Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2184: Chapter 2185: Remnant Flames of the Graveyard

After learning about the upcoming short-term goals, Angel naturally couldn’t help but prepare in advance.

So, Angel asked Magu about the situation in other regions of the Tidal World.

This conversation lasted for an hour. Ignoring Magu’s occasional ”breaks,” their conversation was quite fruitful.

Angel learned about the basic situation in other areas and also about the elemental creatures who had been in contact with Feng and were still alive.

Among them, Magu particularly mentioned three names, all of whom had spent a long time with Feng.

They are Frost Iser of the Malaya Ice Mountain, Soft Wind Uranos of White Cloud Village, and Nami Midori of the Green Forest Domain.

Among these three, those bearing the titles ”Frost” and ”Soft Wind” are elemental lords who have inherited the title of their region’s monarch; while Nami Midori, though lacking a title prefix, was mentioned by Magu with even more apprehension than Frost Iser, the archenemy of the Region of Fire.

This indicates that Nami Midori’s strength, status, and level of danger should not be underestimated.

Additionally, Magu specifically mentioned that Nami Midori was the one who spent the most time with Mr. Feng after the Savior descended upon the Tidal World.

This means that even if Angel could bypass other elemental lords, he absolutely could not bypass Nami Midori. Its long contact with Feng must have yielded more information.

After discussing this information, taking advantage of Magu’s abrupt nap, Angel decided to end the conversation for now.

He gained a lot from this encounter. Although he hadn’t pinpointed his ultimate destination, he gained a general understanding of the Tidal World’s dynamics, knowing where to start looking for information.

The only thing that puzzled him was that he might have fallen into Feng’s scheme once again.

However, regardless of everything else, the importance of the Tidal World compelled him to explore it. If nothing else works, he might as well reveal the Tidal World early to disrupt the so-called ”plan”... Of course, Angel also understood that with Feng’s ability to set up such plans, the more he disrupted, the murkier the situation might get, potentially making it even harder to find his ultimate goal.

So, it was best to take it step by step and decide based on the situation.

At least he had the Wilderness of Dreams to call upon for help at any time, right?

Angel glanced at Magu, who was still ”Zzzzz” and snoring fiery bubbles, and chose not to disturb it but instead gently tapped Toby.

Toby understood Angel’s intention, returned to its bird form, and perched back on top of Angel’s head.

At this time, Dangross also freed itself from its demonic grip, shook its slightly bewildered ”head”—though it doesn’t actually have a head—and looked at Angel.

”Mr. Pat, is it true that only you know about the Tidal World?”

”The Tidal World.” Angel understood what Dangross was asking: ”Yes, only I know.”

A dim light flickered in Dangross’s eyes: ”So if you don’t tell others, they won’t be able to enter either?”

”For now, that’s the case in the short term.” Angel nodded first, then quietly looked at Dangross: ”So, what is your plan? Do you want to kill me?”

Hesitation flashed through Dangross’s eyes, and it subconsciously glanced at Toby, who was casting a threatening gaze.

Dangross couldn’t bring itself to say anything about silencing, nor did it have the power to do so: ”I was thinking more about Mr. Pat living in the Tidal World in the future.”

”So, you want to imprison me?” Angel chuckled, ”You don’t understand wizards; their abilities are far beyond your imagination. If I hadn’t come to the Tidal World, perhaps it would have remained hidden for a few more years. But since I’m here, even if I don’t reveal it, someone will follow my traces and find this place.”

”Moreover, even if I don’t leave here, even if I die, there are ways to communicate the information out. So your idea is futile.”

Dangross wanted to say more, but Angel softly said: ”You already know that the initial world disaster was actually caused by the fusion of the Tidal World and the Wizards’ Realm.”

”Keeping a world perfectly hidden is very difficult. If this world were still independent, finding it would indeed be challenging; however, the Tidal World is already connected to the Wizards’ Realm. The two worlds are interconnected, their fates intertwined, and with such fusion, wizards will eventually find their way here.”

Dangross bowed its head, somewhat stammering: ”But...”

Angel patted Dangross’s wrist: ”These matters and the future landscape of the Tidal World are not something you or I can decide on our own. Don’t overthink it; let the many sages and monarchs of the Tidal World deal with these troubles.”

Without waiting for Dangross to respond, Angel directly picked up Dangross: ”Let’s go. We won’t disturb Mr. Magu’s rest any longer. Take me to see the place where you were born.”

Dangross was born from the embers of Kalomchis, so Angel intended to visit Kalomchis’s grave to see if there were any clues left there.

This had already been approved by Magu beforehand.

Dangross sighed, thinking Angel was right. It hadn’t even passed the ”Elf” stage yet, and these major matters were indeed far off for it, nor did it have the authority to make final decisions... Whatever happens, let others handle it. Isn’t there still the new king, the demonic fire Midir?

With this thought, Dangross stopped overthinking it and pointed towards a direction outside the classroom: ”This way.”

Angel nodded and left the classroom with Dangross.

Shortly after they left, Magu’s eyelids twitched, and it slowly opened its eyes. Seeing no one around, it didn’t mind but looked deeply into a certain spot, eventually sighing: ”Once the door is opened, it’s hard to close it. The world change envisioned by Kalomchis is finally coming.”

As the words fell, they condensed into a sparkling ember, slowly flying out of the classroom, past the Lava Lake, and towards the volcano where the demonic fire Midir resided...

Elsewhere, Angel followed Dangross downwards. After about ten minutes of walking, Angel estimated they were nearing the lowest point of Magu’s body when Dangross stopped.

It opened an old, decrepit-looking door.

As the door opened, a dim yellow light and a rich, stagnant smell wafted out.

”This is the graveyard, the final resting place for us flame creatures,” introduced Dangross.

Although it was called a graveyard, Angel saw no tombstones, only leftover fires emitting dim yellow light.

The dim yellow light, combined with the solemn atmosphere, gave the impression of time imbued with a lingering twilight sadness.

This was the graveyard of elemental creatures.

Angel took a deep breath and stepped into the graveyard.

As soon as he stepped in, Angel sensed that within the remaining fires in the graveyard, there were hidden fluctuations. If he approached closely, he could sense the emotions within those fluctuations.

According to Dangross, these remaining fires were actually tombstones. The residual information within them served as the deceased’s final epitaph.

Angel thought it over and walked towards a nearby flicker of ghostly green flames.

The closer he got, the stronger the wave from the flames became. Upon nearing, the wave peaked, and Angel seemed to witness a ghostly green poisonous fire spider emerging from a fire spring, gradually growing, ultimately perishing in a battle against a snow woman, its elemental core shattered, transforming into residual flames and being brought to this graveyard.

This is the story of the poison fire spider’s life.

In just a few seconds, Angel witnessed its birth and death.

This is its epitaph.

Apart from marveling at the mystical nature of Elemental Creatures, Angel felt more of an instinctual melancholy upon witnessing death.

In this melancholy, Angel also noticed some strange fluctuations in the epitaph. Not only was there sorrow condensed from a lifetime into a few images, but also a longing for rebirth.

In a cemetery filled with a sense of twilight, did Angel perceive new hope?

Angel looked at Dangross and voiced his doubts.

Dangross, however, asked with a puzzled expression: ”Why can’t there be rebirth?”

”Flame energy doesn’t completely disappear. It just exists in another form. When this energy reaches a certain limit, a new Elf will be born.” Dangross paused and continued, ”For example, me. I was born here. However, I was born from the embers of my ancestors.”

When Dangross spoke of its own birth, its eyes were quite proud, seemingly very satisfied with its origins.

After hearing Dangross’s explanation, Angel understood that he once again brought human circumstances into the realm of Elemental Creatures.

Although humans can communicate with Elemental Creatures, fundamentally, they are somewhat different.

For example, the concept of death; Dangross’s understanding must differ from Angel’s.

After realizing this, Angel was no longer perplexed. He took large strides past embers and finally reached the end of the cemetery.

Here, Angel finally saw a real grave.

The tombstone was made of stone, embedded in the soft red jelly-like ground. The style of the tombstone was very ”human,” with an upright commemorative inscription and an epitaph propped in front of it.

Angel estimated that the tombstone was likely made by foreign students from the Wild Stone Wasteland.

From Dangross, this speculation was indeed confirmed, made by foreign students from earlier years.

The main body of the tombstone had only the letters of Kalomchis, written in the common continental script. The epitaph simply described Kalomchis’s achievements, consistent with the information Magu had told him, just more succinct.

The tombstone and the epitaph were not particularly remarkable, so Angel slowly squatted down and gently placed his fingers on a hidden latch at the edge of the epitaph.

With a ”click” sound, the slanted stone that held the epitaph was opened by Angel.

This slanted stone was not just the epitaph, but also a stone box.

This is not unique to Kalomchis; such customs also exist in the human world. This box, called the funereal box by humans, often contains ashes and relics.

And inside Kalomchis’s funereal box was only a fist-sized deep red gemstone crystal.

Angel took out the gemstone, lightly sensed it, and immediately understood it was the condensed essence blood of Kalomchis.

Furthermore, the purity of this essence blood was very high, even more concentrated than the Aksuo essence blood he once obtained, likely self-congealed by Kalomchis before his death.

This essence blood gemstone, in Angel’s view, was a unique Secret Treasure because it contained all of Kalomchis’s blood energy, which could be refined into a true bloodline by a bloodline wizard and integrated into oneself.

However, Angel had never heard of gryphon bloodlines. Even if it was to be integrated, it certainly required other methods to ensure success, which may not be available in the Southern Domain.

Angel gazed deeply at the essence blood gemstone, ultimately placing it back in silence.

The essence blood gemstone is indeed useful, even if not refined into a bloodline, it could serve as special Demonic Materials, but its use would be significantly less than as a bloodline. Angel had no desire for bloodlines, so taking it was of limited value.

Moreover, this is the final relic of Kalomchis, the lord of the Tidal World. Angel did not believe he had the privilege to arbitrarily take such a relic.

After replacing the essence blood gemstone, Angel looked at Dangross: ”Is there nothing else besides this?”

Angel thought, since Kalomchis was ”waiting for a successor,” surely he wouldn’t leave nothing behind when knowing he was about to die, right?

Dangross’s gaze flickered slightly, hesitated for a while, and then slowly said: ”Actually, there’s one more thing.”

Angel: ”Where?”

Dangross held up its index finger, pointing to itself: ”Me.”

Angel: ”...”

Seeing Angel’s suspicious expression, Dangross quickly explained, ”I’m not talking nonsense. I mentioned before that I was born from the embers of my ancestors.”

Angel looked at Dangross, waiting for it to continue speaking.

”What the ancestor left in this box was a red fire feather from a wing. When the World’s Harmony came, this red fire feather ignited by itself, and I... I was born from the burning embers.”

Angel gazed deeply into Dangross’s eyes and could tell from its expression that it wasn’t lying.

Kalomchis indeed left a red fire feather, but it has now become Dangross, so its claim of being Kalomchis’s ”relic” is understandable.

However, a fire feather is a fire feather, and Dangross is Dangross; they cannot ultimately be equated.

After all, in Angel’s view, the fire feather might have contained residual information from Kalomchis, potentially concerning the ”successor.”

But now that the fire feather has transformed into Dangross, the information is likely lost.

”...Or maybe not.” Angel muttered softly, and asked Dangross, ”After you were born, was there any information left in your mind? Or any secret inheritance?”

Dangross looked utterly confused at Angel: ”Huh?”

Angel: ”...” Well, it seems he guessed wrong. It was indeed not wise to have high expectations of a naive one.

Angel sighed but wasn’t too disappointed. If there’s nothing here, he can always search in other realms.

Angel patted Dangross: ”Let’s go, we’ll leave first.”