Maybe the completion of the third surface removed a giant burden from Angor’s mind as he was able to sleep deeper than ever.
When he finally woke up on his own, two days already passed.
Angor spaced out on his bed for half an hour as he enjoyed his refreshed and loosened spirit… until he smelled sour sweat coming off his own body. He slowly climbed off his bed to get some hot bathwater.
A well-needed bath refreshed his body further.
Angor returned to the soundproof room and saw the hologram tablet working on the results at full speed. He left the device aside and began meditating.
When his meditation was done, Angor no longer knew what to do. He leaned against a wall and decided to arrange his plans for the coming future.
He divided his plans into three phases according to his current goals, his available time, and how distant the goals were.
The farthest goal was, naturally, pursuing truth and self-realization. Angor wished he could walk as far as possible down the path of wizardry. This was the most distant goal, not something he should worry about now.
The next one was his five-year promise of saving his mentor, Jon, and an agreement with Mara.
Jon was his biggest reason for working so hard right now. Five years could instantly pass by in the eyes of wizards. Angor had so little time to save Jon. But he was not completely hopeless. At least he had a clue on how to save his teacher now.
The reason as to the root of Jon’s condition was being expelled by the world’s consciousness. So the first question was, how to make the world’s consciousness accept an otherworldly visitor?
Angor did not dare to ask Sunders about it. Sunders was wise enough to see through his ideas. If Sunders found out about Jon which in turn attracted “Supreme Cult” and “Recover”… it would be troublesome.
He had to gather information in these five years and solved this problem on his own. He needed to keep working on it as well as seeking knowledge from specific sources. If he could not find an answer in five years, he could use the money he saved to buy another “Ice Coffin of Healing” scroll. That would give Jon another five years to live. So this goal was not really urgent.
As for his agreement with Mara… it would depend on the situation. Mara used an “Ice Coffin of Healing” scroll to win a promise from Angor; that once Angor became a level-2 apprentice, he had to accompany Mara to explore some ruins.
Angor was confident that as long as he could build a perfect spirit model, he would be able to channel mana flow faster than anyone else, and strengthened his mana pool quickly. So becoming a level-2 apprentice was not hard. However, Mara never gave him a time limit, which meant even if Angor made it to level-2 apprentice, he did not need to hurry his way to the White Coral Floating Island Academy to fulfill his promise.
In the end, Angor decided to place his agreement with Mara behind Jon’s matter.
With the relatively distant goals set, Angor proceeded to think about his recent development.
Building spirit model, creating mana pool, and breaking through into the state of an apprentice was surely his foremost task for now. Apart from this though, he now had another wild hope which was the Sorcerer’s Garden in Floating Mech City as mentioned by Goode.
To walk down the path of wizardry was a big talk for him now. But Angor had hope in it. Nobody knew what would actually jump out from the Pandora’s Box anyway. Anything was possible.
But still… he had to become an apprentice first.
According to Goode, the Sorcerer’s Garden in Floating Mech City could use its “purification” law to enhance one’s probability of becoming a wizard. Even if it only brought another 0.1% success rate, Angor would not want to miss it.
However, this was too difficult a task for Angor. To reach the top level of a Sky Tower in a short time… this seemed impossible.
Among apprentices of the same class, bloodline apprentices usually were more powerful. Under the certain rules in the arenas of Sky Tower, a powerful bloodline wizard such as “Grass Snail” Fantase battled his way all the way to the 100th level of Tower of Infinity.
Even if Angor became an apprentice and learned several cantrips… he would not do well against bloodline apprentices.
For now, Angor placed this goal somewhere deep down in his mind.
…
With future plans set, Angor was left with nothing else to do. He wanted to read some books recorded on the tablet. Yet he was afraid that by opening the documents, it would affect the device’s computing efficiency. In the end, he gave up the idea. Better safe than sorry.
With nothing to read, nothing to train on, Angor simply decided to give himself several days off and take it easy.
He would avoid thinking about bad things and bad characters during his holidays. Anger and frustration would not do him any good, so he might as well maintained a plain mindset and focused on improving himself.
In the next days, Angor spent his time doing random things such as singing, handwriting practice, and doing miscellaneous tricks he learned from Jon. Sometimes he played with Toby, and when he felt tired, the boy simply lied on an armchair on the balcony, crossed his legs up to enjoy the gentle breeze while thinking about his colorful past life.
Angor was unaware that everything he did was recorded by a Phantom Servant down to every detail. The servant passed the information to Goode, who in turn told it to Sunders.
Sunders was quite agitated when watching Angor’s behaviors from a crystal ball. The man cared about Angor and intentionally ordered Goode to advise the boy in an implicit way to give up the thirty-six-dimensional locator. But… Angor did THIS in response?
The boy might be staying indoors all day to avoid assassination. If so, he would be no different from a spoiled rich kid!
Sunders would not mind if Angor relaxed like that for a day or two, but according to the reports of the Phantom Servant, Angor had been like this for two weeks!
Wearing a cold look, Sunders released an aura of anger to the outside. Goode had been serving the man for more than a century now, and he still trembled a little.
“Go tell Angor that he must turn into an apprentice within a month. Or else… I’ll officially discontinue the relationship of being his mentor.”
Goode clearly read the anguish hidden between the man’s words. The butler bowed in acknowledgment and stepped away.
Sunders looked at how Angor enjoyed himself in the crystal ball and revealed a frustrated expression at his disappointing student. The construction of Sorcerer’s Garden was in its critical stage and he could not leave now, or he would definitely go find Angor personally and lecture the kid for good.
…
Apprentice Town Eight. Angor’s villa.
Angor stood there, agape. He did not expect that his holiday decision attracted Sunders’ grudge to the extent of losing his position as the man’s student.
“Mister Padt, Master Sunders said so. Please do not let him down.” Butler Goode was completely covered in his black robe. His face was also hidden behind a mask. Still, Angor recognized the care and worry from his voice.
Angor remained silent and shifted between several expressions. Surprise, puzzlement, helplessness… Goode believed that the boy was struggling over his own mind as he thought about whether he should give up the locator method for real, so the butler did not interrupt Angor’s consideration.
A moment later, when Goode saw Angor regaining a calm look, the butler thought Angor finally made up his mind. Did the boy choose another locator method, or was he foolish enough to stick to his mistake?
“I understand. I’ll break through and become an apprentice in a month,” Angor replied.
Goode sighed in relief, believing that Angor finally chose another locator method. The butler patted the boy’s shoulder. With a smile, he spoke in a sincere tone.
“There’s a reason why the thirty-six-dimensional locator is lost in history. Master asked you to choose another method, but he would like you to stick to singularity dispersive model for you’ll still do better than the other channeling methods. Don’t push yourself too hard.”
With that, Goode floated away with a satisfied smile.
It took Angor some time to finally understood why Goode had come.
So professor thought he was simply idling away his time? That was why Sunders reminded him to choose another locator and to achieve something equal.
Angor could not really explain his plan. Could he tell Sunders that he cheated with his tablet and that he would completely work out the thirty-six-dimensional locator in a week? No way.
Angor decided to withhold the information. Since Sunders already misunderstood his plans, he would keep it that way. Another locator or not, Angor would always build a singularity dispersive model. Once the model was established, even legendary wizards would not figure out how he did it or which locator method he used.
The hologram tablet read: 173 hours 33 minutes 27 seconds.
Just a little more than a week.
Now that he knew a Phantom Servant was watching him, Angor no longer dared to show himself on the balcony or in the garden.
But he could not just shut himself in his house with nothing to do either. In the end, he just found a book and pretended to be studying on the balcony. Meanwhile, his mind was actually running wild. His eyes, which were blocked by some of his hair, were not concentrating on the book at all.
Sunders was quite content when he heard that Angor decided to choose another locator. From an image sent by Goode, Angor was “studying diligently” on his balcony. Sunders no longer paid attention to Angor since then. The man believed that with the boy’s superior talent, and with a better approach, one month was more than enough for Angor to become an apprentice.
…
The clock on the wall bid farewell to another two hours.
Today, the tree spirit seemed to be in a good mood. The giant leaf covering Apprentice Town Eight had moved away. Gentle sunlight covered the entire place, coating the town in a golden aura.
Angor moved a silver bench under the mistletoe tree. He planned to take a nap under the sun while still pretending to be reading.
Before he could fall asleep though, noises came from the entrance.