Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3196: Chapter 3197: Crystal Book

On the other side, Angel and Laplace, led by Khuntela, arrived at the Rock Palace.

The Rock Palace is located deep in the dense forest, its appearance reminiscent of the rainforest ruins adventurers are so fond of.

A magnificent and dazzling giant palace sits on the Lake Heart Island. From afar, the palace looks rather plain, but upon closer inspection, one could find various geometric patterns.

Unlike the low-key style of the palace’s exterior, the interior is incredibly exquisite, filled with crystal murals and gemstone sculptures. If Luigi were here, he would probably love it, as it is full of artistic beauty.

Following the corridor lined with sculptures of unknown creatures, they finally arrived at a hall bathed in halos of light.

There was no one in the hall, only a crystal book larger than Angel’s body, positioned in the center, illuminated by beams of various colors. All these arrangements highlighted that the most important and crucial thing in this hall was this crystal book.

As Khuntela approached, the crystal book began to move without any wind, opening on its own.

When the crystal book opened, a phantom shadow of an old man with a full beard emerged from the book.

Angel could sense that there was no soul force oscillating around, nor any scent of illusion technique; this bearded old man was likely not a soul.

However, he gave Angel a very familiar sense of déjà vu, a bit like the feeling when facing Tree Spirit or Wood Spirit.

"Spirit of the Book?" Angel murmured softly.

The bearded old man glanced at Angel, as if in response, snorted through his nostrils, "Hmph, human wizard."

After speaking, the bearded old man took another glance at Laplace next to Angel, sizing her up with a skeptical tone, "Temporal body?"

Laplace ignored the bearded old man, instead turning to Angel and saying, "Glaipnir once mentioned a Blue Steel Diamond Dragon who loves to transform into a giant, and in its castle lives a spirit tube butler called Aor Shanzhuo."

The implication was that this bearded old man was most likely that spirit tube butler.

The bearded old man looked at Laplace with suspicion and muttered under his breath, "Glaipnir?!... How do you know this demon! No, she signed a contract back then, there shouldn’t be any leaks about the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom..."

"I understand now, you are... that one’s temporal body?!"

Glaipnir wouldn’t leak secrets, but whatever she knows would definitely be known by her other temporal bodies. So, this heterochromatic eyes girl must also be that one’s temporal body!

The bearded old man suddenly recoiled, with a frightened expression, pointing at Laplace in horror.

He still remembered the harm Glaipnir caused him. Being from the same existence’s temporal body, she could be even worse than Glaipnir!

The bearded old man was filled with resentment, but more than that, he was filled with fear.

The other party was a terrifying entity that even the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom was unwilling to provoke!

Laplace still showed no reaction, after all, she wasn’t a temporal body, she was merely an avatar of the original.

Laplace continued speaking to Angel, "Glaipnir once gave a sharp critique of Aor Shanzhuo, saying that typically, spirits of the book are wise and knowledgeable, like the Book Elder of the Southern Domain; however, Aor Shanzhuo is somewhat different, as his avatar is half-human half-horse."

"In the study of divination, the centaur is synonymous with: drunkenness, violence, and lust."

"Although Aor Shanzhuo is not a true centaur, he does share some traits with them."

"Drunkenness."

At this point, the bearded old man seemed to recall something tragic, wailed, and collapsed onto the pages of the crystal book, looking utterly despondent.

"Butler Aor Shanzhuo, what’s... wrong?" Khuntela hadn’t expected that just after bringing Angel here, before he even had a chance to speak, the usually proud Aor Shanzhuo suddenly wilted.

Aor Shanzhuo, using a lifeless voice, said, "Madam, please stop talking. I really don’t want to recall that nightmare."

"Nightmare?" Angel’s eyes sparkled with curiosity as he looked at Laplace.

Laplace never cared about what others thought. Seeing Angel’s curiosity, she was about to continue.

At this moment, Aor Shanzhuo suddenly spoke, "Forget it, rather than let the lady open my wounds, I might as well say it myself..."

Aor Shanzhuo lifted his head, his eyes filled with confusion as he looked into the unknown distance, and quietly recounted what happened back then.

The situation was actually quite simple. In a nutshell, Glaipnir took away all of Aor Shanzhuo’s treasured wines.

Claiming it was for helping a fallen Spirit of the Book return to its duties.

And Aor Shanzhuo’s master, the Blue Steel Diamond Dragon, had no objections and agreed outright.

At that time, during the juvenile dragon incident, Glaipnir, as a diviner, greatly assisted the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom. Even though she had already been compensated, the Mirror Dragon of the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom didn’t mind offering more items to maintain a good relationship with Glaipnir. So, when she asked for Aor Shanzhuo’s treasured wines, it had to be satisfied, right?

After discovering Glaipnir’s fondness for "fine wine," the Blue Steel Diamond Dragon even said, "In the future, if we find better wines, we’ll send them to you first for selection."

Previously, the Blue Steel Diamond Dragon would send subordinates to search for wines to satisfy Aor Shanzhuo’s thirst.

Now, they would only let Glaipnir select from those wines first, with the remainder still going to Aor Shanzhuo.

From the perspective of the Blue Steel Diamond Dragon, this was a "win-win" solution.

But from Aor Shanzhuo’s perspective, not only had Glaipnir taken all his treasured wines, but when new wines were acquired, she’d select the good ones first, leaving him with the dregs.

How furious he was! How resentful!

But no matter his fury or resentment, he didn’t dare resist... the Blue Steel Diamond Dragon was very powerful, and the backer behind Glaipnir, even stronger.

Thus, he could only silently endure this unbearable weight of life.

This was Aor Shanzhuo’s nightmare, and the reason for his intense reaction upon hearing Glaipnir’s name.

After hearing this, Angel also felt some sympathy for Aor Shanzhuo.

Because according to what he knew, Glaipnir wasn’t interested in drinking at all.

However, knowing Glaipnir, her targeting of Aor Shanzhuo likely wasn’t simply due to disliking the reason of "a fallen Spirit of the Book."

Angel’s eyes were filled with curiosity as he looked at Laplace.

This time, Laplace did not speak aloud, but instead used a voice transmission to tell Angel, "Glaipnir hates centaurs..."

To put it bluntly, Aor Shanzhuo was collateral damage.

Glaipnir herself had never been harmed by centaurs, but her temporal body is constructed from memories, not only containing Laplace’s memories but also those fished from the Sea of Void Mirror.

And among these, the dominant memory of the temporal body also forms Glaipnir’s current "manifest appearance"—a diviner.

In this diviner’s memory, she had been abandoned by a centaur, and despised them intensely.

This memory carried over to Glaipnir.

This also led Glaipnir to dislike centaurs.

Actually, when Laplace was creating her Temporal Body, she could have excluded this part of the memory, but she chose to retain it. Because emotional memory is a kind of motivation; it may not be the most important part of the memory, but it is an indispensable thread in weaving the personality of her Temporal Body.

Without this "hate," the Temporal Body might not be as complete as it is now.

Similarly, Luigi’s love for art also stems from the original body’s memory. This enthusiasm and passion, just like the diviner’s hatred toward centaurs, are the threads of the personality web.

Missing them would mean the personality web has a leak.

After Angel learned this secret, he felt even more sympathetic towards Aor Shanzhuo... However, Glaipnir didn’t go to extremes. She only asked for some fine wine, which shows that she has gradually freed herself from her original memory. Otherwise, given the original memory, the outcome of the anger wouldn’t be just asking for fine wine, but spreading Aor Shanzhuo’s ashes.

On the other side, after telling the whole story, Aor Shanzhuo lay dejectedly on the pages of the Crystal Tree, as if the Tree Spirit didn’t know how to comfort him, so he just silently patted Aor Shanzhuo on the shoulder.

"The matter is already over, I actually already..." Aor Shanzhuo wanted to say ’I have let it go,’ but he couldn’t say ’let go’ at all.

"Forget it, I don’t want to recall this nightmare anymore." Aor Shanzhuo turned his head to Khuntela and said: "If you think I am pitiful, just help me buy a few bottles of fine wine from outside, the wine from the Charles Palace is quite good."

Khuntela hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Alright."

At this time, Laplace transmitted to Angel: "The wine from Charles Palace is what Glaipnir sold there."

Angel: "..."

Ah, this...

He had been wondering why Glaipnir kept wine when she doesn’t drink, and where it went. It turned out to be sold to Charles Palace.

Angel looked at Aor Shanzhuo with a sympathetic gaze, deciding it was better not to tell him this tragic truth.

"You are a good dragon," Aor Shanzhuo said gratefully to Khuntela.

Given a ’good dragon card’ by Aor Shanzhuo, Khuntela did not comment on the wine-buying matter but instead pointed to Angel and Laplace and said: "These two are esteemed guests of Kukurus; they came to see the trade list on this side of Rock Palace."

Angel had mentioned on the way that he wanted to see the products of the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom.

And this time, almost ninety percent of the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom’s products were in Rock Palace.

The reputation of the Treasure Dragon is well-earned. This branch of the Treasure Dragon is more enthusiastic than other Mirror Dragons about collecting odd things, especially shiny gemstones.

The Blue Steel Diamond Dragon belongs to the Treasure Dragon and is the one with the largest gemstone collection.

Moreover, with Aor Shanzhuo being such a good manager of the collection, it was inevitable that he would accompany the Treasure Dragon this time to the gathering.

"As for the trade list? The gathering has just started, and I haven’t organized it yet... But that’s okay, I can organize it now." Aor Shanzhuo, unaware of Angel’s identity, assumed it must not be simple since Laplace paid so much attention to him.

So, even though Aor Shanzhuo was somewhat listless, he still mustered the energy to start searching through the Crystal Book.

The Crystal Book is Aor Shanzhuo’s body and recording text.

Before long, Aor Shanzhuo found this trade list.

He looked at Angel: "I don’t know, which type of merchandise are you interested in so I can find it for you."

Angel: "What’s the main product?"

Aor Shanzhuo: "Is the guest asking about the main merchandise of the Treasure Dragon branch or the main merchandise of other Mirror Dragons?"

"...The Treasure Dragon."

Aor Shanzhuo continued: "Then which type of Treasure Dragon’s main merchandise is the guest asking about?"

The Treasure Dragon is just a general term, and it includes various types of Gemstone Dragons, including Diamond Dragon, Gold Touch Dragon, Mercury Dragon, Alga Dragon, Mystic Book Dragon... and so on.

After Aor Shanzhuo recited a long string, Angel only felt his head swell.

"No need to say any more, just tell me about the most unique products here."

Aor Shanzhuo: "Then..."

Angel quickly said: "Don’t ask me to define what’s unique, you decide."

Aor Shanzhuo pondered for a moment and nodded: "Alright, guests please look at this page."

As soon as Aor Shanzhuo finished speaking, the Crystal Book happened to flip to a specific page, filled densely with unfamiliar text to Angel.

Laplace could understand this text, but she didn’t explain, choosing instead to give Aor Shanzhuo a chilly glance.

The latter shivered and quickly changed the text on the pages to the common language.

This time, Angel could understand it.

The pages were also densely written, but what surprised Angel the most was that in such a densely packed page, a large portion was dedicated to introducing a single product.

A very unique product that Angel had never seen anywhere else.

Its name—Personal Favor.

"Personal Favor" was translated by Aor Shanzhuo, estimating the original text might be "Dragon Favor," anyway, the meaning is similar, it is used for selling various personal favors.

But this "Personal Favor" didn’t belong to the Mirror Dragons themselves but to other races owing a favor to the Mirror Dragons.

For instance, the first row is a favor owed by the Mirror Sea Scholar.

Moreover, Angel actually knew this Mirror Sea Scholar.

"The personal favor of Mirror Sea Scholar ’Lungya. Qin’."

"Lungya. Qin exchanged this favor for reading a confidential book of the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom."

"Lungya. Qin has agreed that the favor is transferable, but after transfer, those exchanging it must abide by the following points: 1. Must not ask her to do something without principle; 2. The exchange must not target the Ancient Ruins of Tooth Fairy; 3..."

"The specific value of the favor is to be estimated by the redeemer."

"If Lungya. Qin does not comply with the favor exchange rules, it can be arbitrated by the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom."

In just a few lines, Lungya. Qin’s favor was traded out as a commodity.

After seeing this, Angel truly opened his eyes. In his view, a favor was a thing difficult to measure, but in the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom, a favor could be used as a tradeable merchandise.

This also shows that the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom has a deep heritage; it’s not that they don’t want ’Lungya. Qin’s’ favor; most likely, what ’Lungya. Qin’ offered is looked down upon by the Hundred-Dragon Divine Kingdom.

So they simply transferred the favor.