Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3088: Chapter 3089: The Withering of Wuan

”It suddenly started to glow and fly around, circling the room several times.” The speaker was Olao, who had taken off his hat, revealing slightly disheveled hair, and was sitting cross-legged on the fire blanket.

He was referring to Heideland.

”I was worried it would run out, but then you returned.”

Angel touched Heideland’s soft skin and replied, ”It must have something to tell me.”

As he spoke, Angel headed further into the solitary quiet room.

Olao wanted to inquire about Heideland, but seeing Angel’s attitude, he seemed uninterested in sharing further details, so Olao remained silent.

Just as Angel opened the door to enter the solitary quiet room, he suddenly thought of something and turned back to Olao, saying, ”You’ve done well; they all seem to like you.”

By ”they,” Angel was referring to Dangross and the Wood Spirit.

At that moment, Olao had one hand supporting Dangross and the other holding the hand of a small wooden figure sitting cross-legged.

The small wooden figure was the transformed Wood Spirit.

The scene looked very harmonious.

Dangross had no hostility towards Olao, since he had met him before; but the fact that Olao could even tame the timid Wood Spirit meant he was much stronger than the Wise Sovereign.

Olao scratched his head, embarrassed: ”They are both very obedient...”

Angel sighed and said, ”If they were truly obedient, I’d have it easy... Enough talking, I need to go and chat with Heideland.”

Olao nodded and obediently turned his attention to ”Anomalous Fire Alchemist.”

His expression full of interest suggested that he might be quite interested in ”Anomalous Fire Alchemist”? Perhaps due to the plot involving the burning of a mirror with anomalous fire?

Angel shook his head, decided not to overthink it, opened the door to the solitary chamber, and walked in with Heideland.

Once the door was closed, all external noise was isolated, and the surroundings became extremely quiet. Such an environment allows a wizard to enter meditation more quickly; Heideland seems to also prefer this tranquil zone. Outside, its body had a hint of fluffiness, but now that it’s in the quiet room, its entire body melts like a heated sponge, spreading softly like a pancake.

Angel leaned on the soundproofed sofa, then extended his index finger to tap on his forehead.

Heideland immediately extended a soft tentacle from the ”pancake,” crossing the boundary of the Material Realm and entering the gate of the Energy Realm, then it penetrated deep into Angel’s forethought.

With a ”tick-tock” sound, Angel skillfully found the void network and logged into his ”personal account.”

Once inside the void network, Angel immediately heard the voice of Wang Wang: ”My lord has already transmitted the images to me, if you’re ready, I can send them over now.”

Images again? Angel’s heart leapt with joy, as images hold more information than text. Whether for analyzing the subject or studying the details of the Nightmare Realm, they are greatly beneficial.

”Are the images long this time?” Angel asked reflexively.

Wang Wang: ”Not long, you’ll see once you look at them.”

Angel chose to receive the images, and soon, a stream of water-like information crossed the void network from the other end, directly transmitting into Angel’s mind.

The stream of information swirled in his mind briefly, then formed a picture following a certain pattern.

The scene in the image was familiar... a blackout.

Previously, the blackout would appear at the end, but now it started with a blackout. Was this intentional by Dalmatian?

Although Angel was sarcastic internally, he knew Dalmatian probably wouldn’t deceive him, and the blackout surely had a reason. Perhaps there were things inappropriate for him to see?

In the transcendent world, ”the more you know, the closer you are to death” is definitely not just a saying.

Dalmatian’s blackout at the start might be due to this?

Though it was a blackout, just like before, Dalmatian only blacked out the image but not the sound, and Angel could hear the sounds from the screen when focusing.

”Woof woof woof—” This was unmistakably Dalmatian’s voice, but it seemed modified, and Angel couldn’t understand what Dalmatian was saying.

After Dalmatian’s barking fell silent, Angel soon heard a man’s buzzing voice.

”...The thing you’re looking for is at... I can’t believe you would run out here alone. I don’t have it here...”

The voice was very muffled, always accompanied by a low buzzing, making Angel feel uncomfortable even through the blackout.

The feeling was like facing a high-pressure steam boiler in a dim mud-brick house, and every sound of humming it made seemed like a death knell.

Moreover, many words in his speech were ”filtered,” causing his speech to sound like it was pixellated; Angel could understand the main points, but the finer details were vague.

This could be the speaker’s style or deliberate post-processing by Dalmatian.

Angel wasn’t sure which was the case, but he didn’t dwell on it. More than those obscure words, he was curious about who the speaker was.

Angel was sure he hadn’t heard this voice before, indicating it wasn’t from any Nightmare Realm creature he had previously encountered.

Judging from Dalmatian’s relaxed attitude, it wasn’t like those two ”suspected maidservants” from before.

This suggested the speaker’s status was likely high.

Angel remembered Dalmatian had mentioned finding Minister Kings. Was the speaker possibly Minister Kings?

Angel wasn’t sure if it was Minister Kings, but Kings in reality definitely didn’t have such a voice.

He set the question aside temporarily and continued listening.

”Woof woof woof!” Dalmatian spoke again... it was still dog barking that Angel couldn’t understand.

The man apparently understood and laughed, ”I’m heading to the newly appeared Outer Domain later, I won’t be able to help you then. Be careful not to get caught by Dim during your next escape... The key’s yours, I won’t be back soon; you just keep watch over here...”

Dalmatian barked again, and Angel heard the clinking of a keychain, followed by Dalmatian’s pitter-patter of footsteps, seemingly moving away from the man who was speaking earlier.

From this conversation, Angel could summarize two points. First, the man speaking amidst the blackout was going on a journey and had given a key to Dalmatian, seemingly asking Dalmatian to help look after a door?

Second, the man seemed to have a good relationship with Dalmatian, and Dalmatian’s previous escape might have been assisted by him?

If Dalmatian’s previous escape was indeed aided by the man, wouldn’t Angel find it difficult to meet Dalmatian again? Unless he personally visited the Nightmare Realm, seeing Dalmatian in reality might become unlikely?

Angel didn’t know if this thought was true, Dalmatian never explained, leaving him guessing blindly.

In the next half minute, it remained a blackout, but Angel could hear Dalmatian’s footsteps, seemingly heading somewhere.

As the Dalmatian was ”on the road,” a bit of gossip suddenly rose in Angel’s heart.

If the man is really Minister Kings, then the relationship inside here is a bit intricate.

The Dalmatian created by Minister Dim always wants to escape from Minister Dim but is more attached to Minister Kings?

Is this some kind of melodrama in the Nightmare Realm?

Half a minute later, the Dalmatian’s journey ended, seemingly arriving at a house; Angel heard the sound of the door opening and closing. Shortly after, he also heard the sound of the Dalmatian jumping and landing.

And accompanying the Dalmatian’s landing, he heard another slightly dull sound, as if the Dalmatian had brought something along when it landed?

Just as Angel was guessing what this dull sound belonged to, the black screen finally ended.

The screen transitioned from a pure black to a dim perspective.

Although the overall picture was dim, it wasn’t completely invisible; there should be oil lamps around, casting an orange and dim light. With this faint orange-yellow firelight, Angel could see the object at the center of the frame.

Previously, he was guessing what the dull sound was, but now there was no need to guess, as the Dalmatian directly revealed it.

It was a thick shell book.

Though untitled, its heft was comparable to a kingdom’s dictionary.

Upon seeing the book on the screen, Angel’s eyes instantly brightened.

There is no doubt that the most valuable things in the Nightmare Realm are those special pieces of knowledge. However, even if someone goes to the Nightmare Realm and finds the knowledge, they might not be able to bring it out, because memory can fail, or they might simply forget the knowledge’s content.

But now, since the Dalmatian directly transformed the book into visual information, the knowledge he obtains from the screen shouldn’t be affected by the Nightmare Realm, right?

With hope, Angel looked at the screen.

The Dalmatian, as expected, opened the book.

Although the Dalmatian turned the pages quickly, as a wizard, Angel possessed the ability of instant memory, so even if each page was only halted for a quarter of a second, he could capture the contents of the book pages completely.

Suppressing his excitement, Angel carefully observed the content on the book pages... After looking at a few pages, Angel’s expression showed slight disappointment.

He had initially thought that the book’s content would be something like the ”Singularity Scattering Meditation Method,” a special and rare piece of knowledge, but that wasn’t the case.

Special and rare it was, but it wasn’t the kind of knowledge Angel craved that could enrich himself.

”Manipulator of the Black and White Light Orbs,” ”Newborn Mystery at the Bottom of Deadwell,” ”Bursting Star Color,” ”The Death of the Crow...”

The Dalmatian flipped through more than ten pages, and they were basically this kind of content.

Each page’s title was obscure, but in reality, they all described some secret... or gossip?

For instance, ”Manipulator of the Black and White Light Orbs” tells about an event where black and white light orbs floated in a certain area. The book didn’t specify which area, only citing that the manipulator behind the event was a chaotic wizard.

Angel also didn’t understand what a chaotic wizard was.

There’s also ”Newborn Mystery at the Bottom of Deadwell,” which tells of a force named ”Deadwell.” Within this Deadwell force, there’s indeed a mysterious spring, with secrets of rebirth hidden at its bottom.

Although this piece also didn’t specify where it took place, Angel had previously heard the name ”Deadwell” from 03 in the Demon Sea Area.

It’s said to be a force in the Quest World, which is the Soul Plane.

In other words, ”Newborn Mystery at the Bottom of Deadwell” talks about the rebirth of souls?

If true, that’s quite a significant secret, but... it has nothing to do with him.

”Bursting Star Color” explains the reason for the extinction of the Star Color clan, while Angel had encountered the remnant of the Star Color clan, ”Deep Space,” in the Demon Sea Area, who is currently a third-class citizen in Gluz Deward’s Phantom Spirit City.

”The Death of the Crow,” on the other hand, clearly stated the place, recounting a secret within a witcher organization named Crow Castle in the West Continent Wizard World. It talks about the secret event of the Raven Queen’s assassination.

You could say all these were secrets with certain value. However, Angel didn’t know the specific locations of most of these secrets, and they were too far from the Southern Domain, rendering them meaningless even if known.

Moreover, these secrets might not even be secrets in their respective locations but rather common knowledge among the masses?

So overarchingly, the content of this book left Angel a bit disappointed.

...

In the picture, the Dalmatian continued flipping pages. Even though the content of the pages held no value for Angel, he still memorized them.

Consider it a collection of information.

After flipping through about fifty pages, the Dalmatian finally stopped, placing its paws aside as if letting Angel look at that page’s content.

Angel fixed his eyes on it, the title was still obscure: ”The Withering of Wuan.”

At first glance, Angel had no idea what it was about.

But as he moved his gaze down and saw the illustration and the text below on that page, Angel was taken aback.

The illustration depicted an area of absolute darkness within a greyish scene.

And the accompanying text read: After the withering of Wuan, it turned into today’s Abyssal Hollow.

All the other words were ignored by Angel at this point; his gaze fixed on the phrase ”Abyssal Hollow.”

Abyssal Hollow, which in the Daylight Mirror Domain, resides outside the psychological boundaries of all mirror creatures, is a peculiar area capable of engulfing light!

Angel now partially understood why the Dalmatian specifically wanted him to see this page.

Previously, the image he had sent to the Dalmatian was of him standing before the Abyssal Hollow.

The Dalmatian probably assumed he was very curious about the Abyssal Hollow, hence it intentionally sought information related to the Abyssal Hollow to provide feedback?

Angel suddenly found it somewhat amusing; had he known the Dalmatian intended to help him ”decode” the scene, he certainly wouldn’t have sent over the Abyssal Hollow image, but would have chosen another scene he was more eager to understand.

He was curious about the Abyssal Hollow but not to the point of needing to unearth the truth.

Just an ordinary curiosity.

Like seeing a lone cabin standing on a barren distant hillside, he’d also wonder who’s living in it and why they chose to isolate themselves?

This kind of curiosity is an innate desire for knowledge, with no deep thought or consideration involved.

The reason Angel had initially sent the Abyssal Hollow image to the Dalmatian was simply because he thought the Abyssal Hollow wouldn’t expose too much coordinate information... Unexpectedly, not only did the Dalmatian recognize it as the Abyssal Hollow but it also intentionally found the secrets related to the Abyssal Hollow.