Warlock Apprentice

Angor stood up and felt different. His limbs were full of strength, and all the joints between his bones were smooth. Also, his mind was clearer than ever. He could see better in the darkness. Even when he did not use his flashlight, he could see faint shapes of objects around him.

These changes all happened after he woke up.

He was surprised too. Maybe the great pain that did not kill him made him stronger instead? When thinking about this, he shivered again. Seriously, he would rather not be “stronger” if he could have avoided that kind of torment.

However, he did not realize that his body was not the only thing that grew stronger. Angor was not a wizard yet, so he could not possibly know what he just gained from the incident.

Before leaving, Angor looked towards the giant wall again. He was still curious about the wall that brought him terrible agony, but he did not dare to approach it again.

He was standing about a hundred meters away from the wall. He clearly saw something shining on it, but he could not tell what. Every time he tried to focus his gaze on the wall, he would feel dizzy again.

Angor asked the mouth flower, which had been floating in the air, “Do you know what’s that wall?”

“Danger. Do not go.” A terrifying emotion.

Even the “locals” think that the wall is dangerous?

Angor was even more curious now. Still, he knew better than to risk his life again.

Angor glanced at the wall one last time. Maybe he would know something about it after becoming a wizard?

And how much time had passed? Angor prepared to move towards where he came from. He was worried that he and Sunders might miss each other.

He looked at the hologram tablet on his wrist. Wait, the tablet could show him time! How did he forget this?

Angor quickly triggered the tablet and checked the time display on the bottom-left of the hologram.

August 21st, 16:33… It was the Earth calendar, but this would not prevent him from determining the current time.

He remembered they came to the Nightmare Realm on the third day of the Month of Harvest. That should be August 18th according to the Earth calendar. Did he faint for three days?

Angor’s heart raced. He wasted three days doing nothing. He had to find the nearest coordinate, now!

Before turning off the tablet, Angor looked at the recording function on the desktop and got a new idea.

He saw a “zoom-in” button in the record function before. He could not go to the strange wall, but he could use a zoomed camera to check it out from afar!

As someone who never hesitated to try out new ideas, Angor started the camera right away and began recording.

He returned to the “safe spot” and pointed his camera while zoomed in, then he looked at the image on the tablet.

Thanks to the amazing science, something a hundred meters away was clearly displayed as if observed up close.

The wall looked ordinary at first. However, when carefully inspected, Angor could see inconspicuous pits on it, which had streams of light flowing in them.

The entire wall was covered in such pits. It seemed they formed into a giant and functional pattern on the wall.

“Is that a spell array?” Angor wondered.

He tried to memorize the pattern in his mind. However, he had barely begun to draw the pattern in his head when an unknown horror suddenly surrounded him, followed by sharp pain.

Angor quickly stopped his train of thought. The pain slowly faded.

“So it is a spell array after all. But didn’t it need to be complete to have an effect? I only sketched a fragment, and it probably wasn’t even the starting point and it already affected me?” Angor was frightened by the horrific sense earlier. That was probably a really special spell.

He could not possibly think about the spell pattern again, fearing that the great pain would come once more.

The tablet did its job pretty fast. Angor checked his recordings hastily without going into any details to avoid strange things. He made sure the camera caught the entire pattern and turned to leave.

The wall was horrible. Better to stay away for now.

Angor did not shut down the camera on his way back. The tablet had plenty of charges left, so he hoped he could record his journey.

He flew fast. He already knew there were only harmless mouth flowers along the way, so he moved at full speed.

“Aren’t you going back?” When he was about halfway to his starting point, he asked the mouth flower which followed him closely.

The flower shifted its petals and revealed an emotion mixed with joy and admiration.

“Majesty, I like…”

Angor still could not understand it, but he did not really mind. Frankly speaking, having someone, or, something, to talk to in this dark place, provided him a bit of comfort. Even if this “something” could only speak nonsense.

“Is this the underground maze?” Angor asked.

“This, underground.” A plain emotion.

That confirmed his idea that he was inside the sewer maze. He still felt terrible for appearing directly in here, but at least he knew where he was now.

“Do you know how to go to the center of the maze?”

“Center, is mouth.” The flower opened up its mouth wide and revealed a prideful emotion.

Not YOUR center!

Angor complained in his mind.

He changed his question and asked, “How to leave the underground?”

Angor believed he must use simple words instead of complicated adjuncts.

“Dig.” The emotion was simple this time. The flower even moved its roots to make it clearer.

“…” Angor was speechless. He forgot the flower could simply move inside the ground!

Angor kept asking questions, and only received a few satisfying answers. However, he still reckoned a lot of information.

For example, the mouth flower flying in front of him was the boss of all the flowers he saw along the way.

Also, the mouth flowers were here to protect that wall.

…

About half an hour later, the darkness was replaced by light. Angor found himself back at the place where the two head monsters were.

They were not here though.

Angor realized that the light came from some objects that looked like electrical fluorescent tubes above him. The place was bright as day.

With light in the environment, Angor turned off the flashlight.

“Are you going back?” Angor asked the mouth flower again. They already left the flower field.

The mouth flower gave him an ordinary answer this time, which was rare, “I want to follow the majesty…”

Angor felt somewhat happy about it. The flower did not look strong, but it should be stronger than him anyway. If he teamed up with it, he might survive longer.

The flower quickly spoke something else and interrupted his thought.

“But I need to protect the wall.”

Angor curled his lips. They barely knew each other, and the mouth flower already learned how to withhold information?

So the flower was saying that it must go back to the wall instead of following him. Angor did not say anything further. The mouth flower saved his life. There were many monsters in the underground maze. The flower might be more powerful than him, but they probably would not stand a chance against something like the head monsters.

Maybe his lifesaver would be better without him.

With that in mind, Angor waved goodbye to the flower and flew away on himself.

The mouth flower stayed to watch Angor leave. When Angor finally disappeared from its view, it slowly returned to its territory with a sad emotion. It released a green aura. Countless thick vines dug their ways out of the dirt and completely sealed off the tunnel in the proximity.

The thick vines easily shattered some of the stone walls blocking them. If Angor was here, he would never think that the flowers were weak. Even Sunders was not powerful enough to pierce the walls!

After the mouth flower left, a head monster, which “could completely defeat the mouth flower” according to Angor, slipped out of a small cave and let out a sigh. It looked at the sealed tunnel and showed great fear on its face.