Kid, You Have a Death Wish!

A simplified status panel appeared on Lynn's retina:

[Name]: Lynn

[Mental Power]: 19 points

[Bloodline]: Human (100%)

[Status]: Mild Soul Disturbance (Abnormal)

[Notice]: A weak external force has been detected continuously pulling at the host's soul. The source is nearby (within a radius of one meter).

His soul was being pulled?!

Lynn's heart jolted. His gaze instantly turned dangerous as he immediately began carefully inspecting himself and his surroundings.

His eyes swept over the stone bed, the floor, and the walls...

Seeing Lynn suddenly stop meditating and start inspecting the room, Kevin's face immediately filled with panic.

His gaze unconsciously flicked toward Lynn's stone bed.

That tiny movement did not escape Lynn's notice!

He sprang to his feet, threw back the bedding, and carefully inspected the stone bed beneath him.

Soon, he found a newly smoothed-over patch in the center.

A thread of negative energy gathered at his fingertips. With a light swipe, the adhesive peeled away, revealing a grayish-black stone beneath it!

There really was something wrong!

Seeing that he had been exposed, Kevin's face filled with panic. He hurriedly explained, "Lynn, I was just trying to play a joke on you..."

Lynn ignored his explanation and directly tossed Wu Liuqi out from the Bone Ring.

A black phantom instantly teleported behind Kevin. Two icy bone daggers pressed against his neck, raising goosebumps across his skin.

The threat of death made Kevin's body tremble uncontrollably.

After subduing Kevin, Lynn picked up his Nameplate and carefully pried out the stone using the tip of the Bone Spire engraved on it.

Kevin kept trying to explain from the side.

"This is a Mind-Splitting Stone. It isn't harmful. I just wanted to use it to limit the effects of your meditation..."

"My meditation has been very ineffective lately, so I got this stone from my mentor..."

Lynn was not about to believe his nonsense so easily. He directly activated Analysis.

[Analysis] Target: Unknown Stone!

[Item]: Disguised Flesh-and-Soul Stone (Inscribed: Concealment Wizard Array, Soul-Drawing Wizard Array, Miniature Teleportation Wizard Array)

[Effect]: Continuously releases weak soul fluctuations, gradually drawing the target's soul out of their body and storing it within the stone. Once the absorbed soul reaches the threshold or the host dies, the teleportation wizard array will automatically activate and send it to a preset coordinate.

[Warning]: This item is extremely vicious. Long-term contact will cause the soul to weaken, leave the body, and ultimately perish!

The instant he saw the analysis results, icy killing intent surged from the depths of Lynn's heart!

What Mind-Splitting Stone? This was clearly a death warrant! A vicious method meant to completely rob him of even his soul!

If he had not discovered the anomaly, Kevin might really have succeeded through such subtle means!

Lynn suddenly turned, his icy gaze stabbing into the pale-faced Kevin. His voice was filled with viciousness.

"Mind-Splitting Stone? This is a Flesh-Soul Stone that absorbs my soul!"

"Kevin! What grudge do I have against you for you to use such a vicious method to kill me?!"

"N-No... it wasn't me! It was Mentor Morpheus! He gave it to me!"

Terrified out of his wits by Lynn's killing intent, Kevin's legs gave out beneath him. He collapsed to the floor, tears and snot streaming down his face as he frantically explained.

"He said it was only a stone that would affect your meditation... I-I didn't know it would be like this! Lynn, spare me! I didn't mean to..."

Mentor Morpheus?

Murphy the Soul Ripper!

Lynn had seen his name when choosing a mentor. He was also a Third-Ring Wizard who specialized in the study of souls and flesh.

No wonder he had set his sights on him!

Lynn shuddered, cold sweat instantly coating his back. A Formal Wizard had actually been making moves against him from behind the scenes!

His first thought was to report this to the Soul Hunters and let the academy dispense justice.

But the moment the thought arose, he suppressed it.

Would the academy truly uphold justice for him?

Obviously not!

At this Dark Wizard Academy, rules served the strong.

In their eyes, apprentices were nothing more than consumable materials, used up batch after batch.

Formal Wizards were different. Every one of them was a pillar that kept the academy standing, its most precious asset.

How could the academy possibly condemn a Third-Ring Formal Wizard for the sake of a mere First-Class Apprentice like him?

Potential was only potential. Whether he could successfully become a Formal Wizard was still a huge question mark.

When the time came, Morpheus could simply deny everything, or even turn the accusation back on him.

And the testimony of an idiot like Kevin was completely unreliable. Lynn might instead be branded a false accuser and die even faster!

He could not publicize this! He had to keep it under wraps!

He would pretend nothing had happened and report it to Gregor later.

Lynn's gaze fell once more upon Kevin, who was constantly begging for mercy.

This idiot had been used as a weapon by someone else and had nearly gotten him killed!

Keeping him alive would only bring trouble!

Besides, he knew too much...

Lynn had made up his mind to kill!

He no longer hesitated. A vicious glint flashed through his eyes as he directly ordered Wu Liuqi to act with a thought!

Wu Liuqi did not hesitate in the slightest. His two bone daggers formed a scissor shape before casually slicing across Kevin's neck.

Caught completely off guard, Kevin's windpipe was instantly torn open. Blood gushed out in torrents, and his pleas abruptly stopped.

Kevin's eyes gradually lost focus. His body crumpled to the floor, and moments later, he stopped breathing.

He did not understand. He had only just joined the Wizard Academy. He clearly possessed decent talent and had such a promising future ahead of him.

Clearly, as long as he worked a little harder, he could become a great Wizard.

Clearly, he was a victim too. Why had he lost his life so easily...

Could it be... that I really was just a pathetic nobody?

Watching Kevin's corpse gradually stiffen, Lynn's expression softened somewhat.

Everything was over.

Just as he was preparing to dispose of the body, something unexpected happened.

The black stone slipped from Lynn's hand and shot toward Kevin's body, directly sucking his soul into the stone.

Then, with a faint flash, the teleportation wizard array on the black stone activated, and the entire stone instantly vanished into thin air.

Lynn had no time to react to the stone. He could only watch helplessly as it disappeared.

Tch... as expected of a Formal Wizard. He really had plenty of methods.

It seemed this was Morpheus's backup plan. Even if he failed to kill Lynn, as long as Kevin died, his soul would be transferred away.

That way, there would be no chance to use spells like Speech of the Dead or the Soul-Searching Technique to read the information in his soul.

What a pity... this was a corpse with Death Affinity.

With both the corpse and soul intact, he might have been able to refine it into a Death Knight.

Now that the soul had been taken away, he could only stuff another soul into it. The result would be greatly diminished if he turned it into an undead creature.

Lynn gradually calmed down. He violently folded Kevin's stiff corpse and stuffed it into the Bone Ring.

Wu Liuqi could only curl up as tightly as possible before barely fitting into the ring as well.