Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2252: Chapter 2253: The Blacksmith’s Day

Even though it couldn’t compare with the Elemental Tide, just the fact that the elemental concentration reached the level of the Elemental Tide was already an astonishing matter for Dangross and Lobal.

Lobal couldn’t help but ask, "Can you create such a high-concentration elemental environment anytime and anywhere?"

Angel nodded, "As long as there are enough materials, it’s not a problem."

"Unbelievable, truly unbelievable," Lobal repeated, "Is this the power of wizards?"

Seeing Lobal and Dangross’s shocked expressions, Angel felt a surge in his heart and said, "That’s right."

"You’ve all read ’The Future Possibilities of the Tidal World.’ Now you understand why I say that forming partnerships between wizards and elemental creatures is mutually beneficial, right? Because wizards can use various methods to rapidly cultivate elemental creatures to unprecedented strength. The Magic Pattern I use is just one such method."

"For an Elemental Sprite to mature in a natural environment, it would take decades, centuries, or even longer. But if it forms a friendship with a wizard, that time is reduced countless times over."

"This is the incredible power wizards command."

Angel took this opportunity to explain a bit more, giving them a deeper understanding of "Elemental Partners."

Whether it had any effect was still unknown. But as Angel’s words fell, both Dangross and Lobal, even the silent Cubic and Speedy, fell into contemplation.

Angel didn’t disturb their thoughts and went about his own business.

He prepared to place the Traveling Frog and the Raccoon Cat into the Glazed Box respectively.

During Angel’s process of loading, Dangross was the first to come back to his senses, watching Angel’s actions dumbfoundedly: "The rescue method you mentioned before was to put them in the box?"

Angel nodded, "Inside, it simulates the corresponding elemental environment. Putting them inside, even if it can’t heal the cracks in their Elemental Core, it can keep the core from immediately being damaged."

"When there’s an opportunity, send them to the domain of the water or fire attribute, find a corresponding strong figure for healing, and they should be able to survive."

Dangross listened and suddenly realized.

The Elemental Cores of these two elemental creatures only had cracks and weren’t completely damaged, so there was a possibility of healing. If placed in the Nameless Land, the elemental concentration here was obviously not up to par, and over time, the cracks would widen until both perished.

But if they were placed in the World’s Harmony elemental environment, even without healing, they might slowly self-heal. At least it wouldn’t worsen.

So, Angel’s action was indeed a very prudent approach.

While Dangross was lamenting the good fortune of these two elemental creatures, it was also secretly contemplating another question: just a few Elemental Gemstones could create such an environment. It’s truly amazing. If I could learn...

Seeing Dangross in a daze again, Angel couldn’t help but push him slightly: "By the way, I haven’t asked you yet, why were you burning stones over there? Bored and idle, itchy hands?"

"I, I was, I was..."

Angel initially asked casually without needing to know much in detail, but Dangross’s sudden hesitation and stuttering piqued Angel’s curiosity.

He raised his eyes, staring quietly at Dangross.

Under Angel’s gaze, Dangross, who had planned to find an excuse to muddle through, suddenly felt psychological pressure. Panic surged in his mind, which went blank.

Eventually, Dangross succumbed to the pressure and revealed his thoughts completely.

"Seeing me make boxes simply, you wanted to try it too?" Angel looked amused and didn’t expect Dangross to be hiding behind a big black rock attempting "Alchemy."

"I clearly saw you burning that black rock, and it turned into a beautiful transparent box. But somehow, when I burned the rock, not only did nothing change, it exploded." Since the truth was out, Dangross didn’t conceal it and expressed his grievance with a face full of grievances.

Looking at Dangross’s expression, Angel couldn’t help but laugh, and only after a long while did he recover his voice.

"I was doing Alchemy, which involves not just fire forging, but also magic power to refine and detail; while you were simply burning stones, how can they be the same?" Angel explained, laughing: "Moreover, the material I chose for refining was a special demonic material called Permeable Glaze, not some ordinary black stone lying around."

Dangross listened, confused: "Alchemy? What’s that?"

By this time, Angel had already placed the Traveling Frog and the Raccoon Cat into the Glazed Boxes, with nothing else on hand to be busy with, so he sat down to explain Alchemy to Dangross.

From the essence of Alchemy, to material selection, to melting and shaping, to energy channeling... Angel used simple language, combined with Illusion presentations, to give Dangross a vivid Alchemy lesson.

Dangross listened, enthralled, and though he didn’t grasp much of the knowledge, he at least understood why, when he burned stones, they exploded, while Angel could transform the mundane into the miraculous.

On the surface, Angel seemed to be casually burning rocks, but the profound inherited knowledge of wizards lay beneath, entirely different from his playful burning of stones.

"So there is so much to Alchemy," Dangross couldn’t help but exclaim.

Angel: "Now do you understand? Alchemy is not child’s play."

Dangross nodded with deep admiration.

Angel smiled, glancing aside and noticing Cubic and Lobal had also returned to their senses, and said, "Alright, those two elemental creatures are temporarily okay; we’ve stayed here quite long enough, it’s time to go."

Angel summoned the Gondola, placed the two Glazed Boxes in the small compartment at the back of the boat, and motioned Dangross and Cubic to board.

Cubic quietly flew to the table, but Dangross wore a contemplative expression, lost in thought for a while before boarding the boat.

"Let’s go."

With those words, the Gondola slowly rose from the valley, disappearing like a glowing meteor.

Over the Nameless Mountains, across the Nameless River.

About half an hour had passed since leaving the valley when Dangross suddenly spoke, breaking the silence that had persisted: "Mr. Pat, can I be like you and burn the stone to forge it into a box?"

Angel had noticed Dangross’s silence after boarding and had wondered what was on its mind; he hadn’t expected it to still be preoccupied with the stone burning: "Are you interested in learning Alchemy?"

Dangross deliberated for a moment and nodded: "I’m a little interested, but I also realize Alchemy is very difficult, and I may not learn it throughout my life, so for now, I just want to burn the stone into a box, not considering anything else."

"Why are you interested in this? I thought you were only interested in gathering followers?" Angel didn’t immediately answer Dangross’s request, instead curious about its sudden interest shift.

Dangross: "Actually, earlier, when you exchanged tokens with Dainba, I thought your crafting of the Ghostfire Butterfly statue with fire was amazing. I thought if I could craft similar tokens for my followers, it would be fantastic. It’s just that at that time..."

At that time, the relationship with Angel wasn’t particularly harmonious, so Dangross didn’t express his thoughts.

Now, the relationship with Angel has become more intimate, and seeing Angel refining the Glazed Box rekindled the dormant heart fire within Dangross.

Of course, these words were not something Dangross was comfortable saying openly, so he merely brushed over them ambiguously.

"I just want to refine stones into a box, or something else, and that’s enough."

Angel: "So, it’s still for your little brother? You’re truly nice to him."

Dangross didn’t retort, but there were other thoughts in his heart that he found hard to articulate.

"Alright, I can teach you." Angel didn’t refuse.

It was rare to encounter a sprite eager to learn, so Angel wasn’t stingy with his teachings. And, if it was just melting and shaping, it didn’t involve particularly difficult knowledge; a blacksmith’s shop in the mortal world could achieve it, as it wasn’t an esoteric skill.

The most important aspect was that he wanted to see to what extent Dangross could advance after learning the melting technique.

Since he had promised Dangross, Angel didn’t delay and used an attribute-less energy gemstone obtained from the Traveling Frog’s stomach as the carrier for an illusion node and constructed an Illusionary Realm called "The Blacksmith’s Day."

"The Blacksmith’s Day" showcased the daily life of a blacksmith, from selecting materials from an open-air ore mine to returning to the forge to work on the iron, and then hammering it into shape. Every detail was presented in the illusionary realm.

Although the blacksmith didn’t speak a single word from start to finish, careful observation of the details could teach many techniques. Moreover, since it was an illusionary realm, even entering the bellows or the furnace wouldn’t cause harm, allowing one to see the real transmutation of each step.

Being a fire elf himself, Dangross had an extraordinary mastery of fire, so he could grasp the nuances of fire more quickly through the presentations in the illusions.

One could say that, in Angel’s view, "The Blacksmith’s Day" was the most suitable teaching material for Dangross.

After constructing the illusionary realm, Angel handed the pebble-like gemstone to Dangross.

"The energy of the illusionary realm comes from the gemstone itself, so once the gemstone runs out of energy, the illusionary realm will also vanish." Angel: "Currently, the energy in this gemstone is enough for you to view the illusionary realm over a hundred and eighty times. If you still haven’t learned by the time the gemstone’s energy is depleted, I’d advise you to give up."

Dangross held the gemstone with a confident expression: "I can do it!"

With that said, Dangross entered the world of the illusionary realm with great confidence.

With the noisy child gone, the Gondola returned to tranquility.

However, the tranquility didn’t last long, as a series of chirping sounds came from beside him a few minutes later.

The sounds came from Toby.

The elemental creatures present couldn’t understand what Toby was saying, but Angel understood its meaning.

Toby was gesturing for Angel to look at Cubic.

Due to its exposure to "Piggy Girl," Toby had been very attentive to Cubic since their first meeting, almost as if its eyes were glued to Cubic. Although its enthusiasm gradually subsided over the past few days, Toby still occasionally spied on Cubic.

Following Toby’s indication, Angel looked over.

He discovered that Cubic was quietly watching Dangross, with its small eyes seemingly flashing with big question marks.

"Do you also want to experience ’The Blacksmith’s Day’?" Angel asked curiously.

It took a long time for Cubic to realize that Angel was speaking to it. It promptly shook its head: "No, I’m not interested in blacksmithing."

Angel: "So, are you interested in Dangross?"

Cubic continued to shake its head.

Angel: "I see a lot of confusion in your eyes, care to share?"

Cubic hesitated for a long time before saying, "I feel that sir is very kind to Dangross. According to the records in the Shadow Box’s ’The World of Wizards,’ wizards pursue fairness and equivalent exchange. Dangross hasn’t given anything, yet sir has given so much. Is it because sir hopes Dangross will become your elemental companion?"

"In your view, is that the only answer?" Angel responded with a question.

Cubic appeared a bit puzzled, and shook its head without speaking.

"I once asked you why you boarded the ship," Angel said. "Your answer was that the Sage Kamil told you that the wind needs to pursue freedom and yearns for distance, so you should step out of your comfort zone and see the outside world."

"However, your abilities aren’t sufficient to travel alone, so the Sage Kamil allowed you to board my ship where I could shelter you for a time."

Cubic nodded: "Yes."

"According to the principle of equivalent exchange, think carefully, did I gain anything from sheltering you on the journey?" Angel asked.

Cubic: "But sir, didn’t you trade with the Sage?"

Angel: "I didn’t receive anything from the Sage Kamil."

Cubic was silent for a moment: "So, sir is simply kind to Dangross?"

Angel smiled: "Whether or not it’s simple, I don’t know, but at least the motives you were thinking of are absent."

Cubic: "...I still don’t quite understand."

Angel: "Not understanding is fine, you can continue to observe. Haven’t you been observing all along?"

Ever since boarding the ship, Cubic had kept a very low profile, speaking rarely, and merely observing and pondering silently.

This was indeed a characteristic of wisdom.

Given that Cubic might be a spirit intelligence spawned from Kamil’s avatar, this was understandable.

"I understand." Cubic nodded and fell silent again.