Falca had been following them from a distance after the previous incident. Bogula ordered them to go back to the “base” with no one left behind, so Falca couldn’t really leave on his own.
Still, this didn’t prevent Falca from giving them hateful stares.
“Don’t mind him. His nutty mind is as narrow as Isabella,” Shadow said.
The short boy, Toya, also nodded to agree. “Yeah, Mister Angor. He’s childish! Last time, he tried to put a slave mark on Dodo. When I found him out, he refused to admit it!” Toya stroked Dodo’s belly with his tiny yet chubby hand.
Angor just learned about this little apprentice of Bogula yesterday. The boy had an exceptional talent that allowed him to reach the peak of a level-1 apprentice within a year.
As for the boy’s pet, Dodo... Angor failed to read anything from it. However, he could sense something terrible that was hidden within the small creature.
When he asked, Shadow didn’t tell him much information. For now, Angor only knew that Dodo was Toya’s familiar pet that was brought by destiny. They had been together ever since Toya was born. Despite the creature’s adorable appearance, it might be as powerful as Naga.
“Falca is the student of ‘Silent Raven’ Taurus, as well as a relative of Taurus.” Shadow continued to explain, “For the same reason, he got a bad character since he got a really powerful background and all. He hates you probably because you stole his spotlight.”
“I did what?” Angor wasn’t sure what he did before to attract so much hatred from Falca.
“You see, when I told Isabella how you reached out to Mystery energy, many wizards heard about it and tried to meet you. But they never got in my teacher’s door.” Shadow spread his hands and shrugged.
Wizards? See me? Angor found it unbelievable that formal wizards would want to personally meet up with an apprentice.
“You only have to know that you’re quite famous now. The info hadn’t gotten too far yet, but it will be soon. There are lots of wizards who enjoy spreading rumors around the world all day. It’ll only take several years for the whole wizarding world to know about your name.” Shadow seemed proud since his friend would soon become someone important.
Angor nodded slowly. He was too inexperienced to understand what his name would bring him and whether it would be good things or bad things.
Ever since they left the teleport station, they had been strolling along the streets casually. Bogula didn’t give him a time limit anyway.
Along the way, Angor learned more and more about the city.
Most people he saw were mortals, but they seemed to be families of supernaturals. They usually ran the shops for their families. Angor tried to visit some of them and noticed that most of the shopkeepers were mortals.
According to Shadow, most supernatural beings gathered at the “other side” of Floating Mech City.
The city came in two opposite sides. The upper side was the main city area, which accommodated the teleport station, auction house, ordinary shops, and the bases of different organizations.
The city also had a lower side below it. If anyone observed the city from the ground, they would see this “lower side”, as well as a great number of chimneys, sticking out from it.
When looking from the outside, all the creatures and buildings on the “lower side” were placed upside-down. However, a special gravity law allowed anyone who stepped in there to walk and live like normal.
As a major organization, Floating Mech City established its HQ at the lower side of the city.
“My professor used to live there, but a bunch of alchemists kinda polluted the air for good, so he moved back to the upper area.” Shadow sighed and said, “As a matter of fact, the lower side has more primal mana in the air, but it got so dirty that most wizards moved away. Now, there are only alchemists and apprentices who love to go there. On the other hand, you can find many special materials and alchemy items over there. I’ll show you if you’re interested.”
Angor shook his head. He didn’t really need to buy stuff. What he needed most was to grow stronger.
Apart from mortals and supernaturals, there was one other special element in the city—rules.
The upper side of Floating Mech City, which was the main city district, was full of Rune Monitors. Their job was to look for combat energy and prevent fights from breaking out.
Anyone caught in such an act would be put on the city’s blacklist and had his or her future visits denied. Of course, such rules only worked on apprentices and wizards who weren’t strong enough to resist them.
Two hours later, the group finally arrived at Bogula’s base.
The base looked like a half-sphere placed on the ground, with no particular decorations.
Angor was surprised to see many strange puppets wandering nearby; puppets made from live beings, from corpses, from bizarre materials...
Old, young, men, women, beasts... Everything looked weird.
When they stepped into the boundary of the base, Angor quickly felt a cold aura covering his body. As they moved, all the puppets gazed at them with their emotionless eyes as they moved as one.
Even Falca who kept his distance earlier quickly moved closer to Shadow.
“Don’t get too far from me or the sentry puppets will attack you,” Shadow said.
The way toward the entrance was peaceful enough.
Angor saw another floating eyeball hovering at the door.
“Welcome home, Mister Diablo,” the Rune Monitor said in its robotic voice.
“Take this stinky bat bastard to his room on the second floor, Butler Kazar,” Shadow ordered while pointing at Falca.
“Kazar understood.” The Rune Monitor shined a white light beam toward one direction. “Please follow me, dear guest.”
Falca gave Shadow a hateful glance while walking past him. “We’ll settle this later, Diablo.”
“Get lost already,” Shadow spat.
It seemed Falca knew this place well. He didn’t really need the Rune Monitor to find his way.
“Welp, the nuisance is gone. I’ll show you to your room.” Shadow said. He then turned to speak to Toya. “You go back yourself and meditate for some more. I’ll teach you that cantrip at night.”
Toya nodded happily. Before walking away, the small boy looked at Angor timidly. “Mister Angor, I saw your ‘bird’ earlier!”
Shadow gazed at Angor as if he just saw a street
pervert.
“When I took Dodo out to play in the morning, I saw you creating a bird in your hand like magic!” Toya made a gesture with his hands which represented flapping wings.
Shadow looked away. He just realized Toya was referring to Toby.
Angor had been keeping Toby inside his bracelet so Papaya and the other Krakoks could take care of him. This morning, Papaya informed Angor that she saw Toby’s eyelids twitching as if the bird were waking up, so Angor took Toby out to check. However, nothing really happened afterward.
And by some unknown coincidence, his action was discovered by Toya.
“That bird has really cute clothes. Can you make some for Dodo too, Mister Angor?” Toya lifted Dodo higher until the creature was in front of Angor’s face
Dodo’s belly area was fully exposed. It tried to cover its “private area” by curling its tail in front.
Shadow patted Toya’s head before Angor could say anything. “There are tons of tailor shops out there, little fool. You asked because you want Angor to make you an alchemy piece, right? It’s all written on your face,” Shadows said while pushing the boy away. “It’s no use acting all cute in the wizarding world. Equivalent exchange, remember? Now, off you go.”
Toya made a duck face and went deeper inside; he didn’t forget to glance back at Angor.
Of course, Angor never intended to create any alchemy clothes for Toya. However, Shadow’s words aroused his curiosity. The protection spell on the coat that he received from Devildare was broken. He did need something to fend off attacks apart from the Aster Barrier magic scroll.
He still had Akeso’s scale in his inventory. It was unlikely that he could melt the scale yet, but at the very least, he could use the scale to cover his vital point like his heart.
While trying to think of an idea, Angor followed Shadow to his room in the base.
“You’d better not let Dodoro out. Professor probably can’t tolerant another stranger,” Shadow said as he warned Angor, “but letting Toby out won’t really matter. Every wizard has a familiar.”
Angor checked. Dodoro was still studying literature from Papaya’s grandmother. Dodoro seemed extremely calm and obedient too. He was progressing faster than when he was learning from Trusan.
Angor also noticed that Dodoro would occasionally glance at the luggage sack in the other corner of the space storage, which contained his mysterious water bowl. Angor was sure that Dodoro would try to get it if he wasn’t prevented from wandering freely around the storage.
“I see.” Angor nodded.
“Have a good rest for now. I’ll find some of my old friends and see if I can find another place you can hide in. As for the purification garden... remember what I said? Think carefully.
“Don’t mind my professor for now. I heard something big’s going to happen in Floating Mech City, and he’ll be busy with something at the lower side these days; therefore, he won’t have time to deal with you. But make sure you tell me your decision before he comes back.”
Bird means ‘cock’ in Asian slang