Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2251: Chapter 2252: Glazed Box

Looking at the exquisite glazed box in front of him, Dangross’s eyes erupted with a bright light.

It had witnessed with its own eyes how an unremarkable stone was transformed into a square glazed box in Angel’s hands, adorned with mysterious patterns and beautiful gemstones... For an elemental sprite that had almost never come into contact with human creations, this series of celestial crafting completely overturned its previous worldview.

"Just burning it with fire, can make a stone change at will?" Dangross couldn’t help but look at its own fingers, it could also release flames, perhaps it might work for it too?

Thinking of this, Dangross glanced around, and finally locked its gaze on a large black stone on the scorched earth.

...

A few minutes later, Angel smiled satisfactorily at the continuously circulating red and blue energy streams inside the two glazed boxes.

Although making these two boxes wasn’t difficult, to complete the internal energy environment transformation so quickly, was quite rare even among sorcerers proficient in magic patterns.

Angel was quite satisfied with his work. Although the appearance wasn’t pretty, it was only a temporary place for these two elemental creatures to store energy bodies, so there was no need to make it too complicated.

Since the internal energy of the space had already entered a circulating state, it was time to try putting them inside.

With this thought, Angel turned his gaze to the unconscious frog and raccoon cat lying aside.

"Dangross, you move the traveling frog into the box with the red gemstone, and leave the raccoon cat to me... Dangross?" Angel said as he subconsciously looked to the side but did not see Dangross.

He looked around in confusion, but still couldn’t find any trace of it.

Just as Angel was about to ask Lobal, he heard a distant sound resembling a muffled slow explosion.

Although the sound was not loud, it stood out in the silence of the valley bottom.

Angel looked over, filled with suspicion, and saw dark gray smoke billowing near a black stone dozens of meters away, clearly the source of the sound.

He was about to use spiritual power to probe the situation when he saw Dangross, covered in black ash, staggering out of the smoke.

Its pupils were obviously unfocused, though not yet spiraled, but not far from it.

Together with its staggering gait, it looked as though it were drunk.

"Dangross?!" Angel didn’t know what had happened, nor did he have time to test the two boxes. With a flash of ghostly light, he vanished from his spot, reappearing beside Dangross in the blink of an eye.

Carefully using Hand of Magic to steady Dangross from its staggering. Then, Angel quickly observed Dangross’s body and found its outer skin looked alarming, covered in black ash, but it was actually just dust, with no wounds.

Angel didn’t relax, as often, elemental creatures don’t show anomalies on the outside; observation is needed internally. Just like the traveling frog and raccoon cat that looked normal outside, but their internal elemental cores were cracked.

Angel extended his spiritual power into Dangross’s body.

Perhaps because Dangross was dazed, or maybe because it was familiar with Angel’s aura, it didn’t resist his spiritual power entering its body.

Half a minute later, Angel withdrew his spiritual power.

Dangross’s elemental core was undamaged, just some energy consumption. Unless anything unexpected happened, it should recover soon.

Confirming Dangross was fine, Angel sighed with relief. After all, Dangross was placed in his care by Mr. Magu, and it wouldn’t be good if something happened. Besides, Angel was also counting on Dangross to help him bluff subordinates.

Dangross’s condition had stabilized, but another question rose: What exactly had it been doing, to get itself in such a mess?

Angel cast his gaze toward the source of the dark grey smoke.

By now, the dark gray smoke had mostly dissipated, allowing a clear view of the mess behind the large black stone.

A ground full of black rubble, some pieces still smoking, radiating a reddish deformed high-temperature state.

Angel immediately saw that these stones had definitely been burned by fire. Judging from the rubble on the ground and Dangross’s state, he could roughly deduce the scene—

Dangross secretly hid behind the large black stone, trying to burn it with fire, ultimately causing an explosion, leaving itself in an ashen mess.

Angel couldn’t help but smile wryly as he picked up the rubble, weighing it slightly.

The residual traces basically confirmed Angel’s guess.

"What was it doing?" Angel: "Burning stones for fun?"

"Though I don’t know what it was trying, to cause the stone to explode, its flame temperature is really impressive." Angel secretly praised, recalling the traveling frog’s flames creating substantial black smoke without cracking this stone, while Dangross managed to burn it to a blast, is telling enough.

Angel marveled as he carried Dangross back.

As for why Dangross was playing with burning stones, Angel didn’t bother guessing; it wouldn’t hurt to ask when it came to its senses.

When Angel returned to the glazed boxes, he happened to see Lobal peering curiously at the box patterns, muttering something with a click of the tongue.

"Have you observed anything?" Angel asked casually as he approached.

Lobal’s tail-head responded: "It seems like there’s elemental energy circulating inside this box, but with the lid on, it’s not very clear to sense."

"That’s right, there is indeed elemental energy inside." Angel: "Then, did you observe anything else?"

The tail-head pondered for a moment, summoning a Hand of Wind, pointing at the patterns on the box: "I feel these patterns are very mysterious, watching them makes my eyes dizzy, and I can’t remember the pattern directions at all, similar to the patterns on the pure white door opened by His Highness Frostbite."

Angel nodded: "Excellent observation, both the pure white door and these box patterns are types of magic patterns. However, the types of magic patterns differ greatly, and the directions of these patterns differ vastly. It shows great talent that you could associate them."

"Weren’t you curious about the elemental energy inside the box? Now that I’m opening it, you can perceive it." Angel said, then opened the box.

As the lid was opened, Lobal immediately perceived the rich aura of elemental energy.

Inside the box with the blue gemstone was the essence of pure water, and inside the box with the red gemstone was the scent of flames.

The purity of the elemental energy, Lobal could only perceive in extreme environments.

Most importantly, even though the lid was opened, the degree of elemental energy dispersing outside was very minimal, with energy circulation still ongoing inside the box. It was as if an invisible force was sealing the elemental power within the box.

"This is amazing!" Lobal’s tail-head’s eyes flashed with surprise: "This is my first time..."

Lobal’s words were cut off by a sudden shout.

Turning back, Angel saw Dangross lying on the Hand of Magic, seemingly waking from a daze and yelling out, "Ah!" As it jumped up groggily.

"It’s exploded, exploded, I’m going to die! Run fast!" Dangross still seemed immersed in the previous shattering of stones, screaming as it ran outside.

Only, it was on the Hand of Magic now, and instead of running away, it fell from mid-air.

And the location it fell was particularly coincidental.

Just happened to fall into the Glazed Box; regrettably, it was the Glazed Box embedded with sapphire that it fell into.

As soon as Dangross fell into the box, it was surrounded by a dense and terrifying water vapor.

The intensity of the Water Element was such that Dangross even felt as if it had fallen into the vast ocean of World’s Harmony.

The flame within was instantly suppressed to the extreme by the surrounding Water Element.

"Ah ah, I’ve been captured by the demons of Malaya Ice Mountain, someone save me... glub glub, Mr. Pat, Master Toby... glub, so uncomfortable..." Dangross didn’t even have the time to discern its surroundings before it began yelling, but the more it shouted, the more the Water Element poured into its mouth, giving it a sense of drowning.

As Dangross’s fingers flailed around, a faint blue-transparent hand reached beside it, scooped it into its palm, and slowly lifted it until it exited the box.

Finally catching its breath, Dangross spread like a star on the Hand of Magic, panting continuously as if trying to expel the water vapor inside its body.

Lobal glanced at Dangross with some concern and asked, "Master, is it okay?"

Angel: "...should be fine."

After all, it fell into the Water System box; Angel couldn’t guarantee there was no issue. But after thinking it over, Dangross had been fine on Malaya Ice Mountain, so things should not be too bad.

Two minutes later, Dangross’s panting finally calmed down. At this point, it opened its eyes, saw the familiar Hand of Magic and Angel, and revealed a look of relief: "Ah, saved!"

Seeing Dangross’s expression of lingering fear, Angel said irritably, "What do you mean, saved? No one captured you, it was all of your own doing."

"Huh?" Dangross looked bewildered.

Angel: "Just look below yourself and you’ll understand."

Dangross stood up, climbed to the edge of the Hand of Magic, and looked down, soon noticing the sapphire Glazed Box, the steaming water power inside felt very familiar.

After pondering for a moment, Dangross seemed to understand what had happened: "So I wasn’t captured by the mermaid of Malaya Ice Mountain’s blue water? I was just in the box?"

Blue water mermaid? So you even concocted an image of the opponent? Angel nodded speechlessly: "Yes."

"That’s good, I was really scared just now. I almost thought I was going to be locked in an Ice Prison and treated like this... like that..." Dangross showed a look of survival after a great disaster, then suddenly thought of something: "Right, how did I end up in this box?"

Seeing Dangross’s puzzled expression, Angel couldn’t be bothered to respond, while Lobal sighed and recounted the events from beginning to end.

After listening to the entire story, Dangross finally understood why Angel had said it was all its own "doing." A hint of blush floated on its face as it bowed its head in embarrassment and muttered silently.

Lobal asked with concern, "You fell in that box just now, is your body okay?"

Dangross, recalling the horror of being surrounded by water vapor, shrank a little but quickly pulled itself together, shook its head, and said, "Aside from some energy consumption, there’s nothing else wrong. But it truly scared me; I felt like I entered the ocean of World’s Harmony, too terrifying."

"World’s Harmony? Is it really that intense?" Lobal was somewhat surprised, as it had only sensed elemental energy outside the box and hadn’t probed inside, making it difficult to gauge the intensity. But hearing Dangross say it reached the level of World’s Harmony was shocking.

You should know, World’s Harmony is a gift of Elemental Creatures from the Tidal World, a present from the World Will. Angel managed to create an element environment similar to World’s Harmony in such a short time? It’s hard to believe.

"I haven’t been to the ocean of World’s Harmony, so I can’t be certain, but it felt like it reached that level," said Dangross.

Lobal turned to look at Angel: "Master, may I enter to feel it?"

Angel nodded nonchalantly.

After a while, Lobal emerged from the box, frowning: "I’m neither Water System nor Fire Element, so I couldn’t really tell if it reached the level of World’s Harmony. But the richness of elements inside was certainly rare."

Angel, seeing the serious discussion between Dangross and Lobal, couldn’t help but say, "Actually, you could toss Dangross back into the box to find out if it achieved the level."

Dangross froze, quickly waved its hands: "I don’t want, don’t want!"

Angel ignored Dangross’s refusal and directly manipulated the Hand of Magic, gently flicking Dangross in an elegant arc, into... the Glazed Box with the red gemstone.

At first, Dangross was crying and shouting, but once it settled, it was bewildered.

"This feeling?" Unlike the previous water power, this time its surroundings were filled with dense Flame Power.

This Flame Power incessantly replenished its previous consumption, and within just a few minutes, the previously depleted flame in its body was fully replenished. Moreover, it continued to nourish its body.

"So comfortable... no!" One second Dangross was enjoying the embrace of flames, and the next it was pulled out by the Hand of Magic, prompting its reflexive cry of protest.

Once back in mid-air, Dangross came to its senses.

"How was it? Did it reach the level of World’s Harmony?" Lobal asked curiously.

Bright light flashed in Dangross’s eyes, as it clung to the edge of the Hand of Magic, dreamily gazing at the Glazed Box with the red gemstone, after a long while it replied: "I feel like it reached, but compared to the true World’s Harmony, there’s a slight difference. Yet specifically how, I can’t say, it just seems... not lively enough."

Lobal listened, confused.

But Angel understood Dangross’s meaning.

Frankly, the flame space Angel created through the Magic Pattern had a very small internal area, compressing the Flame Power to make its concentration indeed reach the level of Elemental Tides. However, this was merely a concentration achievement; compared to true Elemental Tides, it lacked a crucial element: rules.

World’s Harmony, which is Elemental Tides, is itself a gift from the World Will of the Tidal World to the earth.

It carries the force of World Will, it enhances the singular Elemental Power according to varying local elemental contents, and also makes the elemental power in the air become lively and vital.

This leads to a very noticeable result: Elemental Sprites are born within Elemental Tides.

Whereas in the flame box Angel created through Magic Pattern, the concentration is achieved but there’s nearly no chance of birthing Elemental Sprites.

This is the difference between the box and Elemental Tides, the Elemental Tides also contain rules that Angel does not understand.