Warlock Apprentice

Angor moved closer to a wizard to check what was written on the contract.

And he immediately felt his back drenched in cold sweat.

The entire contract was a heartless agreement that could be summarized by two simple words, which happened to be the “boost” mentioned by Lawson.

Blood sacrifice.

It was like how Sunders herded a group of phantom beasts into the construction site of the gravity garden. Once the garden was made, these beasts used their blood and flesh as part of the building materials.

The same thing would happen again in the purification garden.

By absorbing enough body tissues of supernaturals with different properties, the garden would gain an increase in quality that would help it to advance into the next level.

The agreement did not say how many people had to sacrifice, but it did mention an estimated proportion—90% of the participants would die.

Nine out of ten of those who entered the garden would lose their lives.

The “deathmatch in the nine chambers” used by Sunders to recruit talents sounded just as brutal as this one, but the purification garden would kill a lot more people this time.

The Floating Mech City required the participants to reach the top level of any Sky Tower. There were countless such towers deployed by Floating Mech City all over the continent, which had existed for over a thousand years. There would be incalculable people who met the criteria.

Even if they excluded unqualified people who were dead, too old, or those stronger than level-3 apprentices who wouldn’t come at all, Angor believed that there should at least be ten thousand participants. At least.

By saying a “boost”, Lawson meant to place the lives of over ten thousand apprentices into a meat grinding machine.

Angor looked around, only to see every wizard in the conference room including Lawson showing a completely indifferent attitude about the matter. Not a single one of them regarded the decision to be improper. Some of them were talking to each other using private sound transmissions; Angor was sure those people were discussing how to maximize their profit instead of how to protect the apprentices.

The room was in silence for a while.

People waited for a long time before someone decided to speak up. It was “Eventide” Kanter.

Kanter represented Lilith’s Clan, a powerful organization that had a limited number of hands. To them, having too many apprentices dead would mean great trouble.

As Angor recalled, Kanter only brought one apprentice to the garden this time—Keely.

Kanter seemed fond of his student too. It was totally expected that the old man would protest.

“Sacrificing 90% apprentices is a heavy blow to us minor organizations. I question the coherence of the agreement.”

The other talking wizards all quieted down and fixed their attention on Kanter and Lawson.

Kanter, Sunders, and Lawson were the three most powerful wizards on the scene. They were all level-2 “truth finder” wizards. Lawson spoke for Floating Mech City, while Sunders and Kanter represented the other participants in a sense. No one sounded their opinion at Kanter’s words since they were also concerned about the matter.

“I know what you want to say, Mister Kanter. I believe you all agree that your organizations differ according to their scales. Major organizations tend to produce… unworthy apprentices, while smaller ones can focus their resources and give birth to elites,” Lawson said while scanning around the room of wizards. “The sacrifice process means to eliminate ‘unworthy’ ones, while the real elites will receive great benefit. Unimaginable benefit, even.

“So, Mister Kanter, do you believe your own apprentice can’t afford to take part? As I heard, Lilith’s Clan provides better training and education compared to most major organizations.”

Kanter stroked his beard. “Of course I believe in my student. I’m only trying to see if the reward equals the risk. To us, every single apprentice stands for our future. I cannot give them up without a good reason.”

“Mister Eventide is quite right,” said another wizard who sought to agree with Kanter. “In a general sense, killing so many is devastating to the population of apprentices. How much ‘benefit’ are you talking about for us to willingly take the risk?”

In fact, most wizards in the conference room came from smaller organizations. Even this was an overstatement—some of them were wizarding families, at best.

People began to argue again.

Angor clearly knew that no one would speak for the sake of their apprentices. And even now, people were still trying to gain out of the slaughterhouse rather than protesting. They simply saw a chance to get more profit now that Kanter raised the issue for them.

Lawson cleared his throat. “As I said, only the unworthy ones will die, while the stronger apprentices will survive. To the survivors goes our sincerest reward.”

“What kind of reward?” asked Kanter.

“The law of purification will reveal its core to the fullest when the garden is gaining a level. No doubt that those apprentices you value most will be able to gain great insight into the power of the law. Anyone who manages to comprehend the sequence of purification will attain true strength in one step. And if they cannot, being inside the aura of purification will greatly increase their chance of becoming wizards.”

To learn the sequence of purification was something even the wizards would pursue, but at the same time, they knew that such a feat was almost impossible to achieve. Maybe there could be one lucky individual among all the apprentices. However, it was also true that entering the garden in such a situation was already a good opportunity for people to strengthen themselves. Well, as long as they stayed alive…

“Certainly none of you wish to shield your students within well-protected fences forever, right? Cruelty and death are always the main trends for wizards.”

Lawson kept using words to stir up the minds of others, but everyone who came to the conference was wise enough to see the trick of words Lawson was pulling. Even Angor understood that what Lawson suggested was flawed. It was true that wizards couldn’t avoid killing and dying, but the blood sacrifice was brought upon unwary apprentices against their will. In other words, the participants were expendable pawns. They wouldn’t ever enjoy the “trend” of this world.

“Also, you’re free to tell the plan to your valued students. As for the weaklings… I hope you can keep the information from them,” Lawson added.

Kanter chose to agree, either because what Lawson promised was tempting enough, or he was really confident in Keely.

“Any questions? If not, please sign your names,” Lawson urged again.

The wizards already made up their minds to accept the plan from the start. They had not signed the contract because Kanter only mentioned the gains of apprentices, yet what these wizards could earn out of the garden sacrifice was still unknown.

Next, people all looked at Sunders. They wondered what kind of opinion would be provided by the strongest being who was also a visitor to the city.

Lawson was staring at Sunders as well. What the gentleman had to say next would determine their final profit distribution.

Sunders had been keeping his eyes shut while pretending that he wasn’t interested in the discussion. Now that Lawson addressed him, he finally said two words—”No objections.”

Lawson sighed in relief.

Angor wasn’t surprised to see Sunders’ decision at all. His professor was the last one to care about the lives of irrelevant people.

“But, as we all came from groups of different sizes, giving two fixed invitations to every organization isn’t… impartial, to large-scale clans.”

When absorbing the power of a law, wizards consumed much more power compared to apprentices. This was why Floating Mech City didn’t allow too many wizards to go inside the garden.

But as Sunders said, giving the same number of invitations to both large and smaller organizations was just unfair.

“We can talk about it,” Lawson said; he didn’t seem troubled by the opposition.

Next, the wizards spent an entire day negotiating.

Sunders sped up this part to allow Angor to see the final result. In the end, Lawson agreed to distribute 10 or more invitations to major organizations and 4 or more to moderate ones. As for the rest… they needed further discussion later.

The illusion ended here. Angor found himself sitting in front of the dining table again.

He still had his knife and fork in hand, while the cheesecake in his plate tickled his nose with its pleasant aroma.

“Do you understand what happened?” Sunders didn’t have dessert. He was sipping some hot tea.

“Can’t they use other animals instead?”

“Does it matter?”

Angor lowered his head. In the eyes of wizards, there was no difference whether they were using a human or an animal as a sacrifice.

Sunders expected the boy to sulk over the merciless truth. He was surprised to see Angor getting over it soon.

After experiencing all kinds of incidents and dangers, Angor already comprehended how this world ran. He was slowly blending in.