Everyone on the ship smelled a delicious taste almost at the same time. Before the feeding center in their hypothalamus could command them to "find food", they already felt their visions blurred and fell into a mirage weaved by the delicious smell of food.
This was the same for Angor.
All kinds of stunningly colorful dishes floated in front of his eyes, making him want to dig in right away. When accompanied by the persistent aroma rubbing against his nose, Angor could not control his hands from reaching for the honeyed roast drumstick beside him.
Uncontrolled desire could affect all of man's physiological attributes, including sanity.
When the desire to eat had filled Angor's brain, he lost all reason, all logic. His mind was as blurry as a beast.
He was not the only one. All common people on the ship had been seized by the desire for food and screamed madly, coveting the mirage food.
As Angor struggled against his uncontrollable appetite, an itchy feeling worse than the hunger suddenly appeared around the bladebones on his back.
He did not know where it came from or where it went. It was so sudden, like bottled beer being shaken hard and burst out of the container before people could open the cap, covering everything nearby with liquid.
Itch…
So much itch—
Like tens of thousands of ants crawling in the depth of his bones.
Itch to the bone, literally.
However, the feeling was not all about bad things as even the maddening hunger retreated against the torrential itchiness.
Anything could be overthrown given the smallest chance, so was sanity. The emotion for food had seized Angor's sanity, but the sudden slackening gave Angor a chance to retaliate.
The itchy feeling forced Angor's appetite away. He could only keep scratching his back. The itchiness went away as fast as it came, and when it ended, Angor realized he was no longer desperate for food, Without the will to eat, the mirage of food in front of him could no longer affect his mind.
Angor looked at the colorful dishes that were still floating around him and shivered in fear. That was not a honey roast drumstick he was reaching for. It was his usual candle.
If he actually ate the candle like a drumstick… Angor did not dare to imagine what would happen next.
He tried his best to avoid the illusions from now on.
Such illusions could only have been the work of a talented sea monster or a wizard with supernatural power. Angor could not guess whatever the purpose was behind this, but he was unwilling to get controlled by his hunger either. Seeing how the illusions were still floating around, he simply closed his eyes. Out of sight, out of mind.
Maybe the supernatural being who created the mirage did not intend to kill. With Angor not minding the illusions, they never caused any more trouble again, which was a great relief.
Now, Angor calmed enough to remember what had just happened.
After a while, Angor reached for his back, puzzled.
The same place again.
What's going on?
That was not the first time he felt such itchiness. It came and left quickly every time, without leaving any traces behind.
Angor frowned hard. At least he was sure there was nothing on his back, at least on the outside. If there was something, it might have been where he was scratched by the strange woman in the "illusion" during his talent test.
Angor thought it was only an illusion created by Abelles' Eye. He had checked himself in the mirror after the test and did not find any wounds on his back.
However, as he had experienced the weird itchiness several times, he began to doubt that the world was not an illusion after all. Maybe just as he guessed, that was another world parallel to the reality.
Maybe where he got hurt kept some traces from the strange world, causing his condition.
Angor did not know if this was correct, but his current knowledge would not allow him to reach a better conclusion.
Would it come again? Would there be something worse? He did not know. Fearing for the unknown threat, he made up his mind that he would tell Mara about it as long as he could survive the current situation.
Time was unrelenting. Nobody knew whether the next seizure would endanger his life, so he could only seek help from Mara as the quickest approach, instead of waiting for his own study.
As Angor made his conjectures, The Redbud had sailed into the depth of the mist. A group of people reached the source of the "delicious mirage".
Sunders silently stood on the vast back of the demon falcon. He was wearing his usual top hat while carrying the same noble temperament. Flora was sitting on the edge of the demon falcon's wing, with an eerie smile on her face. She was looking at several people standing on The Redbud with malevolent intent.
Five individuals were standing on the deck of The Redbug, with Sabot in the middle. Apart from the three guides appointed by the Three Major Wizard Organizations, Mara, and Easley, who just broke through into Level-1 Apprentice, were also among them.
Flora inspected the group for quite a while. Then she chuckled and spoke with her strange yet charming child-like voice, "Heehee… Mad Bear Sabot, since when did you become a babysitter? Are you gonna feed those kids?"
The three guides, who were just referred to as "kids", lowered their heads in silence.
Of course, Sabot was angered by the insult. Yet he did not dare to do anything in front of Sunders. He only pretended to be oblivious of the taunt and replied with a hearty smile.
"Haha, the Blood Witch is joshing. It's hard to run into Greya's Restaurant, and these inexperienced lots are itching to see it," Sabot joked.
Flora half-closed her eyes and let out of sneer in her mind.
See the restaurant? More like looking for a free meal.
Greya was not just a generous chef. Free meal? Dream on.
Greya was similar to those lunatics from the Candy House. They might act mad, but they would not make any compromises against their principle.
There was only one way to gain entry into Greya's Restaurant: by owning the invitation card.
Without the card, Greya would shut her door against even the most legendary wizard.
To be accepted by the restaurant, Sunders paid a lot of resources to get himself a bronze invitation card.
Ha… Now Flora really wanted to see the expressions on the faces of these ignorant fools.