Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2932: Chapter 2933: Dream from the Western Lands

For Laplace, the host didn’t heap on much praise, just casually said ”graceful figure” and moved on.

The procedure that followed was the same as for the Rabbit Girl.

A table rose up at the center of the stage, and on it lay the reward prepared for Laplace.

But while the Rabbit Girl could choose one of two, Laplace’s reward consisted of only one thing: a Silver Fox costume suit.

The effect of the Silver Fox costume suit was also similar to the Rabbit Doll: once worn, you could inherit a portion of the Silver Fox’s abilities.

”Silver Fox Challengers can also customize the color. It doesn’t have to be a single color—if you want it as gaudy as a rainbow, that’s fine too,” the host said with a smile.

Laplace shook her head. ”No need.”

She didn’t care about these rewards; a small nod was all the acknowledgement she gave before letting it pass.

The host didn’t mind either, and turned his head to look at the third Challenger: Luigi.

Facing Luigi, the host’s enthusiasm flared up again, and it was even stronger than what he’d shown the Rabbit Girl; his praise poured out in a torrent, and people could even see the admiration in his eyes through that comical face paint.

Obviously, Luigi’s performance had completely won the host over.

Still, compliments were just the prelude; the main point was the reward—

The lights beneath the colorful canopy overhead flickered; amid the tooting of trumpets, countless streamers burst forth, iridescent smoke billowed out, and within the smoke, three very ornate display cases rose up at the center of the stage.

Inside the display cases were three plates as well, and on the plates lay Luigi’s rewards.

This was an entirely different Ceremony from what they’d seen for the others receiving rewards, highlighting just how much the Sunshine Circus valued Luigi.

Such a lively public reveal made everyone all the more curious what Luigi’s rewards would be.

Following the beams of the spotlights, they saw that within the three transparent display cases, each held a different prize.

In the first display case was a Red-tailed Frog costume suit.

Seeing that, everyone more or less understood some of the pattern behind the rewards; this costume suit was probably a fixed reward—everyone had one.

As for whether choosing the costume suit as your reward was worth it, that depended on what animal you’d picked when you chose your code name.

This also showed that when Wonderland of Dreams granted rewards, it followed a certain principle of balance.

If you wanted to save effort on the course, you’d definitely choose a light costume suit, and the animals corresponding to those suits were mostly weak; at final settlement, even if you chose such a costume suit and were granted some abilities, they wouldn’t be that strong.

If you chose one of the heavy costume suits for the course, that didn’t necessarily mean the animal corresponding to it would be stronger than those of the lighter suits. But looking at the distribution, most animals for heavy costume suits were indeed stronger than those for the light ones.

Just like the White Bear that Glaipnir chose: very cumbersome to wear on the course, but a real White Bear wasn’t just agile and nimble, it also had powerful Attack Power. In terms of value, the White Bear costume suit was far more worthwhile than the Red-tailed Frog, White Rabbit, or Silver Fox before it.

Of course, there were exceptions.

Value couldn’t measure everything.

Take the Rabbit Girl: the Rabbit Doll wasn’t necessarily better than that revolver, but she insisted on trading for the Rabbit Doll because... she liked it.

No price can buy my willingness.

So you couldn’t lump everything together.

The first display case held the Red-tailed Frog, and in terms of practical value, it was probably even lower than the previous two. But Luigi’s score was high, so he had the right to choose; even if he abandoned the Red-tailed Frog costume suit, he still had a two-out-of-three choice.

The item in the second display case was a badge.

The background of the badge was two rectangular keys, one dark and one light, looking like the black and white keys of a piano, and set off by these keys were several instruments of different shapes.

Angel also saw the badge. As someone of Nobility, he had seen many kinds of badges. Judging from the badge in the display case, its design didn’t look like the type used to represent a family crest.

Ordinary family crests would not use musical instruments as their emblem; even if they did, there would only be one raised instrument as the main motif. On this emblem, however, there were many kinds of instruments. Compared to a family badge, it looked more like... a school badge.

As Angel was thinking this, the host also began introducing the badge: ”This is the school badge of Birmingham Eden College.”

”Birmingham Eden College is the best music academy in the Dusman Empire. As long as you possess this school badge, you’ll receive the finest treatment wherever you go in the musical theater world.”

It was indeed a school badge, and judging from the host’s introduction, this badge was probably similar to ’the glory of the Fan Family’—a kind of identity token.

Angel didn’t care much for this so-called identity token; what he cared about was the ’Dusman Empire’ the host mentioned.

He had the nagging feeling he’d seen the name of this country somewhere before.

Angel carefully combed through his memories for a moment, but his mind was still blank... With his current memory, to have something slip his mind like this could only mean one thing: he must have caught that name in passing, without noticing.

The hardest memories to search for were the ”unintentional” ones. As long as your eyes are open, there are things you catch unintentionally every moment; perhaps in your peripheral vision, perhaps in your blind spot, perhaps in a casual sweep of your gaze, all captured into the Memory Casket.

Trying to find these fragmented bits of memory was like fishing a needle out of the ocean—it all depended on luck.

Of course, if Angel’s strength reached Sanders’ level, recalling the ”unintentional” would be much easier. But it would still take some time to search.

Just as Angel was about to give up searching, he heard Luigi mutter under his breath by his ear: ”Dusman Empire... That seems to be a country in the West Continent Wizard World...”

West Continent Wizard World!

With that keyword, the ”auto-search” system in Angel’s mind, which had almost sputtered out, started running again.

This time, Angel finally locked onto a memory of the ”Dusman Empire.”

Previously, deep in the Mist Sea, he had discovered Tagong Mechanist No. 4 Laboratory... or rather Snook Base. In that base belonging to an extraterritorial organization, he’d collected quite a few magazines from other parts of the Wizards’ Realm.

Among them was one titled Port Chronicles, from the West Continent Wizard World, a periodical published once a year by a magazine company in Victor Warmwind Port, which recounted various anecdotes about Victor Warmwind City.

And although Victor Warmwind City was a City of Wizards, it wasn’t drifting about aimlessly; the country it was located in was the Dusman Empire.

Because the content of Port Chronicles was somewhat boring and... distant, Angel had only skimmed it at the time and didn’t pay it much attention. That was precisely why it had taken so long for him to recall this mortal Empire called Dusman.

Since something from the Dusman Empire had appeared here, did that mean this Sunshine Circus dream came from the ”West Continent Wizard World”? And that the Dream Creator who was the host was also from the West Continent Wizard World?

The host also heard Luigi’s words, and with a slightly puzzled expression said, ”West Continent Wizard World? I’ve never heard of that. But the West Continent... that does sound a bit familiar. I think my vocal teacher once said that the place we’re in is called the West Continent.”

Hearing this, Angel could more or less confirm that this host should indeed be from the West Continent Wizard World, though he himself was likely just one of the Mortals.

It was perfectly normal for Mortals not to know about the Wizards’ Realm.

As for why his vocal teacher knew the term ’West Continent’... it was possible the teacher was a Transcendent, or perhaps a member of the Nobility who knew some inside information.

Host: ”But anyway, none of that matters. Let’s get back to the rewards. Red-tailed Frog Challenger, do you want me to keep explaining this academy emblem, or shall we go straight to the third display case?”

Luigi pondered for a moment, then asked, ”You said before that as long as I have this emblem, I’ll receive top‑tier treatment at any musical theatre... Why? Aren’t they afraid someone might impersonate the owner?”

Host: ”One emblem corresponds to one student. As long as the corresponding student doesn’t expose you, you can become the owner of this emblem and enjoy all the privileges that come with it.”

Luigi: ”And how do I make sure the owner of the emblem won’t expose me?”

To everyone else, Luigi’s question sounded a bit like he was deliberately picking holes, because isn’t it just an identity credential? When Laplace got ’Fan Family’s Glory’, she naturally inherited the Nobility status. Wonderland of Dreams has its own rules of operation—who’s going to expose you inside the Immortal Realm?

However, the host, who might be looking at Luigi through a ”worship” filter, didn’t think he was nitpicking at all, and still answered him seriously.

”If Red-tailed Frog Challenger chooses the emblem, with your strength no one will doubt you; you’re fully qualified to wear it. Besides...” At this point, the host paused, his eyes turning a little strange. ”Besides, this emblem is actually mine; my name is engraved on the back. Since I took it out, that naturally means I acknowledge that Red-tailed Frog Challenger is qualified to inherit my emblem.”

At this, everyone froze for a second.

They had thought this emblem was just something Wonderland of Dreams casually manifested as a reward. They hadn’t expected it to actually be provided by the host himself, and the logic behind it was surprisingly tight.

Luigi nodded and didn’t ask further.

The host, calming his slightly rippled emotions, walked over to the third display case.

Inside the third display case was a harp faintly shining with a soft radiance. The harp itself looked very ordinary, yet simply sitting there it exuded an air of elegance and nobility.

From Angel’s own perspective, this harp was absolutely made to measure for Luigi, and also absolutely the best of the three rewards.

Sure enough, when the host started introducing the harp, he just laid all the cards on the table and said outright that this harp was part of the Circus leader’s collection, taken out specially for Luigi.

And this harp had been crafted by a Light Envoy at the Church of Radiance headquarters in the Dusman Empire.

Its name: Harp of Radiance.

The Harp of Radiance has been bathed in holy light and has accompanied countless Sainthood Chants. Hymn‑type exclamations played with it will sink even deeper into people’s hearts.

In other words, this harp possesses the power to influence people’s hearts.

Host: ”Now the choice is in Red-tailed Frog Challenger’s hands. You may pick one of these three rewards. If you want my recommendation, you can tell me as well.”

Hearing this, Angel said faintly, ”Didn’t you say before that he should follow the choice in his heart? How come now you’re saying you can recommend one?”

Host: ”Because Red-tailed Frog Challenger is worth me making a recommendation for.”

Everyone fell silent.

As expected, having a high score really is different—the differential treatment couldn’t be more obvious.

Luigi followed his lead and asked, ”If you were to recommend, what would you recommend?”

The host replied without any hesitation: ”First choice is the harp, second choice the emblem. My top recommendation, without a doubt, is the Harp of Radiance. If you used it to perform the lyrics Red-tailed Frog Challenger sang earlier, it would be the perfect combination... As for the emblem, it has some use, but not that much. As for the Red-tailed Frog mascot suit, I don’t recommend choosing that.”

After listening to the host’s suggestion, Luigi nodded. ”I understand. Then I choose...”

”The Birmingham Eden College emblem.”

The host had already been about to take out the harp, but when he heard Luigi’s choice, he froze on the spot.

He had no idea why Luigi would choose the emblem, but he still followed Luigi’s wishes and took the emblem out.

While taking out the emblem, the host continued to try to dissuade him: ”The emblem is actually not that useful. I really advise you to choose the Harp of Radiance.”

Luigi’s smile was radiant. ”It’s fine. I think inheriting the host’s identity sounds pretty good.”

Hearing this, the host murmured under his breath, ”Inherit my identity...”

After a brief silence, the host sighed and stopped trying to persuade him, handing the emblem over to Luigi.

The others all looked at Luigi; they didn’t understand his choice either.

Luigi, however, happily pinned the emblem to his chest, then said softly to everyone, ”Intuition. Intuition.”

Luigi himself had been inclined toward the harp, but his intuition told him that the emblem might bring him some interesting developments later.

Since he had already used ”intuition” as his reason when he took that bouquet of flowers from the Rabbit Girl and pushed his score up to 24, he might as well carry this intuition through to the end.

He didn’t know if his intuition was wrong this time, but it didn’t matter.

...

Following the order of the course, once Luigi’s reward was settled, it was Glaipnir’s turn.

Glaipnir’s score was 15, not far from Laplace’s 13. Glaipnir had thought she would also only get to choose a mascot suit, but unexpectedly, her treatment was the same as the Rabbit Girl’s: a choice between two.

From this, it could be seen that the rewards had been divided into three tiers: those above 20 points got three choices; those from 15 points and up got two; and those below 15 probably only got a mascot suit.

Of course, it was still unknown whether those under 10 points would even get a mascot suit. They could check Angel’s reward in a bit to find out, since Angel’s score was 9, just under 10.

Glaipnir’s rewards were: a White Bear mascot suit, and a small Black Cat that kept glancing left and right.

This was the first time a ”living creature” had appeared as a reward.

According to the host’s introduction, this small Black Cat was exactly the Black Tiger Glaipnir had tamed earlier on the track.

And Glaipnir had already seen the Black Tiger’s abilities before... not exactly impressive.

One crack of the Whip was enough to turn it into a small Black Cat—how powerful could it be?

Judged purely by value, the White Bear mascot suit was undoubtedly the better reward. However, Glaipnir did not choose the White Bear mascot suit, but instead chose the small Black Cat.

It wasn’t that Glaipnir had developed any affection for such a little Black Cat.

In Glaipnir’s own words, she wanted to study the living creatures in the Crystal Origin of Dreams—or rather, the living beings born from the Fairyland Authority of Wonderland of Dreams—and see what difference there was between them and creatures from the outside world.

In other words, she was treating the small Black Cat as a research subject.

The small Black Cat, however, still knew nothing of its fate, happily meowing at Glaipnir.

When the host placed the small Black Cat into Glaipnir’s hands, it even rubbed affectionately against her palm, completely unaware of its destiny and just how rough its future would be.

After Glaipnir finished her choice, the only reward left to be settled was Angel’s.

At this moment, the host also turned his gaze toward Angel.