Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3159: Chapter 3160: Fashion Trends

"Problems with the brain?"

Luigi nodded: "That’s right, just problems with the brain."

Luigi sighed and was about to explain, but out of the corner of his eye caught sight of a luxuriously dressed Pi Luoxiu heading towards a dye shop, whose neon brilliance reflected off the sky dome.

"See that Pi Luoxiu?" Luigi pointed to the Pi Luoxiu below and leaned over to Angel whispering.

Angel glanced at it and nodded.

This Pi Luoxiu was dressed even more sumptuously than the previous one, with a turban on his head that was studded with glowing gems, and a magnificent Crimsonstone gem on his forehead. On the Crimsonstone, a feather was inserted, carrying a strong rhythm of fire, and vaguely, a giant fiery bird could be seen outlined as a soaring illusion.

There’s no doubt this red feather definitely came from a bird-type Extraordinary Life.

However, the most eye-catching wasn’t his attire but his skin color, which was equally fiery red.

Previously, all Pi Luoxiu Angel had seen were green-skinned, and even after being in the Outercity for so long, most Pi Luoxiu he encountered were green-skinned. Currently, only this Pi Luoxiu had a red skin tone.

"Pi Luoxiu’s skin main colors are only two: green and red. Among them, green-skinned Pi Luoxiu are the majority, while red-skinned belong to the minority." Luigi: "Green skin and red skin are only superficial differences; inwardly, there is no real difference. However, because red skin is rare and Pi Luoxiu’s aesthetics regard red skin as beautiful, red-skinned Pi Luoxiu become more sought after. Such pursuits, which have persisted for countless years, ultimately result in red-skinned Pi Luoxiu forming the elite class, residing in the Innercity."

Luigi shrugged: "Dividing the elite and commoners based on skin color clearly shows that Pi Luoxiu’s brain isn’t quite right."

"But that’s not all; did you notice the attire of that red-skinned Pi Luoxiu? Doesn’t it look similar to Doryi’s?"

Angel nodded; indeed, similar, yet Doryi’s was a simplified version, while this was an enhanced luxurious version.

Luigi: "Actually, it’s not that they dress similarly, but that red-skinned Pi Luoxiu enjoy this kind of luxurious attire. Because green-skinned Pi Luoxiu admire red-skinned Pi Luoxiu, they imitate whatever attire they choose."

Angel understood: "Is this what they call a fashion trend?"

Luigi nodded: "You might say that, but Pi Luoxiu Clan’s fashion trends are entirely defined by red-skinned Pi Luoxiu. What they deem fashionable, green-skinned Pi Luoxiu quickly start chasing after it."

"Weren’t you wondering earlier why there are so many dye shops and dental clinics here? It’s also a trend sparked by red-skinned Pi Luoxiu."

Angel: "...???" Can dental clinics and dye shops become trends?

Luigi shrugged: "You are also shocked, right? That’s the fact; Pi Luoxiu’s brain has big issues."

"The reason behind such trends is because red-skinned Pi Luoxiu have a custom of dyeing teeth; those dental clinics you see aren’t just for dental treatment, their foremost role is tooth dyeing."

Red-skinned Pi Luoxiu like to dye their teeth in various flamboyant colors. For this, Pi Luoxiu even have magazines defining the ’popular color’ of each year—of course, the popular colors are also defined by red-skinned Pi Luoxiu.

This strange custom quickly spread among the green even though it was originally an admiration for the red, resulting in many green-skinned following the trend of tooth dyeing.

Where there’s demand, naturally, there’s a market.

Dye shops and dental clinics thus became popular, opening one after another.

Luigi: "Isn’t it absurd?"

Pausing, Luigi further said: "Moreover, when I went to find Baba Ragon before, I met the Pika Sage. The Pika Sage told me something even more absurd."

"By the way, I forgot to tell you that Pika is the Sage of Pipi Castle; you can consider him as a great inventor. He and Duke Pipu are brothers, both descendants of the late great Sage."

After a brief introduction to Pika’s origin, Luigi continued talking about the previous "absurd thing".

According to the Pika Sage, the tooth dyeing custom of the red-skinned Pi Luoxiu actually originated from an accident.

Many years ago, a red-skinned Pi Luoxiu had a tooth decay, revealing dark brown patterns; feeling it was unsightly, he had the decayed tooth dyed.

By coincidence, another red-skinned Pi Luoxiu witnessed this and remembered it.

She remembered it not because her teeth were decayed too, but because she was frustrated with the color of her teeth.

Typically, green-skinned Pi Luoxiu’s tooth color is blue, while red-skinned Pi Luoxiu’s tooth color tends towards dark green.

She felt that as a "noble" red-skinned Pi Luoxiu, there shouldn’t be colors of the commoners on her body, and dark green was just that.

Her attire could exclude dark green, but what couldn’t change was every time she opened her mouth, the dark green teeth would be revealed.

In self-pity yet fruitless, she suddenly saw her companion had dyed the tooth color, immediately sparking a thought: I shall dye my teeth, too!

After that, some more things happened, but overall, the tooth dyeing custom spread from these two red-skinned Pi Luoxius.

Luigi: "Tooth dyeing, in simple terms, is a method of discrimination by the red-skinned against the green-skinned, but green-skinned Pi Luoxiu now actually follow suit to dye teeth, isn’t that brain issues?"

Angel was speechless after listening.

In the Wizards’ Realm, there are cases where due to trends or customs some industries boom, with many merchants deliberately creating certain fashions to sell their overstocked goods.

But he never heard of those being discriminated against going after the trends set by those discriminating.

No wonder Luigi would critique them as having brain issues.

The core difference of red skin and green skin is none, but red skin thinks too highly of themselves; whereas green skin doesn’t think highly enough of themselves.

This little detail already reveals some twisted norms of the Pi Luoxiu race.

While discussing Pi Luoxiu, the cart’s track is about to reach its stop.

From the air looking ahead, a new isolation dome comes into view, encompassing a large area. This area is the core of Pipi Castle, and also the region with the best purification ability in the Innercity.

Soon, they entered the several meters high cart platform, which is the last platform before entering the Innercity. Here they would pause for a minute.

There will be members of the Pi Luoxiu City Defense Team who will grant the trailer permission to enter the inner city barrier.

The inner city barrier is different from the outer city barrier; it has a very high authority level and special spatial partitions. To enter, you must register first. If you trespass, you’ll receive thunderous punishment.

This is also why Luigi, upon arriving at Pipi Castle, didn’t use the Mirror Corridor to go directly to Baba Ragon’s doorstep; it’s not that he didn’t want to, but that he couldn’t.

Even though Pi Luoxiu individuals aren’t strong, Pipi Castle is filled with powerful inventions, and even a Mirror Dragon wouldn’t fare well by forcefully barging in.

Therefore, to enter the inner city, one must follow the rules of Pipi Castle.

The process of enabling permissions was very short. A guard came by, and quickly granted the trailer the appropriate permissions.

The only noteworthy thing is that Angel noticed before the Pi Luoxiu guard got on the vehicle, he had a "I’ll definitely rip you off" expression, which was completely identical to a previous expression he saw. However, upon seeing Luigi in the trailer, the guard’s demeanor changed immediately.

He respectfully completed the permission enabling and bowed out of the trailer.

Though it’s unclear what Luigi did to them in the past, judging by their expression of eager servitude, Luigi must have given them a serious reformation back then...

After the inner city permissions were enabled, the trailer restarted.

Half a minute later, the trailer smoothly entered the inner city’s barrier.

The inner city is more prosperous than the outer city, as evident by the overlapping trailer tracks in the sky.

However, the most dazzling part of the entire inner city is surely the building at the region’s center, shrouded in purplish-red mist, the "Castle," where Duke Pishu resides—the real Pipi Castle.

Even from a great distance, one can still sense its vastness and magnificence.

Accompanied by the purplish-red mist around it, it exudes a sense of mysterious majesty.

"The mist surrounding the castle is a weapon invented by the last sage, called Thunderous Eye," Luigi said. "It can summon terrifying thunder from the sky at any moment, persistently locking and attacking intruders. The thunder punishment I mentioned before refers exactly to this."

"The power of Thunderous Eye is strong; it’s one of the Pi Luoxiu Clan’s top-secret inventions and has never been offered for sale. However, it is said that this time Pi Luoxiu could hold a gathering in the Crystal Eye Clan’s territory because they covertly used Thunderous Eye as bargaining chips, so when we go to the party later, we might see the true body of Thunderous Eye."

When Luigi talked about Thunderous Eye, he couldn’t help but look solemn, indicating the weapon’s significant power was quite terrifying.

There are many issues with Pi Luoxiu, but the one thing positive about them is that their inventions are rarely problematic.

Luigi didn’t talk too much about Thunderous Eye, and although Angel intended to ask, knowing they might get to see the true body of Thunderous Eye at the gathering later, he shelved the topic and instead asked about another matter.

"Earlier before we entered Pipi Castle, you mentioned that, although you didn’t know what project Baba Ragon has been working on recently, you observed certain details." Angel said, "The details you mentioned are..."

"Oh, that." Luigi replied, "I mentioned the Pika Sage earlier, who has been seen frequently entering and leaving Baba Ragon’s lab in recent years. I suspect they must be collaborating."

"And the Pika Sage has recently been researching something called Armed Machinery."

"As you know, the Pi Luoxiu are very small, practically powerless against the giant species in the Mirror Domain. In this context, the Pika Sage started researching how to combat giant species, leading to the concept of Armed Machinery."

"It’s essentially a giant robot with a control cabin inside, which requires Pi Luoxiu to enter and operate for combat."

"Giants must battle giants; this is the idea proposed by the Pika Sage."

Angel understood right away, essentially it was a combat mecha. He had proposed a similar concept before and submitted it to Dean Muse, although he hadn’t followed up on whether Dean Muse pursued it further.

He was curious about the fact that Pi Luoxiu was actually considering countering giant species?

"The ideas and considerations of sages are definitely different from those of ordinary Pi Luoxiu," Luigi shrugged, "Whether it is the Pika Sage or Duke Pishu, they both have ambitions, and the necessary big-picture perspective. They may not actively provoke giant species, but if they encounter unreasonable attacks from giants, they surely want weapons to fight back."

"Armed Machinery is the weapon concept proposed by the Pika Sage."

Luigi continued, "Back to the point, if the Pika Sage is now focused on researching Armed Machinery, how does he have the time to meet and exchange with Baba Ragon often? I think there’s only one possibility, they are collaborating."

"You know Baba Ragon is also very dissatisfied with his own tiny body. He believes all original sin stems from his overly miniature size. In this case, if he began to cooperate with the Pika Sage to invent a giant removable Armed Machinery making himself look like a behemoth, isn’t that quite reasonable?"

"So, my judgment is that what he’s definitely researching is Armed Machinery!"

Angel didn’t know if Luigi’s judgment was accurate, but the idea of "making himself look like a behemoth" really, is it reasonable?

After all, Armed Machinery is an external object. If he truly wanted to enlarge himself, wouldn’t using a technique similar to the Shapeshifting Technique suffice?

"You also have a point, but, Baba Ragon is quite twisted internally. Personally, I think it clearly acknowledges that its body is tiny, and it knows this fact has spread. If it forcibly enlarges itself using the Shapeshifting Technique, wouldn’t it be admitting to others that it greatly cares about being tiny?"

"But wearing Armed Machinery is different; Armed Machinery is just an external object; using it is for enhancing combat strength rather than because of being tiny."

In essence, Baba Ragon’s behavior shows resentment in its heart, a glimmer in its eye, yet shackles on its body.

It’s not twisted but bashful.

Luigi spread his hands, "Of course, this is my interpretation based on my understanding of Baba Ragon. Whether this is the case, I don’t know either."

"Anyway, we are about to reach Baba Ragon’s territory, if you really want to know what it’s researching, you can ask directly."

"It doesn’t answer me, because I can’t help it either; but you’re an Alchemist, maybe if it knows your identity, it’ll actively seek your help. By then, won’t you know what it’s researching?"

"Once you know, I’ll know too," Luigi laughed.

Angel: "..."

Angel ignored Luigi’s suggestions; he was merely curious and hadn’t contemplated truly going meddling.