Disappointment

The next day…

In a rare and unusual departure from his normal behavior, Adept Anderson summoned all the apprentices to the main hall in the morning.

When everyone arrived, he presented Greem, Mary, and Acteon as Pseudo Adepts, explaining what their new status in the tower entailed. 

First of all, they were no longer bound by rules meant for apprentices. 

Their lives were theirs to manage as they wished. Not even he could do anything about it. As for the second thing, these three were now the highest authorities in the tower, below him of course. 

Not even Ellen could do anything about this. Said apprentice currently had a look that suggested he'd swallowed something unpleasant. His apprentice leader status meant nothing without power behind the authority. 

With this announcement, these three now had authority in addition to their power. If he wanted to be taken seriously from this day onwards, he had to obtain the favor of one of them. 

While these thoughts churned in Ellen's mind, Anderson had long finished his announcement and left. 

Eager to return to his room and continue working on his stuff, Greem climbed down the podium under the multitude of astonished and jealous gazes and made to leave with Mary, only to set eyes on Tony. 

He recalled what he told the latter after handing him the Alligator's King's meat and wondered if he'd advanced. A quick check of his aura confirmed that he had met expectations. 

Leaving Mary to go ahead and do her own thing, Greem beckoned the slightly taller and more muscular Tony with a head tilt and exited the hall with the latter by his side. 

"I see you made good use of the gift."

Wearing a mane of long, messy black hair and keeping broad shoulders slumped, Tony kept pace with his much taller benefactor and answered, his deep voice subdued and respectful. "Yes, master Greem. It is only due to your generosity that I survived and made it this far."

Resigned on the issue of being called master or lord, Greem ignored the honorific and how it made him cringe inside. "What are your plans?"

"If I may ask master… what do you mean?"

"What are your plans in the tower? For the future. Do you plan to go on missions? Join a group of likeminded apprentices? What is it?"

"Ah… Well, at first I wanted to come see you after I arrived yesterday, but it was late and I didn't want to disturb you and… mistress. This morning too master Anderson called for all apprentices so I had to shift the visit to a later time."

Remembering the steamy, long hours he spent with Mary in the shower and bed after their arrival, Greem almost laughed when he imagined Tony interrupting them with a knock. Mary might've not let him return in one piece if that had happened.

"As for the future, I assumed that since you gave me that gift, you wanted my loyalty in return. Other than going on missions to train and gather resources, I am ready to follow your every command."

Stopping in front of the arena, Greem tossed a pouch to the apprentice watching the room, grabbed the hastily retrieved access card the latter provided and unlocked the door. 

Waltzing into the room, he had a slightly funny look on his face as he faced the Advanced Apprentice and addressed his declaration. "Follow my every command? Are you sure about that?"

Contemplation and hesitation flashing past his features for a short second, Tony grew resolute and stared at Greem. "Yes." 

Other than the both of them being assigned the swamp inspection task, Tony didn't know why Greem chose to give him out of everyone else in the tower the Pseudo Adept level magical meat.

What he knew for sure however, was that without it, he'd still be a Beginner Apprentice. That's why his hesitation at the implication of Greem's words vanished as fast as it came.

Nothing else mattered so long as he became stronger. 

Having some idea of the kind of thoughts in his new subordinate's mind, Greem nodded and tapped his storage belt with his left hand. He gestured to the opposite end of the arena with his right, a spear appearing in the latter. 

"I like your resolve. Now let's see how you fight."

☀☀☀ 

Near the entrance of the Magical Swamp, an ugly old witch with a hunched posture stood beside a nine year old girl in a yellow summer dress, a flying broom hovering beside them. 

Clad in a sickly green Adept's robe, Alice's grandmother had an appearance that would give children nightmares. 

Wrinkles filled every inch of her aged face, making it look like she wore a mask of carved wood from a dead tree. The perfection of the gray in her bulging eyes were ruined by the specks of brown in them. 

Her nose was as hooked as a hawk's beak, and her mouth housed only brownish and misshapen teeth. 

Overall, she cut a figure of an old crone with one foot in the grave. 

However, the spiritual ripples she emanated and the current ruckus taking place in the swamp suggested that treating her based on her "weak" appearance would leave the culprit in worse than dire straits.

Just ask the magical creatures in the swamp.

Upon their arrival, Poison Witch Endor had given Alice a small biscuit and directed her to dissolve it into one of the ponds in the swamp. 

Well aware of his grandma's prowess and reputation, Alice coated her hand in a spatial barrier before doing as she was told.

That small biscuit was currently the reason why all the creatures in the Swamp were wildly agitated. Any unlucky one with a trace of magic in its body exploded upon coming into contact with the fog poisoned by this tiny biscuit.

After being notified of the situation, Anderson as the tower master easily examined the situation and found the cause. With a simple thought, he leveraged the tower's abilities and teleported right to the hostile duo position.

"Endor! I don't remember there being any grudge between us. Why are you causing problems in my territory? This is Zhentarim. Not the Northern lands. You have no right to be arrogant here."

Letting out a wretched laugh, Endor looked at the furious Anderson with disdain, accurately judging him as ferocious in appearance but weak in essence. "Your tiny resource site can't make the association go against the Northern Witches, so pipe down"

Cowed by the reputation of the group of crazy bitches this decrepit old lady belonged to, Anderson lowered his voice but maintained his anger. If a fight truly broke out here, he would be hard pressed to win. 

The methods of the witches were varied and obscure. Add that to their collective recklessness, ferociousness, and potent distaste for men, you had a group of insane old hags with a fearsome reputation. 

Anderson was still a coward though.

"Then why are you here? Don't tell me you just came to destroy my resource site?" 

Turning her head to look at the fearful Alice hiding behind her, Endor said, "Alice, show yourself so he can stop wasting his breath."

Anderson's expression took an even deeper nosedive upon setting eyes on the space apprentice he punished a few months ago. "Isn't she Deborah's disciple? Who is she to you?"

"She's my blood descendant, an Apprentice Witch with the highest potential from my Moya family. However, you ambushed and humiliated her, so I'm here to settle scores."

Anderson's thoughts devolved into a storm of curses. How could something like this have happened? Just because he taught a bratty little girl a lesson, he earned the ire of not only "Poisonous Witch Endor" but her clan as well.

Could his past actions and future plans have disgusted the Will of the World so much it was punishing him by bringing misfortune to his doorstep? 

"Yes. I taught the brat a lesson. Are you going to fight me because of that? Do you want to stir a clan war?"

"The Sarubo family won't go to war for you because of such a petty issue. But don't worry. I'm not here for you. I'm here for those apprentices of yours. 

I can accept you teaching Alice a lesson, but your apprentices ganged up on her. We need to settle the score properly. Get those fellows here and let them have a proper fight. If they win, we'll leave. If Alice wins, they die."

For the first time since this interaction began, a mysterious smile graced Anderson's face as he waved his staff and chanted some words only he could understand.

In a short few seconds, a large ring of light flashed on the hill and three figures of differing appearance joined them. Using his master control of the tower, Anderson had not bothered to communicate his intentions to the trio and summoned them. 

Greem, Mary, and Acteon were obviously struck with bewilderment at the abrupt change in scenery. They looked around to determine what was the cause and discovered Anderson, all three of them bowing in respect.

"It's them! All of them are bad people. Especially the disgusting vampire. She is the one who hurt me the most."

Right when Alice erupted in anger at the new arrivals, Endor furrowed her brows in confusion upon examining the unmistakable nature of their auras.

Pseudo Adepts. All three of them were Pseudo Adepts. This isn't what Alice described. 

"Alice. Why are they different from what you told me?"

Pointing her finger at Greem, the little girl said, "I don't know about him. But the last time I was here, the vampire and the bug were only Advanced Apprentices."

Facing the trio who bullied her granddaughter, Endor experienced an emotion she didn't expect to feel on this trip: worry. 

With the support of the Moya clan, Alice could kill as many Advanced Apprentices as she wanted. 

Pseudo Adepts however, were a more delicate issue. They were the backup and future hopes of every clan. If she let Alice kill even one of them, the Sarubo clan would likely start a war with them.

"Alice, they're Pseudo Adepts. You can't touch them. Let's go. We'll find another way to settle the grudge."

Hesitant and torn at her chance for revenge slipping through her grasp, Alice's tiny hand clutched her golden birdcage tighter. She looked at Mary's mocking smile and Greem's calm one, her flat, tiny chest burning with rage.

Fearful of what Anderson or her grandmother might do if she lashed out, she ground her teeth and climbed the floating broom, sitting behind the latter.

She spared the infuriating trio one last look, her resolve to grow stronger and wipe those smirks off their faces reaching new heights.

A calm, knowing smile on his face, Greem watched all this unfold and shared a look with Mary, sending her his thoughts through spiritual whisper. 'That girl is definitely coming back.'