Warlock Apprentice

Prome’s Alchemy Shop.

There was no delivery or stockpile work today, and it was almost nighttime. The shop had no customers, so Dave left his post and went to his workbench. He planned to see if he could mix additional materials into a “Tang Dao” in order to grant extra effects to the weapon.

Compared to enchantment, the process of synthesis was a lot slower. However, synthesis had a way better chance of triggering the secondary effects of materials, and as long as one could find valuable materials, they could apply greater effects.

Bit by bit, Dave melted the chunk of metal in his hand. He then weaved the liquid into a cluster of strings before carefully sending them into the flame.

He widened his eyes in excitement when the blade took on a bright glimmer like the stars.

“I did it!”

He lifted the weapon in his hand and sliced at a touchstone nearby.

The shallow cut suggested that the blade was only non-tiered, but this was not important—Dave was glad that he discovered white frost around the cut, which meant the weapon now contained freezing power, just as he expected.

“Since I can give more properties to my creations, I can try making tiered items next!” Dave exclaimed happily.

But his smile disappeared when the Tang Dao in his hand suddenly scattered into scraps and dropped to the floor while leaving several streams of cold air behind.

Dave remained agape for a while and shook his head. “Gosh. Again…”

He crouched down to check what exactly was going on with the materials.

“Let me see…” He lowered his goggles over his eyes and changed the lens into a pair of magnifying glasses. “The patterns are intact… Could it be that the different materials conflicted with each other?”

Another clear voice suddenly spoke from behind him, “That’s not the case. You applied too much freezing effect.”

Dave jerked his head back and saw someone in a black gentleman suit sitting on a guest seat while looking at the broken weapon curiously.

“Hey, Angor!” Dave looked happy to see his friend coming, but he soon showed an embarrassed look and glanced at the scrap metal at his feet. “Oh, don’t mind this. It’s just a small test, and it… you know, didn’t go well.”

Angor stared at the shards that were releasing more white fog into the room. “Meteorite, Starlight Iron, and Frost Sand. When used together, they provided too much freezing element which surpassed everything offered by the major materials so the item won’t hold together.”

Dave scratched his head. “You mean I should decrease the number of freezing materials I used?”

“You can, but that will make the freezing effect on the final product miserable or even leave it with no effect at all.”

“What should I do then? Change the major materials to something stronger? But everything I used was non-tiered common stuff, they should fit well.”

“It’s easy. Keep your Thaw longer to fully concentrate the freezing power into the weapon. This will also make the initial structure tighter.”

Dave was a bit surprised at the simple suggestion. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

Dave tried to recall his previous attempts. As Angor said, he had been forging Tang Dao by using normal approaches without considering his extra materials.

“I see, I neglected a small matter that ruined all my efforts…” He gave Angor a grateful look. “And wait, how did you know my Thaw lasted too short? Did you come to the shop as soon as I started crafting? You should have at least made some noise so that I would know you’re here.”

Angor shook his head. “No, I just came.”

“Then how—”

Dave suddenly checked Angor’s blue eyes, as well as the energy residues that were lingering on them.

“You can use Narda’s Vision?”

Angor nodded.

Dave rubbed his temples. “That explains it. But how did you learn all the necessary knowledge so fast? I mean, I came to Brute Cavern several years before you did, and I didn’t exactly slack off. And I only read like… 10% of the books I need. Am I a joke to you?!”

Again, Dave felt like a loser when comparing himself to Angor.

He swept up the junk on the floor. Since he was so used to being shocked by Angor’s speed of learning, he could easily calm himself down. He then removed his goggles and took a seat across to Angor.

“You know you’ve become the ‘hot stuff’ in the entire organization now, right? There were tons of apprentices who kept coming here and asked for my help to get in touch with you. They were either looking for customized weapons, or their teachers sent them here looking for alchemy illusions. Well, I just told them that I didn’t know how to contact you and that you’re going to sell an alchemy illusion item at the Remnant Auction, so that’s where they should go.”

“Ah, so my item isn’t going to be neglected?” Angor held his chin. He thought no one would buy his boring item since Dave told him that the Remnant Auction was one of the “top-class” auctions among wizards.

“That won’t happen,” said Dave. “Instead, I think the final bid will be quite scary. THE Lady Greya spoke highly of it!”

“Just so you know, Lady Greya’s new spell had little to do with my illusion,” Angor explained.

“Yeah, I know. But you’re not gonna convince the apprentices who believe otherwise. Those idiots… I mean, if the rumor is true, then we can mass-produce truth finders using your illusions! And if that’s the case, we won’t be talking peacefully at this shop here. Someone or even powerful wizards from other organizations would have come to get you.”

Angor smiled helplessly. While what Dave said was still correct, the same disaster would still happen should his secret get exposed.

“So, why are you here at Prome’s shop at a time like this?” asked Dave. “You can always send a message or something, and I’ll go find you at Phantom Island so that you won’t run into trouble.”

Angor showed his bracelet. “Nah, few people can catch me if I use this. I came to ask something.”

Dave tilted his head and waited for Angor to continue.

“Have you heard of ‘avatar puppet’?” Angor sounded a bit uncertain.

Dave nodded. “Yeah, those one-use alchemy puppets. I heard they’re made from a special bio-alchemy approach that’s based on live animals or humans. It sounded cruel, but people usually use criminals on death row for it, so… not a big deal. Is this why you came here?”

Angor shook his head. “I want to know if there’s a place in Brute Cavern that is specifically for this purpose? Where they gathered up these ‘criminals’ and made them into puppets?”

“I’m not sure what that is. The criminals all need to receive a special bloodline to become puppets. If you’re asking if there’s any place to inject this bloodline,… no, not that I heard of.” Dave gave Angor a puzzled look. He was not sure what Angor wanted to do.

“There’s not?”

“I don’t think so. Just think, why would wizards need a ‘prison’ to contain criminals? That’s a waste of resources and space,” said Dave. He then saw Angor getting disappointed and decided to ask, “Mind telling me why you’re asking?”

Angor hesitated for a bit before he said, “I have a… friend, who might be locked up somewhere like that.”

“Your friend? A criminal?”

“Crime?” Angor thought about his “friend” and chuckled. “Maybe. He can’t deny his birth, which was his crime.”

“Is he… an important friend?”

“He once helped me with something, and I already repaid him. However, I don’t want to see him being made into a puppet, so I want to see if I can do something to get him out.”

A helper? Dave considered and quickly recalled a name. “You mean Balba?”

“You know him?”

“Not really. Sailum mentioned him to me when we talked. Balba saved you from an assassin, right?”

“Yeah… that’s him.”

Angor knew about Balba’s sad fate from the start, but he never cared about it too much since Balba was mostly a stranger to him.

However, things became a little complicated when Spivet delivered a message to him, that Flora wanted his help to “puppet-fy” Balba.

This was only a trifle to Spivet or Flora, yet Angor really didn’t wish to be the “executioner” who would determine Balba’s fate with his own hands.

Balba was sentenced to this sad end because he was a half-blood between a human and an otherworldly brute. Whenever Angor thought about this, he couldn’t help but worry about Jon, who was a hundred percent an “otherworldly intruder”.

It was fine to just know Balba’s fate. However, he was going to be the one who would end Balba’s life. He could not convince himself to do this, especially when Balba helped him once.

He decided to pay Balba a visit later. He did not know what he should tell Balba yet. He figured he would speak to him first and see what they could do from there.