Chapter 2290: Chapter 2291: Louis’s Hat

Unblemished Magic Pattern.

This is the simplest magic pattern Angel can think of with the "transmutation" pattern horn and without any destructive properties.

It’s usually engraved on rooms or clothing, serving to deodorize, cleanse, and ward off impurities. It’s somewhat like a Cleansing Spell, but the Cleansing Spell only works instantly, while the unblemished magic pattern can last a long time as long as energy replenishment is provided.

This magic pattern possesses the "transmutation" pattern horn because it needs to separate, transform, and decompose impurities.

After determining the target for engraving, Angel took out a commonly used engraving pen, dipped it in the basic blood ink, and began drawing on the parchment.

Because it is a relatively simple and elementary magic pattern, Angel engraved it very quickly.

In Feng’s view, every stroke by Angel was smooth and fluent, as if Angel was not controlling the engraving pen, but the pen was guiding Angel’s hand across the parchment, leaving behind perfect lines.

"Indeed, it’s the unblemished magic pattern." Feng murmured softly.

"Already recognized it? As expected of Master Morpaint." Angel followed with a compliment.

Feng nonchalantly replied, "Among the elementary magic patterns, those with ’transmutation’ properties, only the unblemished magic pattern is the simplest and least dangerous. Choosing to draw it is quite normal... When I first used the ’Mad Hatter’s Coronation’, I also chose the unblemished magic pattern."

Pausing for a moment, Feng squinted at Angel: "More than the pattern you chose, I’m surprised that you can divide your attention while engraving magic patterns."

Feng once thought magic patterns were simple, but after truly studying them, he discovered that engraving them is a task that requires tremendous effort. The biggest challenge is maintaining energy output within the Mind Space, neither too fast nor too slow, keeping a consistent rate for an extended period, and altering the energy output rate when engraving different pattern horns. The extent of alteration depends on varying materials, different blood inks, and the current environment, requiring silent calculus of formulas in one’s mind. Any small error, a slight bump in energy output rate, or insufficient computing power could result in complete failure.

This is just the entry-level requirement for magic pattern engraving, demanding extreme focus.

For Angel to divide his attention and converse while engraving, it’s indeed an impressive feat.

"The unblemished magic pattern is relatively simple, so you can be mindful of external circumstances. If it were slightly more advanced, I couldn’t afford distraction," replied Angel.

Feng glanced at the progress on the parchment and felt Angel was being modest. Because he was already halfway through, knowing it hadn’t even been a minute since Angel started.

Even if the unblemished magic pattern is simple, to engrave so swiftly while distracted, it shows Angel’s profound understanding and skill in magic pattern engraving. Moreover, Feng noticed that Angel appeared calm and composed throughout, indicating he possessed strong confidence and never considered failing in engraving the unblemished magic pattern.

From this inference, it’s evident Angel’s level of proficiency in magic patterns is quite high.

At least, significantly higher than Feng’s.

When Feng himself engraved the unblemished magic pattern, regardless of whether the lines were precise, the time spent was definitely much longer compared to Angel.

"Have Southern Domain Wizards’ magic pattern skills reached this level now?" Feng muttered to himself.

Another twenty seconds or so passed, and Angel was nearing completion of the unblemished magic pattern. He only needed to finish the last "floating-water" pattern horn, then he could utilize the mysterious magic tattoo in the box to supplement the final "transmutation" pattern horn.

Feng also observed this scene and anticipated that Angel’s engraved unblemished magic pattern would inevitably be flawless unless something unplanned happened.

"But, surprises often occur."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Angel heard Feng muttering, though he couldn’t catch it clearly.

Feng chuckled without responding, instead observing Angel engraving the "floating-water" pattern horn, just as he was about to finish the final stroke, Feng suddenly placed his hand on the table.

The surface seemed to withstand immense force, causing the four table legs to sink ten centimeters into the floor.

Due to the sudden descent of the table, Angel’s engraving pen slightly veered off from its intended path. Although Angel’s strong self-control recovered somewhat, the final result still had a deviation of two millimeters in the last stroke of the "floating-water".

Angel’s expression was somewhat perplexed, unable to comprehend why Feng did this.

Feng eyed the deviation and shrugged: "Only a bit off; if it were me, it would at least veer two to three centimeters. Sigh, it seems I should’ve been harsher and directly removed the table."

"Why do this?" Angel couldn’t help but inquire.

Feng turned while picking his nose, replying casually, "I’ll explain later; you better continue engraving first. It’s not too far-off, and the final effect won’t be reduced much."

Not too far-off? When engraving magic patterns, even a slight deviation can cause major discrepancies in the final result, possibly leading to a collapse.

Angel wanted to voice his question but decided to finish the engraving first, despite the deviation.

Thankfully, it was only an unblemished magic pattern, and luckily, the deviation was with the "floating-water" pattern horn; given Angel’s control over magic patterns, at worst, the "cleansing" aspect might be slightly compromised, but the rest should be fine.

Angel sighed helplessly, completed the "floating-water" pattern horn, then proceeded to the final and most crucial step—

Engraving the pattern horn for "transmutation".

Usually, Angel would engrave step by step, but this time, Angel was not engraving normally; he was going to use the "Mad Hatter’s Coronation" to conclude this unblemished magic pattern.

Angel controlled the Hand of Magic to pick up a small box beside him, then gently touched the mysterious magic tattoo "Mad Hatter’s Coronation" inside the box with the engraving pen.

As the substances interfaced, the patterns within the box instantly vanished, transforming into a glowing mark that penetrated the engraving pen.

The appearance of the engraving pen seemed unchanged, but it started emanating a dense mysterious aura. Anyone unaware of the situation might mistake this ordinary pen for a Mysterious Object.

After "Mad Hatter’s Coronation" entered the pen, Angel maintained energy infusion into the pen’s interior, so when Angel touched the parchment with the pen, the mysterious magic tattoo did not transfer to the parchment but began a gradual engraving along the energy trajectory.

Since this was Angel’s first time using a mysterious magic tattoo, he approached it with utmost caution to prepare for any potential incidents.

But unexpectedly, everything remained remarkably calm for Angel.

While engraving the "transmutation" pattern horn, no incidents occurred, as smooth as usual drawing, taking just a few strokes and less than ten seconds to complete the "transmutation" pattern horn.

With the last pattern horn engraved, the unblemished magic pattern was considered complete.

Before putting the pen away, Angel glanced at the "floating-water" pattern horn and sighed softly.

He felt a bit of regret about the deviation in this pattern horn.

Though not a strict perfectionist, since it was his first time using a mysterious magic tattoo, he hoped to have a good start, at least to achieve a flawless magic pattern.

But now, due to Feng’s sudden antics, the result had minor blemishes.

Angel didn’t blame Feng, but was somewhat puzzled about why he did it.

"Look closely, it’s starting," Feng observed Angel looking over, but didn’t explain, instead pointing to the magic pattern on the parchment.

Following Feng’s words, Angel looked over and saw the unblemished magic pattern beginning to emit a hazy glow. This glow effect is normal, as usual, when unblemished magic patterns are engraved, there’s a glow.

However, typically the glow is merely luminescent, but this time the glow seemed to contain some... imagery.

Angel assumed he was mistaken, closed his eyes, and reopened them.

There indeed appeared to be some imagery within the glow.

The image wasn’t clear, but Angel vaguely saw a character the size of a thumb, dancing on the lines of the Magic Pattern. In the end, it pulled out a hat from its bosom, threw it onto the Magic Pattern, and then vanished.

As the image disappeared, Angel clearly sensed a faint mysterious aura seeping out from the dim light.

After a while, even the dim light faded, and everything returned to silence, leaving only a parchment exuding a mysterious aura on the table...

...

"What was that image just now? And this Magic Pattern..." Angel looked at the parchment, puzzled.

"We’ll talk about the image later," Feng replied with a cryptic smile, "Don’t you want to try its effect first?"

Angel picked up the parchment before him and carefully sensed it. The Immaculate Magic Pattern was functioning normally; the mysterious aura was emanating from the Magic Tattoo Horn representing ’Transformation’, the coronation of the Mad Hat.

This was the same situation as before when he discovered the Magic Pattern in the studio at White Cloud Village.

"With the formation of mysterious Magic Patterns, what changes will occur to the Immaculate Magic Pattern?" With this question in mind, Angel activated the Immaculate Magic Pattern on the parchment.

Although the world within the painting had no dust as such, the Magic Pattern’s effect wasn’t necessarily perceived only when in use. Once activated, Angel could detect changes in his surroundings.

"Dust removal, stain resistance, odor elimination, cleanliness... not a single one is missing." Angel’s eyes held surprise. "The effects are not only intact but the effective range is even expanded!"

Angel was certain that there was a deviation with the ’Floating Water’ Magic Tattoo Horn. Normally, the effect would be reduced by two to three tenths; now, not only was it not reduced, it had increased!

Angel murmured softly, "Enhancing the existing Magic Pattern’s effects, is this the function of the mysterious Magic Pattern?"

Feng shook his head, "Not just that, sense it again?"

Are there other effects? With doubts in mind, Angel continued to sense the Immaculate Magic Pattern enveloping a radius of ten meters.

After a while, Angel noticed a problem: "The magic pattern’s internal energy isn’t depleted?"

"You’ve discovered it, have you?" Feng smiled lightly, "To be precise, it’s not that the energy isn’t depleted, but an external energy ’transformation’ function is added. It can replenish the energy consumption of the Immaculate Magic Pattern by absorbing external energy."

In other words, as long as there is enough external energy, the Immaculate Magic Pattern will persist indefinitely.

Angel: "Is this function of converting external energy for personal use the true function of the mysterious Magic Pattern?"

Feng shook his head, "This conversion effect is quite good, but it merely saves some Magic Crystals. The coronation of the Mad Hat, which even makes my main body unwilling to give up and has long been coveted by my old friend Rekton, of course, offers more than just this."

According to Feng, does the coronation of the Mad Hat have other effects? Angel calmed down and carefully sensed his surroundings again, but this time he didn’t find any other effects.

Feng: "There’s no need to keep looking; the current effect is just this, because he threw out only a white hat."

Angel looked at Feng with confusion.

Feng no longer held back, directly explaining, "Do you remember the image seen earlier, where the person threw out a hat?"

Angel nodded.

Feng continued asking, "What color was the hat he threw out?"

This Angel remembered, though the figure in the image seemed blurry, the color of the hat was conspicuously clear.

"It was a white top hat."

"That’s correct." Feng, without explaining why he said ’correct’, shifted the topic, "Have you heard of the story ’Louis’s Hat’?"

Angel was somewhat puzzled by Feng’s sudden change of thought, but after a moment of serious recollection, he shook his head, "I’ve never heard of it."

"It’s not unusual that you haven’t heard of it, because it’s a fairy tale from a distant world, a place rarely visited by wizards... much like the Panic Realm," Feng said, glancing at the shadow under Angel’s feet when mentioning the Panic Realm.

Angel: "... Then why did you ask."

Feng: "’Louis’s Hat’ tells the story of the hat maker Louis."

Then, Feng began to narrate the story, skipping the details and summarizing the main plot simply.

Louis, born into a family of hat makers in the Hat Country, was a genius in hat-making skills. His exquisite hat-making technique made him renowned. His fame brought him many troubles, some sweet burdens, such as meeting a beautiful girl who came because of his fame, who later became his wife; others were genuine worries, such as receiving a black envelope one day, inviting Louis to a place called the Teapot Country to make a hat for a Grand Duke of Red Tea.

Having traveled the world to see different styles of hats, Louis had never heard of a place called the Teapot Country, thinking it was a joke.

Yet shortly after, his wife vanished mysteriously, and a teapot mark appeared where she disappeared.

Louis naturally linked it to the Teapot Country and began madly searching for information about the Teapot Country. After many disappointments, he met an Old Witch and unexpectedly learned the secrets of the Teapot Country.

By placing a teapot with a spout nearby and silently thinking ’Teapot Country’ three times, the teapot’s spout would produce a Guide, leading Louis into the Teapot Country.

Louis indeed used this method to enter the Teapot Country, and his guide was a rabbit named Cha Cha.

The Teapot Country was a magical place, easy to enter but hard to leave. Moreover, the creatures there were grotesquely bizarre and terrifying.

Louis experienced numerous adventures in this country and, with the help of the rabbit Cha Cha, finally found his wife.

As it turned out, the Grand Duke of Red Tea had kidnapped his wife.

Louis wished to take his wife and leave, but the obstacles were immense. To help him, the rabbit Cha Cha sacrificed himself, and Louis used Cha Cha’s fur to make a magical hat.

Once worn on Louis’s head, the hat could never be taken off.

When the hat appeared white, Louis was sober.

When the hat appeared black, Louis transformed, adopting the eccentric and manic personality of the Teapot Country’s inhabitants, becoming erratic in his thoughts and speech, yet possessing magical powers.

With the hat’s help, Louis finally overcame countless challenges and left the Teapot Country with his wife.

If just a fairy tale, then the story ends here with a delightful adventure and a happy ending.

However, the story itself has a more realistic conclusion. Unable to remove the magical hat, Louis was frequently erratic, which eventually drove his wife away.

Devastated by his wife’s departure, Louis was utterly shattered.

From then on, the hat never turned white again, always remaining in a black state.

Once a prodigious talent, Louis became the later known Mad Louis.

Time flowed on, and the citizens of the Hat Country gradually forgot Louis’s name, instead calling him—

Mad Hat.

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