Warlock Apprentice

“The soul of a Nightmare Form is naturally purer than common people,” Sunders said.

“Yeah… you used to be a Nightmare Form too, eh? But why am I getting the feeling that the boy is even purer than you?” Ness still looked doubtful.

“Because Angor’s Nightmare Form is of a higher level than mine,” Sunders thought in his mind. Many wizards knew about his Nightmare Form, but few of them actually knew what a Nightmare Form could do.

“Such a pure soul… he should have no problem studying soul spells,” Ness commented.

Sunders paid him no mind, but the words drew Angor’s attention.

The boy was not interested in learning soul spells for now. He only needed to know how to thoroughly kill a Soul Manipulator. Hookdick already sent assassins to come after him, and Angor was determined to get revenge.

They proceeded with the second step of the experiment: Separating Soul From Body.

The strange force was like a delicious candy that lured a child.

Angor thought he could easily ignore the urge to follow it, but his mind worked too slowly. By the time he came to, he already floated to an entrance that looked like a vortex.

He could see the outside world through it. Sunders was right there, but the gentleman never looked his way.

He saw Ness too. Unlike Sunders, Ness bent a finger at him and beckoned.

Angor was already attracted by the unknown force. Now that Ness asked him to come out, he stepped through the entrance without a second thought.

…

“Good boy. And finally! His soul space is pretty large. The Soul Attractor has been burning for an hour.”

Ness snuffed out the flame on the grass and the strange force that attracted Angor’s soul vanished.

“So, it was successful. Now we need to test his soul,” Sunders spoke.

Angor could not feel the nutrient liquid around his body when existing as a soul, so he believed he was an ethereal being who could go through solid objects.

He was quickly proven wrong. When Angor went for the outside of the glass chamber, he bumped his head on the glass. Hard.

Sunders looked at the silly move of his student and held back the urge to facepalm.

Ness laughed out. When Angor’s expression went darker, the old man slowly explained, “My equipment are all made from special materials. Souls cannot go through them.”

Looking at how Ness was still laughing, and his professor’s embarrassed look, Angor found an exit at the top of the chamber and floated out, blushing.

He tried to stand on the floor, but he failed to sense anything solid. It was strange when looking at his body submerged in the chamber. Angor still felt a connection between his body and soul, but he could not tell why.

Ness spoke to Sunders. “The kid is still trying to hide his ‘privacy’. Look, he even made some ethereal clothes around his soul.”

Like what Ness said, Angor’s soul was not naked. He was wearing some basic cover-up.

Sunders sneered, “Unlike you, people know about shame.”

“Ptui. Why would I need to know shame? That’s mortal stuff that constraints a human’s nature. Wizards should all let it loose!” Ness retorted.

“That’s your one-sided and extreme standard, and the reason why you failed to break through,” said Sunders. He had grown tired of explaining moral issues to Ness. “Let’s begin. We’ll note down his condition first.”

Sunders turned to Angor. “Do you feel the gray fog in you?”

Angor tried, and he did sense the strange ripple coming from the depth of his soul. “Yes, sir.”

“Can you control it then? Release it,” Ness said.

Angor tried again. “I… don’t think I can.”

After how he released the fog to an extreme extent last time, the fog seemed to be in dormant. Now, it looked like a stagnant puddle that refused to move around no matter how hard he tried.

“I see. Then, we need more tests. We shall find where it exists, and do something specific to trigger it,” said Ness. He pointed at the experiment bench where he processed the female corpse. “Get on the bench.”