Chapter 2290 Mad Hatter’s Coronation <TOC> Chapter 2292 Optimize Flaws
Translator: SumTLMan
Clean Rune.
This is the simplest and least destructive rune of transformation that Angel could think of.
It is typically inscribed on rooms or clothing, serving functions such as odor removal, cleansing, and resistance to filth. It resembles a cleaning spell, but whereas a cleaning spell works just once, the Clean Rune, with a supply of energy, can last for a significantly long time.
Because it involves separating, transforming, and decomposing filth, it possesses the aspect of transformation.
Once the target for inscription was decided, Angel took out his usual inscription pen, dipped it in basic blood ink, and began to inscribe on parchment.
Being a relatively simple and basic rune, Angel completed the inscription swiftly.
In Feng’s view, every stroke of Angel’s was incredibly smooth and fluid, as if not Angel but the pen itself was guiding his hand across the parchment, leaving behind perfect patterns.
“Indeed, it’s the Clean Rune,” Feng murmured softly.
“Have you recognized it already? Worthy of the title Magic Painter,” Angel complimented smoothly.
Feng, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, said, “Among the basic runes with the property of ‘transformation,’ only the Clean Rune is the simplest and safest. Your choice to inscribe it is quite normal… When I first used ‘Mad Hatter’s Coronation,’ I also chose the Clean Rune.”
After a pause, Feng, squinting, scrutinized Angel: “More surprising than the rune you chose is your ability to divide your attention while inscribing.”
Feng once thought inscribing runes was simple, but upon actually learning, he realized it was a task that significantly drained one’s mental power. The biggest challenge was maintaining a steady output of energy in the mental space, not too fast, not too slow, maintaining a consistent rate for a long duration, and changing the energy output rate when inscribing different aspects of the rune. The degree of change depended on various factors like the material, the blood ink, and the current environment, requiring silent calculations. Any slight mistake in the energy output rate or miscalculation could lead to failure.
This is just the entry threshold for inscribing runes, which already requires unparalleled focus.
Angel is able to converse with others while inscribing runes, which is actually a very difficult task.
“The Clean Rune is relatively simple, so I can pay attention to the outside world. If it were any more complex, I wouldn’t be able to divide my attention,” Angel replied.
Feng glanced at the progress of the rune on the parchment and felt that Angel was being modest. Because he had already completed half of it, and it had been less than a minute since Angel started.
Even if the Clean Rune is simple, being able to inscribe so quickly while also talking is enough to show that Angel’s understanding and inscribing of runes have reached a very high level. Moreover, Feng noticed that from beginning to end, Angel’s gaze and expression were very calm, enough to indicate he has a strong confidence, not thinking for a moment that he would fail in inscribing the Clean Rune.
From this, it can be inferred that Angel’s level in rune inscribing is not low.
At least, it is much higher than Feng’s.
When Feng himself tried to inscribe the Clean Rune, not to mention whether he could inscribe it correctly, but the time it took was definitely much longer than Angel’s.
“Is the level of rune inscribing among wizards in the Southern Region already this high?” Feng muttered to himself.
About twenty seconds later, Angel’s inscribing of the Clean Rune was nearing completion, just needing to finish the “floating water” rune bearing corner, then he could use the Mysterious Rune in the box to add the final “Transformation” rune bearing corner.
Feng saw this scene too, and if nothing unexpected happened, Angel’s Clean Rune would certainly be inscribed flawlessly.
“But, accidents often happen.”
“Ah? What are you saying?” Angel heard Feng muttering, but didn’t catch it clearly.
Feng smiled, didn’t respond, but watched as Angel inscribed the “floating water” rune bearing corner. When he was about to make the last stroke, Feng suddenly placed his hand on the table.
The table seemed to bear an immense force, and its four legs directly sank ten centimeters into the ground.
Due to the sudden depression of the desk, Angel slightly deviated from the original trajectory while using the inscription pen. Although Angel’s strong self-control salvaged some of the situation, the final result still led to a two-millimeter deviation in the last stroke of the “floating water” rune.
Angel looked puzzled, not understanding why Feng would do such a thing.
Feng glanced at the deviated trajectory and curled his lips, “It’s only a slight deviation. If it were me, it would have deviated by at least two to three centimeters. Alas, it seems I should have been harsher and just taken the desk away.”
“Why do such a thing?” Angel couldn’t help but ask.
Feng turned his face, picking his nose while speaking in an indifferent tone, “I’ll explain later. You should continue your inscription for now. The deviation isn’t too far, so the final effect won’t be much discounted.”
Isn’t this deviation far? In the inscription of runes, even a slight deviation could lead to a significant discrepancy in the final result, or it might even collapse.
Angel wanted to voice his concerns, but he was still in the process of inscribing the rune. Even though there was some deviation, he should at least finish inscribing it first.
Fortunately, it was only the Clean Rune, and luckily, the deviation occurred in the “floating water” rune bearing corner. With Angel’s control over runes, the final outcome would at most have a slight discount on the “cleansing” part, and the rest should be fine.
Angel sighed helplessly, finished inscription the “floating water” rune bearing corner, and then moved on to the last and most crucial step——
inscription the rune bearing corner with the effect of “transformation.”
Usually, Angel just needed to follow the steps in inscribing, but this time, he wasn’t inscribing normally. Instead, he was using the “Mad Hatter’s Coronation” to put the final touch on this Clean Rune.
Angel, controlling the Magic Hand, picked up a small box nearby, and then lightly touched the inscription pen with the Mysterious Rune “Mad Hatter’s Coronation” inside the box.
With the contact between the materials, the pattern inside the box instantly disappeared, turning into a glowing rune that entered the inscription pen.
The appearance of the inscription pen seemed unchanged, but it began to exude a thick mysterious aura. If an outsider didn’t know the details, they might think this ordinary inscription pen was a Mysterious Object.
Upon the Mad Hatter’s Coronation, as Angel maintained the energy infusion into the inscription pen, the moment the pen touched the parchment, the Mysterious Rune did not transfer onto the parchment but began to be inscribed slowly along the trajectory of the energy.
This was Angel’s first encounter with the Mysterious Rune, and he approached it with utmost caution, ready to face any potential situations that might arise.
However, to Angel’s surprise, everything remained calm.
When inscribing the “transformation” rune bearing corner, no incidents occurred; it was as simple and smooth as usual inscribing, taking less than ten seconds to complete the “transformation” rune bearing corner.
With the final rune bearing corner inscribed, the Clean Rune was successfully completed.
Before putting away the inscription pen, Angel glanced at the “floating water” rune bearing corner and sighed softly.
He felt a bit of regret about the deviation in this rune bearing corner.
Although he wasn’t a perfectionist in the strictest sense, this being his first use of the Mysterious Rune, he had hoped for a good start, at least for the rune to be flawless.
Now, due to Feng’s sudden disturbance, the result was slightly flawed.
He didn’t blame Feng but was somewhat puzzled as to why Feng acted in such a manner.
“Take a closer look; it’s starting,” Feng said, noticing Angel’s gaze but offering no explanation, instead pointing towards the rune on the parchment.
Angel looked in the direction Feng indicated and saw the Clean Rune beginning to emit a hazy glow. This glowing phenomenon was normal, as inscribing a Clean Rune typically produced light.
However, this time, not only did it glow, but the light seemed to reveal some… images.
Angel thought he was seeing things and closed his eyes, only to reopen them and confirm that there were indeed images within the glow.
The images were not clear, but Angel could vaguely see a figure, as small as a thumb, dancing on the lines of the rune. Eventually, it pulled a hat from its embrace and tossed it onto the rune, then disappeared.
As the image faded away, Angel clearly sensed a faint mysterious aura emanating from the dim light.
After a while, the dim light also faded, and everything returned to silence, leaving only a piece of parchment on the table that was emitting a mysterious aura…
…
“What was that image just now? And this rune…” Angel looked at the parchment with a puzzled expression on his face.
“Let’s talk about the image later,” Feng said with a profound smile. “Why don’t you try its effect first?”
Angel picked up the parchment in front of him and carefully sensed it. The Clean Rune was functioning normally, and the mysterious aura was indeed emanating from the rune corner that represented “transformation,” which is——the Mad Hatter’s Coronation.
This was the same situation he found in the studio in White Cloud Hamlet.
“With the composition of the Mysterious Rune, what kind of change will occur in the Clean Rune?” With this question in mind, Angel activated the Clean Rune on the parchment.
Although there was no so-called dirt in the painted world, the rune did not have to be effective at the time to know its specific function. After activating the Clean Rune, Angel could clearly perceive the changes around him.
“Dust removal, stain resistance, odor elimination, cleansing… not a single one is missing.” Angel’s eyes widened in surprise: “Not only is the effect complete, but the effective range has actually expanded!”
Angel was certain that the “floating water” rune corner had deviated. Under normal circumstances, the effect should be reduced by at least twenty to thirty percent, but now the effect had not only not been reduced, it had increased!
Angel murmured softly, “Enhancing the original effect of the rune, is this the true function of the Mysterious Rune?”
Feng shook his head: “Not just that, why don’t you sense it again?”
There are other effects? With skepticism, Angel continued to sense the Clean Rune that enveloped an area of ten meters in radius.
After a while, Angel noticed something: “The energy inside the rune hasn’t been consumed?”
“Did you discover it?” Feng smiled lightly: “To be precise, it’s not that the energy hasn’t been consumed, but that there’s an additional function of ‘external energy conversion.’ It can replenish the consumption of the Clean Rune itself by absorbing external energy.”
That is to say, as long as there is enough external energy, the Clean Rune will persist.
Angel: “Is this ‘conversion’ of external energy for one’s own use the real functionality of the Mysterious Rune?”
Feng shook his head: “This conversion effect is indeed good, but it’s just a way to save some magic crystals. The Mad Hatter’s Coronation, which made my original body reluctant to give up and even my old friend Renekton has long coveted, certainly has more than just this little effect.”
Listening to Feng’s implication, the Mad Hatter’s Coronation has other effects? Angel calmed down and carefully sensed the surroundings again, but this time he did not discover any other effects.
Feng: “You don’t need to look anymore, the current effect is just this, because what he threw out was just a white hat.”
Angel looked at Feng, puzzled.
Feng did not keep him in suspense any longer and directly said: “Do you remember the hat thrown by the figure in the image we saw earlier?”
Angel nodded.
Feng continued to ask: “What color was the hat he threw?”
Angel remembered this detail; although the figure in the image looked very blurry, the color of the hat was very clear.
“It was a white top hat.”
“That’s right,” Feng said at this point, without explaining why he said “right,” but instead, he changed the subject: “Have you ever heard of the story —Lewis’ Hat—?”
Angel was somewhat puzzled by Feng’s sudden leap in thought but still seriously recalled for a moment and shook his head: “I haven’t heard of it.”
“It’s normal that you haven’t heard of it, because it’s a fairytale from a remote world, a world that few wizards set foot in… much like the Panic World.” When Feng mentioned the Panic World, he glanced again at the shadow under Angel’s feet.
Angel: “…” Then why ask.
Feng: “—Lewis’ Hat— tells the story of the hatter Lewis.”
Following that, Feng began to narrate the story. He didn’t go into many details but simply outlined the main points.
Lewis was born into a family of hatters in the Hat Kingdom, and his skill in making hats could only be described as genius. His exquisite hat-making skills made his name well-known far and wide. Fame brought him many troubles, some were sweet burdens, like when he met a beautiful girl who came to him because of his reputation, who later became his wife; some were real troubles, like the day he received a black leather envelope, inviting Lewis to a place called Teapot Kingdom to make a hat for the Grand Duke of Black Tea.
Lewis, wanting to experience the hat styles of various countries, had traveled around the world, but he had never heard of a Teapot Kingdom and thought it was a joke.
However, not long after, his wife mysteriously disappeared, and a teapot mark appeared at the place of her disappearance.
Naturally, Lewis associated this with Teapot Kingdom, and he frantically searched for information about Teapot Kingdom. After numerous disappointments, he encountered an old witch from whom he accidentally learned the secret of Teapot Kingdom.
As long as one places a teapot with a spout beside them and silently thinks of Teapot Kingdom three times, a guide will appear from the spout of the teapot, leading Lewis into Teapot Kingdom.
Lewis truly entered the Teapot Kingdom in such a manner, and his guide was a rabbit named Tea Tea.
The Teapot Kingdom is a magical place, easy to enter but hard to leave. Moreover, the creatures there are incredibly absurd and terrifying.
Within this realm, Lewis embarked on a series of adventures and, with the help of the rabbit Tea Tea, eventually found his wife.
Indeed, his wife had been kidnapped by the Grand Duke of Black Tea.
Lewis wanted to leave with his wife, but the difficulties to be overcome were immense. To help him, the rabbit Tea Tea sacrificed itself, and Lewis made a magical hat out of Tea Tea’s fur.
Once the hat was placed on Lewis’s head, it could never be removed.
When the hat turned white, Lewis would be lucid.
When the hat turned black, Lewis would take on the personality of a Teapot Kingdom citizen, becoming mad, bizarre in thought, and frenzied in speech. At the same time, he would possess magical powers.
With the help of this hat, Lewis finally overcame numerous difficulties and left the Teapot Kingdom with his wife.
If this were merely a fairytale, then it would end here, with a wonderful adventure and a happy, grand finale.
However, this story has a more realistic ending. Because Lewis could not remove the magical hat, he would occasionally go mad, and his wife, unable to bear Lewis’s insanity, eventually left him.
Her departure dealt a severe blow to Lewis.
Since then, the hat has never turned white again, always remaining black.
And the once-genius Lewis became known later as Mad Lewis.
As time slowly passed, the citizens of the Hat Kingdom gradually forgot Lewis’ name, instead calling him——
The Mad Hatter.
Chapter 2290 Mad Hatter’s Coronation <TOC> Chapter 2292 Optimize Flaws