The familiar environment of the academy allowed Rode to breathe a sigh of relief.

Although he had only been at the academy for three days, it felt as if he had already grown accustomed to it.

Perhaps it was because he had spent most of his past decades in similar environments. Kimberly Academy, though entirely different, still retained the same essence.

Once you accepted its peculiarities, you could quickly adapt.

Rode dashed back to his dormitory. It was still class time, so there were hardly any people in the entire dorm building.

He swiftly crossed the empty common room and ascended the stairway on the side of the Third Institute's Tenth Division.

His dorm was on the third floor, where all the dorms of the Tenth Group were located, which was why Kassan could always bring the entire group over to knock on his door.

Rode opened the repaired door and jumped straight onto his bed, intertwining his thumbs to form a lightning symbol.

In the next moment, his mind became hazy, his vision blurred, and his soul felt light, as if it were soaring.

When his vision cleared again, a faint gray mist flowed around him, and a three-meter-tall cyan obelisk stood before him, with a black altar slightly behind and to the side.

This was Rode's fourth visit to the dreamscape, and he was still in awe of its mystery and peculiarity.

But he was more eager to verify his hypothesis.

Rode rushed to the obelisk but didn't find the Soul Fire at the previous location.

He touched all four sides of the obelisk, but nothing changed.

"Could it be? Was I wrong?"

Rode scratched his head, then glanced at the black altar and decided to try his luck.

Climbing onto the altar, he indeed saw six flames floating in mid-air on the open hand at the center of the altar.

Five of them were very small, and when Rode focused, their information appeared in his mind.

[Dust-like Soul]

Below was a line of small text.

[A part of the soul from the Wraiths of the River of Death]

The text was in the common language, accompanied by his own voice, making it easy to recognize.

These five flames were identical, with no discernible differences, all pale flames as thin as threads entwined with specks of black.

Rode realized.

These were the five balloons he had previously burst, the "Dead Souls" Lauren mentioned.

Soul Devouring was indeed real.

Rode wasn't sure whether to feel joy or concern as he turned his gaze to the other flame.

[Polluted Soul of Sotir Red]

Below was a line of small text: [A part of the soul with characteristics from Sotir Red].

As expected!

Rode clenched his fists.

His soul is here with me.

His real name is Sotir Red, not Bas.

If I can uncover the secrets within his soul, all the broken clues might connect, and perhaps I could find the real culprit or a scapegoat.

Rode grew excited.

However, he quickly realized he didn't know how to interpret this soul.

He tried to touch it, but his fingers passed right through.

Find the original at "pawread.com".

He attempted to communicate with it, but there was no response.

This soul was like a phantom, with no way to interact with it.

Rode tried everything, and finally discovered one useful method: to gaze at it and listen to it.

Then, he heard a faint voice.

"Baker Street No. 17..."

"Alexis..."

These words echoed in the depths of Sotir Red's soul, like a melody that formed this soul, endlessly repeating.

Rode only obtained these two pieces of information.

It was somewhat disappointing, but at least it was better than nothing.

Rode tried listening to the other five souls, but only heard maddening noise and chaotic screams.

He immediately withdrew from this state, feeling dizzy and nauseous after just a few seconds.

"Damn!"

Rode cursed, uttering the name of a plant.

The voices of souls should not be listened to carelessly. In such a strange world, what if you hear something you shouldn't? Being ensnared by demonic sounds isn't impossible.

One must be cautious and prudent.

Rode told himself.

He looked at the six souls before him, contemplating his next move.

He decided not to disclose this information for now.

Firstly, it would be difficult to explain the source of the intelligence, and secondly, in an unclear situation, it's best not to hastily push the case forward.

Although he believed he was not the culprit, the truth wouldn't change just because he believed it.

If circumstances allowed, it would be best to investigate himself first before deciding on the next course of action, while avoiding deepening any suspicions.

With his thoughts settled, Rode glanced at the obelisk and thought, "It seems the information I can extract from the souls is limited. I could try to see if these souls can ignite the light points on the obelisk... If I can gain more power, it wouldn't be a bad thing."

With this in mind, Rode jumped off the altar and approached the obelisk.

Reaching out to touch its surface, the deep starry sky appeared once more, countless dim lights flickering on the black backdrop.

The central "Dark Devourer" still emitted a dark red glow, like an ominous eye.

It seemed unchanged from before.

However, when Rode focused, he instantly sensed the presence of the altar, his spirit connecting with it, as if something was leaping in his mind.

Rode had a feeling he could throw the souls from the altar into any of the light points in the starry sky.

But when he tried to target the dark red light point, a clear prohibition appeared in his mind.

"Uh... This light point is not allowed. The Dark Devourer has already been added once; perhaps a light point can only be added once."

Rode shifted his gaze to the flickering light points, noticing that when he focused on them, they turned into black holes.

"Is this telling me to fill the black holes?"

Rode chose a pleasing light point from the myriad in the sky, located to the upper right of the "Dark Devourer," relatively close.

When not looking directly at it, it glowed faintly blue, its starlight light and transparent against the deep night sky background, easy to lose sight of, making it seem like a mere illusion.

But when Rode concentrated on it, it became a black hole, with clear boundaries separating it from the black background.

With a thought, the six Soul Fires rose from the black altar and flew into the obelisk.

In the next instant, the six Soul Fires appeared in the starry sky, following Rode's gaze, like meteors, plunging into the black hole.

However, the black hole wasn't ignited; these six tiny flames only filled a small part, with more than half of the black hole remaining dark.

"Not enough."

Rode thought.

"I need more souls."

What to do?

Where can I get them? How?

Rode couldn't figure it out for the moment and was about to continue exploring when suddenly he felt a tightness below, followed by a blur in front of him, and the familiar sensation of falling appeared.

Damn!

He knew someone outside must have disturbed him, pulling him out of the dreamscape.

Sure enough.

When his vision cleared, Rode immediately saw Kassan's lake-like light blue eyes and the golden hair falling beside her forehead.

"You're finally awake?"

She snorted, straightening up and moving her face away from him.

"You sleep like the dead."

Rode quickly withdrew his hand gesture. Luckily, he was covered by a blanket; otherwise, with such a cult-like symbol, his suspicion would have deepened.

Looking up, he saw a few older students standing behind her, one of whom, wearing a red armband, stepped forward and said, "Rode, we're from the Office of Student Affairs. Please come with us."

Rode's heart skipped a beat. Was he about to be expelled? He quickly asked, "What's going on? Is there a problem?"

The red armband smiled kindly, "Don't worry, it's just a test. Time is a bit tight, so let's talk as we walk."

Rode glanced at Kassan, who misunderstood his look, raised her head, and said proudly, "Don't worry, it's not a bad thing."

"No," Rode said, "I meant, how did you get in?"

Kassan smiled slightly, a hint of cunning flashing in her light blue eyes.

"I have a key."

"Where did you get it?"

"I made a copy when the door was being repaired. You won't be able to lock me out anymore."

This ambiguous statement led to many misunderstandings.

On the way to the Office of Student Affairs, a senior student sighed softly, "Young people these days really know how to have fun."

His tone was full of envy.

"Maybe we'll witness the spectacle of a freshman maternity leave."