Angor looked toward his door and saw someone with an antenna helmet sneaking around the garden fence.
The fences were pretty high, so the helmet was the only thing he saw. But it was enough for Angor to recognize the visitor.
“Dave?” Angor leaned against the fence and greeted the person outside in a slouchy manner.
It was indeed Dave. Most of his face was still covered by the pair of giant, brown goggles, but Angor would not mistake his clothing and body shape.
Dave removed his goggles and let out a silly chuckle.
“What brings you here?” asked Angor. He was still leaning against the fence and he did not intend to open the door yet.
Dave touched the brim of his hair and mumbled something with his head lowered.
“What is that? I can’t hear you,” Angor said.
Dave looked up and revealed a flattering smile. “Angor, I want to… ask something…”
Angor squinted and turned a bit cautious as he asked, “And what do you need?”
With a bit of embarrassment, Dave took out a familiar object from his side pouch. Cross-shaped propellers, threaded stick, simple design… It was exactly the propeller flying machine.
FLAWED, flying machine.
“Angor, I—I redesigned it, and, ahem, I hope little Toby can help me test it again,” said Dave as he blinked his innocent eyes and looked really hopeful.
Angor smiled.
Dave smiled back.
The next second, Angor removed his smile and replaced it with a cold look. Then he waved a hand at Dave. “Goodbye, and have a safe trip.”
Dave’s expression froze up. When he realized Angor was walking away already, he quickly yelled out.
“Angor! One more chance, please! Toby! Sweetheart! Help this big brother out!”
Angor returned to his bench under the tree, picked up his book, and kept enjoying the sun without paying attention to Dave’s screaming. The sun was so nice… although it was a bit noisy around here.
Dave kept yelling. His voice sounded like crying now.
Toby had been napping on the tree when Dave’s terrible crying woke it up. The bird circled around in the air and landed on Angor’s shoulder.
Seeing his main test subject showing up, Dave screamed harder.
Angor explained Dave’s visit to Toby. The bird crossed its wings into an “X” and rejected without any hesitation.
“Stop crying. And stop calling sweetie and such. For one, I don’t trust your alchemy. And secondly, Toby doesn’t want to help, I can’t change Toby’s mind for you,” Angor spoke in a clear and plain tone, like wavering water in the summer lake, slowly triggering Dave’s eardrums.
“My ‘Propeller Flyer MK-2’ is absolutely fine this time! And I added a turning device on it! Nothing will go wrong! Angor, help me, please! I’ll pay you! Toby, sweetie, I beg of you!” Dave screamed at the top of his lungs outside the door.
Toby hesitated when he heard the word “pay”.
Next, Toby waved its wings around at Angor and pointed to the attic.
“You mean, you’ll agree if Dave gives you another Echo Flower?” Angor figured out Toby’s body language.
Toby quickly nodded. Since it could fly, the bird believed that it would be safe even if the machine failed. It was just a harmless test, and it could earn another Echo Flower out of it, so why not?
Angor knew why Toby adored the flower after seeing the bird playing around it these days. Toby seemed to be extremely interested in sound, or rather, music. During Angor’s days of training, Toby spent its days in the attic, trying to sound better. The bird did many experiments on how to make the Echo Flower respond to its beautiful chirping as well as to create a perfect duet.
Angor remembered that there were a lot of songs from Earth that were recorded in the tablet. He decided that once the surface calculations were done, he would play the songs for Toby and it might improve the bird’s “sense of art”.
Since Toby agreed to the test, Angor did not protest. However, his own desire was way bigger than Toby’s. A single Echo Flower would not win him over.
Angor rolled his eyes and got an idea.
Seeing Angor approaching the fence, Dave revealed his puppy eyes again.
Angor sneered silently. Acting cute would not work here.
“I can agree, on three conditions. Either accept them or give up,” said Angor as he crossed his arms and displayed a professional negotiator temperament.
Dave gulped. He got the feeling that Angor was going to ask a lot. Dave was planning to catch an ordinary rabbit to test his flying machine. However, rabbits were too dumb to know how to control the machine. He spent two months trying to add a directional control function to his creation. It was not something a common beast could use. Only an intelligent monster like Toby could handle the job.
Frankly speaking, it was the first time Dave saw such a small and weak monster with adult-level intelligence.
“What three conditions?” Dave asked in a weak voice as if he would faint on the spot if Angor asked too much.
“First, I need information on the Sky Tower.” Angor started from a relatively easy condition. He needed the information because he was aiming for the Sorcerer’s Garden in Floating Mech City. Angor wondered if he could find an easier way to reach the top level of Sky Tower with Dave’s help.
“Information on Sky Tower? That’s no problem. To enter the batt—Ahem! I mean, to help my friend enter the battle, I helped him gather some information before. I promise I can tell you anything!” Dave relaxed a little upon hearing the first condition. Seemed like Angor’s heart was just as innocent as his outside looks.
“Second, Toby is the one taking your test, so you must give Toby something in return,” said Angor. With that, Toby came as well and landed on Angor’s hair, chest puffed up.
“Of course!” Dave hoped that Toby’s heart was as pure as Angor.
Angor pretended to be discussing the rewards with Toby, then he turned back to Dave again.
“Toby said you must give it some Echo Flowers,” said Angor. He used the word “some” and observed Dave’s expression, trying to figure out his baseline.
One Echo Flower cost 128 merit points, which was a little more than one magic crystal. Dave earned five magic crystals every month by working at Prome’s Alchemy Shop. One flower meant one-fifth of his monthly gain.
Dave revealed a hesitant look. He could accept the price of one Echo Flower or two, but beyond that…
“Three. Toby said it wants three.” After checking Dave’s expression, Angor determined a price.
“Too many! I only have two magic crystals each month!” Dave put on a sad look. Three Echo Flowers was an acceptable limit, but he would still try to bargain and pretending to be poor was a good way.
However, Angor did not mind his attempt at all. He simply watched Dave’s display silently.
In the end, Dave clenched his teeth and agreed upon the price while complaining about Toby’s greed in his mind.
Damn bird! Why didn’t it inherit any of Angor’s good virtue?
Toby had no idea that someone was cursing it. The bird was now quite joyful about how its master managed to earn three Echo Flowers instead of one. Toby was imagining itself singing a quartet already.
“The third condition…”
Before Angor could finish, Dave tried to surrender first.
He literally had tears around the corners of his eyes. “Just so you know, I already gave you all my money for this month!”
Angor smiled at him gently. “Don’t worry. I don’t need money.”
Dave felt cured by his bright smile. He removed his tears and waited for an answer with a passionate look.
“I’m planning to make my breakthrough into an apprentice in the coming days.”
“Congratulations! But, I heard that most talents in your term received posters and found professors. Aren’t you a bit slow?”
Angor did not seem offended. “Can’t be helped. My talent is weak.”
Hearing these, Dave regarded Angor as a diligent young man who compensated his lacking talent with a strong mind. Dave quickly thought about himself. He also possessed an average talent. He was not at the last of the line yet, but it was still hard for him to make any progress.
Angor’s image in Dave’s mind soon became favorable.
“Angor, you need anything, just tell me. I’ll help you as best as can!” Dave said in excitement.
Angor was puzzled at how Dave suddenly changed his attitude. But it seemed they did not stray away from the topic, so it was fine.
Angor cleared his throat and said, “I found a basic alchemy manual by chance, so I’m planning to study alchemy once I become an apprentice. My third condition is that you’ll let me buy alchemy materials from you. Of course, I’ll pay for them. But I hope you can give me average market prices.”
Angor never intended to ask big money. He only wanted a stable source of getting materials. As an assistant working at Prome’s Alchemy Shop, Dave should have enough experience in such business. Compared with wandering around in the market as a newb, buying materials from Dave was definitely a better choice.
Dave was not surprised at the third condition. Basic alchemy books were sold in many places. A good number of new apprentices wished to try out this rewarding subject and earn a fortune. But most of them would give up slowly because alchemy required too much talent.
Dave looked at Angor and saw his own image. Back at the beginning, Dave also dived into alchemy with great passion. Now he only earned himself an average position. He was not powerful since he spent most of his time studying alchemy. And due to his moderate talent, he did not do a good job at alchemy either. Without anything to inherit, he only managed to create his first product—the propeller flyer—after spending five years on the subject.
And it was flawed too. Every time he thought about this, Dave only felt more weight added onto his heart.
“That’s no problem. I can even resell some materials that the master doesn’t need at their original prices,” said Dave. He paused and revealed a worried look before he said, “Um, I should tell you that… alchemy isn’t easy.”
Angor smiled. “It’s okay. Just a small attempt will do. If I’m not talented, I’ll just learn something else.”