Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2326: Chapter 2327: Window

In order to get there as soon as possible, Angel didn’t linger in White Cloud Village and vanished from the palaces atop Wind Island in a flash.

Originally planning to meet those under his command of the Wind Department the next day, he abandoned the idea and headed straight to White Sea Bay.

Ignoring the complicated gaze of the wind creatures, Angel found Lobal and informed him that he might be absent for a while and that all wind creatures should temporarily follow the orders of Lord Rhein until they meet again.

After giving the command, Angel only took the fastest Speedy before leaving Wind Island.

Angel initially intended to use the Plane Corridor to return to Revelation Continent, but after pondering for a moment, he felt it was too wasteful. The materials required to open a Plane Corridor could buy him a Special Undead; even though Special Undead are rare, it was more than enough to buy some information.

Simply opening a Plane Corridor for Tullas’s Soul Trick was obviously not worth the value.

Moreover, the exit to the Tidal World was not far from here. Once out, it would be Old Earth Continent, which was very close to Revelation Continent.

If going at full speed, they should reach their destination soon.

After consideration, Angel decided against using the Plane Corridor.

Time on the road flew by, and with the Gate of Void and the Gravity Meridian, along with Toby’s ability to activate the Gravity Meridian, Speedy could carry them forward at full speed during the intervals between their abilities.

Under these circumstances, their traveling speed reached its peak.

In just a day and a half, they raced from White Cloud Village to the Region of Fire.

Upon leaving the Tidal World, Angel did not reveal himself to the Shannon Royal Family, but instead opened the Gate of Void and directly teleported to the outskirts of the Capital Sambia in the Goldfinch Empire.

The next step was to travel from Old Earth Continent to Revelation Continent. During the journey, Frode provided real-time updates. The ghost of the farmer did not show up or go up the mountain in the past two days, and it was unclear where it had gone. Some knights searching the mountain even suspected it had already left, but Frode, with his soul, sensed a significant amount of deep, grievous death aura near the wood factory.

It must still be nearby but hiding for some reason. Maybe it’s waiting for a better opportunity to launch an attack on Star Lake Castle.

It’s like the calm before the storm, seemingly peaceful and worry-free, but for Neya and others, the atmosphere was extremely oppressive.

However, for Angel, this was good news.

No matter what the farmer ghost wanted to do, since it wished to delay, let it delay. Hopefully, it would stall until they arrived.

Along the way, everything was relatively calm. The only slightly troublesome thing for Angel was Dangross.

When Angel left White Cloud Village, he also took Dangross, thinking he could take it back to the Region of Fire along the way, so Magu wouldn’t worry.

But unexpectedly, upon learning of Angel’s destination, Dangross insisted on leaving with Angel, saying it wanted to broaden its horizons.

Initially, Angel disagreed, but Dangross’s determination was strong. Given that Dangross’s "bear" character had toned down significantly, Angel thought for a long time and agreed to take Dangross.

He considered it an early opportunity for Dangross to broaden its horizons.

After all, when Magu asked him to bring Dangross, it wasn’t just to use it as a living map but also hoped to expand Dangross’s field of vision, so it wouldn’t be stuck in a small quagmire.

When Dangross returns to the Region of Fire, it would have more to share with Magu.

Therefore, Angel took Dangross with him. However, what Angel didn’t anticipate was how excited Dangross was once they left the Tidal World and how amazed it was by everything.

Seeing towns, its eyes lit up, and it tried to get Angel to take it sightseeing.

Angel could only placate it, saying that after dealing with urgent matters, he’d take it to see human cities. — Actually, it wasn’t a lie since Star Lake Castle is close to Saint Sem City, known as the Art Capital, where even Mr. Feng resided for a long time. Its ambiance is unique in all the cities Angel has ever visited. He could take Dangross to see Saint Sem City by then.

With this promise, Dangross finally curbed its desire to wander, although its curiosity never ceased. Every time it encountered something intriguing — towns, buildings, cooking smoke, cruise ships — Angel had to not only hurry but also explain the meanings of various terms to Dangross.

About a day later, with the still-chatting Dangross, Angel finally arrived at Revelation Continent.

...

In late autumn, nightfall came earlier than usual.

Though there was still a sliver of sunset glow on the skyline, the nearby sky had turned a deep blue and almost black. Consequently, Star Lake Castle lit its lamps early.

Unlike usual, Star Lake Castle was bustling even as night drew near.

Knights in iron boots clanked on the smooth floors, and they weren’t alone; their footsteps collectively formed a cacophony in the hall.

All these knights were carrying loads of varying sizes, moving them out of Star Lake Castle.

If one observed carefully, all of the items they carried were covered in a layer of red velvet. It was as if something forbidden was hidden inside, not meant for others to see its true form.

But Little Sem knew that under the red velvet were not treasures, but mirrors.

All the mirrors in Star Lake Castle, big and small, were wrapped up and handed over to these knights to carry away.

The commotion was so loud that Little Sem, engrossed in the Soul Chronicle, was jolted awake.

"Grandpa Drue, where are they taking the mirrors?" inquired Little Sem to an elderly man beside him, remembering his name was Drue, the old man with golden chain glasses.

Looking at Little Sem coming down the stairs, Drue smiled kindly, saying, "They’re being taken outside for unified handling. In a few days, new mirrors will be installed in the castle."

"Why take the mirrors away? They should be fine, right?"

"Mainly afraid...of them getting dirty."

Afraid of getting dirty? Little Sem looked at Drue in confusion, hoping for a further explanation. However, Drue just smiled, saying no more.

Little Sem was embarrassed to press on; after all, he only knew Drue’s name, and their connection was quite thin.

So he changed the subject: "Grandpa Drue, have you seen Adar or Young Master Tyson?"

"I don’t know about Adar, but Young Master Tyson has gone down the mountain."

Getting no useful information, Little Sem helplessly gave up, glanced at the knights leaving the hall with mirrors, sighed resignedly, and shook his head before heading upstairs to his room.

The moment he opened the door, Little Sem paused.

"I remember leaving without turning the oil lamp off," he thought suspiciously, peering into the dim room.

Inside, it was pitch black, making it hard to make out anything except the vague outline of some furniture.

A chilly wind blew from inside onto the corridor.

"Did I not close the window?" Feeling the cold breeze, Little Sem grew more suspicious, reluctant to step into the darkness.

He sensed something wasn’t quite right.

Although he wasn’t yet a formal apprentice, his understanding of the Extraordinary World and recognition of his own talent had significantly enhanced his memory.

At least, he could still completely remember things from a few minutes ago.

Especially when, before leaving the room, he had been sitting at the table by the window, reading the "Soul Chronicle" by the light of an oil lamp. Whether the lamp was extinguished, and whether the window was closed, he was perfectly clear.

Did someone enter his room? Little Sem had this suspicion in his heart, otherwise why would the oil lamp be extinguished and the window be open?

Was it those knights? But hadn’t the knights already taken the mirror out of the room before, why would they go in again?

Or was Adar playing a prank? That didn’t seem right either. If it was Shanni playing a prank, it might be possible. Adar seldom did such things. Adar and Little Sem were very close, so there was no reason for him to scare him.

With endless thoughts swirling in his heart, Little Sem hesitated about whether he should go in and take a look.

Just as Little Sem was wavering, he heard the sound of footsteps echoing from the nearby corridor.

Little Sem turned his head to see Drue, leading a few knights, coming up from the corner stairs.

Drue instructed the knights to check different rooms for any missed mirrors, while he himself walked towards Little Sem.

"You look very serious, what’s wrong?" Drue asked. Having cultivated for more than seventy years, although his strength had reached a bottleneck, his skill in observing others had become ever more refined. He approached Little Sem because he noticed that there was something off about his eyes.

Hesitating for a moment, Little Sem still said, "I don’t know if it’s my illusion or not, but I feel like someone went into my room."

Little Sem shared his suspicions and judgments.

"Is that so? Then I’ll ask around to see if any knights went into your room and forgot to mention it." Drue replied with a smile on the surface, but inwardly he became instantly alert.

He knew very well that the rampant ghost’s target was Little Sem.

Although he hadn’t sensed anything out of the ordinary at the moment, the current situation was crucial, and anything concerning Little Sem was no small matter.

To avoid really missing something, he immediately summoned a few knights and inquired once.

However, the knights responsible for searching this floor all denied having entered Little Sem’s room.

If no knights entered, could it really be related to that ghost? But, wasn’t it still down the mountain, and how did it get here with all the defense lines on the mountain?

Drue was somewhat skeptical, but with no evidence at present, he still needed to go into the room and take a look.

To be cautious, Drue instructed three strong knights to go in first and investigate.

The knights, clad in light armor, carrying an oil lamp, directly entered the pitch-black room.

After waiting for a while, light appeared in the room.

Little Sem peered in and saw that the three knights had lit all the kerosene lamps in the room and were searching for something nearby.

After a while, they came out and reported to Drue, "Nothing found, the window is indeed open, but no signs of human interference. It might have been opened by the wind."

Drue turned to Little Sem and asked, "Didn’t you lock the window latch?"

Little Sem recalled for a moment, his expression turning slightly awkward, "It seems so..."

Upon confirmation, Drue sighed lightly in his heart: it seemed to be a false alarm.

But to be on the safe side, Drue still went in personally, carefully sensing for a moment, and found nothing amiss. The wind tonight was indeed quite strong, with the castle backed by the mountains and near the lake, and the mountain breeze with the lake wind could easily blow the window open.

The oil lamp on the table also had a vent, which happened to face the window, and the wind blowing in to extinguish the lamp was usual.

Once confirmed, Drue then came out.

Little Sem was somewhat embarrassed at this point, feeling that he had made a fuss over trivial details. He thanked Drue and the knights, returning to the room with a face full of embarrassment.

The room was brightly lit, with no trace of anything sinister.

The ’Soul Chronicle’ on the table was open, with the window still not shut, and the cool night wind flipping the book pages continuously.

Little Sem quickly went over and closed the glass window, latching it shut.

As he closed the window, the flapping pages of the ’Soul Chronicle’ on the table finally came to a stop, landing precisely on one page.

And on this page, there was an illustration, showing a ghost with crimson eyes in a lavishly carved standing mirror.

When Little Sem turned back after closing the window, he happened to see this illustration.

"Huh, I remember this is the Special Undead Chapter..." only the Special Undead Chapter would have illustrations. Back then, Lady Cilla, who turned into a ghostly spider, was also the prototype Little Sem found in this ’Soul Chronicle’.

Little Sem curiously looked over, wanting to see the words beside the illustration clearly.

But just as he approached the desk, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine, as if someone was watching him with a cold, icy gaze.

But, behind him was a wall, was a window.

And outside the window, there was no balcony, no place to stand, so how could someone be staring at him?

Was it an illusion?

Little Sem wanted to turn around to check, but a sense of danger rose from the depths of his heart.

Previously outside the room, when he looked at the dark room, he felt a similar feeling, and later the knights and Drue proved that the room was perfectly normal. Now with the same sense of danger returning, Little Sem thought maybe he was being overly suspicious.

Thinking of this, Little Sem dismissed the warning in his heart and turned to take a look.

Then, he saw a face.

A face reflected on the glass window, a ghostly face with red eyes.

Little Sem’s eyes widened in shock; this face... this face he knew all too well...

It was the owner of the Holy Resonance Farm!

The same person whom Little Sem had personally ended the life of back then.

Even though he had already died, and died by his own hands, why would he appear here?

Little Sem felt as though his mind had half-shut down, retreating continuously, and in his backward movements, not aware of the desk’s corner, he staggered and fell directly to the ground.

When Little Sem looked up again, the face reflected in the window was gone.

"Could it have been an illusion just now?"

As this thought formed in Little Sem’s mind, a strange rustling sound came from behind him...