Warlock Apprentice

Two hours ago.

While using the same relaxed manner, Spivet mentioned Flora’s request.

“It’s simple. Flora found herself a student some time ago, right? That halfbreed? Flora has never allowed him to enter Rockwell Venue. Now that she has a ‘proper’ student, which is me, that halfbreed is getting a little worked up. Since he’s a level-2 apprentice now, Flora decided to give him a one-use bloodline and make him into a puppet, and you should be the one to do the final touches.”

“Balba didn’t stay put when he saw you becoming Miss Flora’s student? What did he do?” asked Angor.

“Balba? That halfbreed is called Balba?”

“Answer me first.”

“Well, what else can he do? He slipped into Rockwell Venue and wouldn’t go away. He tried to annoy Flora into teaching him. B*stard doesn’t know who he is. He deserves to die.” Spivet yawned as he lost interest. “Like I said, a simple matter. Just do it when you have the time to spare. Flora said she’ll pay you a hundred crystals for it. I can tell you it’s the average price for making a puppet. She isn’t tricking you or something. Now I need to sleep…”

Spivet stood up and was ready to leave.

“Where can I find Balba?” asked Angor.

“He’s taken somewhere to receive that one-use bloodline. Someone will bring him to you in a few days. After that, it’s your decision when to finish him up.”

…

The only clue Angor knew right now was Balba was going to get a “one-use bloodline” against his will. This bloodline was usually used to create avatar puppets. There were many types too, but they all had a similar result, which was to grant the “puppet” a deadly power at the cost of the puppet’s life force. For example, the most popular puppet bloodline used in Brute Cavern was called the “Bomb Shroom Bloodline”, which had another name—”The Time Bomb”.

Fully activating this bloodline meant killing enemies as well as the puppet itself, which also explained why such bloodlines were “one-use”.

This was always the purpose of an avatar puppet, which was to protect its master by sacrificing itself.

Balba would have no future if he received this bloodline. There were ways to cleanse a bloodline inside one’s body, but it was unlikely for Balba to have the know-how.

Angor came to Dave with the hope of knowing where the bloodline injection would happen.

Dave wasn’t sure what Angor was trying to do. He whispered, “You… wish to stop it from happening and get him out of there?”

“I don’t know… I’m going to talk to him. I want to see if he really deserves that outcome.”

“Well, some people might have more ‘crimes’ than you think. But yeah, you should go and see for yourself first. He did save your life.

“I’m pretty sure Brute Cavern doesn’t have a facility for this but… I know who you should go to. He’s probably the one who will administer the bloodline.”

“Who is it?”

“Dumartin Bayer.”

…

The wind disturbed the smooth lake surface as well as the reflection of a handsome young man.

The young man waited for a bit, made his decision, and leaped into the lake water.

When he opened his eyes again, he was looking at a legged iron house. A small ladder was being dropped from its elevated entrance.

He climbed to the door and heard an old woman’s voice.

“Paying me a visit at night, Angor?”

Angor nodded. “Good evening, Iron Granny.”

The old woman asked Angor to take a seat and ordered the iron house to start moving.

Angor glanced at the window and took a moment to observe the changing scenery.

“Ma’am, I’m not heading to my lab today. I need to find someone in The Tributary.”

Screeeech!

The Iron Fortress came to a sudden halt and caused clouds of dust to cover the window. Iron Granny quickly went to her flowerpots to get rid of the unwanted sand inside them.

“Who are you looking for?” She gave Angor a curious look.

“It’s Mister Dumartin, ma’am.”

Iron Granny stopped her action.

“‘Miniature Creator’ Dumartin?”

Angor nodded.

“I told you the rules around this place, and that recklessly wandering into someone else’s territory can easily get you killed, right? I’ll tell you something else too. That man, Dumartin, has a bad name among people. Very bad name.”

The truth was, it was more than “bad”. Dumartin was known as a mad wizard who loved doing experiments on people’s brains. Each time he put a quest in the questing hall, even if only asking for a temporary assistant, no one would accept or even ask about it.

Rumor had it that any apprentice brave enough to go to his place would end up with their brain removed.

“I know, ma’am. But I need to talk to Mister Dumartin about something.”

Iron Granny saw Angor’s hesitant look and ordered the Iron Fortress to remain still. “Rumors are always different from facts. But… it’s not wrong to say that Dumartin is dangerous. May I know why you are going to see him?”

Iron Granny was never someone who would question another person’s business. She asked because she quite liked this peaceful and generous child. If Angor was troubled by something, she wished to at least provide him with some suggestions.

Angor decided to talk since he absolutely couldn’t discuss this matter with Sunders. He felt it easier to mention his anxiety to someone he didn’t know well, and in this case, Iron Granny was a perfect choice.

“It’s about someone I know. He’s called Balba, a half-blood…”

He slowly explained everything revolving around the sad fate of Balba and his particular identity. He did not mention anything about Jon.

Iron Granny listened quietly. She even stopped drinking her tea so that she wouldn’t interrupt Angor’s story.

“I don’t know… I want to visit Balba, but what should I tell him? He’s from another world, and it can’t be helped…”

“He is from another world, so he might be a spy, and letting him live will bring trouble to the wizarding world?” Iron Granny commented.

Angor shook his head. “I don’t believe so. But this is like the basic rule in this world, and I can’t go against it.”

Iron Granny smiled. “There are enemies from thousands of different planes drooling over our wizardry knowledge. We absolutely should be on our guard. However, this excessive means of security that has killed many innocent ones just to find a potential threat is something we copied from the Supreme Cult. And the Supreme Cult… is not always right. Of course, I’m not saying the cult is wrong. People just have different views about this.

“As I heard, there are many ‘spies’ sent by other planes who meant to steal our knowledge. There is even a scandal saying that the official authorities within the Song of the Deep are actually otherworldly invaders.

“With enough time, spies will easily get their hands on what they want. However, the great fame and might of wizards usually relied on truth-finder wizards to propagate. Do you think spies can copy the arts wielded by truth-finders?” Iron Granny smiled at Angor as she said, “You just saw Greya creating a new spell the other day. She was creating her own path of wizardry, which cannot be imitated. Besides, if someone from a foreign plane discovers the path of truth, then they will no longer worry about the boundary between worlds. Things said, no one has ever heard about otherworldly beings becoming truth-finders yet.”

Iron Granny didn’t mention that the demons from the Abyss Plane were about to invade the southern wizarding region soon. To them, the secrets of wizardry were not secrets at all—these demons were more powerful than most wizards right at the beginning.

Iron Granny looked at Angor in the eyes. “You’re worrying about Balba because you are tasked to become his enemy, or in this case, a killer. You don’t want to refuse the task and violate the rules of this world. This is where you’re wrong—you will not oppose this world by refusing. It is only the Supreme Cult who will be unhappy about this. Since most people in this world don’t like the Supreme Cult, what you’re doing is not a serious problem.

“I believe Flora won’t mind something so unimportant. Take this Balba man away to safety if you wish to. It’s just an avatar puppet. As an alchemist, you have enough to create something of equal value and pay Flora as compensation.”

Iron Granny picked up her teacup and started drinking again while giving Angor time to think it over.

Angor felt his mind getting clearer already. He didn’t really care about foreign spies or whatnot, but Iron Granny’s words had fully solved his burden.

It was so right—Flora didn’t care what happened to Balba at all. She even allowed Balba to leave Brute Cavern freely. Just as Iron Granny said, in the worst case, he could “buy” Balba’s freedom by giving Flora something of value, and that was about it.

Also, he just realized that most wizards did not care about the otherworldly invaders that much. So could he tell Sunders about Jon?

He quickly shook his head to deny that idea.

Jon was different. As wizards agreed, there were only humanoid races in foreign planes but not humans. Jon was a great exception as he came from another world that was full of humans. This had to remain a secret.