Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3342: Chapter 3343: Traveler Listening to Heart Sounds

Angel naturally had no opinion about the Dog Deacon’s choice.

Because he also wanted to know what the Dog Deacon’s Training Dungeon would look like? Also, would the content of the instance have anything to do with the ”Forest Fairy Tale”?

With doubt in his heart, Angel quietly watched the Dog Deacon, waiting for his next move.

The ”Forest Fairy Tale” looked thin, but there were still many pages inside. Moreover, to remember every detail, the Dog Deacon read it very carefully.

It took him over ten minutes, only then did the Dog Deacon roughly go through the contents of the ”Forest Fairy Tale” and turn to the last page.

On the last page, the left side was still text, while the right side was an illustration.

However, this time, the text wasn’t a fairy tale, but more like a prequel to the second volume of ”Forest Fairy Tale” with a note saying ”to be continued.”

”All the little partners living in the Green Rainforest have unique and precious qualities. Although occasionally, they encounter some offbeat situations, it does not hinder their innocent hearts from glowing.”

”However, for some reason, these adorable little ones attracted the attention of the witch on the tall tower.”

”One noon, the old witch, riding her crooked broomstick, flew over the Green Rainforest.”

”Oh, look at the witch’s upturned eyes. She’s angry, she’s furious, but it’s unclear whom her rage is directed at.”

”Only to see the angry witch picking up a magic wand made from an unknown bone, and lightly pointing at the creatures below. The mysterious magical particles merged into the moist air and were inhaled by the multitude below through their nostrils.”

”Immediately, the partners who inhaled the magical particles, as if drunk, staggered around in place.”

”Stumbling, swaying.”

”With a ’thud,’ all the rainforest companions fell asleep on the ground.”

”When they awoke, the witch was gone. They looked at each other, unable to understand what had happened, thinking everything had just passed.”

”Suddenly, a small hippo screamed, because it saw its face in the reflection of the pond.”

”It shouted: This is not me, this is not me! I am not the little hippo!”

”Next to it, a frog brother croaked twice: You are not the little hippo, who are you?”

”’Little Hippo’ froze for a moment, pointed to its nose dumbly, and said: Hmm, who am I? Why did I suddenly forget who I am.”

”Not just the little hippo, other little ones also started asking the same question.”

”Seeing this, my dear practitioner, you probably guessed the answer. Yes, the angry witch’s magic scrambled the souls of the rainforest companions, stuffing them into different bodies.”

”The little hippo is not the little hippo, the golden cookie is not the golden cookie, the black sister is not the black sister...”

”Furthermore, not only were their souls scrambled, but their former cognitions were also stripped away. They only know they shouldn’t be in their current flesh, but they’ve all forgotten who they once were.”

”As the little ones wallowed in amnesia and confusion, suddenly, a giant door opened.”

Above is the text on the left page, summarizing the current situation, leaving a mystery.

The illustration on the right depicts a giant door.

The door stood above a lake surface, surrounded by water so still it was like a mirror, with a dense forest in the distance. Undeniably, the door standing above the water appeared very abruptly.

It seems like the appearance of the door was meant to complement the text on the left.

The Dog Deacon hesitated for a moment, then following Angel’s instructions, gently raised his hand to touch the door in the illustration.

Upon his touch, the door within the illustration emitted a myriad of lights.

In a flash, the brilliance broke through the constraints of two dimensions, gushed into the three-dimensional world, and constructed an identical door before the Dog Deacon.

A sea breeze blew by, taking away the light mist. Only a two-meter-tall door remained, standing at the center of the rocky shore.

The moment the door appeared, strange information flooded into the Dog Deacon’s mind.

If he were in the outside world, the Dog Deacon might have been startled. Fortunately, Laplace had briefed him before, and he knew this influx of information into his mind was a mechanism of the Miniature Garden instance.

It’s referred to as: Fairyland Intelligence, Fairyland Information, or Fairyland Prompt.

And now, the Fairyland Prompt visible in his mind consisted of only two sentences.

”The door to the Green Rainforest is about to open.”

”Has the practitioner from the Otherworld prepared to accept the commission from the rainforest companions?”

Two inexplicable sentences, if the Dog Deacon hadn’t read the previous ”Forest Fairy Tale,” he might not have understood at all.

But combining these two sentences with the text on the last page, it made much more sense.

On the other hand, Angel also spied on the Fairyland Prompt through Authority. What the Dog Deacon could think of, Angel naturally could think of too.

According to the current situation, it seems the Dog Deacon’s Training Dungeon is likely related to the story on the last page of the ”Forest Fairy Tale.”

The little animals who lost their memories and cognitions, their souls entered the bodies of other animals.

Now, the Fairyland Prompt clearly stated that the practitioner is to undertake the commission of the ”rainforest companions.”

Therefore, the Dog Deacon’s task is quite apparent, most likely to help these little animals find their own bodies.

And how can he help the little animals regain their sense of self?

Actually, the method is already laid out in the open.

The souls were swapped, and memories blocked, but one thing remains unchanged, which is their personality and psychological logic.

By analyzing the personalities of each little animal through the previous small stories in ”Forest Fairy Tale.” Once personality insight is grasped, engaging with them, identifying the habits revealed during interaction, basically determines what their former self was.

In short, it’s psychological profiling for each little animal.

In a sense, it also corresponds to the Dog Deacon’s Mind Reading Ability.

Angel’s analysis was naturally something the Dog Deacon could also think of. He didn’t hide it and shared all the hints he got from the fairyland and his personal analysis: ”...It seems my next trial is to give these soul-exchanged little animals new names.”

Laplace: ”Your analysis is likely correct, and it corresponds to your special talent. However, there are two points to note here.”

Dog Deacon: ”Two points?”

Laplace nodded: ”First, even if you rename these little animals, you don’t have the means to exchange their souls. So, it’s highly probable that the subsequent part of this training instance will require you to find out how to exchange souls.”

”Second, in this story, the High Tower Witch won’t simply be an unrelated side character. If you want to find out how to exchange souls, you can’t avoid dealing with this witch; perhaps you’ll encounter her in the subsequent parts of this training instance.”

The two points Laplace mentioned are not insignificant; they are bound to be realized.

Angel agreed and stroked his chin, murmuring: ”Given the current situation, the content of the training instance seems to be closely related to the practitioner’s special abilities. If the Dog Deacon needs to face the High Tower Witch in the Green Forest, there might also be tasks related to mind reading.”

Saying this, Angel looked at the Dog Deacon: ”The last page of ’Forest Fairy Tale’ starts with two sentences...”

”Such adorable little creatures, for some reason, provoked the witch on the tower,” and also ”She’s angry, she’s furious, but it’s unknown because of whom she is furious.”

These two sentences seem to be a foreshadowing, perhaps indicating that the Dog Deacon previously had to solve this puzzle.

And how to solve the puzzle? According to the nature of the training instance, it’s likely by profiling the High Tower Witch.

The possibility Angel brought up was something Laplace also agreed with. Because, unlike other instances, the training instance follows an internal logic revolving around the practitioner’s talent.

Therefore, it is very possible that the Dog Deacon will have to analyze the witch’s thoughts.

Nevertheless, this is just a guess. Whether it’s true or not, we’ll only know after the Dog Deacon enters the instance.

Laplace gently patted the Dog Deacon’s shoulder: ”Since the content of the trial is guessed, it shouldn’t be too hard, so go ahead.”

The Dog Deacon nodded; he also wanted to try to see if he could complete the profiling task without using mind reading.

Thinking about this, the Dog Deacon no longer hesitated, and quickly stepped through the door.

As the Dog Deacon entered, the real instance information also emerged in his mind.

”Special Wonderland ’Traveler Listening to Heart Sounds—Green Rainforest Chapter’ has opened.”

”This fairyland is a training type of chained fairyland opened by a practitioner with special talent.”

”Upon completion of this fairyland, the unsealing progress bar of the practitioner’s special talent will open.”

”The practitioner may enter the fairyland once daily, and before completing it, others cannot enter.”

”If the practitioner completes it within the existence time of the fairyland, the training fairyland will become a permanent fairyland... and will merge into the Silver Coral Island. If the completion fails, the chained fairyland will close, and the practitioner’s talent will be completely sealed.”

”This training fairyland exists for 720 hours, and the countdown has already started—719:59:59.”

Angel also saw this information, which was generally similar to the information Little Red had previously. There were only two differences: the name of the instance and that, after completion, the training instance would merge into the Silver Coral Island.

At the time, Little Red’s fairyland hint only stated that after the training instance’s completion, it would become a permanent fairyland. But the Dog Deacon’s fairyland hint mentioned merging into the Silver Coral Island.

Perhaps, it’s because they opened the training instance within the Silver Coral Island?

However, thinking about it, is there any difference between directly becoming a permanent fairyland and merging into the Silver Coral Island?

Angel was a little confused, so he decided not to dwell on it. Anyway, Little Red’s and the Dog Deacon’s training fairylands are respectively in the outside world and within the instance; they’ll know the difference once they both clear it.

Because the Dog Deacon, after entering the Green Forest, was still digesting the new fairyland hints, he hadn’t moved. So, Angel temporarily shifted his attention away from him to tell Laplace about the new instance information.

Laplace: ”From the name, it seems like another puzzle-type training fairyland...”

And this time, it’s the Green Rainforest Chapter; next time, will it be the Red Volcano Chapter?

Also, the instance’s formal name is ’Traveler Listening to Heart Sounds’; does this mean that in all subsequent Chapters, the Dog Deacon will act as a roaming psychological profiler?

”The Dog Deacon’s mind-reading ability is strong; needing to collect puzzles to unlock abilities, this is quite normal.” Angel echoed, then asked: ”By the way, the Dog Deacon should be solving the instance next. Do you want to watch its process?”

In other words, if Laplace was curious, Angel could use the Illusion Technique to livestream the Dog Deacon’s puzzle-solving process.

Laplace thought about it but shook his head: ”Never mind, I know it well. Once it focuses entirely on something, it will forget about all external disturbances.”

In other words, it won’t rest until it achieves its goal.

From the time limit given by the training instance, it’s definitely not easy; it won’t be able to solve it in a short time. Watching it live might take an unknown amount of time, so there’s no need at all.

Knowing whether or not the task is completed is sufficient; the process is not important.

”If there’s nothing urgent, let’s log off first.” Laplace: ”It’s just right, while Meatball is focused on the training instance, we’ll visit the Yingji Clan to see if we can obtain a place in the Heartfire Hall.”

Angel thought for a moment and agreed.

”Alright, then you log off first. I’ll take another look at the Dog Deacon’s instance, then I’ll log off.” Angel still wanted to see if their previous guess was correct.

Laplace didn’t say anything and nodded in agreement.

Before logging off, Laplace looked reluctantly at the surrounding ocean... This was a good fishing spot; perhaps next time he could come here to see if he could catch something.

With whimsical thoughts, Laplace’s figure gradually became transparent, eventually disappearing.

After Laplace logged off, Angel’s thoughts returned to the Dog Deacon’s training fairyland.

Through the Box Garden Perspective, the Dog Deacon now began to move.

His goal was clear, the otter by the lake with its belly up, looking utterly dejected. If Angel remembered correctly, this should be Xhoti the Otter from ’Forest Fairy Tale,’ true to his name, with a baby brother personality.

But it could be foreseen that, now, the body of Xhoti the Otter definitely housed a soul that wasn’t Xhoti’s. As for whose, asking would reveal it.

However, the first problem before the Dog Deacon was not to explore Xhoti the Otter’s soul identity, but... how would he swim to the lakeside?

The door was standing on the lake’s surface; upon entering, the Dog Deacon naturally ended up at the lake’s center.

It’s not that the Dog Deacon couldn’t swim, but he had never swum in human form, splashing in the water for a while without swimming forward...