Warlock Apprentice

At the same time…

Sunders had been to this projected garden in the Nightmare Realm for many times. He clearly knew the structures and monster distribution in this area.

When he arrived here, instead of going for Angor right away, he began going through his memory first.

The Nightmare Realm was a special place for many reasons. One of them was that this world could affect your brain. Sometimes the place removed certain memories from you or added something into your brain. It could also block certain emotions. In worst cases, you would no longer remember who you were. However, such things did not happen often.

What the Nightmare Realm deleted from your mind was random. It did not matter if the plane took away trivial memories. Sometimes you would not even notice that something was taken away, such as the meals you ate during childhood, paths you walked, flowers you smelled or what kind of bed you slept on… Losing a memory would not have any effect on you if you were lucky. Besides, you would not lose those memories forever. Once someone returned to the wizarding world, the memory would come back as well.

Losing a random memory could be considered lucky.

Sunders went over his memory. As a wizard, he had superior memorizing skills. From his childhood, his prudent present, to the experience he accumulated over centuries… he could remember them all.

The memories slowly opened up in his mind like a spreading scroll, revealing his past life in chronological order.

In a second, Sunders saw the moment when he turned from an innocent child to an immature teenager. This was when he suddenly noticed blankness—the memory when he just became an adult was gone.

“Huh… I forgot how I came to the Garden of Labyrinth for the first time?” Sunders tried to remember. His mind was empty and he could recall nothing.

He frowned.

When he determined “priority” for his memories, this memory was not an important one.

But… he lost a memory related to the Nightmare Realm, about this place. Sunders felt strange. He had a feeling that losing that memory would cost him something.

After checking his memories, Sunders quickly moved. His new pupil had nothing to defend himself. Something terrible would certainly happen if Sunders did not find him soon.

He cast a Wind Walk spell which allowed him to run several times faster. He dashed through the buildings swiftly. Instead of running on roads, Sunders chose to leap on top of the buildings.

His landing point was not far from one of the coordinates. He did not go straight for it. Sunders slowly approached the coordinate by circling his way around, so there was a bigger chance of catching Angor. If he switched coordinates too quick, they would probably miss each other on the way.

The first coordinate was a statue of a goddess who was planting flowers while holding a water pot in her hand. There were few monsters nearby, and the most powerful of them was about as strong as an Elementary Apprentice. Sunders did not find any traces of human here. There were only a bunch of monsters swarming up towards him.

Sunders killed some monsters with a simple spell and immediately went for the next point without looking back.

He chose his path carefully. He was familiar with the Garden of Labyrinth, and he only chose paths that helped him avoid stronger monsters.

This projected garden was relatively moderate compared to other areas in Nightmare Realm Sunders ever been to. There were a lot of monsters here, but they were not strong. The pyramid area was way deadlier compared to here.

However, this did not mean Sunders could roam around freely.

There were at least several dozens of places in the entire Garden of Labyrinth where Sunders would never approach. For example, the central palace was home to a monster who called itself the “Queen of the Net”. Even legendary wizards did not dare to face her. There was an amusement park ahead of him to the left which was full of invisible baby wraiths. He could fight one or two of them, but millions of those wraiths would be impossible to deal with. Also, there was a tunnel full of Glutton Flowers in the sewers, where he would stay away at all times. There were a lot more areas about which he should be careful.

The monsters in these “red zones” usually did not leave their territories. Usually. Even if Sunders kept away from these places, he still remained cautious without causing too much noise.

Sunders went to the second coordinate by sweeping all surrounding monsters clean. No sign of Angor.

The third, the fourth… until the sixth. Sunders spent two days and nights to sweep through the six coordinates in the city area, without finding Angor.

Next, Sunders searched the city again, to no avail.

There were three possibilities. One, Angor was dead. Still, at least there should be traces left. Sunders found no such traces in the entire city. Unless Angor was so unfortunate that he spawned inside the middle of monsters and was devoured alive?

Two, Angor could have appeared inside one of the danger zones. This was unlikely either. Sunders observed from vantage points and did not see anything in those places.

The third possibility… Angor directly appeared inside the sewer maze.

This was the best bet, about 70% probability, according to Sunders’ speculation.

Sunders sighed upon thinking about the idea. How could his new student be so unlucky?

The danger of underground maze was not the only problem. The maze changed and shifted randomly. Sunders needed some serious luck to bump into Angor in the maze, or his only choice was to meet Angor at the last coordinate in the center of the maze.

But… could the little boy make it all the way there? The answer to that question was obvious, and it was not positive.

Nevertheless, Sunders liked his new pupil, and he still needed to find him. Sunders spent another day looking overground and made sure Angor was not here (whether alive or dead). Then he found the entrance to the sewers and jumped down.

…

“Water… please…”

Angor did not know how long he had been walking in the desert. He lifted his head weakly, only to see boundless sand reaching the horizon.

Angor dragged himself on. He did not know why he was here, but he had no choice. After traversing the desert for several months, he used up all food and water.

What should I do? Water… I need water…

Angor mumbled in a weak voice.

A drop of water suddenly hit his lips. It released a sweet scent. Angor eagerly licked at the water when another drop came down…

“More… please… I need more…” Angor yelled.

He opened his eyes with a start. His vision was all blurry.

“A dream…” Angor wiped some wet stuff off his lips and muttered to himself.

Dream? Wet?

Angor realized something and quickly looked upward.

A flower with a mouth on it was floating above him. It looked beautiful. It had pale black petals which released shining colors like stars. Actually, the flower itself looked like a bright night sky.

However, such beauty could not help him deny the fact that the wetness he felt on his lips came from the opened mouth of the flower… It was its spit!