Warlock Apprentice

The system could only do its job following common knowledge.

For the last step, where the combination had to be combined with magic formula to be turned into a cantrip model, Angor had to do it himself since this was not “science” anymore.

Angor left the tablet to calculate the remaining combinations while he tried to create cantrip models using the combinations he already received.

The first model: a shattered magatama in the middle of a circle.

After trying it out using his own mana, Angor noted down: [No significant effect. The air around seemed to be drier than before. Maybe it removed dampness? Need to prove using test papers.]

The second model: pieces of shattered magatama scattered around while connected by thin strings.

The result this time surprised Angor a little. He created a small pool of water out of thin air. Compared to his previous attempts, this one seemed more “supernatural” to him. If he did it in front of mortals… they would probably regard it as an amazing magic trick.

Note: [The spell drew water from the air and creates some water without following a certain pattern. Amount of water equals about one measuring glass. Temporary name… Create Water. A further test needs to be done to prove whether the amount of water can be increased.]

The third cantrip model: a magatama pierced a surface diagonally.

Note of effect: [Breeze in a small area, along with extremely tiny water drops.]

The fourth…

…

Angor tested through the models one by one. None yielded a useful result. They either created too much water, too much wind or sometimes had no visible effect at all.

Still, Angor found something in his tests. For example, if a model was created with a “shattered magatama”, water element would appear more. If it was a “fine magatama and a surface”, wind element would stand out.

He recorded his findings in a notebook for future reference.

Now, Angor thought about whoever created the perfect cantrip model for Cleanse spell and developed respect to the inventor. He wondered how much time it took.

After casting about 15 variations of Cleanse spell, Angor sensed that the amount of mana released from his mana pool and the primal mana he drew from outside began to differ.

“So at full condition, my mana can only support 15 level-0 cantrips,” Angor mumbled to himself. It was not much. But according to a book he read before, a new level-1 apprentice could usually cast 1.5 cantrips before exhausting his or her mana, after which the apprentice would need to meditate to recover. This meant Angor could already cast ten times more spells than average people.

Angor already tested how much mana he could hold. He did not do much better than others. The reason why he could cast more spells was probably due to his purer mana. Purer mana allowed Angor to use a spell to interfere with the physical world by spending less mana.

Since his mana was now spent, Angor quickly began meditation to regain it.

During his meditation, the tablet kept working out different combinations for water and wind elements to be used by a Cleanse spell.

After three hours, Angor recovered about half of his mana. Now the system already gained more than a hundred combinations. Also, the tablet was now getting results slower because further results involved more and more variants. By now, it would take 13 minutes to receive a new combination, which was way slower compared to how Angor received each one within 30 seconds when the calculation just began.

Angor had only been testing out the simple models. After regaining half of his mana, he decided to try out a complicated cantrip model which took the system 10 minutes to figure out.

Applying magic formula and turning the combination into a model took Angor more than an hour this time.

Looking at the new model he just made, which appeared much more complicated than the original Cleanse model, Angor wondered what would happen.

Note on new cantrip model: [Only half of the magatama is shattered while the surface is turned into a folded nonagon which divided the magatama into thirteen parts.]

Angor eagerly channeled mana from his mana pool and carefully guided the mana into the shape of the model…

To his surprise, he used up all mana when only half of the magatama was drawn.

He was stumped. The model looked about the same size as the previous ones. Why did this one cost so much mana?

Without receiving support from Angor, the half-finished cantrip model in his mind space slowly crumbled away. This was not all; the force brought by the breaking model began to tackle the entire mind space.

Angor only felt his mind go blurry for a second. Next, great pain came inside his brain as if it was going to explode. His ears rang. Fluid came out of his eyes, mouth, nostrils, and ears.

Then his vision darkened. He could no longer sense the world around him.

Angor did not know if he was awake at all. His mind could not work, but it did not prevent the great pain from tingling his brain. The pain persisted, causing him to groan unconsciously.

Finally, he woke up from the agony in an obscured mindstate.

His head was still as painful as hell. Angor slowly rubbed his temples and realized some blood-colored scraps were caught on his fingers. He wiped his face and removed some scabs off himself.

Looking at the bloody remains on the floor, he finally remembered what happened before he lost consciousness.

Angor quickly remembered something similar from a book he read before.

Magic backfire…

According to the book, there were three situations which could cause magic to backfire. One, a wizard who attempted to cast a spell beyond his level. Two, using an incorrectly-built model. And three, an unfinished model breaking apart due to lack of mana.

Angor obviously just did the third mistake.

Magic backfiring was a common thing to happen among wizards. Most of the times, it was caused by the second reason. Wizards were humans too, and human brains often made mistakes.

However, the third reason was something rare, even for apprentices. As long as a wizard went through routinized training, the wizard would sooner or later know his or her limit and could avoid doing something beyond that limit.

Angor, on the other hand, as a new apprentice wizard, skipped many challenges using the computing capacity of his tablet without learning his own limit, thus making such a tragic result.

Wizards who went through magic backfiring usually met with a bad ending. Few of them only received slight injuries. There were also severely wounded ones or even dead ones. This was why wizards usually did not construct models at their free wills. Most people followed the steps of ancestors to remain safe.

Angor was in no good condition now. His entire mind space was messy. Each time he tried to meditate, his brain would immediately throb.

Thank goodness he only tried to build a low-leveled cantrip model instead of a real spell, so the backfire was not very serious. He only needed to rest for a week or two to recover.

Two weeks without being able to meditate… The incident temporarily ended Angor’s reckless experiments.

He saw the tablet still working out new combinations for Cleanse spell and decided to leave it be. Angor dragged his fatigued body out of the soundproofed room, boiled some water, and took a bath to clean himself of all the bloody remains on him.

While enjoying the warm bathwater, Angor still sulked in frustration.

With the hologram tablet in hand, he disregarded common sense and did something foolish due to his blind confidence.

He did not know what would happen if that was not a level-0 cantrip model. Angor silently warned himself that such a lesson could not be repeated. Once was already enough.

…

Even though he was unable to meditate, Angor did not intend to idle his time away. He decided to arrange all the data he saved in the tablet.

The books he recorded in Sunders’ book room were mostly pictures. Classifying them did not take him much time.

The information and scrolls he saved from the Nightmare Realm were videos. For them, Angor had to take screenshots slowly and rearrange them into appropriate folders. This would take a lot of time and effort.

While he did his work, the system completed calculating out 630 different water and wind element combinations of Cleanse spell. Inside a “cantrip” sub-folder, Angor created another folder called “level-0 cantrip: Cleanse” and placed all the combinations in there, planning to test them out after getting over his magic backfiring.

Today was the third day into the Month of Blossom.

Angor put down his tablet. Sunders’ Sorcerer’s Garden would soon be finished. There was only one day away from the one-week time limit Butler Goode told him.

Angor decided to go to Phantom Island and wait. He did not know what a “destiny” was yet. But judging from how all the apprentices looked really greedy around the island, it had to be something good.

Angor washed up and tried to look better. However, tidy clothes and combed hair did not help him hide his pale face and unfocused eyes after experiencing the backfiring. He looked really ill as if a small gust of wind could easily knock him over.

“Dear god…” Angor sighed deeply when looking into the mirror. He removed his beautiful but useless coat and put on the “uniform” he received in the resource distribution hall—a black “bed sheet” robe.

With the hood to cover his morbid-looking face, Angor finally stepped out of his door.

He did not forget to take Toby with him.

“You were with me the last time, so you must have heard,” Angor spoke to the bird on his shoulder. “Sorcerer’s Garden will bring destiny when it’s finished. Let’s both try to find it. Maybe you’ll turn into a great phoenix.”

Toby did not know what a “phoenix” was, but it still understood what Angor meant and nodded in excitement.

Looking at how Toby hopped happily, Angor felt his mood growing a lot better as well. He tapped at the bird’s little head with a smile. “It’s fine if we don’t find anything. Next time when we go to Cloud Library, I’ll try to find a book on how to help a monster grow stronger.”