Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1263: Section 1264 Increasing Probability

Sanders and Nis’s conversation was interrupted when the door was opened and Angel walked out.

Nis raised an eyebrow and looked at the thin tome in Angel’s hand, “It seems you’ve made your choice.”

Angel nodded. This thin tome detailed the breeding methods of certain special magical insects. The pliant worms belonged to the geomorphic worm family, a sub-category of invertebrates. Angel found the relevant category and sub-category; perhaps it was recorded in there.

“Tell me, what do you want to look at?” Nis asked.

Angel hesitated for a moment. In fact, there was a lot of content in this thin tome he wanted to know. Or to put it another way, he was curious about the content in the other books as well.

However, he also understood the value of knowledge. Such rare legendary relics as these, it was priceless for Nis to offer access. Being insatiably greedy might even provoke dislike.

...
With this thought, Angel restrained his inner greed, “The second half of page eighteen to the first half of page nineteen. The section about the invertebrate sub-category.”

It amounted to just a small page.

After hearing this, a light flashed in Nis’s eyes. He exchanged a glance with Sanders, then nodded, “All right, for this page, and in consideration of Sanders, I’ll only charge you a thousand magic crystals. Are you willing?”

Was a thousand magic crystals expensive? Expensive, of course. For others, even part of the official wizards, a thousand magic crystals weren’t so easy to earn.

But if it was said that a thousand magic crystals could buy a page of content from a legendary great wizard’s manuscript, then that was too cheap!

Angel had even thought that Nis would price it in the tens of thousands. Although he would feel a bit pained spending over ten thousand magic crystals, the content of the manuscript was worth the price!

“Okay!” Angel nodded decisively, a thousand magic crystals for this page of the manuscript was indeed too cheap. Even if it didn’t contain the breeding method for transforming pliant worms, Angel felt it was not a loss.

After completing the transaction with the bone card, a strange light flashed in Nis’s hand, and he opened the thin tome to page eighteen, beginning to unseal the part Angel had mentioned.

Once he got the tome back, Angel immediately began to read.

He had previously thought a single page wouldn’t contain much, unable to record things in great detail, guessing that he might still not find the breeding method for the transforming pliant worms this time.

But when he actually looked at it, he realized the content of this page was unimaginably vast.

Insercott didn’t record with words, but with some unknown method, directly pouring a large amount of information into the mind following the patterns on the page.

If this page of information had to be recorded in text, it would have taken at least a hundred pages.

By the time Angel groggily absorbed all this information, he found that he had already left Soul Valley with Sanders.

Without thinking, he pulled out the gondola, boarded it, and set sail. Angel completed this series of actions in a daze, and it wasn’t until the cold wind from the heights brushed against him that his somewhat befuddled and tangled thoughts gradually cleared.

“How did it go, did you find the breeding method for the transforming pliant worms?” Sanders asked once he was sure Angel’s eyes were gradually regaining their focus.

Angel recalled the information that had rushed into his brain earlier. Though it was still a bit muddled, he found some relevant content, “There was no mention of the breeding method for transforming pliant worms, but it did mention how to increase the probability of the queen pliant worm hatching special soldier breeds.”

Sanders didn’t ask about the specific methods. Knowing that Angel had gained something from this trip was enough. If they could indeed breed transforming pliant worms from this, that would truly be good news, as shapeshifting technique was one of the basic spell techniques every wizard must master.

If they could learn shapeshifting by transplanting the skin of a transforming pliant worm, it would save a lot of time, which could be used for research on other spell techniques and topics.

However, this kind of good news was somewhat insignificant compared to other information Angel brought, such as the Wilderness of Dreams. Therefore, Sanders’s expression remained very calm.

“The records in here are really useful. Although the Dreamweaver Ant is one of the variables, it’s not the only one. Relying solely on the Dreamweaver Ant to stimulate the queen might not necessarily be successful,” Angel said, a little excited, muttering a whole string of demonic materials and magical insect names, all factors that could cause the queen to vary during egg-laying.

“I owe a lot to the mentor this time; otherwise, I would still be at a loss when it comes to cultivating transforming pliant worms.” Angel spoke with some emotion, “Moreover, if it hadn’t been for the mentor, Lord Nis probably wouldn’t have offered such a low price of a thousand magic crystals.”

After Angel expressed his sentiments, Sanders had a somewhat odd expression on his face.

In fact, Nis had previously given Sanders a base price. If Angel chose within ten pages, he would charge between ten thousand and a hundred thousand magic crystals. If it was over ten pages, Nis wouldn’t conduct this transaction with Angel. For one, it was too greedy; secondly, the information flood resulting from more than ten pages was not something Angel could withstand.

Sanders later said, “What if he only chooses one page?”

Nis didn’t think Angel would choose just one page, after all, the knowledge covered in these few manuscripts was extensive. Much of the knowledge was extremely niche and difficult to find outside.

“If I choose just one page, I’ll only charge a thousand Magic Crystals. And also, I can continue to offer him knowledge trades from these few books in the future.”

As it turned out, Nis miscalculated.

It wasn’t that Angel was devoid of greed, but he was quite clear about his self-positioning. After fully understanding his own situation, he knew that self-restraint concerning his desires must always be kept within certain limits, adapting to different environmental contexts.

About Nis’s pricing, Sanders did not inform Angel, but told him only, “If you want to borrow those books from Nis again in the future, be prepared to spend at least ten thousand Magic Crystals.”

Angel nodded, believing that ten thousand Magic Crystals were indeed Nis’s real asking price. Although it was somewhat expensive, the knowledge within those books was indeed very valuable. When he had more spare money in the future, he would consider doing some trading with Nis.

What Angel didn’t know was that it was precisely because of his choice this time that Nis would continue to offer him further trading opportunities. If he had been slightly more greedy, this would probably have been their last transaction.

The gondola quickly arrived near the Eternal Tree. At that moment, Sanders asked Angel to stop for a bit.

“I need to make a trip to Starry Sky Island to ask Maya some questions.” After saying this, Sanders nodded to Angel and then turned to fly in the direction of Starry Sky Island.

When Sanders left, Angel had originally planned to return to Illusion Demon Island, but after some thought, he changed his course, directing the gondola to descend towards the ground.

…

A short while later, a somewhat dejected-looking middle-aged man entered the Underground Market.

This middle-aged man was Angel in the same guise he had used when returning to the Old Earth Continent aboard the Cloud Conch. He came to the Underground Market to purchase the Demonic Materials and magical insects that could cause variability in the queen insect, as recorded in the Insercott manuscript. At the same time, he planned to meet his old friend, David.

The reason for changing his appearance was simply to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Knowing that the Promy Alchemy Shop did not sell magical insects, Angel first went to the insect vendor’s market. Here, the insects were relatively low-grade, but among them, there were both exceptionally precious and common ones capable of affecting the queen Pliant Worm.

Moreover, there were insects capable of affecting Dreamweaver Ants. If the Dreamweaver Ants underwent a change, the queen would also transform, potentially producing a variable that could result in the birth of a Transforming Soft-bodied Insect.

Angel strolled leisurely, purchasing any suitable magical insects he saw. He didn’t limit himself to insects alone; he also bought other items that caught his eye.

Soon, having wandered through the entire market and observed various bizarre magical insects, Angel left the marketplace feeling content.

On his way to Promy Alchemy Shop, Angel noticed that there seemed to be more people in the Underground Market than usual today. It wasn’t apparent in the less crowded insect market, but upon entering the main street, it felt like a squeezing crowd. Though not quite shoulder-to-shoulder, the sheer number of people caused him to slow his pace, moving forward slowly with the rhythm of the other pedestrians.

Passing a corner, Angel noticed it was crowded with people. Looking more closely, he saw an Apprentice sitting cross-legged on an exotic flying carpet with items displayed in front of it.

“Is this a street stall?” Angel remembered that street stalls were only supposed to be set up in the free market, “Oh, no, it’s floating in mid-air, so it’s not a street stall. Is this called a ‘flying stall’?”

The Apprentice ‘flying stall’ had many items for sale, including numerous alchemy weapons that were drawing the attention of the crowd, gathering around to bid.

Speaking of which, these alchemy weapons looked very familiar to Angel. The curve, the length, and the style were unmistakably based on an improved design of the Tang Blade!

By Angel’s estimation, while these alchemy weapons had not yet reached an advanced rank, they had achieved the pinnacle of mundanity. Furthermore, the methods used in their forging were different from his own.

This indicated one thing: these improved Tang Blades were likely not crafted by David.

Although David’s Tang Blades might exhibit different effects when used, the forging methods were actually the same as Angel’s. These blades were clearly modeled after the Tang Blade, but the quality of imitation not only did not detract from their performance but also reached such an effect, displaying the skill of the imitator.

Angel had no qualms about the Tang Blade being imitated; on the contrary, he appreciated the imitator’s talents.

From the surrounding conversations, Angel also learned some news. David seemed to have recently been working on other alchemy blueprints, not producing Tang Blades for a while, which is why various imitations had surfaced in the market, although few were impressive.

The one running this stall was among the best of them.

For Apprentices, a suitable weapon greatly enhanced their capabilities. It was also essential for seeking fortune and opportunity on adventures.

Thus, the surrounding Apprentices were eagerly naming their prices for the Tang Blades, with the competition being quite fierce.

Angel wasn’t particularly interested in these Tang Blades, but his gaze instead fell on a scroll of parchment placed beside them.