Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2595: Chapter 2596: Bronze Door

They walked for less than half a minute before they saw the "objects with faint extraordinary reactions" mentioned by Angel.

Previously, Angel didn’t spend computing power on careful investigation, only knowing it was a small item, possibly some extraordinary items left by predecessors.

But when they actually walked up to it, they found it wasn’t an object at all, but a very small skull.

When they first discovered the skull, they thought it was a baby’s skull because the back of the head was facing them. But when they saw the front, they were stunned.

"Do humans have cyclops species?" Kaier asked silently, looking at the skull with only one eye socket.

"Regardless of whether humans have cyclops species, have you ever seen anyone with a split all the way to the ear root, and over a hundred sharp teeth crisscrossed?" Dox retorted.

Kaier shook his head: "Seems like no."

Dox: "Then that’s settled, this is actually the skull of a magical creature."

Dox picked up the skull from the ground; the small skull fit perfectly in the palm of his hand. After carefully examining the skull’s details, Dox considered: "There are many one-eyed magical creatures, but with only one skull here, I can’t tell which kind of creature it is."

After Dox finished speaking, he looked toward the Black Earl.

The most experienced and knowledgeable among them was the Black Earl.

The Black Earl did not disappoint. He merely glanced at the skull with his nostrils, sniffed a few times, and provided the answer.

"This is the juvenile form of a flying skull demon, which inherently has only the skull and no body. Two-month-old flying skull demons have skulls comparable in size to adults, and after three months, their heads are even larger than adults. Looking at this skull’s size, it can be concluded that this flying skull demon’s juvenile form is less than a month old... perhaps even less than half a month."

"Its time of death, judging from the almost nonexistent extraordinary energy inside the skull, should be over a hundred years ago."

"As for the cause of death, it’s hard to determine. The skull is complete, which might suggest non-physical attacks on intracranial organs."

After finishing, the Black Earl said indifferently: "While I don’t mind explaining and educating you, something so clearly unrelated to our goal is pointlessly wasting words if understood, and useless if not."

The Black Earl rarely expressed complaints, but Angel could feel that the Black Earl wasn’t really angry about wasted words. He might feel like Dox treated him as... a tool.

One moment Dox could argue with him, the next, whenever encountering something unfamiliar, he’d turn to him.

Is this not being treated as a tool?

The Black Earl has his temperament; he wouldn’t speak directly but would hint to you that he was slightly annoyed.

Angel knew people like this quite well. Whether his mentor or Lord Rhein, even big shots from the Abyss like Fafnir, Odeclass, Baltica, etc., basically had this disposition.

To put it nicely, it’s called maintaining noble self-esteem, unwilling to express emotions directly.

But simply put, it’s being tsundere.

Encountering such moments, others might sit upright and dare not speak further, but Angel, being experienced, immediately responded: "Lord, you’re right, but this flying skull demon might not necessarily be unrelated to our goal."

If Dox had said this, the Black Earl wouldn’t even pay attention, but with Angel saying it, he considered it: "Why do you say so?"

Angel organized his words: "If there’s no accident, traces of flying skull demons should occasionally appear near our target location."

Upon these words, Angel felt a ripple in the Black Earl’s emotion. He quickly added: "As for how I know this, it’s personal, and I can’t reveal it. But also, don’t fully trust me; what I said might also be wrong."

"It might be wrong?" Black Earl asked in confusion.

After pondering for a moment, Angel replied: "Because reality often differs from imagination."

The Black Earl frowned, seemingly sensing a hint of thread, yet upon careful thought, it vanished again.

However, because of this sudden inspiration, the Black Earl partially believed Angel.

The Black Earl quietly asked: "Besides the flying skull demon, does the target location have any other features... I mean, in your imagination?"

Angel hadn’t expected the Black Earl to so quickly accept his words, and this time he didn’t hold back: "Yes, the surroundings of the target location might have maneater flowers."

What Angel mentioned were experiences from the Nightmare Realm. His first visit to the Nightmare Realm’s location was actually outside the maneater flower tunnel, where he encountered two flying skull demons that startled him into fleeing into the tunnel, where he discovered the tunnel’s end was that... mysterious wall.

"Flying skull demons and maneater flowers, okay, I’ve noted it," the Black Earl said solemnly.

Angel: "Listen, it’s still the same sentence: when imagination collides with reality, everything might change."

Black Earl: "I understand."

Listening to the dialogue between the Black Earl and Angel, others were completely perplexed. Kaier and Vay’s confusion was one thing, but Dox wouldn’t allow himself to remain bewildered. On the way, he went directly to Angel’s side, asking quietly, "What were you talking about earlier? What’s imagination, what’s reality?"

Angel didn’t answer but asked: "Are you planning to keep this flying skull demon’s skull as a collection?"

By now, they had continued onward, but Dox hadn’t discarded the smooth skull, still playing with it in his palm.

"You don’t get it, the feeling of holding it full-handed is really quite satisfying." Dox said, showing a meaningful expression.

Angel raised an eyebrow: "Then suit yourself."

Angel was purely pondering whether Dox’s behavior indicated a subconscious action influenced by inspiration, and whether it was related to what followed. But Dox seemed not to grasp Angel’s intention, and Angel couldn’t explain, so he let it go.

"You asked me, but you haven’t answered my question yet." Dox still appeared insistent.

Angel was reluctant to answer, but Dox was the most persistent and cheeky Wizard Angel had ever met, completely disregarding the demeanor of an Official Wizard, pestering as if a child asking for candy.

After enduring a journey filled with constant buzzing in his ear, Angel finally sighed.

"Have you heard of prophecy visions?"

Dox, seeing Angel respond, immediately became a good student, nodding vigorously: "Images captured from the future?"

"Almost. I know a Prophet Wizard who specializes in capturing images from the past or future."

"You can now understand it as if the Prophet Wizard I know saw some images and told me. These images point directly to the destination, and alongside them are trivial details, such as the flying skull demon and the maneater flower I mentioned earlier."

"However, what the Prophet Wizard sees is merely a possibility. It could be real, or it could just be an illusory dream."

"Do you understand now? What I say may be true, but it might also be false."

Dox roughly understood Angel’s implications, but his thought process was more divergent. After listening, instead of dwelling on the issues of flying skull demons and maneater flowers, he asked, "The Prophet Wizard speaks of mere possibilities, and those magical creatures could all be variables—this I agree with. But the target location is an established fact. So, did you see the real situation of the target location from the prophetic vision?"

Dox’s question struck right at the core, even drawing the attention of the Black Earl.

Angel rubbed his temples, feeling a bit helpless: "I’ve already said, I’m just using the prophetic vision as an example. Whether this Prophet Wizard exists is still a question."

"But setting aside those things, you should know something about the target location, right?" Dox asked the question everyone had been wanting to ask but didn’t dare to.

"As I’ve said, I only know the possible range of where the target location might appear, but what it contains, I do not know."

To Dox, Angel’s statement had flaws because he clearly knew the target location might relate to the Noah Clan. How could he possibly be completely unaware of what the target location holds?

However, Dox didn’t press further because he noticed the Black Earl had stopped flying. Although the slate was facing away from them, it was clear the Black Earl was paying attention to their conversation.

Dox preferred not to voice the Black Earl’s concerns.

If you don’t ask, why should I?

Thinking this, Dox shrugged: "Alright, I believe you."

The little figure in Angel’s heart couldn’t help but roll its eyes at Dox: Who needs your belief?!

The reason he explained this matter again wasn’t just because of Dox’s persistence but also to dispel the doubts in everyone’s hearts as much as possible. However, people’s minds are changeable, and Angel wasn’t overly concerned about others’ opinions. If others still harbor significant doubts, it’s no big deal because he’s disclosed all he can.

After Angel finished his conversation with Dox, no one else approached to disturb him, and they smoothly arrived at the end of the right path—

A locked, ancient copper door.

From the outside, the copper door stood about two meters tall. As for the wall above it, it still belonged to the maze, showing no signs of a building within.

Upon seeing the copper door, everyone’s first reaction was to probe with their spiritual power.

Then, they saw dense energy convergences. If closely observed, one could faintly discern the elaborate and complex magic patterns inside.

The entire copper door from top to bottom was densely packed with magic patterns.

Previously, they heard from Angel that there were some flaws in the door’s magic patterns, allowing some sound wave patterns to seep inside. At the time, they weren’t particularly troubled, but seeing the magic patterns on the door firsthand, they revealed looks of shock from inside out.

The densely packed magic patterns made them dizzy just by looking, yet Angel, standing far away, relying solely on sound wave patterns to perceive the magic patterns, managed to penetrate them?!

Earlier, when they saw Angel from outside instructing the Black Earl to activate the core magic patterns while using an engraving pen to amend the severed patterns, they had already been astounded.

Now, they were even more shock-stricken.

This is what being a big deal means.

His computing power is simply defying the heavens.

Even the Black Earl silently began adjusting his view of Angel. His initial interest in Angel was purely due to Sanders and his old friend Rhein, but now Angel had slipped out of the impression of being "the junior esteemed by acquaintances."

Angel is Angel, even though he is merely an Official Wizard, but in the craft of enchantment, he stands at the pinnacle of the Southern Domain.

The Black Earl admits he falls far short.

And Angel has not yet trained as long as a fraction of the Black Earl’s time. Should he not fall, he will be a true prodigy.

Perhaps he will break the low tide period of dwindling talent in the Southern Domain Wizard World and usher in a new era.—When the Black Earl thought of this, he suddenly felt as if he was under a spell, evaluating Angel too highly. How difficult it is to open a new era; how could Angel possibly achieve it?

Nonetheless, even if he cannot start a new era, the talents Angel currently exhibits warrant the Black Earl’s greater regard, even... esteem.

Technical talent is judged not by power but by skill. Angel currently has the qualifications to be esteemed by the Black Earl.

Under the astonished gaze of the crowd, Angel proactively walked up to the copper door, taking on the task of opening it.

With the current default that wherever there is a Magical Energy Array, he is responsible, Angel no longer consulted anyone else, automatically rolling up his sleeves at the sight of a Magical Energy Array.

His ability to penetrate the door with sound wave patterns indicated that the magical energy array on this door was within his capacity to crack.

However, the efficiency of cracking was slower than Angel had anticipated.

Sound wave patterns entered through the gaps and flaws in the magic patterns. But they needed to open the copper door and enter inside, necessitating a method to crack the door’s magic patterns and ensure the main magical energy array remained oblivious, necessitating a small external array.

This endeavor consumed a significant amount of Angel’s time.

When the copper door was finally pushed open, five minutes had elapsed.

The crowd entered the door one after another, with Dox and Angel the last to enter. Dox glanced at the complex magic patterns on the door, then at Angel’s custom external array disk: "Are you sure you don’t want to recover it?"

"This copper door has been restructured to function independently of the magical energy array. Even if it is reconnected to the magical energy array, it might be rejected. So, there’s no need to recover the array disk. Recovering it might cause some energy clashes here."

Dox sighed: "If this building indeed offers a way, and it leads to the target location, I feel like we have become pioneers, doing all the technical work. Later, when the Merchant Organization catches up, they will completely reap the benefits. Like the magical energy array left behind in the underground church, it was evidently you who repaired it. After we leave, this passage will likely be in the hands of the Merchant Organization, exploiting every advantage."

Angel thought Dox had something particular in mind to say, intentionally staying back to speak to him. Unexpectedly, it was just to vent.

Angel understood where Dox’s frustration stemmed from, but if he didn’t crack it, should they wait for the Merchant Organization to crack it behind them?

Even the Black Earl didn’t intervene here; what kind of Magic Rune Mage could the Merchant Organization summon to crack it?

Thus, resignation was necessary.

"Don’t overthink it; there’s no such thing as complete freeloading. Those who seemed to reap all the benefits were the other wizards who explored this relic over the millennia; we and the Merchant Organization are merely scavengers."

After Angel spoke, he patted Dox’s shoulder: "Let’s go, and gather what we can."

"Ah, though that’s true, I still struggle to accept it peacefully. Let’s hope there aren’t any other passages inside..."