Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2287: Chapter 2288: A Trace of Consciousness

"Milafir. Feng?" Angel repeated the name, then looked at the man in the cloak with a face full of surprise, "Are you the Magic Painter, sir?"

"You seem surprised?" Feng raised an eyebrow.

Angel shook his head, "No... I just didn’t expect the Magic Painter, sir, to look so young."

After speaking, Angel reached out and pointed into the air, making an aged oil painting appear in front of Feng. The painting depicted a rather benevolent-looking old man, smiling with a large barrel of rolled-up canvases on his back, holding a paintbrush stained with blue and gold paint.

"This is the portrait of Mr. Feng I saw in one issue of the Plane Conquest Record."

Feng gazed at the old man in the painting with interest, a nostalgic look in his eyes, and after a long pause, he spoke, "Truly nostalgic... It is indeed me in the painting. I once walked among the Painters’ Guilds of various countries and even served as the president of the Guild for about fifty years. To avoid trouble, I used this face for a time."

The Painters’ Guild was an organization established by mortals. Feng mingled in a mortal organization for fifty years. If he had kept his youthful appearance unchanged, it would surely have caused a huge stir, hence the use of this face.

Feng hadn’t expected that the face he used for such a short time would eventually be recorded in the Plane Conquest Record.

While Feng spoke, Angel’s thoughts were also racing.

Is the person in front of him really Feng? From various signs, it seemed possible, the most important being that he had no reason to deceive him.

However, Feng’s appearance here was somewhat unreasonable.

Moreover, previously, he had asked Angel, "Are you the one who came following his footsteps?" The ’he’ in the words undoubtedly referred to Milafir. Feng, but when he asked, it didn’t sound like he was talking about himself, rather about someone else.

Because of this, Angel was still unable to fully determine the identity of the person in front of him.

Feng seemed to have seen the doubt in Angel’s eyes and said slowly, "I am indeed Milafir. Feng, but I am also somewhat different from what you might think."

"I am a wisp of consciousness sketched out by Feng with a paintbrush, sealed here until you used the Augusta Pattern Secret Key to reactivate this painting, only then could I see the light again."

In other words, he is Feng, but somewhat different from the real Feng. He is a phantom shadow drawn by Feng, yet within this shadow exists Feng’s personal consciousness.

Endowing a person in a painting with personal consciousness? Angel had never heard of such an ability; he previously thought the figure before him was an avatar, not expecting it to be just a wisp of consciousness.

After explaining his origins, Feng continued, "Feng left me here waiting for your arrival."

"Waiting for my arrival? So, are you the treasure Mr. Feng left behind?"

Feng said with a smile, "If I say yes, would you be disappointed?"

Angel didn’t comment because he wasn’t so much looking forward to the so-called treasure; he just wanted to see whether the set-up by Feng would indeed reach its conclusion and in what form it would end.

"If you possess all the memories and personal experiences of the Magic Painter Wizard, it wouldn’t be a loss."

Feng: "If you sought to learn all of Feng’s knowledge from me, it’s regrettable that the real body didn’t leave much related information. Moreover, my existence continually consumes personal consciousness, and in a short time, I will disappear."

Angel: "Then what is the significance of your presence?"

"The significance of my presence, as I said before, is to await your arrival," Feng didn’t stop there this time but continued, "I’m not the treasure left by Feng. My existence is to dispel your doubts. I believe you have many questions now."

Angel looked at Feng cloaked opposite, saying softly, "Indeed, I have many questions now."

Feng gazed into Angel’s eyes, seemingly reading another layer: "And anger?"

Angel didn’t answer, but indeed there was an emotion of anger in his inner heart.

He was angry at why he had become a pawn manipulated within a game.

But against an existence of Feng’s level, any emotion was meaningless, so he restrained himself and did not show it, yet did not expect Feng to point it out himself.

"Come, let’s sit and talk. I will answer the questions you want to know," Feng said, and with a gentle wave of his hand, the starry sky overhead fell a beam of starlight, constructing a table and chairs emitting a cold light under a big tree.

The two sat across from each other.

After sitting down, Angel was the first to speak, but he didn’t ask any question, just customarily introduced himself.

"Angel, is it? Since you come from the Barbarian Cave, have you heard if the Book Elder ever mentioned me?"

Angel gave Feng a puzzled look; he didn’t expect Feng to think of the Book Elder when mentioning the Barbarian Cave... At least in Angel’s impression, if other organization wizards mentioned the Barbarian Cave, they would either think of Rhein or the Tree Spirit. Mirror Lady was only famous among witches, while the Book Elder, although well-known, rarely appeared and seemed more a legend in the Wizards’ Realm.

"The Book Elder seldom appears; since entering the Barbarian Cave, I’ve only met the Book Elder once during my apprenticeship," Angel didn’t shy away, simply recounting the meeting with the Book Elder.

After listening to Angel’s narration, Feng was stunned for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter.

It took a while for him to stop laughing, "The Book Elder actively answered your question, and you only asked one: how to discover spiritual power? You must know, when Feng... my true self, went to see the Book Elder, he spent hundreds of years but couldn’t get the Book Elder to speak. If my true self knew you wasted the opportunity like this, he might imprison you in the Burning Painting Cage and burn you for decades before speaking further."

Facing Feng’s regret about his lack of questioning qualifications, Angel was not too concerned: "At that time, I hadn’t even advanced past being an Apprentice. What kind of meaningful question could I have asked?"

Feng: "That’s true. You can only say you met Book Elder at the wrong time."

After expressing his sentiment, Feng didn’t mention Book Elder anymore, but returned to the main topic: "Before answering your doubts, I have a question. I hope you can clear it up for me first."

Angel naturally didn’t dare to refuse: "Please ask."

"Has the Demon God’s catastrophe been stopped?" Feng collected his playful attitude, his expression unprecedentedly serious.

Angel, affected by Feng, replied with a bit more solemnity: "If Mr. Feng is talking about the Lord of the Flameless, then he should have no chance of descending upon the Southern Domain Wizard World."

After Angel’s confirmation, Feng was stunned for a moment, then he let out a long breath, as if all the pent-up depression he had kept in his heart for years was released at this moment.

Then, Feng replaced his serious expression with a familiar smile: "I wonder if you mind telling me how you stopped the Demon God’s catastrophe?"

Angel: "... I do mind."

Feng’s expression froze for a few seconds before he slowly unsealed: "Alright, if you don’t want to talk about it now, it’s fine. I hope you’ll reconsider after you understand my painstaking effort."

Feng didn’t press Angel but shifted the topic: "I’ve finished my question, now it’s your turn. Whatever questions you have, as long as I know, I will tell you completely."

Angel remained silent for a moment and decided to start from the initial doubt: "What is fate?"

Feng: "A topic like fate is too big. If you had asked Book Elder about this question back then, he might have given you a very splendid and satisfying answer. But if you ask me... forgive me for being blunt, my divination isn’t strong, I might be able to deceive Ulanos and the others, but telling you the same answer, I think you definitely wouldn’t be satisfied."

"Moreover, I believe what concerns you most isn’t fate itself. It’s why you entered the fate I crafted, right?"

Angel nodded: "That’s what I want to know too. When did this game start, why did it start, and when does it end... Also, why is it me?"

Feng obviously anticipated this, and was not at all hesitant about Angel’s questions: "You think this is a game and you are a pawn, correct? Heh, actually the truth behind this isn’t that complicated. There is no player nor game, it’s merely the tide of fate... This matter dates back to a long time ago, back when I was still a Wizard Apprentice."

Feng didn’t dwell much on his apprentice period; he brought it up because during this time, his future obsession was formed.

Feng’s closest ones died in the catastrophe of the Demon God, and Feng’s mentor didn’t survive this horrific event either.

From that time on, Feng had a strong hatred towards the Demon God, and a severe aversion to this kind of disaster of a Demon God’s descent, which even became his obsession.

The Frostmoon Alliance published "Plane Conquest Record," which includes a very famous illustration called "Apocalypse Catastrophe," drawn by Feng himself, depicting the apocalypse brought by the Demon God’s descent. Although Feng never made a direct statement, anyone who has seen this painting can perceive Feng’s hatred towards the Demon God’s arrival.

After breaking through to Legend, Feng went from the Southern Domain Wizard World to the Origin World.

During his period of living in the Origin World, Feng worked for the Temple of the Oracle and stayed in the Temple for hundreds of years as a Free Wizard.

The Temple of the Oracle is a very powerful union in the Origin World. It is a huge union formed by several Witcher Organizations related to prophecy.

Even the Crown Star Church, famed in the Southern Domain, is actually a subordinate of the Temple of the Oracle.

In those years in the Temple of the Oracle, Feng originally intended to learn some spell techniques related to prophecy, but his talent for prophecy was not strong, so he only grasped the superficial knowledge of divination.

Although he didn’t master divination, he met many Prophet Wizards, including some Southern Domain Wizards who rose from the Crown Star Church.

The Temple of the Oracle also owned Mysterious Objects similar to the Mystery of the Stars. The Prophet Wizard from the Southern Domain obtained some hints about the future through a Mysterious Object called "City of Reincarnation." Among the hints, one indicated that the Southern Domain would soon encounter a Demon God catastrophe.

This Southern Domain Wizard informed Feng of this news.

Upon receiving this news, Feng was naturally shocked. Although he was far from the Southern Domain, Feng’s focus on the Southern Domain never diminished, after all, the Southern Domain was his homeland.

The possibility that his homeland might face a Demon God catastrophe, even if Feng didn’t care about the Demon God, would still compel him to seek salvation. What’s more, Feng himself deeply detested the Demon God catastrophe and naturally took the burden of rescuing the Southern Domain upon himself.

But how to save it?

Even if Feng had become a Legendary Wizard, he might not be able to defeat the Demon God, especially in the environment of the Abyss.

Feng had no idea which Demon God might descend, when precisely they would arrive, the reason for their arrival, or where they would land.

In the face of these unanswerable questions, even if Feng could defeat the Demon God, it would be hard to thoroughly save from the Demon God catastrophe.

What’s more, if it was an Unparalleled Great Demon God or an Ancient being descending... not only him, but even in alliance with a large number of Legendary Wizards, it would be difficult to stop.

In his dilemma, that Southern Domain Prophet Wizard gave Feng a suggestion.

Consider trying to consult the Book of Kael.