Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2988: Chapter 2989: Star Servant

The source of the ghost fire is undoubtedly the black booklet, but the black booklet cannot activate itself without external assistance.

It was actually Glaipnir who truly activated it.

When Angel and Laplace were both lost in their own thoughts, Glaipnir, seeing that no one was paying attention to the black booklet on the ground, approached it to take a closer look.

Judging purely from the cover, Glaipnir couldn’t discern much.

The cover was pure black, and the text was stamped with gold. Apart from the characters for "Wish Book," there were no other marks.

After fully sensing it and confirming with astrology that the booklet posed no danger and that turning the pages would be fine, Glaipnir extended his cane and opened the Wish Book.

Just as the Wish Book was opened, a pale blue ghost fire sprang out.

This was the process of the ghost fire’s activation.

At this moment, both Angel and Laplace snapped out of their reverie, their full attention on the Wish Book.

To be precise, it was the first page of the Wish Book, the one Glaipnir had turned to.

There was some text on the first page, but Angel couldn’t understand it. However, he did recognize the illustration at the bottom half of the first page.

Because the illustration depicted clusters of pale blue ghost fires.

The ghost fires in the illustration floated in mid-air like countless Kongming Lanterns, densely packed, their eerie facial features adding a touch of horror.

Angel focused his attention on this illustration, not only because it depicted the ghost fire but also for another very important reason.

The illustration was in color, and in the twilight blue night sky, the red, green, and blue ghost fires were particularly striking.

But the most noticeable was a pure white ghost fire.

This white ghost fire was not intentionally drawn; it resembled a sketch of the ghost fire that hadn’t been colored in.

Angel could faintly sense that there was a connection between this sketched ghost fire and the pale blue ghost fire in mid-air... it seemed that the pale blue ghost fire originally resided in the sketched ghost fire.

Could it be that the ghost fire is actually hidden in the illustration? When the ghost fire emerges, does the illustration of the ghost fire become a sketch?

While Angel was pondering this, Laplace’s voice came from beside him: "As expected."

Angel looked at Laplace, eyes filled with confusion.

Laplace didn’t say anything further but instead approached the pale blue ghost fire and flicked it gently with her finger.

The ghost fire seemed to have been dealt a massive blow, shattering from mid-air, with the ghostly face becoming even more terrifying... but no matter how scary, it couldn’t escape the fate of dispersal.

As the pale blue ghost fire dissipated, a strange energy drifted from it, finally settling back onto the illustration on the first page of the Wish Book.

The ghost fire returned, the sketched ghost fire once again smeared with pale blue.

The illustration was complete, with no more blank spaces.

Seeing this scene, Angel was finally certain that his guess was correct, that this ghost fire had indeed emerged from the illustration.

As for the strange energy from earlier, Angel was not unfamiliar with it. Within the gemstone teapot, he had sensed similar energy, undoubtedly telekinesis.

"So, it’s through telekinesis that the ghost fire was summoned from the illustration? Could it be that this booklet is something akin to a Magic Rune Scroll?" Angel asked softly.

Laplace shook her head: "No, it’s fundamentally different. This thing, I’ve actually mentioned it before."

Mentioned before? Angel looked at Laplace in confusion, but her expression was somewhat subtle... At the time they discovered the booklet, Angel had noticed a similar expression on Laplace, subtle and strange.

Angel pondered for a moment, then suddenly squinted: "Could this be... that ’mystical object’ you mentioned before?"

Laplace nodded gently.

"Yes, this is a mystical object."

Angel was also taken aback. He still remembered that when Laplace mentioned the Psychic Realm, she had immediately brought up mystical objects, because in Laplace’s view, the most interesting aspect of the Psychic Realm lies in these mystical objects.

Earlier, Angel thought the gemstone teapot was a mystical object, but it turned out it wasn’t. He didn’t expect that after not long of wandering, a true mystical object would appear before them.

"Mystical objects are manifestation-type abilities, so, is this booklet something manifested by a Mind Master?" Angel asked in doubt.

Laplace nodded: "Yes, the first page contains basic information about the Mind Master and the rules he set for the Wish Book."

Laplace didn’t conceal anything and began to explain the information on the first page character by character.

This Mind Master did not record his real name on the mystical object, referring to himself only as a Star Servant, the most faithful attendant of the great ’Wishing Star.’

It followed with a devout prayer to the ’Wishing Star,’ hoping it would grant the Wish Book unlimited potential.

Following this, the Star Servant details the rules set for the Wish Book.

The so-called rules setting is the balance restraint imposed on the mystical object by a manifestation-type Mind Master.

They grant the mystical object special abilities, but directly granting a special ability is impossible, so corresponding conditions for release must be set.

The simpler the ability and the stricter the conditions, the higher the success rate when creating a mystical object.

However, stricter conditions also mean the higher the difficulty in using the mystical object; the simpler the ability, the weaker the power of the mystical object.

Thus, it truly tests the Mind Master’s ability to weigh options.

Of course, aside from weighing options, talent is also important. The more talented a Mind Master, the more they can "gain" when creating a mystical object, requiring to "sacrifice" less.

Moreover, the higher the level of the Mind Master, the more they receive a certain bonus when manifesting mystical objects.

Generally speaking, each star level can manifest one mystical object, including zero stars. In other words, a Three Stars manifestation-type Mind Master can manifest four mystical objects.

Any more, and control becomes exceedingly difficult.

Besides, there are hidden rules, such as: the higher the star level, the greater the power of the constructed mystical object, but generally, the compatibility will not be as high as that of a low-star constructed one; there are many categories of mystical objects, the more idealistic they are, the harder they are to construct, but they are also stronger the more idealistic; apart from idealistic mystical objects, any other entity-type mystical objects will have their construction rules concealed within them, which is why the construction rules are detailed on the first page of the Wish Book... and so on.

From this, it can be seen that in the Psychic Realm, the manifestation type is a very complete system. It requires both objective existing laws to cooperate and subjectively set conditions as a restraint.

The essence of power balance is the nature of mysterious things.

And this Wish Book also has its own balancing power, which is the Law.

"Wish Book: Make a wish through writing to obtain different abilities."

"Main Law: 1. Each page can only grant one wish. 2. Each wish must fully describe the ability, as detailed as possible. 3. Only one ability can be used at a time, and the corresponding page must be turned to when using the ability. 4. More complex abilities require setting separate release rules on the page. 5. Abilities requiring separate rules can only be used by the Star Servant personally."

"Page 1, Trick Ghost Fire: Release a ghost fire only used for scaring, with weak burning power. No usage limit, usable with telekinesis. (No separate rule needed, just follow the main law.)"

"Page 2, Sorry Cannibal Flower: Release a cannibal flower to attack. Can summon up to ten cannibal flowers per day. (Restricted Rule: 1. Must apologize before each attack. 2. Can summon up to 2 cannibal flowers at a time, if one apologizes, the other doesn’t need to.)"

"Page 3, Forgive Holy Water: Create a bottle of holy water for meditation assistance. Can create up to three bottles per day. (Restricted Rule: Must genuinely receive forgiveness or pardon from others to gain the right to create holy water.)"

"Page 4, Ominous Earth Spikes: Release a powerful earth spike. No usage limit, usable with telekinesis. (Restricted Rule: 10%—80% chance of creating a small earth spike under oneself, the greater the power of the released earth spike, the higher the chance of the small earth spike appearing.)"

"Page 5, Ten-Minute Gold Touch..."

"Page 6, Irretrievable Wall-passing Technique..."

"..."

As Laplace turned the pages one by one, various abilities were displayed to everyone through the book pages. However, these abilities were accompanied by bizarre restrictions.

The stronger the ability, the greater the restrictions.

But to what extent the restrictions apply, they were unclear. After all, all the abilities in this Wish Book require telekinesis to unlock.

Originally, there was quite a bit of telekinetic residue in the Wish Book, but it was almost completely washed away by waves of energy. The remaining trace of telekinesis disappeared after opening the first page and summoning the Ghost Fire.

Other energies could not activate the Wish Book, and those abilities with separate rules could only be used by the Star Servant. Therefore, they could only observe the various abilities in the Wish Book without being able to use them.

However, they weren’t too concerned about not being able to use them. After all, the abilities in this Wish Book seemed intriguing at first glance, but overall... their effects were not impressive.

...

"Although the abilities in the Wish Book seem unimpressive, the potential of this Wish Book is quite good," Laplace remarked casually, turning back to the first page.

Her gaze fell on the word that the Star Servant had written the most about on the first page: ’Wishing Star’.

"What’s the matter?" Glaipnir noticed Laplace’s fixed gaze.

Laplace pondered for a moment and softly said, "I feel like I’ve heard of the Wishing Star somewhere."

Angel also looked over: "In many civilizations, there are similar sayings. Including in the Wizards’ Realm, there’s the legend of the Wishing Star. The Wishing Star you’ve heard of might not necessarily be the Wishing Star of the Psychic Realm."

Laplace thought for a while: "The Wishing Star in my memory doesn’t seem to be a life form..."

Glaipnir: "If it’s not a life form, then Angel is probably right."

The Star Servant claimed to be a servant of the great ’Wishing Star’, indicating that the ’Wishing Star’ is clearly a life form rather than a conceptual Wishing Star.

As for what kind of life form? It could very likely be a code name for a significant figure in the Psychic Realm, or possibly the name of an Evil God.

The reason for mentioning "Evil God" is because Hante World doesn’t have true deity worship, and the people there believe more in telekinesis. If a certain deity worship appears, it’s either a sham, an imported god, or possibly caused by a powerful wizard stirring trouble.

Anyway, if the ’Wishing Star’ is a deity name, then it is undoubtedly an Evil God.

However, Angel leans towards the ’Wishing Star’ being a highly ranked Mind Master.

The naming rules in Hante World are quite diverse, depending on the cultural background of different regions. But regardless of what the real name of a Hantean is, once they become a Mind Master, they inevitably have a code name. This is so that the Mind Master Association of various countries can facilitate communication and memory, hence the code name.

Like "Deer Ape Granny," "Flying Raven Man" ... and so on, these are code names, not real names.

Code names are diverse and might reflect regional or cultural characteristics, so the appearance of "Wishing Star" is possible.

Generally speaking, a strong person’s code name will often reflect their own abilities. If the code name is "Wishing Star," perhaps this Mind Master’s ability is... wishing?

"What exactly the Wishing Star refers to is still uncertain, but as for this ’Star Servant,’ some clues can be gleaned from this Wish Book," Glaipnir said softly.

As Laplace mentioned, this "Wish Book" has great potential.

Although the abilities recorded so far are unimpressive, the main law confirms that the potential for these abilities is extremely high. Of course, the higher the abilities obtained, the greater the restrictions, but this is common in mysterious artifacts and hardly noteworthy; the Wish Book can unlock more powerful abilities from low to high, which is the key and the reason for its high potential.

The fact that such a potential-filled mysterious item can be created proves that the Star Servant’s potential is certainly not low either.

However, potential remains potential; not being able to realize it is another matter.

Currently, this Wish Book only records fifteen pages and hasn’t unlocked powerful abilities, which also means— the Star Servant’s strength is not high, certainly not at the level of a high-star Mind Master.

Take a look at the first-page ability in this Wish Book: Trick Ghost Fire.

This ability is almost like having none at all; the harmless ghost fire might at most fool Circus audiences. A Mind Master with even a bit of ambition wouldn’t record such a lackluster ability.

From this ability alone, it can be confirmed that this mysterious item should be the Star Servant’s first mysterious item.

An enlightenment work.

Considering other abilities like the Gold Touch, Wall-passing Technique, and available information, it can be deduced: the Star Servant is not affluent, has weak strength, is a bit shrewd, lacks a strong background, and prefers to fool around rather than fight head-on. The only thing worth mentioning is that he is a talented Mind Master and should be a one-star Mind Master in terms of strength.

And most importantly: this Star Servant... should be the vessel boy they discovered earlier.

The previous deductions are side notes, and this final conclusion is what Glaipnir discovered through astrology.

According to Glaipnir, the residual telekinetic aura on this Wish Book fully matches the leftover telekinetic information within the vessel boy.

It’s highly likely that this vessel boy is the Star Servant.

Of course, no definitive answer can be given currently, as astrology is merely a grasp of the unknown and cannot be used as evidence.

However, reaching a definitive conclusion isn’t difficult either.

In the main law of the Wish Book, there’s a rule: "Abilities requiring separate rules can only be used by the Star Servant personally."

Whether the vessel boy is the Star Servant or not can be determined by letting him use this Wish Book when the opportunity arises in the future. If he can use abilities beyond the second page, then he undoubtedly is the Star Servant!