However, Angel’s thoughts were unknown to the others. They just felt that perhaps Angel was repulsed by Dumatin’s aggressive approach due to his own inherent kindness.
Dumatin himself thought so.
The first time he met Angel, Angel was still an apprentice who came with the Ironclad Granny to his residence, praying for Baruba. At that time, when Angel saw those living puppets about to be injected with the Parachute Fungus Insect bloodline, he showed obvious disgust.
At that moment, Dumatin had already classified Angel as a White Wizard.
Moreover, a White Wizard from the lawful good alignment.
Dumatin always regarded such White Wizards as hypocritical and looked down on them.
But he also understood the necessity of the existence of White Wizards. Especially within the strictly hierarchical Witcher Organization, there are some roles that are best served by White Wizards as the operational pivot.
As a member of the Research and Development Institute, if Angel, who developed the Wilderness of Dreams, was an unscrupulous Black Wizard, it would truly be disastrous. In contrast, being a White Wizard makes people unconsciously trust him.
Even though Dumatin was biased against White Wizards, he sincerely hoped that Angel would remain in the White Wizard state.
When faced with Angel’s request, Dumatin pondered for a moment and eventually nodded in agreement.
The study of Elemental Creatures didn’t necessarily require excessively cruel or extreme measures, at least not brutal ones like "craniotomy" as defined by the general populace.
To Dumatin, the only thing unpleasant about Angel’s request was the need to solicit consent from the Elemental Creatures... Since Angel didn’t specify how to ask, he might just use some unconventional methods.
"Since it’s your request, I will naturally comply. Besides, they can self-detonate as Elementals—if I want to study their bodies, I can’t proceed without their consent," Dumatin said.
Dumatin’s words were quite sincere; Angel gave him a deep look and said nothing more.
The others had no objections either; Dumatin’s research talent was unquestionable.
Angel withdrew his gaze and looked at the small fire frog in his hand, which, due to the sealing, struggled but couldn’t move, finally giving up in a daze, with a look of sadness and grievance.
"Do you remember what happened?" Angel asked the small fire frog slowly.
Perhaps because of what had happened before, the small fire frog showed obvious wariness toward humans and completely ignored Angel’s inquiry, remaining despondent and self-pitying.
"I know you’re the Traveling Frog, who had a fierce battle with that water system bobcat before,"
Angel continued. Perhaps because he mentioned two key pieces of information in a row, the small fire frog’s body noticeably stiffened, but it still didn’t turn to look at Angel.
"Aren’t you curious about why you’re here? Why you’ve transformed into an Elf form? And don’t you care about your opponent, that bobcat’s situation?"
The sequence of three questions happened to coincide with the small fire frog’s own doubts.
For a frog that had never interacted with humans before and had no concept of human deceit, at this moment, curiosity finally overcame its caution, and it turned to look at Angel. Under Angel’s gaze, it finally opened its tightly shut mouth.
"Croak——"
Angel: "... Have you lost the ability to speak?"
The Traveling Frog also found it strange that it was making "croak croak" sounds. Filled with doubt, it continued to make sounds, but what came out was still "croak croak."
At this point, Angel realized that the Traveling Frog hadn’t just reverted to its Elf form; even some of its physical traits followed the Elf phase rules.
"But you should be able to understand me, right? If you understand, just nod." Angel said.
This time, the Traveling Frog nodded.
Though it couldn’t speak, making interactions somewhat troublesome, at least it could understand human language, which could facilitate communication in the future.
Angel inquired about its physical condition, and through the Traveling Frog’s nods and shakes, he basically confirmed a few facts.
Its condition was likely due to insufficient energy when forming its body, causing it to regress into an Elemental Sprite form. But its intelligent thinking hadn’t regressed to an ignorant state, and its memory was intact.
Overall, it was the fault of the Elf phase body.
If it could return to a mature form, it should be able to communicate normally.
Thinking of this, Angel recalled another presence, the water system bobcat, which had patterns involving the Law in its composition. Its maturity surpassed the Elf phase, so it might be able to speak.
With this in mind, Angel turned his gaze toward the intense rain.
Then, he met a pair of bright blue eyes.
Sometime unnoticed, the water system bobcat had already absorbed the remnants of the Law pattern and awakened from its coma. It lay quietly on the grass, observing the situation over here.
Meeting Angel’s gaze caused a flash of panic in its eyes, but it quickly regained composure.
Its entire body emitted a blue glow, gradually becoming transparent. Invisible vapor evaporated from its body, drifting towards the sky clouds.
Obviously, it intended to transform into vapor and meld with the rain, attempting to escape the place.
What it didn’t anticipate was that just as its form vanished into the rain, the densely packed black clouds in the sky suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Directly, decisively, and irrationally dispersed.
The oppressive rain clouds vanished, and the rain ceased, exposing the water system bobcat in mid-air without the rain’s concealment, causing it to plummet from a height of dozens of meters.
Luckily, being composed of water, it sustained no injury from the fall. With a roll after landing, it prepared to flee.
However, Angel was already prepared. With a wave of his hand, wind and sand rose up, enveloping the bobcat entirely. Wind served as propulsion, and sand as a cage, securely confining the bobcat.
A surge, and the bobcat trapped in wind and sand was blown to the crowd’s front.
The series of operations didn’t surprise anyone else, as they could perform better than Angel in reality. However, the Traveling Frog in Angel’s hands looked utterly shocked.
It was amazed not only by Angel’s effortless command of various elements but also by the fact that its enemy had appeared here and was easily subdued by Angel.
"Planning to leave after benefiting?" Angel looked at the raccoon cat.