Warlock Apprentice

Three days later, Angor suddenly heard Sunders’ voice reaching his ears.

“Greya is here.”

Immediately, he went to his professor’s study. And as soon as he arrived, gentle energy engulfed him and teleported him into Sunders’ Gravity Garden, where the two wizards were chatting peacefully.

Greya smiled gently when she saw Angor coming. “That was a big help, boy. I still needed to solve five major problems for my ‘Birth’ spell, and I thought they would take me some more decades, but your manifestation allowed me to finish them straight away!”

Birth? Angor tilted his head.

“I already explained your inventions to Greya,” Sunders chuckled. “‘Birth’ is the new spell she created on that day.”

Angor recalled the amazing sight in which Greya “overhauled” Phantom Island and wanted to ask something. “Is the spell used for creating new things out of nothing?”

“Oh, you want to know about it?” Greya didn’t intend to hide too many secrets as she explained her spell gladly. “It may appear that way in your view, but there are… some intricate factors in this. The spell still needs to obey certain mass conversion rules in this world. But I guess legendary wizards or the world’s consciousness can bring stuff out of thin air for real.”

Angor wasn’t sure how to understand those words, but he decided not to question. Of course truth-finder wizards wouldn’t share the fundamentals of their knowledge.

Greya noticed Angor’s thoughts and grinned. “I asked for an illusion item just because I was bored. But this is unexpected. I promised to cook you a golden VIP order if the item turned out to be good, right? Well, it’s beyond good. You still get the same order, but I’ll make it three.”

She took out a golden invitation card with the number “3” on it and handed it to Angor.

“You can come to me anytime for your meal.”

Angor politely accepted the card with both hands. He realized that he just earned a priceless opportunity, which might help him become a wizard directly if he knew how to use it.

Sunders looked at Greya’s generous offer and also smiled in content.

When Greya offered a golden card to Angor in exchange for an illusion item, she was probably “investing” in Angor’s future rather than looking for Angor’s service. But now, she had just realized that earning a manifestation from Angor by paying meals was an absolutely nice trade.

To outsiders, Greya had earned great profit by buying the critical manifestation that helped her create a new spell just by cooking for someone. But the truth was, her “golden offers” weren’t so easy to make. She might even need to spend several years looking for the right materials.

Three “golden VIP meals” were more or less enough to repay Angor’s favor. Besides, Greya meant to sincerely pay compensation to Angor.

“Okay now. I called you here so that we all can agree upon what we should tell the public in the right situations.” Sunders gave Angor a serious look as he spoke, “Your secret can NOT be exposed under any circumstances. Even if it is extremely difficult to create manifestations and that they provide negligible chances to truth-finders, wizards will not hesitate to seize you for their own gain, because capturing you would not cost them anything.

“That day, people all saw Greya showing her gratitude to you out in the public, and they will be concerned. We must determine an excuse should anyone question this matter. Especially you, Greya. You’ll need to explain your action to someone sooner or later.”

While listening, Angor noticed that Sunders was delivering a message in secret, that Greya still did not know he could bring out manifestations of Mystery with ease.

“I know that.” Greya nodded and blew a kiss at Angor. “Relax. I won’t harm him since he helped me sooo much. I already have a plan for that.”

“What plan?”

“Showing it frankly is better than hiding it all the time.” Greya took out the silver brooch and affixed it on her violet dress, which further added to her showy style.

Sunders understood what she meant. “A feasible idea, but how are you going to ‘show’ this?”

“I’m paying Mister Rein a visit later, and I’ll proceed from there. I believe that man is VERY eager to hear my story and how I created my spell.” Greya giggled.

“Are you sure Mister Rein will trust your ‘story’?” Sunders raised an eyebrow.

Instead of answering, Greya smiled at Angor again. “See that? Your professor doesn’t believe in your alchemy at all! Consider getting a new teacher, will you?”

Angor listened with a puzzled look. What is she talking about?

Sunders shook his head and explained, “Greya meant to show your Twinning Wings to Mister Rein and put the ‘blame’ on the illusion, which gave her inspiration.”

“Huh? But… without the manifestation, the illusion is only an illusion.”

“Only an illusion? Well, I don’t think so.” Greya humphed. “Come on, not you too. Did you learn everything from Sunders? Too much modesty will make you look cocky, you know.”

“I—” Angor didn’t know how to reply. He truly considered his illusion as something common.

“Yeah, the manifestation is no more, but there’s still the sense of Nightmare Realm! And those stories!” Greya said in an as-a-matter-of-fact way, “Those are enough to shock the hell out of anyone who looks at your illusion for the first time. Mister Rein is not an exception!”

Greya saw Angor still frowning and shook her head. “Ugh, never mind. I’ll just tell Mister Rein that I need the final push to finish my spell, and I found it in your illusion. It’s the truth anyway. Inside the Nightmare Realm-like place, I saw a vision, and then… poof! As long as Mister Rein buys it, people will know why I gave you that look. I was thanking you for giving me the illusion.

“They might want to check out your illusion too, but that’s not important anymore. I found my inspiration by some miracles, and it cannot be copied even if they get their hands on your items. They’ll just walk around your illusion and get all startled by the Nightmare Realm-rish feel; they aren’t actually going to learn anything.”

Angor knew this was true. He spent lots of time and effort when making the illusion in Twinning Wings, which included many interesting elements taken from Earth civilization. As Greya said, it wasn’t common at all.

“But… will Mister Rein accept that?”

He meant to ask, would Mister Rein get fooled for real?

“No problem. You’re the only one in this world who can add Nightmare Realm stuff in your illusions. Mister Rein knows that I lost my body in the Nightmare Realm. It’s just natural that I learned something new. And suppose that he doesn’t believe me, he can’t find anything since your manifestation is already gone.”

“I agree. This will work,” Sunders added. “It’s completely imaginable that you earned unknown enlightenment after traveling through the Nightmare Realm twice. Mister Rein will not notice anything wrong as long as you don’t let him see into your mind.”

“Oh chill. You know I’m always good at making up stuff.” Greya’s eyes gleamed.

“I wish you luck then.”

“I’ll get to it right away.” Greya stood up from her seat. “Better earlier than late. I’ll distribute my ‘story’ so that fewer people spend their time worrying about our little Angor.”

Sunders nodded but did not let Greya out of the Gravity Garden. Instead, he took out a glowing parchment roll. “Check this.”

Greya took the scroll and showed an annoyed look. “Oh… Taro’s Non-Disclosure Agreement?”

This agreement was drafted by an apprentice named Taro in ancient times. After being revised many times over the years, it had become a more perfect agreement usually used for maintaining mutual benefit between wizards.

It forbade Greya from revealing the secret regarding Angor’s manifestations of Mystery. Otherwise, she would receive some serious punishment that she absolutely would not want.

“Are you threatening me?” Greya scowled.

“No. I’m reminding you that we’re now bound by the same problem,” Sunders replied casually.

Greya scoffed and left her name on the parchment.

She had no problem signing the agreement—keeping Angor’s secret was always her intention. It was just that she felt displeased when Sunders openly forced her to do so.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” Sunders spoke in a plain tone as if a nobleman were attending a social gathering he did not like.

Greya ignored Sunders’ “manner” and put an arm around Angor. “Hey, sweetie, since we’re ‘bound by the same problem’, do remember to inform me if you make more of those manifestations. I’ll give you a fine price for them.”