Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3222: Chapter 3223: Approaching

The Calamity Puppet randomly appeared next to a member of the Singer clan who is about to enter the Daylight Mirror Domain?

Upon hearing this news, Angel frowned and said, "Do you mean that Shuli will follow this Singer clan member into the Daylight Mirror Domain?"

Little Xiaotao nodded, her neck rippling like waves, "That’s right."

Hearing this answer, both Angel and Laplace’s expressions turned grim.

If the Calamity Puppet Shuli indeed appears in the Daylight Mirror Domain, wouldn’t that mean the chaotic disaster of the "Confinement Space" would also erupt in the Daylight Mirror Domain?

Little Xiaotao: "Will it erupt in the Daylight Mirror Domain? I can’t be certain. My current authority isn’t sufficient to predict the future lines of these chaotic objects."

"But on her, there are fate lines related to calamity."

Little Xiaotao paused mid-sentence, suddenly extending her finger, pointing from the oil painting on paper to Laplace outside the painting.

Laplace frowned, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Angel asked in confusion, "Are you saying that Laplace will be targeted by the Calamity Puppet?"

Little Xiaotao: "Having related fate lines doesn’t necessarily mean one would be targeted by the Calamity Puppet. Just like how you have fate lines related to the Peach Heart Theater; would you become an actor there?"

It’s like two lines; as long as they are observed by each other, regardless of how far apart they are, whether intersecting or parallel, or not even in the same dimension, it indicates a connection between them.

Angel listened, somewhat understanding, "Are you saying that once we are aware of the existence of the Calamity Puppet, we already have a fate line with it?"

Little Xiaotao tilted her head and thought for a moment: "Although your understanding is quite far from the truth, with your current perspective, you can understand it like that."

Angel: "But... wasn’t it you who told us about the Calamity Puppet? Following my understanding, you created this fate line for us?"

Little Xiaotao shook her index finger: "No, there’s a deviation in your understanding. The degree of association in fate lines also varies in strength; Laplace’s association with the Calamity Puppet belongs to a strong association."

"As for you... I cannot see your physical body, so I cannot ascertain the strength of the association between your body and the Calamity Puppet. But simply from this strand of your Consciousness Spark, the association is weak."

"If you really want to say I’m the creator, at most, I created the weak association on you. The strong association on Laplace inherently existed."

At this moment, Laplace, who had been pondering, asked, "Does a strong association mean I will definitely encounter the Calamity Puppet?"

Little Xiaotao sighed helplessly, her mouth corners drooping: "Strong association, weak association doesn’t mean the depth of connection. It’s a state of existence of the fate line..."

"If you can’t understand, I can give an example." Little Xiaotao pointed behind her, "Look there—"

Inside the oil painting, Little Xiaotao’s body kept dancing ballet, the light shining on her made her skin, white as porcelain, glitter.

It’s undeniable, Little Xiaotao’s ballet dance was spectacularly beautiful, even Angel, an outsider, could feel the unparalleled beauty.

Midway through Little Xiaotao’s dance, a mother and child suddenly appeared in the oil painting.

The mother embraced the young child, sitting in a seat below the stage, watching Little Xiaotao’s ballet.

The child watched joyfully, moving hands and feet, laughing continuously.

The mother frowned, scrutinizing Little Xiaotao’s performance.

At this point, the image suddenly froze, Little Xiaotao’s voice became the "voiceover."

"My ballet dance can be understood as an ongoing state."

"And the mother and child in the audience, because they saw my dance, formed a connection with me."

"Among them, the child sees everything through a ’curious’ lens, a positive filter. He doesn’t understand my dance, but he keeps watching it. The association between this child and my dance is a ’weak association.’

"While this mother, her graceful figure, signifies she was once a dancer herself. So she has her own understanding and judgment about dance. She watches my dance not to enjoy it, but to scrutinize holistically, which is a ’strong association.’

At this point, the scene within the oil painting flashed and returned to its original state.

Little Xiaotao, with her peculiar peach-shaped face, returned to the center of the painting: "Whether mother or child, they both form a connection with the ballet but have a distinction between strong and weak associations. And as spectators, once they finish watching the dance, they leave the theater, also exiting the state of connection."

Angel and Laplace understood Little Xiaotao’s meaning more or less.

From start to finish, the mother and child wouldn’t have any impact on the ballet dance, but they still developed strong and weak associations.

This is probably the strong and weak association of fate lines that Little Xiaotao mentioned.

"So, even if Laplace has a strong association with the Calamity Puppet, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll interact?"

Little Xiaotao first nodded, affirming Angel’s statement, but the next second, she smirked slyly: "Of course, it doesn’t necessarily mean no interaction either."

From a result perspective, Little Xiaotao’s words seemed meaningless, the ultimate question if Laplace will interact with the Calamity Puppet still remained unknown.

Yet from a cognitive standpoint, Little Xiaotao provided a new interpretation angle towards fate lines. Though its usefulness is not evident yet, broadening the vision is valuable.

Laplace: "Ignore the strong-weak associations on me, speaking only about the Calamity Puppet, can we prevent her from entering the Daylight Mirror Domain?"

Laplace redirected the topic back to the main issue.

Hearing this, Angel quickly agreed, "Right, didn’t you just say the Calamity Puppet randomly appeared near a member of the Singer clan about to enter the Daylight Mirror Domain. ’About to enter’ and ’already entered,’ there’s still a difference."

"If we can lead that Singer away in advance, doesn’t that mean the Daylight Mirror Domain can be spared?"

Little Xiaotao shook her head, leisurely speaking a word from her crimson mouth, "Naive."

"Anyone approaching that Singer clan member will become the Calamity Puppet’s next target."

"Moreover, that Singer clan member is not far from the Daylight Mirror Domain, already in the Ghost Phantom Passage, with no others around. Once he dies, the Calamity Puppet will inevitably choose, entering the corresponding Ghost Phantom in the Daylight Mirror Domain, then..."

Little Xiaotao stopped halfway through speaking: "Time’s up, I must leave."

Before Angel and Laplace could react, the peculiar ballet dancer within the oil painting disappeared, leaving an empty stage.

Little Xiaotao’s abrupt halt left Angel and Laplace momentarily unable to react.

Once they regained their senses, they reluctantly accepted the reality.

Earlier, Little Xiaotao spent too long explaining "strong and weak associations," resulting in a hurried end to this session.

However, there’s a slight relief in the fact that what needed to be answered was indeed answered. Although everything wasn’t fully explained in the end, the key points were covered.

The last sentence said by Little Xiaotao had two key points: First, it’s basically confirmed that the Calamity Puppet will definitely come to the Daylight Mirror Domain; Second, Little Xiaotao inadvertently revealed a piece of information, that the passage from the Daylight Mirror Domain to other Mirror Domains is inside the Demonic Ghosts within the Mirror.

Previously, they actually had this speculation as well, but it just wasn’t confirmed.

Back then, they considered contacting the Singers or the Featherwood Clan to confirm it. But now, it seems unnecessary because Little Xiaotao essentially did the confirmation for them.

However, the information about the Mirror Realm Passage isn’t particularly important at the moment.

Among the information Little Xiaotao disclosed, the most important is that the Calamity Puppet will descend upon the Daylight Mirror Domain.

"What should we do now?" Angel looked at Laplace.

Laplace was actually a bit at a loss too. Originally, she only brought Angel over to "broaden his horizons," but ended up abruptly learning that the "world’s end" is approaching.

This left her unsure of what to do.

Angel sighed, "I also forgot to ask before if this Confinement Space can be broken, or limited within a certain range. If possible, maybe..."

Angel stopped halfway through what he was saying.

Because he himself felt that what he was saying was meaningless.

Any disaster caused by the appearance of a disorderly Mysterious Object is almost impossible to limit, and one can only try their best to contain and control it.

As for how to control it, Little Xiaotao actually already gave the answer — complete the challenge set by the Calamity Puppet.

As long as the challenge is completed, all the previous penalties will disappear automatically. The Calamity Puppet will transmute into the Wishing Puppet Boyisha, and begin wandering the heavens anew.

But since even the Gesen Mirror Domain couldn’t complete her challenge, Angel also doesn’t believe the Daylight Mirror Domain can succeed.

For a moment, the air became stagnant and silent.

About two minutes later, Laplace looked up at Angel: "Glaipnir has already left Hiluda’s study... Please wait a moment, I’ll talk to her about the situation here."

Angel nodded, sitting obediently aside, gazing at the layers of needle forest outside.

After a while, Laplace spoke: "Glaipnir already knows the situation. Her suggestion is to first control those appearing in the Singer and Featherwood Clans."

Angel: "...But according to Little Xiaotao, these people don’t know about the situation with the Calamity Puppet."

Laplace: "We can find a way to have them contact those who do know about this matter, because we must confirm from their side what the Calamity Puppet’s challenge is."

Angel nodded, as this point was indeed correct.

Laplace: "The second thing we need to confirm is when the Calamity Puppet will appear in the Daylight Mirror Domain."

"Since the Calamity Puppet is entering the Daylight Mirror Domain through the Gloomy Mirror Domain, specifically the Demonic Ghosts within the Mirror, it’s hard for us to make an accurate time estimate. The only way is... surveillance."

"By conducting surveillance over the areas of the Daylight Mirror Domain, we can confirm the whereabouts of the Calamity Puppet."

"As for how to conduct surveillance, Glaipnir plans to go to the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom to discuss with the Mirror Dragon clan. She also happens to be going there to see Algarong."

The Mirror Dragon is one of the top species in the Daylight Mirror Domain, representing authority and power. With the participation of the Mirror Dragon, surveillance becomes relatively simple.

Of course, it’s not enough to have just the Mirror Dragon, at least the top forces need to be consulted one by one.

After all, the Confinement Space doesn’t discriminate by race, once it appears, it will continuously diffuse, ultimately affecting not just individuals but the entire species in the Daylight Mirror Domain.

Angel also strongly agrees with Glaipnir’s point of view. At least in this matter, no clan can stand aloof.

The multi-clan routine gathering is being held, making it a perfect opportunity to connect with the major clans.

Laplace: "By the way, Glaipnir asked me to tell you that after she meets the Mirror Dragon in the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom, she will find a way to integrate this matter with the Crystal Origin of Dreams."

Glaipnir indeed intends to promote the Crystal Origin of Dreams, but that’s not entirely the case.

The presence of the Crystal Origin of Dreams plays a crucial role in Glaipnir’s plan.

Because conducting comprehensive surveillance requires very high-precision positioning and rapid, real-time communication. Achieving this wasn’t very easy by the traditional means of various races in the Daylight Mirror Domain.

Yet, the Crystal Origin of Dreams can perfectly achieve precise positioning and real-time communication. It can be said that if we want to monitor the Calamity Puppet, the Crystal Origin of Dreams is an indispensable part.

Laplace: "Glaipnir hopes you can make some time to produce as many Log-in Devices as possible. If comprehensive surveillance is truly needed, the demand for Log-in Devices will be substantial."

Angel naturally wouldn’t refuse this, the promotion of Log-in Devices was originally the main topic of this gathering.

The appearance of the Calamity Puppet also counts as an opportunity.

It’s just that Angel actually doesn’t wish for the Crystal Origin of Dreams to break into prominence in this way... After all, the Crystal Origin of Dreams is based in the Daylight Mirror Domain, and if the Daylight Mirror Domain were to be destroyed due to the "Confinement Space" disaster, the Crystal Origin of Dreams would effectively be rendered null.

"The creation of the Log-in Devices is not difficult; as long as we don’t pursue customization, production will be fast." Angel: "I will try to produce as many Log-in Devices as possible in the coming days."

If someone were to suffer an untimely demise due to encountering the Calamity Puppet, perhaps a spark of consciousness could be preserved through the Crystal Origin of Dreams.

Of course, this is merely a vision Angel holds.

Whether the Calamity Puppet will leave a spark of consciousness for the deceased is still hard to say... Moreover, whether those in a confined space can log into the Crystal Origin of Dreams is also a question.

Anyway, producing more Log-in Devices wouldn’t be wrong.

...

Little Xiaotao left, and Angel didn’t linger either; with Laplace’s help, he returned to the Consciousness Void.

Amidst the circling stars, Angel’s Consciousness Spark rapidly moved towards the depths of the dark.

Although Angel couldn’t see the road ahead, he knew their destination was Crystal City.

During the journey through the Consciousness Void, Angel was deeply moved.

His mood was quite delightful upon arrival, filled with anticipation for everything; but when returning, it had become unbearably heavy. Who would have thought that the contrast in mood from beginning to end would be so vast...