Warlock Apprentice

Nausica was looking more and more grave.

Someone came to the garden with wizard-level treasures, which meant the dubious business in the garden this time was even more unpredictable than people expected. Nausica was sure she couldn’t survive using raw strength. She needed to think both carefully and fast.

Of course, someone strong enough to beat down everything he or she came across did not have to worry about these. But Nausica was not such a case.

The winged lady moved in the air for a moment while fully releasing her aura for everyone to see, making it difficult for the weaker beings to breathe.

“That’s... Maine from Shangri-La!” Someone revealed her name with a trembling voice.

Maine had slowly landed among people, which immediately scared a good number of people away. No one dared to try their luck in front of those wizard-level wings.

The woman didn’t say anything. She folded her wings behind her back and glanced at Jebra who was standing on the other end of the area.

Jebra also looked her way. The two of them stared at each other across the distance.

“I will kill you inside the garden,” Maine declared violently, which completely did not fit with her charming look.

“I’ll wait for you.” Jebra smiled while caressing his now smaller whale.

Maine scoffed and jumped onto a nearby tree.

There were fewer new apprentices entering the gate now. Most newcomers simply flew over the metal wall and made all kinds of grand entrances either by exerting powerful elements or great might.

People were shocked again when another ten apprentices wearing the same type of silver uniforms showed up.

Unlike the others, these people directly appeared from several hidden doors along the metal wall. Also, “Neo Beast” Lawson was behind one of the doors.

“Why is Neo Beast here?”

“Hey, those are the strongest talents from the city!”

“Look, Dira is there!”

“But what for?”

The Floating Mech City selected ten of their most trusted apprentices to enter the garden. Also, the city was fully confident that these ten would remain in the end and enjoy the purification law.

They were looking at the other apprentices without showing particular emotions. To them, the outsiders were their stepping stones toward their destinies.

But there were still people even these city elites would not disregard, such as Jebra and Maine.

When they left the wall and entered the gathering area, they all picked a corner and closed their eyes, oblivious of what was going on around them.

Yet more people were coming.

A forest rogue with a giant bow on his back, a pretty woman who created flowers and butterflies with each step, a short, hunched weirdo covered in swamp dirt and moss, and someone who was holding a cuckoo clock in his hand...

They further silenced the already tensed atmosphere.

No one was talking because they didn’t have the courage to. Each of the latecomers displayed unimaginable prowess without having to intentionally show it.

Some of them even attracted the awareness of the most elite participants as well as the wizard guards.

The great number of apprentices finally caused their personal space to become smaller. Of course, it was mainly the weaker apprentices who had to accept the bitter outcome. Since they could neither speak or fight for a better spot to stand on, they slowly moved toward the left side of the area while leaving the entire right side to the elites.

A small river stream acted as the border.

Many people already began to wonder why so many powerful apprentices had shown up. Usually, these people didn’t show their faces to others because they were always busy with training or something else.

But today, almost every well-known apprentice in this world came here. There were level-3 apprentices too. As commonly believed, the purification garden had little to no effect on level-3 apprentices. Did they come for another reason?

People’s concerns grew bigger and bigger until someone tried to call it quits and was stopped by the city guards.

Of course, they were furious when someone prevented them from leaving. However, their protest meant nothing when going against the law enforcers of the city, who simply picked out several noticeable protesters and chopped off their limbs as a warning to the others.

“If you want to leave, prepare to do so as a lifeless corpse!”

“What the hell? This is not a voluntary event? Why are you forcing us?”

“But Floating Mech City is a neutral organization! Or are you planning to provoke the other organizations?”

No matter what they said, the guards and enforcers didn’t care. When anyone attempted something stupid, a wizard would quickly use his or her might to restrict the offender.

People gradually stepped back. There were still several torso-only victims bleeding out on the floor.

Almost immediately, fear had taken over their minds. Is the city plotting something terrible?

Someone spread a message among the apprentices like dropping a bomb, either for fun or for some other evil intentions.

“Blood sacrifice! They are using us as live fertilizer for the garden!”

More and more people began to yell and infect others with their horror.

At first, most people didn’t trust such a ridiculous claim. After a while, they felt their hearts skipping several beats when the wizard guards did not deny the message.

It’s real?!

They didn’t know why this was happening, but they knew that the word “blood sacrifice” meant people were going to lose their lives.

Their emotions grew worse, yet they could only endure without actually yelling or screaming aloud. The guards had hanged the dead protesters on the metal walls to further “convince” people not to do anything stupid.

The entire area had gone silent again, although for a different reason this time.

Those on the left side looked at the other part of the area with great hope—as long as the stronger apprentices from influential places could step up and fight, they still had a chance.

But what they saw quickly snuffed out their last bit of hope.

To the right of the river border, the elite apprentices were simply minding their own business without caring about anything beyond their personal territories; several of them even gave the “weak” ones cold glares while snickering.

Even the slowest minds could understand the situation now.

The elites knew about this all along.

Being on the left side didn’t mean being miserable. There were still relatively strong apprentices among them, who were all calm as usual and were waiting to enter the garden, including Nausica.

“No worries... The elites are here, which meant there are great rewards in it. We just don’t know yet!”

People began to spread a new emotion either to comfort themselves or to gain a fake hope.

Once again, everyone waited quietly with only the occasional whispers and the falling snowflakes that could be heard.

More apprentices were still coming. Soon, the elite apprentices on the right side all had to compromise and move closer to each other.

Nausica checked and realized that she might need to add another digit to the number of total participants. This area should be large enough to hold 100,000 individuals.

“Whatever’s happening will come up soon,” Shan said as she put on a serious look. “But why aren’t the Supreme Cult fanatics coming?”

As if to answer her question, a group of men in black robes emerged from the entrance as one.

“Talking about the devil...”

The arrival of the cultists only added to the strange ambiance in the area. Saladin’s first move after showing up was to stare at Gank. He then revealed a bloodthirsty expression.

Still, he didn’t do anything since there were still guards and watchmen around. After giving Shan a violent gaze, he looked at Shiliew next.

“What’s the matter, Saladin?” an emotionless tone spoke from behind him.

“It’s nothing,” Saladin lowered his head.

The strange voice snickered, “A brute from another world... How disgusting. Remember to erase it when you see it in the garden.”

Saladin scoffed in his mind. Even though he had already planned to do so, he still wouldn’t want to listen to orders.

Even so, he couldn’t openly oppose the speaker for now.

After the cultists, people heard something running loudly outside the gate.

“Faster, Alby! Hey, Brother Hermes! You too!”

A kid around the age of ten arrived at the gate while riding on a white rhino, while another young man followed behind him. This young man who was just called “Brother Hermes” was politely following behind yet another participant—a lady with deep-bronze colored skin.

“Rest assured, Tana. I’ve left a spirit mark on Alan, and I’ll go to him immediately after I get in there. We’ll be fine,” Hermes said while admiring his childhood friend, Tana, who had taken on a completely different look after reaching maturity. Tana’s shiny, bronze muscles suggested her extremely well-developed physique, while her strong body did nothing to hide those bulging buttocks which even caused Hermes to develop some funny ideas.

“Maybe I should put a mark on you as well? So that I can get you after finding Alan. A gentleman should always protect a lady—”

The kid sitting on the white rhino interrupted Hermes. “Oh quit it, bro. Have you not had enough of Miss Tana’s punches? I’ll do a better job of protecting people. Right, Miss Tana?”

“Little Loki’s quite right,” Tana giggled. “But enough jokes today. Make sure you keep Alan well. He just eats and sleeps and eats again all day without learning the most basic cantrips... Why would the professor invite him to the garden anyway?”

Alan, who had been following beside Tana closely, twiddled his fingers and didn’t say anything.

“Leave it to me!” Loki smiled. “I’ll keep him alive as long as he gives me more of his roasted meat next time!”

Compared to the others, this particular joyful group of people really stood out. Although no one dared underestimate them—being so relaxed in such a situation only meant they were no one too ordinary.

When Loki’s group headed directly to the right side of the area, the other elite apprentices simply gave them some space without making any unnecessary moves.

Which meant they had all the reason to chill.

“That’s... Alan?”

As the new group joined the other elites, a man covered under a black hooded robe, who had been hiding among the common apprentices, muttered uncertainly.