Angor only did one thing in the past week: rearranging Cleanse spell.
But when explaining to Sunders, Angor naturally omitted the part about how many combinations he worked out. He only concluded it with one simple sentence, “Rearrange the models, see their different effects and find out their connections with each other.”
Sunders nodded. “Knowing spells to the root is an essential condition for becoming a real wizard. At the same time, you should remember that such work is valuable, but it takes too much time. For now, you should focus on the ‘principle’ which builds the spell.
“Take Cleanse for example. Its ‘principle’ is a simple combination of wind and water, which is easy to comprehend, and you can cast the spell easily. For other cantrips, let’s say, another level-0 cantrip, Optic Confusion. For that spell, apart from understanding light and shadow, you also need to know the structure of the human retina and its blind spots.
“The root of a spell is not about its model, but fully understanding its ‘principle’.”
Sunders paused a little and continued, “This is why most wizards are scholars. The more you know, the world appears more real to your eyes. A spell is a tool that helps you defend yourself in this ‘real’ world. A spell and its principle are equally important, but still, you should mainly focus on learning the ‘principle’ before learning the spell itself.”
Angor nodded in acknowledgment. Mara also told him before that knowledge was the most valuable asset in the world of wizards. Since he was young, Jon always told him to regard knowledge above everything. Every element in your life was an additional chain that dragged you down while only knowledge was the crown on your head. In the wizarding world, knowledge became more important. Angor needed to improve his knowledge base too if he wanted to get stronger.
Without enough knowledge, a wizard would have a hard time trying to break through his or her bottleneck.
“Reading many books without thinking about them does not mean receiving knowledge. When you take the time to think about what you already know, you’ll find out that you know little, and that’s when you’ll finally understand what wizards should look for,” Sunders spoke in a sincere tone.
“Once you gained enough knowledge, you can even create spells instead of learning existing ones.” Sunders pointed to Toby who had been standing on Angor’s shoulder. “You didn’t forget how this little creature came into being, right? It originated from a spell created by Greya herself. Creating original spell is also one essential condition for a real wizard.”
Sunders then told Angor something about rearranging models before asking Angor to leave.
When walking out of the manor, Angor was still thinking about his professor’s words.
“Centered around Cleanse, there are a total of 630 variations, and six of them are perfect models. But the only model worthy of being passed around is ‘Cleanse’ because this one consumes the least mana and has the best outcome. The other five perfect models all shared decent effects, but they can be replaced by simpler spells.
“You can still learn something from dismantling models. When you create a new spell, you’ll be able to understand the connection between ‘principle’ and the spell model faster. But that’s too far a goal for you at this moment.”
Sunders’ words encouraged Angor to think about creating new spells. He might not be able to do that now, but the idea was already planted inside his mind, waiting to give birth to fruit.
When Angor left Phantom Island and was walking on the sky bridge, he suddenly remembered something—
“Crap. I forgot Lady Mirror’s request!”
When Angor hurried back into the island, Sunders was preparing to enter his Sorcerer’s Garden and observe the inside.
“Lady Mirror asked me to tell you something. She hoped that the professor can join her and have some tea…” Angor spoke with his head lowered in embarrassment.
Sunders glanced at Angor and chuckled. “Tea?”
“Yes. Lady Mirror said so.”
“Okay. I see.”
Angor spoke again, still embarrassed. “So um, will you go or not?”
“No.” That was a firm answer.
When Angor revealed a stressful look, Sunders thought about something and added, “You can find the time and go to her yourself, to thank her for saving your life.”
“Me?”
Sunders nodded. “She won’t mind who joins her. The only thing she cares is whether her tea partner looks good enough.”
Sunders inspected Angor’s appearance and let out a raucous laugh from his throat. “You’re still too young. But considering your look… she won’t say no.”
…
There were still apprentices around the sky bridge, but only a few now.
The Falling Cloud Stop was in a complete mess after the gust. Angor even saw blood traces here. But he did not find Nausica and Sailum.
He almost lost his own life in the disaster.
Lady Mirror was the one who saved him in the end. But before that, he needed to thank Nausica. She helped him keep steady in the raging wind, and she did not give him up when he fell unconscious.
Angor still fell down though, because he failed to hold on to the vines.
He felt equally thankful to both Nausica and Lady Mirror.
He walked all the way to Cave Field. Before he could go down, he saw Sailum rushing toward him from Apprentice Town Eight, screaming and crying.
“Angor!!” Sailum reached him while wearing his white bedsheet, as well as some tears and nose water. “I knew you’d be fine! You’ve no idea how terrified I was when I saw you falling from the leaf. Oh, thank heavens…”
Sailum’s teardrops did not stop flowing. They drenched Angor’s robe.
Sailum kept sobbing and hiccuping while crying, which must look really childish and funny to onlookers. But Angor only felt warmth in his heart.
Nausica slowly joined them too. She smiled when she saw the two crying kids huddled together.
Angor patted Sailum’s head and walked to her. “Thank you for helping me. If I fell while unconscious, I’d be dead,” Angor spoke in a solemn tone.
Nausica shook her head. “It’s nothing. You’re… alive, that’s what matters.”
Before seeing Angor safe, Nausica had been blaming herself for dropping Angor, and she had been wearing a cold look.
Now that she finally saw Angor was safe, she lifted the burden off her mind.
She had a lot to confess. But she did not do so in the end. “You’re alive, that’s what matters” was the only thing she said.
In this completely strange world, three souls from different nations and lands were bound together by their pure friendship. They might walk down different paths in the future, but at least today, their bond was true.
…
Angor told them about his experience while on their way to the underground marketplace.
They already planned to go there before going to Phantom Island. It was a rare chance for them to be together. Even if no one wanted to buy stuff, they could simply wander around and have fun.
“So Lady Mirror saved you?” When listening to Angor’s story, Sailum’s expression shifted between surprise and fear drastically as if he was the one going through the disaster.
When Angor finished talking, Sailum also spoke about what he saw around the Phantom Island.
“Many people died. Some of them were blown over to the island and were killed by the magic, some fell off.”
When talking about dead people, Sailum put a hand on his chest in fear. “Thank god we stayed at Falling Cloud Stop. If we tried to join the crowd, we’d probably meet the same end.
“But the wind itself didn’t kill many people because most apprentices know how to fly. They won’t fall to death as long as they can maneuver in the air. What killed most people was the mysterious rhyme following the arrival of the world’s consciousness.
“At that time, almost everyone was pressed against the ground. We were fine on the leaf, but those in the air all fell from the sky, either dead or badly injured. You probably don’t know, but when we came down to the tree spirit garden underneath the island to look for your ‘body’, we saw the whole place covered by corpses. Broken corpses. Can you imagine? Body parts, white brain fluids, red blood, guts that already began to stink… they were everywhere. It was horrific.”
When speaking of this, Sailum remembered the terrible sight in his mind and wanted to throw up again.
“The rhyme was a deadly weapon, and at the same time, bringer of destiny,” Nausica spoke. “Too bad neither Sailum nor I learned anything. But I think I saw someone on the sky bridge succeeding.”
“Did you find destiny, Angor?” Sailum asked, “You were right beside the Sorcerer’s Garden, and the rhyme should be stronger over there. Did you get anything?”
Angor shook his head. “No, I found nothing.”
Sailum showed a “just as I thought” look and prepared some words to comfort Angor.
“But Toby did…” Angor pointed at the bird on his shoulder, and Toby quickly puffed up its chest and lifted its head high.
“Huh?! Did Toby learn something? No way!” Sailum’s jaw dropped open in disbelief.
Angor only nodded helplessly. “Professor Sunders said so. Toby comprehended the sequence of gravity.”
“Ha. A bird learned something when humans cannot. Anyone who hears about this will get furious,” Nausica snickered.
Sailum curled his lips and felt like crying again. “Oh come on! Does that mean I’m worse than a small bird?”