Warlock Apprentice

“I can?!” Freud looked quite excited after Angor had been neglecting him for almost two months.

“Yes. I erased the danger I mentioned.” Angor nodded. “Do you want to enter now?”

“Of course!”

Ten minutes later, Freud woke up from the dream wasteland with a strange expression.

“Hey, Mister Padt? Why do I find those houses… familiar? That’s the same cathedral from Golden Wood City, and the dolphin sculptures and the suspended rose garden are from Freighting Town. Did you use the Dream Whelk to bring all of them to the dream wasteland?”

“That’s right.” Angor nodded proudly.

“You can send things wherever you want now, Mister Padt? Wait, you put me right next to the buildings too, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. We’re one step closer to your ‘limitless alchemy practice’ theory. Not yet though, as our wizardry power will completely disappear when we’re inside. Even if we get the materials, we can’t really do alchemy with them.”

Buuut I might open up more possibilities if I can take more power from that sphere, Angor thought.

“Do we need to be close for you to summon me there? I mean, suppose I stay in Freighting Town but you’re far away in another land, can I enter the dream wasteland then? If so, can we communicate there without physically meeting each other in reality?”

Angor also thought about this probability before. If he could achieve such a feat, then he could use it as a long-range messaging trick that was both more convenient and secure than the other communication tools used today.

“I haven’t tested this yet. For it to work, the second man must know how to enter the dream wasteland without my help.”

This was unlikely for now because he didn’t know anyone else who could use nightmare energy.

“Maybe I can make an alchemy item for this purpose? Hmm…”

“That will be quite a big invention that’s going to shock the hell out of all wizards!” Freud exclaimed.

Angor smiled politely but didn’t reveal his other thoughts. As far as he could see, the dream wasteland still existed in the Dream Realm, which meant anyone who could dream had a chance of finding it. He just needed to figure out how.

“Mister Padt… I told you that I’ll swear under Follower’s Oath and become your follower when the project looks good enough. It’s time to fulfill my words.” Freud suddenly showed a determined look.

For one, Freud was willing to put his trust on Angor now. Besides, he had realized how much potential and value the dream wasteland held. He wouldn’t let someone who knew its secrets roam freely around if he were in Angor’s boots.

Angor accepted his decision without a problem. The dream wasteland was now safe enough for Freud to stay.

“Before that, however, I must tell you something.” Freud gave Angor a serious look.

“Um? What is it?”

“Well… I need to say it now ’cause I probably can’t do it after accepting the oath. Mister Padt, I know you’re an educated and refined man, but when it comes to city planning, I’d suggest that you should, well, refer to proper books beforehand.”

Angor raised an eyebrow and used Dream Enkindle to enter the dream wasteland himself.

Sadly, Freud spoke the truth even though he didn’t say it too straightforwardly. Each of the buildings and landmarks summoned into the dream wasteland would be a masterpiece by themselves if placed alone. But Angor basically made a disaster by piling them next to each other.

He took a moment to check his terrible work and suddenly thought about Nano.

“Oh, hell no. I can’t be like him.”

He silently left the dream wasteland while keeping a straight face.

“Follower’s Oath, right? What are you waiting for?”

Freud found it to be a bad idea that he just said something to frustrate the man he was going to work for.

While a little uneasy, he chanted the oath in the name of the world’s consciousness.

Angor saw Freud’s soul flickering as he felt a strange connection being established between them. He was now able to freely look at Freud’s thoughts and order him around like using a loyal slave.

The Follower’s Oath was more powerful than most similar slave contracts. The moment Freud even thought about betraying Angor, his soul would get snuffed out right away.

“My master.” Freud lowered his head.

“Don’t. I’m not actually treating you as a slave. Just, we can work on our project better in this way.”

“Oh, um, sir, what’s our next plan?”

“Let me see.” Angor held his chin. “Go in there and remove the buildings. All of them.”

I can’t show that stuff to people. Especially Jon!

“But sir, why don’t we rearrange them instead? We can keep the buildings while making adjustments to make them look better, such as applying different paints and relocating them.”

Angor believed it would be faster if he found another spot in the dream wasteland and started anew by dragging more buildings inside. But when looking at Freud’s enthusiastic look, he decided to accept the suggestion.

After leaving Freud to his work, Angor tried to think of ways to invite others into the dream wasteland without casting Dream Enkindle up close.

Freud did not do all the work all by himself. He somehow persuaded Alda and Sunny to provide child labor.

At first, Freud wanted them to become Angor’s followers as well, but Angor rejected the offer. He was going to put different people into the dream wasteland later anyway. There was no point forcing everyone to devote their absolute loyalty.

He simply had to make sure the secret didn’t get revealed too soon. After claiming more “privilege” from the domain sphere, he wouldn’t need to worry about curious stalkers.

Besides, he already planned to add the new project into The Mystery of Nightmare Domain, by which time Sunders would help him keep the dream wasteland safe.

…

Angor spent a few more days reading relevant books in order to find out how to “log in” to the dream wasteland remotely.

The most obvious approach he could think of was enchanting his Dream Enkindle cantrip onto an item and allowing a guest to use it. But he had not learned how to permanently fix cantrips to items yet. Unlike common enchantment, this art was only known by a selected few alchemists in this world, and he didn’t know where to find them.

Later, he found another solution in Enchantment Cyclopaedia: Advanced, which was a magic array called “Arcane Arsenal”, with the purpose of storing a single cantrip or spell within.

The cantrip that kept using this method did not last forever. The duration depended on the level of the item’s material, the level of the cantrip, and how frequently it was used. For example, a level-3 cantrip might have many charges before the power was exhausted, whereas a spell could only be used once or run out on itself if the charge was not used in time.

This was a lot harder and costly to use compared to built-in spells, but it was the only thing Angor could find for now.