Warlock Apprentice

Before making his long trip, he still had something else to attend to at Padt Manor first.

He took some time to note down everything about Jon’s condition that he might use later, then he prepared several items he no longer needed but useful to Leon.

Next, he went to a corner of his bedroom, where the Soft Larva nest was hidden inside a small illusion.

The individual egg did not hatch yet, but it had grown quite big. Thankfully, the nest itself was bigger on the inside, which was similar to space storage containers, so there was plenty of room.

However, the egg would soon need to be transferred to a larger area in the nest. And when it was already bigger than the passages intended for common larvae to move around, doing so could damage the interior of the nest.

Angor referred to his previous notes and realized that the current “room” would get busted by the growing egg in at most a month.

He placed the nest in his space bracelet and left the room.

Inside his bracelet, the Dream Weaver ant sensed something and quickly crawled to the larva nest. At the same time, the bigger Soft Larva egg twitched a little.

…

Angor went to Leon’s room and saw Soby napping outside Leon’s door.

“Leon is meditating. I won’t go in there if I were you,” Soby said to him.

Angor nodded and decided to wait.

Taking the chance, he tried striking up random conversations with Thewis’ pet but without much success. The hound wasn’t much of a willing talker, just like Thewis himself.

Angor still managed to learn something. For example, it was his book, Tips and Notes for Beginner Apprentices, that finally helped Leon to enter a meditation state when Leon used to have no clue of doing so.

“The book. It’s nicely done.” Soby glanced at Angor using its “normal” head.

“You read it?”

“No. It was my master who said so.”

When giving Leon the handbook, Angor already expected Thewis to check it out. It was just right for a teacher to make sure his student was studying from proper sources after all.

“It’s an honor. Really,” Angor replied without meaning those words.

“The master will not mention the book to outsiders, no need to worry there. But do you think it’s fine to give Leon the book so early? This could be bad for him.”

“Bad?”

“If Leon does not learn from challenges and hardship at the beginning of his apprenticeship, he’ll not know how to think independently. Or worse, he’ll begin to rely on you. And when he can no longer get your help, he’ll stop improving.”

Soby was right, and Angor knew it. Wizards and apprentices spent most of their lives being alone. Being dependent would greatly hinder one’s steps.

“It’s not a serious problem right now,” Soby continued. “The knowledge you showed him is only the basics. It does not have much to help a Bloodline Art trainee either. I meant to tell you that, even as his brother, you should not flatly grant him assistance and resources.”

Soby looked at the box Angor was holding, which contained more tools for Leon.

Angor shook his head and searched the box to remove something that might be too helpful to Leon’s case.

“You are leaving?” Soby asked while they both waited for Leon to come out.

“Yeah.”

There was more silence.

“Can I ask why you are wearing a blinder?”

“I have two opposite attributes within me. I am ‘peace’, while the other head you see is ‘devastation’. The time it gazes upon this world will be when it unleashes its power of destruction.”

Angor always found Soby’s emerald eyes to be good to look at. He wondered if the other head looked exactly the same. But it seemed he wouldn’t get the answer for now.

About an hour later, they heard noises that suggested Leon had “woken up”. Angor waited for a bit more so that Leon could fully finish up, before pushing the door open.

Leon was glad to see his brother coming, but he quickly grew disappointed when he learned Angor’s plan.

“You’re going already?”

As someone who had yet to see more of the wizarding world, Leon still believed that Fey Continent was so far away that it would take Angor years to travel there and back, which was no longer the case.

“I must find a cure for Jon as quickly as I can. I’ll be back when I get it.”

“That old fart…” Leon clenched his teeth as he felt extremely annoyed that Jon kept occupying his brother. Though he also knew that he was in no place to force Angor’s choices.

“By the way, Jon asked to see you. I’ll take you there when we get the time,” said Angor.

Leon failed to understand what that meant, but he didn’t get to ask when Angor kept on talking.

“I’ll leave these in your care. You can find out how to use them in the handbook.” Angor handed the item box over.

Leon examined the items one by one. There were potions and magic scrolls, most of which were for treating common injuries and escaping in a pinch. He also found a silver pocket watch among the items, much to his surprise.

“Do you mean to tell me to cherish time?” Leon picked it up and curiously looked at the strange symbols which should have been time-indicating numbers.

“It’s not just a watch. It’s a special transmitter I made for you.” Angor pointed to a button on the side of the item. “If you want to talk to me, turn the hour hand to my birth year, the minute hand to my birth month, and the second hand to my birth day. But you can only activate it once, and after that, the energy would be fully exhausted.”

Angor grasped Leon’s hand and wrote a message on his palm—Don’t mention this thing to anyone. Not even your teacher.

He did so without using his Geometric Lock just so Thewis didn’t notice.

The watch-shaped transmitter was, in fact, a dream launcher with only one charge. He made it so that the item could not freely be used by other people who might do harm to the dream wasteland.

It was a good thing that Leon did not yet know what it meant to be able to produce long-range communication tools for convenient use.

…

A moment later, Angor summoned Tulu, Vonman, and Guina. After that, he floated to the small floating island to inform Thewis of his departure.

Thewis was already aware of it, probably because Soby told him so.

“Come with me. I have something to say.” Thewis called Angor to a private spot.