Warlock Apprentice

“Maybe the nightmare stone on that ship gave out an origin reaction and connected to the nightmare realm by accident because of the space particles have a similar frequency?” Sunders pondered.

Such a rare coincidence happened before. If two planes overlapped with each other and it was not carved out using great magic, it could only be a coincidence.

Sunders’ joy gradually vanished. Finding a fixed entrance to the nightmare realm meant he no longer needed to find Greya. Sunders had been alive for hundreds of years. He quickly recovered his temperament and disregarded the nightmare realm aura he sensed.

Seeing how Sunders did not answer, Flora did not push for an answer. She had been his student for longer than anyone else, so she knew that nobody could get an answer when Sunders preferred not to tell.

A black owl flew into the tent, circled around, and landed on Flora’s shoulder. A visible air ripple came out of the owl’s beak. Flora analyzed the message contained in the ripple, then grinned.

“Teacher, Isa said that the death match in chamber four has ended. The winner is Balba.”

Isa was the name of the black owl – Flora’s favorite alchemy familiar.

“Oh?” Sunders glanced towards the southwest carelessly. His eyes contained a strange magic ripple. To him, something that was far away could be seen easily from here.

Chamber four was a giant, square, sealed-off house.

A bald young man with dark brown, almost black skin, wearing nothing on the upper half was now standing on top of a heap made from human corpses. A red gleam shone in his eyes, ancient totems with a fluorescent blue color slowly spread on his muscular body…

Just like the other wizard organizations, the one Sunders was in—Brute Cavern—also scouted for talented apprentices across the world when the sea unfroze. However, they used an approach which was way less peaceful compared to The Redbud.

They arranged all talents into various chambers to join deathmatches. The final survivors were considered the best among the best, and only these people would become new apprentices of the Brute Cavern.

The bald man in chamber four was the sole survivor in his chamber.

Sunders showed a gentle smile and a thoughtful look, “Ha. I didn’t expect the winner to be a cross between a human and an otherworldly brute.”

“Heehee. He’s not a real human from this world after all. Without enough strength, the world consciousness will get rid of him sooner or later, unless we banish him to another plane,” said Flora. She was also observing the corpse mountain and the survivor panting on it, using a similar vision spell.

“Teacher, what should we do about him?”

“The way of wizard calls for truth and the ultimate reason in the universe. We bend the rules using our own knowledge. Such great art is not to be considered alongside those petty, abilities in other places. The otherworldly creatures have been drooling over wizardry just because it can be used by them as well,” said Sunders.

He paused a little before continuing, “We may already know the background of this hybrid, but we can’t exclude the possibility that a powerful being from another plane tampered with his bloodline. It’s almost impossible for him to be a spy, but we can’t ignore that.

“Once we return, keep an eye on him for awhile. If you see any abnormality, kill him immediately. If he proves to be harmless…” Sunders grinned. He then said, “Give him training on the Bloodline Art. When he fused with the bloodline, make him into a puppet avatar.”

Spy or not, the young man’s fate would be cruel, just because half of his bloodline came from another plane.

To wizards, an otherworldly creature who came into the wizarding world by abnormal means either became slave or research material in wizards’ hands or returned to dust as bones because of the world’s consciousness.

“The other eight chambers witnessed their winners as well. Apart from the one in chamber four, we Brute Cavern only found eight talents this year…” Flora feigned a sigh, pretending to be troubled.

“Less than ten. Geez. Those infidels are going to chatter again, about revoking our death chamber recruitment or whatnot.”

Sunders only smiled, “Don’t mind them. Those people should know that if we use the same mass recruitment method like The Redbud, the Brute Cavern would have already fallen out of the Top 10 in the southern region. Only a battle for life would make someone understand the rules of the wizarding world.”

Flora made a sourpuss’ face, “Whatever. Hey teacher, when you find Barbie’s Restaurant, just drag Greya away with us so we don’t have to go find her every time we need locations. This is so tiring!”

Sunders only shook his head with a smile. Greya was not much of a fighter, but she created all sorts of strange spells. If he personally confronted her, he might win, but he certainly could not capture her alive.

“Sigh. If I had not sealed the hemi-passage on me because of my desire for a better level back in the years, I would have…” Sunders exclaimed inside his mind.

…

It was another hazy night. Hurricane and storm created a waterfall outside without any signs of stopping. The surface of the sea shifted in the wind, giant waves swayed The Redbud back and forth like a cradle out of control.

Angor did not get any sleep for the entire night because all he could do was trying to steady himself until the sea calmed down under the sunlight the next day.

Angor dragged himself to his bed using his toiled limbs and finally fell into a deep sleep while still carrying a feeling of weightlessness.

The sleep lasted until the moon hung high in the sky.

As Angor climbed out of bed, he felt poked by the pendant in front of his chest. He took it out from his shirt and looked at the oval, transparent crystal fixed in the middle of the netted metal pendant.

“The Alien Eye…” Angor watched in silence. It reminded him of his home, his brother, and Jon, now tens of thousands of kilometers away.

He was about five months away from home, and he still had not reached the wizard continent. Could he really make it back home after five years?

With a sigh, Angor put away his troubled thoughts and put the pendant back into his shirt, close to his chest. The glaze sphere accompanied his teacher to this world, and there must be something about it. He needed to keep it safe.

Angor continued his redundant life: meals, puzzles, and sleep.

Routine.

Another week passed. When Angor walked by the dining hall one day, he unintentionally looked at the mercury mirror by the door.

Inside the mirror, Angor was no longer himself. The energetic, handsome noble boy had become gloomy. His eyelids were hanging, decorated by dark circles. His lips were dry and chapped, his face pale and dark.

Exhaustion and pressure had forced him into this shape in such a short amount of time.

He could no longer recall when he had a good laugh last time.

He went to the wash basin and planned to calm himself down by putting his face in the cold water. The five-year promise had led him astray, and those noble manners and politeness carved inside his bones were beginning to crumble.

His mind was not right. Yet Angor did not intend to change it, at least not before he solved the puzzles left by Teacher. He would keep his spirit tensed up for now.

Besides, The Redbud did not have any facilities for relieving stress. The other talents could train meditation. But what could he do, apart from solving puzzles?