Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3227: Chapter 3228: Disguising Mediocrity

Pierdan believed this Invention Mouse was special mainly because... it gained self-awareness shortly after birth.

”Probably on the third day after it was born, it showed signs of melancholy for the first time.”

Melancholy is an emotional state, and emotions are the starting point of all life forms’ perceptions of the outside world. The more complex the emotion, the deeper the perception it represents. Melancholy is evidently a more complex emotion.

”Afterwards, it took just one month to overcome the most difficult vocalization hurdles for mice and learned to express meaning with throaty sounds.”

”Next, it spent three months learning the Pirush language.”

”After mastering the language, it gave itself a name.”

As Pierdan spoke, he glanced at Pixi and then said softly, ”It named itself... Nak Su.”

”Nak Su?” Pixi’s expression froze upon hearing the name, and he murmured, ”Why does it sound familiar?”

Pixi frowned and pondered for a moment, then suddenly seemed to think of something and said deliberately, ”Nak Fei?”

Nak Fei? Nak Su? Luigi and Angel were bewildered. The names sounded quite similar, but what special significance did they hold?

Luigi directly asked, ”Is there an issue with the name?”

Pixi: ”Pifeifei’s original name was Nak Fei...”

With the explanations from Pixi and Pierdan, Angel and Luigi finally understood the situation.

Pifeifei also gained self-awareness shortly after birth. After learning the language, she named herself: Nak Fei.

Later on, the Pier family felt the name didn’t fit the Pirush style, so they changed it to what we now know as Pifeifei.

And Nak Su’s experiences were very similar to Pifeifei’s: it also gained early self-awareness, named itself, and even chose a name strikingly similar to Pifeifei’s.

Pierdan: ”This is also why I think this Invention Mouse is very special.”

Pixi: ”Judging solely by their early experiences, they are indeed similar to Pifeifei. But are you sure it didn’t know Pifeifei’s original name when it named itself?”

Could it be that Nak Su knew Pifeifei’s original name and deliberately chose a similar name to gain attention?

Pierdan: ”I can’t ascertain whether Nak Su knew Pifeifei’s original name. But judging from its initial learning abilities and displayed talent, it compares favorably with its contemporaries like Pifeifei, if not slightly better in some areas.”

For instance, Pifeifei showed complex emotions on the third day after birth and took two months to overcome vocal hurdles. Nak Su excelled in these areas compared to Pifeifei.

However, Pifeifei only took two and a half months to learn and proficiently use the Pirush language, which was better than Nak Su.

Considering Pifeifei was self-taught while Nak Su was taught, it’s natural that Nak Su appears slightly disadvantaged from an inert motivation standpoint. One is active, the other passive, and passive learners often rely heavily on their instructors and become slothful, which is understandable.

Pixi thought for a moment: ”Regardless of whether it was influenced by Pifeifei’s original name, just from its early performance, it’s admittedly outstanding.”

At this point, Pixi paused: ”Since it was so outstanding, why have I never heard of it?”

Pifeifei’s feats were known to Pixi as soon as they emerged.

But if Pierdan hadn’t mentioned today’s events, Pixi would have known nothing about Nak Su.

This is quite peculiar, a learning prodigy comparable to Pifeifei remained unknown in Pipi Castle?

Pierdan: ”From what I gathered, after displaying its language learning capabilities, this Invention Mouse gradually faded into obscurity. Its brilliance seemed to only glow for half a year before it became mundane.”

The merchant who raised Nak Su was an opportunist. When Nak Su first showed promise, he hesitated whether to immediately reveal it for profit.

After weighing his options for a long time, he gambled by choosing to temporarily withhold the news. Instead, he purchased a lot of information from the academic library for Nak Su to absorb, planning to cultivate it a bit more, and then reveal its potential all at once.

He had big dreams, but unfortunately, he bet wrong this time.

Nak Su, this rising star, shone only once before quickly fading into mediocrity.

By the time he decided to sell Nak Su, the opportunity had passed. The now ”ordinary” Nak Su, like other Invention Mice, could at most understand some language but little else.

”Falling is common; only a few suns continue radiating light and heat,” Pixi lamented, ”Since it has become ordinary, there’s no need to discuss it further.”

Pierdan hesitated before speaking softly, ”Although they all think it became ordinary, I can’t help but feel there might still be something amiss.”

Luigi, understanding the general idea, chimed in: ”You think it isn’t truly ordinary, but pretending to be?”

Pierdan nodded: ”Yes.”

Pixi frowned: ”Pretending to be ordinary? Why would it feign mediocrity? Do you have evidence to prove it’s pretending?”

Pierdan: ”Evidence, I can’t provide. But the merchant once told me he caught Nak Su secretly reading a paper when alone. However, after being caught, Nak Su never looked at papers again.”

”This behavior leads me to believe that Nak Su might really be pretending to be ordinary.”

Pixi: ”Reading papers doesn’t mean anything. You can read them too, even if you don’t understand, you can use them as bedtime reading.”

Pierdan: ”...”

During the conversation between Pierdan and Pixi, Luigi turned to Angel and asked, ”What do you think of this Invention Mouse?”

Angel shrugged: ”I haven’t seen it, how would I know?”

Just listening to accounts makes it difficult to make an accurate judgment. The speaker often has a stance, and it’s hard to make an objective judgment.

However, despite saying that, Angel offered his opinion: ”I can’t evaluate much else, but if what the merchant said is true, that he caught Nak Su reading papers and then Nak Su never read papers again... based on this, I lean towards the possibility that Nak Su might be pretending.”

If Nak Su had continued reading papers after being caught, then perhaps it truly used papers as bedtime reading or time-passing entertainment.

The fact that Nak Su stopped reading papers after being caught is very peculiar.

Because only by understanding the value of ”papers” would Nak Su treasure them.

If it doesn’t understand their value, then papers would mean no more to Nak Su than scraps by the roadside. In that case, why care whether to read or not to read them?

Not to mention Luigi’s reaction to Angel’s remarks—on the other hand, Pixi, who was initially in conversation with Pierdan, paused after hearing Angel’s words and turned to Angel: ”Sir, do you also think Nak Su is pretending?”

Angel: ”I just mentioned a possibility.”

He wouldn’t dare make any rash guarantees. When analyzing anything purely, just looking at one aspect can make it seem plausible, but reality often isn’t a one-way street; it’s filled with multiple possibilities. He merely pointed out one of the more probable answers, which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the correct one.

Pixi: ”Would you like to see Nak Su for yourself?”

Angel instinctively wanted to refuse; he hadn’t really been that interested in the Invention Mouse. However, just as he was about to voice his refusal, he caught sight of Luigi.

Luigi was looking at him expectantly.

Angel paused for half a second and swallowed back the words: ”If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I’d like to see it.”

Pixi chuckled: ”It’s no trouble, definitely no trouble, right?”

While Pixi was still talking to Angel, the last question was directed at Pierdan.

Pierdan responded without hesitation: ”I know where that vendor typically is, usually in the stall area near Zone Fourteen. I can go fetch him.”

Pixi: ”Then hurry up, don’t keep the guest waiting too long.”

Pierdan nodded immediately: ”I’ll head out now.”

After saying this, Pierdan quickly sprinted towards the direction outside the station, as the stall area wasn’t in the main hub of Ring Fort but was located on the outskirts.

”The stall area is quite a distance from here, and given the current queues outside, even using teleportation might not directly reach this floor. So, I hope you’ll be patient for a moment.” Pixi apologized to Angel.

Angel waved it off indifferently; anyway, he was waiting to meet Pika Sage who was also receiving guests, so it didn’t bother him to wait a little longer.

However, before Pierdan returned, they couldn’t just stand around doing nothing.

Angel discussed with Laplace and decided to first learn about the Singers and the Feather Forest Clan.

As for how to go about it, naturally, they decided to start with adding pages.

Under normal circumstances, one would need to queue to get a number to add pages, but with Pixi around, they could bypass this step and proceed directly to the add page segment.

However, adding pages wasn’t instant; after all, it’s a manual task, so it required some waiting.

But they were waiting anyway, so an additional wait didn’t really matter.

Pixi handed the exhibition booklet to a Pippi guard, instructing him to bring it inside the Crystal Palace. Given the current speed of page additions by Pippi, it might take around five to ten minutes to get it back.

During the waiting time, they went to sit near Pippi’s exhibition stage, listening to Pippi showcase personal skills while taking a brief rest.

On the stage, a confident Red Skin Pippi walked up with a smile. From his wide grin, one could see his entire mouth filled with pitch-black stained teeth.

”The technology I’m demonstrating looks forward to mechanical wings that can allow ordinary people to fly into the sky...”

Red Skin Pippi talked enthusiastically for quite some time, but not a single person offered an investment, and he left disheartened.

Flight might be something that earthbound mortal beings envy, but for Transcendent lives, it’s a basic feature, and considering the numerous Transcendent beings sitting below the stage, it’s not surprising investment was lacking.

After Red Skin Pippi left the stage, a timid green Pippi took the stage.

From his attire and his shy and timid expression, he likely comes from the impoverished lower class, starkly different from the previously ”confidently glowing” Red Nobility Pippi.

”I, I would like to present my idea, the bionic arm...”

In simple terms, the bionic arm is implanted into the body and operated through special bioelectricity, achieving the state of moving the arm at the thought of it.

According to this green Pippi’s idea, the opera of bionic arms during experiments or special tasks would be quicker and safer. If one can multitask, it could even handle multiple work projects simultaneously.

In Angel’s words, it’s essentially the manifest version of the Hand of Magic Power.

The idea is average, but the control method is quite unique, and two people from the audience did offer investments. Though only two thousand Crystalline in total, the green Pippi left the stage contentedly.

Following this, quite a few other Pippi took the stage, and Angel was somewhat surprised to find that the probability of Red Skin Pippi receiving investments was actually lower than that of the green Pippi.

Most green Pippi in Pipi Castle belong to the commoner class, whereas the Red Skin Pippi are part of the scarce aristocracy class.

In the past, the aristocracy monopolized knowledge, which meant Red Skin Pippi held the power of speech. But with the Enlightenment activities by Pika Sage, more green Pippi have taken the stage to showcase themselves.

Pika Sage’s achievements are truly remarkable.

...

About six minutes later, the page additions finally concluded, and the exhibition booklet was returned to them.

Luigi did not immediately open the exhibition booklet but instead looked at Pixi: ”Since the Singers and the Feather Forest Clan could have their exhibition booklet specifically add pages, is there any way I could add a page to sell something?”

If they could also add pages, then the Log-in Device could be placed in the exhibition booklet as a promotional channel.

Pixi: ”This... is not up to me; it requires the joint decision of the Sage, the Elders of the Crystal Eye Clan, and the Mirror Sea Scholars.”

If it was before the gathering, when the exhibition booklet hadn’t been distributed to all clans, Luigi could easily add a page; but now that the booklet has been distributed, adding pages becomes quite difficult.

The Singers and Feather Forest Clan are exceptions, as they come from clans of other Mirror Domains, naturally possessing a rare aura.

Additionally, the products offered by the Singers and Feather Forest Clan are indeed highly valuable, which managed to impress those in higher positions.

It would be difficult for Luigi to get a page added simply on his own.

Luigi also understood Pixi’s position and did not give him a hard time. Instead, as he flipped through the new exhibition booklet, he asked, ”The Singers and Feather Forest Clan members probably visited the Pippi’s station, right?”

Pixi nodded: ”They’ve been here.”

After all, to add pages, the Singers and the Feather Forest Clan would come here to register with Pippi.

Luigi: ”Did you see them?”

Pixi: ”I did see them, but only from afar; I didn’t personally interact with them.”

Luigi raised his head and looked at Pixi: ”Personally, do you have any thoughts about the Singers and the Feather Forest Clan?”