Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2905: Chapter 2906: Dangross’s Heart Knot

Angel took Dangross off his shoulder and placed it in the palm of his left hand.

He then raised his left hand to be level with his eyes, quietly staring at Dangross.

Dangross was somewhat bewildered by this action, its small eyes full of confusion.

Angel: ”You don’t seem quite satisfied with the Dream Crystal Plain?”

Dangross shook its head: ”No, not at all.”

Angel silently watched Dangross, and after a while, he quietly said, ”If you are not dissatisfied, why are you so downcast?”

Angel initially changed his mind about bringing Dangross to the Dream Crystal Plain because he noticed that after he refused Dangross, its mood became extremely dejected.

If emotions had colors, Dangross at that time would have been shrouded in a heavy shadow, fully contrary to its usual brilliance.

Later, Angel agreed to bring Dangross to the Dream Crystal Plain, and only then did the shadow on it slightly fade. However, it was still not completely dispelled.

Nevertheless, Angel did not pay much attention back then, thinking that the emotion was just lingering. Once Dangross arrived at the Dream Crystal Plain, saw a different world, its mood would naturally improve.

But the actual situation was completely different from what he imagined.

After arriving at the Dream Crystal Plain, Dangross was indeed fascinated by the novel world for a few minutes, temporarily casting aside the shadow. But once the novelty wore off, the shadow enveloped it once more.

Angel thought it was because he had been conversing with Laplace and others, neglecting Dangross, making it unhappy. So, taking the opportunity to bring the Tooth Bone Staff to Glaipnir, he also brought a bottle of Quenching Liquid for Dangross.

This not only gave Dangross ”something to do” but also acted as a sign that it had not been overlooked by him.

However, the effect was still not as good as he imagined.

The shadow on Dangross did indeed dissipate a little, yet it was still situated in the shadows.

Therefore, once Angel had arranged everything else, he decided to sit down and have a good talk with Dangross.

”I, I’m not downcast.” Dangross instinctively replied, but while speaking, its gaze kept evading.

Angel didn’t directly expose Dangross’s lie but continued to gaze calmly at it.

The air seemed to stagnate, and time appeared to pause.

In this awkward atmosphere, Dangross gradually fell silent from pretending nothing was wrong.

Yet it still said nothing, seemingly wanting to pass this topic with silence.

If it were before, when Angel had other things to do, Dangross might have gotten away with it. But now, everything that needed doing was done, everything that required arranging was arranged, and what he could do currently could not be done. As for Laplace, Angel wasn’t too concerned either. Therefore, he had the time to persist with Dangross.

Angel didn’t speak; he simply continued to stare at Dangross.

Dangross, feeling flustered under his gaze, wanted multiple times to ask Angel to stop staring. But it stubbornly believed that if it were the first to speak, it would lose. So it held its tongue and let its gaze wander, avoiding eye contact with Angel.

Dangross’s facial features were all on the palm, essentially forming a plane. Angel, by shielding it left and right, prevented its gaze from wandering afar, forcing it to fixate on one spot.

For Dangross, both time and space seemed frozen at this moment.

It fervently hoped that if Laplace and her Temporal Bodies returned, or some problem arose, Angel would stop fixating on it.

But its hope remained unfulfilled until it waved the white flag.

Indeed, it surrendered.

Angel’s gaze was not stern, but rather calm and clear, yet inexplicably made Dangross feel weak, as if it could reflect the deep shadows hidden within its heart. It could withstand ten minutes like this, but not an hour or two.

More crucially, Angel crippled its movements, leaving it passively facing him.

Under these circumstances, Dangross conceded.

”...I admit, I do feel a bit downcast, but it has nothing to do with the Dream Crystal Plain. To me, the Dream Crystal Plain seems very wondrous and charming...”

Dangross appeared to be trying hard to think of laudatory words, and Angel understood its purpose well—it aimed to shift the topic and divert his attention.

Its tactic might fool its group of elemental sprite followers, but it was inadequate to deceive Angel.

Angel did not interrupt Dangross, allowing it to perform.

Once it had exhausted its vocabulary, Angel placidly asked, ”So why are you downcast?”

Dangross paused, realizing it failed to sway Angel, sighed internally, and began to devise another plan.

But before Dangross could act, Angel leaned forward, his eyes almost touching the palm Dangross was on.

The abruptly magnified eyes left Dangross stunned.

From its perspective, everything around seemed to vanish; only those clear eyes remained.

In such close face-to-face contact, Dangross hesitantly revealed its true thoughts.

”I... what bothers me isn’t these things, but...”

Even though Dangross spoke haltingly, Angel understood its meaning.

What Angel hadn’t realized was that the cause of Dangross’s low spirits wasn’t about entering the Dream Crystal Plain but rather... Angel’s words.

Earlier, when Dangross proposed visiting the Dream Crystal Plain, Angel declined its proposal.

At that time, Dangross didn’t feel much, just a little slighted.

What truly caused its downcast mood was what Angel said afterward—

Seeing Dangross’s disappointed demeanor, Angel couldn’t help but say, ”How about this, we make a promise? Before we return to the Tidal World, I’ll surely take you to the Dream Crystal Plain, okay?”

Angel thought carefully and indeed, after saying this, Dangross’s mood obviously worsened.

Especially when Angel extended his palm afterward, wanting to seal the promise with Dangross.

Dangross hesitated for a while, reluctantly giving Angel a high-five.

At the time, Angel thought he had succeeded in persuading Dangross once more, but unexpectedly, this high-five action only deepened Dangross’s gloom.

What in Angel’s words truly made Dangross uncomfortable?

——Return to Tidal World.

It was precisely this sentence.

Angel now recalls it without feeling that there was anything wrong with this sentence, until Dangross expressed his feelings, he vaguely understood why Dangross cared about this sentence.

”...Clearly, I haven’t been away from Tidal World for long, so why mention returning to Tidal World now?”

”...Is it because I’ve already lost patience?”

Dangross quietly spoke these words, although it deliberately left out the subject, Angel understood its meaning.

It feels that perhaps it hasn’t done well enough, or maybe it’s been too noisy, causing Angel to become impatient. Therefore, Angel mentioned the matter of ’returning to Tidal World’.

After listening, Angel was both shocked and somewhat helpless.

He never expected that a casual remark could make Dangross feel so down.

He mentioned ”returning to Tidal World” purely in passing, meaning that he would certainly arrange a time for Dangross to visit Crystal Origin of Dreams, and returning to Tidal World beforehand was just to indicate a time node.

But what Angel didn’t expect was that Dangross would be so concerned about this time point.

Or, Dangross is concerned about not having seen a broader world before returning to Tidal World?

On this matter alone, objectively speaking, Angel wasn’t wrong, it was Dangross who overinterpreted.

But Angel also understands Dangross. In this world, intelligent lifeforms, like humans, have many different personalities, some being extroverted, others introverted, open, or conservative. And these personalities aren’t necessarily fixed; some can even combine opposites.

For instance, an outgoing loner.

This type of personality, overall tends to be extroverted, sometimes even with a touch of social madness, yet outsiders can’t see that they actually have another side internally. And this side can be lonely, introverted, even closed off.

In Angel’s own words, it’s marked by an outside appearance of being carefree, yet it doesn’t affect their inner sensitivity and anxiety.

Vay, as observed under Laplace’s Reflection of the Heart, is one such outgoing loner.

And Dangross may perhaps have a similar personality.

Its appearance is always carefree, smiling, even with a bit of a sly demeanor. But its internal personality is delicate and sensitive.

It’s like this time, a casual remark from Angel got captured by Dangross’s delicate mind, leading to expanding thoughts.

Ultimately, because it thought too much, it ended up depressing itself.

Angel understands Dangross, so he put aside objective thinking, instead of debating with Dangross over ”you’re overthinking,” ”you’re overinterpreting,” ”I understand your thoughts,” ”you’re right, but...,” and the like.

Rather, he thought for a moment and said to Dangross with a smile: ”When I said return to Tidal World, I didn’t mean we’d be unable to leave once back there.”

”My mentor is still in Tidal World, so I’ll surely return to Tidal World. But once we return, it’s easy to come out again.”

”I promised the Sage Magu, that I’d take you to see the outside world.”

”As long as you feel you haven’t seen enough of the outside world, I won’t leave you behind.”

After Angel finished speaking, he left Dangross with a few minutes to think for itself.

Angel’s words neither comforted nor justified but hit the point Dangross cared about, allowing it to quickly grasp Angel’s intention.

And Angel’s final sentence, ”As long as you feel you haven’t seen enough of the outside world, I won’t leave you behind,” completely relaxed Dangross’s tense emotions.

What it wanted wasn’t other words; it wanted this clear statement.

However, Dangross, now relaxed, didn’t want to show it, after just appearing so somber prior. Suddenly laughing out loud seemed inappropriate in its view, so it kept a straight face, as if still immersed in the earlier gloomy mood.

Angel could sense Dangross’s emotions and naturally knew its mood had shifted.

As for continuing the low mood, it’s pure pride.

Considering that Dangross is still an Elemental Sprite, with its age akin to a child by human standards, a little attitude is normal and should be tolerated.

Of course, the premise is that the child shouldn’t be too ”unruly”.

Although Dangross occasionally has some ”unruliness”, it is reliable in important matters. Especially in Alchemy, cooperating gleefully with Angel. Hence, even if a bit unruly, Angel can turn a blind eye to it.

Thinking of this, Angel smiled and said, ”These are minor matters. Speaking of it, the time for the Greed Feast has long passed, I suppose Laplace and Glaipnir have already entered Special Dreamland. Would you like to go over and take a look?”

Dangross, thinking about changing the subject, didn’t want to keep pretending to be deep. Hearing Angel’s words, it immediately understood, seizing the opportunity and nodding without hesitation: ”Sure.”

Angel smiled, said nothing more, placed Dangross back on his shoulder, and walked out of the safety zone.

Laplace and Glaipnir had previously chosen to wait nearby for the Greed Feast, so the Special Dreamland ”Greed Feast” wasn’t far from the safety zone.

No need for offline and online ”space transfer” operations, just walking could take them there.

As they moved towards the location of ”Greed Feast,” Angel activated God’s View, observing others while explaining to Dangross what a ”Special Dreamland” is.

During this observation, Angel discovered some interesting incidents.

Luigi was still circling near Beautiful Dream Mountain, but apparently he had no mood for ”writing poetry,” focusing entirely on the tall Beautiful Dream Mountain.

Especially, focusing on the only mountain climb route on Beautiful Dream Mountain.

Luigi kept approaching the climb route, but after a while retreated, seemingly wanting yet afraid to climb.

Earlier, Luigi had assured Laplace that he definitely wouldn’t climb rashly, just searching for inspiration. But looking at him now, it seems he truly desires to climb.

Angel didn’t know what happened to Luigi but guessed it was unlikely due to his indecisiveness. Most likely, Beautiful Dream Mountain secretly tempted Luigi to climb.

Just like how Laplace previously approached ”Helen’s Dream,” not intending to enter it, yet was forcibly pulled in by that whip.

Crystal Creations can conceal themselves, it’s true. But they can also actively ”hunt,” it’s equally true.

Perhaps this is one of Wonderland of Dreams’ rules?

Angel just kept an eye on Luigi’s situation; as long as Luigi didn’t actually climb, he found no need to care.

What truly amused him was happening on the Rabbit Girl’s side.