Warlock Apprentice

_Isabelle’s voice._

It was a gentle whispering as if she were speaking right beside Angor’s ears.

But when Angor listened carefully, he realized he could understand none of it.

He did notice, however, that upon hearing each of Isabelle’s words, he would feel a little tickle crawling from his head to his toe like someone had been stroking him with a soft feather.

It was like… the strange language was meant for communicating with his soul.

There were a total of 33 notes in Isabelle’s chant. She repeated twice and finally stopped.

Angor tried to figure out what all these meant. Did it have something to do with the darkness?

He kept walking and never found any light. He wasn’t even sure if he should move at all.

Absolute darkness could easily turn someone mad if it persisted for too long. Added by the fact that he knew little of where he was going, Angor only wanted to scream loudly to vent out his pressure.

This was when he learned that he couldn’t make any sound at all.

Or rather, he couldn’t hear anything anymore, not even his own voice.

Then how did he “hear” Isabelle’s voice?

Maybe Isabelle used something special?

With that in mind, Angor tried to remember what Isabelle said. He then repeated those notes.

As he successfully recreated the first note, he immediately heard himself again.

The second, the third… and the end.

After he repeated the entire phrase, Angor sensed freedom. It appeared both his body and soul had escaped from some kind of shackles.

Following Isabelle’s example, he then tried to repeat the chant again.

This time, he found himself “ascending”. When the last note left his lips, he finally saw light approaching, as well as a giant palace inside the light and a human figure that was sitting not far away.

Was that a password to the exit?

Puzzled, Angor slowly entered the light.

He quickly saw Isabelle, who was sitting not far away from him, opened her eyes that showed gleams of wisdom.

“Lady Isabelle,” Angor greeted her and immediately sensed something was wrong.

He wasn’t “talking”. Instead, he was using his emotion ripples without even realizing it.

He suddenly got an idea too. He turned around and saw someone lying unconscious on the ground. Someone with a young and slim body.

“My soul left my body?”

It was exactly his own body on the ground.

“Do you remember those notes earlier?” Isabelle looked at Angor’s soul.

Out of instinct, Angor nodded. The chant wasn’t long, so it was quite easy to remember.

“The chant is the destiny I promised to you,” Isabelle said calmly, “and with it, you can send your soul away from your body freely.”

“Away from body… Is that a spell called ‘Soul Coupling’?” This was the only spell he knew with such an effect.

“No. In my early years when I was still traveling in Origin World, I acquired the right to use Augustin’s Duality Mirror, albeit only for once. With the mirror, I traded with another individual.”

“Augustin… Duality Mirror?” Angor mumbled.

Isabelle thought the young boy was interested in this Mystery Item. After all, he was someone who actually attempted to tackle the title of Mystery Alchemist.

In truth, Isabelle felt shameful for seizing one half of Angor’s Mystery soul by force. Teaching Angor “Spirit Mantra” was not enough to even the scale.

With this in mind, Isabelle decided to impart a little bit more knowledge to Angor since he seemed interested.

“Augustin’s Duality Mirror is another Mystery Item from an ancient wizard organization inside Origin World. There, wizards have a detailed system to classify these items. And Augustin’s Duality Mirror is a very powerful one. It allows you to communicate and trade with someone from a random world. ‘Random’ means the target world might be somewhere countless planes apart from our wizarding world… or even somewhere from a completely different universe.

“The ‘Spirit Mantra’ I told you is a skill I learned this way, by trading with a peculiar race who called themselves the ‘Kirigakure’. From my experience, this skill functions well in the wizarding world. The world’s consciousness does not hinder it. Here, we can assume that Kirigakures possess their own special power that displays full strength in foreign worlds, just like wizardry.

“There are many destinies and treasures in Origin World. You can even learn how to craft Mystery items there. Suppose you can find a chance, make sure you go there and see for yourself. It isn’t an overstatement to say that the Origin World is the backbone of all wizardry.”

“My professor once told me that the passage toward Origin World is broken.” Angor grew confused.

“Heh. The one in the southern wizarding world is, because of the greedy nature of humans. Yet the wizarding world has other regions beyond. The Western Continent, the Eastern Borderline and the Northern Province… They all have their own passages. As long as you hold the will, you may go there one day without using these passages. One thousand years ago, my body traveled to Origin World by using a special map I acquired.”

There were lots of things to learn in Isabelle’s explanation, such as Origin World, different parts of the wizarding world, and travels that separated body and soul. Yet Angor didn’t intend to think about them too much since they were obviously not meant for an apprentice like him.

He was still curious about Augustin’s Duality Mirror. Not the item itself, but the name “Augustin”.

He saw this name in Nether City inside Nightmare Realm. It was a man who secretly loved Margaret, the daughter of a warden who managed Stairs of Hanging Prison. Inside Margaret’s room, Angor discovered a number of letters written by Augustin which showed the man’s passionate love for her.

As he recalled, the man’s full name was “Augustin Noah”. Did this man have something to do with that mirror?

“Lady Isabelle, is Augustin the person who crafted the Mystery Item that you used?”

“I do not know. Perhaps he is.”

Angor decided to stop this question here. It seemed Isabelle didn’t know about Augustin, and so, Angor planned to ask something about “Spirit Mantra” next.

“Ejecting my soul by speaking several words…” Angor found such a thing to be unbelievable. “How exactly does this mantra work?”

Isabelle chuckled. “It’s not that easy as you may think. This skill utilizes the unique signatures of someone’s soul. Everyone is different. When you were wandering inside Spirit Realm, I was using your signature to work out the correct mantra that suits you.

“Due to an agreement with ‘Kirigakure’, I cannot tell anyone about the algorithm, so I only told you the result.”

Angor nodded. The process was way more valuable than the result in this case.

He did want to learn it, but he wouldn’t press for it either. It was just like the sequence of gravity—he could wield such power without knowing anything about the essentials.

Speaking of the sequence of gravity… Ever since he wandered away from his body as a soul, he could easily sense where the gravity power laid inside him. Angor knew he could trigger the power if he wanted, but he dared not.

According to Ness, using the sequence of gravity required lots of soul energy. Using it by force might exhaust his soul.

He believed that once he could freely unleash the power, he would definitely gain several levels in strength.

Isabelle interrupted his thoughts when she said, “Once you get familiarized with Spirit Mantra, you can use it almost instantly, without consuming mana or constructing spell models. Consider it a spell slot that does not occupy anything in your mind space. So, are you satisfied with this destiny?”

Angor nodded.

As of now, this skill wasn’t really useful for him, but it was better than nothing. Something as fast as a “Quickened Spell” could always come in handy in the future. And it was free!

Again, his thoughts were easily perceived by Isabelle.

“You believe Spirit Mantra has no use?”

“Er…” Angor tried to think of an excuse. However, before he could, Isabelle lifted a finger and unleashed a light beam into his soul.

The beam wandered around inside him until it rested around the source of the power of gravity.

After being “purified” by the treasure in Soul Genesis Garden, the gray aura inside Angor’s soul now gathered in one spot. Now, Isabelle’s light further compressed the power into a tiny marble which quietly floated in place.

“You received your sequence of gravity by abnormal means, so you can only unleash that power by consuming soul energy. It’s both a good and a bad thing for you. You will understand why in the future.

“What I just did was to fortify your power source. From now on, when you activate that power again, it will not come out uncontrollably and wear down your soul. You can decide how much power you use, as long as it does not exceed your energy reserve. Doing so will not do harm to you.”

Isabelle took out a parchment from her space storage. “This is a scroll that teaches you how to perform soul training. Study carefully and you will be able to slowly recover spent soul energy.”

Isabelle didn’t tell Angor about how the strange soul scar could also slowly replenish soul energy for him; it was just a lot slower than proper soul training.

Angor accepted the parchment and tried to trigger his gravity power just a little bit.

Just as Isabelle said, only a small part of the power went outside this time. It was like he now held a valve that helped him to determine the power flow.

And Angor was extremely excited at this. The ability to use gravity power freely combined with Spirit Mantra might prove extremely powerful in the right situations.