Warlock Apprentice

Angor watched the mighty wizard leave Phantom Island with a confused expression.

That smile looked a bit suggestive, as if Rein Mute was intentionally implying something, but what?

“How long are you going to stare?”

Angor recovered from his thoughts when Sunders put a hand on his shoulder.

“Quit worrying about random things. Now move, come to my study.”

Angor quickly followed behind Sunders’ steps while looking around. It seemed that Flora had also left them when he was lost in thought.

Sunders remained silent along their way and spoke until they reached the study, “We shall talk about Greya inside the Gravity Garden later. Meanwhile, you shall wait here as I need to do something first.”

Sunders went to his desk and swiftly wrote something on a piece of paper. He used a nightmare illusion to “encrypt” the message into strange symbols. He then aimed the note at a window before casting a spell to teleport it away.

“Are you still concerned about what Greya did?” Sunders looked at Angor again.

Angor shook his head and explained Rein’s strange smile that was directed at him.

Sunders took a moment to consider.

“Wizards at that level will naturally base their judgments on possible gains and losses. He might have questions about you, but this is not important, as wizards always have endless questions. No matter what he thinks about you, you should not burden yourself since you can’t change his mind.”

Angor knew what Sunders meant, but he still felt terrible because that smile was like a stubborn mark left in his mind, which kept haunting him.

Sunders lifted a hand and pointed at Angor’s forehead.

Angor felt a refreshing power slowly wrapping up his entire head, eliminating all the uneasiness bugging him.

“You should forget about Mister Rein. The message I sent earlier is for Greya. She’ll know what to do.”

Sunders took Angor into Gravity Garden.

This was a small, independent world that could prevent most detection methods used by wizards. To make sure that Angor’s secret stayed between them, Sunders would take Angor into the garden every time they needed to speak of the matter.

“It’s okay now,” said Sunders, “so what did Greya tell you by that voice transmission?”

“She said she wanted to give me a gift.”

“A gift? That golden tree that produces milk? Huh… I more or less guessed so, since you… ahem. But I don’t think Greya gave you that tree for no reason. She’s repaying you for something. And this ‘something’ is probably what helped her achieve her goal.”

“The manifestation,” they both agreed.

Sunders took a seat and knuckled his desk. “Greya has been spending most of her time inside your illusion. She can’t possibly work on her new spell in there, which means she discovered the manifestation on Mysterious Mountain.”

Angor asked a question he had been wondering for some time, “Professor, did the manifestation really teach her a new spell?”

“Teach? That’s nonsense. You don’t get new spells so conveniently.”

“It wasn’t because of the manifestation?” Angor suddenly felt relieved.

“Greya has been working on the path of creation for a long time. Your manifestation can’t give her all she needs all of a sudden. For decades, she worked on her second new spell but never succeeded. But this didn’t mean she was treading in the same place. Her success today was mainly brought by all the time and effort she paid. As for the manifestation you gave her… it only played a small part.”

Angor breathed a sigh of relief.

Sunders sneered. “A small part, maybe. But sometimes, this ‘small part’ is more valuable than all the remaining factors combined together. Don’t let your guard down yet. Should any outsiders learn about your manifestation, you’re never going to enjoy peace for the rest of your life.”

Angor understood those words—if his manifestation worked as the “final push” for creating new spells, this would attract very dangerous attention to him.

“As for how exactly the manifestation helped Greya and how much she gained from it, we shall wait until Greya finishes up whatever she is doing and tells us,” said Sunders. “This is vital, so I’ll tell you again. Do NOT mention the manifestation of Mystery to anyone before you reach the level of a truth-finder wizard.”

Angor nodded.

“Especially Flora. Make sure you keep this from her.”

“Er, I can’t even tell Miss Flora about this?”

“If she knows about this convenient tool, then she will never focus on her own rightful path. The extra help will cause her to stray until she loses all hope of finding the path of truth. It does her more harm than good.”

When Sunders “learned” Wither from Angor’s manifestation, he could feel that the knowledge of this cantrip came into his mind all of a sudden. There was no forewarning, and he did not need any work beforehand to know the cantrip

The cantrip was not his own, it was alien. Learning cantrips or spells in this way greatly contradicted the way of truth.

Sunders didn’t wish to see Flora getting new spells without knowing what she was doing.

“I understand, sir,” Angor acknowledged with a serious look.

“Dear me…” Sunders frowned as he shook his head. “These manifestations you handily made possible will only cause more problems later. While you can’t see them now, they will slowly haunt you in many different ways.”

Despite his words, Sunders was glad that Angor was able to create these wonderful manifestations rather than worried. He was Angor’s teacher, and what Angor contributed would also benefit him greatly.

Also because he was Angor’s teacher, he had to help Angor deal with all the “mess” no matter how burdensome that might be.

“Essentially speaking, you’re racing against time. All problems are solved if you can outrun the shady claws that are trying to reach you. And if you fail… you’ll end up in a birdcage.”

Angor knew Sunders was urging him to grow strong as fast as he could. As long as he had enough strength to protect himself, having his secrets being exposed wouldn’t be too much of a big issue. Otherwise, someone would claim him sooner or later.

While he was always causing trouble by creating all sorts of surprises, he still knew what he should do and what not to do, unlike Flora, who tended to lose her cool a lot.

Sunders was rather satisfied to see Angor’s eyes showing great determination.

“That’s about all. Let’s talk about the crystal next,” Sunders said when he saw Angor looking at him again. “What’s your next plan?”

Angor took out the said crystal from his bracelet. “I’ll attempt to use it.”

Sunders neither agreed or disapproved of Angor’s decision. “If the crystal does help you learn Soul Link… then yes, you should. We only need to see whether it directly transfers the power to you, which will save you numerous time, or only tells you how to learn the skill, which is… better than nothing. However, be very careful if the power inside the crystal turns out to be something else. But this is very unlikely.

“Alright, do it now if you would. I’ll stay here and watch over you.”

Angor nodded and readied the crystal in his hand.

Just as Sunders said, if everything went in his favor, using the crystal would allow him to directly gain a skill that would otherwise take him decades to learn. Besides, as far as they could see, nothing too bad could happen.

There was no reason to give up a great opportunity.

According to the results gained through Narda’s Vision, Angor simply had to press the crystal against his forehead and connect his spirit to it…