Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1445: Section 1446 The Difference Between Apprentice and Wizard

“Since you can’t think of it, it seems that the door was just a slip of the world’s will,” Frost said before laughing to himself.

Angel understood that Frost found humor in little things, but he failed to see the humor in that remark. He could only manage a cursory twitch of his lips.

After his laughter, Frost did not delve further into the conversation but instead changed the subject, “Speaking of which, you are now an Official Wizard, and the path to True Knowledge is not far ahead. Are you really not considering going to the Origin World?”

Angel’s answer was still a negative. He had thought about it, but definitely not now.

“Alright,” Frost said, not insisting, “We had an unfinished conversation about the Mysterious Object last time. Shall we continue now?”

Angel was naturally willing, as Frost had only explained the controllable and uncontrollable aspects of the Mysterious Object previously, without touching on the distribution of its energy levels.

However, just as Angel was about to nod in agreement, a series of footsteps came from outside the hall.

Long, fair fingers drew back the curtain at the doorway. Sanders, dressed in a standard gentleman’s suit, entered from outside.

Frost raised an eyebrow, “It seems that our topic will have to wait until next time.”

Frost was well aware that for Angel, who had just advanced in rank, what he needed most was proper guidance. Although he could provide advice to Angel, it was out of line to do so in the presence of Angel’s mentor.

Frost stood up, “I will be staying here for a while longer. Come find me when you have time.”

With that, Frost headed toward his own room.

Only after Frost’s figure had completely disappeared did Sanders speak to Angel, “I thought you would take some time to settle, but you came out so soon. It seems that your self-control is even better than I had imagined.”

“I know what you want to ask. Come with me,” Sanders said.

Upon standing up, Angel immediately saw a strange spatial passage appear before him.

Angel was momentarily bewildered but quickly realized that this passage must lead to the Gravity Garden. In the past, whenever Sanders took him to the Gravity Garden, Angel never had the strength to resist. Now, as the Spatial Passage appeared before him, Angel vaguely felt that he might be able to resist?

This was just a fleeting thought in his mind. Although Angel thought about resisting, he had no intention of actually doing it.

Following the pull, after a moment of weightlessness, Angel found himself in the familiar open-air library.

As soon as Angel appeared there, he heard rustling sounds coming from not far away.

Turning his head to look, Angel saw that the source of the sound was a three-story tower built of soulbound stones next to the library. Behind a window on the top floor of the tower, a long-haired woman was looking his way.

“Mandhela,” Angel called her name softly.

Although Isabel had given Mandhela to Angel to take care of, Mandhela was, after all, a special spirit, and Angel was not sure whether she would find a way to break free if left in the Dead’s Church. Moreover, with Tullas’ spirit also in the Dead’s Church, if Mandhela’s special ability could affect spirits, she might hide within Tullas’ spirit, which would be troublesome.

Therefore, he temporarily placed her in Sanders’s Gravity Garden.

Perhaps having been left to cool off for a few days, the resentment in her seemed somewhat diminished, though her expression remained cold. Upon seeing Angel, she gave him a contemptuous glance before turning her head away.

“Even though she has transformed from undead to spirit, given her hatred for the Black Castle, she will not be grateful to you. How do you plan to handle her?” Sanders’s voice came from behind.

Turning his head, Angel saw Sanders already seated at the desk, and a chair had floated over from not too far away, suspending itself in front of Angel.

“It is indeed a bit difficult to get her to speak,” Angel sat down, his gaze thoughtful. He wanted to delve deeper into the research of the Samsara Overture, hoping Mandhela would reveal how she became Semi-Undead, but based on her current demeanor, she clearly was unwilling to speak.

Angel pondered for a long time but couldn’t think of a good solution. Without resorting to force, one couldn’t simply visit her daily to build rapport, waiting for her to not resent him before returning to the study of Semi-Undead. That would be too troublesome, and Angel did not want to waste that time.

“Since you can’t think of a better idea, I can offer a suggestion,” Sanders said.

Angel looked over, waiting for Sanders’s argument.

“Isabel gave you the authority to decide what to do with her. From a certain perspective, she is your property,” Sanders paused, “In that case, you might as well consider her the same as Tullas and cast her into the Wilderness of Dreams.”

Cast Mandhela into the Wilderness of Dreams? Angel was stunned for a moment. It was naturally not a problem to send her into the Wilderness of Dreams, but why would Sanders suggest it?

Angel pondered this, and suddenly, a flash of insight crossed his mind.

He seemed to grasp the intent behind Sanders’s suggestion.

Sanders was suggesting Mandhela enter the Wilderness of Dreams because it was akin to his earlier discarded plan, which was also about creating an emotional bond with Mandhela!

Angel didn’t have the time to cultivate a relationship with Mandhela every day and slowly change her, but the people of Originheart City could!

If you analyze Mandhela’s life experiences in detail, she spent a great deal of her life in the Gumman royal family. Although she was a princess, she lived a suppressed life. Later, she was framed by the eldest princess, leading to her defamation, and eventually, she became a slave, suffering untold pains that no one knows about, twisting and turning until she was sold to Black Castle, where she was cruelly bled and tortured to death.

Setting aside the tragedy of Mandhela’s life experiences, just consider the missing pieces in the puzzle of her life.

She lacked emotions, social circles, and the independent personality of being needed and recognized.

The simplest way to fill in the missing pieces for Mandhela was to throw her into a friendly environment and let her change slowly on her own.

If Mandhela were still alive, this would be relatively easy to accomplish—simply find a city with better social customs and let her adapt on her own.

But she was already dead.

Are there friendly Soul Cities? Maybe, but Angel had no idea where such cities could be found.

For Mandhela, the best choice at the moment was arguably the Wilderness of Dreams. Angel might not be able to actively change her, but allowing Mandhela to be influenced by her surroundings and slowly changed was a very likely possibility.

With this in mind, Angel nodded in agreement, “This is indeed a method.”

Sanders said, “Then later you can send her into the Wilderness of Dreams. You don’t need to purposely pay attention to her, letting her grow freely might be for the best.”

Angel had the same thought—change was often triggered inadvertently and lasted the longest. Deliberate attempts, on the other hand, might end in inferior results.

After deciding on Mandhela’s destination for the near future, Sanders finally got down to business.

“Now that you have become an Official Wizard and after these past few days of adaptation, I believe you have formed a complete concept of what an Official Wizard is,” Sanders paused and asked, “So, what do you think differentiates an Apprentice from an Official Wizard?”

What Angel wanted to know was actually the matters pertaining to becoming a Wizard.

When Sanders suddenly asked this question, Angel was a bit puzzled. However, since Sanders started with this question, it must have been intentional.

After contemplating for a while, Angel replied, “Whether it’s the nature of energy, the soul’s Origin, or the physical bloodline, Apprentices and Official Wizards are on completely different levels— they might as well be from two separate worlds.”

Angel had once heard that some Wizards completely exclude themselves from the “human” race, calling them “foolish humans” with a sense of superiority. He had found it absurd at first, but after becoming an Official Wizard himself and feeling the vast gulf between their worlds, he somewhat understood the thoughts of those Wizards… Of course, understanding did not mean he empathized or agreed.

But looking at it from this aspect alone, Apprentices and Official Wizards could indeed seem like two entirely different species, with a huge gap between them.

“Indeed, these are differences. What do you think is the biggest difference?” Sanders continued to ask.

The biggest difference… After mulling it over for a moment, Angel replied, “Perhaps it is the perception and interpretation of the world.”

Although Angel had only been promoted to Official Wizard recently, he indeed realized that the world he now saw was completely different from before.

As a mortal, Angel’s focus was solely on material objects in the Material Realm, such as mountains, streams, green trees, houses, etc.

But after stepping into the Wizards’ Realm and becoming an Apprentice, Angel’s attention was not only on the Material Realm but also started involving the energy domain, such as Primordial Magic, spiritual power, elemental particles, etc.

And now that he was a Wizard, what he saw was different again.

He gradually began to see, or sense, some very fundamental things.

From a macro perspective, Angel could see deeper things, like the rich and stable energy network composed of Primordial Magic. Microscopically speaking, Angel could perceive the Origin of energies; if he looked deeper, he might even glimpse the dimensional crystal walls hidden behind layers of Origin.

During his time in the meditation room, apart from settling his restless soul, Angel spent most of his time observing this “new” world, vastly different from that of an Apprentice.

The more he observed, the more fascinated he became.

Angel also understood why many Wizards often stay in their Wizard’s Towers for years—it was because the world was so enchanting, changing every moment; through these observations, they could gain inspiration.

If it were not for Angel’s need to understand what needed to be known after becoming a Wizard, he might still be in the meditation room, roaming this alternately new world.

Having heard Angel’s answer, Sanders nodded in satisfaction, “What you said is correct; the interpretation of the world is indeed a major difference.”

“But it’s not comprehensive.”

“I can share my answer with you,” Sanders paused and then declared, “I believe the biggest difference between an Apprentice and an Official Wizard is—”

“The differences in their Power Systems.”