Warlock Apprentice

The ultimate goal for wizards was the truth, an answer to all.

"You can find many ways to approach the answer," Sunders lectured while they stood on the back of a demon falcon. The gentleman held his top-hat with a hand while his black cape danced wildly in the wind.

"Besides, there might be more than one answer that awaits."

Sunders looked in another direction where some rainclouds gathered. It seemed a storm was approaching. Angor saw several apprentices floating near the clouds and writing something. He remembered seeing the same scene in Brute Cavern many times, in different places.

A philosophy book from Earth explained that one should "learn as he goes" while combining what he saw with his experience. This was just what those apprentices were doing.

Some of them were collecting water element, some of them created traces of clouds around their bodies, and someone was trying to push the rainclouds and observe their movement.

"They are working on the same subject. But they'll each get a different answer in the end. Do you know why?" Sunders looked at Angor.

"Because… they learned different things in their lives. Also, they think in different ways."

"Correct. They should walk their own paths. If someone tries to imitate the way of another without achieving his own first, he'll fail both."

Angor realized what Sunders tried to say. His professor was worried that he might get indulged by what his new power might bring and started to work on his soul energy from today instead of moving toward his original goal.

Power was always an attractive treasure, especially for apprentices. There were many living examples in the Sky Tower, who aimed for advanced spells while completely ignoring their fundamentals. The sequence of gravity was very likely to get the better of a weak apprentice like Angor, and Sunders would be greatly disappointed if his student was blinded by the momentary benefit.

"I know what's more important, professor," said Angor as he gave his teacher a determined look.

Sunders nodded and did not say anything further.

In truth, Sunders was being a bit oversensitive. Angor had another reason for his eagerness to grow stronger. He promised to save Jon in five years, and he already lost more than a year. Angor had no time to care about other matters.

The Tree of Eternity was well within reach, which meant they would arrive at Phantom Island soon. Angor still had questions, so he decided to ask them when he still had time.

"Professor, was that a basic illusion you used on Saka?"

Sunders nodded and asked something in return, "I saw you observe the illusion for a while. Did you figure out anything?"

Angor told Sunders what he learned. He also recreated a smaller version of the illusion on top of his palm. A tiny yet vivid scene came alive in his hand.

"Good. You've done well learning how to use micro illusions." Sunders was not stingy with his words of compliment.

Angor giggled. He had only learned the idea of micro illusions when he was creating the demon falcon statue.

"Everything you said is correct. Nodes, logic, mana distribution… You even found out what I placed in the illusion. I see you're pretty skilled at basic illusions now. So… you wish to learn about Melodious Illusion?" Sunders revealed Angor's intention.

Angor quickly nodded. His thirst for knowledge was plain on his face.

Instead of answering, Sunders grabbed the back of Angor's collar and leaped down from the demon falcon, which caused Angor to panic a little.

But Angor soon calmed down. His professor would not do this without a reason.

However, when they were about to hit the ground, he quickly realized that Sunders did not use any mana energy at all. In fact, Sunders was no longer beside him! The gentleman was floating near the demon falcon as he watched him fall.

Angor's mind went blank, and he could hear his heart beating like a drum. There were only a dozen meters left. His face was now pale with fear.

It felt exactly like how he was blown off the clouds and fall from the sky when the world's consciousness descended to Brute Cavern.

But he had Lady Mirror to save him on that day. Would Sunders do that now?

No! Something told Angor that Sunders was not going to help him at all.

The fear in his eyes was quickly replaced by violent determination—Why must I trust my life to someone else? I can do it myself!

Angor quickly went through the cantrip models he learned. He did not learn many from books, but he knew a lot of altered models.

But which one could help in such a situation? Angor's mind worked so fast that time seemed to be slowing down.

One particular model caught his attention. A model he noticed when trying to resolve the Cleanse spell.

The Cleanse spell used a combination of water and wind elements, and its model consisted of a "surface" and a "magatama". If he used a "shattered magatama", more water element would show up. This meant that the spell would raise more wind element if both "magatama" and "surface" were kept intact.

When the hologram tablet worked on the viable element combinations for the spell, there was a certain combination that took the device fifteen minutes to figure out.

Angor applied the combination to the correct magic formula and reached a conclusion that it was a wind-aspect combination by using "intact magatama and surface".

"Maybe wind can help me slow down." Angor desperately attempted the spell. His eyes were bloodshot due to great pressure on both his body and mind.

Previously, when Angor tried to cast a spell that took such a long time for the hologram to calculate, he experienced a magic backfire and suffered from damaged spirit for half a month. He never dared to try it again.

But he did not have a choice now. He did not know any wind spells, and there were no level-0 wind cantrips that allowed people to fly. This altered wind-aspect model was his only chance.

"Here goes nothing!"

Before hitting the ground, Angor cast the cantrip.

Mana was drained from his mana pool like crazy. It was depleted when the model was almost done.

This was exactly what happened during the magic backfire. With no mana to finish the model, it began to crumble on itself.

"This is it…" Angor closed his eyes in despair. He did not have enough mana. The model he was using was probably a level-1 cantrip or something more powerful.

When he waited for his imminent doom, he felt a stream of gentle energy in his body, which did not have a specific attribute.

More mana?

Angor did not have time to figure out where it came from. He quickly injected the mana into the unstable model, which was successfully finished before it was too late.

A completed cantrip model!

He released the spell from under his feet as fast as he could.

A whirling wind suddenly appeared under him.

Angor could hear something screaming in pain. It sounded like a bird too. When he wondered what just happened, he realized that he was gaining altitude again with the help of a small tornado under his feet.

Wait… tornado?

The Tornado spell was a level-3 cantrip which combined water and wind elements. But it was a powerful one, unlike the miniature tornado under him now.

At least he was safe. Angor sighed in relief and tried to get over his fear.

A hoarse yet gentle voice came beside his ears, "Oh boy. You hurt my demon falcon. How naughty of you."

Angor saw the scenery in front of his eyes… changing. He should be somewhere near the ground now. But when he could see clearly again, he was still flying high in the sky.

And Sunders still had his hand on his collar.

Not far from them, a demon falcon was struggling in the air while squawking terribly. A giant bleeding wound had appeared on its back. There were wind and water elements lingering on the wound.

"Is—is that an illusion?" Angor's face went pale again in horror. It could also be the result of exhausted mana. Or both.

"Ha!" Sunders chuckled. Unlike his usual indifferent temperament, his reaction seemed energetic and sincere this time, which somewhat comforted Angor's spirit.

Sunders' reaction was also the answer Angor waited for. Angor released his spirit feelers to sense the environment. As he expected, there were traces of a basic illusion.

Everything he saw was fake!

Angor felt his face burning in embarrassment. During his maniacal attempt to survive, he probably looked miserable, like a drug addict suffering from withdrawal who crunched his own teeth with a twisted face.

And Sunders had seen it all.

Angor covered his face. His image… ruined! He worked so hard to establish a modest and timid character in front of Sunders!

Sunders slowly carried the boy back to the demon falcon by his collar. Angor was not moving at all. Anyone who saw his pale face now would probably mistake him as a corpse.

The demon falcon threw Angor an angry glare, which caused Angor to lower his head further.

Sunders used a simple spell to heal the demon falcon up. However, the spell did not bring back the creature's feathers. A giant patch on the back of the bird was left bald, which really stood out among the other beautiful plumes.

Angor sat on one side of the demon falcon and remained silent.

"Did you just use an altered version of Tornado?" Sunders tried to get his student out of the embarrassment.

Angor muttered in a small voice. "No idea. I used something like that for the first time only."

Sunders nodded in acknowledgment. "A complete magatama located on top of a surface. Was that originally a Cleanse spell?"

Since his professor knew the look of the model, Angor was sure he received the extra mana from Sunders himself.

"Yes… It was Cleanse," answered Angor after a moment of hesitation. "And… thank-thank you, sir. I'd have gotten backfired again if not for your help."

"It happened last time when you attempted an altered Cleanse spell. Did you just use the very same one?" Sunders looked interested in the new model. Anyone would if a level-0 cantrip used for cleaning stuff suddenly gained the same amount of power of a level-2 attacking cantrip.

It wasn't the same.

Angor thought in his mind.

"Yes, professor," Angor answered.

"Impressive. It's flawed, but being able to turn a level-0 cantrip into something like that is already worth noting down in the history book," said Sunders as he put a hand on Angor's shoulder. "If you're willing to, you can introduce this improved Cleanse of yours to a magazine for apprentices. People will like it a lot."

Angor mumbled again and did not comment. He kept his head low as he thought about his miserable life.

Sunders could not help smiling at his student's childish reaction.

"Did you find the effect of Melodious Illusion from that basic illusion?" Sunders changed the topic to distract Angor's thoughts.

Melodious Illusion? There was?

Sunders' question aroused enough of Angor's curiosity.

Angor tried to recall what he saw in the illusion. But he could not think of anything in the end.

"You didn't?"

Angor was only sure that was a basic illusion since he already found the nodes of it. But Melodious Illusion? He could not sense any of it.

Melodious Illusions required sound. But there was no sound at all! Unless… Was it the sound of the wind?