For now, Angor decided to keep Greya’s whereabouts to himself without telling Toby. He did not know whether Greya was dead. Telling Toby about it would only put an unnecessary burden on Toby’s mind.
Besides, if Toby learned about Greya’s information and wanted to go looking for her in the Nightmare Realm, then how? Where was Haunt World? And was the plane tunnel toward Nightmare Realm still there? Any attempt would be futile. At least Angor was sure they almost had zero chance of finding Greya even if they teamed up together.
Hiding the information from Toby was the best choice at this moment.
Angor caught some restless sleep, troubled by the decision he just made.
In the daytime, Angor proceeded with his routine and went to challenge the Sky Tower. Apprentices like Dripping River were still rare, and he gained victories easily. Four in the morning, four in the afternoon. Eight wins and 24 match points in total. The matches also earned him 96 merit points. It was not much, but better than nothing.
In the evening, Angor took out the illusion notebook he received from Sunders and finally began to study illusions.
Basic illusions were all about creating deceiving visions. Sunders already told him about how he had to choose the right illusions for proper situations to make them more real, and how to avoid logical mistakes.
Obeying these two rules meant making more “convincing” illusions.
These basic illusions, however, only worked when someone bumped into them while unprepared. Casting illusions when someone was looking was meaningless.
Basic illusions were not used for fighting. At the very least, they were useless in sudden encounters and public arena battles.
Angor did very quick work at learning illusions. In half an hour, with the help of the notebook, he could already create an illusion of an underground cave by using his basement lab as background. The illusion was flawed though. There was dripping water coming off the stalactites and puddles on the ground, but the air was still dry just like what it should be in the villa basement.
If he could use a water cantrip to “decorate” his illusion at the same time, it would definitely look more real.
Still, creating such a complete illusion in a short time was already impressive for a fresh learner. He had his superior channeling method and a suitable talent to thank for.
Non-illusionists could also learn these basic illusion spells, but they would need way more time for it.
Making illusions required their creator to comprehend the reality first, so Angor at least needed to experience the scenes first before putting them into his illusions. Those created out of thin air could probably fool little kids at best. Anyone else would see them through quickly.
For instance, when Angor tried to create an illusion of flowing lava without ever seeing real lava at all, he created an orange liquid according to some books he read. Also, the books said that lava would release smoke, so Angor put up some white vapor as if the lava pool was a hot spring. To make the smoke more “real”, he also imitated the misty smoke clouds released by Nausica’s pipe.
Anyone who saw volcanoes before could easily point out his obvious mistakes.
Of course, if Angor knew some really powerful spells, he could also make his flawed illusions work. Certain magic arrays used by illusionists, for example, could quickly madden or kill someone when used in strange illusions.
Now, Angor knew the overall knowledge of basic illusions. As long as it was something he experienced before, he could create immersive scenes for it. What he needed now was to practice and see the world more, to avoid making silly mistakes and to perfect his basic illusions.
After learning the basic illusions, Angor did not proceed with the other low-level spells in the notebook right away. Instead, he decided to focus on his foundation first.
In the next couple of days, he kept going to the Sky Tower and when he was free at night, he would spend the time to deepen his knowledge in basic illusion.
Another fine weather outside.
Angor told Toby that he was not going to the Sky Tower today, so Toby left to explore the woods on its own early in the morning.
The boy watched as the bird disappeared in the distance and revealed a wicked grin. In the villa garden, he began to deploy a small illusion.
The illusion was a simple one because he did not change many things in it. The fences, the mistletoe tree, and the house were almost left as they were.
The only thing different was the window. In reality, Angor closed the right window and opened the left one. But in the illusion, the right window was still open like how it was in the morning.
Such a small difference would not be obvious even for people who always lived in the house.
Toby spent the whole day outside and finally returned at dusk. Angor stayed in the villa hall and observed the bird using his spirit feelers.
As he expected, Toby did not feel anything wrong in the illusion. The bird aimed straight for the right window.
Pong!
Sounded like something just hit solid glass using its tiny little head.
Angor held back his laughter while Toby was still puzzled at what happened. The window was wide open, so why could he not get in?
Toby hovered in front of the window and reached out a claw at it. Then it realized that in spite of what was shown, the window was actually closed.
Toby could not understand. He chose to enter by the top window of the attic.
The attic window, too, was already manipulated by Angor. When Toby tried again, it crashed into the glass for a second time. The bird was now walking on the rooftop in a circle. Several tinier Tobies flew above his head.
When Angor saw what just happened with his spirit feeler, he could no longer suppress his laughter.
And Toby quickly heard him.
The creature immediately realized what was going on since Angor had been practicing illusions all these days.
Toby glared at Angor furiously.
“Okay okay, no more joking. I lifted the illusion, come on in!” Angor came to the attic and smiled at the bird outside.
Toby did not move. The animal had its cheeks plumped in frustration.
Angor climbed onto the rooftop and apologized to Toby with a smile. The bird turned around and put its tail under Angor’s nose.
“Come on, just a small joke,” said Angor. He smiled wider as he said, “I think I’ll take you to a feast later. I heard the salesman just imported some fresh deep fish. Want some?”
Toby looked around just a little and remained silent. His little eyes showed some sadness this time.
Angor began to feel a bit sorry. He really meant to play a harmless joke on Toby and while at it, maybe also testing out his illusions a little.
He cleared his throat. “Okay. I’ll borrow your Echo Flower for a bit. I have a gift for you.”
With that, Angor took an Echo Flower in the attic and went to his soundproofed room.
After Angor had left, Toby’s plumped cheeks finally shrank. He came in front of the window with a doubtful expression and made sure that the window was really open before going inside.
Toby waited in the hall. He was not really angry at Angor. He only acted like that in the hope of forcing Angor to give him another Echo Flower.
He did not expect that Angor would take a flower away instead.
Toby wondered what kind of gift awaited.
…
A moment later, Angor returned from the basement with a flower pot in his hand and saw Toby staring at him with all seriousness. Or rather, Toby was looking at the Echo Flower, fearing that Angor might accidentally damage it.
From a quick look though, the flower was fine.
“Tweet ta tweet!”
Thanks to his max-level bird language skills, Angor quickly understood that Toby was anxious to know where the gift was.
He only gave Toby a mysterious smile and placed the flower on the table. Then he asked Toby to step on the flower’s exposed root.
The flower was an alchemy material used for sound-related products. Toby had been using it as a recording tool.
The bird tilted its head and looked at Angor in doubt. When Angor urged again, Toby finally put a claw on the flower root albeit a little hesitantly.
The pale, violet petals of the flower twitched a little.
Gentle music was then heard from the flower.
Distinctive instruments were played in harmony and brought a peaceful melody. A stringed instrument played in the most outstanding tone of all and it sounded like the peaceful humming of a skilled singer as she seized the senses of her audiences.
This was the second time Angor listened to this piece, and it still raised goosebumps on his entire body because it was simply enjoyable.
City of Sky.
A masterpiece from another civilization.
The divine music held a power that touched the hearts of people.
The Echo Flower was able to record the sound of a large frequency range. Complicated octaves were all recreated perfectly.
The music was played by the Echo Flower flawlessly, filling the hall with an intoxicating atmosphere.
Toby’s small figure was completely frozen. The quartet it had been singing with the flowers felt like random dust on a giant castle when compared to this very song.
Previously, the bird thought he was doing music. Now, it finally realized how real music had rises, falls, and emotions in its melodies. The creator of a music piece had to imprint his or her wills into the music.
As the music reached its last note, Toby quickly pressed the flower root again.
As a low-level plant though, the Echo Flower could only play its recorded sound once. The music was already removed from its memory.
Toby kept trying without hearing the beautiful tone again.
“Pip…” The animal gave Angor a pleading look.
Angor smiled and did not answer Toby’s pleading right away. “The song is called City of Sky. Consider it an apology for tricking you. So how was it? A nice gift, right?”
Toby tweeted quickly, hoping to hear the music once again.
Angor pretended to be hesitating before finally said, “I see. If you give me two Echo Flowers, I can try to make a music box for you. But it’s not for free, mind you.”
Toby revealed a sad look: I don’t have money on me!
“I don’t need money. Just do me a favor.”