Vonman woke up before his sister.
“What... Am I dead? Was that a dream? Or...”
He saw Guina still unconscious in his arms with a painful look, and he wanted to wake her. But Angor’s voice came and stopped him.
“She has yet to finish her test. If you interrupt her now, she’ll fail it.”
“Test?” Vonman gazed at Angor, who was sitting not far. “That monster, our boat got destroyed, we fell! We died! Those were only tests? You serious?!”
Angor simply gave Vonman a cold look.
Vonman quickly lowered his head and apologized in a small voice. He forgot who he was dealing with.
“I told you before that you’ll be expecting a test, didn’t I? And you’re totally unprepared?”
Vonman didn’t respond. He had nothing to oppose Angor anyway.
...
Gondola almost reached the boundary of Parmigi Highlands. Angor now clearly felt the agitated energy flowing in the air.
“Mister Padt? Shall we wait here?” asked Tulu.
Angor glanced at the cabin and saw Guina still not moving.
“Let’s remain here for a while.”
Gondola hovered still for an entire day.
As Vonman wondered whether he should feed Guina some water, Guina finally opened her eyes. And unlike Vonman, she remained calm.
“*Slurp* So this is the ‘test’ you gave us, Mister Padt?”
“Impressive.” Angor nodded. “When did you notice?”
“Soon after I found out that... I wasn’t myself.”
Angor created an illusionary world where Vonman and Guina were the only two survivors after a demon strike, and they had to help each other to live on.
He meant to find out if these two kids could make it to the end of the test. There were monsters in the illusion that could harm them and cause pain. But as long as they stayed determined, they wouldn’t die for real in the illusion.
Vonman protected Guina just fine, but he was still killed by a monster and was ejected from the test. In other words, he thought he couldn’t make it.
What Angor used was a very basic Mind Manipulator cantrip that could not injure the targets for real. When Vonman “woke up”, he felt nothing more than brief blankness and a mild headache.
Vonman did die halfway, but Angor would consider him worthy. At least Vonman was a loyal brother who shielded Guina till the last second.
As for Guina... Angor found it hard to evaluate her. The girl knew it was an illusion from the beginning, which meant her reactions in the test were useless in telling her score.
She was talented, this much was for sure. Should she know how to wield wizardry, she could have breached Angor’s illusion and ended the test earlier.
Also, it was obvious that by saying “I wasn’t myself”, Guina easily discovered the major flaw of Angor’s cantrip.
“It’s done. Start up the boat,” Angor ordered Tulu without openly telling them the result of the test.
Once they were inside the boundary of Parmigi Highlands, the abnormal atmosphere grew so intense that even the recruits sensed something was wrong.
Herds of beasts were migrating to safer zones. It was likely that the world’s consciousness already sent a warning to nature.
Compared to the animals, there were lots of people flying deeper into the highlands looking for an opportunity to loot.
As Nelson mentioned, there were occasionally space ruptures emerging out of thin air, which released chaotic energy that would kill unwary passersby. Thankfully, it was easy to evade them.
“*Slurp* Is this the world of wizards? Everything is so strange and... deadly,” Guina said in Vonman’s arms.
Tulu was thinking about the same thing. He rarely left his ship to go inland. And he wasn’t expecting that their journey was full of traps just like Devil’s Water.
“Yes, this is where you’ll spend most of your life from now on,” explained Angor. “A world full of bloodshed and menace, or fake peace that hides even more threats underneath.”
...
The message of Angor being sighted at Parmigi Highlands traveled faster than Gondola.
Angor ran into lots of supernatural travelers on their way, most of whom tried to offer an alliance. He earned many “friends”. Though how many of them were honest remained a question.
Nobody did anything too harsh since this place was the front door of Brute Cavern. If a treasured apprentice were attacked here, the whole organization would come in the next second.
It took Gondola two days to reach the giant land fissure that was the entrance of Brute Cavern. There, Angor saw someone in white floating above the chasm who looked rather creepy in the white environment.
Angor landed Gondola on the cliff and went to the old wizard with white hair. “Mister Wallace! Is something the matter?”
It was Wallace, one of the few “academism” wizards in Brute Cavern. Angor didn’t know this man much because he never had many chances to talk to him. Moreover, Sunders sometimes intentionally prevented Angor from meeting Wallace for personal reasons.
Wallace checked Angor from head to toe using a pair of gleaming eyes. “My word. You’re at the peak of level-3?”
Angor nodded politely.
“You’re the best apprentice Brute Cavern accepted in the last century.” Wallace shook his head. “Such a shame. Consider ditching Sunders and joining me, will you?”
Angor let out a silly chuckle.
“No? Fair enough. Find me if Sunders dies out there. Surely you can do that?”
“Um, Mister Wallace? Is my professor in danger?”
A woman with red hair appeared nearby and spoke to them, “Don’t take him seriously, Angor. Each time Mister Phantom is on a job away from the organization, this old man will just curse him day and night.”
“Fiery Charm, Ma’am.” Angor bowed.
“Don’t give me that. Someday, I’ll have to ask for your help. Just don’t be stingy, okay?” The woman looked at Angor’s boat. “Huh? Only three? Well, that’s Sunders’ student for you.”
Angor blushed. “It’s-it’s actually seven. But four of them already got registered in the office.”
“Seven, eh? How many did Sunders bring last time? Nine?” Fiery Charm spat.
“You should take the job and see if you can do better,” said Wallace.
“Nah. I’m just here to see if any new recruit fits me. I see none.”
Fiery Charm dived into the darkness below.
“Sigh...” Wallace shook his head again. “I’m here to give them a more detailed talent test. Guess you know this will happen, right? Let’s get to it.”