Chapter 77 – The Disappointment of Punk

Night once again descended upon this land. Unlike the still somewhat bustling Nielan Town, the area around the White Tower was completely dead silent. Due to the leakage of Abyssal energy, large swathes of land had been contaminated into an eerie blackish-red hue. Both insects and delicate grasses had all transformed into twisted remains.

Under the increasingly strong winds, even these last remnants would turn into fine dust and completely vanish into the vast night!

The sky over Nielan Town was heavily overcast. Howling gales, oppressive air, and pervasive dampness all foretold the imminent arrival of a heavy rain. Townsfolk who had toiled all day had no time to relax their sore shoulders – everyone hurried to gather their outdoor belongings. Long-standing experience told them this rain would inevitably be torrential, and those tattered cloth fragments that barely held up during drizzles would be utterly incapable of protecting their possessions!

Inside the White Tower, Punk – who was researching a Formal-Level Alchemical Potion – received a notification from the warning array placed outside the tower. His pre-arranged apprentice assistant had arrived.

The apprentice assistant’s arrival was well within Punk’s expectations. After all, an Apprentice Rank mage possessed little concealment capability against a Formal-Level Divination Spell.

Punk, who had reached an impasse in his research, felt somewhat displeased by the visitor’s interruption. The Divination Spell clearly showed that this minor mage had arrived in town quite early – what could she possibly have been doing to come so late now?

Fully immersed in his Formal-Level potion research, Punk had no inclination to investigate the little girl’s itinerary. He had too many matters demanding attention: numerous spells required practice and study, and the training of metamagic techniques brooked no delay. He hoped this apprentice would prove clever enough to save him considerable time.

Deliberately setting down his tools, Punk carefully sorted the half-processed materials into energy-isolating trays before calmly turning to open the White Tower’s main gate.

Bilan stood trembling before the White Tower’s entrance. The majestic gate stood three times her height, its pristine door panels made from single slabs of perfectly cut marble without a single crack. The entire White Tower shared this appearance, as if carved whole from a single block of marble.

Yet the pristine marble structure gave Bilan no sense of purity or cleanliness. On the contrary, merely standing before the gate made her feel a foul, evil energy spreading across the entire hillside. Combined with the wailing cold winds, she felt as if countless sinister ghosts surrounded her, with the White Tower itself resembling a monster waiting to devour its prey. This dangerous, bloody aura made Bilan feel an overwhelming urge to turn and flee.

“Boom!”

The White Tower’s gate abruptly swung open, its loud noise echoing through the dead silence like a drumbeat striking at the soul. Bilan shuddered violently, only regaining her senses after stumbling two steps backward to peer inside.

The hooded youth in the doorway possessed features that would make any girl envious. Dressed in cyan-blue Mage Robes, his light blue hair partially concealed by the hood, his pale hands were half-buried within the robe’s sleeves.However, in Bilan’s eyes, none of these were the most memorable features. Only those icy blue eyes that chilled her to the bone made the trembling girl feel a pervasive cold throughout her body. Under the gaze of those terrifying pupils, Bilan found herself forgetting all the various explanations she had prepared along the way.

Now, she couldn’t utter a single word!

Punk frowned slightly as he watched the girl standing frozen at the door, trembling like a kitten facing a hungry wolf. He was pleased that fewer people’s first impression of him was now “Wow~ what a pretty boy,” but this horrified expression made Punk unhappy again. Why did everyone act as if he were some monster crawling out of the Abyss? Was it really necessary to be so terrified?

“You’re late. Come in”!

Still preoccupied with his experiment, Punk had no time to deal with Bilan who had been standing frozen for over ten seconds. In his view, this little girl (who was actually older than him) didn’t have the mental fortitude to serve as his experimental assistant. Moreover, she seemed to belong to the neutral-good alignment – she probably couldn’t bring herself to help him dissect living people.

Sensing the timid girl entering the White Tower behind him, Punk immediately controlled the door to shut firmly. He realized his assumption about “easily recruiting apprentices” had been too naive. Openly and recklessly opening portals to the Abyss turned out to be more likely to cause misunderstandings (misunderstandings?) than he had anticipated. Those increasingly shrewd and cautious mages wouldn’t choose to risk their lives becoming apprentices.

This could be understood by looking at the Zhentarim established by those standard evil-aligned Red Robe Mages¹. Had anyone ever heard of the Zhentarim having voluntary enrollment? Every “student intake” involved kidnapping promising apprentices from around the world and forcing them to “enroll.” Punk believed that no matter how much knowledge was offered or how many opportunities awaited, aside from a few mad individuals, no one would willingly risk ending up on the experiment table under a powerful evil-aligned mage they couldn’t possibly resist.

This was precisely the purpose of reputation. It might not grant you power, it might carry tedious burdens, but reputation itself absolutely couldn’t be ignored – at least not until one possessed the power to dominate the entire world!

Punk felt he had gained a deeper understanding of reputation.

But for now…

Punk turned around, looking indifferently into Bilan’s eyes as he began explaining the “life plan” he had prepared for this apprentice in a completely commanding tone:

“I know your name is Bilan. Starting today, you may address me as Mentor. Your daily tasks will include cleaning the White Tower, organizing experimental materials, cleaning…”

He paused slightly, glancing at the pile of minced flesh and organs in the corner.

Bilan also shifted her gaze, only now realizing what those dark masses piled in the corner were.

With Punk’s “reminder,” she quickly recognized those “things” as chunks of minced flesh and broken bones. Bilan finally understood what that strange smell she had noticed since entering the White Tower was… it was clearly the scent of blood permeating the air!Wide-eyed and staring at the pile of still-twitching minced flesh, Bilan felt her stomach churn violently, a wave of intense nausea surging from her abdomen straight to her throat.

Suppressing the urge to vomit, the young girl—who was witnessing such a gruesome scene for the first time—had tears welling up in her eyes. Yet she steeled herself to listen to Punk’s next instructions.

A sudden intuition warned her that showing even the slightest sign of disobedience now… would mean death—a terrible death!

Pausing briefly, Punk watched Bilan’s “exaggerated reaction” with growing suspicion that he had been deceived. How could an alchemist mage be unable to handle such a minor scene? Was he really expected to waste time babysitting his own servant? Was this the kind of “talent” Lotalan had sent him—a whole week late? It was utterly disappointing!

If not for the fact that killing this useless girl would not only confirm his identity as an evil mage in the eyes of the Lawful good dwarf warrior in Doleiz City but also ensure no other mage would ever come to be his apprentice again, Punk would have gladly turned this seemingly worthless “thing” into an experimental subject right then and there. After all, he was running a bit short on test slaves lately…

Sighing inwardly, he consoled himself: “It’s fine. I’ll just assign her some tasks later to help her adjust. She might still be of some use.”

Having calmed the irritation brought on by his failed experiment and his assistant’s incompetence (mostly the former), Punk continued to clearly outline the “life plan” he had long prepared for his apprentice, addressing the pale-faced Bilan.

(End of Chapter)