Compared with the Wanderer Wizard's troubles—Danhaag's possible search warrant and the damaged ceiling and windows of the Wander Bar—the Rat Immortal's troubles were far more complicated.
Its lover was imprisoned deep within the Black Prison.
Its child was lost somewhere in the corners of the Mirror World.
Year after year, it spent half the year shutting itself in a laboratory, searching for a cure for its wife, then spent the other half roaming every corner of the Mirror World, searching for traces of Juice.
Yet it had never found anything.
Until it learned through an old friend's channels that an ancient tree in the Black Prison was about to bloom.
This was an opportunity.
The Rat Immortal told itself so. The ancient tree's fruit could not only help it travel farther down the path of magic, but the turmoil that fruit would cause also offered it a glimmer of hope for rescuing its wife.
First University had shown it great kindness, yet now it had chosen to betray the school—by making deals with the Dark Council and Terry Duzem, for instance. Though it considered its choice merely a disagreement with the school on certain matters, it believed that in Shi Hui's or Ruo Yu's eyes, it was betrayal.
All those tangled emotions left the Rat Immortal in pain.
Especially since it had dreamed of Juice again last night.
Its daughter had screamed as she stumbled down a pitch-black corridor, crying for her mother, tears scattering across the floor. Tide-like black mist had chased behind her, carrying unsettling chewing sounds and shrill cackling laughter.
After waking in fright, the Rat Immortal set aside its work and risked being caught by the Yellow Flower Cat to come to the Wander Bar.
The Wanderer Wizard had a fine homemade wine called Flowing Golden