Warlock Apprentice

“I see it now. My title is just a burden that slows me down,” Prome said. “We shall regard each other equally from today and on. Just call me Prome.”

“Um, I don’t think that’s okay. I do respect you, Master.”

“Your talent is already beyond me. Looking at your current level of knowledge, it won’t take long for you to surpass me once you begin to study synthesis. And it will mean dishonor to me if you call me a master.”

Angor frowned at Prome’s serious words.

“As an elementary apprentice alchemist, I should at least pay respect to my seniors.”

“Once you’ve completed ‘Prelude to Elimination’, you’ll become an intermediate apprentice. By that time, you’ll possess both better skills and potential than me. It’s a joke if you consider me a master by then.” Prome concluded the matter and resumed talking about the blueprint, “I’ve read all your designs, and I think the most convenient one is the gun.”

Prome checked the golden revolver Angor showed him and could not help feeling inspired again. The particular creation was something that he would never come up with in his life.

“Can you engrave Prelude to Elimination on a gun?” Prome asked.

Angor considered it. It was pretty hard a task. Prelude to Elimination involved very complicated runes, which meant he had to be extremely cautious and patient to put it on such a small space available on a gun.

“It’s difficult. I need to try it first,” Angor answered.

Prome nodded. “There’s no need to be hasty. Take your time. We can use a different approach if it doesn’t work out.”

With the design of the item decided, Angor continued chatting with Prome about random things, during which he learned the common price for an alchemy weapon enchanted with Prelude to Elimination.

An alchemy item with a complete magic array on it usually sold above 6,000 magic crystals. The price might vary due to the quality of the materials, how perfect the product came out, and how well the function of the magic array was accepted. Anyhow, 6,000 was the lowest possible price. The price might go double or triple for a private, customized order.

Angor learned everything he needed to learn and prepared to say goodbye.

Before he left, Prome handed him a finely-crafted wooden box.

“What’s this, Mister Prome?”

“Call me ‘Prome’.”

Angor considered and nodded. “You’re elder and more experienced than me. I should at least call you Mister Prome.”

“Wizards do not mind ages. It’s your strength and potential,” said Prome. However, he still accepted Angor’s decision. “The box contains something… trivial, which may help you with your engraving work.”

…

Angor returned home and opened the box. It was a rimless monocle inside.

Precisely speaking, it was a rimless convex lens with a piece of silver hanging silk with golden patterns on it as decoration.

He did not sense mana on the item, which meant it was an ordinary handicraft. He put it on and noticed that the lens did what it should basically do—magnifying.

Still, it was pretty useful. Especially when he was going to engrave complex runes on the confined space on a gun.

There was a hinge connecting the lens and its frame, which allowed the lens to flip and rotate. Angor could simply move the lens aside during his work instead of taking off the monocle.

He hanged the item on his left ear and flipped the lens up, so it was placed above his forehead.

Next, he proceeded to perfect the design of the gun. The active effect of Prelude to Elimination could be triggered again and again as long as there was sufficient energy, so he did not need any external storage for bullets. The trigger could be used to unleash the effect. With each pull, a fixed amount of mana enough to activate Prelude to Elimination for once would be sent into the magic array, preventing energy waste.

However, he needed to think about something to determine this “fixed amount”.

A while later, Angor listed a number of problems which required his attention. As for the final shape of the gun… he never intended to create one on his own. He would simply pick something from his hologram tablet.

It took him half a day to fill his drafting paper with theories, materials choices, crafting steps, and all possible outcomes. Now he only needed to get to it.

He opened his tablet and found a folder of templates for “guns”. Something from an anime who described a young demon hunter caught his attention.

The young man wielded a silver revolver engraved with rose, skeleton and a cross.

Compared to his other attempts, he did his crafting with extra caution since every second wasted was money burnt.

The process went smoother than he expected. With the help of his Energy Stabilizer, the Prelude to Elimination which consisted of six complex runes was successfully made.

Starting from his first move, it took him a total of 26 hours before he landed the final touch, and 570 magic crystals burned in the stabilizer. Before this, he estimated a cost of around 700 magic crystals. The reason for using fewer was probably because of his strengthened mana pool these days. He did not feel sad about spending the magic crystals since Prome was the one who provided them.

Once he finished the last step of Condensing the weapon, a silver beam of light shined over the revolver and kept the basement bright for ten seconds before it finally died down.

Before he could finally take a rest and admire his new creation, he heard an eerie howling coming around his ears. Howling of perished souls.

It tingled his mind greatly, but just for a brief moment. Next, he felt his shoulder bone itched again before the terrible sense stopped affecting him.

He frowned and waited for the irritating noise to stop.

To Angor, what he just did was only another alchemy attempt. What he did not know was that his new weapon created a giant ruckus outside.

A single lump of dark cloud floating lower than normal clouds moved around his yard. It was noontime, yet the entire Apprentice Town Eight was shrouded under darkness because of the dark cloud.

The wind howled, bringing dust and dirt with it.

Most apprentices were doing their own jobs inside their labs. First, it was one apprentice who discovered the abnormality. Using his transmitter and more transmitters to come, all apprentices noticed the sight within five minutes. There were even apprentices from the other apprentice towns heading here through the underground market.

They stepped out of their doors and stared at the dark cloud in a daze.

They were under attack? But why Apprentice Town Eight only?

…

Prome was accounting for the materials he bought from Twilight Well with the help of Dave. A transmission came and startled him, and he quickly ran out of his cave.

The looming dark cloud in the sky welcomed him.

He once did some research on thunderclouds, and this one did not seem like a big cloud to him.

But the size was not the issue. This was an omen, which suggested that a mid-tiered alchemy item or something better was born!

There was once Prome managed to create a mid-tiered alchemy item, which also granted him the title of an intermediate apprentice alchemist. However, what he caused was only a small omen which covered some hundreds of meters. Now, he was looking at something that covered the entire apprentice town!

He inspected the layout of the cloud and tried to work out the center of it using his practiced mental math ability.

Then, he looked forward, fixing his gaze at one particular building hidden behind trees and stone walls.

“Of course it’s you!”

Dave also came out of the cave and gazed at the dark sky. “What do you mean, Master?”

Before Prome could reply, the cloud changed.

Quickly enough, as if water was being added into a bottle of ink, the color of the cloud grew paler.

“Is it ending?” Dave saw several apprentices in the sky who wanted to check the cloud. However, the cloud already dissipated before they could reach it.

Prome kept his intense gaze at the sky and spoke in a low voice, “Keep watching. It’s not as you thought.”

Dave looked as best as he could and soon noticed something. “That’s… not cloud! There are shadows, human shadows, that are forming something like a cloud!”

The apprentices in the sky also noticed the same thing when they were close enough. There was no cloud, but a number of ghostly shadows. There were people, beasts, wailing around. When they gathered together, the whole area looked like a dark cloud in rainy weather.

The “cloud” was getting paler because the shadows were disappearing fast.

…

Inside Ness’ Valley of Souls.

Ness was “having fun” with a maid under broad daylight, outside. There were bare-bodied souls around him, cheering and hopping, causing their sticks and buns to dance around unsightly.

Saka was taking a nap nearby, bored. The irritating huffing and moaning of the souls did nothing to affect his mind.

He was quite surprised when all the noises suddenly halted. He opened his eyes and noticed that every soul in the valley had quieted down while looking at something with fear on their expressions.

Saka followed their gazes and did not see anything. He only knew that the souls were looking toward the Tree Spirit Garden.

He walked to Ness, who had dressed up properly.

Before he could ask about the situation though, a timid voice beat him to it.

“What’s going on, professor?”

Saka sensed someone bringing an air current carrying a sweet body fragrance. He saw someone coming his way—a bulky, hot, big-breasted… dude.

“Hookdick… you disgust me. Every single time.”

With that, Saka immediately left the scene.

Hookdick watched Saka go with a grim expression and clenched his fists.

Then “he” quickly put up a different attitude and turned to Ness. “Why are these souls not moving, professor?”

Ness looked at Hookdick’s smiley face. The “man” was smiling, but Ness could still sense hatred from those eyes; hatred for turning him into a she-male monster.

Still, Ness was quite satisfied with Hookdick’s current condition.

… At least Hookdick learned how to hide his true emotion from people.

Despite his bizarre look, Hookdick now had a better chance of becoming a wizard. Being able to contain one’s rage and think carefully meant mental growth.

Ness smiled back. “An alchemist just created a mid-tiered item and brought up an omen.”

“But what’s that to do with these souls?”

“Because… the item might possess something to harm souls specifically,” Ness glanced at the direction and read what was hidden in the cloud of souls. “Or not. It’s something that harms undead only. It won’t have much effect on ordinary souls, but still…” Ness looked around the trembling souls in the valley. “We never know if these things will fall and be undead beings one day. They’re showing their fear just to pay respect to a man-made creation which MIGHT bring them doom.”