Warlock Apprentice

Angor took Nano to the room next to his own bedroom, where Papaya was having a dinner party with her people around their tiny skyscraper.

They all stopped their actions and looked at Nano with puzzled looks.

They felt confused because even though Nano was a lot taller than Krakoks, he was still tiny by human standards. Even after spending some time with Angor and Dodoro, the Krakoks still considered Nano a “shortie”.

“Is that a dwarf?” Papaya broke the silence first.

It was Nano who replied first by yelling furiously, “WHO ARE YOU TO CALL ME A DWARF?! I’m gonna kill you, you undersized freaks!”

The Krakoks dived back into their building when they saw Nano rolling up his sleeves and getting ready to fight.

Papaya remained calm and didn’t move since she saw Angor was still with them.

Angor lifted Nano into the air by his collar and warned, “Do anything stupid to them and I’ll cancel our terms. All of them.”

Nano’s anger instantly deflated.

“… This is Nano,” Angor put the Fibber down and explained to Papaya, “he’s called a ‘Fibber’, a humanoid race, not a dwarf. He’s going to live with you all from now on. Try to be friendly.”

“Friends?! With these short stuff?!” Nano protested.

Angor narrowed his eyes and changed his words by saying, “Alright, not friends. You’re going to be their student and study.”

“Study? Nooo! What can these tiny brains teach me anyway? No, please don’t!” Nano kept yelling, but he lowered the volume of his voice when he noticed Angor’s expression getting colder. “But, but… what possibly can they teach me?”

Angor snickered. “The Krakoks are brilliant craftsmen as well. Maybe you’re better when it comes to weaving and house designing, but you should learn how to paint properly.”

“Nonsense! My people all said that my sense of coloring is the best!”

“Oh, I see ‘Fibbers’ do tell fibs.” Angor smiled. “Think carefully. Ever since you went to Pierre, did anyone ever tell you the same thing?”

Nano wanted to protest again by saying that all Fibbers was honest, but he couldn’t because Angor was right—nobody would comment on his coloring in the past five years when they talked about his crafting.

“They-they didn’t know true art!”

Angor turned to speak to Papaya. “So, what is your first impression on Nano’s clothes?”

Nano puffed up his chest proudly so that Papaya could examine his attire better.

Papaya considered before replying, “The outline and texture are really good! But the color… ouch. Is this a new trend that people are falling in love with?”

“Nope,” said Angor.

Nano’s mouth fell agape.

Next, Angor took out a piece of silk from his bracelet—Nano’s product.

“How about this one?” Angor presented the silk to Papaya.

“Ohhh, this is so soft and chilly! We can make the best summer vest out of it!” Papaya’s eyes brimmed with admiration.

Nano was looking pleased again. However, he didn’t get to maintain it for very long, especially when he heard Papaya’s next words.

“But the hue on this thing is so messed up! We can try cutting it up and use a single color to make something…”

“You… you don’t have the sense of an artist…” Nano looked rather defeated.

Angor glanced at him and added some salt, “That lady you see outside is a famous truth-finder wizard. She loves to dress up too. What did she say about your clothes?”

Nano lowered his head to his chest. He knew what a truth-finder wizard meant in this world.

“Do you think your colleagues, the Krakoks, and a true wizard are all telling ties? So, are you the only ‘artist’ here?” Angor decided to reveal the truth to Nano. “Spend some time with Krakoks to learn what true art is, and help each other should you need it, because…”

… It’s very likely that you will be neighbors for a really long time.

He didn’t say the last part. As planned, he was going to bring both Krakoks and Nano back to Old Earth so that they could work for his family.

When Nano wanted to complain again, Angor stopped him by dropping his bed onto the floor. Next, he set up a small private area in the room for Nano to stay in.

“Remember what I said? No fighting or bad language, or else…”

Angor didn’t leave any other restrictions around Nano since Nano did not have any supernatural powers. Just in case Nano tried to misbehave, he asked Dodoro to keep an eye on the little guy.

With Nano settled, Angor glanced at the mist illusion behind the Krakok apartment where the Soul Floret containing Freud’s soul was placed in. After making sure Freud was fine, he turned around and left the room.

Freud’s new home had to wait until after the auction.

Angor’s next destination was Sunders’ study. He needed to tell his teacher about the abnormality he saw on his right hand earlier.

As soon as Sunders’ heard what Angor came for, the gentleman dragged Angor into the gravity garden to perform tests. At the same time, he also took some notes on his personal notebook.

“… I see. Any illusion that is cast through your right hand will be affected by nightmare aura, meaning, its potency will be multiplied.” Sunders failed to contain his envious expression as he said, “It must have something to do with the green marks.”

“Really?” Angor removed his glove and gazed at the glowing sigils which seemed more active after he cast several illusions; it was as if his mana aroused them.

“There’s another factor I need to find out,” Sunders continued. “Deploy your nightmare domain.”

Angor nodded and complied.

When both of them entered the “castle hall” created by Angor, Sunders immediately looked at Angor’s hand again.

“Just as I thought…” Sunders widened his eyes when he saw the green sigils glowing brighter than ever.

Angor also felt something different—the nightmare monsters living in his nightmare domain all became very vigorous and energetic, especially the lone rainbow dragonfly he captured in Darkivil Empire. The insect was now dancing around in the air while shining like a neon lamp.

“This is… The marks are releasing nightmare aura into the area,” Sunders explained while gazing intensively at Angor’s bigger hand.

It seemed that nightmare creatures could only survive in nightmare aura. The amount of nightmare aura in Angor’s own nightmare domain was slowly decreasing as time went by, which caused the “residents” to lose their vitality as well.

But now, the nightmare aura sent by Angor’s right hand aroused them.

Apart from the particularly bright insect, the teacups and the toy soldiers also visibly became brighter.

“Wait… if this keeps on, can these guys block and reflect powerful attacks again like how they did during Twilight Auction?” Angor asked.

“Those abilities will surely come back, but not to the same level as before. So… No.”

“But why?”

“You’ll see.”

Sunders asked Angor to wait for a bit longer.

They remained silent for several minutes until the nightmare aura fully filled up the entire nightmare domain.

Further tests told them that the teacups could now reflect level-2 cantrips, while anything more powerful would shatter them easily. Similarly, the toy soldiers could drain level-2 cantrips and unleash the power back out to harm their targets.

“Your nightmare domain can only contain so much nightmare aura at its current state,” Sunders explained. “If you wish for these monsters to grow stronger, you must improve your capacity first. However, the only way to achieve that is to absorb new pieces of nightmare domains. This is as difficult as finding new destinies. And even if you somehow get lucky like how you did last time, I suggest that you do not attempt it before becoming a wizard.”

Angor was already satisfied with what he had right now. After all, he could use the nightmare monsters as another defense line against level-2 cantrips.

Sunders asked Angor to cancel the castle hall. He then unleashed his own nightmare domain, the “dark tower”. By doing so, Sunders wished to find out whether Angor’s new hand could replenish nightmare aura for someone else’s domain as well.

The answer was yes.

“Those green sigils have a similar effect as nightmare stones, which also release nightmare aura into the surrounding area.” Sunders sighed and said, “Nightmare stones are extremely expensive, if you haven’t known. I guess your new hand can help us save a lot of expenses from now on.”

Angor frowned as he remembered a certain invention he saw in Earth movies. As he remembered, that amazing item called a “battery” was already considered obsolete in Jon’s world.