Warlock Apprentice

It was an extremely luxurious hall, decorated by similarly deluxe furniture. There was a long desk crafted from millennial wood found in an ancient catacomb, a floor carpet made from the hide of an Abyssal Polar Bear, and shiny oil lamps that burned from the fat refined from body oil of white-bellied shark folks.

The only thing that didn't go well with the exquisite, brightly-lit hall was its lack of habitants.

Thud, thud, thud…

Clear and loud footsteps were suddenly heard inside the desolate hall.

The chamber pillars had been illuminated by their lamps through the last century. Beside the first pillar, a pair of snow-white legs walking on red-striped brown high-heels suddenly showed up beneath the shadows.

The body of a beautiful lady wearing a flame-red dress soon came under the light.

"Ah, so it's you. What are you here for?" a woman sitting in front of the long desk asked.

Across the semi-transparent silk curtain and wavering lamplight, a finely-curved feminine figure sat on the main seat beside the long desk as she stirred the liquid inside a teacup.

"Can't I come to take a look?" The visitor pushed the curtain aside, walked around the desk, and inspected the hot fireplace and fragrant Frost Blossom flowers on a cabinet. She then stomped her foot at the bear hide carpet as if venting out her discontent. "I see your little home is getting more sumptuous. And you haven't formed a body on top of all that mist yet. Why do you need all these stuff anyway, Lady Mirror?"

The woman's figure that was made up of pure white mist shifted. She was Lady Mirror, the embodiment of the entire mirror world and one of the three ancestor souls in Brute Cavern.

"I like it this way. Why do you care?"

"I don't care. I'm just saying. Since you can already get a body, why would you show up in front of everyone as a lump of smoke?" The visitor lifted her red robe and sat down next to Lady Mirror. "That great being has been away for many years. He can always come back easily, and he didn't, which means he doesn't care about you anymore."

Lady Mirror's misty facial features scowled. "You went to listen to some random gossip again? Did Antique Love Poems publish another edition, and did they use ME as some kind of widow-waiting-on-husband again? What great being? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, stop pretending. No, it's not Antique Love Poems. It's Yorditemis. She told me that you're once in love with the great being behind Candy House."

"Yordi… what now? What's that strange name?"

"A new wizard from Tree of Paradise, who inherited her teacher's title, 'Bird of Paradise'. She's also a new idol of the magazine writers from the south. And… my bestie. She's fun."

"Tree of Paradise?" Lady Mirror huffed. "The organizations under Candy House is getting out of control, I see. They are bold enough to joke about that 'great being' now? So they think he's never coming back again? Trust me, Lotus, keep away from your new bestie, for your own good."

The visitor held Lady Mirror's hand. "Come on, we're friends. Just call my name."

"Know your place, Lydia," Lady Mirror scolded, but she still smiled happily. "And don't listen to those stories—I've nothing to do with that man. He pursues the truth, while I seek immortality. We parted ways a thousand years ago, and we never changed our ambitions since then. We are not together."

"But she sounded so sure of it." Lydia wasn't convinced, and she asked, "You remained without a body just to wait for him, right?"

"I continue to stay like this because I haven't found a body I like. You're a renowned witch now, Lydia. When will you get rid of those mortal women's ideas?"

Lydia rolled her eyes and poured herself a cup of Lady Mirror's tea. She then gulped it down in one go. "I see you've already gained a way deeper awareness of wizardry than me, Lady Mirror. I came to show you a keepsake I obtained from Mister Sunders. I guess you won't be needing it."

Lady Mirror's teacup halted in the air.

"Sunders?" Excited, she dragged Lydia closer. "Oh dear, Sunders finally learned how to please a woman? He gifted you something?"

Lydia cleared her throat. "I met with him by chance at Twilight Well. He said he missed me, so he gave me a small gift."

"Really?" Lady Mirror grew doubtful. "Did Sunders really care about you? So… should I shape my body like yours and become something like a succubus?"

"Didn't you just say you don't have anything you like yet?"

Lady Mirror wasn't ashamed at all. "I like what Sunders likes. What's the problem?"

Lydia was speechless.

Lady Mirror spread a hand. "Come, show me what Sunders possibly gave you."

Lydia came here both to visit her old friend and to show off her "Land on the Sky". She really hoped it would impress Lady Mirror more than those portraits of gentlemen.

Lydia pretended to hesitate before she finally took out the music box from her pocket.

"A gift that Mister Sunders presented to me. Maybe a token of love," Lydia said. She seemed proud as she continued, "It held Mister Sunders' feelings for me. Listen, Lady Mirror, this thing plays wonderful music, and it creates an amazing illusion…"

Lady Mirror stared agape.

Looking at the familiar object, Lady Mirror only wished to thank whichever god there was that prevented her from bringing out her "Journey in Heaven" first.

Sunders' token of love?

This was totally embarrassing, for whoever that showed her "trophy" first.

And Lady Mirror thanked the unknown entity many times that she wasn't the first one to "show off".

Lydia was still enjoying her explanation. "… This is 'Land on the Sky'…"

Lady Mirror stopped her and smirked. "'Land on the Sky' huh? Who named it?"

Lydia was a little surprised.

Did Lady Mirror hear about the grand auction? But shouldn't she be more interested in the more valuable items?

Lydia considered and decided to measure the situation first. "I don't know. I heard that name when I received it."

Lady Mirror grinned. "Are you sure Sunders gave it to you?"

Lydia squinted her eyes. She was now certain that Lady Mirror already knew about the music box. She only needed to find out whether Lady Mirror actually learned about the whole auction.

Lydia smiled and covered her mouth. "I was joking. I bought the music box from Twilight Auction. But I didn't lie when I said it was from Mister Sunders. Come on, check out the illusion."

Lady Mirror watched as Lydia intentionally played the illusion. When the floating island came into their views, Lydia winked at Lady Mirror as if saying, "I told the truth, right? It must be Mister Sunders who personally created such a true illusion!"

When Lydia was done, Lady Mirror chuckled and slowly revealed her "Journey in Heaven".

Two identical music boxes with different names appeared together awkwardly.

Lydia looked at the second music box and fell into the same awkwardness.

Lady Mirror couldn't stop snickering. "I got this one half a month ago. Its creator made this for me personally. Heh, smart boy. He said he was repaying my favor for saving his life, and soon after, he put it on sale at the auction. Next time he brings my CUSTOMIZED music box, I'm so going to lecture him for good."

Lydia felt her embarrassment grew worse when she heard the word "customized".

"It's not Sunders who crafted the music box?"

"Of course not."

"But—I see the shadow of Sunders inside the illusion!"

"Because it was Sunders' student who made it."

Lady Mirror didn't intend to keep it a secret. She explained about Angor's business in detail without considering Angor's privacy at all.

Lydia remained silent for a while.

"HE invented this? No wonder he could create that strange illusion at the auction house."

"What? Feeling ashamed when your little lie was found out?" Lady Mirror teased.

"You knew it all along, eh? You set me up."

"Every setback is your chance to mentally grow up."

Lydia scoffed. "Never mind. At least I now know who's the creator, so I don't have to interrogate that Moonlily Fairy… I wonder why Angor gave a tiered alchemy creation to a lowly familiar though. Something doesn't add up."

Lady Mirror, on the other hand, wasn't interested in Lydia's business at all. The ancestor soul was thinking about how to tell Lydia about the "brilliant and pleasurable" customized music box Angor was going to give her, without being too obvious.

"I'd admit that Sunders found himself a pretty outstanding student. That kid created two alchemy omens the other day. An intermediate apprentice alchemist in less than a year… and you already saw his talent in illusions. I'd say he got more skills than Sunders when that man was young," Lady Mirror commented on Angor's achievement. "It's just that the boy is too gentle-tempered, which doesn't go well with Sunders."

Lydia smirked. "Go well? Ah, you haven't heard, Lady Mirror? Several days ago, Angor provoked Twilight Auction, and Twilight almost killed him. It was Sunders who saved him in the end. And you say they don't go well?"

"For real?"

"Yes. I think Flora's gonna die of jealousy at that time."

"Then… should I copy Angor's shape?" Lady Mirror mumbled.

"Nice idea. I believe you'll look pretty good if you become a she-Angor."

They kept talking about random gossips when Lydia suddenly frowned. "Huh… My Phantom Servant provider sent me an urgent message using blood sacrifice?"

She took out a piece of brown paper which contained a covenant written in strange symbols. The symbols weren't comprehensible when observed using eyes—they had to be read using spirit power. It was one of the top-class means of documenting in the general plane.

Lydia's name was printed on one side of the covenant, while the other side showed "Moa".

"The Moa clan? Phantom Servants in Midnight Sovereign? Those are pretty potent servants," Lady Mirror thought to herself.

The paper slowly floated up, and Lydia turned to Lady Mirror. "Can I get a fire?"

It wasn't really a question—Lydia helped herself by pulling the fire from a lamp nearby and placed the paper above it.

As the flame devoured the paper, the symbols suddenly became "alive" and began to move around on the paper. Finally, they turned into a new line of characters.

"Lady Lotus, the Midnight Sovereign is now almost devastated, and the Moa Clan is near its doom. Please, Lady, we beg for your merciful assistance…"