Warlock Apprentice

Both Angor and the fairy were terrified to see Toby’s action.

But you two can’t have kids! Angor screamed in his mind.

The Moonlily Fairy was physically gender-null. No matter how the fairy produced offspring, it wasn’t possible for Toby to get through.

But despite what Angor expected to happen, Toby soon tossed the fairy away and looked at the adorable bubble skirt dropped on the ground.

“Tweet. Arrr!” —Go find something else. The skirt doesn’t fit you!

Angor knew that Toby actually liked that skirt because the bird had been glancing that way a lot. Though he just couldn’t understand why Toby would treat the fairy like that. Toby might be a bit unruly sometimes, but he simply wouldn’t humiliate his friends so badly.

Angor kept observing Toby’s dream and saw more of Toby’s unusual behaviors. For example, Toby found Leon, who was practicing swords at the beach, and offered to help Leon with training, but then beat Leon black and blue.

Next, Toby went to the tea garden and destroyed the small settlement of the Krakoks, saying that he wouldn’t allow them to build stuff without his permission.

The violence of Toby did not result in anyone dead yet, but it was still too much. It was as if Toby changed completely.

Angor frowned when he realized where Toby was heading next—the ice room where Jon was kept.

Just like in reality, Jon was quietly resting in the ice coffin.

Angor thought Toby would do something bad to Jon, which did not happen. Toby only left some childish dirty language against Jon’s face and left.

That got Angor really confused. Toby and Jon barely knew each other. What reason did Toby have to hate Jon as well?

When Toby did some more bad business and seemed to be enjoying his actions, Angor’s voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Hey, Toby.”

As if to reflect Toby’s brightened mood, the environment around the villa grew more colorful than before.

As Toby turned back upon hearing the voice, Angor also saw himself. Or rather, he saw his “other self” existing in Toby’s dream.

The “Dream Angor” was currently looking at Toby from the second floor of the villa building with a smile. As soon as he appeared, Toby quickly went that way.

Angor was worried that Toby would do terrible things to “Angor”, which once again did not occur. Toby was now happily showing his affection to “Angor” like usual.

“Angor” and Toby spent some time talking to each other, where most of their conversation was about Toby’s complaints. It seemed Toby was unhappy with basically everyone in the villa. He accused how Mana, Auri, and Leon had been treating him unfairly as if he were the victim of the bullying.

However, Toby never mentioned Jon’s name, probably because Jon was unable of “harassment” when sleeping in the ice coffin, so it wasn’t a good idea to speak lies.

Without waiting for Toby to finish, “Angor” entered his bedroom to mind his research.

Toby looked down in sadness.

A while later, Toby found a chance when “Angor” was absent and smashed up the alchemy tools. When “Angor” came back to the scene, Toby claimed that it was Auri who did the damage.

“Angor” believed everything and went to condemn Auri, and Toby listened to their words while hopping in delight.

Angor just realized what might be going on in the ridiculous dream. Toby was probably venting out the frustration he gained in daily life. Toby’s unhappiness was real, just that, it was amplified several times in the dream.

Everything could be explained now. He did neglect Toby pretty often when doing his studies. And it was reasonable if Toby believed that the others in Padt Manor were occupying him too much.

As for the Moonlily Fairy, it was likely that Toby felt envious when the beautiful skirt looked too good on it.

Angor silently woke up from the seemingly lovely yet creepy dream.

“Welcome back.” Sunders saw him returning.

Angor nodded and looked around their position, only to see that the team was still wandering at the edge of the Lightless Mountain. He knew he spent quite some time in that dream. So why wasn’t the group moving?

He was then attracted by the noise of quarreling coming from the Frozen Wing. He looked that way and saw several apprentices anxiously talking to the union guards.

Also, he recognized the fat man called Dusky and his little partner with a rattail hairstyle.

“What’s happening?”

Sunders glanced at him. “A battle came about while you were sleeping. Several men died in two hours. I think they’re figuring out whether they should try to rescue a missing apprentice.”

“So that’s why we’re still here…”

Kanter seemed rather irritated about the recent trouble and kept mumbling what just happened to them.

Apparently, they were attacked by several Flame Gargoyles plus a powerful demon who could produce more gargoyles out of thin air. Kanter felt pissed off because he was responsible for killing the demon AND several other remaining monsters targeting Gondola. He even got wounded while at it.

Angor felt sorry because he was obviously a burden in the fight.

“No, the fight will break out regardless of whether you’re here with us,” said Sunders. “So, what did you find in Toby’s dream?”

“I’m not sure yet. But I may have an idea.”

The chaotic dream was fine if it were a human dream. As creatures with complex emotions and mindsets, anything could happen in their dreams, and these dreams did not necessarily signify the mental conditions of the dreamers.

For example, Angor tended to have slight grudges against Jon even if he respected Jon greatly most of the time. Occasionally, he would have a dream where he did bad things to Jon, which was fine, because he would forget about it overnight.

But Toby was different. Angor had checked Toby’s dreams more than once. Every time, he would see simple events like how Toby was swimming in a pool full of delicious snacks, then asking for head-rubs from the Angor in the dream. Unlike humans, Toby was just too simple. If Toby liked something, he would show it in his dream, and vice versa.

If Toby ever created a complex dream in which he had to use careful plots, plans, and lies to hurt other people, then there must be something wrong.

Sunders pondered over Angor’s opinion. “I’m afraid the mind-manipulation power of the snake somehow enlarged Toby’s dark thoughts that weren’t real problems before. Now, however, Toby is experiencing bad results by dreaming about them.”

This might not be a problem for ordinary humans because they could use such a chance to discover their true thoughts. However, this could seriously damage Toby if the “dangerous emotions” hidden in his body were triggered.

“The dream is relatively peaceful, so what we’re worried about hasn’t happened yet. Though we can say that it won’t be far. There are four remaining mental challenges, am I right? Love, hatred, grief, and sadness. The strong obsession and envy you mentioned could be the result of ‘grief’.”

Angor looked down. Bad news kept coming, and he would soon be unable to take them.

“Don’t stress yourself out. I believe we still have time.” Sunders put a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah…”

Angor suddenly remembered several details in the dream he still could not explain, such as why the villa was built on an isolated island and why the place was full of bubbles. These weren’t problems because it might be what Toby thought of Padt Manor, that it was a lovely and safe place in which he could find peace.

Though there was one other thing that had been bugging Angor.

“Professor, I saw the anemone crab in Toby’s dream. It showed up on Toby’s plate as food. What does that mean?”