In the chilly evening breeze, Angor followed behind Butler Goode and came to Phantom Island.
Upon entering Sunders’ study, Angor saw Sunders sitting in front of his desk with his legs crossed while watching something in the crystal ball transmitter in his hand.
Angor moved closer and realized the crystal ball showed one of his Sky Tower matches.
Sunders was watching a fight when Angor fought against an Elementalist apprentice in Level 2.
Angor silently watched his own figure from another perspective and felt a bit embarrassed. In the crystal ball, he had already constructed his line of defense and was now shooting his golden bolts while telling his opponent to surrender in a faked low voice. During that fight, Angor thought he had created a really successful image for Baron Milk. But now… man, the shame!
“Eternal Resurrection! Ha! Lay down your weapon and give up, or my next attack will land on your throat!” His fake voice came from the crystal ball.
He said that out without giving it much thought during the fight. In Sunders’ study though, terrible uneasiness crept up on his skin when he saw himself talking like that. More importantly, Sunders just gave him a curious glance which worsened it.
Angor moved his hands over his head to rub his temple. However, he was just trying to hide his face.
Why did I create such an arrogant character?!
After the match ended, Sunders put the crystal down and looked at Angor with an… expression. Angor was not sure if the man was smiling.
Sunders stared Angor down. Just when the boy was about to tremble, the gentleman finally spoke in his hoarse voice while trying to hold back his laughter, “Nice display. But a little lacking in power.”
Angor lowered his head in shame. “I just… I’m trying to…”
He could not find the courage to explain his ruined image, so Angor stuttered a little and tried to change the topic. “How did you get this record, professor?”
Sunders gladly went along since he already saw how hard his little pupil was blushing.
It turned out that Butler Goode went to find Angor at his villa in the early morning and did not find him there. After a little investigation, they learned that Angor had gone to challenge Sky Tower. Sunders grew curious about it and found the record of Angor’s matches from a manager of the tower.
Hearing about this, Angor just felt more embarrassed. He thought he did a good job concealing his identity, and the truth proved him wrong so fast. Angor no longer wanted to know how Sunders found out who “Baron Milk” was. He only wished to run away this instant and hide in a spot where no one could find him.
The awkwardness remained for several minutes when Sunders brought Angor to the balcony.
Two armchairs were placed alongside each other on the balcony. Sunders took one and signaled Angor to sit in the other.
The cool night breeze and the view of the Tree of Eternity shrouded in mist and stars soothed Angor’s stressful mind a little.
“Your tactic should have no problem in the first few levels of the tower. However, the opponents you’re going up against in the last three levels will not be so easy,” Sunders said. “Those defense spells and an alchemy weapon with no particular effect are unlikely to help you reach the top.
“Throughout history, the top three levels are always battlegrounds for Bloodline apprentices. Some of them already fused with the blood of monsters, and they’re at a completely different level compared to those who don’t have a bloodline yet. These apprentices can simply endure your attacks and reach you before you can put up your defense, and you’ll have no hope of survival.”
Angor was actually not worried about something like this. Contrary to what Sunders believed, his Trigger Crossbow was not a basic weapon. He also had several enchanted bolts as powerful as tiered weapons. Moreover, he possessed another tiered long-range weapon and Toby, who could always support him from the air.
This was why Angor still looked confident.
Sunders inspected the boy’s expression and tried to guess how much potential his student was hiding.
“With the sequence of gravity, Toby can help you fight. But you should still be cautious. There are many people in this world who know wondrous spells. Don’t get fearless just because you have three viable tactics.”
Sunders’ words reminded Angor of his opponent today, Dripping River.
That water and oil transformation surprised him quite a lot and almost knocked him out of the arena. He was not sure if he could defeat her at all if Dripping River did not suddenly fall asleep for some reason.
Out of curiosity, Angor mentioned his fight against Dripping River.
Sunders took out the crystal ball again and looked for Angor’s matches in Level 3. After watching the battle between Angor and Dripping River, the gentleman fell into deep thought with an intrigued expression.
“As far as I know, Element Imitation cannot change the property of something. And water and oil have different properties,” Angor said. He saw Sunders smiling when watching the match and was not sure what his professor was thinking about. Did his professor find it funny about how he was blasted away by the oil explosion?
“I see you’ve read a lot of books. Element Imitation is usually accessible to level-2 Elementalist apprentices, or level-3 or formal wizards who aren’t studying Element,” Sunders removed his joyful expression and explained.
Angor choked a little and tried to explain, “I… think I read something about it in your collection.”
Sunders did not really mind how Angor gained such knowledge.
“This woman,” said Sunders as he pointed at Dripping River in the crystal ball. “If my memory serves me right, when she came to Brute Cavern fifteen years ago, three wizards sent her their golden posters at the same time.”
Three golden posters?!
Angor looked at Dripping River in shock. He clearly knew what that meant.
“However, she’s not an Elementalist apprentice as you may think. She is in fact, a very rare case, called Matter Handler, an Occultist.”
“Matter Handler?” Angor remembered seeing something like this. However, there were just too many branches for Occult Art, and he never managed to read them all.
“Wizards aren’t the only supernaturals in this world. Some people are lucky enough to be born with supernatural powers, and she’s one of such an individual. She possessed a natural ability: Water Convert.”
“Water Convert? To change the property of water?” Angor thought to himself.
“It’s not the way you think. She can grant a new property to water, and turning it into oil is one of the many feats she can do. Back then, it was Flora who guided her to Brute Cavern. Flora also used the deathmatch chambers to recruit talents, but she did not restrict how many people could survive in the end. Those who could stay alive in the chambers for ten days were all considered successful. On the first day, Dripping River turned a cauldron of water into deadly poison and killed everyone else in her chamber.”
Sunders paused to arrange his wording.
“However… not everyone born with special powers is favored by this world.”
…
After talking about something else about Sky Tower, Angor’s previous embarrassment finally disappeared.
Angor was a bit disappointed that Sunders did not ask about his alchemy weapon at all. He already knew that alchemists were extremely valuable in Brute Cavern, and Sunders would pay great respect to any alchemist. Angor was already ready to “surprise” Sunders with his great talent in alchemy. Yet… Sunders did not mention anything about it. And there was no way Angor could initiate the topic on himself since Sunders would not get “surprised” much in this way.
“Professor, why did you want to see me today?”
They had not talked about it yet.
Sunders stood up from his chair. “Follow me.”
The gentleman took Angor into the study, found a notebook from his drawer, and handed it to Angor.
Angor opened to book and saw all kinds of spell models and characters which were tightly written on every page.
The handwriting suggested that Sunders composed the notebook himself.
“You didn’t tell me anything for months, so I thought you weren’t interested in the garden of purification. I called you here today to see how well you understand your true self, and to give this notebook to you if you’re qualified for it,” Sunders chuckled. “To be frank, your progress is quite surprising. The way you fought in Sky Tower is still immature since you only use extra help to do everything for you. But those defensive spells looked well practiced. One of them even showed your true self a little. No test is necessary now. You can take the book.
“There’s no doubt that your talent lies in Illusions, but the exact direction still remains to be seen. The notebook contains the basic cantrips of an Illusionist, so try to learn them. Next time you come, tell me which one feels more suitable to you or which one gives you more inspirations.”
Basic Illusionist cantrips!
Sunders never taught Angor cantrips in order to allow the boy to look for his own path. He even prohibited Flora from instructing Angor. Today, Sunders just gave him these basic spells!
Angor was filled with joy and looked at Sunders with a thankful expression. He no longer had to rent books about illusions from Cloud Library!
“Whilst battling Dripping River, the sandy cantrip you used already possessed a faint trace of truth. Instead of wondering in the wizarding world aimlessly, I hope you can keep it up and find your own path of truth soon.”
“Sandy cantrip? You mean ‘Dust’, professor?” Angor quickly realized that Sunders was talking about his new cantrip.
“Dust? A good name. It’s a lot weaker than Sandstorm, but it has almost the same principle as Sandstorm.”
“Dust is a variant of Dust Removal. I rearranged its element combination.”
Angor was wondering though. Rearranging element combination was an easy task, and most apprentices could do it. But why did the professor say that he had a “faint trace of truth”?
Isn’t truth something that’s only related to ultimate wizards?