<h4>Chapter 936: Tests</h4>
Vonman woke up before his sister.
“What... Am I dead? Was that a dream? Or...”
He saw Guina still unconscious in his arms with a painful look, and he wanted to wake her. But Angor’s voice came and stopped him.
“She has yet to finish her test. If you interrupt her now, she’ll fail it.”
“Test?” Vonman gazed at Angor, who was sitting not far. “That monster, our boat got destroyed, we fell! We died! Those were only tests? You serious?!”
Angor simply gave Vonman a cold look.
Vonman quickly lowered his head and apologized in a small voice. He forgot who he was dealing with.
“I told you before that you’ll be expecting a test, didn’t I? And you’re totally unprepared?”
Vonman didn’t respond. He had nothing to oppose Angor anyway.
...
Gond almost reached the boundary of Parmigi Hignds. Angor now clearly felt the agitated energy flowing in the air.
“Mister Padt? Shall we wait here?” asked Tulu.
Angor nced at the cabin and saw Guina still not moving.
“Let’s remain here for a while.”
Gond hovered still for an entire day.
As Vonman wondered whether he should feed Guina some water, Guina finally opened her eyes. And unlike Vonman, she remained calm.
“*Slurp* So this is the ‘test’ you gave us, Mister Padt?”
“Impressive.” Angor nodded. “When did you notice?”
“Soon after I found out that... I wasn’t myself.”
Angor created an illusionary world where Vonman and Guina were the only two survivors after a demon strike, and they had to help each other to live on.
He meant to find out if these two kids could make it to the end of the test. There were monsters in the illusion that could harm them and cause pain. But as long as they stayed determined, they wouldn’t die for real in the illusion.
Vonman protected Guina just fine, but he was still killed by a monster and was ejected from the test. In other words, he thought he couldn’t make it.
What Angor used was a very basic Mind Maniptor cantrip that could not injure the targets for real. When Vonman “woke up”, he felt nothing more than brief nkness and a mild headache.
Vonman did die halfway, but Angor would consider him worthy. At least Vonman was a loyal brother who shielded Guina till thest second.
As for Guina... Angor found it hard to evaluate her. The girl knew it was an illusion from the beginning, which meant her reactions in the test were useless in telling her score.
She was talented, this much was for sure. Should she know how to wield wizardry, she could have breached Angor’s illusion and ended the test earlier.
Also, it was obvious that by saying “I wasn’t myself”, Guina easily discovered the major w of Angor’s cantrip.
“It’s done. Start up the boat,” Angor ordered Tulu without openly telling them the result of the test.
Once they were inside the boundary of Parmigi Hignds, the abnormal atmosphere grew so intense that even the recruits sensed something was wrong.
Herds of beasts were migrating to safer zones. It was likely that the world’s consciousness already sent a warning to nature.
Compared to the animals, there were lots of people flying deeper into the hignds looking for an opportunity to loot.
As Nelson mentioned, there were asionally space ruptures emerging out of thin air, which released chaotic energy that would kill unwary passersby. Thankfully, it was easy to evade them.
“*Slurp* Is this the world of wizards? Everything is so strange and... deadly,” Guina said in Vonman’s arms.
Tulu was thinking about the same thing. He rarely left his ship to go ind. And he wasn’t expecting that their journey was full of traps just like Devil’s Water.
“Yes, this is where you’ll spend most of your life from now on,” exined Angor. “A world full of bloodshed and menace, or fake peace that hides even more threats underneath.”
...
The message of Angor being sighted at Parmigi Hignds traveled faster than Gond.
Angor ran into lots of supernatural travelers on their way, most of whom tried to offer an alliance. He earned many “friends”. Though how many of them were honest remained a question.
Nobody did anything too harsh since this ce was the front door of Brute Cavern. If a treasured apprentice were attacked here, the whole organization woulde in the next second.
It took Gond two days to reach the giantnd fissure that was the entrance of Brute Cavern. There, Angor saw someone in white floating above the chasm who looked rather creepy in the white environment.
Angornded Gond on the cliff and went to the old wizard with white hair. “Mister Wace! Is something the matter?”
It was Wace, one of the few “academism” wizards in Brute Cavern. Angor didn’t know this man much because he never had many chances to talk to him. Moreover, Sunders sometimes intentionally prevented Angor from meeting Wace for personal reasons.
Wace checked Angor from head to toe using a pair of gleaming eyes. “My word. You’re at the peak of level-3?”
Angor nodded politely.
“You’re the best apprentice Brute Cavern epted in thest century.” Wace shook his head. “Such a shame. Consider ditching Sunders and joining me, will you?”
Angor let out a silly chuckle.
“No? Fair enough. Find me if Sunders dies out there. Surely you can do that?”
“Um, Mister Wace? Is my professor in danger?”
A woman with red hair appeared nearby and spoke to them, “Don’t take him seriously, Angor. Each time Mister Phantom is on a job away from the organization, this old man will just curse him day and night.”
“Fiery Charm, Ma’am.” Angor bowed.
“Don’t give me that. Someday, I’ll have to ask for your help. Just don’t be stingy, okay?” The woman looked at Angor’s boat. “Huh? Only three? Well, that’s Sunders’ student for you.”
Angor blushed. “It’s-it’s actually seven. But four of them already got registered in the office.”
“Seven, eh? How many did Sunders bringst time? Nine?” Fiery Charm spat.
“You should take the job and see if you can do better,” said Wace.
“Nah. I’m just here to see if any new recruit fits me. I see none.”
Fiery Charm dived into the darkness below.
“Sigh...” Wace shook his head again. “I’m here to give them a more detailed talent test. Guess you know this will happen, right? Let’s get to it.”