Several minutes ago.
Angor’s group was traveling through the dark maze with the puppy taking the lead.
Greya and Gragg, a.k.a Spivet, were still wondering what exactly this strange creature was. Telling from how the animal was walking on fast and confident steps, it sure knew how to get out of the darkness. Yet Greya and Spivet’s inspection spells only suggested that it was an ordinary pet dog no matter how many times they tried.
They were very thirsty for an answer, but since they also knew that Sunders was unlikely to tell them anything, they just kept moving without speaking.
Spivet could never spend too much time without using his tongue, so he asked why Sunders wanted him to become Flora’s student.
“I mean, why don’t YOU be my professor instead? Or Sumesh! Speaking of Sumesh, he made it to a truth-finder, didn’t he? And you know only truth-finders can teach me new stuff!”
“You’re not qualified to be my student. As for Sumesh, I’ll no longer make decisions for him. This leaves Flora as the only choice.”
“Not qualified? How come? I’m a famous wiza... rd...”
Spivet’s voice slowly grew smaller as he wasn’t sure about his words anymore.
“You WERE a wizard. But now, you’re a common mortal.” Sunders gave Spivet a serious glare. “Do remember to use the correct manners when talking to people.”
When Sunders walked away, Spivet spent a moment completely still. His expressions looked quite funny.
“Damn you! I’ll come back! Just you wait!”
Sunders meant to tell Spivet that, if the man kept using his annoying ways when dealing with people, he’d probably meet a quick death. Spivet had lost his power in this world, and he must learn to stay low.
Meanwhile, Spivet sensed a hostile gaze from a lady walking nearby.
He saw Nausica looking his way and saw the woman pointing at him with her metal arm, who then made a neck-slitting gesture with a grin.
Spivet’s face went pale as he remembered that he claimed to want to occupy this lady’s body just a moment ago. Nausica was a level-2 apprentice training in Brute Cavern, which meant they would study in the same organization from now on. This was quite a disaster for Spivet.
He quickly walked to her with a sly smile. “Hey, Nausica...”
...
A moment later, they continued their travel with their own satisfied smiles.
“What did you two talk about back there?” Angor moved closer to Nausica and asked.
“Well, that guy was afraid that I’m going to get back on him, so he offered to tell me how to use the Nether Demon Bloodline and how to improve my chances.”
“Coward,” Shan commented while listening.
“This is called being perceptive of one’s situation,” Spivet heard them talking and protested.
Angor scoffed. As someone who knew Nausica’s character, he was sure that Nausica would not give Spivet trouble as long as Spivet did not provoke her first. She was too busy for anything other than training.
Whether it was his intention or not, Spivet did give Nausica her much-needed bloodline, which would finally open up a brand new path for her.
Nausica’s original plan was to save money over several years so that she could afford an average-level bloodline. She would then use it to reach the wizard level. After that, she would cleanse the bloodline to get a better one. This process had too many drawbacks and required much more time, yet it was the most common method for bloodline apprentices.
But the Nether Demon Bloodline saved her immeasurable time and effort.
The gain was enough for her to tolerate Spivet’s misdeeds. She threatened Spivet earlier just to give him a little scare, but she wasn’t expecting Spivet to get so terrified as to spill so many secrets.
As they talked, the dark mist around them was getting thinner until it looked almost bright.
The puppy had stopped walking and barked at Angor.
Even though Angor never learned any dog language, he knew what the animal meant to tell him.
“We’re here. One step forward, and we’ll be out of the darkness,” said Angor.
“We walked pretty far...” Shan frowned as she spoke, “Is the city gate so wide?”
“No. We only need a second to get inside but way longer to get back out. I guess the mist works like a labyrinth.”
“A magic array that confuses distance and space maybe?” Greya rubbed her temples. “I’ve been trying to remember the path but now I’ve lost direction.”
“If it is a magic array, then the correct path will change every now and then. You can’t possibly remember it,” said Sunders.
“Heh, weren’t you doing the same thing? Your eyes were scanning around us faster than I did!” Greya sneered and turned to Angor when Sunders did not respond. “Do you even know how a composed and all unruffled man like him can be very funny on the inside? Well, now you see it.”
Sunders approached them with a neutral look. “You all get out. I have something to tell Angor.”
“What? Something important?” asked Greya.
“Not your business. There are possessed apprentices or even possessed wizards out there, as well as more parasites. You keep the others safe.”
Greya was going to complain that this wasn’t her job, but she did not protest when she saw Sunders’ expression getting dangerously cold. She had been acting freely and telling jokes in front of Sunders only because she knew how to avoid going over a certain boundary between them. She would never oppose Sunders for real. She dared not.
Following Sunders’ order, everyone except Angor walked out of the darkness. Greya also took Toby away.
Sunders, Angor, and the strange puppy remained behind.
“Something you need, sir?”
Sunders looked at the puppy at Angor’s feet. “Can you take it with us?”
Angor shook his head. He tried once, but it seemed the puppy wasn’t willing to leave the darkness for some reason.
“Use force then.”
Angor hesitated and decided to comply. He picked the puppy up by its scruff and moved toward the exit. But as soon as they started moving, the puppy vanished in his hand. It then reappeared somewhere else while barking at him.
Sunders narrowed his eyes while observing. Angor’s earlier presumption that the dog might be a Mystery treasure was not proved yet, but Sunders was sure that the dog at least had some sort of connection with the treasure.
We must take it away.
By coming to Sleepless City, Sunders mostly wanted to get his hands on Fox’s harp. He even used his Cursing Puppet to improve his chances. However, the monster was so agile that she never gave him a chance to catch her.
And Sunders felt rather annoyed about this.
The entire darkness was slowly turning into an interlayer space, and its controller—Yorkshire—would have absolute dominance over it. Going after the harp inside the interlayer space was almost impossible.
However, they just found another potential Mystery presence worth researching. The puppy probably would stick to Angor instead, but Sunders did not care.
Sunders moved to catch the animal himself, but then he noticed that when someone other than Angor was going after it, the dog could run as fast as Toby when the bird used his top speed to fly.
And Sunders didn’t wish to chase the dog all the way back into the dark mist since he might get lost again.
As he wondered what to do next, he saw the puppy showing up from another direction away from him and was looking at Angor again.
“Is it toying with us?” Sunders didn’t look pleased.
Angor tried approaching the animal while calling its nickname “Spotty”, and he successfully picked it up.
He then moved to Sunders while stroking the creature’s back.
He felt the puppy struggling in his hands.
“Stay there. I’ll pull it into Gravity Garden,” Sunders spoke through their Spirit Bond.
Angor nodded and stopped moving. At the same time, Spotty also calmed down.
He waited patiently so that Sunders could “retrieve” the puppy, but it never happened. The puppy remained in his hands and was giving Sunders hostile stares.
“I can’t.” Sunders shook his head. “The Gravity Garden cannot recognize its existence.”
This had suggested that they no longer had anything to bring the dog with them.
No matter what they did, as long as the puppy did not want to leave, it would simply run into the dark mist using its amazing speed.
Sunders decided to give up. The puppy was related to Mystery, and Mystery was always a “slippery” concept that could not be conquered by brute force.
“Let’s leave.” Sunders beckoned to Angor and walked away.
The puppy suddenly rushed to them and dragged Angor’s pants.