Warlock Apprentice

Nausica always carried a soft dueling sword used by knights. Angor wanted to make one as well, but he could not find any blueprints for it. Besides, he still did not know many materials. Those he could use were basically for making “hard” weapons.

In the end, he gave up on the idea of making a knight sword. Instead, he was going to make something for close combats.

Angor went through the 3D printer blueprints one by one. Finally, he chose a weapon with a bizarre design, but serious damaging power—

“Smith Wesson Bear Claw Knife”.

It was a slotting knife designed in the shape of a bear’s claw. The handle had three finger holes for more convenient wielding. When cutting people, the knife applied a biting force to its victim and ensured the cut went all the way through.

When forging the knife, Angor used a Rune of Frost instead of Sharpen. The Rune of Frost allowed the weapon to leave a freezing effect on anyone it hit and cause a temporary slowing effect, which was highly effective during battles.

Angor’s first attempt ended up in failure.

The Rune of Frost conflicted with Earth Fiend Bronze. Angor spent a night reading through Material Polymerization and changed his material combination to Starfrost Gold and High Bronze. They would be the main materials for making the blade.

The bear claw knife was pretty small in size. When he used Condense to cool the blade, Angor carefully added some designs to it with his utility knife.

However, he was not really good at art design. He only found existing pictures in his tablet and copied them. In the end, he drew a single butterfly wing on the blade’s handle and clusters of tea flowers on the blade itself.

When Condense spell was finished, Angor’s mana was almost spent.

He tossed the new weapon onto a table and closed his eyes to meditate.

When he recovered a good amount of mana, Angor rubbed his sore arms and walked to the lab table where a piece of silver, metallic artwork was displayed.

The butterfly wing and tea flowers combined into a harmonious picture as if a real butterfly is collecting pollen. The small weapon looked both delicate and beautiful. The flower patterns were not colored, but they allowed the sharp blade to release a cold, sweet atmosphere.

If it was not seen as a deadly weapon, it would make a fine piece in a museum exhibition.

Angor put his fingers through the grabbing holes and held the weapon in his hand. A chill quickly spread from his hand to his entire body.

He tried cutting the touchstone.

A knife cut about three centimeters long immediately appeared on the stone, which also released a current of faint, freezing air.

Angor took out his note and wrote down the information of his creation: [Total length: 292 millimeters, Blade: 108 millimeters, Weight: 312 grams. Causes mild frost without using mana.]

Next, he injected some mana and tried it on the touchstone again.

A deep cut was left on the stone as if it was made of soft cotton. Visible cold air spread out from the cut.

“Definitely supernatural level. The exact extent of power remained to be seen by its user,” Angor noted down, satisfied with his artistic creation.

He was not much of an artist, but he knew about cultures from Earth, which helped him make the weapon into a piece of art. Naturally, he was proud of himself.

Angor felt great joy. Gifting such a beautiful weapon to someone would only improve his ego.

Even if Nausica would give up the weapon one day, he could still hang it inside his house as decoration.

…

In the afternoon, Angor went straight to the Cave Field with the Smith Wesson Bear Claw in his pocket.

He came to Nausica’s door and knocked.

“Come in.” The lady’s voice came from inside.

Angor pushed the door open and was welcomed by a room filled with smoke, which was totally expected. Nausica was sitting in front of a desk and writing something. A lit pipe was placed nearby as it released more smoke into the room.

Angor could not help coughing helplessly after inhaling some smoke.

Someone suddenly laughed. Angor looked up and saw someone else besides Nausica in the room. A big male had been leaning against the wall on one side. Angor failed to notice him because of all the smoke obstructing his view.

The man had short, gray shock hair and was wearing a short sweater combined with buckskin pants. A giant sword was placed against the wall near him.

Before Angor could reply to the laughter, Nausica glanced at the man and spoke first, “Ebony? Shut your trap, if you will.”

“Okay, okay! I will,” said Ebony. He raised his hands in the air and surrendered. “Satisfied?”

It was Ebony, Nausica’s previous subordinate.

Then, Nausica turned around and looked at Angor. “It’s you. What brought you to my place?”

Angor glanced at Ebony. Apart from orally offending him on the cloud whale at one point, the man never showed his presence much. Thus, Angor never paid much attention to him. Besides, Ebony appeared to be always looking down at him, so Angor preferred not to mind this man too much.

“Nothing in particular. Just checking you out,” said Angor as he sat on a chair in front of the desk. “I didn’t see the desk and chairs the last time I came. Now your room looks more… alive.”

“You mean I was dead before?” Nausica put down her pen, crossed her arms, and joined Angor.

“Uh, I mean, the room is now more suitable to live in,” Angor explained.

Nausica only smiled. She knew what Angor wanted to say, but she just loved teasing this young boy. Pity, Angor tended to take everything too seriously.

After some other random topics, Nausica realized Angor did not talk about what he really came for, and squinted her eyes.

“Getting a bit hungry. It’s pretty rare for Angor to come, so maybe we should get Sailum and have dinner together?” Before Angor could reply, Nausica spoke quickly, “Hey Ebony, go to the cave restaurant and order three servings to be delivered, alright?”

Ebony instantly understood that Nausica was simply asking for some privacy. The man curled his lips, picked up his greatsword, and left the room. But he quickly stopped in his tracks. Three deliveries? So Nausica wanted to eat with Angor and Sailum, which meant… he was left out?

When Ebony walked away, Nausica picked up her pipe. She breathed out some smoke rings and asked, “Come on, what’s on your mind? There’s no way you came here to chat. I don’t believe it.”

Angor chuckled. Instead of talking about his gift, he tried to ask for some other information. “What’s Ebony doing here? I would never notice him sitting in a corner if he didn’t make a sound.”

Nausica shrugged. “Sailum, I, and Ebony have been accepting quests from the questing hall. Life is so hard without enough merit points. We went to ask you to join us last time, remember?”

Now that she mentioned, Angor recalled that when he was busy studying alchemy last month, Nausica did come with Sailum. They were saying something about earning merit points but he refused.

“Well… I’m kinda short on points too,” said Angor as he sighed. After buying his alchemy tools from Dave, he only had 50 points left.

“Will you join us on a quest together?”

Angor shook his head. “Not now. I can still manage. When I go challenge Sky Tower several days later, I’ll start earning points.”

“You’re going to the tower now?”

“Yeah, preparation’s almost done. Which level are you on now?”

Nausica released some smoke. “I haven’t been there for two weeks, so I’m still at the third level. I want to get some merit points and buy magic scrolls before going further.”

Nausica picked up some papers on her desk. “I’m studying Runecraft too. But I always forget what I just read. You said last time that you’re going to use alchemy weapons in the tower. So did you make them?” Nausica wondered. “I heard someone saying that alchemy is extremely hard to learn. There’s only one elementary alchemist in the entire Brute Cavern.”

Angor shook head. “No. I don’t have my weapon yet.”

Nausica tried to comfort Angor.

“But I made one for you,” said Angor. He smiled and took out an object wrapped in white cloth from his pocket. “An alchemy weapon just for you. Thank you for keeping me safe on the leaf back then. Otherwise, I’d have kicked the bucket for sure.”

Nausica revealed a doubtful look. “You actually learned alchemy? You aren’t pulling my leg right?”

Angor nodded. “I’m an elementary apprentice alchemist for now. The weakest sort.”

“… Were they lying to me? Is alchemy actually easy?” Nausica mumbled.

Angor handed the wrapped object to Nausica. Nausica glimpsed at it. “I don’t want payment for helping you. I have my own weapon anyway. It’s not supernatural, but it feels good on me.”

“But I want to thank you. It’s just a cheap, low-level alchemy item. Just consider it a gift from a friend,” said Angor. He winked at her. “It a new invention created by a future master alchemist. Take it, okay? Who knows, maybe it will value a lot more in several decades when I became more famous.”

Nausica put down her pipe and picked up the wrapped item. “Alright. Let’s see what kind of treasure is made by the hands of Angor the Great Alchemist.”

She slowly unwrapped the object.

Her hands stopped midway when she saw the silver bear claw blade.

The small arm had a shape she never saw before. She was unsure of how sharp it was, but she already took a liking to the beautiful design.

As a former pirate who dominated the sea, she had seen a lot of works of art, and she was confident that the short blade in her hand could be considered a well-made piece. The carvings on it were not a masterpiece, but the design combining weapon and art already felt like the innovation of a promising artist.

“Niiiice. Butterfly on flower blossoms, and a shining silver edge. It doesn’t look powerful, but I’ll keep it in my collection,” Nausica exclaimed. “My oh my, Angor, I never know you’re so good at engraving. Maybe you really will become a master when you hit 30, or even earlier.”

Angor blushed a little at Nausica’s compliment. He only copied the work of a master sculptor from Earth.

“The shape is so strange. What is it called?” Nausica held up the bear claw knife and asked a question.

When she tried to feel the blade with her hand, a painful chill suddenly came from her finger. Nausica’s expression shifted drastically when she realized something. She quickly stroked the edge of the blade.

A single drop of blood fell from her fingertip, which soon turned into ice.

Her finger only connected with the blade gently without applying much force, and it was already sliced open. At the same time, a freezing sense invaded her body.

“This is a supernatural weapon?!” Nausica was astonished.