Warlock Apprentice

Angor placed a small hourglass—or “minuteglass”—onto the table. The test should take exactly one minute. If no “changes” were observed before the end of one minute, the testee was considered to be untalented.

“Put your hands on it.”

Dodoro complied and pressed his clean, healthy hand on the Talent Sphere.

In the next second, Dodoro’s eyes lost focus, while the pale red object began to glow, which suggested a talent had shown up.

Angor wasn’t surprised to see this at all. He was only curious about what kind of talent could possibly come from someone who was alive for 1,000 years. Was it Dodoro’s strange water bowl that actually kept him alive?

The sand in the “minuteglass” was still flowing.

During such a test, the testee would be immersed inside a strange view created by Abelles’ Eye, which showed his or her “changes”.

In Angor’s view, Dodoro had been sitting still. But Dodoro might be seeing all kinds of drastic things similar to Angor’s nightmare realm adventure.

Angor saw Dodoro’s expression becoming stranger. Dodoro was both smiling and crying while shifting his view as if trying to look at something better.

Meanwhile, Angor took his guesses. Will Dodoro find his interest in healthcare? Elements? Or is he another Occultist?

Dodoro opened his eyes after a minute had passed.

Angor thought he saw something flashing in those clear, blue eyes, but he couldn’t read it.

Instead of giving him an answer, Dodoro fell into deep thoughts.

It took him five minutes before he looked at Angor again.

“What did you see?” Angor finally asked.

“A strange place…” Dodoro spoke in the same upturned tone, but it sounded even more intelligent this time. He also sounded doubtful. This was the first time for Angor to read so many emotions from Dodoro’s words.

“Strange place? So you’re not in this room?”

“No.” Dodoro shook his head and tried to remember the view.

Angor suddenly felt afraid that Dodoro might have gone through a dangerous place like Nightmare Realm.

It can’t be. There’s no such coincidence.

“There are clouds and thick mist. I can’t see things well… but it’s strange, I CAN also see things clearly. I don’t know…”

Cloud and mist? Angor quickly thought about the records in Abelles’ Annual Talent Collection that described wind and water elements. The magazine had published nearly 500 editions, and he only read 3 of them. What Dodoro mentioned was mostly related to Elementalist talent.

But he couldn’t be sure yet. The Talent Sphere couldn’t tell the exact orientation of one’s talent.

“So what it is that you actually see clearly?”

“It is…” Dodoro frowned and stopped talking. It seemed he was wondering how to use the correct words.

He stayed silent for ten minutes this time.

Angor got a feeling that Dodoro had fallen asleep.

“What did you see?” Angor tried again.

Dodoro suddenly revealed a painful expression as if he just strained his throat.

He failed to say anything for a moment, yet it seemed Angor’s urge persuaded him into trying harder. “The bottom of the sea… and… you…”

Thud.

Dodoro coughed up some blood and collapsed on the floor.

Angor was a little startled by the display. Why would someone bleed like that simply because of talking?

Angor hurried to Dodoro’s side and checked. He was glad it was nothing serious. Dodoro simply went into a mild shock due to sudden blood loss.

He placed Dodoro onto his bed and considered it.

“Bottom of the sea and me? What does that mean?”

Did Dodoro see ME in his test? Wait, is that even possible for me to become a guest in someone else’s talent test?

He had not read such a case in Abelles’ Annual Talent Collection and had nothing to go by. For now, he decided to calm down and wait for tomorrow so that he could consult Sunders.

The next morning, Angor saw Dodoro still sleeping; the man’s face color was a lot better and healthier.

Angor asked Number One to look after Dodoro for the moment. He then took his mechanical arm draft and left his room.

His first destination was Sunders’ study.

Sunders held his chin and pondered over what he just heard.

“Cloud, mist, unable to speak… The last part sounded something related to a prophecy. But the prophets usually see stars and sky. Could it be that Dodoro is talented for both Element Art and Occult?”

Sunders didn’t come up with a sure answer in the end. He asked Angor to wait until they got back to Brute Cavern. They could then seek help from Tree Spirit.

Next, Angor headed to Mithra’s Elixir Hut.

On his way, Angor considered Sunders’ description. He agreed that what was shown on Dodoro went well with certain prophet-related stories that always regarded gods’ words as imperceptible mysteries, while anyone bold enough to read them had to pay a cost. Even so, in this world, prophecy wasn’t something so dangerous. There were many ways to read fortunes or predict the future, but they tended to be performed in really ambiguous ways.

Still, the wisdom of wizards could always help them “see through” the indirect hints.

“Prophecy, probably… Then did he say something about the future?” Angor thought. What kind of future involved him sitting at the bottom of the sea? Would he actually go on underwater adventures? Or something that forced him to sink?

He simply gave up a while later. There should be a solution to the question back in Brute Cavern.

Besides, the Elixir Hut was already in sight.

The small cottage seemed quiet as usual, but Angor noticed questioning gazes lurking around. When he approached the cottage, the gazes were all fixed onto him.

People were trying to figure out who he was.

The moment he stepped into the hut, the gazes showed completely different intentions, such as indifference, envy, hatred, and mostly, the will to investigate.

“Oh, Mister Angor!”

It was a childish voice that greeted him. Before he could see anything else, a small figure rushed to the door and stood in front of him.

“Good morning, Mister Angor! And a nice day to you!” The voice sounded more like flattery this time.

An orange cheetah cub slowly rubbed its head at the small figure’s leg and crouched down.

“Good morning, Toya,” Angor addressed the boy and smoothened Dodo’s fur.

“Hey, Mister Angor, it’s getting cold outside, and Doro’s freezing… I need to get him something to wear.” Toya held Dodo and pinched the poor creature’s leg, which caused Dodo to yelp with teary eyes.

Angor gave the boy an uncertain look.

“The Month of Resuscitation and a new year is coming. I only have this… lousy cloth on me. I want something colorful and warm!”

Two pairs of puppy eyes stared at Angor.

With a smile, Angor crouched down. He then took out a magic crystal from his bracelet and stuffed it into Toya’s hand. “Here, pocket money for you. Go find some clothes in the city.”

Without waiting for a response, Angor walked around the boy and headed into the cozy house.

Toya looked at the magic crystal. He then looked at Angor again.

But why isn’t my puppy-eye tactic working?

“Toya isn’t bad in nature. He’s just a little… naughty. Please don’t mind,” Yeliya, Mithra’s wife as well as another famous wizard in the city, said as she greeted Angor.

Angor knew Toya was always a treasured child. He noticed the boy’s intention right from the beginning, and it wasn’t really a bad one.

“It’s okay. He’s a sweet boy.” Angor chuckled. Toya’s character reminded him of Leon in the old days. Leon was kind of a “smarta*s” too when they were younger.

“Looking for Mithra, I reckon? He’s in the basement. Oh, and don’t bother with those people outside. Most of them are jealous of you, while the rest of them are simply looking to annoy your teacher. But they can’t do anything here in the city. Just… ignore.”

Angor nodded. He fully expected the outcome of being more famous. Something similar already happened in Brute Cavern. Nothing new.

The Elixir Hut appeared as a small cottage, but in truth, there were countless underground tunnels that connected to a series of caves under it, all of which had been modified into different lab rooms by Mithra.

Angor already knew about this. It didn’t take him very long to reach Mithra, who was working in an alchemy room.