Warlock Apprentice

“Oh, the soup’s working.” Greya looked at the hand which was trying to climb out of Angor’s body.

It was Angor’s soul.

The second hand followed behind. Then, his head and torso…

When Angor’s soul almost left his body, another lightning strike brightened the room with a loud BOOM. At the same time, the castle door was suddenly pushed open, allowing raging wind to come inside.

A woman with white hair and ice-colored pupils stood outside the door.

Before anyone could react, she already reappeared right in front of Angor.

“Foolish!” she yelled. With a glowing hand, she pushed at Angor’s soul and forced it back into his body.

“Lady Isabelle?!” Greya called in surprise.

The woman had Venees’ body, but that mighty aura and dignity weren’t something Venees could possess.

There were beads of sweat on Isabelle’s forehead for some reason. “Cancel your spell right now!”

Greya realized that Isabelle was referring to her Spiritualism Soup, which was still lingering in front of Angor’s nose. Greya didn’t know what Isabelle meant, but since Isabelle was a legendary Soul Manipulator, she should definitely listen to her.

After Greya removed the liquid from Angor, Isabelle finally pushed Angor’s soul back inside.

With another spell, Isabelle managed to calm Angor’s agitated soul. Now, Angor’s soul returned to its original spot quietly and slowly opened its eyes again.

In reality, Angor’s head tilted to one side. His body fell “asleep” again.

Isabelle let out a sigh in relief.

“See what you’ve done now?!” Isabelle looked at Felicia with great impatience. “Stop assuming that you’re all almighty and invincible, or your curiosity will kill you sooner or later.”

Felicia was still trembling in cold sweat on her chair. When she received Isabelle’s cold glare, she slowly looked down.

“Lady Isabelle, whatever just happened?” Greya asked.

“She already told you, no? This apprentice has been marked by a very powerful being, and SHE tried to touch the mark. She deserved such an outcome.”

“Powerful being? Who is it?” Greya knew there was a scene in her memory related to this, but she couldn’t tell why.

“I do not know,” Isabelle said as she shook her head. “I was interested in his soul because I sensed a certain ripple in him. I didn’t know there’s such terror hidden within him too…”

Isabelle also shivered a little. If she tried to possess Angor’s soul like she initially planned, she might be the one in Felicia’s situation.

“I’m going back to Spirit Realm. Do NOT do anything to his soul again. That mysterious being might be… something beyond legendary.” Another lightning flash accompanied Isabelle’s words which made her words heavily terrifying.

Beyond legendary…

Greya’s mouth dropped open, while Felicia’s body trembled harder.

“I don’t know why it left such a mark on this apprentice, but it must have his or her own reason. Just remember that it’s none of your business, whether that being meant good or harm to Angor. Don’t ask, don’t listen, and definitely don’t meddle with it!”

With that, Isabelle turned away.

“Lady Isabelle, is Toby…” Greya tried to ask something else.

“… He’s getting better. Tell Angor to come to my Spirit Realm one week later, and I shall return Toby to his hands. Don’t bother me otherwise.”

Both Isabelle’s voice and her form slowly dissipated into the wind.

The door closed on itself, stopping all interference that troubled the castle hall.

Greya sighed and sat in front of Felicia.

“Mister Phantom is Angor’s mentor,” Greya spoke in a tired voice, “and I guess you already knew it. I must say it is unwise of you to snoop around his secret like that.

“As Lady Isabelle said, you tend to underestimate people too much. Well, I guess I can’t blame you since most wizards are like that, including me. I used to regard the whole world as something I can command until my assistants changed my way.” When talking about her restaurant, Greya quickly grew furious.

“It will be very difficult to repair your relationship with Angor now.” Greya shook her head. “It’s supposed to be a dinner. Must you make it so unpleasant?”

Felicia didn’t answer. It seemed like she had accepted the lecture.

“… So, why did you put Toby in Angor’s hands? You already noticed his potential?” Felicia asked after a while.

“That’s only one reason. I chose him also because Toby asked to follow Angor. You know, Toby’s existence alone is already something that disobeys natural laws. Maybe his instinct already told us something.

“If you insist on regarding Angor as your enemy or test subject, you might as well kill him right now. Otherwise, don’t worsen your terms further.”

“I see. By the way, do you remember anything about that stitch woman?”

Greya considered and said, “I think I saw… some old desks and a painting on the wall. But I cannot tell where exactly they came from. I think it’s not inside the southern wizarding region.”

“Another plane, you mean?”

“It’s probably Nightmare Realm.”

…

Angor remained on his bed for three days. When he opened his eyes, he saw a black figure sitting right next to him. Out of instinct, he jolted up.

It was Shadow.

“Oh, you’re awake?” Shadow was wearing rags for some reason. Half of his pants were gone, and he had nothing over his top half. Angor could see the man’s scarred stomach and thorax.

“What happened to you?” Angor checked Shadow up and down.

“That’s MY question! That servant told me you’ve slept for three days. I know the bed is soft and all, but do you have to sleep in like that?”

Angor quickly tried to remember what he saw before he fainted the other day. The only thing he knew was that Felicia reached for his soul scar, and… his memory was cut off from there.

“Is Miss Felicia alright?”

“Huh? Well, I saw her making wines again in the hall, so I think she’s fine?” Shadow tilted his head. “It’s strange though. She didn’t badmouth me again when I passed through. She always did before, since she really hates my teacher.”

Angor considered and decided not to ask about Shadow’s teacher—it wasn’t wise to talk about gossips related to wizards. Since Felicia was fine, then nothing serious really happened. The last person who did something similar was Parasite Queen, whose soul just vanished instantly. Was it because Parasite Queen was only a weak apprentice?

Shadow nudged Angor and interrupted his train of thoughts. “Hey quick, got any more clothes?” Shadow seemed really angry. “This damn place is full of women. I didn’t find any clothes for men.”

Angor moaned and took out a robe from his bracelet. “What’s with those injuries? You ran into traps again?”

“Oh damn it!” Shadow accepted the robe and sat on the floor. “It’s not a trap. Just, my teacher set me up!”

Shadow explained his adventure.

“Since Fiona could lead the way, I can avoid all the traps. I found Naga inside the old witch’s lab…”

As the others had promised, all wizard-level mechanisms in the laboratory were shut down. Shadow smoothly discovered where Naga was placed.

But something happened at the last moment.

Naga was fully charged with energy.

Only someone who learned puppet arts could do this, which meant Shadow’s teacher left Naga here with full energy.

Shadow failed to take Naga away because he couldn’t defeat her. As an apprentice, it would take him years to exhaust Naga’s energy.

His only choice was to run away, and he could only do it due to the fact that Shadow was familiar with Naga’s abilities; otherwise, he would probably get killed instead.

“I thought my enemies are those bitches in Dark Castle,” Shadow seemed sad now as he said, “but not my stupid teacher!”

“I’ve always wanted to ask; what is ‘Naga’ anyway?” Angor grew curious.

“She is… an ownerless magic puppet, thrown away by my teacher. She was crafted using the live body of a wizard. But the most important thing is, I’m a Shadow Puppeteer, and Naga is the only Shadow Puppet ever created by my teacher.

“I once completed a very difficult task. He told me Naga is my reward. But I can only take her when I become an apprentice at the peak level. I believed him.

“When I finally reached this level, he told me that Isabella took Naga away, so here I am, at Dark Castle doing this stupid challenge, only to be tricked by him again!”

Shadow was almost crying now. His chance of becoming a wizard turned out to be bogus!

Angor frowned at Shadow’s misfortune. “How powerful is Naga?”

“Well, she can’t possibly have her full strength in that body, but she’s still at wizard level.”