Warlock Apprentice

Translator:聽Henyee Translations聽聽Editor:聽Henyee Translations

鈥淪o, do I just fight people in the garden and see who comes out in the end?鈥?Angor put down his fork and looked at Sunders.

鈥淟awson didn鈥檛 say anything about the rules yet but should be close to what you said,鈥?Sunders held his chin while speaking. 鈥淎re you afraid? You can always quit if you wish to.鈥?/p>

Angor shook his head firmly. 鈥淣o. I鈥檒l join them and win.鈥?/p>

He didn鈥檛 really care whether he was afraid or not. Since he learned that the garden could provide him a great chance of becoming a wizard, he had to accept the challenge.

He had to grow stronger, both for himself and for those he loved.

鈥淕ood. I鈥檒l give you some lessons these days so that you don鈥檛 die too fast in the garden,鈥?Sunders announced the end of their meal.

Next, Sunders took Angor back to the wilderness in the Garden of Gravity again.

鈥淒o you still remember the illusion I showed you during the meal? Lawson鈥檚 conference hall. Now create that illusion for me,鈥?Sunders asked.

Angor was a little surprised but didn鈥檛 question why. He quickly tried to remember all the details he saw earlier and recreated his own illusion in another perspective.

When Sunders showed Angor the illusion, they witnessed the scene in the conference hall as an outsider who was free to view anything from any angle.

Sunders sensed the weak illusion and believed he could tear open Angor鈥檚 trick at any time. He didn鈥檛 really mind the obvious weakness since he only meant to examine how well Angor observed details.

When he opened his eyes, Sunders was surprised to see Lawson standing not far from him on top of the central podium, while Kanter sat right next to him.

In Angor鈥檚 illusion, he was no longer the free observer. He was 鈥淪unders鈥? He didn鈥檛 expect Angor to use such an interesting way to tell the story.

Did the boy realize that it is a terrible choice to pull someone who actually went through the meeting before into the illusion like this?

Curious, Sunders kept looking around the meeting hall.

The logic seemed fine. So were the small details. There were some mistakes, but Angor managed to patch them up using imagination.

As the conference continued, Sunders realized something and became more serious.

When Angor canceled the illusion, Sunders looked at the sweating boy and smiled. 鈥淕ood try.鈥?/p>

At first, Sunders was simply checking the logic and integrity of the illusion. But later, it became a competition of power between the teacher and the student. Sunders noticed that Angor chose such a perspective because the boy meant to force him into believing that the conference was real.

Angor had been using nightmare aura to trick Sunders鈥?mind.

Without a doubt, Angor had no hope of succeeding if Sunders meant to retaliate. But this time, Sunders chose to accept the nightmare aura.

Soon enough, he figured out Angor鈥檚 plan. It seemed Angor already knew that pure illusion completely wouldn鈥檛 work on his teacher, so Angor chose the hard way鈥攗sing nightmare illusion to hypnotize Sunders.

Usually, hypnosis should not affect Sunders, but something changed because of Angor鈥檚 strange talent. The illusions he created were extremely immersive and touching. For a brief moment, Sunders found his emotion led astray.

And Angor was proud that he affected Sunders鈥?mind for a split second.

Even though he was a man of few words, Sunders didn鈥檛 hold back his praise after leaving the illusion.

鈥淵our talent and nightmare property make a brilliant combination. Anyone other than me would have fallen into your trap by now. I鈥檒l note down your current abilities and judge what to teach you once you鈥檝e chosen a subfield to study.鈥?/p>

鈥?/p>

Angor spent several more days inside the gravity garden as he trained his illusion skills under Sunders.

Two days later, he finally mastered the new cantrip鈥擣ear.

Sunders spoke highly of Angor鈥檚 choice. Again, due to Angor鈥檚 particular talent, his Fear displayed several times more potency compared to ordinary casters. This level-1 cantrip was as powerful as a weak level-2 cantrip in Angor鈥檚 hands.

Given enough time and practice, it wouldn鈥檛 take long for Angor to strengthen the power of the cantrip even further.

Again, Sunders realized that Angor had surprising skills when he saw Angor combining Fear with nightmare illusions. In the right situations, this 鈥淣ightmare Fear鈥?could fabricate realistic horror as effective as level-3 cantrips.

He would admit that Angor just earned another trump card that could be used to devastate enemies.

鈥淔ear is a Mind Manipulator cantrip, and what you just showed me is almost twice as deadly compared to most first learners. Maybe it鈥檚 best for you to go for Mind Manipulator instead of Acoustic Illusion?鈥?/p>

蟻伪螤d伪s螡慰vel.c慰m

Angor鈥檚 Acoustic Illusions were balanced. He could still major in Acoustic Illusion, but it was obvious that Mind Manipulator was a better choice.

Of course, such choices were only temporary. As Angor studied more and gained more insights into different knowledge, he wouldn鈥檛 be needing a main focus. Studying variant subjects might even provide him new ideas to tackle bottlenecks.

Despite Sunders鈥?suggestion, Angor insisted that he should try out different branches before making the final decision.

Several days later, he left the gravity garden to study another cantrip:

Field of Fire.

This cantrip belonged to another Illusionist branch called 鈥淪orcery Array Illusion鈥? Sorcery Array illusionists all needed knowledge related to alchemy and magic arrays, so Angor found it worth attempting.

The time for entering the purification garden was near. Angor knew a lot of defensive and crowd control skills, but he barely knew any cantrips that hurt people. Field of Fire was something that damaged foes in a large area, and a suitable choice to add to his skill list.

After spending another morning doing researches, Number One suddenly came to Angor鈥檚 door. 鈥淢ister Padt, a guest is here to see you.鈥?/p>

While speaking, Number One showed Angor an image in its eye, which also functioned as a screen.

A tall figure wearing felt hat and an eye-catching trench coat was leaning against the door of the mansion in a carefree manner.

鈥淟et him in.鈥?/p>

Angor went to tidy up his looks before he went to the guest room.

鈥淣ow this is a surprise.鈥?He smiled at the visitor and said, 鈥淚t just happens that I have something to tell you as well.鈥?/p>

It was Shadow. Angor didn鈥檛 see him in a while ever since Mithra took him away from Bogula鈥檚 base. He somewhat missed this wicked friend of his.

Shadow sighed. 鈥淲hen you told me about Brute Cavern, I had a hunch that you鈥檙e Mister Phantom鈥檚 student. Looks like I was right.鈥?/p>

鈥淥h, forgive me. I really didn鈥檛 want to show off my teacher鈥檚 name to people.鈥?/p>

鈥淚 feel ya. But I鈥檓 afraid you鈥檒l be really disappointed to know that your name is widely known by everyone today. The entire city has heard of how Mister Phantom kicked my teacher鈥檚 a*s just for you.鈥?/p>

Somehow, Shadow didn鈥檛 seem concerned about Bogula鈥檚 safety at all.

鈥淧eople are talking about you, you know? And there are people from all over the world who came for the purification garden. Soon, they鈥檒l bring the news to their homes. Feeling great now?鈥?/p>

Angor had been staying indoors since nobody ever paid Sunders鈥?mansion any unnecessary visits. He wasn鈥檛 surprised to hear his story traveling around so fast, considering how Floating Mech City had gossip magazines like Precision Sky.

鈥淣ot really. Are you here just to tell me this?鈥?Angor raised an eyebrow. 鈥淎nd did Mister Bogula actually allow you to come?鈥?/p>

Shadow crossed his legs in a lazy manner. 鈥淢y teacher鈥檚 away again. He can鈥檛 tell me what to do now.鈥?/p>

鈥淎way? Can it be鈥斺€?/p>

鈥淣o, it has nothing to do with Mister Phantom. I tell ya, he鈥檚 shameless and doesn鈥檛 care what people say about him. Kinda like me.鈥?Shadow stretched his arms and yawned. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 not like he鈥檇 tell me where he went. So you see, I鈥檓 totally free.鈥?/p>

鈥淏y the way, I came because of the garden again,鈥?Shadow said. He looked at Angor and noticed that Angor didn鈥檛 seem interested at all. 鈥淥kay. You already know, right?鈥?/p>

Angor nodded.

鈥淎h, who am I kidding鈥?Mister Phantom will certainly tell you. Let me guess, you will enter the garden anyway, right?鈥?Shadow put a hand on Angor鈥檚 shoulder. 鈥淏e safe. I trust you, buddy. I know it鈥檚 a waste of breath but I still need to warn you. Be very careful. There are many geniuses and whatnot you won鈥檛 usually find who just came for the same purpose.

鈥淲hen I was walking in the main district with Toya, we saw more than one fights broke out between these people. Most of them are half-step to the wizard level, according to Mister Sabot. Some of them even have wizard-level items to help.鈥?/p>

Shadow looked worried. 鈥淭his time, they don鈥檛 have a limit for how many winners are admitted, so you should run away from any threat you see. As long as you鈥檙e still breathing in the end, you will win this thing.鈥?/p>