It took Angor some effort to read the ant-sized characters on the bone cards of Krakoks, but he still managed it.
Just as Goode estimated, Tree Spirit had recommended Papaya, Kudodo, and Lococo to study Bloodline Art, Element Art, and Occult Summoning, respectively.
Their spiritual power indicators seemed decent too. Kudodo was 15, Papaya was 16, while Lococo’s indicator was an amazing 18, which was higher than Angor’s 17.5, after he received spirit enhancement from Altar of Demise AND consuming Greya’s Mermaid Shell Soup.
Well, I guess people all have different starting points.
After registering their bone cards and determining their talent orientations, they had to head to the resource distribution hall next.
Dodoro did not have to go there because there was only one Prophet who could teach him in the entire Brute Cavern. But in this case, the Krakoks still needed to find their professor posters even though some of them possessed rare talent.
After arranging the necessary files, the Krakoks soon received their posters. Unfortunately, no one received a golden one.
Kudodo shall study from “Rose Crown” Leona, a witch famous for her perfumes. She was, in fact, an Elementalist majoring in wood elements and nature-related spells.
Lococo’s professor was “Whisperer of Underworld” Duncan, a Summoner who was skilled at summoning skeletons. This didn’t sit very well with Lococo’s timid nature, but Duncan was the only wizard who gave her a poster.
At last, Papaya’s professor was “Raging Thorns” Madelyne, whose name Angor had never heard of before.
According to a worker in the distribution hall, Madelyne was a Bloodline User witch who fused the bloodline of a plant in her body. Her full name was “Madelyne Sillian”, who was supposed to have come from a wizard family near the Goman Kingdom. However, the Sillian Family was wiped out several years ago, and Madelyne was the only survivor who came to Brute Cavern later.
Papaya was her first student.
Angor more or less knew about Leona and Duncan. Like most wizards, they might be a little proud and arrogant, but they had very few records that suggested “campus violence”. Kudodo and Lococo should be fine as long as they did not cause trouble first.
After telling them directions, Angor let Kudodo and Lococo head to their teachers on their own.
As for Madelyne... Angor was a bit worried because he knew nothing about her. What if she was a cruel individual who loved performing deadly experiments on her students like “Miniature Creator” Dumartin?
Papaya was important for Angor to finish Grand Priest’s request, and she was the most valuable Krakok in Angor’s view. He definitely didn’t want something bad to happen.
He thought about this and took Papaya to Bartterfly Pub. He then bought some information related to Madelyne by paying one crystal.
The pub also provided rumors and secrets regarding how the Sillian Family was eliminated, but at a higher cost. Angor did not go for them since he wasn’t interested.
The information he found was comforting enough.
Madelyne behaved quite peacefully since she joined Brute Cavern, and she never did anything harmful to any apprentices. People mostly considered her as a “lawful” character.
Angor was not going to pursue the details. There was never absolute justice or evil in this world anyway.
After sending Papaya off, Angor yawned and returned to Phantom Island.
He knew that these Krakoks were unlikely to get any golden posters because they were naturally at a disadvantage because of their smaller bodies. It was already good enough that there were wizards willing to take them in.
Personally, Angor believed that being small did not mean being weak. At least the Krakoks could escape from trouble pretty well. Besides, there were always ways that could help them get bigger if they wished to.
Whether they could achieve great things still relied on their determination and effort.
People once argued that smaller beings needed less time to level up because they needed less mana, which was soon proved to be incorrect. One’s mindspace was an abstract concept that could not be measured physically. The Krakoks needed just as much mana as anyone else if they wished to improve their mana pool.
Upon arriving at Sunders’ manor, Angor saw “Griffin Toby” being trained by Greya again.
Toby saw him coming and whined.
Angor certainly could not go against Greya’s will after he enjoyed her meal not long ago. Helpless, Angor gave his feathered partner a “sorry but can’t help here” look.
It was Greya who struck a conversation with him.
“Goode told me. You found three talents among the Krakoks? Where are they now?”
Angor didn’t know why Greya was interested in this. This wasn’t really a secret, so he had no problem telling her.
Greya tilted her head. “You can just like, keep them at Phantom Island and give them some random channeling methods to learn. Now that you sent them to someone else, if one of them suddenly becomes a big-shot later, the credit won’t be yours.”
Angor realized that Greya was, in fact, being considerate. However, he never minded such a problem. It was fine as long as the Krakoks could succeed. And besides, their families were still with him.
More importantly, before leaving Soul Genesis Garden, Angor asked the Krakoks to take an oath that they would never betray him under any circumstances. For these reasons, who they considered as teachers didn’t really matter.
“So you’re going to return home and see your family soon?” Greya changed the subject.
Now Angor was confused. He never told Greya about this.
“I mean, ahem.” Greya cleared her throat when she saw Angor getting doubtful. “You were talking to that young lady outside the house really loudly. Everybody could hear you.”
By “young lady”, she was referring to Nausica, no doubt.
“But Lady Greya, we were talking around the entrance of the manor while you were probably preparing meals in the kitchen. That was at least 300 meters apart.”
“Oh, I have to listen to my soup while cooking! So I used something to enhance my hearing. I heard you talking by accident!”
“But... my professor mentioned that this building was built with Parmigi Celestite. It’s soundproof.”
Greya made a duck face. Must you get to the bottom of this?
She put away the whip she had been using on Toby and sat on a bench nearby. “Okay, okay! I was listening in, alright? Gosh, you’re so persistent.”
Toby saw this and lifted a fluffy paw to give Angor a “thumbs-up”. He also closed one eye, which was supposed to be winking.
Angor wondered how the bird learned about such a gesture.
He then joined Toby and put a hand in his soft mane. “Yes, Lady Greya. I’m leaving in one or two months. Is there something you need?”
“Oh, nothing biggie. It’s about that illusion item I mentioned...”
“Rest assured, I have a plan. I’ll finish it before departing if everything goes well.”
“Good.” Greya nodded. “I’ll be waiting for a pleasant surprise then. Oh, since my restaurant is kinda out of business right now, if I’m satisfied with your creation, I’ll give you a chance to request something in the same manner as using a golden VIP invitation.”
Angor’s mouth fell agape. This meant being able to get a magical meal priceless to all wizards!
“This time, you don’t have a bunch of people forcing your decision, so think carefully about what you want to get.” Greya winked. “Things said, I have pretty high expectations about that illusion. It should be at least something that touched my mind, like how you did with the last one.”
“I’ll do my best, Lady Greya!”
After saying goodbye and before leaving, Angor decided to ask something else, “Why are you staying here, Lady Greya? Do you have something to ask from—”
“Nonsense. I’ve no interest in working with that muffled and crafty fool. I just... have an agreement with him. Before it is finished, I have to stay with him.”
Since it was unlikely that Greya would tell him about this “agreement”, Angor only nodded to her and left.