Angel briefly recounted his experiences in the dark, without mentioning being swallowed by the Dalmatian. It was his secret, and he did not want to disclose it lightly. Besides, he still hadn’t completely let his guard down around Feng.
After hearing Angel’s story, Feng showed a hint of doubt: "Your account matches Rekton’s earlier statement. He, too, was flooded by a multitude of meaningless mysterious symbols. What puzzles me is that Rekton took a full three minutes to awaken from the influx of information, whereas you... managed to awaken in less than half a minute?"
Bear in mind, Rekton is far stronger than Angel.
"There’s one more thing." Feng paused, scrutinizing Angel from head to toe: "Even when Rekton awoke, he had nearly half an hour of adaptation period."
Angel: "Adaptation period?"
Feng nodded: "Ordinary information, no matter how much or complex, could be entirely processed by Rekton without any adverse effects due to his current handling capability. However, this is mysterious information, which even Rekton cannot fully endure. Thus, after his awakening, he experienced a period of reactivity."
"The reactivity didn’t last long, about half an hour, but during this time, although Rekton could remain rational, he would occasionally speak gibberish, which even surprised himself. Like a madman, his words were incoherent."
Feng: "But you, not only did you awaken quickly, but you also skipped this adaptation period... This baffles me."
Feng’s gaze flickered with unknown depths, deeply focused on Angel.
Angel hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: "I don’t know either."
Feng stared at Angel for a few more seconds before lowering his eyes. Though he had not used any spell technique, Angel’s momentary hesitation revealed that he was hiding something.
The air held still for several seconds.
Feng chuckled softly: "Perhaps it’s because the magical energy array you engraved is relatively basic, so the adaptation period was shorter."
By saying this, Feng indicated he wouldn’t pursue the reason further. Although he was curious about the hidden secrets, he was, after all, only a sliver of painted consciousness and could not convey any information to his true body, so knowing the truth held no real significance.
Angel also didn’t want to steer the conversation towards his distinctiveness, so he took the initiative to shift the topic back to the original subject: "Why did this happen?"
Feng: "That was my oversight. I didn’t expect your luck would be so good, producing a black hat on the first try, and I forgot to warn you."
"As for the reason for this occurrence, I once discussed it with Rekton. We concluded that it might be the characteristic of the Mad Hat."
Angel: "Characteristic of the Mad Hat? Isn’t it due to disorder, causing disadvantages?"
Feng: "You know about disorder? That makes it easier to explain. Since you understand some aspects of mysterious objects, you likely know they have three states: controllable, semi-out of control, and completely out of control."
Controllable is essentially the orderly phase, where it doesn’t actively project influence onto the outside world; semi-out of control is manageable under specific conditions, but without those conditions, it can impose significant influence on the surroundings.
Based on this definition, ’Coronation of the Mad Hat’ hasn’t shown any out-of-control states and doesn’t have a significant impact on the environment, so it still falls under the controllable phase.
Generally, mysterious objects in the controllable phase have few apparent drawbacks. For example, Dream Conch, apart from its singular effect, has no side effects.
Feng: "But nothing in the world is absolute; there are always exceptions. Some mysterious objects indeed have disadvantages for their users."
Angel noticed that Feng emphasized "users" when he said it.
"What we label as disadvantages are based on human perspectives, weighing personal gains and losses. To mysterious objects, the concept of human gains and losses is irrelevant. The so-called disadvantage is simply an inherent trait of the mysterious object itself."
"Just like the ’Coronation of the Mad Hat,’ do you recall what happens in the story when Louis’s hat turns black?"
Angel: "The white hat signifies clarity and frailty, the black hat signifies madness and strength."
Saying this, Angel suddenly froze.
"You understand now, don’t you? This mysterious object’s creation is inseparably tied to the story behind it. If the story’s black hat brings the trait of madness, then the actual mysterious object is very likely to follow this narrative, exhibiting a similar trait."
"Think about it, if you hadn’t withstood the flood of mysterious information at the time, what would you have become?"
Angel: "Just like Louis in the story, mad."
"Now you understand." Feng: "What you experienced was indeed one of the drawbacks of this mysterious object, but it’s more the object’s inherent trait than anything related to being out of order."
One of the drawbacks? Was there more? Angel was about to ask, but Feng shifted the topic to something else: "Speaking of being out of order, Rekton once entertained an interesting theory. He suggested that if ’Coronation of the Mad Hat’ unfortunately transitioned from controllable to semi-out of control in the future, ’madness trait’ might become an inevitable result for the user, not just something resistible."
Whether Rekton’s theory held true, Angel did not know, but he gleaned a previously unknown piece of information from this dialogue: "I have only heard that semi-out of control mysterious objects, once losing constraint, have the chance to become completely out of control. I didn’t expect that a controllable mysterious object could also become semi-out of control..."
"Yes, there’s still a certain probability that a controllable mysterious object might experience disorder," Feng said. "So, don’t rely too much on mysterious objects. If they truly become semi-out of control, the one to suffer will be yourself."
"However, the probability of a controllable object becoming semi-out of control is very low; it generally only occurs when a source variance arises."
The so-called source variance, a simple example: for ’Coronation of the Mad Hat,’ according to the story, its creation is inseparable from the betrayal of Louis’s wife and the contribution of the rabbit, Cha Cha. If for some reason Angel were to reencounter Louis’s wife or the rabbit Cha Cha, there would be a small probability of mysterious pattern aberrations, though such occurrences are exceedingly rare, almost negligible.
"Based on the information I obtained from the Orderly Guild, the probability of controllable transitioning to semi-out of control might be less than 0.001%. However, some wizards are indeed eager for mysterious objects to transition from controllable to semi-out of control. There is even a dedicated research group for this at the Orderly Guild."
Angel wore a look of perplexity; could there really be people who desired mysterious objects to go out of control?
After listening to Feng’s explanation, Angel roughly understood. Some mysterious objects have negligible effects that hold little value without identifying a real use. Allowing them to go out of control could not only enhance their traits but also turn many semi-out of control mysterious objects into targets for total control, and even capable of acknowledging a master. Like Frost’s Dark Melody, which recognizes only him; once Frost dies, the Dark Melody would spiral out of control.
Gaining complete control over a mysterious object presents a significant allure for many wizards. No wonder many wizards, aware of the risks, still endeavor to pursue this path.
"So, you needn’t worry. Rekton was only jesting; the chance of ’Coronation of the Mad Hat’ going out of control is quite low," Feng said. "Since you’re fine now, we should go see the main focus."
With that, Feng and Angel’s attention simultaneously turned to the parchment on the table.
After Angel regained his senses, the black mist on the parchment had already dissipated, though he had refrained from looking due to their earlier discussion on the drawbacks.
Now observing it, the parchment crowned with the black hat had already undergone astounding transmutation.
The magic pattern of the "Sunlight Garden" itself hadn’t changed, but a bizarre, half-hidden pattern had appeared beneath the intricate magic patterns.
The entire pattern was circular, resembling some kind of round seal.
Right above the pattern, a massive black top hat is suspended, while below is a sunflower shimmering with a faint golden glow.
This is a pattern that is both exquisite and absurd.
Aside from this pattern hidden beneath the Magical Energy Array, a significant change has occurred with the parchment itself.