Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1046: Section 1047 Night
 

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“Night House Master, why have you come over?” Angel looked at Night, curiously asking.

This morning, when Angel had set up the ‘Illusion’ cabin, Night had not come, but now he had.

“I have come to thank you and apologize,” Night’s voice was low and steady, without a hint of impatience. It was hard to imagine that it possessed the bloodline of a Fire Transmission Demon,

Thank? Apologize? Angel looked at Night with confusion, as these were two completely different concepts.

“The Pulapa that came here for the experience trip before, is actually an employee of my Hunting Museum. It was able to improve so quickly thanks to your help, for which I need to thank you. As for the previous incident, its ignorance led to a fight with the Quicksand Demon at the entrance of the shop, almost affecting the business inside, so I apologize for Pulapa,” Night said casually, but his thank you and apology sounded sincere and not perfunctory at all.

“I didn’t expect Pulapa to be an employee of the Hunting Museum.” Angel waved his hand indifferently: “It’s fine, it was still the first customer of my shop, which also holds great significance for me.”

After a pause, Angel sized up Night: “Aside from this matter, you must have other things as well, right?”

Night nodded, pulling out a burning black bone from his cloak and handing it to Angel.

Angel looked at the still-burning black bone with surprise in his eyes: “Is this… the Immortal Burning Bone?”

“Yes, I was lucky enough to encounter a Dark Gold Nightmare while hunting in the wilderness. So, you won’t need to gather pieces of the Immortal Burning Bone anymore.”

Night spoke as if it was a trivial matter, yet Angel wondered if it was really just “luck.” Could it be that Night had gone hunting specifically for it?

Considering Night had specifically come to apologize for his employee… Angel had originally thought Night to be a fierce Half-Blood Demon, but now, even with his ferocious appearance, it appeared that his heart was not that bad.

What Angel felt inside was one thing, but his outward expression was filled with joy. Whether Night had gone hunting on purpose or merely encountered it by chance didn’t matter—it was Angel who benefited.

An Immortal Burning Bone was worth at least two thousand Demon Gold Coins, and having it meant he had saved a great deal of money.

After receiving the Immortal Burning Bone, Angel kept expressing his gratitude.

“There’s no need for thanks. Since you were introduced by Lord Odeclass, I naturally want to give substantial support,” Night said lightly: “If you encounter any difficulties, you can come to the Hunting Museum to find me.”

“Speaking of difficulties, my biggest trouble right now is how to make money,” Angel sighed: “I’ve been open for a day and only made eight Gold Coins, which were even from your employee. To gather enough money for materials feels insurmountably difficult.”

After lamenting, Angel stared at Night: “I wonder if you could give me some advice on how to earn money more quickly?”

Night didn’t give advice about any “money-making” schemes but instead asked, “I heard from Pulapa that experiencing the Ocean’s Rhythm can greatly enhance affinity with the Water System?”

“Increasing affinity with the Water System is true, but the extent of improvement depends on individual talent and accumulation.”

“Then you don’t need to look for another way, just keep running your shop. Don’t worry, once the effectiveness is confirmed, more people will come here,” Night said with certainty, but Angel was still puzzled.

“It won’t take long, and you’ll understand,” Night left these words behind and then turned to walk out of the cabin, quickly disappearing into the dense forest outside.

Angel looked at the Immortal Burning Bone in his hand and let out a light sigh: “Since Night said so, I’ll continue to run the shop then. With this Immortal Burning Bone, I’ll consider it as having made 2008 Demon Gold Coins today.”

As Angel was muttering to himself, Fafnir, who had been feigning sleep on the high platform behind the cabin, happened to hear the last part. She let out a cold laugh, mocking, “You count this Immortal Burning Bone as earnings, but what have you done for Night in return? In your Wizards’ Realm, don’t you all care about equivalent exchange?”

Fafnir’s words made Angel a bit embarrassed.

It was also strange, after seeing Night, Fafnir’s demeanor was still aloof, but it clearly carried a hint of caution. From her attitude, Night’s strength must not be underestimated.

A Night that made even Fafnir feel wary and guarded, giving support to Angel without expecting anything in return, was it really just because of a word from Odeclass?

Angel remembered that Odeclass had said before that he had never met Night, and his knowledge of Night was because he was an old acquaintance of a friend named “Feng.”

Odeclass had never seen Night, yet he had taken him at his word based on that single sentence, which Angel himself found quite strange.

In this world, apart from relatives, no one gives without reason, and Night giving him the Immortal Burning Bone so simply did not follow the principle of equivalent exchange.

There might be something fishy about this—was it because of “Feng”?

Angel decided that the next time he saw Night, it would be best to clarify this matter. Regarding the Immortal Burning Bone Night had gifted, he would also find a way to reciprocate.

…

Canaan was a Half-Blood Demon.

For a Half-Blood Demon, surviving in Lassudral is very difficult, even though Canaan had been here for nearly ten years, he would still be bullied by other demons.

Like now.

A Serpent Tail Demon wielding a trident had pinned him against the alley wall, his blood pouring out continuously.

“`

“If you dare show your face before me again, next time I will kill you,” the Serpent Tail Demon said with a fierce look, echoing the same old line.

Then, right in front of Canaan, it cruelly chopped off the newly grown dorsal fin, satisfied and left.

Canaan lay on the ground for a while before silently getting up.

The Serpent Tail Demon from before, who possessed the Naga bloodline, had only a dilute bloodline, so it was just a lower demon. It kept harassing Canaan simply because, aside from the indigenous people’s bloodline, the other half of Canaan’s blood came from a pure Ocean Demon.

A strong demon that commanded the oceans and had authority over thousands of sea creatures.

Ocean Demons were born as Intermediate Rank Demons and might even become Greater Demons upon reaching adulthood.

However, no matter how powerful a demon’s bloodline, once mixed, it would be dragged down by the weaker indigenous blood. Just like Canaan, who had never been able to beat even a lower demon.

Saying things like “appearing in front of it, offending its sight” were just excuses to take away its dorsal fin because it was the organ cultivated by its Ocean Demon bloodline, where the bloodline concentration was the highest and thus the most valuable.

“The dorsal fin has been taken again, and it will probably take two months to grow back,” Canaan calculated in his mind, “If I still can’t beat it by then, I guess the dorsal fin will be cut off again.”

But with the dorsal fin removed, its strength would be halved, and during the two-month recovery period, it wouldn’t be able to regain much strength, so it definitely wouldn’t be able to beat the Serpent Tail Demon next time.

It was like a tragic cycle that, once started, always ended with its own defeat.

“Mom, what should I do?” Canaan curled up at the end of the alley, hugging his legs, tears streaming down.

It was unclear how long had passed when Canaan saw a blue, shimmering Milky Way drift across the narrow sky of the alley. A look of envy flashed in his eyes, “Did a Water System demon advance?”

If only I could advance as well.

Canaan dumbly watched the celestial river float across the sky, its flowing light illuminating the dark depths of the desolate alley, as if it were also shining into his dim heart.

As the celestial river vanished, Canaan licked his wounds at the end of the alley, then slowly got up, ready to leave.

That was when he suddenly heard a commotion coming from next door.

“It was me who advanced earlier… really, I’m telling the truth… you can try it if you don’t believe me… it’s very beneficial for Water System affinity…”

Canaan paused for a moment, recognizing the voice of the Demon speaking. More precisely, a Half-Blood Demon.

—Pulapa.

Canaan knew Pulapa, but Pulapa didn’t know Canaan.

Canaan knew Pulapa because he was quite well-known in Lassudral for his weakness. Other Demons looked down on Pulapa, but Canaan felt differently; he was somewhat envious of Pulapa.

Pulapa, like him, lived at the bottom of Lassudral society. But Pulapa had it better than him because he had nothing of value on him. Therefore, the Demons only mocked him and rarely laid a hand on him, it would just be a waste of energy.

Canaan, on the other hand, was different. He was weak too, but because of his Ocean Demon bloodline, whenever fins grew on his body, other demons coveted them.

In such circumstances, although Canaan was much stronger than Pulapa in the past, he still envied Pulapa. At least Pulapa could give his all for his goals, while Canaan would be beaten back to his original form by other Demons as soon as he took a step forward.

“What’s Pulapa talking about? He’s saying, it was him that advanced?” Canaan had previously just recognized Pulapa’s voice, but hadn’t paid attention to what he had said. Now listening intently, he heard an answer that surprised and puzzled him.

The glowing celestial river from before, was it caused by Pulapa’s advancement?

For some reason, upon hearing this news, Canaan felt as if part of his heart had crumbled away like a peeling wall, suddenly hollow. As if losing its pillars, his sky suddenly grew even grayer.

Pulapa had made a big step toward his goal, while Canaan was still marking time, and had even fallen countless steps backward.

“What is my goal, indeed?” Canaan muttered to himself.

Canaan slowly unearthed memories that had been buried for many years.

When he had suffered discrimination, and not hesitated to leave his loving mother behind to come to Lassudral, it seemed he had set a goal for himself.

“To become strong, so strong… that all those who discriminated against me wouldn’t dare provoke me… And also, I want to harshly teach my father, whom I’ve never met, a lesson. He ruined my mother’s life…”

Canaan whispered softly, “So my ultimate goal is to become stronger. But, can I really become stronger now?”

Next door, Pulapa’s voice came through again—

“I don’t know what happened, but my Water System affinity has improved a lot…”

“That shop is in the woods near the southern suburbs… It’s called ‘Fantasy.'”