Warlock Apprentice

Angor frowned again when the howling of souls persisted around his ears for two minutes. It did not seem to affect him in any way, but no one would be happy to hear such an eerie noise in his house for such a long time.

“What’s going on? Did I fail?”

Just as he thought about the possibilities, the dark cloud in the sky quickly died off and became a black tornado. The shadows danced and swirled within. In the end, the “tornado” dropped down and disappeared into a small yard at a remote location of the apprentice town.

All apprentices who observed the situation saw it happening. The stand-out yard quickly drew their attention.

“Was it not an alchemy omen? It didn’t come from the cave in the woods? So Master Prome isn’t behind this?” Those who knew alchemy knowledge asked a question.

An alchemy omen was nothing too special. It was still rare, but the Brute Cavern usually witnessed such a thing twice or three times a year. Most apprentices here still remembered something similar happening on the day when Prome created a mid-tiered item.

At the center of the commotion, Angor was the only one in the area oblivious of what just happened outside. He read about alchemy omens from a book before, yet he never saw one with his own eyes. He did not realize that he just caused one.

“A new alchemist came?” Someone realized the idea and quickly made their own plans.

...

Inside his villa, Angor smiled again in his basement.

The tornado of shadows landed in his yard.

Angor watched as the revolver in his hand drew the shadows in before the weapon then took on a gentle silver glimmer.

The glimmer quieted down soon. An extremely complicated pattern shined on the surface of the gun and displayed its hidden power.

“I’ve done it!” Angor could sense the Prelude to Elimination he engraved.

The gun grip was decorated with a cross and a skeleton, while the barrel was engraved with rose branches. Mimicking the main character he saw in the anime, Angor twirled the revolver around his finger, injected his mana into it, and pulled the trigger.

In an instant, the magic array on the gun brightened up, and a pale silver stream left the barrel.

Leaving the tip of the gun, the stream turned wider into a high-frequency sound wave and covered the area of 180 degrees in front of Angor. The attack crashed and disappeared into the lab wall, which was ten meters from him.

Next, Angor flipped the gun’s hammer and shot again. Instead of spreading, the attack focused and traveled toward one point this time.

Angor was glad to find out that the Prelude to Elimination could both release widespread attack and concentrated one, which meant its user could either eliminate large groups of undead creatures or aim at specific weak points. The power of the attacks changed according to how much mana was used.

“The basement is too small to work out any details. I need to find out how large it can cover, or how far a focused attack can go. Also, I need an actual undead to test its final result...”

He had too little time to do all the tests on his own, so he planned to leave the questions to Prome.

He holstered the revolver inside his pocket and left his lab to head to Prome’s cave.

However, the scene outside his door surprised him a little.

A good number of people had gathered around his yard.

They were doing different things—leaning on walls, against trees, or sitting beside the riverbank. But no matter what they were doing, Angor believed that all the people were looking at him, either openly or in secret.

Someone suddenly exclaimed loudly from somewhere.

From a road rarely taken by people, a gray-robed young man walked toward Angor’s villa. Compared to the other people who pretended to be “hanging around”, this man was staring at Angor with an intense gaze.

“Good day, Mister Padt. Can I have a talk with you inside?” The young man lifted his hood and revealed a handsome yet invasive-looking face.

“Good day,” replied Angor. He had no idea what was going on so he kept his plain expression. “Who are you, and what do you need?”

“Vice Edward presents his most sincere congratulations to you, sir.” The young man put a hand on his chest and bowed to Angor.

“Congratulations?”

However, Angor was more concerned about the man’s name—Vice, which meant something to him. Something bad.

One of the most powerful apprentices in Brute Cavern who shared the title of “the most promising genius” with Nanagi, a man who had been growing strong at a terrifying speed before he even reached the age of 30. It was only a matter of time before he turned a wizard now.

However, Angor was not concerned because of Vice’s title and potential.

This man was Red Butterfly’s rumored lover.

After Angor killed Red Butterfly, Dave warned him that Vice might come looking for trouble. Then Dave said something about how Red Butterfly only used Vice’s name for her own gain, and that in reality, Vice and the woman did not have much connection.

Dave mentioned Vice’s name many times, either with respect or fear.

When practicing Melodious Illusion, Angor tried using Vice’s image to trick Dave. Since he had never seen Vice before, he could only create the figure of a fat guy which was quickly discerned by Dave.

“Mister Edward. I know that name.” Angor tried to figure out the reason for the visit. According to Dave, this man was unlikely here to get revenge for Red Butterfly. So... maybe Twilight sent someone here to kill him?

Probably not. He was now inside Brute Cavern. Anyone who wanted to get his life had to think about Sunders first.

“You heard of me before, Mister Padt? What an honor it is,” said Vice. He kept his gaze on Angor despite his polite words. “So, may I have some of your time, sir? If... the occasion is not favorable, I can come again next time.”

Angor sized up the situation. Toby had mostly recovered. He had weapons and illusions, and there were many people watching, so he believed Vice would not do anything stupid.

He had plans to counter “stupid moves” too, in case something did happen.

“Come in,” replied Angor with a nod.

He opened his door and let Vice in. Before he could shut the door though, two other people squeezed inside.

Vice frowned and tried to stop the intruders but he saw Angor spoke to them with a smile.

“Ah, you two came as well?”

It was Nausica and Sailum. Once they went inside, they pulled Angor aside to talk to him in private.

“Don’t worry, we’ll help!” Sailum whispered.

The boy dragged Nausica— who was looking at the sky with a helpless look— and puffed up his chest.

As a level-3 apprentice, Vice could hear Sailum’s words clearly. Considering that these people were Angor’s acquaintances, he did not say anything about it.

“I’m sorry, Mister Edward. You won’t mind my friends tagging along, right?” Angor gave the man an apologetic look.

Vice smiled back. “I came to visit you with fairness and legitimacy, Mister Padt. People are free to watch.”

“Oh, if that’s the case-”

“If that’s the case, can we join you as well?” Someone interrupted Angor again.

They looked around and saw someone in a shiny purple robe walking down the same path as he waved to Angor happily. He was followed by a young man with a pockmarked face and a pair of large goggles.

“Hello, Master Prome. Of course, for you must know why I’m here,” Vice said.

...

A simple conversation between two men suddenly became a gathering of many.

It was the first time for Angor to have so many visitors in his rented house. He realized he did not have enough glasses to provide them water, so he simply gave them none—they would talk as it was.

Angor and Prome took a sofa, Vice sat across from them, while the remaining people stood somewhere else.

“I wonder where did Mister Edward hear about my name?” Angor asked first.

Vice chuckled, “If I assumed right, there should be a great number of folks who just learned your name after the incident. I’m one of them.”

Incident? What incident? Angor displayed his confusion on his face.

Dave moved closer and whispered to him to explain how the dark cloud covered the town.

Angor was very shocked to know that those “soul howling” created something outside his house as well.

He frowned. If Dave was correct, the omen could be observed by everyone inside apprentice town. Was that why so many people were around his yard?

Vice placed a piece of paper on the table. “This is information that I received from Bartterfly Pub. Pray take a look, Mister Padt.”

Investigations like this were usually done behind people’s backs. Now that Vice told him openly, Angor was actually glad about it given that the man did not hide his “little tricks”.

Angor picked up the paper to read it.

The information contained everything he usually showed to others, such as his professor, his address, an evaluation of his strength. The paper pointed out that he was an alchemist who accepted quests from the questing hall before and completed everything with perfection.

At the end the message, the Bartterfly Pub left an addendum:

[According to speculations, the title used by Angor Padt in Sky Tower was “Baron Milk”.]

[A friendly giveaway: It seems Baron Milk is the culprit behind Red Butterfly and Canine Master’s deaths.]

His title was exposed? Angor put down the paper and shook his head. He somewhat expected this to happen, since thousands of people witnessed the incident caused by him and Toby inside the auction hall.

His later matches in the tower were all managed by Toby too. Anyone who checked his battle record could easily surmise that he was “Baron Milk”.

The embarrassing name itself was not much of an issue. However...

Angor pinched his nose bridge and felt a big headache. To people, the name of “Baron Milk” was beyond evil. It was... noxious.

Considering Parasite Queen’s huge fan base... Angor got the feeling that he was not going to be able to walk around while staying low-profile ever again.