“Yeah, I applied a Freeze enchantment to it. Unaware enemies will catch frostbite when you hit them,” Angor explained.
“You are an apprentice alchemist for real?!” Nausica stared at the boy with great shock in her eyes. “Do you have any idea how much supernatural weapons like this one go on the market?”
“Nope. Several magic crystals?” Angor took a guess.
Nausica shook her head. Her expression was filled with mixed emotions. “Last time I went to the underground market, I saw a machete with a similar effect on it. The seller asked for 130 crystals for it. And someone bought it really fast! Now this one… has a skilled design. With the frost effect, I think it’ll sell for 150 crystals. At least!”
Angor was also shocked now.
A hundred and fifty magic crystals?
In making this weapon, he had barely spent one crystal on the materials.
No wonder how people with certain skills were rich beyond measure. The profit was real!
Nausica saw Angor’s dumbfounded look and shook her head again. “Nice… Looks like you won’t have to worry about earning merit points really soon.”
Angor only scratched his hair. He did not know what to say now.
Nausica stared at the innocent boy in front of her and quickly dispersed the tint of jealousy in her mind.
Maybe alchemy is actually easy? Or Angor just happens to be talented for it. Or…
“This thing costs a fortune. You sure you want to give it to me?” asked Nausica.
“Of course.”
“Don’t mind if I keep it then.”
Deep in her mind, Nausica also adored this particular weapon much. Both its design and potential power really seized her heart. After fiddling around the weapon a bit, Nausica asked again, “You haven’t told me its name.”
“It’s called a Bear Claw Knife,” said Angor. He explained various specifications for the weapon as well as how to use it. “You can think of a name for it since it’s for you anyway. Oh right, check out inside the finger holes.”
Nausica looked into the biggest of the three holes where her name was neatly engraved in the universal language.
“Oops, it got my name on it. Now I can’t refuse it whatsoever,” said Nausica. She paused for a moment before saying, “I’ll call it ‘Solefly’.”
Naming the weapon after the butterfly wing, but ignoring the flowers… Maybe Nausica had other meanings by giving it this name.
She spun Solefly in her hand like holding a bladed fan. The movement created a round and fuzzy outline in the air.
Next, she released the spinning knife into the air and reached out her hand to a spot upon which the blade was going to fall.
“Nausica? What are you—” Angor was astonished at her action. Considering how sharp Solefly was and how fast it was spinning, if the blade reached her hand first, Nausica would certainly lose a body part.
Nausica did not say anything. Her gaze followed the Solefly closely.
The knife slowly reached the peak of its course and began to drop. When it was about to hit Nausica’s hand, Angor frowned stressfully.
Zip!
The blade slashed past Nausica’s hand and kept falling without being obstructed in the least. With a loud “thud”, it stuck onto the desk.
Angor quickly checked Nausica’s hand and found a faint, bloody trace along her wrist.
He was really worried. Was she wounded?
However, Nausica only retracted her arm calmly and put an index finger on the blood. Then she licked some blood off her finger.
“Frost effect without using mana on the blade. Looks like I underestimated its value after all. The weapon costs at least two hundred.”
“You okay, Nausica?” Angor sighed in relief when he noticed Nausica could still move her wrist freely.
“It’s nothing. Just a shallow cut made by the freezing aura.”
“But what for?”
Nausica gave Angor a bright smile. She picked up Solefly from the desk and put her thumb, index finger, and middle finger into the holes. For some unknown reason, Angor could feel that the blade now had some kind of connection with Nausica; a connection like how someone and someone’s possession began to attract each other after being together for a long time. Before Nausica’s display, she and the blade were two separate objects. But now, they had joined as one.
As if… Solefly had already served Nausica for several decades.
“It’s a ritual.” Nausica chuckled. “A ritual when every swordsman chooses a weapon. If my hand is cut off, it only means the weapon doesn’t agree with me. Now I can see that Solefly has deemed me as its master and lifelong partner.”
“So the ritual was successful,” said Angor. He wished to ask about the reasons behind the ritual and whether it was worth it, but in the end, he did not. Everyone had different senses of value. He had better not question someone’s view just because it was different.
“Yup, very successful,” said Nausica as she fixed Solefly along her waist. “It really suits my style. Thanks!”
Angor shook his head and smiled. “Should the weapon get damaged in the future, just find me. It’s one of the first creations of a master alchemist, so I’ll repair it for free.”
“I’ll use it carefully and make sure it doesn’t reunite with you too soon. So, what’s your next plan, now that you’re an alchemist?”
“Nothing in particular. Alchemy isn’t easy. I need a lot of time and effort. It requires too much physical stamina and mental spirit.”
Nausica agreed. “You’re right. A schoolmate mentioned this to me when I tried to study Runecraft too. Many alchemists only created something every other ten years. I mean, real alchemy products. As for apprentices… they probably needed similar time lengths. I heard there’s an intermediate apprentice alchemist in the underground market called… pro something?”
“Prome?” Angor said.
“Yes, Master Prome. They said it usually takes him half a year to make a new creation.”
Angor was speechless. When he said “it took a long time”, he thought several days to make a single item was already pretty long. Now that Nausica mentioned it… he was glad he did not tell Nausica how long it actually took him to craft Solefly.
The reason why Angor could make something so fast was mainly due to the fact that he had already possessed blueprints and easy means of enchantment. The other alchemists usually needed a long time to design a blueprint and memorize runes. Half a year for an item was already fast enough.
…
Together with his friends, Angor stayed at Cave Field and had roast beef for dinner.
When Sailum heard that Angor had become an apprentice alchemist, he kept asking about all kinds of related questions all night. Angor gladly satisfied his curiosity.
They had fun. The joyful reunion of friends finally ended with Sailum’s loud snores.
“Ah, it’s so good to be young. You can sleep whenever you want,” said Nausica as she lit her pipe. “I don’t remember how long ago since I had a good sleep. I always used meditation to rest.”
Angor wanted to ask why she worked so hard, but he decided not to. Again, different views.
After sending Sailum back to his room, Angor prepared to bid farewell to Nausica.
“I’ll walk with you for a bit. To catch some fresh air outside,” Nausica said.
The trip remained in silence. When Angor’s house was already in view, Nausica suddenly said, “Hookdick is taken to somewhere by his mentor, so you don’t have to worry about him for now. But he did create lots of rumors about you.”
“I know. Sailum told me last time.”
“You’re not bothered? He told people that you’re useless, you take too much resource, you don’t have any talent and only know how to hide behind people.”
“Did anyone believe him?”
Nausica raised an eyebrow. “Almost none, as long as they know Mister Sunders is behind your back. Still, there are those who get a little foolish…”
“That settles it then. Rumors will gradually break apart in the face of truth,” said Angor as he recalled Jon’s words of teaching. “Their doubts and misapprehensions cannot represent one tiny bit of my true self, but they can reflect the true natures of their creators instead.”
“Right. Only weaklings need rumors to support their incapable natures…” Nausica snickered. “My oh my. You’re an ideologist too? Welp. Since you’re fine with it, I’ll leave you be. Good luck on your tower challenge, and good night, young man.”
…
Angor checked his calendar. According to Butler Goode, the message about the garden of purification would be made public in 45 days.
To avoid running into strong opponents who came to seek the opportunity, he had to do everything he could to reach the top level within that time.
And the time was short.
Angor decided that in the half month to come, he would spend all his time on the final alchemy weapon as well as getting used to the combination spells he chose.
Half a month passed quickly.
When the Month of Offering entered its second half, Angor left his house while covered under his black “bedsheet”.
Toby fluttered around and landed on Angor’s shoulder. The bird rubbed its tiny head against Angor’s affectionately.
“I’ll go to the tower today. You stay outside and get familiarized with the arenas for now,” Angor spoke to Toby. He also spent several days practicing teamwork with Toby. After learning the sequence of gravity, the bird gained several levels in strength.
Previously, Angor thought he could defeat Toby easily with his finished alchemy weapon. But the truth proved otherwise. During one-on-one battles, Toby’s swiftness was way beyond his imagination. He was using a long-range weapon, which would not help him at all if he could not get any good aim on Toby’s figure.
Still, the battles helped Angor understand his weaknesses. He would have a difficult time fighting against fast opponents, so of course, he needed to think about it. Angor had created several plans to prevent fast enemies from approaching. The best approach was asking Toby to take on the enemy head-on.
In general, Angor was going to play dirty down to the last minute. All of his damage would rely on external help: alchemy weapons and Toby.
His own cantrips were all about defense and opponent control. They were to help him wear down his enemies.
The first floor of the Sky Tower was bustling as ever. Angor watched several matches first and gained a basic idea about who he was going to fight against.
The matches still looked miserable, but at least they now appeared more heated as compared to “King of Beasts VS Monarch of Eternal Freeze” that he saw the other day. The participants were actually fighting, causing the mortal audiences to cheer in excitement.
After he had watched enough, Angor went to the registration hall.