Warlock Apprentice

There was one other important feature about the arm used for attacking. Angor and Mithra both agreed to this final plan after careful discussions.

But they needed Nausica to test it out.

Just as Angor prepared to head to Champagne Road with his new product, Number One greeted him at his door. “Mister Padt, Mister Sabot is waiting for you in the guest hall.”

“Sabot?” Angor recognized that name. Sabot was Mithra’s student. Angor found the man to be familiar when seeing him at Bogula’s base, but he didn’t remember why by then.

It was until later when he had enough time to search his memories that he finally recalled who that was.

When leaving his home and traveling to Fey Continent, the ship he used was called The Redbud, and one of the escort wizards protecting the ship was “Mad Bear” Sabot. At that time, Angor didn’t get to see Sabot for real. It was when a group of wizards and apprentices entered Barbie’s Restaurant did they finally see each other. Back then, Angor was still a mortal who could only tremble in fear in front of wizards. He couldn’t really look at people freely.

Angor had no idea what Sabot wanted with him, but it was probably something related to Master Mithra.

“I see, I’ll be right there.” Angor removed his hooded robe and put up a more formal-looking suit before going to the guest room.

Sabot was waiting while drinking some unknown liquid from a wine glass. The man’s body was too big that he took up most of his sofa, which was intended for three people.

“Mister Sabot.” Angor bowed politely.

Sabot gave him a friendly smile.

“No need for manners. Professor Mithra spoke highly of you. I think he would have taken you in personally if Mister Phantom has not done so already.” Sabot chuckled. “I came here because Professor Mithra has a request.”

Angor patiently waited for Sabot to finish.

“So, you’re helping your friend with a new mechanical arm. Did you finish it?”

Angor nodded and took out the brand new product he just created from his bracelet.

“No no, I’m too dumb to look at this thing,” Sabot said. He then asked Angor to put the arm back. “Since it’s done, you’re going to deliver it to your friend, right?”

“Yes. The garden will open soon, and I hope she can get used to it sooner.”

“Truth is, Professor Mithra sent me here to ask you to show him the arm first; he seems really interested in it. Of course, I’ll go and invite your friend to Elixir Hut later so that we can do the test there.”

The request sounded fine, and Angor would not reject it. Besides, Mithra helped a lot with the arm’s design.

Angor nodded and told Sabot where Nausica lived before he headed to Elixir Hut next.

He was a little surprised to see both Yeliya and Toya absent. Mithra was the only one home.

And for some reason, he felt something strange the moment he stepped into the hut. It was like when he entered the Midworld and sensed the terrible gaze of Sesaybelles’ Eye.

However, Sesaybelles’ gaze meant malevolence and trouble, which only caused him to tremble in fear. The unknown feeling in the Elixir Hut, on the other hand, was at least not hostile. Even so, it wasn’t really pleasant either.

It was like someone affixed an iron chunk to his heart that stressed him out.

Thankfully, when Mithra came and began a new session of friendly discussion with him, Angor slowly forgot about the mental burden.

Of course, their topic soon focused on Angor’s new product. When Angor showed the mechanical arm to Mithra, the old man didn’t seem surprised at Angor’s progress at all. After all, Enchantment alchemy was always faster than Synthesis.

Mithra didn’t comment on the arm, but Angor could see from Mithra’s eyes that he was mostly satisfied.

And Angor felt really proud of it. His work was approved by a true master in the field!

While Angor explained some of the small modifications he made and several extra questions, he got another weird feeling. Mithra responded to his comments just fine, but many of Mithra’s opinions didn’t sound the same as before. It was as if the old man had a complete change of mind over these days.

Mithra was an Apothecary who mainly regarded Tooling Arts as a subfield, but today, Angor felt as if he were talking with another true Tooling master. Compared to the extensive knowledge reserve displayed by Mithra, his own ideas were like insignificant streams of water in front of an ocean. No matter what kind of questions he raised, the old man in front of him could always solve them using the briefest and easiest words.

Is this really Mithra?

Angor had his doubts, but he didn’t really sound them. In terms of alchemy knowledge, he had no hope in competing with a master like Mithra as of now, and he was in no position to question Mithra’s expertise.

He believed that Mithra was simply holding back during the past days.

Their discussion still proceeded smoothly. From the mechanical arm, their focus slowly moved onto machine armaments and “mech robots”. Angor only knew the general idea of such robot weapons he learned from certain sci-fi movies, and he could only explain what he knew as an alchemist in this world.

When Angor almost finished explaining his own ideas, Mithra gave him another satisfied and mysterious smile.

Angor thought he saw something weird on Mithra’s face, but before he could look more carefully, Sabot and Nausica appeared at the door.

Nausica looked really stressful and cautious, but her spirit quickly loosened when she saw Angor greeting him with a smile. After receiving Sabot’s consent, she entered the room and joined Angor.

Sabot nodded to Mithra and left quickly. Angor failed to notice that Sabot wasn’t looking at “Mithra” like how he usually did. Instead, the Mad Bear looked more polite and fearful.

“Since your examinee is here, shall we begin the test?” Mithra kept his gaze on Angor without minding Nausica.

Angor nodded. He felt it strange that Mithra called Nausica an “examinee”, but he didn’t say anything.

Nausica didn’t really mind what was going on since her attention was fully attracted by the mechanical arm on the desk.

She had put her fine hand on the arm without realizing it. When Angor said “mechanical arm”, she was expecting a big chunk of metal used for smashing things. However, it turned out to be something that looked just as slim and handy as her other arm.

Slim, but not fragile. The silver metal used as the main material looked extremely solid and steady, while each junction and joint shone with the power of runes that only made the whole creation look more amazing.

There was the engraving of a butterfly at the wrist area, which fit well with the blade hanging on Nausica’s waist—the “Solefly”. She already saw that both designs came from the same pair of hands.

“This is… for me?” Nausica felt so excited that she almost couldn’t believe what she saw.

Angor nodded and proceeded to affix the arm to Nausica’s shoulder. Since it was the first time she put it on, he had to explain to Nausica about how to align each nerve junction properly as well as points of caution.

When the arm was set, Nausica tried to clench her fist, which didn’t go very well. Such problems were expected. With enough time, the arm’s movement delay will slowly disappear until Nausica could command it like her own.

Angor flipped open a small chamber located just below the arm’s elbow. “This is a crystal slot. You can either spend magic crystals to trigger the runes or use your own mana as a power source. I suggest you do the latter for now and try to get used to the mana consumption rate first so that you won’t run into any mistakes during your fights.

“These here are mana tunnels. Use them to channel mana in the same way as to how you’d use your healthy arm.

“This is mana-enhancing rune that amplifies your magic…

“This is…”

One by one, Angor pointed out the different functions and features of the arm, including the five finger barrels used for shooting bullets or unleashing magic attacks.

“I’ll give you the blueprint for bullets later. You can give them special effects either by enchantment or synthesis. I can help you with the bullets too. If you can’t find me, bring the blueprint to an alchemist for help.”

Next, Angor pointed at the palm of the metal arm where a spiral rune was located. This was what took most of his time to design—the Helix Rune.