Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3302: Chapter 3303: Unknown Gift

A few minutes later, a gap slowly appeared in the thin mist.

Luigi’s figure was ”excluded” from the gap.

Luigi looked at the still undissipated mist and muttered in the Mind Ribbon, ”Let me see your intel network won’t kill me, but you insist on kicking me out, so stingy...”

Just as Luigi’s voice fell, Angel’s voice came through the Mind Ribbon: ”Next time you badmouth me, don’t do it in the Mind Ribbon.”

Luigi huffed twice, ”If I don’t say it here, how can you hear it?”

Angel: ”Then keep talking, I can pretend I didn’t hear anything.”

Luigi raised his eyebrows and really began to speak slanderously in the Mind Ribbon according to Angel’s meaning. No matter how exaggerated his words were, Angel did not respond anymore.

Luigi glanced at the swirling mist, finally mumbled helplessly, ”Really boring.”

At this moment, Angel in the center of the mist completely ignored Luigi’s complaints and instead summoned Heideland from his bracelet.

As soon as Heideland appeared, the faint purple radiance emanating from its body reflected the surrounding mist into a hazy water color.

Angel, as usual, rubbed Heideland’s soft body and prepared to connect to the Void network.

But just as his hand was raised, before he pointed to his forehead, he suddenly paused.

Angel lowered his head, with a puzzled look at Heideland.

At that moment, his Hyper Perception detected a trace of ”annoyance” emotion from Heideland.

This sudden emotion surprised Angel.

Heideland rarely expressed emotions, or rather, the Void Traveler race, except for Wang Wang, usually didn’t show emotions.

Because emotional expression is a reflection of intelligence, and it’s precisely the Void Travelers who lack intelligence.

Of course, this is not to say that the Void Travelers don’t know how to express emotions, but rather, they tend to exhibit single emotions when expressing them.

For instance, when they reach a resting place after a long journey, they show happiness; when Wang Wang is caught by the Boiling Gentleman, they express anger; when encountering the predator Void Whale, they show fear.

These emotions are very singular and must have external stimuli to elicit corresponding emotions from the Void Travelers.

Complex emotions and causeless emotions are rarely shown by the Void Travelers.

This time, Angel was ”interrupted during casting” because he sensed ”complex” and ”causeless” emotions from Heideland.

Annoyance.

It belongs to the category of anger, but it hasn’t reached the extreme of rage, instead, it lingers in the stage of irritation, without flaring up into a full-blown anger. Sometimes, such anger isn’t even real anger but rather fake anger.

In some sense, this can be considered a relatively ”complex” emotion.

As for ”causeless.”

Literally understood, it means emotions arising without reason.

But truly causeless emotions are rare in this world; ”causeless” actually has a ”cause,” though this ”cause” is generally very small, and according to common logic, shouldn’t provoke such intense emotions.

For instance, feeling a burst of melancholy just from seeing the wind stop, the rain cease, people leave, or tea cool down, even to the point of uncontrollably crying.

This is the so-called ”causeless” emotion.

Are they really baseless? Actually, that’s not the case. The change in the weather touched the sensibility deep within; people leaving and tea cooling triggered past memories.

Sensibility and memory are the causes of emotional fluctuations.

Apart from scenes evoking feelings, emotions abruptly surfacing after being bottled up for a long time and suddenly self?derived emotions are all referred to as causeless, though in truth, they all have causes.

Heideland’s ”annoyance” could also be considered a causeless emotion, with a similarly small ”cause.”

—Angel interrupted its show watching.

Angel had noticed earlier that Heideland seemed very involved in the ”movie watching group,” even following Dangross in binge-watching ”Anomalous Fire Alchemist.”

Upon discovering Heideland’s ”hobby,” Angel thought of improving Heideland’s solitary, mundane life.

He put the Shadow Box of ”Anomalous Fire Alchemist” in the bracelet and allowed Heideland to binge-watch daily.

When Angel summoned Heideland a few dozen minutes ago, perhaps because the plot was at a peaceful stage, Heideland showed no emotion.

But this time when summoned, the plot of ”Anomalous Fire Alchemist” was at a climax, and Heideland, interrupted midway, instinctively showed an ”annoyance” emotion.

Although Heideland quickly calmed down, that trace of annoyance was still captured by Angel.

”Do you really like ’Anomalous Fire Alchemist’?” Angel looked seriously at the dreamily shimmering Heideland in mid-air, asking.

Heideland seemed not to understand why Angel suddenly turned his gaze towards it.

After hesitating for a moment, Heideland blinked its eyes.

The eyes that originally looked like small black beans transformed into heart shapes.

”Are you saying... you like it?” Angel paused and extended his hand, ”If you like it, touch my hand.”

This time Heideland pondered for a long while before extending a shallow tentacle, touching Angel’s palm.

Seeing Heideland’s response, a hint of joy flash in Angel’s eyes.

For those last two questions, he wasn’t actually concerned about the answers. He cared more about whether Heideland could understand him, think on its own, and whether it was willing to respond.

If Heideland could think, understand, and was willing to respond, this meant Heideland’s intelligence was growing.

It’s essential to know that the tags of a Void Traveler have always been ”rare,” ”worthless,” and ”stupid.”

The ”rare” tag is universally recognized and can be set aside for now. Just speaking of the ”worthless” and ”stupid” tags, the former is a misconception by the world, as the value of Void Travelers can be seen from the Void network; but the latter, Angel finds hard to refute.

Even the only ”The Sage” among the Void Travelers, Wang Wang, is powerless to refute this.

In terms of intelligence, Void Travelers are indeed quite foolish.

They mostly only know how to follow Wang Wang’s instructions without the ability to think for themselves.

But now, Angel suddenly found Heideland’s intelligence growing, does this mean that Void Travelers can get rid of this ”stupid” tag?

Angel believes that Wang Wang would probably be pleasantly surprised upon hearing this news.

After all, Wang Wang, as a Void Traveler, can resonate even more.

However, Angel restrained his excitement, as he needed further confirmation.

Angel continued to ask Heideland some questions.

Regarding the question about ”Anomalous Fire Alchemist,” Heideland had a favorable response; but for other questions, especially the more complex ones, Heideland’s reaction was minimal.

Angel couldn’t immediately draw a conclusion, but current observations suggest that Heideland’s intelligence has indeed progressed.

Though Angel couldn’t judge the degree of progress, it didn’t matter... As long as he conveyed Heideland’s condition to Wang Wang, it would naturally conduct an examination.

Angel then gently pressed on Heideland’s jello-like body. Only when Heideland started accumulating anger did he let go, patting its head: ”Don’t be angry, once we return later, I’ll arrange for you the second part of ’Anomalous Fire Alchemist’.”

Heideland didn’t comprehend Angel’s words, but it recognized the name ”Anomalous Fire Alchemist.” Its rising anger now gradually subsided.

Angel chuckled, no longer teasing it, and instead reached out a finger to touch his own forehead.

Upon seeing the ”signal,” Heideland promptly extended a tentacle from its slime-like body, inserting it into Angel’s forehead.

Accompanied by a familiar sense of blur, Angel had already entered the Void Network.

Before Angel could adapt to the haze, he received a message from Wang Wang: ”Why are you here again?”

After hesitating for a few seconds, once his spirit settled, Angel began transmitting information via Heideland.

He didn’t immediately share Heideland’s condition with Wang Wang, but first stated his intentions.

”Investigating the Goose Deacon’s intelligence again?” Wang Wang muttered: ”Such a hassle... alright, send over his visuals, they must be detailed.”

Angel had already prepared in advance and, in coordination with Heideland, quickly sent over the appearance features of Goose Deacon and Cross.

Indeed, there wasn’t just Goose Deacon, but also Cross.

However, Cross’s physical characteristics weren’t obvious; he often wore a mask, his figure was human-like, with no extremely distinctive features, perhaps just some individual style in attire.

Although these alone are insufficient, Angel doubted Wang Wang could find intelligence on Cross, but he still sent it over to keep it on record.

If there’s no clue, that’s fine; once familiar, even if Void Travelers encounter him, they’d still have a general impression.

As for Goose Deacon, his appearance was notably distinctive.

Goose Deacon also frequently wore a ”goose mask,” but this mask didn’t cover his entire face; everything below the nose was exposed.

While the area above the nose was concealed by the mask, Goose Deacon’s eyes had been exposed before Dog Deacon.

Moreover, Goose Deacon’s eyes are exceptionally recognizable.

The whites of his eyes are emerald like a lake, while the pupils are deep blue. Most importantly, outside the vitreous body is a layer of gray-white net-like structure, appearing unlike human eyes.

Goose Deacon’s hair and clothing were ordinary, but notably, Goose Deacon’s hands were pure white wings, and his feet were covered by a multitude of illusion feathers, creating a fallen snowy fluff appearance, forming a cloud-like illusion beneath.

The eyes, wings, and illusion feathers and cloud cushion under his feet marked Goose Deacon’s distinctive features.

If Goose Deacon’s clan stands out in the Pan-Dimensional Plane, perhaps these three marked features would identify Goose Deacon’s origins.

Upon receiving the visuals, Wang Wang immediately sent out the information, requiring a little wait to receive full feedback.

Angel didn’t mind, using the waiting time to discuss Heideland’s condition.

After listening, Wang Wang remained silent for a long time: ”I’ve noticed some changes in Heideland too...”

To communicate with Wang Wang, Angel needed Heideland’s assistance. However, Wang Wang could form a connection with Heideland anytime.

Since Heideland was following Angel on Wang Wang’s instructions, Wang Wang paid special attention to Heideland.

After all, Heideland is the sole companion among all Void Travelers closely interacting with human civilization.

Void Travelers generally have no fondness for humans; even Wang Wang shares the sentiment. Living in the human world, closely interacting with various life forms is a first for them, catching not only Wang Wang’s attention but also other Void Travelers’ interest in Heideland.

Therefore, Wang Wang would converse with Heideland whenever free.

During interactions, Wang Wang distinctly felt that the emotions and articulated content Heideland displayed were rapidly advancing.

Previously, Heideland could perhaps engage in simple exchanges, unable to grasp more complex content.

But now, Heideland’s comprehension ability has significantly improved.

For instance, earlier, Heideland could only understand straightforward questions like ”Does this flower smell nice?”; now, it comprehends more descriptive questions like ”Does this flower smell nice in the corner?”

Wang Wang observed Heideland’s progress and was thrilled and excited, yet also anxious and bewildered.

Why is Heideland experiencing this change?

Is it because of its exposure to Angel that it’s displaying intelligence enhancement? Or does close interaction with intelligent beings boost intelligence?

Is Heideland an exception? Or can all Void Travelers achieve this?

These queries also troubled Wang Wang.

The reason for being ”troubled” is Wang Wang’s inability to provide answers for these questions.

Proving this requires more Void Travelers to engage with humans, to engage with intelligent life.

Wang Wang could accept Void Travelers interacting with Angel, but couldn’t accept them interacting with other intelligent beings. It knows too well the desires and greed of humans and other intelligent creatures.

Consider those Void Travelers captured by Gluz Deward in Phantom Spirit City, and those human wizards who research and experiment on any captured Void Traveler, not to mention magic whales eyeing Void Travelers eagerly...

All these instances and cases hinder Wang Wang’s trust towards other life forms.

If... the number of Void Travelers was larger, maybe it could persuade itself to perform an experiment.

But now, as the number of Void Travelers dwindles, how can it disprove? How can it prove?

Even with the knowledge of Heideland’s intelligence enhancement, for Wang Wang, this remains difficult.

This isn’t sheer joy, but a seemingly delightful package bearing the core of anxiety and problematic uncertainty.