Warlock Apprentice

Two hours later.

Felicia was checking each of the cabins inside the ghost ship. Each door would give her a different experience.

Books covered in blood that helped her create intricate stories in her mind, broken letters that told of someone’s love toward his lover, shattered mirrors that once served beauty-obsessed ladies… Every room contained fun details that led to boundless imaginations.

There were no people in the illusion. Yet Felicia found the stories she created to be quite convincing and perfect.

Next, she arrived at a pure-black door.

The room behind the door was just as black. Felicia entered the room and soon found herself wandering in chaos—the room was no more. There were no longer walls, ceilings, or directions.

She kept floating ahead, and suddenly, she sensed that her soul was shaking.

She thought someone was attacking her soul. Out of instinct, she tried to escape from the illusion and quickly found herself back at Dark Castle again. In fact, she was surprised by how easy she could quit the illusion.

But this was totally natural since Angor didn’t mean to trap people in his illusion.

Now that she knew her safety wasn’t a problem, Felicia calmed down and decided to find out more about Angor’s little secret.

Before she entered the illusion again, she cast a glance at Greya and noticed that Greya had tears on her cheeks.

She wondered what Greya saw.

Again, Felicia floated in the strange, dark space for some more, and she suddenly heard someone chanting strange letters around her ears.

She couldn’t understand the words, but that voice…

Lady Isabelle?

As Felicia wondered whether it was possible for Angor to recreate Lady Isabelle’s voice, the chant was being repeated in a faster way.

With each note, Felicia sensed that her soul was shaking. It seemed the strange chant contained a kind of magic that drew her soul away from her body.

As the last note was repeated, Felicia felt as if a bright door just showed up in her Soul Space, and her soul could easily leave through that door. But the next second, she realized she was standing in front of the black cabin door again.

Felicia then sensed her Soul Space and found nothing. Her soul was peacefully in its right position. Nothing was drawing her soul out.

“Was that an illusion inside an illusion? It felt so real. My soul was really going to eject back there.”

She considered. The experience would be a perfect training place for someone studying Soul Coupling.

Also, why was Isabelle’s voice in there?

“Oh my. This is getting fun.”

Felicia left the black door and kept moving.

Again, every cabin was like a secret treasure room that showed boundless imaginations and innovations. Felicia couldn’t understand how Angor managed to conceal so many stories in the simple objects, but she would admit that the boy put his heart into the illusion.

She was there when Angor presented the feather ear stud to Greya. She also believed that Angor was underestimating his potential, which was further proved by this work of genius.

There weren’t many alchemists in the entire world who could wield such excellent details and craftsmanship in a mere illusion.

And Angor did so at such a young age…

Felicia had arrived at the end of the hallway. The last door was painted crimson, and there was a picture of an anchor drawn on it.

The illusion didn’t present her with any danger till now, which actually made her unsatisfied. What was the point of a harmless ghost ship?

This was why her instinct told her that something special might be hiding behind this very door, which could show her the true nature of the ghost ship.

She moved her vision through the crimson door…

“Argh—get away from me!!”

Someone suddenly screamed in the distance, which caused Felicia to lose focus. Before she could do anything, the illusion halted and turned into a swarm of white feathers again before it completely vanished.

She was standing in the castle hall while holding a glass of rice wine in her hand in the same manner before she entered the illusion.

Felicia was still dazed at the unexpected termination of the adventure when she felt something shaking beside her. She looked around and saw Greya hugging her legs close to her chest, trembling in fear.

The feather ear stud was tossed on the floor.

The illusion disappeared because Greya threw it away?

Felicia did want to check out the end of the ghost ship, but she was now more concerned about Greya’s condition. “Hey, Greya, what’s wrong?”

Greya looked up from her legs with a helpless and pleading look.

Before Felicia could ask anything further, Greya chose to go into slumber and let the other “little girl’s soul” to take over her body.

“Greya” gave Felicia an innocent stare. “What’s the matter, sis?”

Felicia sighed, not knowing Greya’s intention. Greya’s soul was almost recovered, so it wasn’t necessary for her to swap personalities now.

“Sis… I’m hungry.” “Greya” made a duck-face.

Felicia shook her head and told Greya to cook on her own, while she picked up the ear stud with a grim look.

Did that boy do something stupid to Greya for real? Totally possible, considering his alchemy skills.

With that in mind, Felicia returned to her bedroom and planned to check out the illusion again. She was going to follow behind the wine thief and find out what scared Greya so much.

…

Meanwhile, Angor had returned to Real World.

It was high noon. When climbing out of Deadmen’s Dent, he felt sharp wind tingling his skin. He looked up and saw the entire Hollow Wood covered under a thick layer of snow.

The ground had ankle-level whiteness, which made it difficult to walk.

Bam!

Angor jerked his head at the sudden noise and saw Shadow intentionally kicking at a tree, causing all the snow on the tree to fall off.

The man got away in time, yet the blond magic puppet, Naga, was assaulted terribly by Shadow’s prank.

“Oh my my, Lady Naga, shall I help you remove the burden from your body?” Shadow held Naga’s jaw with a finger. His wicked expression was fully reflected inside Naga’s azure eyes.

“Please don’t do this, Master.” Naga was clearly blushing. Her voice was that of a cold machine, but the way she talked somehow contained a bit of shyness.

“Don’t do what?” Shadow put an arm around Naga with obvious intentions.

It seemed this man finally got the chance to let his urges loose after obtaining Naga. He didn’t attempt too many things while inside Dark Castle. Now that they were somewhere “more private”, Shadow couldn’t wait to have fun interactions with his new prize.

And this was also when Angor noticed that Naga had her own consciousness as well.

He already realized this when Naga displayed overwhelming strength at him. She was intentionally making Shadow’s challenge easier then.

A wizard-level puppet with intelligence… If not for their magic covenant, Angor would well stay away from Shadow.

“Master, it’s too cold…”

“Oh! I shall warm you up with my chest.”

Angor feared that the “drama” would get out of control and quickly said, “Do whatever you want. I’m going back to Water Grasse. Let’s decide on a meeting place for tomorrow.”

“Oh no no, we don’t have to. I don’t have a single coin on me right now. I’m coming with you! Also, can you lend me some coins so that I can get some clothes?” Shadow was wearing Angor’s robe for now, but apart from it, the man was still naked. The loose robe didn’t do a good job of concealing his “stick”.

“… Fine. Let’s go.” Angor frowned.

Before leaving, Shadow released the apprentices who had been under his control for half a month. These people didn’t dare to make any extra move in front of Shadow. There was only Magician who showed obvious hatred toward Shadow, as well as a doubtful glance at Angor.

When in Water Grasse, Angor tossed a small coin sack at Shadow and returned to his mansion first.