Warlock Apprentice

Flora regained her calm expression and discarded the unnecessary thoughts.

Oh, this is nothing, compared to what I heard about Sumesh…

“Good afternoon, Miss Flora.” Angor bowed politely.

Flora folded her umbrella and gently landed in front of him while bringing the smell of rose with her.

“Good afternoon, dear. I must say you scared me a little. I’m talking about your growth in the past year.”

“I was lucky.” Angor maintained his neutral smile.

“Heh. Luck does not favor just anyone, you know.”

Flora still had her plans, so she didn’t intend to spend time chatting. Yet before she could leave, she felt Little Red trembling behind her back.

Confused, Flora turned around and talked to Little Red.

Then she looked back at Angor again. To be more accurate, she was looking at Angor’s right hand, which was hidden inside Sunders’ black glove. From it, Flora saw the particular aura of nightmare illusions as well as the emblem that came with a long sword stuck inside a thorned rose—the emblem of Eagle Family.

“That’s… professor’s glove. He used it in his early years. It suits you!” Flora said while taking a rose from Little Red and giving it to Angor. “Little Red is afraid of ‘that’, so I have to deliver the flower to you this time.”

When accepting the rose, Angor felt the green marks on his right hand suddenly going active as a small stream of nightmare energy was injected into the flower. In the next second, the blood-red rose gained an even brighter gleam as if it were glowing.

Angor grew a little bemused at the strange sight. He then smiled at Little Red.

“Thank you. This is beautiful.”

Ever since he met with Little Red in Barbie’s Restaurant, this strange skeleton would give him a rose every time they met each other. Angor thought this was only a random gift and left all the roses somewhere to wilt. Therefore, he was surprised to notice that when the rose absorbed his nightmare energy, it could be used as a nightmare stone or a medium for casting powerful nightmare illusions.

Sunders already mentioned Angor’s condition to Flora. Yet when witnessing the amazing power up close, Flora still felt curious… and jealous.

Man… I want that. But I have to chop it off first…

She forced herself to discard the terrible idea and looked away.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know where this thing came from either.” Angor was talking to Little Red.

Little Red “smiled” by turning the green embers in its eye sockets into crescent shapes; it then made a gesture to tell Angor that it was alright.

“Ignorance… and horrifying luck.” Flora chuckled. “Keep the flower. I’m leaving.”

Angor quickly stopped her as he remembered something.

“Can I ask you a question, Miss Flora?”

“What?”

“About spell slots…” Angor described how Sunders suddenly changed his mind and did not finish his words on that day. “I’ve been reading a lot of books, yet I still don’t know what the professor tried to tell me.”

Flora, however, had no problem figuring out Sunders’ intention after following him for so many years.

Sunders always had one thing he regretted badly.

It was possible to open up a new spell slot each time someone gained a level. As a level-2 wizard, Sunders currently had three spell slots, including the one he gained as an apprentice.

Sunders fixed “Imitation” to his first spell slot, while the other two were “Nightmare Shade” and “Nightmare Substitute”, which were created by Sunders himself after he became a truth-finder.

The latter two were powerful spells that went well with Sunders’ talent, whereas “Imitation” was an ordinary level-3 cantrip, which might be enhanced when combined with nightmare energy, but generally speaking, it was still a cantrip that held limited potential.

Sunders regretted that he wasted a valuable spell slot on a common cantrip.

Naturally, the best choices to be affixed to permanent spell slots were someone’s original spells, such as Greya’s “Artificial Life”, which was powerful enough to challenge the world’s consciousness and bend the rules of this world. The other reason for using an original spell was that an original spell could display its full power in the hands of its creator.

It was clear to Flora that Sunders meant to tell Angor to aim as high as possible when opening up the first spell slot. Yet Sunders did not say it in the end. Flora wondered if her professor withheld the opinion because he wasn’t confident in Angor.

No, that can’t be.

Wealth, knowledge, even emotions… a wizard could miss such a thing or two. What a wizard needed was confidence. How could someone explore the ultimate truth if they were afraid to do so?

Then why did Sunders keep it from Angor?

Flora thought about Sunders’ mission in Abyss Plane and easily thought about a possible conclusion.

There isn’t enough time.

To create a brand new spell, one had to receive the acknowledgment from the world’s consciousness and challenge its very nature, which was only possible after combining their rich knowledge with endless effort. If Angor were to take such a path, he would need more than time.

However, the coming incident in Abyss Plane would soon shroud the entire southern region under the terror brought by a Grand Demon. If Angor spent too much time working on a new spell, he would not be able to become a wizard in time.

It was ten millennia ago when a Grand Demon almost destroyed the entire southern wizarding world. There would be barely any chance for Angor to survive from such a disaster as an apprentice.

If he were to become a wizard, it would mean that Angor would be able to protect himself better.

Sunders did not tell his opinion because he did not want Angor to take the “slower” path. If Angor were to die in the coming fight, all his talent and effort would be wasted.

Even so, no one would deny that it was quite an achievement to challenge the path of truth as an apprentice.

“Miss Flora?” Angor noticed Flora was lost in thoughts for too long. “Do you know what the professor wanted to say?”

“I do! But are you sure you want to hear it? He didn’t tell you for a good reason, you know.”

Angor hesitated.

Is it something too difficult for me? Or is there another problem?

Angor did not know about the demon disaster that was about to hit this world. To him, he had to choose the best path that he could, just like how he decided to study “thirty-six-dimensional locator” even though Sunders suggested him not to.

“Please, tell me.”

Flora saw Angor’s determination, yet she wasn’t so sure whether she should alter Sunders’ decision.

A part of her said no, but there was another evil voice inside her mind that urged her to do otherwise. After learning about Sumesh’s condition and seeing Angor growing so fast, Flora was worried that she would become the weakest student among them if Angor kept progressing so fast.

Maybe I can use this chance to slow him down just a little?

In the end, the rational part of her defeated the evil voice, and she remained quiet.

She was a wizard after all, and wizards couldn’t let their selfishness take control of their actions.

“Go find the professor if you really want to know. He’ll tell you if you ask him.”

By this, Flora told Angor that Sunders did mean to tell something. The question was whether Angor was willing to find out.

Next, Flora looked at the second floor of Sunders’ manor. Somehow, Sunders was standing on his balcony while looking at them with a thoughtful expression.

Flora waved a hand to say goodbye while sending a voice transmission to her teacher, “Instead of hiding it, how about letting the boy choose for himself?”

Flora left the manor, while Angor and Sunders stared at each other across the garden.

After bearing with the awkward silence for a while, Sunders shook his head and sighed.

“Come to my study.”

…

Just as Flora said, Sunders had no problem revealing the answer.

“If you wish to fix something you created on the first spell slot, let’s say, it’ll take you a hundred years or more. Listen, in ten years, or twenty, at most, another Grand Demon will invade the south. If you are still not a wizard by then… you’ll probably die with the other apprentices. There’s nowhere to hide when the demon’s army strikes.

“This is why I didn’t tell you to spend so much time working on your first spell slot.”

Angor took a moment to digest the terrible information.

Rather than thinking about his choices, he was worried about something else.

What will become of my family when the calamity comes?

Sunders did not mind when he saw that his student was distracted. “If you become a wizard in time, it won’t be hard to protect your kin. So, what is your answer?”

Angor considered his words and answered as seriously as he could, “I don’t think it’s time to choose yet.”

“You’re having trouble making up your mind?”

“No, sir. I mean, you sound as if I should either focus on creating a spell and not become a wizard in time or give up and quickly reach wizard level before the demons come. But, even if I choose the latter, how do you know if I can make it? I’ve been studying wizardry for less than two years!”

“Oh… oops.”