Warlock Apprentice

When Greya pointed a finger at the flower house below her, a golden seedling broke the earth and grew into a towering tree almost instantly, filling the entire area with a pleasant aroma.

Next, Greya intentionally sent a small breeze toward Sunders’ mansion, allowing everyone on the balcony to smell it.

“This is…” Flora sniffed around her in confusion.

While Sunders shook his head and chuckled.

“This is milk,” Rein frowned as he spoke, “and it came from that tree. But what does Greya want to do?”

“That’s beyond me.” Sunders sounded rather cheerful for some reason. “Perhaps another trick to show off her art of creation.”

“Is that so? Well, makes sense. As a gourmet wizard, she created a tree that produces foodstuff…”

While they talked, Angor was looking at the floor in great embarrassment.

THAT is Greya’s gift to me? It’s… wonderful!

He carefully took another sniff and almost drooled.

After finishing her “golden milk tree”, Greya descended from the sky and used a long fingernail to leave a small cut on the tree bark, where some bright yellow milk leaked from it.

She licked at her finger and slowly went over the taste.

Hmm… this is pretty good, but there’s no sweetness in it. I wonder if Angor will like it?

She considered and “planted” a small patch of white flowers below the tree, which gave out enough sweet smell to go with the “milk tree”.

Ah… that’s better.

Greya felt the “reward” she received almost spent after all the work she did, but she did not regret her decision. The extra energy given by the world’s consciousness meant to allow her to peek into the future of “Birth” in advance. As long as she worked harder from now on, she would be able to wield the amazing art by herself.

She wanted to thank Angor by smiling at him again—she managed to tackle the major obstacle of her challenge because of this boy.

Without the “manifestation of Mystery”, she might need to spend a few more decades to find her chance. For this, Greya made up her mind that she would never forget about the timely assistance provided by Angor.

However, she didn’t get to look at Angor before Sunders moved and obstructed her view.

Sunders narrowed his eyes at Greya.

Greya wasn’t sure what Sunders meant by this until she saw Rein Mute as well as many wizards around the island still watching her.

Angor knew how to help wizards create new spells and challenge the path of truth. If this secret got out, Sunders wouldn’t be able to fully protect Angor even if he tried his best.

Well, unless Sunders put Angor somewhere absolutely safe; in other words, to imprison Angor.

This meant completely denying Angor’s future.

In order not to rely on such an adverse method, they had to eliminate any potential danger before it could spread.

Sunders’ threatening look had told Greya that she and Sunders were the only ones who knew about Angor’s “manifestations”. Sunders meant to remind Greya of what she should do.

Greya quickly shifted her look toward Rein Mute and pretended that she meant to speak to him.

“Mister Rein, as you can see, I’m not in the right condition to greet you right now. Once I’ve fully mastered what I gained today, I’ll find the time and pay you a proper visit.”

It was mostly true since Greya did need more time to digest her “trophy”.

Rein nodded and watched Greya leave without saying anything else.

Slowly, Greya floated back into her hut with a complicated mindset. She then gazed at the Twinning Wings on her desk and sighed.

She did not have much time thinking about Angor’s matter after emerging victorious from her challenge. Now that she had more time to herself, she wasn’t sure how to deal with her relationship with Angor anymore.

It was natural for Sunders to protect Angor as his teacher. However, Greya was not a member of Brute Cavern. Her own benefit was still the biggest factor she had to consider. She needed to decide how to approach Angor and Angor’s secret from now on, in order to maximize her gain.

Should she act a little more aggressively? Or keep it peaceful like how she did until now?

After some struggle of mind, Greya decided to maintain the current footing for now. She had been on good terms with Angor, and Toby was the most important “bond” that connected them. Using reckless plots would easily cause Angor to alienate her, and in worst scenarios, put Toby into a bad position.

After receiving such great help from Angor, combined with the fact that she still needed Sunders’ help, Greya didn’t find it necessary to hesitate about this matter.

She already put a lot of trust in Angor, and Angor had been diligently proving his value. There was no point in harming Angor right now.

With this decided, Greya considered herself as Angor’s ally and tried to think of ways to protect Angor better.

First and foremost, nobody, including Greya’s organization—Candy House—should ever learn about Angor’s secret ability.

Also, there were bound to be wizards who noticed how she communicated with Angor as soon as she completed her challenge. She had to think of an excuse for this.

Soon, a plan was made.

“Telling lies will only bring more lies I have to cover up. Might as well be straightforward.”

She knew what she should tell Rein Mute now, should they talk about the incident today.

But she still had more questions.

What is that strange presence hidden inside Angor’s illusion?

She could tell that the sense of Mystery was the key that helped her finally complete the “Birth” spell. Yet she didn’t believe it could help wizards freely discover new spells without any restrictions or drawbacks.

She had to find the time and talk to Angor and Sunders about this.

With these future plans set, she immediately went into her soundproof chamber to carefully remember what she had learned from the challenge. It would be disastrous if any of the wisdom slipped from her mind.

…

While Greya cultivated her mind quietly, the sky around Phantom Island was getting even more crowded as more wizards and even apprentices were attracted here, who loudly talked about their own ideas.

“I saw Phantom Island getting completely burned up, but it suddenly recovered. That was unbelievable!”

“Is Mister Phantom testing a new illusion?”

“That can’t be. Why are so many wizards interested in an illusion? Miss Neon almost died back there if Mister Tree Spirit wasn’t there to rescue her. There must be some big thing we don’t know.”

Nobody cared about the random guesses of these apprentices.

They did not show it, but the wizards were also trying to figure out what exactly Greya did to cause such a large-scale omen and summon the world’s consciousness.

More importantly, why did Greya stay at Phantom Island these days?

Only a small number of wizards questioned Angor’s involvement in the incident, and when nobody could offer useful opinions, this detail was soon neglected.

Rein suddenly spoke to the wizards, “Stop assuming things. I’m the one who allowed Greya to stay. As for her new spell, don’t think too much about it. It’s her freedom to choose where to accept the challenge of truth. Maybe she saw something on Phantom Island that inspired her.

“Also, she promised that she will tell me about her spell once she’s done finishing up, so you all stop worrying. For now, I can tell you that her spell is related to the way of creation.” Rein failed to hide the look of admiration while speaking, “Greya is a true genius. Show some respect.”

Rein’s words solved most of the questions that were troubling the other wizards. They all agreed to wait for Greya’s explanation.

Seeing the crowds leaving, Rein also prepared to depart.

“I chose a good time to visit you, Sunders. I’m very glad I got to witness the whole miracle.”

Sunders smiled but didn’t reply.

“About what I told you earlier…” Rein continued, “Think carefully. It’s THE Abyss Plane. You can never be too careful.”

Sunders nodded. “Danae will probably unite the other organizations using pretty words and make the move at the most critical moment. I don’t expect her to have better plans than that.”

“Glad you know. Don’t forget to come and talk to me before leaving for the Abyss.”

Rein turned away.

When walking past Angor’s position, he showed a slight smile at Angor and flew away.