Warlock Apprentice

"The soul of a Nightmare Form is naturally purer than common people," Sunders said.

"Yeah… you used to be a Nightmare Form too, eh? But why am I getting the feeling that the boy is even purer than you?" Ness still looked doubtful.

"Because Angor's Nightmare Form is of a higher level than mine," Sunders thought in his mind. Many wizards knew about his Nightmare Form, but few of them actually knew what a Nightmare Form could do.

"Such a pure soul… he should have no problem studying soul spells," Ness commented.

Sunders paid him no mind, but the words drew Angor's attention.

The boy was not interested in learning soul spells for now. He only needed to know how to thoroughly kill a Soul Manipulator. Hookdick already sent assassins to come after him, and Angor was determined to get revenge.

They proceeded with the second step of the experiment: Separating Soul From Body.

The materials for making nutrient fluid was sufficient, and they brewed the fluid soon enough. The pale-green final product was injected into a glass chamber.

Following Ness' order, Angor removed all his clothes and crawled into the liquid-filled chamber.

He felt suffocated at first. However, once the fluid fully covered his body, Angor no longer felt so. The liquid in his lungs did not prevent his breathing. The chamber felt warm and safe, like the comforting embrace of a mother.

Angor sensed his brain fully rested under the comfort. His eyelids grew heavier until he fell into a deep slumber.

…

When Angor was asleep, Ness prepared to separate the boy's soul.

There was a simple spell that ripped someone's soul from his or her body. However, the spell did too much damage to the victim, and of course, Sunders would not allow it, so Ness had to choose a complicated method. He first needed to loosen the connection between Angor's soul and body, then ignite a precious grass material called Soul Attractor which would attract Angor's soul to leave his body on its own.

The process was long. No one knew how much time it would take for Angor's soul to quit his body.

When the Soul Attractor started to burn, Ness quickly grew bored and tried to kill time in some bizarre way.

The old man called a group of young maids to the room and began moving his hands around their bodies. When he noticed Sunders staying put in front of Angor's glass chamber, he gained a dangerous idea and asked a pair of maids to go serve Sunders.

The maids fainted on the floor before they could reach the gentleman.

"Remove that power of yours, will ya? They're only mortals," Ness crept up, with perfume smells on his body. "Angor's soul is still stable. This will take a loooong time."

Sunders remained indifferent. "Losing yourself to your desires is the reason why you never improved much. If you wish to travel further down the path of wizardry, learn to control your lust."

"It's just a hobby! You sound as if you don't have any," Ness complained.

"I have them. But I know how to refrain myself," replied Sunders. He sounded cold as ever.

"Are you lecturing me now? You know Bloody Mary from the Dark Castle? She baths in virgin blood every fuc*ing day and kept thousands of catamites in her cells. And she still became a legend and went to explore distant lands!" Ness felt irritated a bit. What he did was nothing compared to Bloody Mary.

"Desire is not determined by the number of tools. You can go all-out on a single woman, whereas Bloody Mary knows how to control, no matter how many kids she had."

Ness did not look convinced at all, so Sunders decided to leave the matter. Wizards all needed to walk their own paths to learn the ultimate truth. This was why he did not teach Angor anything at the beginning and only gave Angor his notebook when the boy learned how to pursue the essentials of spells and alter the spells according to his own ideas.

Sunders remained silent, and Ness went back to his maids. The old man got bored again soon, so he asked all the women to go away. He then joined Sunders near the chamber.

"So… how did you teach Angor? Where did he learn about all those magic plants as well as their effects?" Ness chattered, "Look at my students… They're terrible compared to Angor."

Sunders briefly revealed an uneasy expression. He never taught Angor any alchemy knowledge. When Ness praised his student, the gentleman felt both proud and embarrassed.

When Sunders did not respond, Ness continued to chatter, "He even knows about the catalytic effect of Mero Scorpion Flower… I only learned about it recently. Impressive. Did he receive enlightenment from the Elder of Books?"

Sunders was curious about Angor's knowledge, but he did not intend to look into it. Wizards all had their own ways to study, and everyone could know something that others did not.

For example, Sunders did not know much about soul knowledge, and he had to come looking for Ness' help.

"Enlightenment? Not really. But he did receive some pointers." Sunders felt proud of Angor's achievement.

No one had gained anything from the Elder of Books in many years. Whatever Angor did, the boy proved his superior talent.

Ness was jealous now. "I'd have been the one getting the recruits! Then maybe Angor would be my student instead. I've got so many questions to ask the Elder of Books, but he always chased me out of his room! Damn it."

Sunders sneered in his mind. You won't get Angor anyway. I intercepted the boy from White Coral Floating Academy's ship.

As they talked, Angor felt himself returning to the chaotic space again.

This was the place where he fought with Parasite Queen.

"I returned to my soul form again?" Angor looked around curiously. The place might look like his mind space, but Anger knew that it was not because he did not see his Axes of the Universe here.

It was mostly empty. Apart from his own soul, there was only one other object: a green flower bud which was releasing a pale green light.

So this is the core of Green Velvet?

Angor tried to move. He thought his soul was trapped in the body like how it was when fighting Parasite Queen. Surprisingly though, he realized that he could move around this time.

"Huh… I can move?" Angor floated about. It felt similar to when he was in the Nightmare Realm, where he was not bound by gravity at all.

Angor floated to the Green Velvet and circled around the bud. He was not confident enough to actually touch the plant, but he sensed something comforting when staying near the bud.

Just like Sunders mentioned, the Green Velvet could nurture his soul.

But… the Green Velvet core should be inside some part of my body, right? Why can I see it here?

Does this mean that the chaotic space is the inside of my body? But why are there no blood vessels and other body parts? It looks so empty.

Where exactly is the Green Velvet? And what is this place?

Angor decided that he would ask his professor later.

He stayed near the Green Velvet and enjoyed the refreshing aura it released until a strange force appeared and drew him away.

The strange force was like a delicious candy that lured a child.

Angor thought he could easily ignore the urge to follow it, but his mind worked too slowly. By the time he came to, he already floated to an entrance that looked like a vortex.

He could see the outside world through it. Sunders was right there, but the gentleman never looked his way.

He saw Ness too. Unlike Sunders, Ness bent a finger at him and beckoned.

Angor was already attracted by the unknown force. Now that Ness asked him to come out, he stepped through the entrance without a second thought.

…

"Good boy. And finally! His soul space is pretty large. The Soul Attractor has been burning for an hour."

Ness snuffed out the flame on the grass and the strange force that attracted Angor's soul vanished.

"So, it was successful. Now we need to test his soul," Sunders spoke.

Angor could not feel the nutrient liquid around his body when existing as a soul, so he believed he was an ethereal being who could go through solid objects.

He was quickly proven wrong. When Angor went for the outside of the glass chamber, he bumped his head on the glass. Hard.

Sunders looked at the silly move of his student and held back the urge to facepalm.

Ness laughed out. When Angor's expression went darker, the old man slowly explained, "My equipment are all made from special materials. Souls cannot go through them."

Looking at how Ness was still laughing, and his professor's embarrassed look, Angor found an exit at the top of the chamber and floated out, blushing.

He tried to stand on the floor, but he failed to sense anything solid. It was strange when looking at his body submerged in the chamber. Angor still felt a connection between his body and soul, but he could not tell why.

Ness spoke to Sunders. "The kid is still trying to hide his 'privacy'. Look, he even made some ethereal clothes around his soul."

Like what Ness said, Angor's soul was not naked. He was wearing some basic cover-up.

Sunders sneered, "Unlike you, people know about shame."

"Ptui. Why would I need to know shame? That's mortal stuff that constraints a human's nature. Wizards should all let it loose!" Ness retorted.

"That's your one-sided and extreme standard, and the reason why you failed to break through," said Sunders. He had grown tired of explaining moral issues to Ness. "Let's begin. We'll note down his condition first."

Sunders turned to Angor. "Do you feel the gray fog in you?"

Angor tried, and he did sense the strange ripple coming from the depth of his soul. "Yes, sir."

"Can you control it then? Release it," Ness said.

Angor tried again. "I… don't think I can."

After how he released the fog to an extreme extent last time, the fog seemed to be in dormant. Now, it looked like a stagnant puddle that refused to move around no matter how hard he tried.

"I see. Then, we need more tests. We shall find where it exists, and do something specific to trigger it," said Ness. He pointed at the experiment bench where he processed the female corpse. "Get on the bench."