Warlock Apprentice

Bogula’s plan toward Angor? Many people would like to know.

But in truth, Bogula didn’t do anything to Angor yet.

Angor woke up during the next afternoon. He found himself lying on a warm bed, where the first thing that greeted his sight was a timid fire sprite.

When he was sleeping, these naughty little creatures were having fun pulling his hair. Angor sat up and startled them for good, which caused them to dive back into the fireplace.

Their sudden movement left a small ember on Angor’s head. Hastily, Angor used Create Water to put it out. Then he created an Ice Wall as a mirror and realized that his blond hair had been seared into a black mess.

Defeated, he simply cut most of his hair and only left a thin crew cut.

This was what Shadow saw when the man entered the room.

“Oh ho, trust me, I’d tell you to dye your hair beforehand if this will actually help you.”

“For god’s sake. Use your eyes,” Angor complained.

Shadow approached and saw the obvious burn marks on the hair left on the floor.

“Oh, I see. Those are newborn little troublemakers. They acted so because my professor created them. They don’t mean harm.”

“Yeah, right…”

An ordinary man who couldn’t put out the fire in time might as well turn into a burnt corpse. Besides, Angor was not happy at all for having his hair ruined.

“You sure look better this way,” Shadow said as he looked at Angor up and down. “Less childish and more manly.”

Angor didn’t respond this time. He was busy removing the fallen hair using Cleanse. After that, he went to the bathroom to get changed. “Thank you for helping me yesterday. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought about how to deal with Isabella.”

Shadow looked puzzled. “Wait, did I?”

“You shook your head to tell me how to get Isabella into giving up her attack, right?”

“Eh, really?” Shadow tilted his head. He did it to tell Angor NOT to agree to Bogula’s promise. As Bogula’s student, Shadow knew that Bogula tended to be pretty cruel to his opponents, but at the same time, he was very considerate when it was about his “beauties”. Bogula could even charm people into becoming his puppet on their own will.

But Shadow then noticed that his gesture was noticed by Bogula. Bogula quickly grew visibly angry and decided to utilize Isabella’s curse attack to force Angor into making a decision. That was when Shadow quickly changed his mind and asked Angor to accept the promise instead; otherwise, Angor would surely die.

However, Angor already developed another idea without paying attention to Shadow’s following signals.

“Wait. That’s wasn’t what you were trying to tell me?” Angor asked.

“Huh? Oh! Of course it is! Hehehe, that’s why I shook my head at you!” Shadow quickly tried to earn a new favor from Angor.

Too bad for him because Angor already saw Shadow’s change of expressions. He was wondering if he had really misinterpreted Shadow’s hint.

But on second thought… everything turned out fine. No point pursuing the details.

Shadow saw Angor considering something and quickly tried to interrupt since the man didn’t wish to lose his new favor with Angor. “We’re still inside Silent Hill, in the wizard tower which is my teacher’s temporary residence. We’re going to leave tomorrow morning and head to Floating Mech City.”

“I see.” Angor nodded. “So Mister Bogula…”

“No need to be all cautious. He’s not in the tower right now. Mister Raven invited him to dinner. He won’t get back any time soon.”

Before entering Silent Hill, Shadow already introduced several important figures of the place to Angor, including “Mister Raven”—the true ruler of Silent Hill, “Silent Raven” Taurus.

“Don’t worry about my teacher. He won’t use force as long as you don’t actually agree to his offer…”

It was an exception last night. I somehow bothered him so much that he used Isabella’s threat to force you. Shadow thought.

“But you should still be careful nevertheless. My teacher will use everything he got to get his hands on someone he values, such as using his personal charisma to charm you,” Shadow warned with a serious expression.

Angor asked a question that he had been thinking about, “Why didn’t Mister Bogula just, you know, get me by force? He actually let me choose?”

“I’m not sure. That’s another of his many ‘disciplines’, apart from his obsession with blond beauties.” Shadow raised an eyebrow. “He’s pretty cool, don’t you think?”

“Nah. Still, at least I don’t have to face danger too soon, and that’s fortunate.” Angor chuckled. “As for personal charisma… Don’t worry, I’m not interested in dudes. Should be no problem.”

“He has many more ways to show his charm, aside from persuading little girls by using his handsome face.” Shadow put a hand on Angor’s shoulder. “Don’t think too much about it. Tomorrow, when we arrive at Floating Mech City, I’ll do something to take you away. You want to get back to Brute Cavern, right? My teacher won’t care about anything once he starts working on his puppets. That’s our cue to escape.”

“But…” Angor looked hesitant.

Shadow felt touched, for he thought Angor was worrying about his safety. “Aw, don’t worry about me. He’s not going to do anything. Well, maybe some beating and yelling at best. I’m going to leave Floating Mech City with you anyway. I won’t come back before becoming a wizard.”

It seemed Shadow was determined to become a wizard. The man would keep traveling and looking for opportunities instead of settling down.

“Hey, how about I go to Brute Cavern with you? I’ve always wanted to check out the drama in Midnight Sovereign called the Phantom of Festivity or something.” Shadow seemed serious about this one. “Maybe I can find a destiny for breakthrough over there.”

Angor rolled his eyes. Phantom of Festivity? How could those displays of flesh give you any destiny?

“Ahem. I mean, I’m not planning to leave Floating Mech City too soon,” Angor said as he took out a small card from his bracelet and handed it to Shadow.

“You’re not? Then you really have to watch out for my teacher. If he can’t get you to agree by normal means, he’ll soon resolve to dirtier tricks,” Shadow said as he accepted Angor’s card.

“What kind of dirtier tricks?”

“Such as… using potions to bewitch you,” Shadow said and shrugged. “It’s one of his available methods. Mister Mithra told me a story before, about this loyal woman. My teacher just, you know, did the business with her overnight. She somehow gladly became a puppet in the end.”

Angor shivered.

While speaking about his terrifying stories, Shadow slowly looked at Angor’s card. “This is… your ID for Sky Tower?”

Angor nodded, albeit a little bit awkwardly. He had hidden his title because it was pretty unsightly.

“You’re not going to attend the purification garden, are you?”

…

Back in Brute Cavern. At the underground market and in Prome’s Alchemy Shop…

A young man wearing large goggles and all kinds of mechanical elements on his body was carefully doing his work. All kinds of materials slowly joined the red-hot area that he created between his hands.

Gradually, the base model of a “Tang Dao” blade appeared.

The room was suddenly brightened up by a flash, which suggested the completion of the sharp weapon.

The young man removed his goggles and used Condense to lower the temperature. He then used spirit feelers to check the cold aura released by the weapon before he widened his eyes in excitement.

“I did it, Master!” He placed the weapon in front of a middle-aged man who was sipping tea casually. “It has the Sharpen effect on it!”

The second man took the Tang Dao and squinted his eyes into small slits. He pressed his index and middle finger on the weapon while releasing white mana light; he then slid his hand along the blade, which created metallic resonance.

He let go of the weapon and nodded. “Yes, your Synthesis skill is improving fast. This ‘Tang Dao’ is infused with the Sharpen effect.”

The young man smiled brightly.

However, the middle-aged man had yet to finish with his comments.

“However, your creation lacked a little bit of fierceness, compared to Angor’s work.”

The young man didn’t seem disappointed at all. “Naturally! Angor invented this unique design.”

Angor once said that he didn’t invent Tang Dao even though he was the one who brought the weapon into the wizarding world.

“My word… Angor’s alchemy talent is now second to none in Brute Cavern,” the middle-aged man said and sighed. “I wonder where did he go.”

They both fell into silence when Angor’s name was mentioned.

Half a year ago, Angor went missing from Brute Cavern with no trace left behind. No one could find him. They also didn’t have the courage to question Sunders either, so they could only comfort themselves by believing that Angor had left to travel somewhere.

Although they also knew that, considering Angor’s character, the boy would have told them before he left. At the very least, he would reveal his plans to his closest friends—Nausica and Sailum.

Just as they thought about Nausica and Sailum, they showed up at the shop.

“Good afternoon, Master Prome.” Nausica’s voice was heard first.

“Hey Dave, you don’t look well. What’s on your mind?”