“Fer—become fertilizer in a minute?” Angor stuttered. He was shocked and he asked, “Are Glutton Flowers that powerful?”
Angor knew that those flowers were at least stronger than himself but considering Sunders’ own comment… That was scary! Angor even thought the tiny flower was kinda adorable.
“There are at least 20 forbidden zones in this part of the Nightmare Realm. Even I cannot approach them with my current strength. And the Glutton Flower Tunnel is the most horrible one among all. This tunnel was the dark passage you mentioned earlier. The place was full of Glutton Flowers. Glutton Flowers were mid-level monsters. If you compare them to wizards, they have similar strength to High Apprentices. I can manage a hundred or so, however… just so you know, there are millions of them in that tunnel. There is NO way I would ever want to face them.
“Also, there is a Glutton Flower Lord, the one floating in the air. Its mere aura allowed you to reach this place safely. Can you see how powerful it is now?” Sunders only briefly explained the Glutton Flower Lord. Such legendary monsters could be attracted when someone mentioned their names.
“Glutton Flowers are such deadly monsters?” Angor exclaimed. He still had a question and he asked, “I’ve been thinking, why did I sense their emotions?”
Sunders did not mind explaining this one, “Because they wanted to communicate, and opened up their minds to you. Otherwise, they wouldn’t mind you at all. This tells us the fact that you’re quite welcomed among Glutton Flowers. Now I think about it, why didn’t the Hover Heads attack you? Also, the friendliness of Glutton Flowers. Apart from these monsters, the others shouldn’t trouble you since you carry the aura of Glutton Flower Lord. But it was very strange that the Hover Heads you meet at the beginning let you run away.”
Angor was thinking about this question too. Angor had been believing that he avoided the monsters thanks to his luck. Now it seemed something else was behind all this.
“I asked the flower lord too, but it gave me a weird answer.”
“A weird answer? What kind of answer?”
Angor blushed a little as he answered, “It said… I have the scent of the queen.”
“The scent of the queen?” Sunders was shocked. The man had taken several guesses about Angor’s condition, but he had never expected such a strange answer.
Sunders walked around Angor for a while. He even sniffed at the boy’s body.
“I’m sure the deep aura on you came from the essence of Glutton Flower Lord. I don’t sense anything else,” said Sunders. He was puzzled. Where did the “queen’s scent” come from then? Did the Hover Heads and Glutton Flowers disregarded or showed friendliness to Angor because of this strange scent?
Sunders could not think of anything to answer that question, so he only concluded that Angor’s special talent helped the boy.
“Let’s put this aside,” said Sunders. He then said, “So, after you left the Glutton Flower Tunnel, you found this place smoothly without running into anything?”
Angor shook head. It was not smooth at all.
Sunders was surprised by the boy’s response, “It can’t be. With the aura of Glutton Flower Lord, no low-level of mid-level monsters would bother you at all. Don’t tell me you met high-level monsters?”
Angor looked at his teacher’s face. It was a charming and handsome one, showing great experience and prudence. However, in Angor’s mind, he was thinking about another Sunders. The younger Sunders did not look much different, but he did not have the calm temperament. Instead, younger Sunders revealed an unstoppable arrogance. The two Sunders were not similar at all. Well, except the fact that they both did not talk much.
“What’s on your mind, Angor?” Sunders asked.
Angor woke up from his thoughts. His eyes were wavering a little as if he was in a trance.
“There weren’t high-level monsters but… I met someone.”
“Someone? Who was it?”
Instead of speaking, Angor took out a dagger and a black cane from his waist and placed them in front of Sunders.
Sunders’ irises shrank upon seeing the objects. He picked up the dagger and inspected its fine, undamaged blade, the white bandage around its handle, and the familiar carvings… He froze.
A picture was carved on the sheath of the dagger. A flying sword with a pair of wings, sticking inside a thorny rose.
Sunders unsheathed the dagger and saw a line of small words embedded on the back of the blade: Unbeaten Rose, Eternal Glory.
“The Dagger of Thorned Rose…” Sunders mumbled in a small voice.
The dagger was not an alchemy weapon. It came from his family when Sunders was still a mortal. The picture on the dagger was his family emblem, and the words were his family motto.
As a weapon made by mortals, The Dagger of Thorned Rose was quite sharp. However, ever since he became a wizard, he never had much use for it. Sunders kept it on him as a memento.
With the dagger in his hand, Sunders took out another dagger from his clothes.
When the two weapons were placed together, it could be seen that they had exactly the same look, material and size. Only that one of them was a bit worn out.
“Two identical daggers?” Sunders was astonished.
He put down the dagger and picked up the black cane.
He was carrying an alchemy cane as well. However, his own cane was crafted by a master alchemist from Floating Mech City and was longer and more powerful than the one Angor showed him. The black cane in his hand which had the image of burning flame at one side was only a basic alchemy cane.
The totem of Brute Cavern.
This was a standard magic cane issued by Brute Cavern. Anyone could exchange for this item by spending points. It was one of the most common magic canes. To Sunders, however, this cane that was brought by Angor looked very familiar. Those scratch marks reminded him of something two centuries ago…
Before he became a wizard.
As an apprentice without much background and support, Sunders seized everything using his own hands. He remembered risking his life day and night and struggling with death face to face countless times as he tried to find his destiny.
This magic cane accompanied him for a long time until it was broken when he was fighting someone in an incident.
This was a memorial artifact to Sunders. He already recycled its broken parts and annihilated the remains two hundred years ago. He did not think he could ever see it again.
With great emotion whirling in his mind, Sunders put down the magic cane. He then looked at Angor and asked, “Who was it?”