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.