Warlock Apprentice

Ness approached Angor with a pile of parchments in hand.

The old man dragged Angor to his experiment bench.

“Hold on. I’ll check your data one last time,” Sunders called.

“Don’t you worry about nothin’. I’m second to none when it comes to experiments on the soul.”

Sunders frowned and insisted. “Let me take a look. I want nothing wrong with Angor’s soul, and I’m making sure.”

Ness looked a bit worried. “There’s really… no need. Trust me. I mean, we worked out the data together. The boy’s soul will be just fine.”

As Ness said, he and Sunders worked on the key points on separating Angor’s soul and gained the result together. They already made sure that Angor’s soul would receive no damage at all in the process.

Sunders was only acting cautiously. However, when he noticed that Ness was trying to hide something, he began to suspect.

“Give me the data,” Sunders ordered.

Ness hesitated for a while and handed the parchments to Sunders.

The papers contained the flow of the soul experiment, which consisted of four steps: [Soul Attuning], [Separating Soul From Body], [Soul Testing] and [Rejoining Soul and Body].

Sunders was extra careful when reading every word and number in the data because he was sure he saw Ness’ strange reaction.

Step one was correct. So was step two. And three… four. They were all fine. All of the data and deductions were perfect.

Sunders frowned again upon finishing the papers. Everything seemed right. But why did Ness look so weird?

He looked at Ness again. The old man had completely removed his previous uneasiness.

“What did I tell you? The experiment’s totally fine! I’m a soul master, why would I do anything wrong?” Ness revealed a big smile, causing his aged face to wrinkle badly.

Ness’ sudden change in attitude raised more suspicion from Sunders.

The gentleman read the data once more and found nothing.

“The data and flow of the test are okay.” Sunders gave Ness a warning look. “I’m telling you again, I want absolutely NOTHING wrong to happen to Angor’s soul.”

Ness nodded, still smiling. “His soul will be fine! You read the experiment yourself!”

Sunders was not really convinced. Yet he could not find anything wrong. He got the feeling that he might be a little oversensitive.

Angor, who had been staying all quiet, suddenly spoke up, “Professor, may I look at the experiment plan?”

Usually, it was very offensive for an apprentice to “butt in” the discussion between two wizards, especially now, when the boy’s reaction could easily be comprehended as a question against Ness’ expertise.

It was like a patient who questioned the prescription he received from a doctor. If you did not believe the doctor, why did you come here at all?

Sunders was a bit surprised at his student’s boldness. To Sunders, Angor was always a cultured noble kid good at sizing up the situation. Well, maybe the boy had some kind of weird personal principle and could get a bit “tsundere” sometimes, but Angor was very unlikely to do anything impolite.

Angor too, knew that what he did was probably stupid at the moment. But the experiment was about his own soul. He had grudges against both of Ness’ students. Saka’s intention was still unclear, but at least Hookdick wanted him dead. Angor did not know if Hookdick already told Ness something.

Besides, he also noticed Ness’ unusual expression a moment ago.

Of course, Ness was feeling very agitated now. He would have already destroyed both the body and soul of someone who dared to question him if this “someone” was someone other than Sunders’ student.

The old man only sneered in the end, “You, huh? You sure you know how to read anything at all?”

Angor did not respond. Ness was right. He probably could not read a thing in the data.

Ness did not retort further. It was just an apprentice… there was no point getting all worked up.

Ness went to retrieve his parchments from Sunders. But Sunders did not let him. The gentleman picked out one of the papers and handed it to Angor while returning the rest back to Ness.

Ness stared at Sunders with a questioning look. “What do you mean?”

“Angor may not comprehend much. But that one paper is different. He can read it,” Sunders explained in a nonchalant manner.

There’s something the boy can read? Ness grew more doubtful now. His soul experiment was very complicated. Even Sunders required his explanation to get the big idea. Now a level-1 apprentice who was only a supernatural for half a year could understand something in the test??

Wait… only one paper. Which one?

Ness suddenly grew anxious again and quickly checked the remaining papers in his hands.

The parchments explaining major experiment flow of the four steps were all here.

The paper Sunders gave Angor contained some annotations for step two [Separating Soul From Body]. These annotations mainly explained how to keep someone’s body alive and nurtured after it lost its soul. It meant sustaining blood flow and metabolism while maintaining the normal functions of all the body organs.

A body without its soul would slowly wither away. In order to make the last step [Rejoining Soul and Body] happen, they had to keep Angor’s body alive during the experiment.

A similar thing also happened when Angor went to the Nightmare Realm to look for the channeling book together with Sunders, in which case his body remained in the wizarding world while his soul entered the Nightmare Realm. However, the Nightmare Realm did not follow the rules of time. Angor spent several days in the realm, and it was only a brief second when viewed from the original world.

That kind of time was too short for his body to undergo any real damage.

Ness’ experiment though, involved many different testing objectives which would keep Angor’s soul outside the body for several hours, so they had to do something to sustain his body.

The annotation page explained how to do this by using a nutrient fluid made from different magic plants and other special materials.

Ness’ heart skipped a beat upon realizing which page was taken by Sunders. As he promised, his soul experiment was perfect, and “Angor’s soul will be fine”.

But he did not say anything about Angor’s flesh, and Sunders did not notice the small missing detail.

Ness did hide a little trick in the step of maintaining Angor’s body. Although he did not really plan to kill Angor’s body, he wished to do something interesting to it.

Ness looked at Angor and let out an embarrassed chuckle. “So, can you read it or no? Give it back if you can’t. I’ll explain to ya.”

Sunders raised an eyebrow when Ness talked to his student in a “softer” way.

Angor, on the other hand, completely disregarded Ness’ words. The boy was focused on reading the paper.

Ness turned to Sunders again. “You sure he can do this? There are magic plants for keeping a body safe. This Angor boy knows anything about them?”

Instead of answering, Sunders only stared at Ness with a fake smile.

Ness quickly grew uneasy again and cleared his throat. He was already complaining in his mind.

Of all the others, why in the world must he choose that one paper?!

The old man prayed that Angor would not recognize anything particular.

He already got the feeling that Sunders was determined to find out what he was hiding. Even if Angor failed to tell anything, the gentleman would probably find someone else to do it.

Ness thought about admitting his little trick. It was nothing harmful anyway.

“Hahhhh…” Ness intentionally let out a really long sigh, then he glanced at Sunders carefully.

Sunders was still “smiling” at him. Other than that, the gentleman did not say anything.

Ness grew more and more frustrated.

Hey you! I’m worried! Look! I sighed! Ask me why already! So I have a chance to explain!

The old man planned to put on a bitter show, so Sunders would forgive him for the little mistake on account that they were old friends.

And Sunders completely ruined it by keeping up a silent yet meaningful smile.

Ness pondered if he should tell them everything straight up.

Before he could decide, Angor suddenly spoke while still reading the paper.

“Rainbow Reed, Apoptosis Powder, remains of burnt palm oil, water from Terror Fountain…” Angor read through the materials one by one.

Each name caused Ness’ heart to beat faster.

Sunders also considered these names. As a cultured wizard, he knew about these magical materials as well as their effects. They all contained something to help sustain a human body.

Angor read the names of thirteen types of materials.

“Is something wrong with them?” Sunders asked.

Angor considered and shook his head. “The materials are correct.”

Sunders raised an eyebrow. He already realized that his student had something else to say.

And as he expected, Angor continued, “They all work fine, but I think there’s an… how do I put it… A material that’s an ‘overkill’.”

“Which one?”

“Mero Scorpion Flower.”

A Mero Scorpion was a monster insect living in Abyss Plane. It was a strange creature which existed as half-plant and half-animal. After giving birth to spawns during the breeding season, the queen scorpion grew weaker. To protect itself, the creature turned itself into stone for one or two days and a strange flower would grow on its tail, thus the name of the material.

“Mero Scorpion Flower…” Sunders held his chin and found something related to the flower in his memory. Then his expression became a little weird. “It quickens someone’s blood flow.”

Angor nodded. “Precisely speaking, it does so by applying an aphrodisiac effect.”