Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2258: Chapter 2259: Time to Lay My Cards on the Table

Sanders looked at Angel in silence for a long time.

After quite a while, he sighed and said, "Let’s find a place to sit and chat."

In the New City, on the second floor of Butterfly Red Tea House.

In front of the large floor-to-ceiling window, Angel and Sanders sat opposite each other, and the gentle warm sun outside spilled in, instantly making the atmosphere relaxed.

A young waiter wearing a white shirt and black suspenders walked over with an exquisite tea tray.

"Illusion... Illusion Demon, super..." The waiter’s hand was trembling, and his words became stuttered.

"Alright, just put it down," Sanders waved his hand.

The waiter sighed in relief and nodded, then placed down the tea tray, setting out the gold-embellished teacups, milk, tea bags, and sugar on the table.

"There are also some desserts in the shop. Do the gentlemen want any?" Although the waiter managed to speak without stuttering, the sweat on his forehead revealed his inner tension.

"There are desserts?" Angel picked up the dessert menu and skimmed through it—there were indeed quite a few.

"How did you get the raw materials for these things?" Angel remembered that when he left before, he brought a lot of supplies for the New City, but there was no food among them.

The waiter bowed respectfully, "The raw materials for the desserts come from the bread tree. The milk and saccharin are made by a trick called Milking Technique. I don’t know the specifics."

Milking Technique? Angel recalled, it seemed to be one of the basic tricks of the gourmet branch, akin to Magic Bread. Gourmet Sorcerers could release the Milking Technique and just stir a finger in water to turn it into rich milk.

There was no gourmet sorcerer in the Barbarian Cave, and as for cross-branch practice... Angel could smell the rich fragrance of milk in the air; sorcerers practicing cross-branch gourmet tricks might not be able to produce such fragrant milk.

"Did Greya make it?" Angel didn’t ask the waiter but turned to Sanders, because Sanders had brought him to this shop.

Sanders nodded, "Yes, this shop was opened by Greya."

Sanders went on to explain that initially, Lianna invited Greya to open a gourmet shop to prepare for the future tea party. Greya was unwilling at first, but later she agreed upon learning that Ironclad Granny liked black tea. So, she opened the Butterfly Red Tea House here and hired some apprentices as staff.

"Greya and Ironclad Granny?"

Sanders: "Greya’s mentor is somewhat related to Ironclad Granny."

Angel understood and did not continue to inquire, as there was no need, nor was it appropriate... Angel turned to the waiter, whose ears were perked high: "There’s nothing more for you here, you can go down."

"What about the desserts?"

Angel shook his head, "No need."

The waiter retreated with a look of regret on his face, thinking there might be a chance to overhear some secrets from the big shots...

"You really don’t want desserts? I heard from Lianna earlier that the milk honey cake here is quite good?" Sanders’ tone lifted, and a mischievous look flashed in his dark eyes.

"I long stopped liking those kinds of desserts," Angel protested unhappily.

Sanders: "Then what are you drinking now?"

"Milk." Angel raised his head, a white milk foam still at the corner of his mouth, seemingly not realizing it.

"Milk is supposed to be added to black tea." Sanders raised an eyebrow.

Angel’s eyes flickered for a moment: "I don’t like adding milk to black tea. Since it would just be wasted sitting here, I drank it directly."

Sanders gave Angel a deep look: "Alright, I’ll accept that reason."

Sanders didn’t push Angel too hard; he understood him too well, knowing Angel didn’t care much about other things but was particularly thin-skinned about whether he drank milk.

"Let’s just chat a bit." Sanders took out a spoon, stirring the tea: "Earlier, Lord Reine mentioned the painting exhibition, what is that?"

Sanders hadn’t entered the Wilderness of Dreams for a few days, and it was the first time he heard about the painting exhibition. With mere paintings, it was fine to hear about them, but Lord Reine specifically mentioned Dororo’s prophecy, stirring Sanders’ curiosity.

Angel briefly explained about the painting exhibition.

Sanders: "All works by Magic Painter Wizard?"

Angel: "Yes, just a batch of paintings I stumbled upon. I’m not skilled enough in art appraisal to discern any secrets within them. Hence, I showcased them, hoping to garner opinions from other sorcerers."

After listening, Sanders pondered for a moment: "Do the two elemental creatures you conjured up recently have anything to do with the Magic Painter Wizard?"

When Angel went through the Abyss ordeal, though he didn’t detail Feng’s matter, he did mention Feng had set up a scheme in the Abyss, and Angel was to respond to and unravel that scheme.

Sanders had a nagging feeling that this time, Angel might cause another significant matter upon going out alone.

Big issues in the Abyss were related to Feng. Now that Feng surfaced again, a hint of uneasiness crept into Sanders.

If it were another event like in the Abyss, he was somewhat worried whether, as a mentor, he could continue supporting Angel.

Facing Sanders’ inquiry, Angel hesitated for a moment but nodded: "A little bit related. The reason I encountered these elemental creatures was due to receiving some information left by Feng."

"What information? Can you talk about it?"

Angel thought about it and nodded: "I can."

When Angel nodded, although Sanders maintained a calm expression, a ripple began forming in his heart. He had a premonition that what Angel was going to say next would surely unsettle him.

However, ultimately, Sanders didn’t hear Angel speak; instead, Angel directly used an illusion.

Through manipulating celestial alternation and harnessing the Mirage ability, Angel constructed an object on the table.

A rolled-up, frayed edge skin scroll.

Sanders reached out, gently flicking open the scroll’s clasp, and the soft skin scroll unrolled fluidly under inertia.

"The kinetic simulation of the object is well done," Sanders praised, then began examining the content on the skin scroll.

Upon careful examination, Sanders noticed that the scroll seemed to depict a map.

The map’s outline resembled both a blooming flower and a white dove spreading its wings.

"Why does this pattern look somewhat familiar?" Sanders felt as though he’d seen this shape somewhere before.

Sanders pondered for a moment. His mind’s memory caskets opened one by one, and every image of his past flashed quickly like a revolving lantern.

Soon, Sanders captured an image.

He was only thirty years old at the time, and he was preparing to explore the ruins on an island in the Devil’s Sea with a group of companions. Before entering the Demon Sea Area, he first went to the Barbarian Cave base in White Shell Sea Market to rest.

At the corner of a staircase in the White Shell Sea Market base, he had seen a nautical map.

The nautical map started from the southeastern coast of Flourish Continent and extended southward, with names of continents, islands, and seas marked. Places like Feran Continent, Revelation Continent, the Devil’s Sea, Spirit Island—all were marked on the map.

Because of the impending exploration in the Demon Sea Area, Sanders had memorized this nautical map.

On that map, there was a continent’s outline, akin to a blooming flower, like a white dove spreading its wings.

And that continent was Edge Island, also known as... Old Earth Continent.

Because Sanders never thought about going to Old Earth Continent, he didn’t care what it looked like, but now recalling it, he discovered an obvious discrepancy.

The Old Earth Continent is generally an irregular oval continent, surrounded by star-point-like islands. It definitely doesn’t resemble a blooming flower.

Where exactly is the problem?

Sanders did not continue to reminisce about the past, but instead looked at the map in his hand. Those doubts will always have answers; let’s see if there’s any residual information on this map.

Upon closer inspection, Sanders discovered that the map’s artist was not very skilled. The map’s scale was essentially chaos, and the terrain markings were haphazard to the extreme.

The map had many divisions, each seemingly representing different tribes or nations.

However, what puzzled Sanders was that each division had a very simple sketch—monkeys, snakes, winged men, and so on.

"Different ecosystems in each area?" Sanders was unsure for the moment.

After looking at the map for a few more minutes, Sanders gained no further insights. The information on the map was truly scarce. Apart from a general description of the terrain and images of different creatures in each division, there was nothing else.

Sanders looked up and asked Angel: "What place does this map represent? Is there anything special about it?"

Angel replied: "At first glance, this map seems ordinary. But once you use the Eye of Nalda to observe it, you will receive feedback information hidden within the map."

"The Eye of Nalda, do you mean the Alchemy Eye? Is this a map meant for you alchemists?" Sanders asked.

"Perhaps it’s not for alchemists, but... for me," Angel sighed deeply and, seeing Sanders’ puzzled expression, waved his hand again.

Beside the map, lines of text slowly emerged.

"These texts are the information the Eye of Nalda has given me," Angel explained.

Sanders glanced down; the overall text information hadn’t been summarized yet, but he had already seen a name that struck him eye-catchingly.

—Illustrated by: Mirael von.

This map was left by von, and the hidden information can only be seen through the Alchemy Eye. He seemed to understand why Angel would say that the information on the map might be intended for him.

Did von set up another game? And the one to play it, is it Angel?

Sanders collected his thoughts and continued to read the remaining information.

Name: "Tide World Map (Abridged)."

Illustrator: Mirael von

Information: A broad distribution of representative creatures in the Tidal World.

Note: "Oh my, I’m not skilled at drawing maps, just make do with it."

The map’s information wasn’t extensive, but after reading it, Sanders was dumbfounded. He had previously thought that this map represented some hidden continent, but now he realized the map referred not to a continent, but to the —Tidal World.

To be named as a "World," this was a hidden world, one that had never been discovered!

Sanders’ heart suddenly raced.

He understood too well what an undiscovered world could mean!

Moreover, remembering the mystery of the Old Earth Continent’s elemental disappearance and Angel bringing two elemental creatures into the Wilderness of Dreams this time, he already had a bold hypothesis... no, it was a real speculation.

Sanders restrained his wandering thoughts and calmly asked Angel two questions.

"The Tidal World is a world?"

"Yes."

"The Tidal World... is it an affiliated world of the Wizards’ Realm?"

"Yes."

Sanders had actually already suspected this because if the Tidal World were an independent world, Angel could not possibly traverse the void to enter the Wilderness of Dreams.

Then there was only one possibility, the Tidal World is an affiliated world of the Wizards’ Realm, allowing Angel to enter the Wilderness of Dreams from the Tidal World!

Though he had already guessed this, Angel’s confirmation still shocked Sanders.

The value of an undiscovered world is already terrifying.

An undiscovered world that is also an affiliated world of the Wizards’ Realm would be worth ten times or a hundred times more!

Of course, measuring it purely by value is improper.

But the value Sanders talked about wasn’t just money; it involved many other subsidiary interests.

If this world also produces unique benefits, then it wouldn’t just be about inherent value anymore; it would represent a power’s discourse rights.

And Sanders had already vaguely guessed that this world might indeed have unique benefits...

After being silent for a moment, he spoke with difficulty, "Is the Tidal World related to the mystery of the Old Earth Continent’s elemental disappearance?"

Angel: "Yes."

Sanders closed his eyes and took a deep breath: "Are there elemental creatures in the Tidal World?"

Angel: "Yes."

Sanders didn’t continue to ask how many elemental creatures existed in the Tidal World. Many answers were already emerging.

That rain civet had once said it was born in the rain.

Previously, Sanders was puzzled about what kind of rain could birth an elemental creature. Looking back now, if a world was filled with unparalleled elemental power, the rain it produces could indeed give birth to water system creatures.

And would a world with such rich elemental power have few elemental creatures?

The answer was already obvious, so Sanders didn’t ask further.

Besides, Sanders didn’t want to question further either; he just wanted peace of mind for now.

He had already guessed that Angel might be up to something big, but this time the enormity of it was somewhat overwhelming for him.

Once the Tidal World was confirmed, it was absolutely beyond his ability alone to handle. Solving the subsequent aftermath would require the full strength of the Barbarian Cave to manage.

Sanders took a deep breath: "Tell me, are you safe now? Is there anything in the Tidal World that could threaten you?"

Thinking Sanders was worried about his well-being, Angel felt a warmth in his heart: "Very safe, at present nothing poses a threat to me. Besides, with Earl Mi by my side, even if danger appears, it won’t be a problem."

"That’s good," Sanders replied without changing expression, "Let’s move on to the next topic, about Sumishe."

"Huh?" Angel asked in confusion, "Aren’t we going to continue discussing the Tidal World?"

Since Angel had manifested the Tidal World map, he naturally intended to reveal everything and even wanted Sanders to help him plan.

Sanders calmly replied, "No need, as long as I know you’re safe. The rest will wait until I go back and make a plan."

Understanding suddenly dawned on Angel; Sanders wasn’t uninterested; he was preparing for other contingencies.

"Alright then."

Sanders knew Angel too well, seeing the change in his expression was enough to guess his thoughts. But Angel misunderstood this time; Sanders wasn’t planning anything. The revelation Angel dropped on him was so explosive, he just needed time to digest it.

Best not to think about the Tidal World for now.

Also, he couldn’t lose composure in front of Angel.

So, let’s talk about other topics. Although, honestly, he wasn’t in the right mindset. Compared to the bombshell Angel dropped, the issues about Sumishe felt trivial...