Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2931: Chapter 2932: Settlement Time

Hearing Angel’s inquiry, Laplace nodded softly, ”I do have some thoughts.”

Angel: ”Can you share them?”

Laplace did not answer immediately but turned to gaze at Glaipnir. Their eyes met, flickering as if in a duel, or perhaps they were making a final confirmation.

After a long moment, Glaipnir sighed softly.

Then Laplace looked at Angel: ”Powers related to memory.”

Angel glanced at Laplace, then at Glaipnir... From their exchange, it was evident that their opinions might not have been aligned, and ultimately, Laplace’s idea prevailed.

Of course, that’s just what Angel observed.

Whether there was genuine discord between them or it was a show for him, Angel couldn’t be sure.

However, Laplace had previously mentioned needing to discuss with Glaipnir before providing an answer, yet despite Glaipnir’s objections, Laplace’s idea was the one that stood.

This piqued Angel’s curiosity about what Glaipnir had suggested.

”Powers related to memory... That should be fine. Wonderland of Dreams actually involves similar powers.” Angel paused. ”However, since you already have the Memory Garden, why are you still fixated on memory-related powers?”

Laplace replied calmly, ”This memory is not that memory, and the power I wish to acquire might not be limited to memory alone; there could be other... unknown realms involved.”

In other words, Laplace wanted not just ordinary memory powers but perhaps powers spanning multiple domains with broader authority.

If that’s the case, Angel understood.

”I see, we can discuss the specifics later.” At this moment, knowing the general idea sufficed, specifics would need further deliberation.

After all, the matter of powers was significant. And his acquaintance with Laplace wasn’t long; granting powers to Laplace was not only to repay Laplace for her help during the cleanup but also to give ”Mirror World” an explanation.

Such a gift of powers was not as generous as Angel’s grant of powers to Sanders.

Like geopolitical divisions, one couldn’t readily agree. Generosity where it’s due, but one must also fight where appropriate. Even non-core powers require such.

So, details could be discussed later.

Laplace also understood the nuances, nodded, and did not continue speaking.

After receiving Laplace’s response, Angel turned his gaze toward Glaipnir: ”Glaipnir should have her own ideas too.”

Glaipnir shook her head, ”The body’s thoughts are my thoughts.”

Angel didn’t believe Glaipnir’s words, and just as she intended to probe further, Laplace interjected, ”She wishes for powers under the Law of Time.”

Angel froze for a moment... the Law of Time.

This is a very secluded and highly mysterious law, belonging to the ”sovereign powers.”

Just like the laws of space and laws of all things, it’s an absolute core law.

Even sub-powers under the Law of Time could be core powers... And core powers, Angel could not relinquish.

”The Law of Time... even in the Wilderness of Dreams, there are no time-related powers.” Angel turned to Glaipnir, ”Because no one can bear them.”

Under Glaipnir’s puzzled gaze, Angel said calmly, ”Bearing powers requires a foundation, and time-related powers require an exceptionally deep foundation, perhaps only a seasoned Legendary Wizard related to time could possibly bear it.”

”And if no one bears the power, it would ultimately just dissipate into the world.”

Angel paused. ”Besides, in a newly birthed world... no, it can’t even be called a world yet, just a newly independent space. Do you think such a space can bear the torrent of time?”

What Angel said was true, but somewhat exaggerated. Time powers, like sovereign powers or first-generation sub-powers, indeed couldn’t be borne by anyone now. But if it were sub-sub-sub powers under time powers, or composite powers involving just a small part of the Law of Time, maybe someone could bear them, for instance... prophecy.

However, even if someone could bear it, and even if time-related powers weren’t core powers, Angel would not grant such powers to anyone now.

Because such unpredictable powers could likely lead to the collapse of this nascent world’s foundational rules.

Only after long-term world operation, with core powers manifest and the world’s powers enriched enough to present the Law of Time, would Angel consider time-related powers.

By this standard, even the Wilderness of Dreams hasn’t met the mark, let alone the Crystal Origin of Dreams.

Glaipnir: ”I was too narrow-minded.”

In humility, but with a calm expression, Glaipnir knew some of Angel’s words were possibly true, but she also saw that Angel had no intention of letting time powers outflow.

Glaipnir felt Angel lacked sincerity, thus spoke curtly.

Meanwhile, Laplace subtly shook her head. Fundamentally, Glaipnir relied too much on past standing. She still believed Laplace’s strength held the advantage, thus deserved such preferential treatment.

Yet Glaipnir hadn’t considered how remarkable Angel’s achievements were.

Confronting such achievements, asking directly for crucial powers was akin to telling the other party she intended to steal his honor and intercept his path to truth.

Angel would certainly not agree.

Of course, Glaipnir might have considered this but chose to proceed nonetheless. By playing the black face, it was more advantageous in negotiations.

Regardless, Laplace disagreed with Glaipnir’s approach.

Instead of short-term gains, she hoped to maintain long-term good relations, avoiding friction at least.

The Crystal Origin of Dreams was an opportunity for her, a very magical place, possibly fulfilling many of her real-world regrets here... and this didn’t require core powers.

Memory, just memory suffices.

...

Glaipnir’s somewhat perfunctory words made the atmosphere awkward.

However, coincidentally, just then, the curtain call ended.

A line of new information emerging in their thoughts immediately made everyone forget the previous awkward atmosphere, refocusing attention back to the Immortal Realm prompt.

”Curtain call ended, entering settlement phase in one minute.”

”Settlement rules: 1. Before settlement phase opens, score adjustments can be made. But once settlement begins, no further adjustments can be made. 2. Rewards will be given based on challengers’ score ranking, and reward settlement will be made public. 3. Rewards privately given by the host will not be disclosed.”

”Further information will be announced after all challengers’ rewards are settled.”

This time, the Immortal Realm’s prompt emphasized one major point: within this minute, challengers could adjust their scores.

Their current scores were actually composed of scores given by the audience and the flowers rewarded by the audience.

The audience scoring, which is indicated by the colored lights, is unchangeable and represents a fixed score. However, the flowers given by the audience can be exchanged among each other, which is known as score regulation.

”Do we need to regulate the scores?” Breaking the silence was Luigi, who currently holds the highest score and the most flowers. Hence, any regulation should start with him.

Laplace didn’t speak, but instead looked at Angel.

Angel: ”Neither Laplace nor Glaipnir and I need any regulation; our scores are too low, and even adding all the flowers wouldn’t change that. Therefore, if score regulation is necessary, it should only involve Little Laplace and Luigi.”

”Two ways to regulate the scores. The first way, pile up all the flowers to let Luigi achieve the highest score. However, Luigi already has 23 points, and even with Little Laplace’s flowers, it would only be 24 points. Personally, I don’t think there’s much difference in rewards between 23 and 24 points... But that’s just my opinion; maybe the difference between rewards for 23 and 24 points is significant?”

”The second way is for Luigi to exchange a flower with Little Laplace, which would result in Luigi having 22 points and Little Laplace reaching 20 points. Since the total score for each track is 20 points, the difference between 19 and 20 points is essentially the difference between full and not full score, which I personally feel is more significant than between 23 and 24 points.”

”Of course, how to choose still depends on you, Luigi.”

Two regulation methods: one is to stack the highest score and get the best reward, the other is to average them out to see if the difference between 19 and 20 points causes a qualitative change.

Unquestionably, Angel’s inclination is toward the second option, as can be seen from his way of describing.

The others also lean toward the second option; the difference between full and not full score is bound to be more significant.

However, Luigi seemed somewhat hesitant.

Laplace: ”Do you want to choose the first option?”

Luigi scratched his nose, a bit embarrassedly nodding: ”Yes.”

Laplace: ”Is it intuition?”

At this moment, Luigi hesitated: ”I don’t know... I personally agree that the difference between 23 and 24 points isn’t big, and 19 to 20 might result in a qualitative change in rewards. But my first thought was still that I could get a higher score; maybe it’s intuition, or maybe it’s selfishness?”

While Luigi was left undecided, the Rabbit Girl gently tossed her flower in front of Luigi.

”...I believe in Brother Luigi’s intuition.”

The Rabbit Girl blinked her big eyes and showed a definite expression toward Luigi.

The relationship between Luigi and her is the best. Therefore, she believes Luigi is not selfish but intuitive.

Even if it is truly selfish, it doesn’t matter; she would still like Luigi.

With the Rabbit Girl’s flower, Luigi felt even more embarrassed, fumbling to pull two bunches of flowers from his bouquet to give to the Rabbit Girl.

However, the Rabbit Girl waved her hand, refusing Luigi.

At this moment, Laplace also said: ”Take it, maybe the difference between 19 and 20 points will cause a qualitative change in rewards, but whether the reward is useful is the key.”

Laplace’s words made Angel contemplate. What she said was also true; a reward that’s even the best is meaningless if it doesn’t suit you.

Sometimes, balance isn’t always good.

After a moment of silence, Luigi finally nodded: ”Okay.”

A minute passed quickly.

The settlement phase began.

Everyone thought the settlement would occur in darkness, and once settled, they’d get kicked out of the ”Sunshine Circus” instance. As it was with ”Helen’s Dream” and ”Glutton’s Banquet.”

But the truth was otherwise.

They disappeared from the darkness and came to a colorful circus stage.

The audience had left, and only the host was on the circus stage.

Everyone sat in rows on the circus stage as the host praised them repeatedly, describing every thrilling moment in the competition, as if replaying their own competition scenes for them.

When the host finished speaking, he loudly announced: ”Now, I will give the rewards for the competitors’ race, which is the first relay race reward by the Sunshine Circus, carefully selected by the circus leader. I hope you’ll like it.”

Hearing this, everyone also understood why the ”Immortal Realm Prompt” previously mentioned that the reward would be announced at the settlement.

The rewards announced by the host must be what is referred to as ”public announcement.”

The host first looked at the Rabbit Girl.

”Black Rabbit Challenger, with 18 points! This is a very good score, and your reward is... drumroll, please, look here!”

The host shook his finger, bent over to make way, indicating everyone to look behind him.

Following his indication, everyone looked and saw a table slowly rising from the center of the stage.

The spotlight shone on the table, clearly revealing two delicate porcelain plates covered by lids. The lids were transparent, so the contents of the plates were visible.

On the left plate is a very tiny rabbit doll costume, identical to the one worn by the Rabbit Girl.

The right plate holds a revolver engraved with Joker patterns.

”These are the Black Rabbit Challenger’s rewards... However, you can only choose one.”

”Black Rabbit Challenger, you have only one minute to choose. You can also ask me for an introduction, but my introduction will count within the minute.”

The host smiled at the Rabbit Girl.

Rabbit Girl wanted to ask others for their opinions, but the host then said: ”Instead of consulting others, follow the decision in your heart.”

The Rabbit Girl paused and softly said: ”Then... Can you introduce the reward on the right plate for me?”

Host: ”Of course, the right plate holds a revolver. You surely don’t know what a revolver is, let me tell you, it’s not just a signal emitter, it’s also a weapon of mass destruction...”

As the host spoke up to this point, the Rabbit Girl frowned and interrupted: ”Introduce the reward on the left plate.”

The host was stunned for a moment but quickly regained composure: ”Alright, the left plate has the doll costume. Don’t be fooled by its current small size; once the seal is unlocked, it’ll be as big as the one you’re wearing. When worn, there won’t be any weight burden, and you’ll gain the agility and jumping ability of a rabbit. Additionally, there are some rabbit-related special abilities...”

The Rabbit Girl said decisively upon hearing this: ”Then I’ll choose the left plate. Oh, can the doll costume turn white? I want to be a white rabbit instead of a black rabbit.”

The host nodded: ”Of course, changing colors is simple.”

With the host’s snap, the table on stage vanished, and the plate with the rabbit doll appeared in front of the Rabbit Girl. The black fur turned into pure white within the plate.

After the Rabbit Girl received her reward, the host’s gaze shifted to Laplace.

”Next is the reward for the Silver Fox Challenger.”