Chapter 2291 Lewis' Hat <TOC> Chapter 2293 White to Black
Translator: SumTLMan
After listening to the story told by Feng, even Angel, who was usually slow to catch on, understood that the “Mad Hatter” mentioned in the story and the Mysterious Rune must be connected in some way.
“Could the Mad Hatter in the story actually be the origin of the Mysterious Rune?”
If that were the case, this might not just be a fairytale, but an event that truly took place.
This reminded Angel of the desolate space where he first encountered Tulas and the Mysterious Object he missed out on. The birth of that Mysterious Object was actually derived from a legendary con artist who truly existed in history——Lucas.
Feng nodded, “According to my research, in the history of that world, there indeed was a genius hatter named Lewis, but too much time has passed, and the events of that time have become difficult to trace. Whether it’s a fairytale or a true story is now unclear. However, since this person truly existed, there must be some connection to the Mysterious Rune, and there’s a high probability that it is the origin of the Mysterious Rune.”
Feng’s tone became slightly hesitant as he continued, “However, what puzzles me is that what ultimately emerged was a rune, not the hat made from Tea Tea’s fur mentioned in the story.”
The birth of Mysterious Objects across the vast expanse of planes is hard to pin down to a fixed pattern. Just like with Lucas, who lived in the same era, whether ordinary people or wizards, no one would have thought that Lucas’ mouth, full of lies, would eventually become a Mysterious Object.
Although it’s difficult to find a pattern for the birth of Mysterious Objects, once the general history of a Mysterious Object is confirmed, it’s still possible to narrow down some possibilities.
The most magical part of this fairytale is Lewis’ hat. The white hat could keep one lucid, returning to the frail nature of humans; the black hat made one mad, possessing the magical powers of the citizens of the Teapot Kingdom.
If tracing the origin of the Mysterious Object, it seems logical that this hat would transform into a Mysterious Object. Why then did a rune appear in the end? The story does not mention the existence of a rune at all.
This is why Feng felt puzzled.
However, these are ultimately just the backstory of the Mysterious Rune, which doesn’t affect the abilities of the Mysterious Rune itself; knowing or not knowing it doesn’t really matter.
At this moment, Angel was thinking along these lines. Although he was somewhat puzzled in his heart, what he was most concerned about at the moment was the characteristics of this Mysterious Rune.
Angel remembered that before hearing the story, Feng had said, “The current effect of the Clean Rune is just this, because the figure in the rune only throws out a white hat.”
Associating this with the plot in —Lewis’ Hat—, where the hat undergoes changes between black and white, the “Mad Hatter’s Coronation” might not only crown the rune with a white hat but might also crown the rune with a black hat.
Angel voiced his doubts.
Feng nodded, “Correct, a black hat will indeed be thrown. The effects of the white and black hat are completely different; it can even be said that the effect of the black hat is truly revolutionary.”
“Truly revolutionary…” Angel murmured this phrase, feeling slightly moved.
If the effect of the Mysterious Rune also follows the logic in the fairytale, where the white hat simply brings Lewis back from madness to lucidity, meaning it returns Lewis to the cognitive level before wearing the hat, it certainly plays a significant role in the story, but in reality, its use is actually quite limited; this corresponds to the white hat in the Mysterious Rune, although its effect is quite good, it is just that, quite good. Among Mysterious Objects, it is considered to be of a lower standard.
But the black hat in the story is completely different; it drives Lewis into madness, endowing him with immensely powerful abilities. The black hat is truly the source of power upon which Lewis relies for survival.
Following the story’s logic, if the Mysterious Rune is crowned with a black hat, it might indeed be a revolution like never before!
“What exactly is the effect of the black hat? How can the figure in the rune throw out a black hat?” Angel asked Feng eagerly.
“Let’s talk about the black hat later; first, let’s talk about the white hat. Do you really think you fully understand the white hat?” Feng didn’t start with the black hat but mentioned the white hat first.
“Does the white hat have effects I’m unaware of?” Angel murmured for a moment, suddenly thinking of something, his gaze shifting towards the “floating water” rune within the Clean Rune.
Feng also noticed Angel’s gaze and smiled, saying, “Only thinking of it now? The optimization effect of the white hat on runes is not just about enhancing the power of the runes themselves; it can also optimize the flaws within the runes.”
Upon hearing “Optimize Flaws,” Angel finally understood why Feng had been interfering with his rune inscribing earlier, it was all for this moment.
This also explained Angel’s previous confusion in the studio at White Cloud Hamlet——why the imperfectly drawn runes by Feng could still be effective for a long time.
Everything was the result of “optimization.”
At first glance, this effect of optimizing flaws might seem ordinary, unnecessary for those who draw with care.
However, in reality, the biggest trouble for rune wizards and enchantment alchemists is that many advanced runes and magic formations are too complex, not only taking a long time to draw but also prone to errors.
Angel faced such troubles; he was still unable to draw some of the more difficult magic formations from —The Enchantment Compendium——Advanced Edition—, let alone think about the —Perfect Edition—. This was because his mental and computational capacities could not support him through days or even months of continuous inscribing.
Once mental strength wanes or a slight deviation occurs in calculations, such advanced magic formations would be ruined.
Moreover, magic formations, unlike individual runes, do not incur too great a penalty if failed; at most, one would have to redraw. Advanced magic formations are a convergence of a large amount of magical power; a single mistake can lead to the collapse or even backlash of the entire formation.
There are numerous instances of wizards who have died from backlash while attempting to draw magic formations beyond their level.
It can be said that for enchantment alchemists and rune wizards in the middle and later stages, mistakes are absolutely unacceptable.
However, once possessing the white hat’s ability to optimize flaws, this is great news for them. At least they don’t have to worry about dying from a backlash due to a failure in inscribing an advanced magic formation.
The most crucial aspect is that this ability to optimize flaws allows Angel to tackle more challenging magic formations!
With this in mind, Angel hurriedly asked, “Is there a lower limit to the effect of optimizing flaws?”
Feng replied, “Of course, you wouldn’t think that by simply scribbling a few lines, the Mysterious Rune would optimize it into a complete rune, would you?”
Angel inquired, “Then, at what point of flaw tolerance does the rune optimization become ineffective?”
“As long as the flaws do not exceed 3% of the overall rune, it can be optimized.”
3% might not seem much, but in reality, the magic formations in the —Advanced Edition— typically consist of dozens of runes gathered together, containing more than a thousand rune bearing corners. The overall 3% could represent hundreds of rune bearing corners.
For those more challenging magic formations, such as those with tens of thousands of rune bearing corners, 3% could represent thousands of rune bearing corners.
This means that when Angel is inscribing the magic formations from the —Advanced Edition—, he can afford to make mistakes in the rune bearing corners more than a hundred times.
This is a significantly high tolerance for error.
Angel could deliberately make mistakes when mentally and computationally exhausted, take a brief rest, and then continue inscribing.
In this way, Angel estimates he could inscribe the majority of the magic formations in the —Advanced Edition—. As for the —Perfect Edition—, it’s worth a try, but his endurance is probably still insufficient, leading to a high failure rate.
On the other side, Feng witnessed the entire process of Angel’s expression changing from confusion to realization, and then to brightness.
“Now you understand, throwing out the white hat isn’t so weak after all, right?” Feng said with a smile.
Angel nodded excitedly, the reason for his initial lack of realization was only because he was inscribing the most basic Clean Rune.
The optimization ability of the white hat, especially for more complex runes, truly showcases its value.
“Regardless, this is still a Mysterious Object. Although the black hat is powerful, the white hat has its own merits,” Feng paused before continuing: “Having discussed the white hat, now we can talk about the black hat.”
Angel’s ears perked up in anticipation.
Given the strength of the white hat, what kind of effects would the black hat possess?
Feng tantalized Angel’s curiosity, but his first statement left Angel stunned: “Regrettably, I have never had the opportunity to crown a rune with a black hat.”
“It’s not that I’m unwilling, but rather that I’m unable,” Feng said, his expression slightly embarrassed.
After hearing Feng’s explanation, Angel understood that Feng’s so-called inability was actually because he hadn’t met the conditions for the appearance of the black hat.
To have a chance at producing a black hat, a necessary condition must be met: the rune being inscribed must be flawless.
The white hat can optimize flaws, but the appearance of the black hat requires the rune itself to be flawless.
The two colors of hats cannot appear simultaneously, meaning once your rune has flaws, a white hat will inevitably appear.
If the rune is perfect and flawless, then there is a certain chance a black hat will appear.
“Indeed, even if a perfectly flawless rune is inscribed, the appearance of the black hat is not guaranteed but is instead a matter of probability,” Feng paused before adding: “I have an old friend named Renekton, who, like me, comes from the Turing Magic Cube, though he is an alchemist.”
“The Turing Magic Cube? Didn’t you say earlier that you were at the Temple of Prophets?” Angel muttered.
“Don’t interrupt,” Feng chided, but still provided an explanation afterward: “There’s no conflict. I was just working at the Temple of Prophets, which doesn’t mean I belong to the Temple of Prophets.”
“Speaking of which, although Renekton is not an enchantment alchemist, he knows some alchemy runes, so I asked him to help me test the capabilities of the Mysterious Rune.”
“I’m not proficient in runes, so I never managed to make the rune throw out a black hat, but Renekton did.”
“Based on Renekton’s tests, I’ve concluded two prerequisites for the appearance of a black hat.”
“First, as you already know, the rune itself must be flawless.”
“Second, the more complex the rune, the greater the chance of a black hat appearing. At least in Renekton’s tests, when he inscribed a single rune, a black hat never appeared. On the contrary, when he was inscribing a magic formation, a black hat appeared. That was also the only time I’ve seen a black hat since I obtained the Mysterious Rune.”
Angel was stunned for a moment: “The only time?”
Wasn’t Renekton asked to test it? Did Renekton also only manage to test out a black hat once? ——Although Angel didn’t understand Renekton’s alchemical strength, being mentioned by Feng certainly means he wouldn’t be mediocre.
“Yes, the only time, because after the black hat appeared, I could clearly see that Renekton was coveting my Mysterious Rune, perhaps planning to run away with it while I wasn’t paying attention, so I took the Mysterious Rune and left first…”
Angel: “…”
He had thought that the chances of a black hat appearing were so low that it only happened once in many years, but it turns out it was because of the worry that the Mysterious Rune might be stolen.
Although somewhat speechless, this also shows that the effect of the black hat must be unparalleled.
Otherwise, that alchemist named Renekton wouldn’t have harbored thoughts of possession right in front of Feng.
Feng ran away quickly, which actually also indirectly proves that he was very aware of the value of the black hat.
“Are these the only two prerequisites?” Angel held back his urge to comment and asked.
Feng said, “I’ve only come to these two premises because the samples are too few. You can summarize them yourself in the future, after all, the ‘Mad Hatter’s Coronation’ is now yours.”
Angel then inquired about the specific effects of the black hat.
To this, Feng’s response was rather vague: “All I can say is, it’s an absolute revolution.”
Seeing Angel still looking puzzled, Feng thought for a moment and said, “Let me give you an example. Have you ever seen a pond of water suddenly turn into a pond of lava?”
Feng asked this expecting Angel to answer “no,” but Angel nodded without hesitation: “I have seen it.”
Feng: “…”
Angel: “I know a witch with the talent Quality Change of Water, who can not only turn water into lava but also into a pool of oil.”
Initially thinking Angel was being argumentative, Feng realized upon this explanation: “So it’s Quality Change of Water, that’s quite rare.”
“Then let me give you another example. Have you ever seen a pond of water suddenly turn into a knight’s sword?”
This time, Angel finally shook his head.
“The situation with the black hat is quite similar to this example; when the black hat appears, its coronation rune undergoes a fundamental change. This represents a nearly revolutionary qualitative transformation,” Feng explained.
Upon hearing Feng’s example, Angel seemed to grasp something, but upon further reflection, he felt as if his understanding was obscured by a layer of fog.
After pondering for a moment, he thought to himself, “Since I can’t figure it out, I might as well just give it a try.”
With this thought, Angel took out a piece of leather paper that had been tanned with a special potion from his bracelet, along with a carving pen.
Seeing Angel’s actions, Feng naturally understood his intention.
“You can try with the white hat, but attempting to achieve the black hat right now is virtually impossible,” Feng said. “I haven’t calculated the odds of the black hat appearing, but it’s definitely not high. Renekton also tried dozens of times before succeeding.”
Angel took Feng’s words to heart, but his inner desire to explore and discover did not allow him to cease his experiment.
Driven by an expanding curiosity, he did not want to stop. After all, it was just an attempt; if it didn’t appear, then he would simply move on.