Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2917: Chapter 2918: Jumping Through the Ring of Fire

At the moment Laplace reached the shore, the clown’s head exploded with a ”bang,” scattering a multitude of streamers and clown balloons as if celebrating Laplace’s success in landing.

With the streamers and balloons, the audience’s applause also rang out.

Laplace’s performance on this track was slightly better than the previous cable track... Probably because the chase scene seemed lively, and Laplace used many beautiful techniques to avoid being devoured by clown balloons, which became bonus points.

Therefore, the audience’s reaction was slightly more enthusiastic, but overall, it still didn’t reach a full house and heated situation.

To prevent disappointing the audience, the host had no choice but to stir up the atmosphere again.

Laplace completely ignored the sounds outside, concentrating on sensing the new information she obtained.

”Challenger’s codename is determined as: Silver Fox”

”Challenger Silver Fox initiates a solo challenge of the special dream ’Sunshine Circus.’”

”Challenger Silver Fox succeeded in the challenge, current progress is ’Swamp Track.’”

”Challenger Silver Fox completed 2/5 of the tracks, exploration level is 25%.”

Subtracting the 11% exploration level obtained from the Knife Mountain track, it can be seen that Laplace obtained a 14% exploration level from the Swamp Track, though it seems a bit better, it wasn’t much improvement.

However, Laplace didn’t care, as long as she completed the track, exploration level... wasn’t important. Or rather, in this ”Sunshine Circus” special dream, it wasn’t important.

Laplace did not listen to the host’s eloquent words to stir up the atmosphere, but waited silently for the third track to appear.

She didn’t have to wait long, soon this scene dropped a curtain of darkness.

In the darkness, the host’s voice still continued: ”The next track is the Fire Ring track, can the challenger succeed?”

A series of boos sounded in the darkness.

The host laughed and said, ”I think everyone surely prefers to hear my voice, but the process must be followed, believe me, I will return soon! Now, the time is handed back to the challenger.”

As the host’s words ended, the dark curtain was lifted, and a new scene appeared in front of Laplace.

Laplace looked around and couldn’t help but frown.

Earlier, the host said that the next track was the ”Fire Ring Track,” she thought it would be similar to the circus’s jumping through fire rings performance, but actually it wasn’t... She now stood on a beach, and in front of the beach was the sea, an expanse of silvery ocean.

From this strange silver ocean, Laplace inhaled the scent of danger.

This was definitely not an ordinary ocean.

Setting aside the dangers of the ocean, where is the fire ring? Where is the fire ring? ... Could it be that this ocean will ignite later?

In the distance of the silver ocean, an island could be vaguely seen, with familiar clown balloons floating above. Estimating, that’s the destination.

If later this ocean truly turned into a sea of fire, how would one cross the sea to reach the other side?

Laplace, filled with doubt, approached the familiar signboard.

Just as she was about to direct her gaze to the signboard, Angel’s voice came to her ears: ”Did you notice, the host didn’t refer to your codename this time.”

Laplace paused for a moment and said, ”It doesn’t matter.”

”The host’s attitude might also be related to the exploration level,” Angel speculated.

Laplace: ”I can sense it, maybe he finds my exploration level too low, not worth spending much breath introducing? But it doesn’t matter, what I want is just to clear the stage, not the exploration level.”

Though that’s what was said, Angel still had some concerns. The enthusiasm of the audience could be ignored, but the host is closely related to Sunshine Circus, if the host’s attitude becomes indifferent, might it affect the final belonging of the rabbit girl?

Angel thought about it but held back from speaking, accompanying Laplace in looking at the contents on the signboard.

The signboard gave a simple introduction to this track.

Laplace’s guess was correct, this silver ocean was indeed very dangerous. The signboard clearly stated: ”Any life form falling into the ocean will completely extinguish its vitality. Challengers must not jump into the sea, the consequences of jumping are at one’s own risk.”

Does such a sea really exist on Earth, where it can completely extinguish the vitality of all life? Angel was skeptical, but this is a dream, an unpredictable dream, if it says so, then perhaps the underlying rules function like this.

Even if Laplace had the bonus of an imagined physique, Angel did not believe she now qualified to challenge the underlying rules.

Therefore, adhering to the rules of the signboard should be prioritized.

Since she couldn’t jump into the sea, how would she cross the sea?

The signboard also provided a solution: ”There are phantom dolphins in the sea, phantom dolphins will come seeking the sound of a whistle, riding on the phantom dolphins, one can cross the ocean, reaching the other shore.”

Laplace looked towards the sea, and indeed, saw a dolphin-like creature swimming in the ocean afar.

The whistle mentioned by the signboard was also hung on the signboard, a very ordinary whistle.

As for the ”fire ring” Laplace was most concerned about, the signboard also had an introduction.

”The fire ring will randomly appear somewhere on the ocean when the challenge begins, find the fire ring, and leap over it atop the phantom dolphin, only then can one reach the destination. If one does not leap over the fire ring but directly heads to the destination, it will be considered a challenge failure.”

The fire ring was not seen because the challenge had yet to start.

Unfortunately, according to the introduction on the signboard, finding the fire ring wouldn’t be easy. Across the vast ocean, the fire ring would likely be difficult to find.

Moreover, this Fire Ring Track came with a time limit—five minutes.

One must find the fire ring within five minutes, leap over it, and then reach the destination.

Laplace speculated that the difficulty lay in finding the fire ring! But she wasn’t worried, because regarding finding the fire ring... Angel could help.

Angel certainly wouldn’t refuse, clearly stating, as soon as he saw the fire ring, he would immediately inform Laplace.

Laplace felt there was nothing amiss, then picked up the whistle, gently blowing towards the ocean.

Hearing the whistle, indeed, the phantom dolphin wildly swam towards Laplace’s location.

Jumping onto the phantom dolphin, Laplace tried controlling the direction of the dolphin’s advancement. After confirming no errors, she returned to the shore and pressed the timer.

With the start of the five-minute countdown, Laplace jumped back onto the phantom dolphin, signaling it to swim towards the opposite shore.

The phantom dolphin was very obedient, and its speed wasn’t slow, dashing toward the opposite shore like lightning.

If following the speed of the phantom dolphin, at most within three minutes, she would reach the opposite shore.

However, reaching the destination was not the goal; before that, she still needed to complete the task of jumping through the fire ring.

”Did you see the fire ring?” Laplace softly asked.

Angel: ”No.”

After another minute passed, Laplace asked the same question again, Angel’s answer was still ”No.”

When the phantom dolphin was about to glimpse the approximate terrain of the opposite shore, Laplace couldn’t help but ask again.

Angel’s answer remained unchanged.

Angel at this point was puzzled; his current perspective was almost like God’s View, able to see the entire silver ocean, yet he couldn’t find a single fire ring.

Clearly, the countdown had started, and there was no problem with the track, so why hasn’t the fire ring appeared?

Could it be that due to insufficient exploration level, the host became displeased and deliberately wanted Laplace to lose by not providing a fire ring?

```

When Angel and Laplace both felt puzzled, the fire ring finally appeared.

However, without Angel’s reminder, Laplace also saw it.

Because the fire ring appeared right in front of Laplace!

The appearance of the fire ring was supposed to be a happy event, and it being nearby meant no detours, which was good. However, Laplace and Angel both felt something was wrong.

In their imagination, the fire ring was similar to a circus fire ring, standing upright in the air, with people or trained animals jumping through it, known as ”jumping through the fire ring.”

But the fire ring here was different; it wasn’t ”upright,” but was spread flat on the sea surface.

The most important thing was, when the phantom dolphin jumped into the fire ring, it was no longer under Laplace’s control.

It began to swim back and forth in the fire ring, and no matter how Laplace tried to control it, it wouldn’t move forward.

Soon, the phantom dolphin even started altering the posture of standing Laplace on it without control, placing her on its mouth.

It looked somewhat like... a dolphin balancing a colorful ball. Only now, that colorful ball was Laplace.

Watching this scene, Angel faintly developed a suspicion.

”Is this phantom dolphin performing?” Angel whispered, ”Could it be that you need to perform together with it for it to jump through the fire ring?”

Laplace: ”Probably not.”

When Laplace said this, her confidence was evidently weak.

She actually kind of agreed with Angel, but to let her perform... especially being balanced on the dolphin’s mouth, she was unwilling.

Therefore, she simply dismissed this suspicion and instead wondered if there was another problem in between.

Time passed bit by bit, and Laplace’s expression grew increasingly somber.

When the countdown was down to one minute, Laplace finally admitted... perhaps the fire ring truly was a stage for performance, requiring a show to leave.

Laplace attempted to perform, but time was already down to only half a minute.

Gazing at the distant shore, Laplace took a long breath and quickly spoke.

”My challenge should fail.”

”Later, after failing, you take Glaipnir and Luigi offline first; I will be waiting for you in the mirrored space.”

Laplace didn’t struggle anymore.

She originally thought she could save the temporal body; unexpectedly, not only did she fail to save it, but she also got herself involved.

Laplace’s mood at this moment could be described as extremely gloomy.

Angel knew, any comforting words at this time wouldn’t have any positive effect, so he just nodded: ”Okay.”

As the countdown ended.

The audience roared with boos...

Angel didn’t look further because he felt that Laplace had already gone offline.

After exiting the box garden perspective, Angel glanced at the side where Glaipnir and Luigi were, letting out a deep sigh.

Luigi was still unaware of the situation, curiously inquiring. Glaipnir saw the truth at a glance and softly asked, ”Going offline?”

Angel nodded: ”Going offline.”

Angel and Glaipnir’s figures gradually became blurry, and at that moment, Luigi seemed to come to his senses, sluggish for two seconds, then followed suit and went offline.

...

When everyone opened their eyes, Laplace and the rabbit girl had already awaken, and they faced each other.

The atmosphere was somewhat subtle.

Laplace wanted to say something but swallowed her words at the tip of her tongue.

The rabbit girl looked at Laplace worriedly, and even without speaking, concern was visible in her brow.

”At this very moment, a song should be sung,” Luigi’s voice intrusively chimed in. Moreover, he actually began to play the harp in his hands, even though the notes had a touch of melancholy and sorrow, Laplace couldn’t help but scowl.

”Shut up.” The familiar command to stop.

Luigi curled his lips and halted his hand from playing: ”I just wanted to ease the atmosphere a bit...”

Although Luigi was quite insensitive, he did indeed slightly bring the atmosphere from being subtle back to normal.

Glaipnir also seized the chance to ask, ”What happened?”

Upon mentioning it, Laplace’s expression grew uncomfortable, so Angel spoke up.

He briefly described the situation at the ”Sunshine Circus.”

After listening to Angel’s account, Glaipnir muttered under his breath: ”Turns out a performance is needed, well, after all, it’s... a circus.”

After the words, Glaipnir’s gaze unconsciously shifted to Luigi.

Speaking of performances... they were not lacking talents here.

Luigi was indeed a performance enthusiast.

Luigi immediately understood Glaipnir’s meaning, quickly saying: ”You want me to challenge the Sunshine Circus? No, no, no, that’s impossible.”

”Performing is not a problem for me, but walking a tightrope might be beyond me, since even Little Laplace failed, how could I succeed? And besides, the battle royal, I don’t think I could survive the pursuit of the Joker’s head.”

Although Luigi seemed evasive, Angel felt Luigi’s words were actually correct.

Performance might not be an issue for him, but the challenge required more than just performance; there needed to be a certain physical fitness.

Especially the second swamp course, which even with activating the fairyland physique nearly got Laplace caught by the Joker’s head, let alone Luigi.

Angel pondered a while; there seemed to be only two solutions for now.

First, let Luigi complete some special dreamlands, acquire enchanted land tools or fairyland physique, and eventually challenge the Sunshine Circus to rescue Laplace and the rabbit girl.

This idea sounds feasible, but most crystal creations remain in the Immortal Realm, and how these creations can exit the realm is still a mystery. The headband the rabbit girl encountered remains a solitary case, and it’s impossible to find logic within it.

Though compelling magic monsters could forcibly produce crystal creations, would the creations suit Luigi? If these creations bind outer strength, usable only through Immortal Realm’s power, wouldn’t they have propelled him into another fire pit even before navigating the ”Sunshine Circus”?

Second, Angel could devise a way to control Wonderland of Dreams through the Ability Tree. But how much time would it take for Angel’s proficiency in ”Wonderland of Dreams” to reach a level capable of affecting the ”Sunshine Circus” remains unknown.

Hence, both methods have their flaws... Weighing them together, Angel leaned more towards the second approach.

Just as Angel was about to voice his thoughts, Laplace spoke first, ”Perhaps Luigi doesn’t need to take the risk.”

Luigi was taken aback: ”What do you mean?”

Laplace whispered, ”I received a hint message before going offline...”