Crowds of people came and went. The talent test took three days, and it came to an end when it was already noon on the fourth day.
Haku, who had been keeping an eye on Ross Mansion, reported the result as well as another piece of information to Jebra.
“Zero?” Jebra raised an eyebrow. “Pretty much expected. I mean, no one in this world wants this job no matter which organization or which part of the world they come from. He must be so brave when accepting the work.”
“Do you know him, sir? I never heard of this man before.” Haku grew curious. As far as she knew, Jebra only treated a few people with a fair attitude, and the apprentice staying with Ross Clan wasn’t one of them.
“He used something to hide his face. As for who he exactly is... you can go and look for yourself.”
Haku sighed and conveyed her second message, “A servant in the mansion told me that man left the house yesterday night. Intention unknown.”
“He’s gone?”
“Right. I’ve been watching, and I failed to notice when he did.” Haku showed an irritated look for failing her job. “Sir, is he perhaps...”
“Is he digging into Lucas’ matter? I don’t think so. But let’s not completely omit that possibility yet.”
An energy surge from the distance suddenly interrupted their discussion and drew their attention.
They looked and located the general source as Oak Mountain, a landmark not far from Lost Paradise City.
The energy signature was followed by gathering clouds that completely covered up the tip of the mountain. They might appear as ordinary rain clouds in the views of mortals, yet supernatural individuals could easily recognize the flowing power hidden within them.
“This is... an alchemy omen?” Haku exclaimed. “But how come? Is my perception wrong?”
Unlike her, Jebra was casually inspecting the sight with a smile. “Okay, now I’m sure that guy has nothing to do with Lucas. He went off to find a spot to make stuff.”
“You mean that apprentice is an alchemist, sir??”
Jebra nodded.
“But an alchemy omen means something mid-tier or better. He’s just a level-3 apprentice!” Haku suddenly remembered a rumor she heard before. “Wait, is he—”
Haku looked at Jebra hoping to confirm her guess. However, Jebra wasn’t paying attention to her. He had been looking at the omen carefully while trying to figure out the general effect of Angor’s new item.
“Sir, is that Mister Phantom’s student?” Haku asked again.
“He is. Though you don’t have to call him like that. He has earned enough fame and glory now.”
Haku suddenly realized she had missed a very good chance of befriending a famous alchemist these days.
Jebra easily saw through her mind and snickered, “If that’s what you want, you still have time.”
As commonly known, an alchemist undergoing the challenge presented by an alchemy omen would be left defenseless. They needed to focus on the challenge to complete the item they were making.
Haku had the choice of offering to watch over Angor and keep threats away. At the same time, people might not like outsiders to approach them uninvited, especially at such a critical moment.
As Haku wondered whether she should go, Jebra simply summoned his miniature whale from his tattoo, which slowly grew bigger after receiving Jebra’s order.
An adult Horned Abyss Whale was as large as a cloud whale. Although Jebra didn’t need it to be that big this time. The whale stopped growing when it reached about five meters in length.
He then hopped onto the creature’s back and beckoned to Haku. “Anyone would go and check such an obvious alchemy omen. Of course we should do the same.”
Jebra pointed to the dark clouds, while Haku applied her magic power on her eyes and noticed a winged figure flying toward Oak Mountain ahead of them.
“It’s Shadow Swan!” Haku pointed out the stranger’s name.
“Let’s move. Since Summerdew Ridge sent someone, we have no reason to stay behind.”
Without waiting for Haku’s answer, Jebra put a bubble around her and dragged her away by force.
However, their whale was stopped before they could reach the center area of the omen. Similarly, “Shadow Swan” Swan also stopped moving and was gazing at a giant monster covered in fire, which was gazing at them carefully.
“Helen must be referring to this thing when talking about ‘Toby’?” Swan held her chin and inspected the monster’s crimson eyes.
“That’s a Flame Griffin,” Jebra spoke to her while casually floating nearby. “I see you also heard of it, Miss Swan. From where, I wonder?”
“Nothing is absolutely airtight.” Swan already expected Jebra to come, so she wasn’t looking at him at all. “You always find your answer one way or another.”
Jebra shrugged at the ambiguous answer and set his gaze at the bright monsters in front of them.
“Welp. Angor’s under good protection, so he got no use for us then.” Jebra recovered his whale and landed at the mountainside with Haku.
Swan glanced at the Flame Griffin again and trembled a little when sensing its deadly might.
Putting those strange flames aside, she had no idea of what the gray energy orbs floating around the monster were. What she did know was that she had no hope of winning if she were to confront the creature alone.
Copying Jebra’s example, Swan returned to her human form and also landed on the ground.
The three of them patiently waited for the omen to end.
Toby glanced back at Angor’s position and saw him still standing still like before, while a cape hidden among a number of shining runes remained adrift in front of him.
Toby was getting more and more anxious as Angor had been staying in the omen challenge for half an hour. The previous challenges never took so long.
...
Angor opened his eyes and found himself lying along the bank of a river.
As he stood up, that river slowly vanished from his view, but he still felt his head bloated and heavy, after experiencing the life of a stranger.
...
He never stopped finding the time to study Empty Ballad these days. Even during the talent test, he would use the intervals to read his tablet.
The magic array had taken him about half a year. Last night, he finally grew familiarized with the last rune, which meant he was ready to make the entire magic array happen.
Empty Ballad was a rather big magic array made of 15 runes in total. Angor could try his best to shrink its size down to one square meter. Combined with the fact that he would have to carry the magic array with him to let it work, he decided to enchant it onto a cape.
The crafting process was fine. As soon as he landed the finishing touch, the alchemy omen came and pulled him into a strange dimension.
Such an omen was essentially a test that determined whether the creator of the item was capable of possessing it. Last time, the alchemy omen brought by “Infinite Reticence” carried him to a desolate land, where he finished an isolated journey and comprehended the meaning of covertness and detachment.
This time, he was expecting to go through a challenge that reflected the “theme” of Empty Ballad.
As soon as he saw the river, the word “Stream of Fate” instantly popped up in his mind.
He had no proof, but an unknown instinct convinced him that he was looking at the Stream of Fate, which was the signature of one of the three major arts studied by Prophets. Empty Ballad was meant to prevent prophecy, perhaps the challenge took him here to help him learn something.
It was called a stream because one could see rolling tiles flowing toward a certain direction.
But the “tides” weren’t made of water.
Angor had no idea what he was supposed to do here, so he simply walked along the “riverbank”, hoping to find something. Yet he didn’t get to walk very far before sudden fatigue hit him hard and forced him to fall asleep.
In his dream, he became someone else—a weirdo who lived inside a clock tower.