Warlock Apprentice

”Mm.”

After Helen gave her consent, a thread of spiritual power, soft like a needle, suddenly pierced through her brow and entered Helen’s mind space.

Accompanied by a slight stinging sensation, Helen realized that the spiritual power she’d been unable to sense for a long time had actually reappeared.

Yet, as her spiritual power surfaced, that needle-like spiritual power began to wander within her mind space.

Helen instinctively wanted to resist, but just as her spiritual power stirred to counteract, she suppressed the urge. That spiritual power emitted a gentle and familiar presence the moment it entered her mind.

It was Angel’s spiritual power.

Helen clenched her fists tightly, forcibly restraining her restless spiritual power, allowing Angel’s spiritual power to move freely within her spiritual world.

”Don’t worry.” As Helen felt her entire body tense up, Angel’s voice reached her ears: ”In the initial stages, you don’t need to restrain yourself too much. You can guide your spiritual power to follow closely behind mine.”

Helen said nothing but immediately followed Angel’s instructions, directing her spiritual power to trail the foreign spiritual power.

Angel’s spiritual power acted as an arrow, guiding hers as it swayed and followed. As her spiritual power began to mobilize, Helen could distinctly feel the disarray of her spiritual power over the past few days gradually returning to order.

If spiritual power were to be likened to threads, Helen’s mind space would be a chaotic tangle of overlapping strands, with all threads intertwined in a disorderly mess. If Helen allowed this state to persist, the threads would become increasingly tangled, eventually causing her mind space to be entirely overtaken by chaos. Not only would her spiritual power sustain severe damage, but her mental power value would also drop below 10 points, reverting her to the state of mortals.

Currently, as Angel directed his spiritual power into Helen’s mind space, he acted like a cleaner, carefully disentangling the knotted threads one by one.

Helen keenly felt this process, as she trailed behind Angel’s spiritual power and witnessed the gradual restoration of large amounts of disordered spiritual power.

Meanwhile, Helen herself grew increasingly able to control her spiritual power. Those freed strands joined the growing collective, swelling the ranks under Helen’s command. Her control expanded steadily.

Sensing the burgeoning strength of her spiritual power, Helen’s heart filled with joy. Yet, before she could revel in it for long, Angel’s voice came through again.

”As previously twisted spiritual power continues to be untangled, its rebound force will intensify. You’ll need to be mindful of this.”

Initially, Helen did not comprehend Angel’s meaning—until one strand of spiritual power under her control began to grow agitated, attempting to clash with Angel’s spiritual power. Only then did she realize his warning.

Rejection! At first, her limited spiritual power caused negligible rejection. But as more spiritual power joined in, the rejection reaction became considerably stronger.

Her spiritual world naturally sought to expel Angel’s spiritual power.

This was an inherent reflex Helen could not prevent. The only solution was to forcibly suppress it.

Helen’s previously relaxed state was replaced by tension. She focused all her attention on controlling the newly joined spiritual power to prevent it from displacing Angel’s spiritual power.

The effort required to maintain this control was taxing, but Helen persisted to prevent her hard work from amounting to nothing.

Angel’s progress in untangling continued to accelerate—30%, 40%, 50%...

When the progress reached 90%, Helen still hadn’t uttered a word, dedicating herself entirely to controlling her spiritual power. Angel noticed the sweat beading on her forehead and allowed a small smile to play on his lips.

In truth, Angel could withstand minor spiritual power rebounds. Helen’s ability to achieve total suppression surprised him.

Given Helen’s short time in training, her ability to manage spiritual power was naturally limited. For a Level 1 apprentice to perfectly suppress spiritual rebounds in the early stages was an extraordinary feat.

Moreover, Helen hadn’t relied on a shortcut; she had endured through sheer willpower.

”She truly has the qualities of a witch,” Angel mused inwardly, further accelerating his disentangling progress. From 90% to 99%, Helen maintained flawless control over her spiritual power.

100%!

When Angel finished untangling the final cluster of spiritual power, Helen still retained impeccable control.

Instead of immediately withdrawing from her mind space, Angel lingered to test the limits of Helen’s endurance.

Angel wasn’t trying to toy with Helen; he was still helping. Extending her endurance would be immensely beneficial to her mastery of spiritual power.

Helen seemed unaware that her spiritual power was already fully restored, continuing to steadfastly follow behind Angel.

Two more minutes passed. Finally, Helen’s control began to falter; a sliver of spiritual power started to escape.

Helen inwardly cried out in distress: Bad!

Her expression revealed anxiety as she attempted to seize that errant spiritual power. Yet, the more she focused on it, the more uncontrollable it became.

This time, it truly seemed over! A wave of despair flooded Helen’s heart.

But in the next instant, Angel’s voice arrived: ”It’s over. You’ve done wonderfully.”

With those words, Angel’s spiritual power exited directly from Helen’s brow. Simultaneously, the rejection reactions ceased entirely, and an unprecedented sense of liberation erupted from her spiritual world.

Helen was stunned. Not only had her spiritual power recovered, but something seemed different... The liveliness of her spiritual power was unlike anything she’d experienced before.

Overwhelmed by this newfound sensation, Helen instinctively wished to try building the psychic model she had long sought to construct, capitalizing on this moment.

Guiding her spiritual power into her mind space, Helen marveled at the seamless fluidity of her control—a feeling she had never known before. Following the instructions of the Guiding Method, she began constructing a corner of the psychic model.

It took only a minute.

The obstacle that had plagued her for so long was effortlessly overcome.

Helen wanted to continue building but found her spiritual power too depleted to proceed. She had to pause for now.

When she opened her eyes, a brilliant clarity sparkled within them.

For the first time in half a month, Song saw such radiance in Helen’s eyes.

”Lady, are you... better now?” Song couldn’t help but ask.

”Better.” The reply came not from Angel, but from Helen. Her gaze held gratitude as she looked at Angel. She wanted to rise and bow in thanks but, constrained by her physical condition, could only offer a seated nod instead.

”Thank you.”

Angel smiled faintly and accepted her thanks.

”I must say, you performed far beyond my expectations.” Angel offered a rare compliment and then stood. ”Your spiritual power has recovered. While your physical injuries appear severe, with proper rest, you’ll fully heal.”

”Since your situation has begun improving, I won’t linger anymore.”