To be safe, he activated Infinite Reticence and left the island from the back.
On his way, he saw the “sky bridge” outside full of apprentices waiting outside the barrier. Their intentions were plain to see.
It looked like he wasn’t going to use that bridge any time soon.
Among the apprentices, a man wearing a panda suit suddenly looked at the sky with a thoughtful expression.
He lifted a short cane in his hand and chanted a few words. He then tried to balance the cane on the bridge and let go of his hand.
A small breeze easily knocked it over.
“Fate has told me that I can’t find Angor today. Guess I’ll wait for the next time.”
...
Unaware of what others were doing, Angor quickly flew past the Tree of Eternity and arrived at another floating island with a dark theme.
This island was fully covered behind screens of thorns and roses as bright as fresh blood. At the center of it stood a strangely-designed wizard tower, which wasn’t any brighter than the environment it was in.
This was Rockwell Venue, the personal territory of “Blood Witch” Flora.
As Angor wondered how he could tell Flora to let him inside, he heard rustling noises coming from the plants. He then saw a familiar figure walking into the open.
It was a young man with a polite but dishonest smile.
“Hello, Spivet.”
Spivet used to be a famous wizard from Edge of Night. After he lost his body and powers, Sunders forced him to study under Flora’s care.
“I was wondering why the professor asked me to welcome someone. Now I see why.” Spivet looked at Angor, not sure how to regard the most brilliant apprentice in the organization.
He easily reached level-2 in his new body thanks to all the knowledge and training techniques he remembered, and he felt proud of it. But during his stay, he heard all sorts of impressive achievements done by Angor and suddenly found himself to be the one left behind.
While feeling jealous of Angor’s fortune, Spivet was also glad that he was a member of Phantom Island, which granted him a better chance of asking for Angor’s alchemy service.
“Follow me. The professor is waiting.” Spivet put on his signature smile. As a wizard, he knew how to hide his true thoughts.
As they talked about random subjects on their way, Angor was a little surprised to notice that Spivet had learned to be a humble student in only a year, and it didn’t seem to be pretended.
Sunders once mentioned that Spivet should have no trouble returning to his former glory if he knew how to adapt to his new situation. He was clearly heading that way.
They soon came to the tower with gothic-style designs and more roses. After traveling across a dark hallway, they arrived at a large and bright room that Flora used to see her guests.
Flora was taking it easy on a sofa while observing several blood spheres floating around her. Occasionally, she would push one of the spheres into another one while noting down what she saw in the merging process.
“Miss Flora.” Angor bowed to her and said “hello” to Little Red using lip language.
Once again, the skeleton smiled at him and presented him with a beautiful rose.
Angor accepted the strange gift and saw Flora looking at him. She was wearing a black veil that hid her face, but Angor still felt inquisitiveness directed at him.
“Just one more step to the level of wizard, eh?”
Angor nodded.
“You should be the fastest trainee ever recorded in Brute Cavern, that’s for sure. I assume you’re ready to challenge your limit. What’s your current plan?”
“Um, I haven’t started yet.”
“Did you fix your first spell slot yet?”
“No.”
Flora held her chin. “Well, this is to be expected since you need a lot of time for alchemy and all. Just remember, take your time and do it steadily. Do your unfinished studies first. Go for the last push when you’re absolutely sure and well-prepared.”
Angor nodded again—many people had reminded him of this.
“So, what do you want from me?”
Angor explained his request.
“The professor is still at the Abyss Plane.” Flora shook her head. “You’ll have to head there yourself if you want to talk to him. What do you need though? If it’s for your training, I can help.”
Angor did consider telling Jon’s matter to Flora, but only when he didn’t have any other choices. He highly doubted that Flora could give him any useful suggestions when Thewis and Eureka could not.
He also thought about talking to Sumesh. Unfortunately, Goode just told him that Sumesh was not present right now.
“If you really want to talk to the professor, go and check out the questing hall,” Flora continued. “Maybe you’ll find a quest or a team that will take you there.”
...
A moment later, Angor headed to the questing hall as Flora advised.
He did find a relevant quest, which was the “Front Line Construction”. However, as the description said, the job was not for apprentices. Also, the quest would send him to a random camp, which meant he might not run into Sunders in this way.
“Guess I have to talk to Mister Rein after all.”
He stepped out of the questing hall and looked afar, where the tall buildings in Apprentice Town 8 could be seen.
The familiar sight reminded him of his old friends.
He decided to check out the town and see whether any of his friends were there. Especially Sailum, whom he had not seen in ages.
The gathered dust in Nausica’s yard suggested that she had not used her rented house for a long time.
Angor considered and went to the underground market so that he could talk to Dave.
However, he didn’t find Dave in Prome’s shop. It was Balba who addressed him.
Seeing his arrival, Balba happily closed up the shop and dragged him to Bartterfly Pub for a meal, during which Balba explained that Dave was no longer working for Prome because he got a proper teacher, which was “Rose Crown” Leona.
After sending Dave away, Prome asked Balba to manage the shop as a paid employee.
“You’ll be staying in Brute Cavern for a long time, I guess?” asked Angor. What happened in Dumartin’s lab almost ruined Balba’s Bloodline potential. He wondered what Balba would do from now on.
“Yes.” Balba nodded. “I might still have a chance in the organization.”
Balba didn’t know much about Nausica and Sailum, much to Angor’s disappointment. He, however, mentioned that Dave had a letter from Nausica. However, Angor had to talk to Dave to know what Nausica sent.