Warlock Apprentice

Devildare was a bulky old man with stand-out hair. He wore a black robe and was sitting at the main table in the middle of the great hall.

“So you’re Angor Padt. I see your professor never overstated you,” Devildare said as he smiled at Angor with a mixed emotion shown in his eyes.

Angor clearly remembered how this man demanded him to accept punishment and solve the crisis inside Twilight’s auction house. It was obvious that Devildare wasn’t speaking his true mind.

But this didn’t mean Angor wouldn’t return his own good manner, albeit insincere.

Devildare was a wizard on the path toward ultimate truth, and Angor had to contain his discontent and face the man with politeness. Under the great pressure exerted between Devildare’s words, Angor couldn’t find the slightest courage to retort.

“Mister Phantom already told me about the reason behind the parasite outbreak. Yes, you have nothing to do with it.”

However, the grim glimmer in his eyes gave the man’s true intention away.

“I also know that their bodies will be strengthened. It’s... a betterment for all people.”

Angor kept up his similar fake smile while he listened to Devildare’s fake words.

Sunders sat nearby. He was grinning while he enjoyed the awkward show.

When Devildare couldn’t bear to “act” further, he turned to Sunders and said, “Mister Phantom, since Angor is here, shall we get to solve the problem?”

“Already?”

“Our auction has been postponed for two weeks now. There are many items about to rot away. And... I don’t know whether our customers are willing to come to Twilight Well again after the incident. I must join the other two clans to find a solution so that we don’t close up shop like the marketplace on Parmigi Highlands.”

Sunders nodded. “I see. Better do it earlier then... You know, I and Angor must do separate jobs simultaneously. I won’t have any problem on my end, but considering Angor’s strength...” Sunders looked hesitant as he continued, “I can’t send any wizards to protect him since anyone else will get possessed by the parasites, so...”

Devildare already realized what Sunders meant, and he sighed. “Don’t worry, Mister Phantom. I’ll go find some gear to protect Angor.”

Devildare shook his head and headed to his storage. Behind his back, Angor grinned brightly.

“Thanks, professor.”

Of course he knew Sunders spoke like that to earn him something in return. They already knew he would have no problem walking straight into the monster nest without getting into any trouble.

“Well, you’re saving lives after all. Since you don’t want to get recognized, at least take a souvenir,” Sunders joked.

Save lives?

Angor didn’t really consider his action to be so noble. He felt ashamed each time he thought about how the incident was caused by his own recklessness.

“While waiting for Devildare to get his things, I’ll tell you about our plan,” Sunders said as he beckoned Angor to go into a compartment nearby. “The parasites aren’t a big problem. To tackle the root of all, we must remove the mist...”

After shutting off the tunnels, they simply needed to clean up the rest. Angor’s job was to close the tunnels together with Sunders.

There were two dragonfly nests in Twilight Well, which meant two spots that generated mist. Apart from Lady’s Juice, the second one lied in the inner auction hall, along with Froggy, Fox, and the Joker poker card.

“I’ll deal with the one inside the auction hall, while you go to Lady’s Juice. We must shut them at the exact same time, or an energy backlash will reopen whichever is closed too early.”

The point was “exact same time”. Angor and Sunders were the only two who could do the job now.

“The tunnels are connected to the Nightmare Realm. But only the outer regions, since the nightmare aura is very weak. Without a Nightmare Domain as the ‘filter’, the other nightmare monsters cannot come out. They can only send their energy to our world.

“As for how to close the tunnel...” Sunders stopped talking and used mind synchronization to convey the message to Angor. This was his family secret, and he would stay extremely careful even if no one else were around.

Angor and Sunders were the only ones up for the job because closing the tunnels required them to use their Nightmare Domains. Flora possessed a Nightmare Domain as well, but she couldn’t control it.

As he explained, Sunders handed several stones of different sizes to Angor. The biggest among them was like a kid’s fist, while the smallest was just the size of a grain of sand.

Angor looked at the stones and sensed a familiar aura from them.

“Nightmare Stones,” Sunders explained. “When you attune your Nightmare Domain with the tunnel, throw the stones into the tunnel and it’s done. They will fix up the broken space by themselves.”

Nightmare Stone?

Something flashed through Angor’s mind. A statue of a praying maiden.

When he was traveling from the Old Earth to Fey Continent, he first boarded a ship called The Redbud. The ship had a figurehead which was a statue of a praying woman, and there was a Nightmare Stone placed on the woman’s forehead.

He recalled someone created an illusion using the stone.

So they can repair space ruptures too?

“We usually find these from the Nightmare Realm. It can seal the opening between the Nightmare Domain and the Nightmare Realm, as long as the opening isn’t too large yet. The one in Lady’s Juice is still small enough, and you won’t need many stones. Seal the tunnel and keep the rest. Many nightmare illusions require these to unleash their full strength. If you come across more Nightmare Stones later, try to buy some. They’re pretty expensive, but you should be able to afford them if you work hard.”

Sunders felt a bit jealous of Angor’s alchemy talent as well. When the gentleman ventured into Nightmare Domain, he started from zero and took ages to find out the property of Nightmare Stones. Even a sand-sized one cost several hundred magic crystals, and he always spent them carefully.

Angor, however, didn’t have to go through all that. With the boy’s alchemy skills, there wouldn’t be many wizards in Brute Cavern who could compete with him in the future.

Money always made things easier.

“Understood, sir. I’ll buy them whenever I see them,” Angor said as he nodded without a second thought, like a typical rich dude.

Sunders chuckled helplessly. And this kid was just stealing crystals off decorated walls...

“Oh, professor? Is the auction house dangerous? I can go there too because Froggy and Fox are pretty friendly to me,” Angor said.

Sunders’ expression remained plain. “You’re questioning my skills?”

“No. Just, I think it’s easier for ‘Shava’ to do the job. I also want to know why Froggy and Fox remain there.”

Sunders stared at Angor for a while and sighed. Then he ruffled Angor’s hair. “You don’t know who Shava is, right? Don’t get too obsessed about a strange name yet. If one day, you actually believe that you’re Shava, then Shava will come out for real. For now, he or she is only something we imagined. We don’t know if it’s something that can replace your existence.

“So, do not indulge yourself in Shava’s dream before you learn who that is. And try not to approach monsters who regard you as Shava. It might be a blessing, or it might be Shava’s corrupted plan. We never know.

“I’ll handle the auction house. Besides, the situation there is more complicated than you think.”

The gentleman didn’t tell Angor that there were a lot of wizard corpses at the auction house already.

...

A moment later, Devildare came back while holding a magic scroll and a brand-new black and white checkered overcoat.

“The scroll contains a magic array called ‘Aster Barrier’, which can hold off wizard attacks. It disappears when it runs out of energy,” Devildare said as he handed the scroll to Angor.

When he was taking the scroll, Angor noticed that Devildare’s hand was covered in scales. It was transplanted.

“The coat has a built-in Magic Barrier spell,” Devildare said with a frown as he gave Angor the overcoat.

“It’s only a level-1 cantrip, but I think you know its value as an alchemist, so I’ll not explain further. Just...” he sighed and said. “I hope you don’t fail our expectations.”

Level-1 cantrip Magic Barrier was a common defensive spell used by apprentice alchemists to avoid accidental explosions when they were doing alchemy.

The cantrip’s defense property was as powerful as some of the level-2 cantrips. It had a lower level due to its extremely long cast time and short effect duration. Many alchemists would rather choose a bloodline to use than studying this useless cantrip.

However, being built-in would maximize its potential, either for alchemy protection or combat.

Angor also noticed a low-level segregation effect on the overcoat, which prevented detections. But it only worked against people of a similar level as the wearer.

The coat looked really nice, except that... its color was too showy.

Usually, black and white worked well together. And a checkered coat would be totally fine.

But this one came in a size was too big for Angor’s body. It almost covered his knees. And when he buttoned the coat up, only his left side showed checkered design, while his right side was completely black. It definitely would bother people who suffered from OCD, who felt itchy whenever they saw something that wasn’t in perfect order.

The buttons were a problem too.

Each round button had a black base color with two white dots and a white curve, creating a really weird-looking smiling face.

Smiles on buttons?

The strange designs had completely ruined a fine coat!

Angor recalled the day when he came to Apprentice Town 8 for the first time. He also saw the other apprentices wearing all kinds of bizarre clothes. Heck, a man called Hobson walked into Sky Tower while dressed as a white bear!

Angor was wondering what had gotten into the tailors who lived in the southern wizarding region. Did they really believe that wizards all needed unique looks?