Warlock Apprentice

Angor returned to his room alone. He left Toby behind so that the latter could spend one more night with his old master.

Number One was waiting for him outside the garden.

“Good evening, Mister Padt,” the machine butler spoke in its typical robotic voice, “I happen to have a message for you.”

Angor gave it a doubtful look.

“Someone visited not long after you left for the auction. When I explained your absence, he left this for you.” Number One took out a sealed letter from its sling pouch and handed it to Angor.

[To Mister Padt]

The handwriting seemed terrible. More than terrible. Even so, Angor did not believe the author of the letter was illiterate because the wordings seemed fine.

The red wax seal had a picture that showed a windmill with a foreign but charming design, and it appeared that the picture was stamped on it using a gold-colored material. In addition to the picture, a single down feather was placed on top of it.

“Who is it? I mean, what does he look like?”

Number One proceeded to describe what it saw.

According to the butler, the man looked strong and full of muscles, but he didn’t have legs. Instead, he had four horse limbs galloping on the ground as well as a black, glossy scorpion tail growing on his back.

Angor’s first impression upon hearing the explanation was that the man looked like a monster that was known as a centaur. But a scorpion tail?

He didn’t believe any centaurs or some kind of visitor from Abyss Plane who would send him letters.

After thanking Number One, he returned to his bedroom with the letter in hand. After making sure the letter wasn’t rigged with traps, he applied some heat to his fingertip using mana and broke the seal open.

Reading the letter brought a smile to his face.

It was Viking, the person who was betrayed by Shayaron when they were in the purification garden and then made it to the Altar of Demise with all four limbs missing.

Angor wasn’t expecting Viking to contact him at all. Of course, this man was no centaur or tailed demon; he was but an apprentice who successfully attached two pairs of horse legs on him.

According to the letter, Viking had known that Angor was his “savior”. The letter was a token of gratitude as well as an invitation for Angor to visit Valley of Breeze.

Viking didn’t leave many words, but what was written showed his sincerity. It was true that Angor did not help Viking for any particular reason, but Angor still felt a small warmth in his heart when he saw that Viking was trying to thank him properly.

He put the letter away but did not plan to accept Viking’s invitation for real. After all, he might never need anything from Viking. Even so, the newly-gained friendship was still welcomed.

It was already late at night. Since Greya gave him enough time, Angor wasn’t going to work on the new illusion item right now. He felt rather energetic after sleeping in Sunders’ carriage, so he tidied up his image a little and stepped out of the mansion.

He wanted to say goodbye to Mister Mithra before leaving the city.

Mithra bestowed a lot of help and knowledge to him during his stay, including the valuable notebook that contained Mithra’s own alchemy experience. Naturally, Angor would not disappear without at least paying the kind old man a visit.

He spent almost the entire night chatting with the wise alchemist.

“You have the gate card of our research department, which means you’re one of us now. I hope you can bring your youthful vigor to that place soon,” Mithra said before seeing Angor off.

Floating Mech City was an existing paradise for all alchemists, while the research department represented the core technologies of the city. However, Angor would not go there now.

Of course, as an alchemist, he also craved the high-end alchemy skills and theories provided by other master alchemists. Even so, he didn’t believe that he had what it took to learn from them right now. Before going for a higher goal, he had to enrich his foundation first.

Mithra saw Angor’s intention and chose to accept his decision.

When Angor disappeared at the end of the path, Yeliya slowly walked out of Elixir Hut and joined her husband. “You know, I like that boy!”

“Great talent and destiny… more importantly, he has a brilliant teacher.” Mithra sighed and said, “I’m afraid I’ve given Angor more than what I intended.”

“You and Sunders both love him but you just won’t say it.” Yeliya rolled her eyes.

“I’m afraid Muse is going to feel very sad. He’s been waiting for Angor day and night. You know him, acting all aloof and carefree but expecting someone to have it. Now that no one is giving him any attention…” Mithra chuckled and shook his head. “Can’t blame him though. I really want Angor to come to us sooner as well.”

“Who knows? The next time he comes, perhaps he’d be way more brilliant than you, old man.”

Mithra spat on the ground. “You don’t have to point it out! Come on, I need some morning tea.”

Yeliya glanced at the rising sun as well as where Angor departed to with a gentle smile. She then accompanied her husband back inside.

…

A flying boat was swiftly cruising among clouds and on top of the white water tides that it created; it was as if the sky was where it belonged. The silk curtain with a starry design had made the beautiful vehicle an even more fantastic sight.

Two gentlemanly passengers, one older and one younger, sat across each other. The shorter figure was wearing a red shirt under his black gentleman suit, which went well with his immature yet intelligent image, while the taller one was a more seasoned nobleman who was casually fiddling his black walking cane while leaning against a cushion.

Angor and Sunders used the teleportation station in Floating Mech City to travel to Sleepless City, which was still pretty far from Brute Cavern. Angor thought his professor could help them get home faster by using wizard tricks, but it seemed that Sunders wasn’t going to do so when he simply took Angor and started walking on legs.

At first, Angor thought there were other teleportation arrays or convenient vehicles outside Sleepless City, so he followed behind his teacher without a word.

But when he realized that there was nothing other than barren wilderness ahead of them even after walking for half a day, he began to wonder if the gentleman was seriously planning to travel back on foot.

While trying not to complain out aloud, Angor offered his Gondola.

He and Sunders sat at the front of the boat while Nano and Dodoro rested in the small room at the back. As for the Krakoks, they were placed inside Angor’s bracelet again.

Sunders was very satisfied as he looked at the decorations on the boat.

Such an elegant taste befits the student of a gentleman like me.

With Gondola’s speed, it would take them about ten hours to leave the territory of Evernight Kingdom and around three days to reach Parmigi Highlands, and finally, Brute Cavern.

Angor didn’t intend to idle. It was a rare chance for him to spend so much private time with Sunders, and he had so many questions to ask.

But something interrupted his plan when he heard rustling noises coming from the room behind him.

He looked back and saw Nano creating soft threads out of his fingers, which displayed weak energy ripples.

Angor already knew that Nano had such a talent, yet he never witnessed it before.

“A cultured and trained Fibber can provide you with top-class silk,” Sunders commented.

“I… want to take him to my family and help them establish a new line of business.”

“Do you have many family members in the mortal world?”

This was the first time that Sunders asked about such a thing.

Angor shook his head. “Currently, there is only my elder brother. I heard that we have another family clan at the capital of Goldspink, but since my father passed away, we never contacted them again.”

“This single Fibber can provide enough silk for an entire family industry then. You came from Marginalized Island, right?”

“Yes. I’m going home later this year. My former teacher is still waiting for me on his sickbed.”

“I think you have enough resources to cure him now. And if not, you can always buy another Ice Coffin of Healing scroll.”

Of course, Angor did not need to use the scroll anymore since he now possessed an Abyssal Inscription card.

“Marginalized Island…” Sunders thought about this name for a moment. “There are extremely few active elements in the environment there, so wizards usually refer to it as the ‘dead land’. However, Marginalized Island and Fey Continent weren’t so different early in history. It was an incident that caused the depletion of elements overnight.”

“Something erased active elements overnight?”

Sunders nodded. “It’s a rather strange matter. Many wizards investigated the incident, but no one found any explanation for it. There is a quest that is constantly on display on the monitor of the questing hall, which asks someone to solve the mystery. Since you’re going to Marginalized Island this year, you might as well give it a try.”

In fact, the mentioned quest was put up a thousand years ago. Despite that, no one managed to solve it. Sunders was only striking a relaxed conversation by telling Angor about it—the outcome did not matter.