Warlock Apprentice

The woman on the other end of the stage stood there with her eyes closed, seemingly having nothing ready at all. Yet when Angor closed his eyes to listen carefully, he could hear the sound of flowing water coming from the woman’s position.

Dripping River.

She was the first female opponent Angor met in the tower, and also the strangest opponent.

The arena screen had not announced the start of the fight yet, and the magic-inhibiting array was still working, but the woman already showed strange energy.

Water. Angor felt as if he was facing a puddle of water rather than a human being.

[Baron Milk VS Dripping River]. The countdown reached zero.

The woman looked plain enough. She had short curly blue hair and heavy panda eyes which remained closed before the start of the match. Now, she finally opened her eyes and revealed a pair of black pupils behind her eyelids.

Angor was sure she did not get tired because of the fight. But considering those panda eyes… maybe she really needed some sleep?

Dripping River answered Angor’s question this time, by… suddenly began to snore while standing upright.

“Woah. For how long was she awake?” Angor tried casting a Bind spell at Dripping River.

And she was easily caught in it.

She was asleep for real!

At the same time, something showed up on the arena screen: [Winner: Baron Milk].

Angor walked off the stage while still carrying his questions and a weird feeling. The medical team of sky tower came and placed Dripping River on a stretcher. Then they carried her away while walking past Angor’s path.

He clearly heard one of the medics muttering, “The girl fell asleep on the stage again…”

Again? So this isn’t the first time for Dripping River to doze off like that?

The participant waiting area at Level 3 was quite populated. Instead of malevolent attention, many people looked at him in jealousy this time.

“Man… Dripping River. He got a jackpot,” Someone commented in a small voice.

Angor took a corner to rest, still puzzled. He did not meditate this time. He was still thinking about the previous fight.

He did not really care about why Dripping River suddenly fell asleep. The important thing was, how did the water belt become oil? They were both liquids, true, but it was impossible to change something into a completely different material just like that.

He could not find any answer in his mind.

Angor had four matches in the morning. Apart from the fight against Dripping River, the other three proved to be easy enough.

In the afternoon, he planned to get four more wins. However, after seizing the second victory, he saw Nausica in the waiting room.

Angor hesitated a bit and decided to quit. When Nausica’s battle began, he joined the audiences.

Her opponent was an ordinary Elementalist apprentice who did not appear to know any special spells or abilities. Angor was confident he could defeat someone like that easily just by using his Trigger Crossbow.

Nausica, however, did not proceed with the fight as easily as he expected. Nausica was a Bloodline apprentice now, who had not fused a bloodline into herself yet, and she only knew a common spell combination. Her only advantage was her superior close combat skills.

Her enemy used his defensive spells and managed to repel Nausica’s attacks just fine.

Angor wondered. Why doesn’t she use Solefly?

If she used Solefly in her melee fight, she would have won already. But she did not. She was not even using the dueling sword on her waist.

Nausica still defeated her enemy in the end, but it looked tough. And she only fought this one battle before leaving the Sky Tower quickly.

After watching Nausica’s battle, Angor gained another victory and returned home when the outside was already bathed in the dusk light.

…

Upon reaching his villa, he quickly found his tablet and looked for books about Element Imitation.

Reading several books only deepened his doubt. The theory in the books was just as he thought, that imitation could never change the natural property of an element.

So how did Dripping River do that?

Besides, her water shield was too sturdy. It looked like metal rather than water. Maybe she actually used a metal shield?

But he saw her changing the water belt into a shield with his own eyes!

A knock on the door interrupted his train of thought.

“Mister Padt.”

Butler Goode’s voice came from his garden entrance.

Angor shut off his tablet with a start. He then quickly hid it inside his pocket watch and calmed his breath before finally going outside to open the door.

“Mister Padt. The master is expecting you.”