Warlock Apprentice

“Sell a weapon?” Dave was shocked. He then he lowered his voice and asked, “Are you talking about what I’m thinking about?”

“What you’re thinking about? What do you mean?”

Dave took a deep breath. “Are you selling an alchemy weapon you crafted yourself?”

Angor nodded. “Yeah.”

Of course, Dave choked a little at the answer.

“You already made an alchemy item?”

“Well, yes. You made one too, right? The propeller machine is way more complicated than mine,” Angor said.

“That’s different! I’ve been studying alchemy for… five years!”

Angor smiled. “I used to learn to smith before. I know how to make molds or other tools, so making weapons is easy for me.”

“Really?”

“Of course!”

… Of course not.

But seeing how Dave was about to cry again, Angor decided to keep his “white lie” going.

Angor’s explanation somehow soothed Dave’s sadness and jealousy.

“Alchemy weapons are completely different than ordinary weapons. Even if you’ve had experience before, you still need really good talent to be able to craft a real weapon so fast.”

“Let’s go see my scythe. You can give me a price for it,” said Angor. He stood up and led Dave toward the basement.

“You made a scythe? That’s a rather rare weapon.”

“Because I’m familiar with it. I used to care for gardens and grow vegetables myself.”

He was not lying this time. Ever since Jon could no longer move around freely, it was Angor who took care of his mentor’s fruits and vegetables.

“You mean a farming scythe? I thought it was those used in combats,” said Dave. He paused for a moment before saying, “There aren’t many scythe users in Brute Cavern, but war scythe still sells well. If it’s a farming tool though…”

“No problem. As long as I earn something. One crystal will do.”

It was the first time for Dave to come to Angor’s basement. The broad space was now filled with all kinds of alchemy equipment. The tables still had stains and unfinished materials on them, along with burnt damages caused by melted metal. The whole place looked messy.

The mess did not prevent Dave from casting an envious look around the basement. Every corner of the place gave him a familiar sense.

“Telling from all the marks, you really have become an alchemist,” Dave exclaimed. He really wished he had his own alchemy lab.

“Overpraising me now?” Angor wiped his tables clean quickly and took out the scythe wrapped in cloth from a cabinet.

When he turned around to ask Dave to look at the scythe, he saw Dave in front of the weapon rack, looking at the Chinese weapons he made the other day.

“They look simple. No engraving on them, but their overall designs are beautiful.” Dave looked at Angor and asked, “You made these? Can I check them out?”

Angor lifted a hand to tell Dave to help himself.

“This is a sword? A really interesting one. But isn’t it easy to break apart?” Dave picked up the Qingfeng Sword and moved it along the touchstone in the corner, leaving a shallow cut on it. “A basic alchemy weapon. It could sell for a small sum.”

Next, he picked up the Emei Piercers and moved them around. “Nice. Both good design and power and they’re easy to carry around. Ideal self-defense weapons for certain witches. The design will attract buyers quickly.”

In the end, Dave picked up the sheathless Tang Dao. Of the three weapons, he loved the design of this one most. The blade displayed a deadly beauty without having any extra decoration on it. Moving it in the air proved to be easy and smooth as well.

“This weapon will sell for at least 10 magic crystals, I’d say.”

Dave seemed very satisfied with them. “If you sell these, you can probably earn back all the materials you have bought from me.”

Dave was jealous again. Alchemy weapons always sold well on the market, including ones without special effects. His own creation might seem more advanced than Angor’s weapons, but it was not meant to be used by the public, so it would not sell as much.

“So do you want to sell them?” Dave asked.

“I do if I can. But I don’t have a place to sell stuff.”

Dave thumped his chest. “Put them in Prome’s Alchemy Shop and I can help you with it.”

“Can I?”

“No problem. I’ll ask for a 10% share in the process. Master Prome’s requirement.”

Ten percent was pretty high already. However, without a proper shop, Angor probably could never get the weapons sold on his own, so he agreed in the end.

“Alright. Along with the scythe, I’ll leave them in your hands.”

Dave thought that the scythe was just something similar so he nodded without a second thought.

But when he saw the shining edge on the scythe, he felt he was just tricked by Angor again.

“… You said you learned to smith before, so you can forge weapons easily.”

“I did.”

“Can you tell me then, what kind of blacksmiths teach you how to draw runes?! This is a perfect Rune of Sharpen! Could an ordinary blacksmith create that?!”

Dave felt defeated now. As long as Angor knew how to use Thaw and utilized his smithing knowledge, the previous three weapons were not really hard to make.

The scythe, though, was NOT a basic alchemy weapon. The obvious Sharpen rune shining on the surface of the blade meant it was already a tiered weapon. A low-tiered one maybe. But even something like this would be valued at a hundred magic crystals or beyond!

Dave took another deep breath to calm himself. “I warn you! Don’t you tell me you happen to be talented to learn Runecraft too.”

Angor recalled how Dave almost cried out when hearing about his alchemy talent, and carefully arranged his words. “Maybe I have a really good memory?”

Dave gave Angor a thoughtful look. “You’ve already tested my nerves the last time, and I thought that was it. I was wrong.”

Dave picked up the scythe and triggered the rune on it using mana. He gave the touchstone a mighty slash.

Looking at the deep cut on the touchstone, Dave turned back slowly. “Okay. I’m a failure. A terrible failure.”

Angor did not know how to respond.

It took Dave half an hour to complain about his frustration before he could talk like normal again.

“The scythe is a tiered item. Only a low tier, but it still costs a hundred crystals, at least. It may go for more if there’s an urgency,” said Dave.

“Urgency?”

“For example, someone is going to explore a ruin and needs a new weapon real quick. Or when someone is dueling another wizard for his life and will spend anything to buy a weapon that can save his life.”

Angor considered. “I see… Can you put them up for sale one and a half month later?”

“One and a half month? Is there a reason?”

“Well, yes. You’ll know by then.”

After agreeing upon a price for the weapons, they came to Prome’s Alchemy Shop together. Angor spent 17 magic crystals on some new materials.

Before Angor could leave, Dave took out an object and asked Angor a question.

“Is this yours?”

Angor looked at the small golden bolt in Dave’s hand and raised an eyebrow. “Yes. You found it in the woods?”

“Not me, Master Prome did.” Dave paused a little before saying, “Master Prome seems really interested in your long-range weapon. Can you show it to me?”

Angor lifted his sleeve and revealed the Trigger Crossbow on his wrist.

“An… alchemy item?”

“Sort of, yes.”

Dave carefully inspected the weapon’s delicate designs, but he saw no runes on it.

“It’s not a tiered item, but the creation alone is impressive. And it’s deadly. Even without runes, it can penetrate most defensive spells with enough shots,” Dave commented.

He did not know that Angor drew runes on the bolts, not the crossbow.

“By the way, who came up with such an interesting idea?” Dave asked out of instinct.

When he saw Angor trying to answer, Dave quickly raised a palm. “No, stop. I’ve had enough terrible surprises today.”

Angor reached the second level of Sky Tower by the third day of his challenge plan.

Scattered around the underground market were cableways for participants to reach higher levels. Being able to board a cabin hanging on such a cableway also displayed one’s strength to others.

Audiences had to buy tickets to watch the matches at higher levels.

Those with enough money all went to the top level. No one would waste money on the second level. Mortals who did not have magic crystals could only stay on the first level to satisfy their hunger. This was why the second level had fewer people. Angor’s first match only had two or three spectators. They were also participants at the same level with nothing better to do at the moment.

The opponents here were a lot stronger. Still, using his Trigger Crossbow and “coward” tactic, Angor did not run into any real trouble.

The only heated match was when he fought against an apprentice called “Lord of Darna”, who used blizzard and wind spells. The mighty wind caused his golden bolts to stray off their mark, so Angor had to shoot a great number of them in the air without specific aiming and forced Lord of Darna to surrender in the end.

At the same time, his name was spread around the level quickly.

Angor kept winning. He earned another 40 match points in only three days and gained entrance to the third level soon.

He carefully looked around the participants in the third level. Once he made sure that there were no level-2 apprentices, he grew confident that he could progress without having to worry too much.

However… the very first battle in the third level proved to be harder than he expected.