Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3106: Chapter 3107: Ocean Theme

Golden Coral Island, Silver Coral Island; Great Treasure Tower, Little Treasure Tower... Angel murmured to himself, this is a complete assembly.

He previously thought there was only a distinction between large and small, he didn’t expect there to be a difference between gold and silver.

Following this logic, might there also be a Copper Coral Island or a Diamond Coral Island?

”Diamond Coral Island?” Maggie was stunned for a moment, shaking her head at Angel: ”I haven’t heard of it.”

...Just because it hasn’t been heard of doesn’t definitively deny it, right?

Angel was merely casually remarking, he himself didn’t believe in the existence of a Diamond Coral Island. However, Maggie’s response was quite interesting.

At this point, Angel still didn’t think there were more coral islands, but Maggie’s response indicated one thing: Maggie might not have much information.

This conclusion wasn’t drawn from just a single sentence.

Previously, Maggie had said to Jeanne: ”Following your trial, I discovered that the Little Treasure Tower’s trial isn’t entirely random.”

From this sentence, one can deduce a conclusion: Maggie’s understanding of the Little Treasure Tower was initially superficial. Rather, it was only after Jeanne began clearing levels that she received more information.

Compared to the NPCs in the Sunshine Circus, Maggie is quite peculiar.

The NPCs of the Sunshine Circus are, at least, very knowledgeable about the contents, process, operation method, and reward mechanism of the Immortal Realm instance they reside in; however, Maggie, even regarding the operation mechanism of her own instance, has to wait until Jeanne clears a level to perceive it.

This is completely unlike being the owner of a Fairyland Duplication, rather like being a gatekeeper.

Why is this?

Is it because Maggie is a special NPC?

As Angel pondered the difference between Maggie and other NPCs in his mind, Maggie continued to ask: ”Do you have other questions? Or perhaps, do any of you have more questions?”

Angel shook his head, indicating he had no more questions.

On the other side, Laplace and Glaipnir exchanged glances, seemingly communicating with their eyes; after a pause, Glaipnir spoke: ”I wonder how Miss Maggie came into existence? Why is Miss Maggie here?”

Compared to the Little Treasure Tower instance, they were actually more curious about Maggie’s existence... After all, Maggie was personally created by Laplace.

However, faced with Glaipnir’s question, Maggie expressed her confusion: ”Naturally, I was created by the Immortal Realm... As to why I’m here, because here is my abode.”

Glaipnir: ”Just because of these reasons?”

Maggie looked over in confusion: ”I don’t understand what you mean.”

Glaipnir wanted to continue asking: Haven’t you ever wondered why you were born as a Treasure Mermaid?

But after thinking for a moment, she ultimately decided to abandon the inquiry.

From Maggie’s answers, she has no doubts about her birth.

This is probably influenced by the Fairyland Authority.

And although the Authority of Wonderland has returned to this world, even though Angel can indirectly control it, his grasp is evidently insufficient... They haven’t even fully understood the mechanism of Wonderland yet, so discussing the existential queries with the Gifted People is a bit premature.

”I don’t have any more questions.” Glaipnir silently stepped back.

Maggie curiously glanced at Glaipnir, then turned to the group: ”And you all?”

Angel: ”Miss Maggie has explained very clearly earlier, none of us have any more questions... By the way, it seems we came at a bad time earlier and accidentally interrupted Miss Maggie’s conversation with Jeanne, perhaps Miss Maggie could resolve Jeanne’s issues first?”

Maggie did not immediately speak, instead observing Jeanne.

From her perspective, she had offered Jeanne benefits as a personal favor; if others found out, they might deem it unfair... Hence, whether to discuss rewards in front of these people, Jeanne must decide for herself.

Jeanne naturally had no objections, she was fully aware that Angel could see her performance even across the instance, so hiding it was fundamentally pointless.

Seeing Jeanne nod, Maggie didn’t ask further and spoke directly: ”I can tell you in advance the three trial types with the highest weight ratio you may encounter next, are you sure you want to know now?”

”Definitely.”

Maggie nodded and slowly closed her eyes, a faint energy fluctuation spreading from her body. Simultaneously, all the gems on her body began to glow brightly, including the white jade coral shell she was seated upon, which radiated dazzling brilliance.

These beams of light merged with energy fluctuations, slowly connecting with the Little Treasure Tower ahead.

A good half minute passed before Maggie’s fluctuations gradually subsided.

Throughout the process, Maggie’s light connected with the Little Treasure Tower, appearing rather ceremonial; but in Angel’s view, this once again verified his suspicion: Maggie’s understanding of the Little Treasure Tower is indeed insufficient.

Just to help Jeanne inquire about the next level trial, she has to make such a big scene...

”Based on the feedback from the Little Treasure Tower, I have roughly determined the theme of the challenge you’ll face on the next level.” Maggie looked at Jeanne.

”Challenge theme?” Trials have themes? Jeanne was a little puzzled, this wasn’t mentioned by Miss Maggie before.

Maggie also saw Jeanne’s confusion, however, internally she felt helpless. It wasn’t that she didn’t tell Jeanne, it’s because she didn’t know until now.

Only after establishing contact with the Little Treasure Tower did she realize the trials also have themes...

Maggie couldn’t explain, so she skipped Jeanne’s puzzled gaze and directly spoke on the subject: ”The challenge theme for your next level of trial is — Ocean.”

”This also means that whatever type of trial you encounter on the next level, it will be closely related to the ocean.”

”Currently, to my knowledge, the three trials with the highest weight ratio are... Extreme Challenge, Combat Trial, and Treasure Hunting Trial.”

Jeanne instinctively repeated: ”Extreme Challenge, Combat, and Treasure Hunting. These are two physical trials, one puzzle trial?”

Maggie shook her head: ”No, you misunderstood. According to your categorization, all three belong to physical trials.”

”Treasure Hunting is also a physical trial?” Jeanne was taken aback for a moment but quickly came to her senses: ”That’s true, treasure hunting adventures usually test both puzzle-solving ability and physical strength.”

Maggie: ”No, the Treasure Hunting Trial this time doesn’t involve puzzle-solving, it’s more about testing your observational skills.”

Subsequently, Maggie began explaining them one by one.

”The extreme challenge, the goal of this round is—deep diving. As far as I know, this round requires you to dive into the sea, and your score will be based on the vertical distance you dive. There is a minimum diving requirement, but I don’t know exactly how many meters it is. However, once you surpass this line, you’ve cleared the round, and if you dive deeper, your clearance score will increase accordingly.”

In other words, if Jeanne wants to maintain the title of ”Elite Challenger,” she must dive much deeper than the minimum requirement.

”The combat trial, the goal of this round is—fight. You need to battle a Stone-tail Mantis Shrimp within a limited time. The quicker you defeat it, the higher your score. Right, the Stone-tail Mantis Shrimp lives in the sea, which means this battle happens underwater.”

The Stone-tail Mantis Shrimp is relatively weak in the mantis shrimp family. It is about 1.5 meters long, and its attack methods are primarily sharp teeth and tail strikes. On land, three or four adults could handle it easily; but in the sea, the difficulty is much greater.

Besides, Jeanne is alone.

However, this round isn’t impossible, as Maggie finally added: ”You can take any weapons and armor into the Little Treasure Tower; this trial does not limit the means you can use.”

If Jeanne had Fairyland weapons at the moment, this round would be easy for her. But she can’t leave Silver Coral Island before clearing the round, so she can’t find weapons in other instances now. Her only option is to craft a weapon herself on Silver Coral Island.

”Finally, the treasure hunting trial, the goal of this round is—fishing.”

Others showed no expression upon hearing fishing, but Laplace raised an eyebrow, revealing a rare gleam of interest in her eyes.

”After entering the trial, you will randomly receive information about a type of fish. You need to find this fish within a limited time using any means. As long as you find it and put it in the basket, you’ve cleared the round; the shorter the time you spend fishing, and the more fish you catch, the higher your score.”

No one could easily comment on this round because it tests one’s luck more than anything else.

If you’re lucky and your target fish is common, you can clear the round quickly and score high; but if it’s a rare fish, it will be challenging.

Of course, they believed that the Little Treasure Tower would certainly adjust scores and difficulty, and the points for rare fish would differ from common ones.

But even if rare fish score higher, if you can’t find them, it’s useless. So, it really tests your luck, which is why fishing is part of the treasure hunting trial... Treasures are always elusive and require luck to be found.

However, when Angel turned to look at Laplace, he saw a burning interest in her eyes, as if she was particularly excited about fishing, coupled with a mysterious confidence.

It gave Angel the illusion that, with just a fishing rod, fish would leap into the basket in no time.

Surely... he misunderstood?

”In conclusion, the next trial you face will probably be one of these three, but I can’t say which one for sure.” Maggie looked at Jeanne: ”Do you want to try challenging now?”

Jeanne shook her head without hesitation: ”No, not for now. I won’t challenge.”

She doesn’t feel confident in any of the three. Although she’s quite good at diving, who knows how deep she must dive.

As for fighting the Stone-tail Mantis Shrimp and fishing, she feels even less confident.

Therefore, she believes she will most likely fail if she tries now.

Jeanne doesn’t want to stop here so soon, so she plans to stay on Silver Coral Island for a while to strengthen her training. Once she gains some confidence in clearing the trial, she will attempt it again.

Maggie wasn’t surprised by Jeanne’s choice. The purpose of the ”preparation” phase is for challengers to ensure they are well-prepared before facing the challenge.

Challenging blind confidence might backfire.

”What about you guys?” Maggie turned to Angel and the other newcomers: ”Do you want to try challenging the Little Treasure Tower?”

Angel didn’t respond. He might try the Little Treasure Tower for relaxation or if he were bored, but not now... no challenge.

Glaipnir wanted to try, but she still needed to arrange matters for Rabbit Town, so she couldn’t challenge now.

And Laplace was the one Angel thought least likely to challenge, yet she was the only one among the three to speak up: ”If I challenge now, will it be fishing?”

Angel: ”...” If he remembered correctly, Maggie said it was fishing, not angling.

Also, do you have such a strong obsession with fishing? Pursuing it from the Wilderness of Dreams to the Crystal Origin of Dreams?

Maggie: ”I can’t give an answer to that. The first trial is completely random, even if I wanted to give you benefits, I can’t.”

Laplace: ”How about the second trial?”

Maggie: ”... For the second trial, even if there is a fishing trial, I can’t let you participate. I have no control over the specific trials of the Little Treasure Tower.”

Upon hearing this, Laplace lost interest immediately and waved her hand: ”Forget it. But... is there fish in the ocean around Silver Coral Island?”

Maggie nodded: ”Yes.”

Laplace’s eyes lit up: there are fish here, that’s great. Once she’s recovered her confidence in the Wilderness of Dreams, she can move here for some fishing.

Seeing Laplace’s eyes full of interest, Angel could only say: didn’t you previously insist that you had no interest in fishing...

”Since none of you plan to challenge the Little Treasure Tower now, the rest of the time is yours.”

In other words, you can do whatever you want. Leave if you wish, or stay, up to you.

Maggie didn’t close the doors leading to the outside world and floated away into the distance, disappearing shortly thereafter.

After Maggie left, Glaipnir said: ”I’ll go survey the resources in the area; if everything checks out, I’ll try to establish an additional living area here.”

Although entering Silver Coral Island has its thresholds, not everyone can enter, the resources on the island are freely exportable.

Rabbit Town lacks everything right now, so having a stable resource supply would be beneficial.

Glaipnir ventured into the forest alone.

Laplace also temporarily left; she went to the seaside to check out the resources in the ocean.

Angel stayed behind, looking at Jeanne, who appeared quite serious.

”You seem to be troubled?” Angel had noticed earlier that Jeanne had a strange expression as if there was something she wanted to say.

This was also why he didn’t leave immediately.

Jeanne nodded: ”Sir, I do have a perplexing doubt.”

”Miss Maggie said that I was the first to come here and valued my kindness, so she gave me a special benefit.”

”However, I feel something’s not quite right about this.”