Under the effect of Thaw, the block of Earth Fiend Bronze turned into a pool of metal liquid which shined with black and red glimmer.
The next step was to shape the liquid into something he wanted. After that, he could use Condense to fix the shape.
Angor froze up when thinking about this step.
“How to shape the liquid?”
Angor just realized he only considered how to melt the material. He never thought about how to create a shape for it.
He remembered something from Basic Alchemy : Use mana to shape melted material and fix the shape with Condense.
Use mana to shape something?
Angor tried to squeeze out a tiny amount of mana from his mana pool and release it into the metal liquid.
It was like adding a small glass of water into the sea. Nothing was changed.
He did not know what to do next. About three minutes later, the spell model began to waver a little in the great heat. This meant that his Thaw spell was reaching its limit.
His only choice, for now, was to cancel the spell.
Without support, the metal liquid fell to the floor and created several burn marks. Terrible smell and white smoke invaded the basement.
Angor opened the door to let in some fresh air.
He then returned to his soundproof room to check if the books in the tablet explained how to shape materials.
However, none of the books from Sunders’ collection or Nightmare Realm described how. The only thing they mentioned was “use mana”.
Angor was stumped. He even considered using molds as shaping tools, but he still needed to order molds from someone. Could he actually find a mortal blacksmith for that?
After considering for a bit, Angor decided to ask Dave.
He put on his black “bedsheet” and left his house.
Angor began to like his “bedsheet” a lot because it was so easy to wear. Previously, he always had to wash and comb his hair before going out. But now, the hood on the “bedsheet” easily covered his messy hairstyle.
Angor even began to wonder if the robes were distributed to apprentices for this very reason.
He had not even walked very far when he noticed that the apprentice town was more populated than before.
Many apprentices who did not show themselves often were out on the streets, and they were properly dressed.
Angor moved among the crowds with his face covered under the hood. He reached the underground market in several minutes. Finding Prome’s Alchemy Shop was easy enough. The shop was wide open, and no one gathered at the place this time. However, for some reason, Dave was sitting on the stairs in front of the shop.
Dave’s goggles were pushed up to his hair, revealing his pockmarked face. He was holding his cheeks while carrying a depressed expression. He looked as if he was a young adult who had lost his purpose for the future.
“What’s up, thinking about your past life?” Angor walked to him when Dave finally made a movement by looking up at his visitor.
“Sighhh…” Dave let out a deep breath in a lazy manner. “What is it? You didn’t go to Cloud Library?”
“Cloud Library? What for?” Angor leaned on the bars of the stairs.
“But today is the release day for a new Moonfrost Periodical. You don’t know it?” Dave then muttered to himself, “Oh right, you’re a new recruit in Brute Cavern. You probably don’t.”
“Moonfrost Periodical?” Angor recalled the name of a certain magazine. “You mean Expedition into Endless Planes periodical which was published by Moonfrost Union?”
“Wait, so you do know it?” Dave was surprised.
“Yeah, every new release comes out in a century. They record all sorts of things during the expeditions held by Moonfrost Union. There are 16 volumes now,” Angor considered. “You just said that today is the release day. So the 17th volume of Expedition into Endless Planes is coming out?”
Dave nodded. “Yes. The people of Moonfrost Union are already here. Do you see that people have left the underground market? They all went to check it out.”
“A new edition for another hundred years… yeah, it’s worth checking out.” Angor felt curious too. He wondered if the magazine found anything new about the Nightmare Realm. Angor already read every existing volume. The Nightmare Realm was only mentioned as a new expedition destination in the 14th volume. Other than that, the Moonfrost Union never said anything else about the place.
“Where can I get one? I’ll go as well!” Angor quickly asked.
Dave glanced at him. “You sure? The price for new editions never went below a hundred magic crystals.”
“Then why…” Angor looked around the empty market.
“You can rent it from Cloud Library, or from wizards. If your mentor is really nice to you, maybe you can borrow one for free.” When talking about this, Dave’s depression deepened a little.
“I see…” Angor wondered if he could go to Sunders and try his luck. “But why are you being all frowny over here?” Angor asked.
Dave shrugged. “I’m envious. I don’t have a mentor.”
“You… didn’t have a professor poster? But didn’t you get assigned to a random professor in that case?”
“I had one before,” said Dave. He paused for a long time before speaking again, “Too bad, my professor died on his path during a plane expedition.”
Angor’s expression froze. So that was why Dave looked so sad.
As Angor tried to think of something to comfort Dave, Dave chuckled and spoke first, “I’m fine now. Master Prome can teach me something occasionally. This feels better than being all scared in front of my previous mentor. And… you didn’t answer my question yet. What are you here for?”
Dave squinted his eyes as he asked, “Don’t tell me you already find yourself untalented for Tooling so you’re here to return the materials?”
Before Angor could answer, Dave revealed an “I knew it” attitude. “It’s fine. I kinda expected this to happen, so I never accounted your purchase yet. Just send the materials back. Do you need me to find people to help you carry? Hey, I’m talking to you. Do you need help or not?”
Angor watched Dave expressing his “generosity” with a smile. When Dave stopped talking, Angor finally spoke out, “No, I’m not here to return them.”
Dave frowned. “Are you sure about it?”
“Of course I am! I just want to ask a question,” Angor complained.
“Question?” Dave put on a strange look mixed with joy and the satisfaction for getting to teach someone. He cleared his throat and pretended to be an experienced teacher. “Asking what you don’t know is a good habit for a young man like you. Since you’re asking humbly, I shall gladly enlighten your mind.”
Angor was speechless. Humbly? Oh, come on.
“Go ahead, young man,” said Dave. He was still looking at Angor with an “old man’s kindness”.
Angor took a deep breath to suppress his urge to leave immediately. “I just want to know, once I turn material into a liquid using Thaw, how do I shape it?”
Dave froze up when hearing the question. “Wait, what? You learned how to use Thaw?”
Angor repeated his question, “The book says that I should use mana to shape something. But when I channel mana in the liquid, it did nothing. I came to ask why.”
Dave’s face was now like a painting palette with different colors. Frustration painted in green, shame painted in red, anger in yellow, and sadness in black.
Dave was silent for a long time before speaking in a sad tone, “You really learned Thaw?! It’s barely half a month! How??”
“Um…” Dave’s exaggerated expression proved to Angor that his learning speed was far quicker than other people. Angor carefully arranged his words and said, “Maybe my talent is really good?”
Dave slumped on the stairs from receiving too much shock. He seemed to be doubting his reason to be alive now.
Dave thought about his own learning experience. With Master Prome’s teachings, he spent an entire year to know how to cast Thaw spell. Now, he was struggling with level-1 Tooling cantrip, Smelt. And he had made zero progress in it.
But Angor only spent half a month! The world was so unfair!
“I think I’m ill… I need to sleep,” said Dave. He climbed up from the stairs in a stiff manner and walked into the shop slowly.
“Wait!” Angor called.
Dave turned back with a really sad face.
“So um, how to shape materials while using Thaw?”
Dave struggled in his mind about whether he should tell Angor an answer. “Devil Dave” and “Angel Dave” fought inside his spirit, using envy and friendship as weapons.
“Alright, I’ll tell you,” Dave sighed in the end. He added, “The mana mentioned in the books isn’t the mana you usually used. It’s a level-0 cantrip called Hand of Spell.”
Dave waved a hand at Angor. “You already got your answer. I’ll just go cry—I mean, sleep.”
“Thanks,” said Angor. He was sincerely thankful for his help.
Dave stopped again and curled his lips. “Any wizard with alchemy experience can tell you that.”
“But I don’t know anyone else,” said Angor. He smiled and added, “Thank you, really. Otherwise, it’ll take forever for me to figure it out.”
Dave remained expressionless. “You don’t have to. Your talent will surely take you far on the path of alchemy. I just hope you can help me in the future.”
Angor revealed a big smile. “That’s not a problem.”