Warlock Apprentice

During the experiments inside the plane passageway, Angor had stepped across the “midpoint” of his level, which brought him closer to the level limit of level-3. And this was when he tried his best not to draw too much energy.

This was why he felt all tensed up when leaving Pocratee. He never liked strength that found its way into his body all of a sudden, but not gained through his own effort.

Sunders saw through him and chuckled. “Don’t worry too much. Even if there are flaws in your power, there will be a way to fix it. Besides, we didn’t find any flaws.”

They left the village by traveling through the same waterways and caves, without running into Akeso.

While glad that he didn’t need to worry about Akeso’s safety, Angor began to wonder why the great monster that had guarded Pocratee for a thousand years suddenly vanished.

After swimming out of lake water, they headed toward Silent Hill using Angor’s Gondola again.

The boat traveled so fast that they failed to notice a group of people covered in thick, cold-resistant clothes traveling along a snowy mountain path not far from them, where a man taller than everyone else and had a large black fur coat was taking the lead.

“Sir, we found traces of excavation and rappel hooks on these walls. Our archaeologist said that they were left here about 1,500 years ago.” A middle-aged worker in white fur overcoat approached their leader.

“Keep moving. Let’s find a way into the ancient ruin site.”

“Understood.”

The taller man saw his employee leaving and glanced at the tranquil lake in the distance.

“That guy asked the Grand Priest about the ‘land of the serpent’… It should be around here… Maybe I can find my destiny if I find it.”

Drifting clouds moved away and allowed more sunlight to reach him.

If Angor were here, he would easily notice this handsome yet a little villainous-looking man as Shadow, or Diablo, who left Floating Mech City in pursuit of destiny.

…

Silent Hill.

While laughing joyously, Taurus took Sunders and Angor to their teleportation array, which would take them to the Floating Mech City.

Before the array was fully activated, Angor saw a figure in the distance gazing at them. It was Falca, who still had the strange getup of a rebellious youth.

In the last second when he was teleported away, Angor waved a hand at him.

As they reappeared at the teleport station in Floating Mech City, Sunders asked Angor, “Do you know that man?”

“Yes, sir. I think he’s the blood relative of Mister Taurus. He got an… antagonistic character.”

They spent the next few moments in silence. Sunders took Angor and traveled through Edge of Night to get back to Brute Cavern. Sleepless City was ordinarily a better choice since it was closer to Brute Cavern, but it obviously wasn’t the time to go there.

Angor knew that Sunders could rip open a plane passageway to get back to Brute Cavern faster. But like last time, when they left the city of Edge of Night, Sunders waited patiently for him to bring out Gondola.

Angor was afraid that if he did not follow the hint, Sunders would simply measure their distance all the way to Brute Cavern on foot.

He sighed and complied willingly.

Just like this, a bigger and a smaller gentleman slowly floated toward Parmigi Highlands on an adorable boat.

Angor had been wondering why Sunders insisted on using his vehicle. Was his professor planning to ask for one as well?

Of course, Angor wouldn’t ask such a question boldly. He tried approaching it using small talks, such as asking for Sunders’ opinions regarding his creation.

Sunders raised an eyebrow and crossed his legs. “Better than average vehicles but far from the top-tier artifacts yet. A little too small as a means of transportation… but still better than the standard-issued vehicles used in Brute Cavern.”

So he wants it bigger, Angor thought.

Sunders continued, “This is decent enough as your personal vehicle. It’ll be useful when you reach the wizard level too.”

So it’s good enough for wizards, but not for truth-finders? Angor waited for Sunders’ further hints.

However, Sunders did not continue this time. Instead, he changed the topic. “Enough about your boat. I have something else to ask. How did you know that dog is a Mystery spirit or a possible Mystery item?”

Angor canceled his “mental notes”. He was a little surprised. So was Sunders expecting him to craft a vehicle or not?

Sunders asked again, “What did you see when you were swallowed by the beast?”

Angor cleared his mind and explained his general experience inside the puppy’s belly. Although he wasn’t so sure when telling Sunders how he witnessed the birth and termination of tiny worlds. He felt as if everything were a dream.

When he finished, Sunders took a moment to ponder over the certain Mystery concepts he just heard. Just like Angor said, all those strange yet harmonious rules of nature did look like something related to Mystery, yet they could not tell.

Every known Mystery item possessed a certain property, such as copying, hypnosis, and perpetual motion. But Sunders did not find anything related to the property in Angor’s explanation. All the miniature civilizations and conflicting rules appeared to be temporary hallucinations.

Wait, so the dog might be a Mystery spirit?

“The beast gave you a crystal before we left the darkness. What is it?”

Angor quickly thought about his horrible theory, which suggested evil wizards might use the puppy to hunt down gifted apprentices. He found the crystal and handed it to Sunders without a second thought.

Sunders did not discover anything particular about the item, apart from how the crystal urged people to combine it with their souls, about which Angor already noticed.

Angor hesitated and decided to explain his idea.

It surprised Sunders as well. If what Angor said was true, that the puppy could rip someone’s sequence power and transfer it to another individual, this would well start another war.

They needed to use the crystal in order to prove that theory, but before that, they had to identify it first.

Speaking of identifying an item, the most convenient approach was to use Narda’s Vision, which most alchemists would know.

However, Angor had yet to learn this spell.

“Take the crystal to safety and don’t tell anyone about it. Let’s wait until you study Narda’s Vision,” Sunders concluded.

Angor nodded with a serious look.

The discussion regarding the strange puppy ended here, but neither of them found their curiosity satisfied.

About half a day later, Angor saw the familiar sight of a great abyss as if the very land were cut in half by a mighty weapon. They floated to the bottom of the abyss where the manifestation of Lady Mirror, as well as the entrance toward the mirror world, was located.

Angor was a bit worried that Lady Mirror would see him coming and ask about the illusion item she was expecting, but it seemed she wasn’t paying attention to their arrival today.

However, someone else was waiting for them just in front of Phantom Island.

“Mister Tree Spirit.” Angor bowed politely.

Like always, the ancient being only had a single leaf over his groin area as the only piece of “clothing”.

Tree Spirit gave Angor a casual nod and spoke to Sunders, “Wallace sent a message from Sleepless City yesterday. He asked that you go and meet him.”

Sunders frowned. “Is something else happening in Sleepless City?”

Tree Spirit picked his ear. “Something like… the possessed people you saved last time are all affected again and began walking into the darkness like wired puppets. Well, I don’t know the details. You have to see it for yourself.”

The spirit put a hand on Sunders’ shoulder. “No rest for the wicked. Since Wallace asked, he must have prepared a hefty reward for you.”

Sunders saw Tree Spirit off and turned to Angor. “What’s your opinion about the situation? Why are the citizens possessed again?”

“Um, we only removed the parasites from them, but there should be the residue of golden strings left in their bodies, and these strings are controlled by Yorkshire…”

“Should be.” Sunders nodded. “I’ll go check Sleepless City. You return to Phantom Island by yourself.”

“Sir, do I need to come with you?”

“No. I’ll not go into the darkness this time. It shouldn’t be hard for me to deal with the strings.”