Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 673: Bounty of Truth

This made a lot of sense. Greya’s body was lost in the Nightmare Realm, while the only person in the entire southern region capable of helping her was undeniably Sunders. Greya might not like Sunders’ character, but she would at least behave well on the outside, especially when she needed his assistance.

This was probably why Greya had been following behind Sunders instead of going back to Candy House or looking for her workers.

Angor knew that Sunders already decided to help Greya since Sunders allowed Greya to stay. Sunders even went to Sleepless City to get her out of trouble.

The question was, when would they depart for their quest?

Flora suddenly spoke and interrupted Angor’s train of thoughts.

“Professor, did you help Greya with anything when she’s at Phantom Island?” Flora just arrived at Phantom Island but she more or less knew what happened after looking around.

“Why do you think so?” Sunders gave Flora a sharp look.

Flora froze up and remained silent.

“Heh. Do you think Sunders knows how to help a master gourmet wizard learn a new spell?” Rein commented. “You’re thinking too much. And you believe Sunders will provide such valuable help to an outsider rather than helping his own students?”

Flora looked down. “I apologize. I wasn’t in my right mind.”

Flora hoped she could travel back in time and take back that question. She was being too impulsive after seeing how Greya, who was sharing a foreign body with a foreign soul, made such great achievements, while she almost attained no progress ever since she became a wizard.

Sunders was fully aware of Flora’s mental condition. Flora grew even more anxious after learning about Sumesh’s success, and her unstable mindset would further prevent her from seeking the truth.

Next, Sunders checked Angor, who was lost in thought.

Sunders once considered allowing Flora to attempt “reading” a manifestation of Mystery, but after seeing Flora like this, he knew Flora would never get past the challenge brought by the world’s consciousness even if she learned something new from a manifestation.

Just as Rein Mute said, the final challenge meant to stop unworthy people from proceeding. And right now, Flora was “unworthy”.

Telling her about the manifestations would harm her rather than helping. Sunders made up his mind that he would remind Angor later, that they should not let Flora know about the manifestations.

There were more and more wizards gathering around Phantom Island now. Angor believed he saw several familiar faces among them.

“Let them watch. They shall see how pathetic they are when a true genius is right here,” Rein scoffed.

The onlooking wizards were entangled in a heated discussion right now. They could not get past the barrier protecting the island, but the barrier did not prevent them from seeing Greya’s soul floating in midair. They more or less knew what was going on after they sensed Greya’s power of a truth-finder, as well as the reaction of Rein and Sunders.

Someone was forging a new spell.

More importantly, the world’s consciousness was here to watch it happen.

By this, an ordinary wizard would soon become qualified to challenge the path of truth, while the spell they created would be remembered and praised by others in the future to come.

In the course of history, each time someone made a new spell, his or her name would be left in books for everyone to admire.

“Goddammit! I hope that was me!” Someone failed to conceal his jealousy. “Why a freaking gourmet?!”

“Greya created a new spell at Phantom Island? I smell something fishy. Should I tell this to reporters?”

“No, you don’t. This is so humiliating if people know that an outsider did this inside Brute Cavern while we can only watch!”

“You can’t hide it anyway—there are tons of wizards sent by other organizations who are watching us,” Baroque said with a scornful look. “Let’s just be frank. Maybe some of us can steal some fame by providing first-hand info about Greya’s new spell.”

“Quick, capture it with your transmitters! Someone recorded the moment when she created a spell at Hazy Waters and the price went insane. I bet this one is worth a lot of profit too! Argh sh*t, if only we can get a good spot inside the island… I wonder if Mister Phantom or Miss Flora already did.”

While the wizards talked to each other, Tree Spirit was looking at the island while resting on a giant leaf. “Why would Greya go for such a grand chance now? And here? Did she really run into something interesting at Sunders’ place?”

A woman who was constantly releasing the energy of life around her sneered. “If Sunders has something so wonderful, then why is Flora falling behind everyone? Besides, Mister Su-Sumesh wouldn’t have gone to faraway lands to look for his destiny.”

When mentioning Sumesh’s name, the woman looked to one side as if she was embarrassed about something.

Tree Spirit narrowed his eyes and smiled.

…

Meanwhile, Maya was also checking Phantom Island from afar so that she could discover the connection between Greya’s success and Angor. She always believed in Dodoro’s prophecy, especially when it had something to do with Angor.

But to her disappointment, she never managed to find such connections. All her attempts to look into the future ended up at Greya herself, which did not concern Angor’s involvement at all.

Confused, she asked Dodoro, “Do you know what’s going on?”

Dodoro didn’t reply, and Maya knew she had to give up since this innocent yet stubborn young man wouldn’t satisfy her curiosity at all should he decide so.

“Fine. Whether Angor is behind this, it has nothing to do with us. Extra help won’t help Greya push through the final obstacle.”

Maya entered her tower and decided to put the matter aside.

…

Inside The Tributary, Iron Granny was enjoying her tea in her mobile fortress again while a strange-looking old man who had floating symbols around him sat at the other side of the table. The symbols kept changing into different languages or marks, while the man’s body was flickering as if he was a soul about to disappear at any moment.

“This is Morning Dew, given by a young friend I came across. The taste is good!” Iron Granny said as she pushed a teacup to the old man.

Curious, the old man took a sip and sensed the gentle energy contained in the tea water.

“Morning Dew… such a peculiar drink.”

He put down his cup and took out a piece of paper out of thin air before he began writing something on it.

The name “Morning Dew” was left among the incomprehensible characters.

He suddenly stopped and looked in another direction.

The Tributary was a pocket dimension inside Brute Cavern. It was independent of the outside apart from the portal that served as its entrance. Yet the old man had no problem seeing what was happening on Phantom Island.

“What is it?” Iron Granny looked in the same way and exclaimed, “Oh my, people really need to work harder. They let an outsider beat them to it.”

The old man chuckled. “Not exactly.”

“Care to share your thoughts, Elder of Books?” Iron Granny picked up her cup and drank.

“I don’t mean to be stingy. Truth is, there’s not much I can tell you.”

…

Greya had been staying still in the air for a long time. People were beginning to wonder whether the subsequent omen would continue.

Flora decided to ask Sunders.

“When she did her thing at Hazy Waters, the omen caused by ‘Artificial Life’ persisted for hundreds of days, and the sweet seawater and winds were so easy to notice, but why isn’t anything happening now?”

What Flora mentioned was the “reward” given by the world’s consciousness after Greya passed the challenge. Wizards in history usually regarded it as the “bounty of truth”, while people in recent centuries preferred using “omen of creation”. This was similar to the debate revolving around the “channeling method” and the “meditation method”, which referred to the same thing.

“Modern” wizards tended to use more straightforward names.

“The nature of the reward will determine how it will appear in our view, but no matter what shows up, it will benefit Greya, the creator of the new spell. While to us, the omen is simply something fun to look at.

“For Artificial Life, the world’s consciousness let her witness the future of gourmets. When I created ‘Nightmare Substitute’, it allowed me to experience the memory of a powerful Nightmare in my mind while there was almost nothing to see from the outside.”

Flora tilted her head. “You mean… Greya might be experiencing something in her mind right now?”

Sunders shrugged. “We can’t say yet. Nobody can. Just keep watching.”

As if to prove his point, something on Greya suddenly changed.