Warlock Apprentice

Angor returned to his rented lab in The Tributary.

Greya just proved to him that it was fairly easy for wizards to monitor his conversations and actions. To avoid trouble, Angor decided to finish Greya's request in The Tributary, which was located in another dimension.

Angor more or less had an idea about what type of illusion he should make before going to Sleepless City with Sunders. Greya only mentioned two things when she made this request. One, the illusion had to have the "atmosphere" of the Nightmare Realm, and secondly, it should look something new and creative.

Angor was mostly concerned about the second requirement. Earlier, he planned to create a "sandbox" world like the Witch's Town or Nether City while allowing Greya to explore the illusion on her own free will without following a fixed storyline.

But he just got another idea.

He came to an open testing ground near the laboratory, which was mostly empty apart from several striking dummies made of durable materials. This place was meant for wizards to test their spells or alchemy creations. However, Angor had something else in mind.

He wanted to try blending the "Mystery sense" he learned into his illusions. He already tried this once inside Sunders' Gravity Garden, but he was interrupted by Sunders at that time. When Sunders took him to Pocratee, he never found time for this job again.

That was until today.

He wished to see whether he could successfully mix that particular mysterious sense into his illusions. And if he could, he would then attempt to do the same to his alchemy inventions.

When he was inside Spotty, he thought about using the amazing sights he observed to slowly comprehend the concept of Mystery and hopefully become a Mystery Alchemist. But since Greya asked him to make something creative…

Surely "Mystery" was creative enough.

He began his experiment with this in mind.

Once again, he tried his best to recall what he saw and what he felt while surrounded by Mystery energy.

Yet he found it impossible to fully recreate that experience in his mind. Every time when he believed he almost grasped the exact feeling, it would easily slip away.

It reminded him of his childhood. During summers, when mosquitoes were active, these irritating little imps would come to bother him whenever he wanted to sleep. When he stayed alert to slap them, the insects would skillfully keep their distance. As soon as he gave up, they would immediately return as if they could read his mind.

The sense of Mystery felt similar.

As he recalled, when he was memorizing the sense in Spotty, he would work faster if he did it subconsciously instead of chasing the sense honestly.

Maybe I should just empty my mind and let the unknown sense take the lead?

He closed his eyes and did so.

Soon, the sense of Mystery that was left in the depth of his soul began to emerge as if he were back in Spotty's "stomach" again. He saw different and conflicting laws of nature once again dancing around his mind.

Slowly, he suppressed all uneasiness and entered into a meditation state.

He went over what he memorized by using his body this time.

It took him an entire night.

When the sun was high on the next day, Angor slowly lifted a hand as a powerful cantrip was made.

The empty testing field went blurry as if there were a wet glass barrier covering it.

Centered around Angor, thick fog spread out and wrapped up everything.

Any apprentice here could easily tell that Angor just used the most basic form of an illusion—mist.

The illusion was well prepared, but Angor kept his eyes shut and waited patiently.

Something else soon followed.

It was wind, which slowly stirred the mist.

"Woof!"

Angor quickly opened his eyes. I did it!

While trying to remain calm, he stood up and carefully approached the source of the noise.

Across the mist around him, he saw a small figure sitting not far from his position. The figure was wagging its tail happily.

As Angor moved closer, the figure stood up and barked at him.

It was not Spotty, not even a dog for that matter. Even though it did look like Spotty.

This was what Angor meant to achieve in his illusion—the "sense of Mystery" he blended into it.

When thinking about the sense of Mystery, he did not know how it would take form in his view until he saw the small figure.

However, he did not understand why the sense showed up as something similar to Spotty. Was it because he had been thinking about this creature recently?

Nevertheless, he successfully created a foreign presence in his illusion, and this would help him further comprehend the Mystery sense he had learned.

The mist illusion was fully under his control, but the creature was not.

He slowly approached the animal and crouched down.

Next, he reached out his left hand and put it on the creature's forehead.

In the next second, the creature scattered as if Angor just poked a bubble. At the same time, an overwhelming Mystery energy was released from the creature's original position. The Mystery energy soon filled up the entire illusion.

Here it is!

Soon, Angor found his whole mind dominated by the amazing energy, which prevented him from thinking about anything other than what was within reach.

He no longer needed to subconsciously draw the Mystery sense from his soul. He could almost see the materialized Mystery energy using his eyes.

This was his original plan, which was to bring the Mystery sense in front of his eyes rather than savoring it using faint memories bit by bit.

It only existed in his illusion, but it was enough for him to further learn about Mystery.

While conflicting laws of nature and unknown enlightenment filled his view, he eagerly began enriching his mind.

Unlike the last time when he was busy "copying" the sense, he was now free to look for what he needed.

There was so much to see. The immeasurable laws of nature alone were mind-blowing enough.

About five seconds later, the Mystery energy suddenly vanished.

Angor was rather shocked when he saw his illusion returning to being a type of simple and plain mist.

But this was something to be expected since he somewhat knew that such Mystery energy meant unconquerable power and wisdom that could not be sustained using his simple illusion. Making it last for five seconds was his limit.

He canceled the illusion and rubbed his forehead, which was beginning to throb.

It was rather draining, but the outcome was good enough.

He would take some rest and try several more times until he got familiarized with it.

…

Something yelped inside the darkness-infested Sleepless City.

"Woof! Woof!"

Spotty stood on the pointy roof of a clock tower and was calling toward the direction of Brute Cavern.

Following its voice, Fox glided past the dark sky and landed beside the puppy. "Ah, I finally found you. The herald of Minister Dim has arrived. Dim will get very angry if you don't get back to him in time."

The puppy whined and lowered its head.

"Let us go." Fox picked the puppy up and disappeared into the dark city.