“My point is, it’s very likely that Fox Master already knows you.”
“This is why you want me to kill him on the stage?”
“That’s right.”
Angor remained silent. Killing people was not really difficult for him. When he maimed Canine Master and Red Butterfly, he did not feel bad at all. Since someone came for his life, they should be well prepared for the possible consequence.
However… killing someone just because of a small possibility was against his moral standard. When Angor noticed that Dave was really serious about this, he did not refuse right away. In the end, Angor let out an “I see” without giving any explicit answer.
Since they finished talking about Fox Master, Angor changed the topic, “You said there’s another matter, right?”
“Master Prome wants to see you,” Dave briefly explained Prome’s words to Angor. “He still doesn’t know that you’re the mysterious alchemist. He asked me to talk to you and help him get into connection with this ‘alchemist’. Whether you want to go through it is your own decision.”
“I see no problem with meeting him, but it has to wait until I reach the top level,” said Angor. He had never intended to hide his alchemy skills. Being able to communicate with other alchemists meant getting more experience or even profit, so why not?
“Okay.” Dave suddenly blushed again for some reason. He stuttered, “A-actually, I have another favor to ask…”
…
The first match in Sky Tower today was between Angor and Fox Master.
As Angor climbed onto the stage, he was still pondering how to deal with Fox Master.
Kill him? No. He had not made up his mind.
Not kill him? But… Dave’s words got a good point.
The countdown began while he was still hesitating.
Like always, “Baron Milk” posed an arrogant indifference look and stood there without saying anything as he acted cool.
Fox Master quickly felt irritated. You beat me to it! No! I won’t lose!
Fox Master’s long, silver hair flowed in the air while his moonlight-white wizard robe flipped in the wind. He had his eyes closed on his similar indifferent expression. He looked like a wise hermit who just showed up in front of people, who supported his aged body on a fox-head walking cane.
A poseur with closed eyes and a hooded, wordless weirdo stood motionless on the arena face to face.
The waiting phase was about to end. Angor began to admire Fox Master a little, for remaining silent while waiting. This was a rare sight in Sky Tower.
When the match began, Fox Master still had his eyes closed, but he already began to trigger his mana and prepared to attack first. Fox knew how Baron Milk fought before. He watched Baron’s match against Selena yesterday.
Fox Master knew he was weaker than Selena. Still, he was confident he could win this time.
Selena’s defeat was still a mystery. People guessed that when Selena reached Baron Milk, she was blasted away by some kind of secret skill or alchemy item.
As a Summoner, Fox Master did not have to get close to his opponents. For this, he believed that he could avoid whatever happened to Selena by keeping his distance, which meant he could seize the victory in the end.
To make sure, he also summoned the true body of Blood Vixen this time instead of the shadow he used before. A tiny white fox smaller than a meter rushed toward Baron Milk under Fox’s command.
His plan was obvious. Fox Master was going to keep Baron Milk busy with his Blood Vixen and cast spells to take Baron Milk down from somewhere safe.
This was a common tactic for Summoners. This way, they could quickly learn about the strengths of their opponents. If their enemies proved to be too strong, they could simply surrender without going into a head-on fight. Otherwise, they could slowly wear their opponent down while staying at a safe distance.
Such a tactic appeared similar to Angor’s. Or, it was more effective.
When the Blood Vixen came at him, instead of casting an Ice Wall like how he always did at first, Angor applied Frost to the ground to slow the creature down. Next, he used his “simplified version” of Dust Removal, a cantrip he created called Dust.
Dirt and frost shards on the ground were blown into the air. Wind, water and earth elements somewhat co-existed in harmony and created a strange, misty effect.
“A composite cantrip that creates a mist. Interesting.” Baroque was also watching Angor’s battle. He gave Angor a look of approval when he saw the kid creating mist on the stage by combining two low-level cantrips.
There were many cantrips with such an effect. However, few of them were level-0, and many of them required their users to be skilled at a certain attribute. For example, apprentices adept at Darkness could easily learn a level-0 cantrip called Dark Mist, while other apprentices needed a long time to study the cantrip and would waste a lot of effort.
Now, Angor created a weaker mist effect by using two level-0 cantrips at the same time. It might not do much good, but his idea was brilliant.
“It was Frost and… something that creates dust clouds. A new element combination for an existing cantrip maybe?” Baroque pondered and began to admire Angor more and more. Composite cantrips and rearranging element combinations were both essential traits for entering “the path”. If Angor figured everything out on his own…
Baroque realized why Sunders took him in as a pupil.
Baroque thought he figured out the true reason for Sunders to pick a student. What he did not know was that even Sunders himself was quite surprised by Angor’s growth.
Now, on the arena, Angor was planning to do something special in the mist.