Angor went to the abandoned orphanage and saw the “Dead by Daylight” illusion running.
“They got more recruits?”
This was soon proved when he heard someone shrieking loudly from the main building. Upon closer look, he saw a team of ten people running around inside a bloodstained room while yelling at each other.
It wasn’t time for the game to start yet. None of the illusionary monsters were moving, and Sunny was being a nice little girl together with Freud. It seemed the recruits were scaring themselves.
A woman with gray hair, who had been talking to Freud in the basement, frowned upon hearing the noises.
“Such a bunch of cowards. Sorry I have to let you see them, Mister Freud.”
Freud looked a bit flustered even though the woman was being very polite to him. “They’re still mortals, so this is to be expected. A few days and they’ll do much better, I believe. See that black-haired young man? He’s pretty good already.”
“I found him in a dungeon by accident. I think he’s the victim of a grieving civil war, who saw his whole family murdered by crafty politicians, so he developed a strong mind at a young age. Buuut he’s not THAT good yet. Just look at his trembling legs.”
“No matter where they came from or what they went through before, they all need time to adapt to the wizarding world,” said Freud. “The question is whether they can get used to the merciless ways in time.”
Freud put a hand on Sunny’s shoulder. “You’re up, girl. Remember the rules.”
A little unwillingly, Sunny hopped off from Freud’s legs and headed outside while pulling a giant scythe behind her.
“I hope I didn’t trouble you too much, Mister Freud,” the gray-haired woman apologized.
“No, no. It’s fine—wait, excuse me.” Freud suddenly looked up. “Someone else is coming. I’d better check it out.”
The woman didn’t seem to mind Freud’s sudden leave and began sipping a glass of deep-blue wine.
“Ho... He came to Freighting Town again?”
...
“Mister Padt! Did you make new progress at the research?” Freud saw Angor coming and asked eagerly. In his view, Angor wouldn’t show up here otherwise.
“No. I need to ask you about something. Where can I find a transmitter that can reach the Fey Continent?”
“Um? I... am not sure. I’ve always been at Freighting Town and didn’t travel around the Land of Revelation much. By the way, Miss Miya just came. Maybe you can ask her.”
“Miss Miya?” Angor looked at the orphanage building. “She’s in charge of the recruits?”
“Yup. She’s an elite apprentice from Song of the Deep, who’s said to be at a similar level as Jebra.” Freud suddenly recalled how Angor almost started a fight with Song of the Deep the other day. “Oh... sorry. I can help you ask her, if you don’t mind.”
“Nah. I’ll talk to her myself,” said Angor.
Deliberately avoiding Song of the Deep might cause people to see him as a coward. Angor would like to avoid that.
A moment later, Angor went to the basement room and took a seat across from Miya.
Miya neither showed any hostility nor did she mention anything about Jebra or Song of the Deep. She simply answered Angor’s question without much of a thought.
“Floating Mech City built many beacon towers for long-range communication around the world. But as far as I remember, there’s none at the Land of Revelation.”
“How about the White Clam Company? They always need to get in touch with the Floating City, right? They have a station at Ferran. Can I find another one around here?”
“They placed a beacon tower at Ferran mainly to monitor some tribesmen wandering around the central areas at Ferran. Rumors said that they have been dealing with invaders from foreign planes.” Miya held her chin and gave Angor an alluring wink. “Don’t hesitate to ask if you want to know certain stuff, Mister Padt. I’ll tell you free of charge.”
Just like Jebra, Miya also had a “fish scale” at the center of her forehead. This one was of bright red color, which looked quite beautiful on her.
Angor took a moment to arrange his words.
“Can you tell me the situation at the Abyss Plane?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know much about that place. At least there isn’t any big news. But I did hear that Mister Phantom has slaughtered countless abyssal creatures at the front line. He’s the ‘killing machine’, after all.”
This had told Angor that Sunders wasn’t planning on going back to Brute Cavern yet, which meant he couldn’t consult Sunders for advice any time soon, nor could he take Jon to Brute Cavern and ask for Sunders’ help.
Seeing Angor unresponsive, Miya decided to ask a question of her own. “You crafted a high-tier alchemy item, right, Mister Padt? Are you planning to sell it, by any chance?”
“No. At least not yet.” Angor looked at Miya in the eyes.
“Well, that’s a shame.”
Miya didn’t push on. And when she did not reveal too much of her thoughts, Angor found it hard to tell her intention.
Next, Miya told Angor several popular subjects people had been talking about at the Fey Continent, including how the “footage” showing Angor’s alchemy work was widely distributed among people.
This confused Angor greatly. He didn’t believe any of those mermaids and merman could film his alchemy process and send it to the Fey Continent. The only explanation was that there was a hidden apprentice or wizard nearby, who saw his actions.
Combining how he was constantly stalked by Jebra at that time, the name of the culprit was quite obvious.
“Yeah, it’s from Jebra.” Miya pointed this out before Angor could say it. “I didn’t know why he did such a thing at first. But as the rumors about your items traveled around, I slowly got an idea. Jebra didn’t want to admit that he was following you, which means he couldn’t come to you and ask to buy that item upfront. However, if he uses the evidence to get everyone interested, he can then talk to you without being too conspicuous.
“Buuuut things didn’t go as he planned. You know what I mean, right?”
Miya meant to mention how Jebra and Sliv forced Angor to hand over the “Mystery treasure”
and ruined their relationship by doing so. They basically threw all of Jebra’s effort down the drain.
“So... are you telling me that I shouldn’t blame Jebra too hard? He asked you to talk to me?” Angor was still not sure about Miya’s attitude.
“No no. I never thought I’d run into you here. This is all unplanned.” Miya grinned. “I’m telling you that Jebra REALLY wants that item. If you would sell it to him, you might as well raise the price as much as you can.”
...
While still confused, Angor left the orphanage area. He had zero clues of Miya’s motive. However, no matter what Miya meant to achieve, he wasn’t going to be friendly with Jebra again.
Three days later, Miya took the talents away from Freighting Town. Before leaving, she paid Angor another visit and offered her opinion regarding the “Dead by Daylight” illusion. She believed that illusion was very helpful in fortifying the minds of apprentices, and that she would like to seek more cooperation with him in the future.
Angor told her to speak to Freud instead since he had allowed Freud to manage the illusion.
Later, Angor heard that Freud did reach an agreement with Miya. It seemed Miya would bring more talents to the illusion and pay Freud magic crystals for using it.
The price was pretty low, but it was still a considerable income for Freud, who didn’t have many ways of making money right now.
Angor took several more days in the dream of the apartment house, and day by day, he could feel the nightmare ambiance getting stronger. This meant the “dream wasteland” was indeed a special Nightmare Domain.
His hologram tablet suddenly beeped. The device had determined the cantrip model of Dream Enkindle.