Wizard Jagula was filled with guilt. He looked at Locke and asked, "Locke, aren't you staying to study it with me?"
"We could work together. I've wanted to collaborate with a genius like you for a long time."
Locke waved a hand.
"No."
"It's not that I'm making excuses. I genuinely can't take on another project. I'll leave this one to you, Wizard Jagula."
Jagula felt even guiltier for having doubted Locke earlier.
"All right, Wizard Locke."
Locke glanced at him, then flew out of the Forbidden Forest on the Demon Dragon Rose. The forest was full of mysteries, so Locke wasn't worried about his own safety. Jagula, on the other hand, needed to worry about his.
He headed swiftly toward the wizard Airship in the Southeastern Corner Region, ready to return to Golden Crown Mountain.
He needed to buy two tickets. This time, Witch Stefania was coming with him.
A Wizard Apprentice without an identity didn't count as a person. He could have put a Black Wizard apprentice into his demiplane and boarded the Airship, but he couldn't do that with a witch at the Crystallization Stage.
Aboard the wizard Airship, Locke looked at Witch Stefania and said without expression, "Cult leader, I hope you won't try anything. Otherwise, don't blame me for turning on you."
"You've refused to tell me the Specter Holy Church's core Spell Models all this time. But perhaps you'll think differently once you reach Golden Crown Mountain in the Cloud Marsh Wetland."
Witch Stefania bowed to Locke, terror filling her heart.
"How would I dare make a move in front of a Great Wizard like you? But if I hand over those core Spell Models, I'll have betrayed the Pale Pilgrimage. I'll never be able to go back."
"I'll lose the people protecting me.