Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2194: Chapter 2195: Sand Hawk

After Fespanrei left, Angel continued driving the Gondola towards the distance.

The smoke in the air had started to thin out, allowing a view of the conditions below from the high altitude. However, the ground was nothing but dry Scorched Earth, devoid of any scenery, and staring at it for a long time could actually tire the eyes.

Yet, for Dangross, there was no such issue. It clung to the edge of the boat, the eye in its palm staring intently at the desolate land below. Even the boundless Scorched Earth seemed as beautiful as a first sight to it.

Angel, on the other hand, rested his cheek on his hand, quietly watching Dangross across from him.

Initially, Angel was lost in thought, but later his gaze involuntarily focused on Dangross’s palm, feeling increasingly something was amiss as he observed.

”You look like you’ve gained some weight today?” Angel eventually couldn’t resist asking.

Dangross shifted its gaze from overlooking the earth to Angel: ”I haven’t gotten fatter, you must be mistaken.”

Angel originally asked casually, but Dangross’s reaction was a bit odd, its eyes darting around, not daring to meet his gaze. Angel squinted his eyes and said, ”No, I’m sure you’ve gotten fatter.”

As Angel spoke, he even dragged Toby into the conversation: ”Toby, take a look.”

Toby chirped, and although Dangross couldn’t understand what Toby was saying, it saw Toby gesture with its wing at its belly, indicating that Dangross’s ”palm” had indeed grown larger.

After Toby chirped, it glanced at Dangross with small eyes, showing a disdainful look.

Dangross didn’t understand why Toby was giving it such a look. It felt that it had barely gotten closer to Toby and didn’t want to ruin that over these trivial matters.

Dangross hurriedly explained, ”I’m not fat, I just plan to leave the Region of Fire for a while and needed to bring some luggage.”

Angel showed a suspicious look: ”So, what’s in your belly is luggage?”

Dangross still wouldn’t look at Angel, and after a good while, it lowered its head and said, ”Sort of, and also some gifts from Teacher Magu.”

Angel squinted without speaking, and Toby made a disbelieving face.

Dangross feared Toby’s gaze the most. After hesitating for a moment, it couldn’t hold back anymore and opened its mouth, spitting out a black-and-red crystal.

Angel looked at the familiar crystal, recognition shining in his eyes: ”Is this Magu’s and Midir’s core flame crystal?”

Dangross nodded and lowered its head, not daring to look at Angel: ”This, this was given to me by Teacher Magu. The teacher saw you didn’t want it, so, so gave it to me.”

Dangross’s tone was uncertain, with a little stutter. Combining this with the fact that it didn’t dare meet Angel’s eyes, Angel could deduce that there was definitely a difference between what Dangross said and the real situation.

Indeed, the truth was, this crystal wasn’t handed over to Dangross by Magu, but Dangross had actively asked Magu for it, with the reason being... it could pass the crystal to Angel.

Angel: ”Really?”

Under Angel’s gaze, Dangross shivered slightly, hesitated, and said, ”Probably true?”

Dangross’s mind was actually very simple. Seeing Dangross dodging the topic, Angel basically deduced the truth. The crystal was definitely not meant for Dangross, and upon reflection, understood the general trajectory.

Magu likely intended for Dangross to pass the crystal to him.

”Whether it’s true, shouldn’t you be the one who knows best?” Angel reached out and took the crystal from the table, playing with it in his hand.

Seeing Angel’s gaze, Dangross understood that its lie had definitely been exposed.

Dangross lowered its head with dejection: ”I just thought it looked nice. If you don’t want it... I want it.”

Angel chuckled softly, not saying anything.

Toby also chirped scornfully following Angel’s laughter.

Toby’s chirp felt like a sharp thorn piercing Dangross’s heart. Embarrassed, it lowered its head further, nearly having its entire hand flop onto the table, saying with full remorse, ”So, sorry, I shouldn’t have secretly taken it for myself...”

Dangross’s sudden admission of error slightly surprised Toby. It hummed twice and slowly retracted its disdainful glance.

Angel still didn’t speak but played with the crystal a bit before finally handing it back to Dangross.

”This thing is yours.”

In Dangross’s bewildered gaze, Angel slowly said, ”Mr. Magu knows you better than I do; in giving you this crystal, he probably anticipated what you would do.”

If Dangross were to pass the crystal to Angel, and Angel accepted it, that would be best.

If Dangross hid it, Magu wouldn’t feel it a loss either, as it was used on a beloved student. Of course, with Magu’s understanding of Dangross, he likely knew Dangross couldn’t hide it.

Once Dangross let the truth slip, the choice returned to Angel. Whether to accept or not remained Angel’s decision. Moreover, this time, regardless of any decision Angel made, the crystal would be difficult to return to the original owner.

Angel clearly understood Magu’s intention. He had declined initially and didn’t intend to accept it now.

Even though Magu’s fire and Midir’s fire were excellent, Angel wasn’t a fire element Wizard, so his need and research on special flames were minimal. Therefore, he could restrain his emotions and Desire.

Dangross didn’t think this deeply. Seeing Angel handing the crystal back, it instantly felt joy, and its eyes towards Angel showed a touch of closeness.

Looking at Dangross’s delighted look, Angel thought for a moment, then used the fire shaping technique to remove the useless parts and modified the exterior of the fire crystal.

The previously solid chunk of crystal quickly turned into a new shape under Angel’s spiritual power.

A ring with black as the base and red as the dark Pattern.

”It’s uncomfortable hidden in the belly, wear it on your finger instead.”

Happily, Dangross accepted the change to the crystal and wore the ring on its middle finger.

Angel looked over, his eyes flashing with a strange color. One had to admit, although Dangross was just a severed hand, the entire hand was very fair, and the fingers were beautifully long. Ignoring the eye and mouth in the palm, it was even more perfect than the hands of many women who love maintenance.

Now, paired with this ring exuding an unusual fiery aura, even a detached hand seemed a bit elegant and noble.

Of course, this was Angel’s opinion after becoming accustomed to Dangross over time and gradually accepting such a setting.

If an ordinary person were to see a severed hand running around, they definitely wouldn’t think it elegant or noble, but would instead be scared half to death.

Dangross showed off with the ring for a while, then bounced to Angel’s side and rubbed him with the back of his hand to express gratitude.

Angel was a bit surprised, this little rascal actually knew how to express thanks by rubbing like a spoiled child.

Maybe it just looked like he was acting spoiled; to the little rascal, this might be normal?

While Angel was thinking this, a gust of turbid wind suddenly blew from afar.

At first, Angel didn’t sense anything, but as his vision grew increasingly blurred and the surrounding air started to turn yellow, he realized something was amiss.

The air became more and more turbid, and looking forward, he could barely see anything, only endless dust.

And within this dust was a very strong presence of the Power of Earth.

The so-called Power of Earth is actually the general term for earth element energy.

This sky-high dust was clearly a manifestation of some kind of earth element energy.

Angel calculated silently in his heart, judging by their previous traveling speed, they should have reached the end of Scorched Earth by now, at the edge of the Wild Stone Wasteland.

The appearance of such a dense Power of Earth seems normal? The only thing Angel couldn’t ascertain was whether this sandstorm-like situation was a natural phenomenon of the Wild Stone Wasteland or if there was someone manipulating it?

Angel gently pressed the ship’s hull, a blue light surged, and with its appearance, the dust was immediately isolated outside of the Gondola.

With the Cleansing Spell, the sand grains clinging to the ship also disappeared.

Angel looked at the somewhat dazed Dangross beside him: ”This is the border between the Region of Fire and the Wild Stone Wasteland. Is there usually dust like this here?”

Dangross shook his head in confusion: ”No, I’ve been to the Wild Stone Wasteland before, and I’ve never encountered this.”

So, was this a special circumstance? Generally, special circumstances have manipulators behind them. Angel frowned, could it be that he had been targeted by the earth element creatures of the Wild Stone Wasteland?

Angel thought for a while, then secretly activated the Earth Mark of Little Inba, and the originally subdued aura instantly became intense.

With the spread of the Earth Mark’s aura, the surrounding dust intentionally avoided the vicinity of the Gondola, forming a clear hollow.

At the moment the hollow appeared, Angel heard a faint exclamation.

”Huh, seems like there’s a smell of a kindred spirit.”

As the voice fell, Angel saw a shadow suddenly float from the surrounding dust and fly towards the Gondola.

Earl Mi, hidden in the shadow of the Gondola, instantly opened his eyes, gathering at Angel’s feet, entering a deeper state of vigilance.

Angel looked at the flying shadow without blocking it, allowing it to land on the ship.

As the shadow landed, Angel could see its form.

A flying hawk entirely composed of yellow sand grains.

Without a doubt, this was a hawk constructed by earth element energy, let’s call it Sand Hawk.

This Sand Hawk appeared to be about the same size as Fespespanrui, but Angel understood this was not its main body because he couldn’t sense the vitality from within the Sand Hawk. It was just a kind of sand avatar, its true body should still be out in the storm.

The Sand Hawk folded its wings resembling flowing sand and curiously waddled a bit along the ship’s edge, lowering its head and examining this marvelous thing it had never seen before.

”What a strange thing, it can actually fly in the sky. Could it be produced by White Cloud Village...” A slightly hoarse voice came from Sand Hawk’s mouth: ”Do you know about it, Salmado?”

As the Sand Hawk’s words fell, a gust of wind call came from high above: ”No, we at White Cloud Village don’t have such a thing.”

Angel glanced up into the sky for a moment. Judging by the Sand Hawk’s words, there was another elemental creature named Salmado outside, and it belonged to White Cloud Village? Then it should be a wind element creature?

The place Angel was heading to was indeed White Cloud Village; if there are wind element creatures here, maybe he could communicate with them a little beforehand?

Angel was about to look for an opportunity to bring up the topic when Dangross beside him spoke first: ”White Cloud Village? Is it the White Cloud Village of Soft Wind Uranos?”

”Yes.” The wind call came from above, simultaneously, the Sand Hawk on the ship’s edge also made a sound of surprise: ”Oh, it’s actually a fire spirit, and it already possesses Spirit Intelligence during its spirit period?”

Dangross steadied his index and middle fingers, raised his ”head,” and proudly said: ”Naturally, I am a descendant of the great Kalomchis.”

”Kalomchis... I heard this name from The Sage. It was once the co-monarch, said to be a fire Gryphon. But you don’t look like a Gryphon?” The Sand Hawk curiously examined Dangross.

Dangross put his thumb on his hip: ”That’s just your ignorance. Your Monarch, The Charny of Fallen Soil, must know about me. If you don’t believe, go ask!”

As Dangross’s words fell, unseen wind element life above him giggled, and the Sand Hawk across showed a helpless expression.

The Sand Hawk said: ”The monarch of my domain is not The Charny of Fallen Soil, but Sandstorm Sandstormdesmon.”

”Sandstorm Sandstormdesmon? So you’re not from the Wild Stone Wasteland, but from Baya Desert?” The speaker was Angel. He had heard from Magu before that Baya Desert was also the territory of earth element creatures, near White Cloud Village, with its monarch being Sandstorm Sandstormdesmon.

The Sand Hawk turned its head to look at Angel, its eyes filled with confusion: ”Yes, I’m from Baya Desert. You look so strange, as if you have the scent of kin, but you don’t seem to be one?”

Angel recalled Magu had mentioned that although Baya Desert was not as intimate as Wild Stone Wasteland and Region of Fire, it had relatively mild relations. This Sand Hawk seemed to be able to calmly converse.

Thinking of this, Angel activated the Earth Mark: ”The aura on me is the Earth Mark given by Little Inba from Wild Stone Wasteland.”

”As for myself, I am not an elemental creature, I am a human.”

...

After a round of explanation, the Sand Hawk was still somewhat perplexed, as it didn’t understand humans.

However, the Sand Hawk didn’t think too much about it; receiving the Earth Mark from earth element creatures indicated that Mr. Pat wasn’t an enemy.

”You want to go to White Cloud Village to meet Soft Wind Lord?” Upon learning Angel’s purpose, a blue hawk appeared in the sky, resembling Sand Hawk in appearance but completely constructed by wind energy. This was undoubtedly Salmado from White Cloud Village.

”Yes, I have some matters I wish to verify with Soft Wind Lord. Can you give me some guidance?” Angel looked at Salmado.

Salmado tilted its head and thought for a moment: ”Soft Wind Lord is very gentle, as long as sir carries goodwill, Soft Wind Lord should not refuse to meet you.”