Warlock Apprentice

Angel returned to reality from the Wilderness of Dreams and arrived at the entrance of the ruins.

Soon, a shadow appeared in mid-air, and with a whooshing sound, a handsome noble wearing a short hat and holding a short staff descended from the sky.

”Mentor.” Angel greeted respectfully.

It was Sanders who had arrived. He nodded to Angel, casually removed his cloak and tucked it into his sleeve button. Then he turned his gaze around, finally fixing it on the right side of the ruins’ entrance.

To the naked eye, there was nothing unusual there. However, in Sanders’s eyes, he could capture faint traces of illusions.

”The Illusion Technique Node is well-hidden.” Sanders said casually, then with a flick of his finger, a completely reversed Illusion Node shot into that peaceful area.

There was a twist in the space, and a flourishing big tree suddenly appeared in the previously empty spot.

Angel was surprised by Sanders’s operation. Angel wasn’t surprised that Sanders could find the illusion’s concealed spot, after all, Sanders was a true master of illusions.

However, Sanders’s ability to reverse engineer the Illusion Node without triggering Angel’s illusion counterattack, and then conceal the initial node, truly shocked Angel.

Although the Tree Spirit avatar appeared, Angel’s illusion wasn’t broken; Sanders had merely shrouded it with a stronger illusion.

Angel could see Sanders’s detailed manipulation of the Illusion Node, but with his current understanding of illusions, he couldn’t mimic it at all.

Indeed, a master of illusions is truly a master.

Angel deeply marveled in his heart, realizing he was still far from Sanders’s level.

”Is this the Tree Spirit Avatar?” Sanders asked, though his tone was certain. He walked beside the Tree Spirit Avatar and gently placed his white-gloved left hand on the tree trunk.

The previously calm and motionless big tree emitted a soft glow of green light from within upon Sanders’s touch.

The lush leaves swayed without wind.

After seeing the feedback from the tree, Sanders released his hand and stepped back two paces. Once Sanders distanced himself, a figure glowing green emerged from the tree.

”Lord Tree Spirit.” Angel gently called out the name of the newcomer.

The green glow lingered on the person’s body for a while before slowly dissipating, revealing the true form of the Tree Spirit. It was an unrestrained figure close to nature except for covering certain parts.

The Tree Spirit took a long breath upon appearing, then looked at Sanders with deep emotion and said, ”Luckily you came to find me, or else I wouldn’t know what excuse to use to escape.”

Sanders did not ask what Tree Spirit meant by this sentence because he knew, based on Tree Spirit’s personality, even if you don’t ask, he would murmur about it himself.

Sure enough, the next second Tree Spirit started to ramble, ”Lianna came to me again. I recommended the Watch Site of Witch Yuri as a tea party location, and after she saw it, she said this place could serve as a base but still wanted me to open an internal space for a more private tea gathering...”

”Clearly, we agreed last time that with Night Sevi’s proposal, as long as a more suitable place was found, I wouldn’t have to create a base. Now there is one, and she still wants more!”

”The worst part is, I can’t refuse.” Tree Spirit had a mournful expression: ”Lord Reine even asked me to cooperate with her.”

”Luckily, you came to find me, or else I’d be forced by her aggressive attitude to sign a humiliating contract.”

After hearing this, Sanders was silent for a moment, ”Witch Yuri’s Watch Site, I remember it was a private place she left two thousand years ago entrusted to you to take care of before she left the Southern Domain? You opened it to Lianna?”

Tree Spirit’s expression stiffened with embarrassment, turning his eyes away: ”I... I only opened the outer area.”

”Because there are mechanisms set by Witch Yuri in the inner area, you can only open the outer area, of course.” Sanders straightforwardly pointed out the inner details.

Tree Spirit piteously responded, ”It’s not like I have anywhere else.”

Sanders shook his head and made no further comments. Though Tree Spirit could be a bit exaggerated, he wasn’t untrustworthy. Since he opened Witch Yuri’s Watch Site, it must have been allowed by Witch Yuri.

After all, Witch Yuri was a powerful wizard who left two thousand years ago; Sanders did not understand and thus did not comment further.

On the other hand, Angel was already used to Tree Spirit’s complaints, or rather, all the male wizards in the Barbarian Cave were accustomed to it. Because the witches sided with Lianna, Tree Spirit could only vent his grievances to the broad male wizard group for empathy points.

However, Angel did sympathize with Tree Spirit’s plight. After all, Lianna previously only asked Tree Spirit to open a private space inside the Eternal Tree; now, she’s taken his Watch Site. Indeed, Tree Spirit is quite pitiable.

As Tree Spirit continued to drone on his grievances, a gust of wind carrying specks of frost came from afar.

Tree Spirit instantly stopped talking, and Angel and Sanders turned to look in the direction the wind came from.

On the white barren plain, an elderly man with a tall stance approached them.

Every step he took seemed to tread upon the rhythm of the wind, with air ripples emanating with each step. Though he appeared to be moving slowly and elegantly, in reality, he was approaching them at an astonishing speed.

”There’s no energy fluctuation; this is purely a Wind Sequence...” Angel muttered softly.

The newcomer’s movements appeared as if stepping on nodes of the wind, which reminded Angel of the Wind Sequence.

Like ”Rhythm of Water” and ”Metamorphosis of Fire,” Wind Sequence is a tidal and cyclical manifestation of elements.

”Lord Rhein’s understanding of the Wind Sequence is more profound than most of the Elemental Wizards of the same level,” Sanders remarked softly.

The newcomer was indeed Lord Reine.

Angel nodded in agreement with Sanders’s comment. He had previously gained some insights into the Wind Sequence from Fafnir, so he could see that Lord Reine had a very deep understanding of the Wind Sequence. Without using any energy, merely with his comprehension of the wind, he exuded such an imposing aura, evident as could be.

However, comparing Lord Reine to Fafnir would still be insufficient... After all, Fafnir was an Abyssal Wind Dragon, whose sole mastery of wind techniques reached the peak just below Legend, an area which Lord Reine naturally could not match.

While they talked softly, Lord Reine had already arrived at the entrance of the ruins.

”Lord Reine.” Sanders removed his hat and gave a half-bow.

Angel also bowed in respect.

Lord Reine, smiling, nodded and then looked at Sanders: ”I didn’t expect you to come as well. Perfect timing, later you and your student should join me in checking out the area near the ruins.”

The ruins Lord Reine referred to were, of course, the ones he was suppressing.

Sanders: ”Let’s wait until the Stargazing Day concludes and see the results first.”

Lord Reine also nodded: ”Yes, Song of the Deep Sea is also probing the ruins, who knows what results it might yield.”