Warlock Apprentice

Pride accepted the coverless sample book made from cheap papers. For official releases, they would use parchments crafted from a monster goat as it would remain in perfect condition for tens of thousands of years. They would then use Perpetual Rune to keep dampness and worms away to further increase the quality period of the magazines.

Pride opened the book to read carefully. He had already read the selected articles before, but he still needed to modify the final composing and style arrangements.

He put the sample down a moment later.

“So how about it? I think it’s pretty good already,” Jolene asked.

“I can see the decency. Especially these two. Whoever wrote them knew how to tickle the hearts of readers.”

Jolene looked at where Pride was pointing at.

[Extra! The Sultan has Returned to the South! Will She Reshuffle All Forces in Wizarding World?!]

[Hear Ya! A Mystery Alchemist is Processed into Someone’s Puppet?! It Turns Out to be—]

“They came from the same submitter who goes by the name ‘Your Stoney Granddaddy’. Now that’s an interesting pen name.”

Pride smiled in satisfaction. “These two articles alone shall become the sole highlight of our edition, especially the first one. I’ve asked Mister Vonsman, and man, he was surprised to see the news as well. ‘Sundown Sultan’ Isabelle must be someone reaaaaly famous to wizards. As for the second one… Mister Vonsman said it might be a fake. ‘Tis impossible for an apprentice to reach out for Mystery energy… or so he said.

“But he still found the news to be valuable. Everyone knows about Mister Bogula’s twisted hobby, and they all like to learn about such gossips.”

“Should we delete the mystery or something and only keep the puppet part?” Jolene suggested.

“… No, let’s respect this ‘Stoney Granddaddy’ figure. He used such careful and attractive words and left a lot of room for imagination. Removing part of it will destroy the mood.”

Pride paid extra attention to another piece of the message provided by “Your Stoney Granddaddy”—The blond kid who had deep-blue eyes came from an extremely powerful figure in the wizarding world. Perhaps Bogula would find himself in peril this time.

Vonsman did express disbelief about this part. But what if? This will give me a boost in my career!

“I see.” Jolene nodded and asked, “Is there anything else we should add?”

Pride considered. “‘Meaty’ managed to get in contact with the teleportation handlers, right? Did he have any film records about the boy mentioned here?”

“I’ll look for it. I think ‘Meaty’ found a painter to recreate the image too. Another editor is still wondering whether we should use it.”

Jolene left and soon returned with a portrait in her hand.

“Here it is.” She handed the painting to Pride, somewhat unwillingly. “Such a handsome young gentleman.”

Pride felt jealous when he saw Jolene’s expression as she admired the young man’s look, but after he checked the painting, he admitted that the young man had exceptionally good looks, which happened to be Bogula’s favorite.

Clean, blond, buzz cut and clear eyes of the same color as the deep ocean.

“No wonder Mister Bogula wanted him.”

“Beauty brings danger,” Jolene muttered and quickly regained her professionalism. “Do we add this into the magazine, Pride?”

“Oh yes, we do.”

“Maybe we should tell Mister Vonsman to create a personal section just for ‘Your Stoney Granddaddy’…”

…

The morning star was high up in the air.

A metal tower built from machines and shafts stood tall. The tower had been shut for an entire day, and a number of apprentices outside were talking about why so many wizards from major organizations went in there.

“I heard they just discovered the coordinates of a brand new plane. They are here to talk about new expeditions,” someone claimed.

“That’s not right… Floating Mech City never took part in plane expeditions. If anyone wants to go, they should be looking for those Moonfrost Union b*stards.” The speaker was obviously discontented with how Moonfrost Union forced people to join their expeditions.

“You’re all wrong. This is about a plane fusion on Devil’s Water. The wizards are going for the new appendage plane so that they can capture resources earlier.” It was an ill-looking man with thick glasses who just spoke. The man was holding a magazine he just bought, and he made up a story based on the “news” he read.

“Oh, Adam the Nerd. Is that the newest magazine you got there? Give me that!” A rough-looking man tried to reach for the publication.

While Adam struggled to resist, they suddenly saw the tower door opening up.

“I didn’t expect you to come personally, old friend.” A strange-looking old wizard with extremely long white eyebrows, curly beard, and blue triangular wizard hat approached another gentleman. The gentleman was dressed in a traditional black suit and had a handsome yet somewhat cruel look. He was also carrying a short black walking cane in his gloved hand.

All other wizards who passed by decided to move away as if they just saw a nemesis.

Angor would have quickly recognized his teacher if he were here.

“Something unexpected happened to the purification garden. As the mentor of someone who will enter the garden, I should naturally come,” Sunders said in a plain tone.

“I see. I know you adopted a new disciple.” The white-browed wizard nodded. “That failure of mine also arrived at the city the other day. We don’t get together often. Why don’t you bring your new student to my place so that we can have a good talk?”

Sunders glanced at the old man named Kanter, who went by the title “Eventide”.

This old man was the current master of “Lilith’s Clan”. He became a truth-finder 600 years ago and possessed more experience than Sunders. But in terms of strength, they shared a similar level, which was just below level-3. They were both trying to break through the bottleneck.

Lilith’s Clan was a small wizard organization that had a limited number of wizards. However, no one would try to underestimate their strength. Each of their generations would give birth to at least one truth-finder wizard. There was one point of time around a thousand years ago when multiple legendary wizards emerged from Lilith’s Clan; it was regarded as a major historical event.

“Eventide” Kanter had his name widely known in the wizarding world as well. At the same time, he was one of Sunders’ very few friends.

Sunders knew that the old man wished their students could meet up and broaden their social connections. Most of the time, this was beneficial.

“No. I’ve no idea if the kid has arrived here yet. Let’s talk again when he shows up.”

Kanter smiled. “True. I see none of your students can ever sit still for more than a day without causing trouble.” Kanter tried to recall how Flora looked like, but he failed. He once took his student and stayed at Phantom Island for ten years, during which they only get to see Flora once.

There was also Sunders’ oldest student, Sumesh, who left to find the truth 50 years ago. He had yet to return.

Sunders showed a strange expression and shook his head. “It’s different this time. That kid rarely leaves his door or does quests. He just… keeps himself shut in the room day and night. He’s out this time because something forced him to.”

“Oh? So you finally found a ‘trouble-free’ student?” Kanter joked. Those words were obviously sarcasm.

“No. He’s far from it.”

What Angor did during Twilight Auction, which almost brought a world-ending monster to the southern wizarding world, could hardly be considered “trouble-free”. Even someone like Sunders, who usually acted all calm and patiently, was startled for good.

He had to deal with Angor’s incident by wasting a lot of precious materials, and he actually helped the kid a lot by giving him a small piece of Nightmare Domain in the end.

Sunders sighed in frustration when thinking about this. That kid still owes me money for it.

Kanter grew interested when he saw his old friend looking so distressed. “Now I REALLY want to see the kid with my own eyes.”

Sunders didn’t answer this time. He didn’t know whether Angor could make it to Floating Mech City for real. He chose to believe in Angor since a prophet told him so.

Unless something else happened to the boy after the prophecy was done.

The officials of Floating Mech City had made it clear that unexpected elements appeared in the purification garden. The change in plan was actually something good for wizards. However, it might not be good for apprentices who planned to enter the garden soon.

“So, what’s your opinion?” Sunders asked while walking out of the tower with his friend.

“Floating Mech City has taken ten positions for their own candidates… It means the other apprentices will have to fight for their chances.”

“Frankly speaking, I don’t think these preparations will work. Do you believe they can decide who will seize the opportunities once they are inside the garden?” Sunders grinned devilishly.

The outside of the tower was full of curious apprentices, but they instantly quieted down when they saw Sunders coming out.

“They are being too soft to their students.” Sunders frowned at the unorganized crowds.

“Well, those people are only interested in alchemy. They don’t have much time to lecture their followers,” Kanter said and flew away.

Just as Sunders prepared to leave, he saw a bright image from within the crowd below.