Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2920: Chapter 2921: Six Chapters of Divine Punishment

"All challengers can discuss who will go first. Once decided, press the statue on the table to enter the stage. Remember, each challenger can only appear once, so make your choice wisely. Lastly, don’t take too long discussing; the audience is waiting for you."

The host said this and then fell completely silent.

At this moment, those seated in the suspended seats also felt the power restraining their bodies slowly fading away.

Except for being unable to leave their seats, all other restrictions, including speaking and small movements, were lifted.

After the constraints were lifted, everyone immediately turned their attention to Glaipnir.

The focus this time is on Glaipnir’s fourth track. They decided to participate in this relay race to bet on whether Glaipnir could use the Enchanted Land Tool. If it can be used, their gamble will have succeeded, significantly increasing their chances of passing.

Under everyone’s gaze, Glaipnir hesitated for a moment, cautiously reached into the void, and then slowly withdrew.

Seeing this scene, everyone’s tension was relieved halfway, as Glaipnir could reach into the void, which at least indicates that the fairyland space where the tools are placed can be opened.

Since the fairyland space can be opened, the items inside should also be retrievable.

"It can." Sure enough, after withdrawing his hand, Glaipnir gave a definite answer.

Everyone let out a long sigh of relief; being able to use the long whip would significantly increase the success rate. This is a good thing for them; at least the gamble succeeded.

However, Laplace’s next words made everyone feel a bit heavy.

Laplace turned to Luigi and said, "You must achieve a perfect score this time."

Previously, they thought that passing was enough, but now the host clearly stated that at least 75 points are needed to succeed. A perfect score is 20 points, and each person needs to get 15 points, which is no easy task.

Thinking of this, everyone appeared worried.

But Luigi was quite confident, saying, "Using my original hymns to conquer a group of people who have never seen the world, I am quite confident."

Laplace acknowledged Luigi’s abilities; his voice and influence are top-notch. She also has confidence in Luigi, but—

"Don’t be original, you can chant that..." Laplace paused, seemingly thinking of something, and finally said, "The King of Light Vanquishing the Coral Dragon Chapter."

Luigi frowned, "My original is also great."

Laplace replied indifferently, "Are you sure your original can surpass this one?"

Luigi now kept silent; his original certainly couldn’t surpass this one, as it was...

"Oh, is ’The King of Light Vanquishing the Coral Dragon Chapter’ from the Six Chapters of Divine Punishment?" Angel asked in a low voice.

Luigi looked at Angel with some surprise, "You’ve heard of it?"

Angel: "... I estimate no one in the Wizards’ Realm wouldn’t know this ode poem. After all, the author is a True Knowledge Wizard."

—"Sainthood" Guangyu.

The Sainthood Wizard, from Extinguished Torch Academy, a Level 1 True Knowledge Wizard, is a representative figure of the Academy Faction.

Wizards from Extinguished Torch Academy are basically "Artist" type wizards, and Guangyu is no exception. He is adept at composing and singing poems. He has created countless poems, the most famous being the Sainthood Chants, Six Chapters of Divine Punishment, and Thirteen Songs of Humanity.

They are famous because these three kinds of poems are extraordinary poems. The Sainthood Chants, resembling holy music, have effects similar to potions, yet surpass them. They can bring peace of mind, allowing meditation in the midst of the chants, even reaching the level of "Inner Tranquility," and for those with greater enlightenment, achieving the highest "Spirit Tranquility" is not impossible. The Six Chapters of Divine Punishment are all epic hymns; the first three are eulogies, enhancing group benefits; the last three express mourning and serve as punitive war tunes, applying debuffs to all enemies.

As for the Thirteen Songs of Humanity, they are performative songs that are demonstrated only within Extinguished Torch Academy. It is said to have extraordinary effects on apprentices of the Element and Bloodline sides.

"The King of Light Vanquishing the Coral Dragon Chapter" is one of the three eulogies in the Six Chapters of Divine Punishment.

Luigi appeared enlightened, "Indeed, this poem was passed down from Extinguished Torch Academy in your Southern Domain, so it’s normal for you to know."

Angel naturally knew, because it’s not a secret in the Southern Domain; the poem’s content can be found if one has the intention and the ability to search. After all, this series of transcendent poems only works when recited by the Academy’s wizards; outsiders can’t sing the rhythm even if they know the poem’s content.

Angel was curious, "... How did you find out?"

Luigi: "Retrieved from the Sea of Void Mirror."

Angel: "..." Retrieved from the Sea of Void Mirror?! Angel understood Luigi’s meaning, but he did not expect the Sea of Void Mirror could even retrieve such content.

"Was there an image retrieved, was it a singing by Wizard Guangyu?" Angel asked.

Luigi shook his head, "No, it was an image of an apprentice from Extinguished Torch Academy flipping through a booklet. The booklet recorded the Sainthood Chants and Six Chapters of Divine Punishment. Unfortunately, that mirror memory was so worn by the Sea of Void Mirror that I only saw three of them, and one was a fragment."

Upon hearing it wasn’t Guangyu’s personal singing, Angel felt a slight regret; if it were personal singing, Angel would want to hear it... even make it into a music box, even if he couldn’t use it himself, he could throw it to Toby to play with.

Just seeing the poems in the booklet didn’t count for much.

Angel himself had seen two Chapters of the Divine Punishment in Sanders’ library, one eulogy and one lament.

While at the Research and Development Institute, preparing for a lecture on Shadow Box content, he even found a translation of the Sainthood Chants, although he eventually did not choose to use it.

Currently, the only untranslated ones are the Thirteen Songs of Humanity, supposedly because they change every year, so anything heard externally would be invalid by the following year.

Angel: "If you are going to sing ’The King of Light Vanquishing the Coral Dragon Chapter,’ it really is excellent."

’The King of Light Vanquishing the Coral Dragon Chapter’ being both a eulogy and an epic, as long as the singing is not wrong, the performance is a surefire hit.

"However, ’The King of Light Vanquishing the Coral Dragon Chapter’ might not quite fit the atmosphere; why not choose another? Haven’t you seen Guangyu’s three composed poems?"

Just as Luigi was about to respond, Laplace interrupted at this moment, "Anyway, as long as Luigi doesn’t sing original, it’s fine; specifics can be discussed later. Luigi is on the third track, so there’s still time; we can put it off for later talks. According to the host, the longer we delay, the lower the audience’s goodwill, which might affect the final scores."

Angel and Luigi exchanged glances and said nothing more.

Laplace then looked at the others, especially the Rabbit Girl, "Although this relay race has a score limit, for you, it’s still about prioritizing clearing. Under the premise of clearing, try to do things that might boost your score as much as possible."

The Rabbit Girl whispered, "How... to boost the score?"

Laplace actually couldn’t say how to boost the score specifically, as she herself never attempted such performances. She could only look at Luigi, hoping he could offer some advice.

Luigi quietly looked at the Rabbit Girl, and ultimately couldn’t come up with a single word.

He could perform but couldn’t teach others to perform.

Moreover, the Rabbit Girl’s specialty is combat, so is she supposed to show off her combat skills on the tightrope? That’s not impossible... but if she really does that, the final clearance time might not be enough.

So, let’s focus on clearing the course first and not think about anything else.

Laplace was also a bit helpless, Luigi couldn’t give a substantial suggestion, she probably guessed it. After all, the Rabbit Girl is integrated with her childhood memories, and she has never performed since she was a child.

"Forget it, just go for it. At least Glaipnir can use the long whip, which is good news." Laplace said, "As for the rest... we’ll see."

The Rabbit Girl nodded silently, reaching out to press the statue, indicating that she would be the first to perform.

However, at this moment, Angel stopped her.

Angel carefully looked at the Rabbit Girl, gazing at her cute face and her big watery eyes, and finally spoke: "Why not just go up there and act cute?"

Rabbit Girl: "Act cute?"

The others also didn’t understand what that phrase meant.

Angel coughed twice: "What I mean is, when you go up, don’t hurry onto the stage. First, do some stretching exercises, like moving your legs and hands, you could also eat some carrots to boost your stamina."

The Rabbit Girl said in a voice as soft as a mosquito: "...I don’t have any carrots in my bag."

Though she had a carrot bag, there were no carrots in it.

Angel: "Then just pretend your carrot bag is a carrot, take a few bites. Then close your eyes and recollect the feeling of eating a carrot, that’ll work too."

The Rabbit Girl looked utterly confused, not understanding what kind of act this was.

Angel: "I’m just suggesting, you could try it, but it’s also fine if you don’t."

The Rabbit Girl never understood Angel’s intention and scratched her head before heading onto the competition stage.

As the Rabbit Girl took the stage, the host’s voice introducing her resounded once again, still the same old pattern, but the audience’s applause was very enthusiastic. The host managed to receive such enthusiastic applause without even cracking a joke. Is it because they are eagerly anticipating the relay race, or did they see the Rabbit Girl’s confused head-scratching?

Though the Rabbit Girl didn’t understand the purpose of the content Angel taught her, she thought about it carefully, and as preparation before the match, it wouldn’t affect the competition, so there was no harm in following it.

Thus, everyone watched as the Rabbit Girl diligently performed stretching exercises atop the mountain of the first track.

She bounced around occasionally, doing stretching exercises energetically in the thick mascot costume, even though it was just simple actions, but amidst the constant "huff puff," the audience kept applauding endlessly.

This left the Rabbit Girl puzzled, why would the audience keep applauding, what’s so interesting about this? But since there was applause, it meant she wasn’t doing anything wrong, so she followed Angel’s suggestion and began her act of "invisible carrot eating."

And in that moment, the applause reached its peak.

Seeing this scene, everyone in midair understood Angel’s intention, wasn’t this just using a cute face to draw applause... would this really raise the score? Hard to say.

And even if it could really raise the score, probably only the Rabbit Girl could pull it off, as the others truly didn’t suit acting cute.

However, no matter what, the applause was secured.

Glaipnir glanced at Angel: "You... are quite clever."

It didn’t sound like a sincere compliment, Angel shrugged without responding.

Meanwhile, as the Rabbit Girl was pulling votes with her cute antics below, Luigi was discussing song options with Angel.

"Why isn’t ’The King of Light Vanquishing the Coral Dragon Chapter’ suitable?" Luigi curiously asked.

Angel didn’t hesitate to explain.

’The King of Light Vanquishing the Coral Dragon Chapter’ tells the story of the Light God slaying a magical creature named the Coral Dragon to save the people from chaos.

Just as with many stories, the summary is simple in one sentence, but the content varies greatly depending on the writer’s skill. The Feather of Light Wizard’s skill was quite exquisite, the story written was full of twists and turns, captivating.

Even experienced Wizards would be drawn to the content of ’The King of Light Vanquishing the Coral Dragon Chapter,’ it’s quite fascinating.

The ’The King of Light Vanquishing the Coral Dragon Chapter’ is great, but Angel still felt it was not suitable for the occasion.

Because the Coral Dragon that the Light God vanquished is actually a Sea Beast. Which specific kind wasn’t explicitly mentioned by the Feather of Light Wizard, but it sounded like some kind of carnivorous whale.

And in the sea, what fears carnivorous whales the most? Dolphins, seals, sea lions... that sort of thing.

Luigi’s mount for the third track is an Illusory Dolphin, if Luigi vividly describes how terrifying and horrifying the Coral Dragon is, might it get frightened?

Even though the Coral Dragon ends up dead, its death is the story’s conclusion, the finale of the entire piece, can the Illusory Dolphin hold on until the finale?

Of course, the Illusory Dolphin probably doesn’t understand the singing.

But what if?

What if it understands?

So, to avoid this situation, Angel thought it would be better to choose another.

After explaining the reasons, Luigi couldn’t help but nod: "You have a point, perhaps I should go for an original..."

"No, not an original. If this one doesn’t work, just choose another." As soon as Laplace heard Luigi’s so-called original, she immediately interrupted.

Angel had heard Luigi’s original works before, and they were... unspeakable indeed.

In the face of Laplace, Luigi didn’t dare to refute. Angel also took this opportunity to ask Luigi what other pieces he knew apart from ’The King of Light Vanquishing the Coral Dragon Chapter.’

Luigi thought for a moment, then said: "’The Lord of the Long Night Emerges from the Abyss,’ and some fragments of ’Ode to the Spirit of the Sea.’"

’The Lord of the Long Night Emerges from the Abyss’ is one of the first three hymns of the Six Chapters of Divine Punishment, while ’Ode to the Spirit of the Sea’ is the last Chapter of the Sainthood Chants trilogy.

Angel thought about it: "Between the two, I personally prefer ’Ode to the Spirit of the Sea,’ as the last Chapter in the Sainthood Chants opener, it’s flawless in content and very apt, praising sea life."

Whether the Silver Ocean is really the sea, doesn’t matter. Whether the Illusory Dolphin is truly sea life, doesn’t matter either.

Anyway, ’Ode to the Spirit of the Sea’ is certainly better than ’The King of Light Vanquishing the Coral Dragon Chapter.’

"’The Lord of the Long Night Emerges from the Abyss’ is also fine, not exactly apt, but it doesn’t spoil the mood either." Angel said: "Both are good choices, you can decide yourself."