Dave sensed Angor’s anger. He scratched his hair and displayed an innocent look.
Angor approached him with clenched fists.
“Flying machine?! What kind of flying machine can’t control its directions?! We’re lucky Toby is smart, or he would have been dead!” Angor cracked his knuckles.
“It’s only my first time—”
“That’s not an excuse! If you had told me earlier, I’d never have allowed Toby to take the risk in the first place,” Angor bellowed.
“No! Please don’t hit me, I’m sorry!” Looking at how Angor was so threatening, Dave completely forgot his identity as an apprentice. The boy crouched down and covered his head.
Toby, on the other hand, was quite touched by Angor’s reaction. Since its master was willing to confront an apprentice wizard just to protect it, Toby decided that if Angor was in danger, it would join the fight and help him.
Angor felt it funny how Dave showed so much cowardice. Was Dave an apprentice for real? He felt that this guy was weaker than Abelle.
“Can I make up for you by giving you some merit points?” Dave said.
“How much?”
“Five?”
Angor shook his head quickly and said, “Not good.”
“Ten?”
“No.”
“Fifty?”
“Too little.”
Angor spent 700 points on teleportation when he was trying to find the Elder of Books. Fifty points? Oh, come on.
Dave showed a sad look. “Fifty is pretty good already. What do you want then?”
“What do I want? Ha!”
Toby curled its wing into a fist as well.
My Angor would never back down because of money. Give up! You’re getting punched!
“Ahem. So you were saying, you worked at an… alchemy shop?”
“Prome’s Alchemy Shop!” Dave looked really proud. “Master Prome is an intermediate apprentice alchemist!”
“Good. There’s a meter that tests your spiritual power indicator. Give me one of those and we’re even,” Angor said.
Toby looked around at Angor in disbelief upon hearing those words.
You backed down because of money! I was so wrong about you!
Angor rubbed Toby’s tiny head with a somewhat embarrassed expression. He whispered, “You’re not hurt anyway. Once I earn this meter, I can save some magic crystals and use them to buy some dried deep-sea fish for you.”
Dried deep-sea fish?
Toby threw Angor a doubtful glance, mumbled some complaint, and quieted down.
…
Prome’s Alchemy Shop was located at the end of the alleyway.
Dave led Angor and Toby here, then pointed to the entrance which led downward, into an underground tunnel. “Go down here, and you’ll reach the apprentice marketplace in Apprentice Town Eight. The shop is right inside.”
“An underground marketplace?” Angor only heard about it for the first time. He was really curious about the place.
“Well, as a new recruit, it’s natural you don’t know about it,” said Dave. He seemed proud of his knowledge as he explained, “Every apprentice town in Brute Cavern has an underground market. There are lots of stuff down there, but their quality and value vary a lot as well. If you’re perceptive, you might find yourself some real treasures.
“Oh, and if you want to buy materials at stable prices, you can go to the villages and towns nearby. Their prices are usually more reasonable since they’re affected by the economy of Darkivil Empire.”
After walking in the tunnel for about five minutes, they reached the underground market.
The market was a giant, hollowed out cave. Angor was shocked at how big and populated this place was. No wonder he did not see many apprentices on the surface. They were all gathered here. And he thought apprentices tended to hide inside their homes… Now Angor realized he really needed to see the world more. If not for Dave, who knew how long it would take him to notice such things?
Numerous paths crossed with each other, and each path had hundreds of shops along with it.
From a quick look, there were about thirty to forty such paths and streets in the cave. There were probably a terrifying number of shops here.
Angor also saw several buildings dozens of meters high among all the shops. The tallest one was a silver-colored metallic tower near the center of the place. The tower had 15 floors. A number of steel cables came out of each floor, with each cable extended into a corner of the underground cave several kilometers away. All the cables formed up a giant network in the air.
There was such a cable under Angor’s position which was connected to the tower.
“These are cableways. See those metal boxes up there? Those are carriages, and they can take you to the Sky Tower quickly,” Dave explained.
“Sky Tower?” Angor looked at the silver tower and recalled hearing a similar name from somewhere.
“Yup, Sky Tower,” said Dave. His expression showed both admiration and fear. “The Sky Towers are battle towers established in various places by Floating Mech City.”
“Battle towers?” Angor remembered when Abelle introduced a formal wizard, she mentioned such a place. “The Tower of Infinity in Floating Mech City?”
“You know about Tower of Infinity?” asked Dave. He was surprised. That was not something a new recruit would know. Dave only heard it from a pair of Level-3 apprentices by chance after he had worked in Prome’s Alchemy Shop for two years.
Angor explained Abelle’s words.
“Abelle, huh? She’s weak, but she has some fast information sources. I heard that she always goes to the Cloud Library to spend her merit points. Abelle should totally know about the tower.”
“Why? Is Abelle famous here?” asked Angor. He tried finding random things to talk about along their way.
“She is. But not in a good way. We’re from the same term. When Mister Tree Spirit tested her, she proved to be a rare Occult talent. And many people were pretty jealous. However, she was just too weak. She would drag people down in every single group activity, so people just call her the biggest disappointment during that term.”
“Abelle is an Occult?”
“Yes, she’s an Occult Summoner. The triple-colored deer she usually rode on was summoned by her,” said Dave. He curled his lips as he continued, “The deer has no strength at all. It’s just a vehicle. Enough about Abelle, let’s talk about the Sky Tower.”
Dave pointed to the tall structure and he explained, “There are 15 floors on the tower, and every floor had several dozen arenas. You get three points by winning a match and lose four points by losing, and nothing happens if it’s a draw. If you earn enough points on each floor or place yourself within the top ten people with the most points in each season, you can advance to the next floor. Being admitted into a floor means you can ride the cableway on that floor to go directly into the Sky Tower too. It also shows one’s strength to others.
“If you get past the fifth floor, you win a ticket to challenge the Tower of Infinity. In other words, the Tower of Infinity is a sequel to the Sky Tower.”
Dave looked as if he was yearning for something as he continued, “The strongest talent from my year has entered the thirteenth floor now.”
“What about you?”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yeah, which floor are you on?”
Dave revealed an embarrassed look as he said, “Oh uh, I’m not interested in fighting, so…”
Not interested? Angor chuckled in his mind. He did not forget Dave’s look of admiration when he was looking at the Sky Tower.
Dave was definitely interested. He just could not fight.
Angor was now quite curious about the Sky Tower. It could be a good place to train his skills. However… considering that he would fight in the center of audiences, Angor preferred not trying it out.
Prome’s Alchemy Shop sat in a remote place. It was a single building near the edge of the cave and was hidden behind a tall structure. People had to walk around the tall building to notice this small shop.
“The location isn’t ideal, but we have good business! The shopkeeper is an Intermediate Apprentice Alchemist, so he’s an important figure in the entire Brute Cavern. Many people from the other apprentice towns come here to this shop because of him,” Dave explained proudly.
So apprentice alchemists are considered important here? Angor thought to himself.
The shop’s door was shut tight. Still, a number of people had gathered in front of it. They all went up to Dave when they saw him, and Dave tried pretty hard to persuade them away.
“The people are here for Master Prome, but he’s not here,” said Dave. He then sighed. “Or should I say, he’s not here 90% of all times throughout the year. Alchemists are always busy, it can’t be helped.”
While explaining, Dave took Angor into the shop.
It was a small place. The shelves were full of all kinds of strange objects, most of which were made of metal.
“Master Prome’s masterpieces. He doesn’t come here often, but he always places his new products into his warehouse. I collect them every half a month. You look around. I’ll go get your spirit meter. It’s pretty cheap. If you ask for something else, I’m afraid I can’t just give you without Master’s permission,” Dave mumbled. He lifted a wooden cover on the floor and ducked in.
Angor and his bird stood alone inside the small shop.
He slowly looked at the shelves around him. The products all looked pretty well-made, but they were actually of little use. The products described in the first pages of Encyclopaedia: Basic Alchemy were already better than these.
And given the apprentice alchemist who made such products was called a “Master”… this further proved how scarce skilled alchemists were.
Angor decided that once he finished his third step in his meditation, he would try studying alchemy when he had time. The books were such great treasures, it would be a waste if he did not put them to use.
[Killer Music Box. It creates a sharp sound wave by mixing high and low frequencies and can be used to assault one’s mind. Limited to three uses. Item breaks upon reaching this limit. Price: 5,000 merit points.]
Angor picked up a beautiful, heart-shaped metal casket. If he did not read the description label affixed on it, he would have thought this was a jewelry case.
“Only three times? Either its creator did something wrong while making it, or there’s a flaw in its interior mechanism,” said Angor as he put the case down. A flawed product that cost 5,000 points. Alchemists could really earn easy money. Angor believed the materials for making this thing would barely cost two magic crystals.
He heard chirping coming from behind him. When he turned around, he saw Toby acting all restless in front of a pale violet morning glory flower.
Angor walked to Toby to see what was special about the flower when the flower suddenly released some chirps back out.
“That’s… Toby’s voice?” Angor looked at Toby in another spot, who was equally puzzled.
“That’s… Toby’s voice?” The morning glory sounded again.
In Angor’s voice.
“Amazing. A flower that records your voice?” Angor was surprised.
“Amazing. A flower that records your voice?”
Dave climbed out of the underground storage and saw Angor and Toby’s silly reaction. He smiled and explained, “That’s an Echo Flower. Hey, Toby, don’t step on its root.”
Toby flew away from the flower pot.
“It’ll not do it if you don’t press its root. The flower is a material used in sound-related alchemy items. Here, Angor,” said Dave. He tossed a meter to Angor and said, “A spirit meter, as my apology for you.”
Angor took the meter and told himself “Jackpot!” in his mind. Although he showed an “Okay, I accept this humble gift” on his face.
Angor prepared to leave. He got what he wanted already, so there was no point in staying further.
Considering how Toby seemed interested in the Echo Flower, Angor turned back and asked, “How much for the flower?”
Dave was cleaning his helmet. When he heard Angor’s question, he revealed an unconvinced expression, thinking that Angor would not afford it. “That will be 128 points. You just came here last month, right? There’s no way you have enough money.”
Angor humphed and handed Dave his bone card. “I’ll take it.”
…
Angor was in a good mood when returning to his house. He still could not help laughing when he remembered seeing Dave’s dumbfounded expression upon reading the balance number on his bone card.
It was a great trip. Aside from getting a spirit meter, he also earned a valuable piece of information about the underground market.
Angor was going to place the Echo Flower in the greenhouse. But considering how Toby really liked it, he decided to put it in the attic along with a wooden spoon.
“Don’t forget to water it. Fetch water from the river with that spoon. Don’t ask me to buy another if you let it wither,” said Angor as he reminded Toby.
With everything settled, Angor planned to report his recent conditions to Sunders before he focused on finishing the third step.
Before going to Phantom Island though, he still had another job.
To test his spiritual power.
He was not sure if his spirit was affected by the effort last night when he drew the mysterious pattern inside his mind. It would be fine if there was no increase. However, if his spirit did increase… without using the Potion of Austere Night, everyone would question how it happened. Sunders was an extremely wise man. Angor was afraid the man would find out his secret. How could he explain seeing the patterns on the wall then?
Angor took out the spirit meter with a trembling hand. He clearly remembered how the test could bring him pain as if it happened just yesterday.
He had to confirm his spirit power anyway. Angor clenched his teeth and began the test.
Two golden lines were climbing…
The same process, the same painful experience. Angor put the meter aside, drenched in cold sweat.
When his breath calmed down, Angor picked up the meter again to see the result.
“Fifteen points.”
No change.
Angor felt both disappointed and happy about it.
He was disappointed that the strange wall only had a limited effect on increasing his spiritual power. Although he only drew a small part of the pattern instead of a complete one, which could be the reason.
The good thing was, with his spirit power unchanged, at least Sunders wouldn’t notice anything wrong.
Angor stared at the indicator on the meter and realized something.
It read 15 alright… but were the golden lines a bit higher than his last test?
Maybe he simply remembered the wrong impression?