Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1363: Section 1364: Classical Topics

Lyon arrived in the Wizards’ Realm city for the first time, and he was filled with curiosity about the shops opened by Transcendents.

So, as he followed Angel down Manshi Magic Material Street, he couldn’t help but observe the shops along the roadway.

One of the shops caught his attention.

It was a uniquely shaped iron shack with a roof that had two symmetrical chimneys, resembling two ears. The shop’s sign was also quite interesting, prominently featuring the outline of a cat’s ear at the front.

At first glance, it appeared rather cute.

“Long-Ear Bloodline Trial Grounds?” Lyon looked at the sign and read the words.

He understood each of these words separately, but together, they puzzled him.

What exactly did this shop do?

Just then, Lyon suddenly heard a hoarse, low voice next to him and turned to see it was Nausicaa speaking to him, “Lyon, it’s okay if I call you Lyon, isn’t it?”

Lyon nodded.

“Are you interested in this shop?” Nausicaa glanced at the distinctly shaped ‘Long-Ear Bloodline Trial Grounds’.

“I saw the word ‘bloodline’ and got curious,” Lyon said.

“This shop specializes in special training for those with ear mutations in their bloodline,” Nausicaa looked Lyon up and down. “You haven’t fused with a bloodline yet, so you can’t enter this shop. Even if you had fused with a bloodline, it is not certain you would be allowed to enter.”

There was some contradiction in what Nausicaa had said.

While Lyon was still puzzled, Angel pointed to the bulletin board on the other side of the shop, and Lyon noticed several clear, large characters written there: This shop serves only those with Long-Ear Bloodline.

“That’s the rule here on Manshi Magic Material Street,” Angel explained. “Many of the shops here, you don’t have the right to even enter if you don’t meet a certain standard.”

Indeed, as Lyon followed Angel further down the street, he noticed that more than half of the shops had rigid entry requirements.

‘Only Wizard Level may enter,’ ‘No male forms allowed,’ ‘Only Magic Rune Mages may enter,’…

It was blatant discrimination displayed right at the entrance of the shops.

Most importantly, Lyon found he did not meet the requirements for any of the shops with set conditions.

Beyond the rigid conditions, there were also some ideological requirements.

For example, Lyon saw an alchemy shop with its entrance written in an unknown scarlet blood: “All those who agree with the Centhers School, do not enter my shop or bear the consequences.”

The Centhers School was a mainstream faction in biological alchemy.

Of course, even if you internally agreed with the Centhers School, as long as you didn’t show it, there wouldn’t be a problem. After all, such ideological conditions depend on the individual’s conscience.

When they reached the middle of Manshi Magic Material Street, Angel pointed to a nearby magic material shop, “I’m going in to buy some materials; wait for me a moment.”

If it were before, Lyon would definitely have planned to go in with him, but having witnessed the eccentric requirements of various shops along the way, Lyon had learned to check the entrance notices first.

“Nail Alchemy House.” Lyon first looked at the name of the shop, then turned his gaze and saw there were no conditions for entry at the door, “Could it be that this shop doesn’t require any qualifications to enter?”

While Lyon was puzzled, he saw Angel speaking with a humanoid Fragrant Wood Puppet at the entrance.

Lyon was completely lost regarding the content of their conversation, only knowing that they were discussing something about “enchantment.”

After a while, the Fragrant Wood Puppet bowed to Angel and then gestured towards the interior, “Customer, you have passed the test. Please come in.”

So this was a test? Lyon mused to himself.

At that moment, Nausicaa explained the scene before him; it turned out that to enter this alchemy house, one must first pass several alchemy knowledge test questions. Otherwise, one would be refused entry.

“Isn’t this a shop that sells alchemy magic materials? Not all users of magic materials are necessarily Alchemists, right?” Lyon said with some confusion, as it seemed overly harsh to restrict the purchase of magic materials only to Alchemists.

“If you are not an Alchemist, you can tell that puppet what you want to buy, and it will have someone bring it out for you,” Nausicaa paused, “but you are not allowed inside.”

“Why?”

“Because places like this alchemy house serve another purpose, which is to provide a space for certain Alchemists to exchange ideas. I heard that this Nail Alchemy House, in particular, has many Alchemy Apprentices inside making exchanges,” Nausicaa explained. “There are many shops similar to this alchemy house, and basically, they all follow this practice.”

“I kind of understand now, but do you have to take this kind of test every time you go in?” Lyon frowned. If one had to take a test every time, wouldn’t it be quite bothersome?

Nausicaa explained patiently, “If you have an identity card from Sky Mechanical City, or even from Sky Tower, once you have entered and registered, the next time you will not be subjected to this test.”

“So that’s how it is, Angel didn’t seem to present his identity card earlier, could it be that he doesn’t have one?”

Nausicaa laughed in response, “Of course he has an identity card, but he just doesn’t want to use it. As for the specifics, it’s not convenient for me to answer. Why not wait until he comes out and ask him yourself?”

…

Unbeknownst to Angel, he was already in danger of losing his cover in front of his brother Lyon.

After being tested by the Fragrant Wood Puppet, he walked into the Nail Alchemy House.

Of course, he was aware he could have skipped the test and simply tell the Fragrant Wood Puppet what materials he wanted to purchase, letting it check the inventory. However, as an alchemist, he naturally wanted to see the demonic materials with his own eyes; moreover, for many precious demonic materials, you wouldn’t necessarily be able to purchase them unless you discussed directly with the owner.

No sooner had Angel entered the alchemy house than he was blocked by a short, plump female apprentice.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you before, are you from outside?” The female apprentice was somewhat chubby, but her exposed skin was fair and smooth, coupled with a somewhat baby-faced look, which did not make her unlikable: “I don’t mean to pry into your origins, it’s just that I heard your conversation with Nya earlier and it seems like you’re on the path of Enchantment?”

Nya was the Fragrant Wood Puppet outside, and the test that Angel entered was according to the field he excelled in, naturally Nya’s test was all about Enchantment questions.

“I only recently arrived at the Sky Mechanical City, and indeed, I am pursuing the path of Enchantment,” Angel answered, then prepared to walk past her.

“My name is Boli, and I mean no harm. I am actually an alchemy apprentice who practices Enchantment as well.” After a pause, Boli revealed her main reason for stopping Angel, “Right now, there’s a debate going on over there about the contention between Enchantment and Mixing. Would you like to join?”

Angel glanced over and, as expected, saw two groups heatedly debating.

Angel had assumed that the people debating such loftily intellectual topics would at least be of alchemist level, but it turned out they were all alchemy apprentices.

On one side, the number of people standing for Enchantment was minimal; the Mixing school was overwhelmingly numerous, mercilessly crushing the few on the opposite side like a few small cats.

Nevertheless, even so, the apprentices of the Enchantment school did not surrender.

From the occasional faint noises coming from their side, Angel even heard his own name.

Presumably, they were using him as an example in their arguments.

Angel touched his nose bridge, finding this feeling… quite subtle.

Perhaps because there were too few from the Enchantment sector, Boli, having overheard Angel’s conversation with Nya, regardless of who Angel was, wanted to pull him into the debate.

“Can you?” Seeing Angel’s prolonged silence, Boli continued, “Maybe you’re not accustomed to this style of debate, but this is how we do it in the Sky Mechanical City. Speculation helps us make progress.”

Boli’s words actually made sense, but Angel still ruthlessly refused, “No thanks, I have some other matters to attend to.”

Enchantment versus Mixing is a classic debate in Metallography. However, it’s also an intractable debate, and the only answer derived is that Mixing has an extremely high ceiling, whereas Enchantment is more about convenience.

This classic topic, not even alchemy masters could settle it, let alone these alchemy apprentices.

Boli looked somewhat disappointed. She initially wanted to persuade him more, but at that moment, a tall and exceptionally handsome man approached, “Enchantment is essentially a minor side track, no matter how many people you gather, it’s useless.”

As he spoke, the man sized up Angel from head to toe.

The greasy, unkempt garments, along with a disheveled appearance, made Angel look out of place, causing the man to frown and a flash of disgust appeared briefly in his eyes.

Boli challenged, “You say the ceiling of Mixing is high, then tell me, is the Mysterious Domain not high enough? Can you name an instance in the Southern Domain’s Wizards’ Realm where the Mixing school has touched the Mysterious Domain in the past thousand years? There’s none, right?”

“I know you’re going to mention Angel again, he’s just an exception.”

“So why doesn’t Mixing produce an exception then?”

Listening to the two people behind him debate about himself in his presence, Angel couldn’t help but frown.

Thinking about it, he actually found neither of the two debaters’ points valid. Because this kind of classic debate should clash with the height of thought, expound on dense knowledge, discuss techniques, and shine through classical cases. Yet they brought the topic down from the altar to the level of a vegetable market for debate.

Angel could see the man’s disgust towards him, but felt no discomfort. After all, the man hadn’t said anything too harsh; Angel wasn’t the type to prove himself in response to someone looking down on him and rush to stand out rashly.

He now felt relieved that he had turned down Boli’s offer. Had he impulsively gone to argue about such a topic, it would have been a nightmare.

Ignoring the debate behind him, Angel quickly walked towards the counter not far away.

The man watched Angel walk away briskly, his disdain deepening and he couldn’t help but snort through his nose.

Boli also felt somewhat sentimental. This outsider alchemy apprentice could have used this opportunity to become part of the Enchantment Alchemy Circle in the Machinery City, but he rejected her invitation.

“Once the chance is missed, it becomes difficult to integrate into the circle again,” Boli shook her head, her face filled with disappointment.