Extending snowy mountains that reflected the sunlight, colliding waves knocking against abandoned fishing ships, colorful seagulls cruising above mermaids, an endless savanna under the boundless sky, and the blurred shadows of trees at the horizon...
Apart from the amazing sights, the members of the audience also embraced a strange sensation tackling their minds.
“It’s like a spell that stops time and allows you to read the stories buried in the past... Stories! So many of them! This thing’s brilliant!” Kate stated loudly from her room. She just realized that the music box was the best among the best curios she ever witnessed, and she only hoped that she could take it home and enjoy it fully. But 5,000 crystals were all she got at the moment, and this was undoubtedly far from enough.
“Now I understand what Angor’s illusion means. No wonder Greya found great inspiration from it!” Leona agreed along.
“Wait. Greya? She created her ‘new spell’ using such an illusion?” Kate widened her eyes.
“That wasn’t exactly what happened. She still needed her past experience and effort, and the alchemy illusion gave her the final push.”
Kate’s eyes gleamed. “The creator of the music, Angor... you know him?”
“Yeah, I do.” Leona chuckled and shook her head. “That’s Mister Phantom’s new student. A little guy with a terrifying future. I mean it.”
“Angor, huh?” Kate muttered that name while thinking about the “signature emblem” she just saw on the bottom of the music box.
Similar to her, most wizards from Brute Cavern had believed that such a “story-rich” illusion was very likely to provide unknown insight to facilitate Greya’s success.
“I MUST have it!” Shildeen observed the illusion around him with a passionate look.
Sumesh was equally surprised as the other wizards right now. But instead of coveting the music box, he was more astonished by the illusion skill shown by Angor.
As an Illusionist from Phantom Island, Sumesh had been to Nightmare Realm several times and learned how to wield nightmare illusions as well as his own piece of nightmare domain. However, he had yet to figure out how to blend the elements of Nightmare Realm in his illusions.
Earlier, he almost believed that there was a miniature nightmare domain inside the music box, which sustained the environmental features that made the whole illusion appear like the Nightmare Realm. But after careful examination, he noticed that the nightmare energy wasn’t real. It seemed Angor simply fooled people into believing that it was the Nightmare Realm.
Still, Sumesh knew that this wasn’t something he could achieve easily.
Several wizards who knew about music suddenly noticed that the climax section of the music had ended, and they would probably hear the end of it soon.
The blind old man in the illusion closed his eyes in great satisfaction. At the same time, the amazing sights he enjoyed also vanished from everyone’s view.
After several rounds of exclamations, the viewers were a bit disappointed at the fact that they had to buy the music box to dive deeper into the wonderful illusion.
Those who thought they brought enough money all sat straight to prepare for the coming competition, while others tried to persuade themselves into giving up.
However, the music did not end as people expected, and the illusion was still going.
With his final wish fulfilled, the old man lay down and passed away. Beside him, the dancing woman had stopped moving and was silently mourning her lost friend. While the music retained its cheerful theme, several altered notes allowed people to feel the sadness the story meant to tell.
People spent a moment in complete silence as they went over the sudden change of mood.
“Such... masterful emotion control!” a wizard suddenly called, which “woke up” all the onlookers.
“Right... I almost completely fell for it!” Another wizard agreed.
Listening to their conversation, the apprentices slowly widened their eyes in either bewilderment or fear. They were afraid that they might allow their minds to be controlled by the illusion should the wizards not warn them.
Sumesh shook his head as he spoke his opinions, “That was a perfect way of telling a story. The end of the story appeared as a Mind Manipulation illusion... but no. Angor solely used the plot and music to influence our state of mind.”
“You’re quite right, Mister Sumesh,” Ryne replied. “But I have to offer a slightly different point of view. As a music lover myself, I can say that the one we just heard was a masterpiece fully capable of impressing us. We became sad because we wanted to, it was not the creator who forced us to.”
From their words, the others had understood that the emotion change in the end was made possible by the previous stories and the melody. The illusion wasn’t intended to control them.
It was a music box, not a weapon. Of course it should have a great music piece.
People all calmed down to enjoy the ending of the story.
They saw the young woman dancing again as the scenery returned to being the initial forest where the mysterious wizard stood. However, the figure of the wizard was no longer blurry.
Apparently, the old man as well as what he went through was a flashback.
When the lady and the wizard finished their conversation, people were surprised again when they saw the lady turning into shiny bubbles and dissipated into the air.
But why? Was that the price she had to pay in order to help the old man? Or was the illusion simply ending the story in such a fancy way to go with the music?
As the music finally drew to an end, Theron closed the lid of the music box, leaving the viewers to take their own guesses.
Theron remained quiet on the auction stage, and nobody urged him to proceed—they had yet to recover from the stunning journey.
While also silently praising the ingenious piece of art, Theron cursed his boss in his mind.
Mister Chalon... you never checked that terrible decision of yours in your brain, I take it? Just to blindly protect your non-existent ego, you perfectly offended the original owner of the treasure and gave people a good reason to blame us!
“Again, I’m sure that this one is made by the alchemist who presented Land on the Sky, and this is better than Land on the Sky,” said Ryne. “Do any of you believe that the marvelous sights we saw in the illusion were copied?”
People all muttered to agree with Ryne.
“I did not know who made Land on the Sky when I saw it at Twilight Auction. So he’s called... Angor? I’ll keep that name as well as his signature in mind. He’s a great alchemist worth remembering.”
The apprentices who still didn’t know who exactly Angor was quickly raised their questions, and they soon got their answer.
“Mister Phantom’s student? That explains the superb illusion!”
Meanwhile, Chalon finally received the detailed profile of Angor, and he looked so pissed that the witches who usually served him all backed away in fear.
“A future master alchemist, acknowledged by many professionals? He almost created a Mystery treasure before?! You’re telling me this shit NOW?!” Chalon roared and kicked the trembling worker who delivered the files in the face.
He didn’t need to see the info at all. As soon as he saw the illusion displayed by the music box, he knew his plan had gone south.
If he were informed of the truth in time, of course he would have never done the tricks that caused him nothing other than shame. To make everything worse, he openly upset a promising alchemist as the leader of their organization!
His anger, combined with his narrow-minded nature, caused him to completely forget how Theron tried to help prevent the bad outcome before the auction.
“Okay, okay... Thank heavens that Angor isn’t here, and I still have a chance to make it right...” Chalon muttered as he walked to the door.
“Where are you going, Master?” a witch asked.
“Anywhere but here! What, you want to see me getting scolded in public?!” Chalon yelled and slammed the door shut.
None of the participants saw what happened in Chalon’s room, but nobody really cared.
As most of the customers discussed Angor, Jellal, who booked VIP room 7, was thinking about another question with a grim look.
“Angor? Angor... Sunders’ new student? That small boy I saw at Barbie’s Restaurant?”
Really??
As a famous alchemist, Jellal was fully aware of the rumors that suggested a rising star in the industry of alchemy. But he never thought that “Angor” was THE Angor he once talked to in Barbie’s Restaurant. He didn’t believe that the helpless mortal boy Sunders took away could make such achievements in merely three years.
“Now this is interesting...”