Warlock Apprentice

”Is it snowing?” Angel emerged from the earth’s chasm and saw white frost descending from the sky.

Looking around, indeed, the earth was already adorned with a silver drape.

”I hate snowy days. Especially snow without sunshine.” The speaker was the Tree Spirit, who was looking up at the sky, obscured by thick clouds.

The silhouette of the Tree Spirit appeared somewhat phantom-like, evidently not its true form.

After finishing speaking, the Tree Spirit waited for a while without hearing Angel’s response. Puzzled, he turned to look back, only to find Angel wasn’t listening to him but was gazing into the distance.

Following Angel’s gaze, the Tree Spirit saw at the edge of the vast snowy plain, a line of ant-like black dots was slowly advancing.

Those were humans, ordinary mortals. Around two to three hundred people, all dressed warmly, faces flushed from the cold, with white icy strands appearing in their hair and eyebrows, but no one dared to stop moving, they could only keep walking forward.

”Eh, you actually can still see refugees from the Eternal Night Country now.” The Tree Spirit clicked his tongue twice.

”Are they refugees from the Eternal Night Country?”

The Tree Spirit nodded: ”Indeed, you can tell from their clothing style. But I remember, refugees from the Eternal Night Country mostly fled early in the year, why are there still some now?”

”Maybe they aren’t the initial batch of refugees.” Though it was quite far, Angel could clearly see some of these refugees were wrapped in fur coats made from wild animal hides. These animal hides were mostly from common beasts of the Pamiji Plateau.

The fur showed obvious mottling, indicating the most primitive method of soil tanning was used, with trace elements from saline-alkali grounds to remove grease and soften the leather. This requires time and access to the correct region.

This means these people have likely been on the Pamiji Plateau for a long time and have a long-term residence in a saline-alkali area.

Listening to Angel’s analysis, the Tree Spirit agreed: ”I indeed heard that a small group of refugees from the Eternal Night Country directly established settlements on the Pamiji Plateau. At the time, I was amazed by humanity’s adaptability to the environment.”

This group might be the ones struggling for survival on the plateau.

But now they seem to be leaving their old land, as each one carries a lot of baggage, even towing carts loaded with luggage, clearly migrating.

”Why are they migrating?” Angel wondered aloud, though as he posed the question, various answers began to emerge in his mind.

The Pamiji Plateau has too many variables, any one of them could bring endless danger to these ordinary mortals.

Like recently, the merging of planes led to significant spatial dislocations on the Pamiji Plateau, even Transcendents could easily find themselves in a perilous situation, let alone ordinary folk.

Not to mention the variables brought by Transcendents, even ordinary circumstances are hard to avoid.

Beasts, ice rivers, diseases... etc., even a cold wind or seemingly harmless snowfall might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for these mortals.

So, what kind of migration could it be?

”If you want to know, just go ask them,” the Tree Spirit casually suggested, not expecting Angel would really fly towards where the mortals were located.

Angel, however, did not land among the crowd, but reached a spot not far behind them on the snowy plain.

A girl with limbs frozen stiff and rosy cheeks was staring with vacuous eyes at the gray sky, waiting for death to arrive.

”Has she been abandoned?” A voice reached the girl’s ears, she wanted to turn to see who was speaking, but her neck was frozen stiff, unable to move.

”Probably not. Her fur coat hasn’t been stripped off. Abandonment wouldn’t be apt; perhaps it’s just the helpless choice of the human tribe in desperation.”

With the voice’s end, the girl heard footsteps approaching her, and soon, a figure entered her vision.

A red-haired man.

He slowly squatted by her side, his somewhat disheveled red hair free from any snow.

The girl’s thoughts were already stiffening, unable to ponder why the snowflakes didn’t land on him. All her attention was drawn to his eyes.

They were a pair of golden eyes.

This faint golden color was the most beautiful she’d ever seen.

Was it an illusion before dying? Or was it real? Regardless of which, the girl didn’t care anymore; she was about to die, and being able to see such a beautiful color before death wasn’t too bad.

As she thought this might be her life’s last thought, the man’s slightly lazy voice sounded in her ear.

”Do you still remember your name?”

...

The girl awoke from her slumber, opened her eyes, and sat up to look around.

She seemed bewildered by her stiff body’s warmth, but she didn’t dwell on it and slowly stood, moving forward.

She needed to find her tribe and tell them about the dream she had.

In the dream, someone told her as long as she jumped into a bottomless chasm, she would find a way to live!

The girl didn’t know if the dream was real or cared if it was real, her sole thought now was to pass on this information, tell her tribe.

Not until the girl vanished from their sight did Angel and the Tree Spirit slowly reveal their presence.

Tree Spirit: ”Seems she really thought she was dreaming.”

”Being able to have a beautiful dream in such a brutal environment is also a blessing.”

Angel referred to the brutal environment not only as the all-encompassing snow, the perilous plateau, but also the reason for their migration—

”Live Wire” infection.

From the girl’s accounts, they were originally residents of a frontier town of the Eternal Night Country, and due to the dome change in the Eternal Night Country, came to the Pamiji Plateau, finding a tranquil saline-alkali area to settle.

Surviving on the Pamiji Plateau isn’t easy, initially close to a thousand residents, due to various reasons, dwindled over half a year by two to three hundred.

After stabilizing, thinking they could live peacefully, they faced the biggest crisis—the strange contagious madness, known as ”Live Wire” outbreak.

This ”Live Wire” outbreak came unexpectedly, infecting nearly fifty percent, with only a scant hundred escaping, forced to seek a new place to settle.

On this journey, the girl’s limbs were frozen stiff and severely caught a cold with fever, leaving her with no choice but to stay behind, quietly awaiting death.

However, it wasn’t death that met her, but Angel.

Tree Spirit: ”I’ll first take you to the ruins; as for the location of her previous settlement, I’ve already informed your Mentor.”

If they can be saved, then save them. If not, then they can only be abandoned. But even if abandoned, they can’t be left external, ”Live Wire’s” vitality is too powerful; if it spreads beyond the Pamiji Plateau, it would be troublesome.

Angel nodded: ”Let’s go.”