Warlock Apprentice

The Month of Resuscitation had silently arrived, announcing the start of a new year.

Renewing their calendar was always something worth celebrating to mortals no matter where they came from. Now, mortals in this world were already enjoying the first several sleepless days of the year with lively ceremonies and parades.

In the world of wizards, only a few people noticed the particular time point, and none of them paid it any extra mind. There were many wizards who would spend decades studying a simple spell. A new year meant nothing.

But to Angor, it meant he had one less year for fulfilling his promise to Jon. It was always hard for him to find breathers between training and working, and now, he had more reasons to work harder by using every second to its fullest. In order to strengthen his foundations before the garden challenge, he barely caught any sleep in the past two weeks.

He was now a full-fledged level-2 apprentice. Such a tight schedule only stressed his mind a bit; it did not affect his health at all.

Soon, it was the 10th day of the Month of Resuscitation, which officially signaled the commencement of the purification garden event.

…

The Month of Resuscitation got its name because the goddess of spring would soon visit this world and break all the ice blocking key traffic points; it would then allow everything to grow again. But nowadays, the “resuscitation” of lives usually needed to wait until the Month of Blossom, which meant two months away.

This was why the Floating Mech City was still troubled by heavy snowflakes by the time the purification garden was opened.

On this special day, the visiting apprentices living on Champagne Road all left their residence and walked toward the lower side of the city. Different individuals in bizarre clothing and decorations filled up the white street as if a masquerade party were being held.

Even the sky would occasionally welcome several flying travelers who also aimed for the garden.

When most people had gone ahead, the door of Timber Pub was pushed open again. Nausica, Shan, and Shiliew carefully walked together behind the major crowd.

To be precise, it was only Nausica and Gank who were walking. Shan was sitting on Gank’s left shoulder, while Shiliew was sleeping on the right.

“Oh dear…” Shan sighed and revealed a worried look on her young face. “Is it okay for her to attend like this? If something bad happens in the garden and she falls asleep again, she’ll just die for nothing.”

It seemed Shiliew didn’t share Shan’s concern at all. She was still sleeping peacefully with a smile on her face as if dreaming of something sweet.

Nausica was just as anxious as Shan. But compared to the little girl, Nausica could think about the situation on another level. “Since Shiliew’s professor asked her to come, there should be a way to solve the problem. We can’t keep worrying about her anyway. She has to deal with her own problems sooner or later.”

Shan made a duck face. “Why are you always lecturing people? Try that on Angor next time.”

“Angor huh?” Nausica smiled to herself. “He needs no lecturing from me. He always knows which part of him to show us… Sometimes, I can’t believe he’s actually a teen. It’s as if I’m talking to a real gentleman.”

“Really?” Shan tilted her head. “But he’s pretty simple to me. Look, he gets embarrassed when talking about milk.”

“Well… It’s a good thing to always keep a small innocence in you, no?”

“I think so…” Shan nodded and decided to talk about Shiliew again. “But I’m still worried about HER! I wish I can find you or Shiliew in the garden soon.”

“Shiliew, yeah, you can help her. As for me…” Nausica clenched her metal fist and focused. “I’ll be fine. I must.”

The snow was still falling under the gloomy sky. Here, Nausica’s bright cape was like a small flower drifting bravely in the cruel world.

Soon, they reached the gravity attunement gate and reached the lower part of the city.

To outsiders, people and buildings in this part of the city were all upside-down. But those who were inside the city would not feel anything wrong.

As they moved closer, Nausica saw thicker crowds gathering. A quick guess suggested that there were more than ten thousand apprentices who were preparing to enter the garden, if not twenty. She wasn’t sure.

Also, most of them were smiling because of the chance to improve themselves.

Only a few knew that it might be their last chance to smile in this world.

Those who were hovering in the air using either vehicles or spells were mostly elites. Unlike the others, they all knew what was going to happen inside the garden.

Only one in every ten people would come out in one piece.

The people celebrating their fortune at this moment would probably meet a more terrible ending later. As always, wise people would spend most of their time alone, and it might not be a bad thing as wizards all had to endure the absence of company in their prolonged lives.

Nausica’s group also calmed their minds as they readied themselves for the challenge. Only Shiliew was still sleeping, oblivious of the fake happiness shown by the outside world.

Next, they went through another gate protected by large, enchanted metal walls.

By the time they arrived at the spot indicated by their invitation cards, they had a hard time moving around because there were too many people.

“No way back now…” Nausica muttered while looking at the Rune Monitors guarding the walls.

Shan felt Gank trembling beneath her and also showed a serious look. “Gank knows how to sense danger. There’s… mana flows, bad ones, around here. Gank’s terribly afraid of them.”

“They’re breaking the rules after all.” Nausica sighed. “But again, there are no rules in this world.”

More people swarmed inside the narrow space. Now, it was how much private area one could forcefully create that showed his or her strength, rather than their strange getups.

Nevertheless, the whole situation was getting weirder.

Nausica’s group was also involved in someone’s violent action. Around the edge of the area, they stumbled into another man’s magic field. It was a wizard who was wearing heavy powders and a thick scarf, who just gave Nausica an angry stare. “How dare you step into the royal territory of the prince of Yiberia! Do you wish to—”

Nausica pressed a hand against his chest. “Get lost. We don’t have time for your garbage.”

In the next second, the man became a swirling comet. He created a fine curve in the air and crashed into the wall.

The ruckus drew a lot of attention from the bystanders.

Nausica paid no mind to people’s hostile accusations or comments. No one actually did anything since what she showed prevented any potential thugs from approaching her.

“Ohh, you’re getting good at this. That guy’s still moving, so I guess you held back? You can’t control its power just two weeks ago,” Shan talked to Nausica while trying to kill time.

“Yeah… I learned some new tricks about how to control mana flow in this thing.” Nausica chuckled.

“So far, this mechanical arm works better for you compared to transplanted organs. It never showed any rejection problem and it only improved your power!” Shan looked a little jealous. “Now I want one for myself too.”

Putting her joke aside, she would admit that the splendid invention was an extremely useful tool.

Shiliew suddenly sat up during their conversation and looked around uncertainly. “Are we inside the garden already?”

“Still waiting outside. I don’t know what’s going to happen from here though,” said Nausica.

Shiliew nodded and checked the people around them. Then, she quickly covered her ears. There was too much noise coming from all sorts of people, which made her uncomfortable.

“Are you alright?” Shan asked out of concern. They knew about Shiliew’s talent that made her sensitive to the flow of liquids, including human blood.

“I forgot to keep those unnecessary sounds away… I’m okay now,” Shiliew said with a pale face. “I heard many strong bloodlines. They’re heavy like stones. They must have come from really powerful people.”

“Powerful? The really powerful guys are over there.” Shan pointed to an open space with only a few people standing there, which looked quite strange compared to the other spots.

“What’s wrong? Why won’t anyone join them?”

Shiliew checked and only found about a dozen people who occupied a lot of space. They were either hovering, leaning against a tree, or sitting on the ground casually. However, everyone stood clear of each other’s territory.

“Because no one’s brave enough.” Nausica frowned. “Those are the real elites from major organizations, which means they’ll win if anyone fights them.”

Shan nodded while pointing out several names.

“‘Sky Dancer’ Shayaron, ‘Disciple of Philosophy’ Suraithota, ‘Dream Reader’ Freud, ‘Coeval Zerg’ Yethew… They’re all pretty well-known.” Shan finished speaking and looked around. “Weird… Where’s Angor?”

Nausica shrugged. “He’s not the type to make a fuss in a situation like this. Besides, do you believe there are only so few elite apprentices who came?”

Suddenly, they heard Shiliew screaming painfully. She had collapsed on Gank’s shoulder while covering her ears.