Warlock Apprentice

Flourishing streets, colorful banners, traveling crowds…

Minerals and magic plants, easy cantrips and advanced spells, weapons and armor, apothecaries and research institutes… This area had every single aspect the wizarding world had to offer.

And of course, one could never see the whole picture of the market—there was bound to be more secrets hidden beneath its bright mask, both good and evil ones.

Angor walked around the market while noting down the prices of different merchandise as well as their quality before he carefully placed his orders.

An hour went by quickly, during which Angor found himself denied by many of the shops.

Some of the shops had very strict rules about who could enter, such as “wizards only”. Most of them were bookstores selling spell books or materials that were only useful to wizards.

Naturally, Angor had to stay away from them despite his curiosity. Besides, the shopkeepers did not need to chase him out—there were protective magic arrays placed at their entrances that would simply wound or kill any intruders who did not meet the requirements, while the severity of the punishment solely depended on whether the shopkeeper was in a good mood.

There were other types of requirements, some of which appeared really strange. For example, Angor saw a small manor hidden behind vapor and mist; it was called “Star Tailor”. There was a warning sign below the shop’s name—”Male forms are prohibited”.

Wait… Angor wondered. Does that mean a dude can enter this place as long as he transforms into a woman?

Someone soon answered Angor’s question. A beautiful woman slowly stepped out of the shop’s door before her body melted and turned into a bulky-looking muscle man.

Oh crap.

Angor wondered what kind of stuff the shop provided. And since he did not know any form-shifting spells, he considered sneaking inside using illusions.

He was disappointed when a Rune Monitor servitor told him no.

This meant the shop chose to allow male wizards who knew very potent form-change abilities to go inside, such as by using gender-altering bloodlines or Transform, which was commonly believed to be one of the hardest spells to learn. Simply put, apprentices basically had no hope.

There were also other sorts of weird entrance conditions, such as “non-humans only”, “age below 200”, “Magic array crafters only”…

Some shops used “softer” rules. Angor saw such a potion shop, where its Rune Monitor guard would allow anyone who “praises Van Der Waals School and disdains others” to pass.

Next door was a supply shop for alchemists, which required customers to pass a small quiz.

As long as one could fulfill these conditions, even a weak apprentice could enter these shops that also provided wizard-level services.

The aforementioned alchemist shop named “The Fingernail” was what Angor was looking at right now.

Putting its strange name aside, Angor noticed that the shop was pretty big, while a good number of alchemists were going in and out of it on hurried steps.

When Angor approached, the gatekeeper, which was a puppet carved out of sandalwood, addressed him. The puppet didn’t look like any finely-designed artwork—some extra size and it would look as terrible as a Treant.

The puppet questioned whether Angor was studying Tooling or Apothecary, and after getting an answer, it showed several corners of a random rune and told Angor to identify the whole rune.

“This is one of the most commonly used Elemental runes called Supplement, it’s for—”

“Correct. You do not need to provide the details, honored guest.”

Angor was soon granted entrance after he correctly identified several more runes. Also, the puppet guard asked for Angor’s identity card so that Angor could get registered and revisit this shop without going through the quiz again.

He did have two identity cards. One was an anonymous card given by Sunders, while the other was certified under someone called “Baron Milk”. Neither one was suitable to be used here.

Before Angor could get a good look at the interior of the shop, he saw many pairs of scrutinizing eyes looking his way.

A group of apprentices in alchemist uniforms that was chatting around a bench also gave Angor strange looks.

As Angor wondered what those people wanted, he heard someone talking to him in an old woman’s voice.

“Welcome, young alchemist.”

Angor looked around and saw a short, silver-haired lady who appeared at the counter out of nowhere. The woman’s body looked as tall as Shan, but a bit wider. She was wearing a blue skirt with several embedded gems.

The most noticeable feature on her was a giant hairpin behind her hair bun. The hairpin was shaped like a peacock’s tail spread. Also, each “peacock feather” was actually a bright, polished fingernail.

Out of instinct, Angor looked down and realized that the woman’s own fingernails were in the exact same colors and style.

“Good day, ma’am.” Angor bowed to the strange woman whose true strength he couldn’t identify. He assumed that she was at least at wizard level.

“Troubled by those people?” The old woman pointed a finger at the apprentices sitting nearby.

Upon receiving her attention, the apprentices quickly looked away and pretended that they were minding their own business.

“May I ask the reason for it?” Angor maintained his neutral expression.

“Because they heard you talking to Nehaa. Oh, Nehaa is the wooden puppet at the door.” The woman then asked Angor to take a seat in front of the counter. “There might be countless alchemists in Floating Mech City, yet everyone’s name was more or less known by others. Of course they’ll be curious when a new face shows up.”

“I completely understand.”

The woman’s eyes twinkled. “You don’t find many enchantment alchemists in our ranks. If I remember correctly… everyone’s been talking about an alchemist who almost created a Mystery item. He’s also an enchantment alchemist… if I’m not mistaken?”

Angor smiled and didn’t comment.

The woman ended the subject and introduced herself, “I don’t even remember my own name now… They just call me ‘Granny Fingernail’. And if you don’t know already, I’m the owner of this shop. So, what I can do for you?”

Angor suddenly recalled a familiar name in his memory.

“Are you perhaps acquainted with Iron Granny?” Angor asked as he tried to remember a certain old woman who lived inside a moving fortress.

“You mean Iron Granny of the Iron Fortress? I do know her name, but no, we never met.”

Angor nodded. It was a wild guess, and it seemed that he was wrong.

“I’m looking to buy materials…” Angor explained several names of rare components that he failed to find elsewhere.

Granny Fingernail showed a strange look while listening. “You… have a pretty big ambition, young man.”

Granny Fingernail would say so because Angor’s material list included things for both Tooling and Apothecary of different schools.

Again, Angor smiled without saying anything.

“Some of them are valuable stock… I would reject any random apprentice who asks for them because they’ll only put them to waste. But you… perhaps yes. Mithra has been giving you apothecary lessons, no? It explains why you need those magical plants.”

Angor just realized that the old woman already recognized him.

He could also tell that Mithra was Granny Fingernail’s friend or at least a colleague since even Sunders had no idea about his apothecary lectures.

He wondered who Granny Fingernail truly was.

Granny Fingernail went to the other side of the counter and took out two one-use space capsules. “Here, one for tooling, and one for potions.”

Angor nodded and checked the capsules using his spirit feelers.

“That’ll be 13,590 magic crystals…” the old shopkeeper said as she waited for Angor to complete his examination. “I’ll make it 13,500.”

The onlooking apprentices widened their eyes in surprise. Even though they could earn quick money with their alchemy skills, such a huge sum was still something that they couldn’t gather easily. The money was enough to buy one or two advanced alchemy tools.

Angor considered and accepted the price. Previously, he planned to spread his orders among several shops so that he wouldn’t draw attention by spending so much money in one go. Still, he couldn’t reject the great offer since Granny Fingernail’s merchandise was of superior quality.

Upon seeing him making such a big purchase, the apprentices who had doubts about Angor’s identity all became sure of their conclusion.

Angor already heard someone mentioning his name, in a polite way. This told him that, at the very least, his fame wasn’t so terrible among alchemists.

“Anything else you need? I also have the copied notes of several famous alchemists, or if you want to study certain exclusive or unique skills… I have them too.”

Alchemy notes? They sell the most precious experience of alchemists here?

When Angor asked, Granny Fingernail explained that the notes weren’t for sale. Angor would have to use his own knowledge as an exchange for the notes.

He did need the written experience, which was something not recorded in his tablet. But then, he learned that he needed to pay really high-end expertise of certain alchemy subjects, and it did not look like a good offer.

He believed he could always gain experience by getting down to practical alchemy works. Without someone’s guidance, he might take some unnecessary detours, yet it was nothing too serious.

With that in mind, he decided to disregard the offer.

He did need to buy something else from the shop. It was neither material nor knowledge, but a tailoring tool for making alchemy garments.