Warlock Apprentice

Just before he left the ranger’s house, Angor was pretty surprised to see Shadow coming in with a grim look on his face.

Shadow looked up and quickly began to admire Angor’s bright hair and eyes. “Are you absolutely sure you won’t join my collection? I promise you’ll always be the best one.”

“Good timing, I have a question,” Angor said as he ignored Shadow’s nonsense. “What did you do to Toby after I passed out? Why is he still not up?”

Angor assumed that Toby had been like this for five days since the accident. He would have already brought Shadow to justice if not for Toby’s seemingly healthy condition.

Shadow looked at the bird on Angor’s hand and frowned. “My my… I did nothing to it. I was almost killed by that damn pact, and I got no time to mind the little b*stard.”

Angor understood that, despite Shadow’s cunning nature, the man did not lie about this one. However, since their covenant did not prevent the act of lying, he wouldn’t trust him just yet.

Angor had nothing to do with Shadow at the moment. Even without the magic pact, his physical condition wasn’t good enough.

He put a hand on Toby’s feathers again and sensed the ripples of spirit and soul, all unharmed.

“So what happened after I fainted that day?”

“Not an idea. My heart was going to bust out ’cause the pact, and the bird was still attacking me,” Shadow said. He considered for a moment before he added, “There’s one thing though.”

“What is it?”

“What species is your bird anyway? A fighter? Or caster? It didn’t know about long-range attacks before, but it suddenly learned how to. And man, it hurts like hell!”

Shadow had seen many different beasts and monsters back at Floating Mech City, but there was nothing like Angor’s bird, who possessed so much burst power in a tiny body.

“Long-range attacks? Tell me how it looked like.”

Shadow noticed that Angor was just as surprised as him, which meant Angor had no idea about Toby’s skill either.

“So it couldn’t do that before?”

Angor nodded.

At first, even though it was a monster, Toby was always relatively weaker. It had to rely on speed. A mortal with the right armor could take Toby out easily.

Since he learned about the sequence of gravity, Toby gained multitude strength and could unleash attacks as powerful as level-3 cantrips.

However, the attacks were simple, and they were all about speed and burst power.

Angor assumed that Toby’s current condition had something to do with the new ability.

“So a new attack and unconsciousness… He’s breaking through his level?”

Shadow suddenly grimaced out of jealousy again. “Yeah, it must be. It thought you were dead and cried like mad. Such mental stimulation often triggers hidden potentials.”

Shadow grew more and more irritated as he thought about the recent incidents. First, this “Mask” came and sabotaged his hard-earned plan. After that, he actually lost against someone one level lower than him and was forced to sign a covenant.

Even though he managed to set Mask up by using the Krakoks’ door, it still didn’t kill Mask, and in the end, he had to heal Mask up using his own energy.

Also, that damn bird hurt him badly and… broke through just like that!

The whole world was going against him!

Angor, on the other hand, chose to agree with Shadow’s theory.

Shadow said that Toby knew how to use some kind of “gray beam attack”, and Angor immediately realized that it was the sequence of gravity.

“So Toby is getting stronger…” Angor made a satisfied smile for the first time after the terrible experience. “Thanks for your map. I guess I’m leaving.”

He carefully put Toby back into his pocket and headed to the door.

“Hold up,” Shadow called out. “So you’re going to Silent Hill and teleport to Floating Mech City from there?”

Angor simply nodded to confirm. He already told Shadow about this.

“You need at least a month to reach Silent Hill from Water Grasse, and it’s not like you can walk inside even if you find that place.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can take you there using my flying vehicle, on condition that you do me a favor.”

Without any hesitation, Angor turned away. “Thanks, but no.”

He really, really didn’t want to have anything to do with this crafty man ever again. The magic pact wouldn’t prevent Shadow from using some other kind of evil moves to harm him.

“Come on, I’m serious. I won’t give you any traps again. Not like I can,” Shadow quickly said when he realized that Angor was still worried about the wound caused by the door. “It was an accident! I didn’t do it intentionally; even the covenant can’t tell that it was my fault. Just one thought of doing harm to you will burn my heart again. I won’t do that!”

Angor began to walk down the mountain path without paying any attention to Shadow’s words.

Shadow was getting very desperate. He had wasted five years on his plan of finding a destiny, and he had to keep attending the useless meetings, just to find himself a group of puppets.

After he had enough puppets, he went to the Deadmen’s Dent and tried to activate the long-lost magic array, only to find that he didn’t have enough energy.

One of the puppets still had an unfinished spirit model, which meant this one was still not an apprentice yet.

A single puppet who couldn’t unleash mana to the environment would cause a critical lack of magic power.

Shadow was extremely irritated when his destiny for becoming a wizard went botched because of this tiny mistake.

It was made worse when the Krakoks came and told him that the Grand Priest of Krakoks decided to perform the “ritual” this month.

Such a ritual would determine whether Shadow could “sneak” into the otherworld. The ritual was only several days away, and he had no time to look for another apprentice now.

Shadow came to the ranger’s house to ask for Angor’s assistance, and he failed immediately.

“Okay, I’ll pay you with something!” Shadow said, though he immediately found his own words unconvincing.

Angor kept walking away.

“My teacher is visiting Silent Hill! Just… one week! When I finish my plan in a week, I’ll go back to Floating Mech City with my teacher half a month later, and I can ask him to bring you along with us! With his protection, you don’t need to find other things to stabilize your teleport, and you save a lot of money!”

Half a month? Which means arriving at Floating Mech City during Month of Frost?

Angor was interested now. The purification garden would become open in Month of Resuscitation next year. Shadow’s offer would help him to make it in time.

A chance…

Angor stopped his steps and turned back. “Are you sure your teacher will agree to it?”

“I am! He will definitely do it for someone like you!”

Angor didn’t notice Shadow’s strange wording. “So what do you want me to do?”

“It’s simple. You just have to help me activate a portal array…”

…

After setting up a schedule with Shadow, Angor returned to Water Grasse.

He had been away from the city for a week now. The first thing that waited for him was Dodoro, who was crying badly in the mansion.

“Finally, Mister Mask. Dodoro started acting up on the second day without you. He won’t leave the house,” Trusan said anxiously as she joined them. “And he won’t listen to my lectures too. I think he’s only waiting for you.”

Angor looked at Dodoro’s puppy eyes and sighed.

“I think I need to leave the city in half a month. Granny Trusan, I’m afraid you need to speed up your plans. Can you teach him as fast as you can? At least, teach him how to understand my words.”

“So soon? Do you… have to?”

Angor nodded. He had to leave, on condition that Shadow meant his words. Angor was going to resume his travel by keeping Dodoro in his bracelet.

This meant Trusan only had half a month left for Dodoro’s lessons.

“I see. I’ll do what I can.” The old lady nodded.

“Thank you kindly.”

Angor comforted Dodoro for a little while before he returned to his own room.