted the potion from the heart and, based on its properties, ingredients, and reactions, found the corresponding potion in the Registration Office.
Heart Guardian could help a dying person hold on for a day and a night.
Its general principle was to continuously release energy, keeping organs on the verge of failure active.
The potion was absurdly expensive. Even with the bag of Magic Crystals Peggy had given him, Thor couldn't afford it.
It was the sort of lifesaving potion a Level 2 Apprentice would buy even if it meant spending everything he owned.
Fortunately, although Thor couldn't afford to buy it, he could purify it.
He had received the heart a little too late, though. After a day and a night of experimentation, he had only managed to purify two or three drops of Heart Guardian, and they weren't particularly pure.
But for a newcomer like him, that was enough.
Thor opened the Culture Dish with one hand, then leaned over and licked it.
A surge of pure energy immediately burrowed into his body from the tip of his tongue, almost like a living thing.
It traveled down his throat, through his esophagus, stomach, and intestines, then took a turn and entered his left hand.
The pain in his left hand eased again, fading little by little until it was gone.
Then came a dizzy spell.
Thor blinked. His steps faltered. He tried to move forward but stumbled backward, then lost his balance and plopped down on the floor.
Unlike before, this dizziness wasn't unpleasant.
Instead, it brought a blissful, weightless feeling, as if he were floating in the clouds.
It was like getting happily drunk.
"Hehehe."
Thor couldn't help grinning stupidly. He didn't resist the dizziness, but let himself fall backward, lying flat on the floor and staring up at the ceiling.
The ceiling began to spin. It reached out to Thor with both hands, inviting him to dance.
Thor happily reached up to the ceiling, because dancing with it meant he didn't have to stand up.
He felt as if he were waltzing with the ceiling, or perhaps doing some other elegant dance.
They spun around together.
One circle, then another, and another.
The ceiling was so beautiful.
He wanted to lean down and give it a kiss.
Just as Thor strained to stretch his neck, a deafening bang sent the ceiling scurrying away.
Thor's consciousness briefly returned. He turned his head to look.
Someone had flung open the crimson door, and bubbles of every color spilled in from outside.
Black, blue, white, purple, red, yellow, green, gray...
So many bubbles, as if a hundred giant bubble machines had started up at once, filling the entire room.
Amid the bubbles, a strange humanoid creature walked in.
"Uh, Senior Byron?" Thor recognized Byron and tried to raise a hand in greeting, but he couldn't muster the strength.
Besides, Senior Byron looked very strange.
Thor narrowed his eyes.
Both of Senior Byron's arms were on the same side, and his eyes, mouth, and nose were nowhere they were supposed to be.
Ten fingers danced atop the senior's bald head, while his hair had grown where his ears should have been.
"Thor, wake up! You have to come to your senses!"
The words reached Thor's ears, but for a moment he couldn't understand what they meant.
"Thor!"
"Th-oo-or..."
Byron's voice began to warp, too.
Thor finally realized that his perception of the entire world was going wrong.
He hurriedly shook his head hard.
But as he moved, the whole world sloshed like soapy water, bubbling in every direction.
The entire Corpse Room came apart.
Not only did Byron change from a bizarre shape into scattered pieces, but Thor himself was no longer in his original position.
He saw his arm swimming through the air like a little fish. His mouth drifted past, opening and closing, while his two eyeballs stared at each other...
"No! This is all an illusion!"
Thor didn't close his eyes to escape it, nor did he shake his head again.
None of that would work.
If my eyes really had flown away, then I shouldn't be seeing what I'm seeing now.
Thor heard Byron's muffled voice again.
"Find... your... posi...tion..."
"What is he saying?"
Thor thought hard.
"Right, it's... it's the Locator!"
Thor's mind raced, and the world before his eyes began spinning faster and faster.
Thor felt intensely dizzy, too.
"Positioning. I have to find something that can help me reorient my perception of the world."
What could give Thor's perception something solid to anchor itself to?
His left eye strained to turn left, farther and farther...
At last, Thor saw it.
Where his left shoulder should have been, a Hardcover Book floated quietly in the air.
Several lines of silver-foil calligraphy suddenly appeared on its cover.
Thor had never learned those characters, but he recognized them all the same.
Death Wizard Diary!
With the diary's appearance, Thor's left shoulder finally returned to its original position.
Then came his left chest, left arm, body, neck, lower limbs, hands and feet, and hair.
Everything about Thor finally returned to its proper place, and the world before his eyes returned to normal at last.
He slowly got up from the floor and looked at Byron, who was staring at him with a grave expression.
"Senior, thank you for saving me."
Another wound had appeared on Byron's throat. He had clearly just cut it there to alert Thor.
But he shook his head. "You saved yourself."
He came closer and looked Thor up and down.
"How did you manage it? You completed such a crazy modification and still kept your mind intact."
Byron opened his mouth wide and reached inside to pull out a Black Crystal Ball.
Thor recognized it. It was a tool for measuring Magic Power.
"Give it a try."
Thor took the Crystal Ball in both hands.
The black inside it quickly faded.
"Eleven joules..." Byron's gaze grew complicated once more. He looked at Thor as if he were someone who had won the grand prize on his very first lottery ticket.
He knew Thor was undergoing Wizard Body Modification, and had even helped out a little, but he had never imagined Thor would independently figure out such a successful modification method.
The method had to be incredibly dangerous. The moment Byron saw Thor, he had felt as though Thor were about to turn into bubbles and float away.
How was that a reaction to Wizard Body Modification?
It looked exactly like the mental collapse of a Level 2 Wizard Apprentice.
But the Black Crystal Ball clearly showed that Thor was still a Level 1 Apprentice.
How had he managed to find his Locator before his mind collapsed?
Thor had no idea Byron had already thought through all that. Seeing the Black Crystal Ball's response, he leapt up in excitement.
Despite all the hard work he had put into meditating recently, Thor's Magic Power had still only reached four joules, not even five.
But after successfully modifying his left hand, his Magic Power had instantly risen to eleven joules.
He had met Mentor Kazi's requirement, with more than half a month to spare.
He could also feel that energy was still pouring through his left hand, continuing to modify the rest of his body.
His Magic Power would surely increase further.
And that wasn't all. His greatest gain from this trip was his Hardcover Book.
He finally knew its title!
It really was the "diary" Sid had once murmured about.
What sort of being could have a diary with the terrifying ability to predict death?
And how had Sid learned that the diary existed?
"Thor." Byron's words interrupted his thoughts. He rubbed his hands together, his face flushed. "Would you sell me the formula for this modification?"
Baba bababa...
Before you continue