Angor easily noticed three people lurking around the mountainside. He thought he was expecting enemies who came after his item. But when Toby told him that the intruders left without causing any trouble, he knew what they came for.
They were just here to leave an impression.
As he observed, the girl with white eyes and “fish scale tattoo” on her ear should be an apprentice of Song of the Deep, while the purple-haired woman who could turn her arms into wings...
“Summerdew Ridge?”
Previously, he thought these two organizations were in cooperation since they came together. But telling from their conversation, that seemed not the case.
He stopped thinking about this matter since those people were gone. After retrieving his new cape into his bracelet and summoning Toby back, he headed back to Ross Manor.
Of course, he would like to check the effect of the cape as soon as possible. But the appearance of more than one onlookers convinced him to act more carefully. At the very least, he would not display his new item out in the wild.
Toby called at him to ask something.
“Why did it take so long?” Angor easily understood Toby. “It was half an hour? Well, yeah, it’s longer than common alchemy omens. But what you don’t know is that the actual omen challenge took way longer than that.”
Speaking of the challenge, Angor couldn’t help but think of the strange shadow he was talking to. Was it a fake individual created by the unknown dimension just to test him? It was completely possible since the Infinite Reticence challenge constructed a lively town with a ton of imaginary folks.
But something didn’t add up. The shadow mentioned that his name was lengthy and that he preferred to be called “Cassini”. Would an imaginary person make up names for himself?
And what did he mean by “he took a choice away”? Were choices something that could be taken?
Cassini also said something about “the choice was outdated”. Could Cassini take someone’s new or even future choices? Or was that shadow simply talking nonsense?
Angor knew he didn’t have to worry about the encounter with Cassini, on condition that Cassini was fabricated by the omen challenge.
But since he could not make sure, he’d keep this name in mind and ask about it later when he ran into wise wizards such as Master Mithra.
...
There was a rose garden in Brute Cavern where the air smelled refreshing and pleasant.
Dave was currently taking a test Leona gave him, which tested many of his skills such as alchemy knowledge, creativity, and even the capability of improvising and making simple items on the spot.
Many of the problems were above his level. Fortunately, Leona gave him half a year to look for necessary clues and books, during which Dave managed to slowly but surely proceed with the tests.
Reading books in the Cloud Library was not free. Dave had burned away several thousands of crystals in these months. Since the test would determine whether he could become Leona’s student, he decided to accept the cost.
He would thank Angor for having this chance in the first place because selling Angor’s music box helped him receive Leona’s attention.
He had almost finished all the tasks left by Leona. There was one last page left, which had one single paragraph that confused him for good.
[Which route are you taking? Apothecary or Tooling? Provide a further answer if you can.]
“Perfume Making, duh! Or do you have a fish’s brain too tiny to make out the better choice? Oh dear... Is my master inflicted with a wicked curse so she gave YOU a chance to become her student?”
A rose with a mouth in the middle of it spoke in a dramatic tone.
This bright rose grew in the center of the garden, which happened to be where Dave’s stone desk was. Well-kept roses should look elegant and charming. However, this one looked the opposite when it kept talking in an extremely unpleasant way.
“Shut it, Jackson.” Dave narrowed his eyes and glared at the talking rose.
“Oh COME ON! Even an idiot like you should know what my master is good at. Don’t tell me you’re still going with your Tooling sh*t! If you’re not sincerely joining my master, then get your butt out of here! Your mere presence makes the morning dew on my petals salty!”
Dave had been listening to Jackson’s blabber for a long time to fully understand the rose’s character. During these months, Dave was either reading, tending to Prome’s shop, or working in this rose garden. It seemed the lonely flower called Jackson finally found a target to vent out its collected sentiment. And between its nasty lines, Dave would occasionally found true advice, such as right now.
Jackson was suggesting that Dave studied Perfume Brewing.
In fact, Dave had not determined which alchemy art he would study in the future. He had been concentrating on Tooling because of Master Prome. Yet Jackson was right about how Leona was an expert in making perfumes.
Obviously, becoming Leona’s student meant Dave had to change his subject.
But... Dave couldn’t really make the decision of giving up what he had learned.
It seemed Leona presented this question as the last task in the test, and it took Dave a lot of time to consider.
The constant chatter of Jackson further annoyed him until he took out his weapon and slammed it on the desk just to scare off the bothersome flower. “Shut up, I say!”
Dave breathed heavily and noticed that he just used the Tang Dao he had been carrying.
He received the initial design of the weapon from Angor, after which he made his own adjustments on it and created this sharpened, ice-cold blade, which even earned Leona’s commendation.
He then looked at the weapon with an emotional expression.
He stayed this way for half an hour, until Jackson stabbed its thorny vine onto his hand and made him scream in pain.
Each time this happened, Dave would usually spend a moment chasing after the talking rose in the garden. But this time, he completely ignored the creature who just woke him up from his deep thoughts. Then he left his answer on the paper.
[Tooling, synthesis]
He knew he loved this subject ever since Prome guided him onto this path, and he believed “love” was important for him to go further, instead of being forced to pick up something he was unfamiliar with.
The “propeller flying machine” he tested on Toby, the weapon he improved with the help of Angor... He had devoted lots of time and effort into his inventions because he loved his work. He was afraid that he’d never stand out as an alchemist if he were to unwillingly accept a different job.
Jackson saw his final answer and spoke in a moderate tone, which was rare, “You sure about that? I’ll tell you again, that my master is a professional perfume brewer.”
Dave nodded. “I made up my mind. Maybe I’ll treat Perfume Brewing as a secondary subject, but I won’t give up my main.”
“Secondary? Ha! Before it happens, the Time Thief will come and steal your other choice away.”
“Time Thief? Who the heck is that?” Dave frowned.
“That’s... someone you will never see in your life. I mean, if you DO see him somehow, it means you’re capable of becoming a truth-finder.”
“So... Does any of these have anything to do with my decision?”
Leona suddenly approached them from the side and interrupted them, “What Jackson was telling you is that time waits for nobody. When you make a choice, you give up other ones and probably with no hope of finding them again.”
“Um, Miss Leona, you mean I can never study Apothecary from now on?”
“No no no. Let’s just say that each of your decisions matters, and you should be careful with it.” Leona looked at Dave in the eyes. “Are you sure Tooling is your choice?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Leona gazed at Dave for a bit longer before showing him a kind smile.
“Good. You’re my new student now. Here, my invitation poster,” she said as she took out an object from her storage, which landed in Dave’s hand, creating a golden arc in the sunlight.