Warlock Apprentice

It was a long and tranquil hallway lit by the occasional wall lamps. Angor silently followed behind Kazar.

Angor didn’t know who Mithra was. He only heard Shadow mentioning such a name before, but he never paid much attention to it.

He wondered why this figure suddenly wanted to see him.

Considering how Kazar acted, Angor assumed Mithra was at least another wizard. A wizard personally came to meet with an apprentice… Angor knew he should show up in time.

He didn’t feel stressed at all. No matter who Mithra was or what he wanted, at least nothing would go wrong inside Bogula’s home.

After taking another turn, Angor was surprised to see Shadow waiting for him.

“Leave the rest to me, Butler Kazar. Return to your job,” Shadow said and approached Angor. “Not expecting me, huh? Let’s move. I’ll take you to Mister Mithra.” Shadow beckoned. “Don’t worry. It took me quite a lot of effort to get him to come. If you can develop at least some relationship with Mithra, my professor’s going to think carefully before he can do funny business to you.”

“Who’s Mithra?”

“Shhh! ‘Mister’ Mithra. There are many powerful wizards who call him Master Mithra. As for you, just use Mister like me.”

Next, Shadow briefly introduced the figure to Angor.

Mithra was a master alchemist who majored in Apothecary, and he was also partially experienced in Tooling. The man was barely a wizard in terms of raw strength, yet his alchemy skills earned him great position and respect from people in Floating Mech City.

There was another reason why people respected Mithra—Bogula.

“Mithra used to be my professor’s teacher. Professor admires him, and even sometimes listens to his words. Mithra is the only one in the city who can retrain professor without using force.” Shadow looked proud for some reason as he said, “I already thought about taking you to Mister Mithra. But as part of his training, he’s been in seclusion for two months. I thought I’d never get to him in time.

“But he suddenly left his training tonight. Therefore, I immediately went to him and said how you reached out to the Mystery energy. He’s interested now.”

Seeing how Angor didn’t respond, Shadow thought Angor was still worrying about confronting another wizard. “Don’t you worry. Mister Mithra is an academism wizard. He treats people in a more peaceful way.”

Angor nodded. He was grateful for Shadow’s help, but that didn’t prevent him from feeling nervous when he got to meet with a true master alchemist.

Across a curtain, he already heard someone whispering inside the guest room.

When they entered the room, Angor quickly saw an old man sitting on a sofa. He had a monocle over one eye and was looking at a vial of green liquid in his hand.

The old man had orange hair, which looked a bit withered due to his great age. There were also obvious burn marks on his hair.

His clothing seemed ordinary too. However, Angor’s attention immediately fell upon the good number of metal rings and sticks affixed on the old man’s outer skin. He saw it from a book before; these were alchemy exoskeleton used for assisting one’s alchemy works. They cost quite a fortune.

There were two other individuals in the guest room. One of them was Toya, who held Dodo in his arms. The other one was a muscular, middle-aged male figure, who had been talking to Mithra.

Angor frowned a bit when looking at the muscular man. That face looked familiar.

“Ah, Diablo,” the old man said in a gentle tone. He then looked at Angor and said, “So, you must be Angor?”

Angor looked at him and nodded slowly.

Mithra began inspecting Angor with a smile as well as a special spell that shone from his eyes. Afterward, the old man closed his eyes to think something over.

Meanwhile, the bulky man was also checking Angor with a curious look. Have I seen him from somewhere before?

“Here,” Mithra opened his eyes and pointed at a seat nearby as he said, “you almost created a Mystery Item?”

Just as Angor was prepared to answer the question in a more modest way, Mithra interrupted him.

“Diablo has told me everything. Isabelle has returned to the south. She took away half of your Mystery soul. The other half went inside the weapon you created, which should also hold a certain amount of the Mystery energy. I came here just to ask whether I can take a look at the weapon.”

Angor didn’t speak for quite a while.

Mithra didn’t urge Angor since he knew it was a harsh request to ask of a fellow alchemist. He was asking the boy to show him a secret and probably an important combat tool. Few people would agree to such a thing.

Mithra still revealed his request because he REALLY wanted to look at the Mystery energy. He used to borrow other Mystery Items, which didn’t provide him with enough knowledge because the Mystery energy on them was too powerful to observe. Now that someone possessed an item that was only “half-step to being a Mystery Item”, he couldn’t hold back his urge.

“It’s a rude request, I know. If you can satisfy my curiosity, you can ask something from me as well, as long as it doesn’t disobey my disciplines.”

Angor considered for a little longer and took out Prelude to Rebirth from his bracelet.

Instead of looking at the strange weapon, Mithra gazed at Angor’s wrist first.

Mithra’s eyes glimmered with a different inspection spell.

“A fine space bracelet enchanted with multiple effects. I think you drew a really powerful magic array on it. What is this… oh, I can’t recognize the array. Those runes though… something that conceals your body?”

“Yes, sir. The array is called Infinite Reticence.”

Mithra’s eyes widened a little upon hearing this name. “You crafted the bracelet on your own?”

“Yes.” Angor nodded without withholding info.

He surprised everyone by it too. A space storage was always scarce, let alone one with composite effects.

The bulky man stared at Angor’s bracelet with a bit of greed in his eyes. As a wizard, he never found such a storage item yet.

“Magic array enchantment is no easy task. You succeeded in drawing two of them at once…” Mithra gave Angor a gentle look as if admiring a promising student. He fully knew the difficulty of splitting one’s mind and drawing two magic arrays at the same time while ensuring both of them ended up at the exact same node. Even master alchemists would have a hard time learning such a thing.

“You don’t have enough mana to sustain such a draining process. You used an Energy Stabilizer?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I guess you burned away thousands of magic crystals for it, and you probably did it many times. Ha, the boldness of youth! I’d never attempt such a thing if I were you.”

Mithra’s comment caused people to exclaim in wonder again.

Next, Mithra took Prelude to Rebirth in his hand and began inspecting the weapon using an inspection spell.

While Mithra did his work, Shadow crept closer to Angor and chuckled. “Hey, when I get enough materials, help me make one of this bracelet thing, alright?”

Angor nodded. Shadow provided him a lot of help until now. He should definitely return the courtesy.

“I want it too!” Toya moved closer and winked at Angor.

Shadow pushed to boy away. “Away with ya. Adults are talking.”

Toya pouted and asked Dodo to bite Shadow’s arm.

“Yaaawch!”

Shadow ordered Gummy to join the fight.

When the sofa had become a cover for a battlefield between a cat and a tiny Krakok, Mithra looked up and removed his monocle.

“Have you come up with a name for the weapon?”

“This is a ‘gun’. I call it the ‘Prelude to Rebirth’,” said Angor.

“Prelude to Rebirth…” Mithra mumbled and put a finger on the cylinder. “This magic array, I have not seen it either. Something to eliminate undead, I assume? But what is in this slot here?”

“It’s ammunition for the weapon. But… I don’t know its exact effect,” Angor replied.

Mithra confirmed Angor was telling the truth and nodded. “Using Narda’s Vision, I can see the Mystery energy inside these bullets. This must be what was brought by the half of your Mystery soul.

“I’ve looked enough, and learned enough. Thank you very much for your generosity.” Mithra handed the weapon back to Angor.

The old man then inquired something else about Angor’s crafting work while not going over a certain boundary as to peek into Angor’s secrets.

Mithra also seemed satisfied by the knowledge Angor displayed. By the time they were done talking, Toya was yawning non-stop beside them. Mithra finally stood up and prepared to leave with the bulky man.

“I’ll be staying at the Elixir Hut these days. Feel free to drop by, and please do,” Mithra said before leaving.

“Oh, yes, yes!” Shadow said before Angor could. “I’ll take Angor there tomorrow!”

Shadow saw Mithra off and turned to Angor. “That should get you out of this base for now. Mister Mithra just promised you a favor, no? Now, my professor will not trouble you when Mister Mithra is watching.”

Angor returned to his bedroom and thought about the unexpected meeting. For the first time, he, as an apprentice, talked with a powerful wizard on equal ground.

Skills and knowledge over strength and ego. Such was the poise of a master alchemist.

Still, Angor had a question. Who was that muscular man who came together with Mithra?

And why do I feel like I met with him before?