When watching Angor and Nelson’s intense discussion, the three recruits feared that it would soon turn into violence. But they changed their minds when Angor slowly took the upper hand, whereas Nelson grew quieter and quieter until he obediently listened to Angor’s lectures with a content smile.
The recruits, especially Guina, who had developed a premature personality in the slums, were getting extremely curious about Angor’s true identity. Guina once heard about the differences and gaps between wizards and apprentices. Now she couldn’t understand why this Nelson man was acting so humbly in front of Angor.
That Gabriel too. Is Mister Padt not a common apprentice, but someone really influential in the wizarding world? she wondered.
Guina peeked through the cabin curtain and suddenly found Angor’s dazzling form to be a lot more tempting.
…
As their discussion proceeded further, Angor slowly forgot about using polite words and went all-out by yelling his opinions into Nelson’s face. And Nelson as a dedicated alchemist wasn’t bothered by it at all.
Nelson had been training in Floating Mech City for decades. Nelson easily noticed that, even though Angor was fundamentally inexperienced, he knew lots of extensive expertise and insights normal alchemists didn’t have access to, and Nelson would pay anything to learn them.
Their wrangling kept on for a full day and probably would continue if something did not come up and stop them.
As Angor passionately introduced a propeller technique he saw from Earth civilization, a series of heavy bumping noises drew their attention.
There were two more highland goliaths showing up from the horizon. They were causing the ground to tremble each time they took a step.
“Those things again?” Angor frowned while looking that way. “What’s gotten into these lazy bums?”
Nelson suddenly slapped his own head. “Sh*t. What time is it?”
“You have an appointment?”
“A BIG one!! I gotta go, NOW!” Nelson jumped to the edge of Gondola. “Wait, maybe you should come with me so that we have more time to cogitate!”
“No, thanks. I really need to head back to Brute Cavern.”
“Tsk. Fine. I’ll visit you again once I’m done with my business!”
Nelson hurried back to his transport puppet. That anxious look on him was real.
“A moment, Nelson.” Angor wanted to ask the question when he had the chance. “What’s going on at Parmigi Highlands? I saw these giants and winged folks moving away, which should not happen.”
Nelson looked at Angor up and down. “Well, you’ve been away for quite a while, haven’t you?”
…
Angor was glad that the first person he ran into at Fey Continent was more of an “academism” alchemist rather than someone who loved using force.
Nelson was a typical scholar, telling from how he almost forgot an important task while doing academic interviews.
The encounter was fruitful. At the very least, Angor learned of the “anomaly” troubling Parmigi Highlands. Besides, Nelson offered some interesting alchemy theories as well.
Apparently, there was a foreign plane about to crash into the wizarding world and fuse into it. In other words, a plane fusion was incoming. The connection point happened to be somewhere at Parmigi Highlands, as predicted by wizards.
According to Nelson, professionals had determined that the fusion would happen sooner or later. It was probably a big one because the space around Parmigi Highlands was already getting unstable when the foreign plane had not shown itself yet.
Also, the affected area was several times bigger than the one that covered the plane fusion at Devil’s Water.
A plane fusion was a double-edged sword as it might bring lots of valuable resources while greatly draining energy from the “mother plane”.
Now, every clue suggested that the coming plane was a very large one, which meant even more resources and greater risk.
“This is a problematic thing to happen at such a time. If the world’s consciousness spent too much energy mending the damage caused by the plane fusion, the demon army from Abyss Plane will have an easier time invading the south,” said Nelson.
The demon invasion was a great threat in the long run. Apart from this, wizards were also faced with another imminent issue.
Wizards divided the process of plane fusion into three phases according to how much profit they could seize from them. During the third phase, the “Time of Plunder”, wizards were able to travel through a stable tunnel established during the fusion and take valuables from the other smaller plane that joined the wizarding world.
But there was a problem. If the coming plane was as large as the wizarding world itself, then nobody could know which one would become the victim.
The wizarding world was one of the biggest known planes, so “losing” a plane fusion was unlikely. Even so, the fusion could still start a large-scale disaster at Parmigi Highlands. This was why nearby inhabitants were evacuating.
“The early signs are showing up. You’ll see space ruptures around here, so be careful on your way back,” Nelson reminded Angor before leaving.
Angor looked ahead. They would soon arrive at Parmigi Highlands. There were small dots moving about in the sky, probably more people and other creatures leaving.
“A double-edged sword, a chance to seek resources…” Angor sighed. “Is it really a good time to return?”
Random wizards could do whatever they wanted in the other plane and leave with their trophies. But Brute Cavern couldn’t move itself away. The organization would definitely suffer some loss in the incident unless the leaders decided to move the HQ to another place.
And there was the dark dome towering above the Evernight Kingdom, which wouldn’t end any time soon…
Above all these, Angor had one more major concern. The last plane fusion at Devil’s Water caused his Alien Eye to go haywire. What if the same thing happened again?
“I can’t stay here for too long…”
“Do we keep going, Mister Padt?” asked Tulu. He understood none of Nelson’s words, but he did notice that they weren’t expecting peace.
“Let’s go for now.” Angor nodded to Tulu and looked at the cabin on the back of the boat. “Vonman, is Guina alright?”
“I’ve stopped the bleeding, sir. She should be fine now.”
“Good to know. We shall—”
Crash!
Inside the cabin, Vonman suddenly felt Gondola swaying badly. Then he heard Tulu’s panicked voice.
“Ye gods! Whatever is that?!”
Vonman moved the curtain away to look outside, only to see a gigantic horned demon covered in flames about to smash Gondola using its sharp claw.
Before they had time to yell, they felt their footing gone as gravity took over.
Then everything went black.
…
Angor casually leaned against the railing and spoke to Tulu, “Slow down a bit. We’ll head into the highland area after Vonman wakes up.”
Tulu nodded and cast a curious glance at the cabin, inside which Vonman and Guina had just collapsed.
Tulu didn’t have much idea about wizardry yet, but he more or less knew that it was Angor who knocked out the kids. He thought it proper to ignore this matter until Vonman and Guina began sweating all over. Vonman was even muttering words as if he were pleading.
“Uh, Mister Padt? What are they—”
“A small test before they join the organization for real.” Angor gave Tulu a side-glance. “What, you want to try another test too?”
“No, no, no… please.” Tulu absolutely didn’t want to go through “Sunny’s Hunt” again.
It was a joke—Angor wasn’t planning on giving Tulu another test as this was no longer necessary. For one, Tulu was already a level-1 apprentice. And besides, the special test he gave Vonman and Guina was intended for them only.
