Warlock Apprentice

The Month of Harvest silently coated everything under a lively green veil. When the first autumn wind blew over the fields, Sunders departed for the Abyss without knowing when he would return.

After spending several more days at Phantom Island, Angor told Goode to handle the island for a while and prepared to head home.

Since he was a supernatural capable of improving the condition of his family, he meant to bring as many gifts back as possible, such as tonics and medicines that would be effective on mortal bodies. This was why he had to pay a visit to the underground market first.

However, he immediately felt that something was off the moment he arrived.

As usual, there were many apprentices busily rushing around the market. However, compared to before, they seemed more cautious. Unfriendly, even.

Monkey took more than 20 wizards away from the organization, which dangerously weakened the defenses of Brute Cavern. This combined with several more unsettling elements, such as Lady Mirror’s absence and the crisis at Sleepless City, people found it impossible to remain calm.

While it was true that wizards didn’t usually enjoy peaceful lives, it was still rare for something to upset an entire organization like this.

The tension was made worse when Maya claimed that she was going to seal off Luminous Island. This happened right after Sunders departed.

While the authorities of Brute Cavern knew that Maya was taking her new student Dodoro to train at Brilliance Plane, common apprentices who couldn’t receive reliable information all feared that the great Prophet saw something dangerous coming and that she was barricading her home.

Even though Rein Mute remained in the organization, the uncontrollable dismay still spread among people.

While trying not to get affected by the mental stress that filled the entire place, Angor purchased a number of items that would be useful in the mortal world, such as magically enhanced seeds and dirt, low-level puppets that could be controlled by mortals, and so on.

After stuffing his bracelet with enough resources that could help his family thrive, he came to Prome’s Alchemy Shop in search of health-improving materials so that he might try making some potions used for extending people’s lifespans. And if he failed, he could always let his family eat the raw materials.

But he was a little surprised to run into Balba in the shop.

When he arrived, he saw Balba walking among the shelves alone while checking some files that appeared to be the shop’s accounting report.

“Angor!” Balba seemed joyous to see Angor, but he soon changed his manners. “Mister Padt.”

“What are you doing here? Where is Dave?”

Balba showed his papers to Angor. “I’m looking after the shop—”

He was interrupted when they felt the wooden floor shaking greatly, along with someone’s painful scream.

A moment later, a hatch behind the counter was lifted open, revealing Dave’s dust-covered face.

“… so he can do his research in the basement,” Balba finished his phrase.

“Darn it, it blew up again! How difficult is it to make a simple weapon with a burning effect?” Dave climbed up while trying not to breath in the black smoke coming from behind him. He then saw Angor staring at him with a strange look.

“Oh hey, Angor! I mean, did you intentionally choose such timings so that you can see me break stuff?”

“That was the fifth explosion today,” Balba commented with an indifferent look. “I don’t believe this has anything to do with Mister Padt. Anyone who visits the shop today will see the same thing happening over and over.”

“Hey, I’m supposed to be your boss!” Dave protested. “That’s how you talk to me?”

“I’m telling the truth.” Balba looked away.

Meanwhile, Angor was rather confused to see these two people somehow working together.

“Um, you hired Balba, Dave? Is Mister Prome okay with this?”

Dave removed some dust from himself and asked Angor to take a seat. “It doesn’t matter. I’m the one paying Balba.” Dave looked pretty proud. “Thirty crystals a month. Bonus if the sales are good. That’s like, way better than my income when I came to the shop several years ago.”

“Is there a particular reason why you employed him?” Angor asked this one using voice transmission when Balba was off doing his accounting work again.

Dave whispered to Angor since he could not use voice transmission yet, “Because of you, duh. Well, I already had plans to get an extra helper. People are calling me ‘Master Dave’ now. A master needs his time to do his own work! And when I saw Balba looking for a job in the market, I talked to him.”

“Good choice.” Angor nodded. “I can tell you that he’s a good man. And pretty strong too. He’ll do a good job fending off annoying people from the shop.”

Dave scratched his head. “I… don’t usually have to worry about thugs since Hercules lives next door. I hired Balba for another reason.”

“Another reason?”

Dave pointed to the door, where a pair of female apprentices were entering the shop.

“You’ll see.”

Instead of browsing for items, the girls wiggled their ways straight toward where Balba was working.

“Check that out. Balba helped me attract a lot of customers with that handsome look of his. Women, mostly. And they always ended up buying something,” Dave whispered.

Angor nodded. He would agree that Balba’s wild style was perfect for alluring certain ladies with the right tastes.

In the end, the two ladies spent 50 crystals buying a Garlic Pitcher Plant that Balba was tending to while completely ignoring Dave and Angor.

“That thing is used for repelling bugs. What do they need it for? Are they going to explore some jungle?”

“Oh, come on, of course they didn’t come to buy the plant.” Dave gave Angor a side-glance, but he didn’t intend to explain. “So, what are you looking for today?”

Angor showed him a piece of note. “Several materials.”

Dave took a simple glimpse and gave the note to Balba, who then went off to the storage to fetch what Angor was looking for.

“Those are usually used in remedies. Are you brewing potions? For your family?” Dave was curious.

“Yeah. I’m heading home in a few days.”

“Geez. Nausica is gone, Sailum is nowhere to be found, and you are leaving too… Everyone I know in Brute Cavern is leaving. Can you tell me when I’ll see you again?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll come back as soon as I settle everything back home. And I need to take a detour around the Old Earth to figure out the element depletion problem.”

“Oh, you’re going to accept that quest? It has been in the questing hall for several centuries, or so I heard.”

“I’m not expecting to succeed since, you know, no one did in such a long time. No one else is going to the Old Earth anyway. Might as well give it a shot.”

“Solving the mystery sounds pretty much impossible, but I got a feeling that you can find something.” Dave grinned.

“What, did you suddenly discover your potential as a Prophet?” Angor chuckled.

Balba carried a giant crate from the basement.

After paying Dave for the materials, Angor prepared to leave the shop. When he looked at Balba again, he suddenly made a decision.

He took out a small handbook and placed it on Dave’s counter.

“What’s this?” Dave checked the book and saw Angor’s name as well as the book’s title, Elementary Cantrip (revised).

“Several basic cantrips. I discovered them by rearranging the element combinations of existing cantrips. They’re not from the library or my professor, so you’re free to do whatever you wish. But they are not anything powerful, mind you. Consider it something to kill time.”

Dave’s eyes gleamed. “Sailum told me that he learned a new cantrip from you before. ‘Create Water’, I think?”

“Yes. I wrote down several more cantrips in the book. Read them if you like. And if you run into Sailum and Nausica later, you can pass the book to them.”

Balba seemed hesitant about accepting Angor’s gift, but Dave picked up the handbook before he could say anything.

“Thanks, man! I really need to learn some more cantrips cause I’ve been spending too much time on alchemy.” Dave then slapped Balba’s shoulder. “Say something, will you?”

“Thank-thank you,” Balba said in a small voice.

“Don’t mention it,” said Angor, “I have no use for it anyway. Just don’t lose it to random people.”

Angor’s tablet helped him discover countless “altered cantrips”, after which he spent some time noting down the relatively useful ones. This handbook contained several cantrips similar to Create Water, so Angor had no problem sharing it.

He didn’t mean to be selfish. If he were to give his friends more powerful cantrips, they might attract too much attention, which meant that he would be causing them harm.