Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2223: Chapter 2224: Disposition

”You hope I won’t kill it?” Angel had sensed the arrival of the gentle breeze Uranos long ago, but as the other party remained concealed, he pretended not to notice.

Originally, Angel thought that the gentle breeze Uranos would remain hidden until the end, but unexpectedly, it popped out halfway through.

Since the gentle breeze Uranos chose to show up at this moment, it must have some request. And given the current situation, it’s not hard to guess what it seeks.

On the other side, when Uranos heard Angel’s question, it was slightly stunned. Although Angel didn’t reveal its identity and simply threw out this sentence lightly, the gentle breeze Uranos understood that Angel must have already recognized it, and the question he posed was devoid of any emotion, coldly straightforward... Perhaps it was a multiple-choice question, or maybe a statement question?

The gentle breeze Uranos silently sighed in its heart, regretting not bringing Teacher Kamil along. With Teacher Kamil’s wisdom, perhaps he would know what words are more appropriate to say at this moment, which wouldn’t offend Angel and could let Hurricane survive.

Yes, it didn’t want Hurricane to die.

Although Hurricane came with malice this time, the gentle breeze Uranos also clearly understood that, as creatures of the wind element, their conflicts and wars, even if one side surrendered, wouldn’t lead them to harm these true core figures.

This was both a delicate balance and a tacit understanding among their kin.

Whether it was the gentle breeze Uranos or Hurricane, they were pillars of the wind-element life. Ordinary wind-element creatures couldn’t compare; if any of them, the pillars, were to fall, it would make the already precarious wind-element race even weaker. And once they were weak, they would inevitably suffer merciless attacks from other elemental creatures.

At that time, even the Green Field, as close as brothers with White Cloud Village, might turn into devourers.

This tacit understanding applies not only to the wind-element creatures but also to other elemental creatures.

The gentle breeze Uranos could watch Angel kill other wind-element creatures, but seeing Hurricane about to die, it still wanted to save it.

”Yes, as a fellow wind-element kin, I really can’t bear to see it fall. Please, Mr. Pat, understand.” As the gentle breeze Uranos said this, it slightly bowed to Angel, knowing it was weak in words, hoping that the human etiquette taught by Mr. Feng could show Angel its sincerity.

Seeing the gentle breeze Uranos bow, Angel’s eyes froze for a moment. He had seen several monarchs of different regions in the Tidal World. Other monarchs might have quirks, but they at least seemed quite dignified. Yet, this gentle breeze monarch didn’t have the slightest sense of dignity a monarch should possess.

Moreover, the gentle breeze Uranos was quite special.

Not only did it look the most human-like in appearance, but its behavior was no different from that of humans. It wasn’t just this bow; even the harp the gentle breeze Uranos always held was undeniably human-made at first glance. Traces of human life were evident all over the gentle breeze Uranos.

Perhaps it was because of Feng’s influence?

The gentle breeze Uranos, seeing no response, thought perhaps Angel had other intentions or other demands in mind. Recalling certain principles Mr. Feng mentioned, it seemed to understand a little clearer.

”Of course, simply letting you forgive it this time might seem disrespectful. As the leader of White Cloud Village, I promise to give you satisfying compensation.”

Angel’s thoughts were wandering, considering unrelated matters, not expecting the gentle breeze Uranos to suddenly mention compensation, snapping him back to reality.

Looking at the gentle breeze Uranos’s eyes filled with myriad thoughts, Angel couldn’t help but feel the other party might have misunderstood something?

When he initially asked the gentle breeze Uranos, he wasn’t expecting it to make any statement. He simply wanted to offer a bit of goodwill. After all, this was someone else’s domain, and showing some respect to the host’s opinion was something Angel could do; moreover, he had requests from the gentle breeze Uranos, naturally hoping to use this opportunity to offer some goodwill in return and facilitate future collaboration.

Yet he wondered what the gentle breeze Uranos had imagined, thinking him to be an insatiable person?

Although Angel noticed the gentle breeze Uranos’s misunderstanding, he didn’t correct it. He initially just wanted to offer a small favor, but now he could see an opportunity for greater goodwill and reciprocation, why not take it? At most, he would adjust his persona a bit.

”Fine,” Angel nodded calmly.

The gentle breeze Uranos’s eyes lit up, breathing a long sigh of relief. It had worried that Angel might raise the price, after all, someone capable of turning three major wind warriors into nodes of an illusionary realm didn’t seem like an easy person to deal with. Who knew, Angel agreed so easily, making it feel as if it had gotten a bargain.

The face of the gentle breeze Uranos brightened with joy: ”Then I’ll leave Hurricane to my care?”

Angel nodded indifferently.

The gentle breeze Uranos did not hesitate and went over to Hurricane’s side. Hurricane, who also heard their conversation, had light in its previously despairing eyes. Though it was prepared to die without fear, if death could be avoided, it preferred not to die.

While handling Hurricane, the gentle breeze Uranos didn’t directly speak to Hurricane but used the wind to secretly communicate with it.

Angel noticed this detail too, but he didn’t mind. Even if they were deriding him behind his back, it didn’t matter to him.

More than these, he was actually more curious about the reason for the gentle breeze Uranos saving Hurricane.

Unaware of the internal tacit understanding among wind-element creatures, Angel could only attribute it ultimately to the personal behavior of the gentle breeze Uranos after thinking for a long time.

After all, whether it was Mr. Magu or Sage Cuproplatinum, both said that the gentle breeze Uranos was a gentle person.

Extreme gentleness could very well turn into being a Holy Mother.

In Angel’s view, the reason the gentle breeze Uranos wanted to save Hurricane might be because its Holy Mother instincts suddenly flared up.

If Angel knew the true reason the gentle breeze Uranos saved Hurricane, he certainly wouldn’t call it a Holy Mother, but he would still snort disdainfully... Wind-element creatures’ tacit understanding? Fearing the collapse of a pillar would lead to invasion by other elemental creatures? These could indeed become the main conflicts or the dominant theme of wars in the Tidal World when it was still a closed world, but once the Tidal World opened up, external conflicts would quickly unify the internal issues within the Tidal World. That being the case, conflicts among elemental creatures would swiftly diminish, and problems between elemental creatures and external humans would rapidly increase.

Even though Angel intended for the Barbarian Cave to maintain a good relationship with the Tidal World so that the humans of the Barbarian Cave could coexist relatively harmoniously with the elemental creatures here. But the Barbarian Cave still couldn’t monopolize this world, and outsiders would inevitably enter this world. Even if the Barbarian Cave sets up rules then, there would always be those who would want to break limits by taking unconventional paths, inevitably resulting in numerous external problems due to racial, interests, civilization, and demands reasons.

The increase of external factors would lead to an internal decrease in problems. So, the gentle breeze Uranos’s worry about Hurricane’s death and the collapse of wind-element pillars was completely unnecessary.

However, the gentle breeze Uranos, not knowing about the future situation, could only act according to the present view of issues.

...

Elsewhere, in the center of the black whirlwind.

Perhaps the private talk between the gentle breeze Uranos and Hurricane was effective, as Hurricane did not resist, and eventually, the black whirlwind gradually disappeared, while Hurricane’s massive figure was confined by the gentle breeze Uranos into a small translucent green bottle.

This bottle wasn’t a physical object but a unique confinement constructed by the gentle breeze Uranos using its own wind.

Hurricane now transformed into a small black-speckled homunculus in the bottle, looking very much like a genie trapped in a magic lamp from a fairy tale at first glance.

The gentle breeze Uranos approached with a small bottle and, as a gesture of gratitude, displayed it in front of Angel.

Inside the small bottle, Hurricane also met Angel’s gaze.

Hurricane’s gaze was initially fierce, but when it saw Angel’s practically unfluctuating eyes, it instead lowered its head in retreat. In one-on-one combat, Hurricane was confident it could defeat Angel, so it wasn’t convinced of Angel’s victory, but when it faced Angel while confined in the bottle, it suddenly realized that this humanoid creature it had always looked down on seemingly never regarded it at all.

Hurricane understood that this wasn’t scorn or contempt but rather a fundamental indifference. It was as if their perspectives weren’t even on the same level.

Ultimately, Hurricane didn’t muster the courage to meet Angel’s eyes again and was silently tucked into Uranos’ pocket.

After storing Hurricane, Uranos turned its gaze to Lobal.

The eyes of the Tri-headed Lionhound were still dazed, still caught in the Heart Illusion.

Uranos specifically looked at the tail head, knowing Lobal and aware that its tail head had the potential of The Sage.

The birth of a Sage is extremely rare, and Uranos wanted to plead for Lobal, but having already pleaded for Hurricane, its relationship with Angel wasn’t at the stage of repeatedly appealing; it had neither the position nor the qualification to plead.

For this reason, Uranos ultimately gave up pleading, but with so many wind element creatures, including Lobal, in the Illusionary Realm, it was curious about how Angel would deal with them.

”There are many wind creatures from Storm Ridge in this Cloud Sea. I wonder how you intend to handle them?” Uranos asked.

Angel looked at Uranos with some surprise, having already started to label this character with the tag of Holy Mother. According to the Holy Mother’s personality and actions, shouldn’t it be pleading right now?

But from Uranos’ words, it seemed intent on handing over these imprisoned wind creatures to him?

Was it truly intending to let go, or was there a hidden agenda of the Holy Mother?

Angel wasn’t sure what Uranos’ intentions were, but he had already decided on how to deal with these wind creatures.

These wind creatures initially showed strong hostility towards Angel’s group. If not for their lack of strength, the outcome might have been different. So, while Angel could forgive one or two on Uranos’ account, he had no intention of forgiving them all.

Since Uranos implied letting him deal with them, Angel decided to act according to his wishes.

Angel didn’t conceal his thoughts and revealed his method of dealing with these wind creatures.

Straightforwardly killing them would not only be wasteful but unnecessary.

Utilizing their remaining value was what Angel intended.

Initially, the first thought that crossed Angel’s mind was to find an elemental partner among these wind creatures. Although he needed a fire elemental partner more, future research into wind elements would happen, so securing one in advance wasn’t bad.

However, upon reconsideration, he dismissed the idea. An elemental partner requires a mutual understanding of hearts, and sometimes, when some wizards cultivate elemental bodies, they need to have the elemental partner possess them to experience the elemental body, requiring a high level of trust.

Of course, these cases are special, mostly where wizards raise them from elemental sprites, daring enough to let them possess; but it proves one thing, wizards and elemental life need harmony and trust.

Angel didn’t think he could find such an existence among these wind creatures.

After shelving the idea of seeking an elemental partner, Angel considered it further and ultimately decided to actualize their value by signing a contract with these wind creatures.

Not the kind of symbiotic mind contract with an elemental partner.

But rather a Dingyuan-Moke Oath.

The essence of the Dingyuan-Moke Oath is: ”Retain private freedom and potential development while fulfilling all requests made by the other party.”

Under the influence of this oath, Angel could direct these elemental creatures to act according to his will and slowly infiltrate the personal will and value of the Barbarian Cave into the Tidal World’s elemental creatures.

Even, if needed, they could be used as a blade to carry out some cleanup tasks for him.

After hearing Angel’s words, Uranos slightly sighed in relief, at least Angel had no intention of killing these wind creatures, which was already quite good.

However, upon learning the specifics of the Dingyuan-Moke Oath, Uranos frowned slightly and couldn’t help but say, ”I appreciate your kindness, but I doubt many wind creatures will agree to this contract.”

”Why?” In Angel’s view, the Dingyuan-Moke Oath was already lenient; he hadn’t gone for a harsher oath, which was already generous.

”Because they are wind...”

With Uranos’ explanation, Angel began to understand Uranos’ meaning.

Wind creatures, among all elemental creatures, pursue freedom the most, and while the Dingyuan-Moke Oath appears lenient, for these beings who seek freedom, it’s a psychological torment. Even if Angel doesn’t assign them any tasks, it would act like a shackle, heavily binding their lives and gradually consuming and eroding their pursuit of nature.

When this suppression reaches a certain point, they might rather die than continue being bound by the oath.

”In other words, even if they agree to this oath now, a future without hope will become a burning candle, constantly consuming and extinguishing their will until the day they can no longer bear it.”

Uranos wasn’t pleading, simply stating a fact Angel hadn’t considered.

Angel pondered for a moment and felt that Uranos had a point.

What Angel understood as the leniency of the Dingyuan-Moke Oath was due to ”retaining private freedom and potential development,” but in reality, for wind creatures, their nature is the pursuit of absolute freedom. Although it’s difficult to say that absolute freedom exists in the world, this pursuit can exist. Once permanently shackled, it ends the longing for freedom, then how can there be ”future potential” to speak of?

In short, using the Dingyuan-Moke Oath on wind creatures is no different from a harsher oath.

Angel considered it and finally said, ”Alright, it will still be the Dingyuan-Moke Oath, but this time I’ll add a time limit to the oath.”

”Twenty years.”