Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2235: Chapter 2236: On the True Body

After hearing Cubic’s answer, all the sentient beings on the boat were stunned.

Even Lobal and Speedy, who had transformed into wind and concealed themselves beside the Gondola, were taken aback by this answer.

It’s not that the answer was shocking; the answer itself was nothing, really. What surprised them was what the answer implied.

According to Cubic, Kamil’s true body is identical to it, just much larger.

—In other words, Kamil’s true body is also a flying pig.

This was quite intriguing. While elemental creatures often exhibit "shape collisions," and even different elemental attributes have similar shapes, there isn’t a case where they look exactly the same.

"Is there really such a thing as identical elemental creatures in this world?" Dangross murmured.

"No," both Angel and the tail head of Lobal shook their heads simultaneously.

One must know, even humans with fundamentally similar features can’t find identical existences, let alone elemental creatures with vastly different morphologies.

Yet Cubic stated firmly that they were "identical except for scale," which raised some speculation in everyone’s hearts.

Dangross: "Since identical elemental creatures don’t exist, this is a bit strange. Could it be a coincidence?"

Angel shook his head silently in his heart, definitely not a coincidence. Based on some behaviors of the wise Kamil, he actually had a little idea, but he didn’t speak up and instead looked beyond the Gondola.

"Lobal," Angel called softly.

As his voice fell, a tri-headed lionhound slowly emerged from the wind.

"Master," three overlapping buzzing voices emitted simultaneously from the three heads.

Angel could sense that the tones of the voices from Lobal’s three heads varied: the main head’s tone, though respectful, was clearly somewhat impatient; the vice head’s tone was relatively more moderate, but the feeling of "reluctance" still lingered; only the tail head’s tone was truly calm, with reverence as well as alienation.

Angel was aware of the three personalities of Lobal. Even though the main and vice heads’ tones were impatient, he didn’t care much.

In Angel’s eyes, the main and vice heads held almost no value.

Though he called for Lobal, he was actually referring to the tail head.

Thus, Angel’s gaze directly skipped over the main and vice heads, landing on the calm and expressionless tail head. This blatant disregard made the main and vice heads’ hearts rise with thoughts, with the main head furious, but this anger was merely powerless rage; the vice head, seemingly coming to some realization, did not grow angry but gradually calmed down.

Regarding the emotional fluctuations of the main and vice heads, Angel paid no heed and didn’t focus on them, concentrating all his attention on the tail head: "Do you have any thoughts on the true body of the wise Kamil?"

It was said, even by Kamil, that the tail head of Lobal had the demeanor of a sage, so Angel was keen to know what thoughts the tail head, considered a quasi-sage by those around, had on this.

Faced with Angel’s question, the tail head did not challenge the restrictive power of Dingyuan’s oath but calmly expressed its thoughts.

"There are no completely similar creatures in this world, and even if there were, they likely wouldn’t originate from the same place. Therefore, the situation where Lord Kamil and Cubic not only resemble each other but also meet and grow up being adopted, from my perspective, is no coincidence."

Angel: "If it’s not a coincidence, what do you think might be the inner workings?"

The tail head’s answer was always straightforward, making it understandable to Dangross and Cubic, and they vaguely agreed. When hearing Angel’s second question, they were very interested, perking their ears to hear how the tail head would respond.

The tail head hesitated for two seconds before speaking: "As for what the inner workings are, I don’t know. But, deducing from the premise ’there are no two completely similar elemental creatures in this world,’ the most likely scenario is that what Cubic saw as the so-called true body was actually given to it by Lord Kamil intentionally."

Cubic: "You’re saying Lord Kamil’s true body is not the same as mine, and what I saw was actually fake."

The tail head nodded: "Yes, only in this way can the reason why you two are exactly alike be explained, because one of you is fake."

Cubic and Dangross both followed the tail head’s words, thinking carefully it really seemed possible.

However, after hearing the tail head’s words, Angel wasn’t too concerned about its conclusion but noted the premise it made: the deduction based on a conventional assumption.

But what if this conventional assumption is not the truth?

The reason Angel thought this way was that there were many logical inconsistencies according to the tail head’s statement. For example, does Kamil really need to hide his true body from Cubic? Even if he really wanted to conceal his true body, why create an illusion that looks exactly like Cubic?

One should understand that the underlying logic of concealment is to clear all "special" connections pointing to oneself. Yet creating a true body completely identical to Cubic, if discovered by other creatures, not only fails to dispel doubts but attracts more attention to the concealed truth. This is neither concealment but deliberate misguidance, or thinking deeper, diversion of attention.

But then again, it doesn’t make sense, what is being induced? Whose attention is being diverted? At least so far, no opposing existence has been found.

So the original guess must be returned: Kamil indeed has no other intentions but purely wants to conceal his true body.

Angel once again looked towards the tail head: "Then, if not deduced based on conventional thinking, do you have any other thoughts?"

Tail head: "If not using conventional thinking, then one must admit a subtle fact, that Lord Kamil and Cubic are indeed identical."

Angel: "On this premise, what judgment would you make?"

The tail head shook its head: "I cannot judge. If they indeed look identical, all I can say is, there might be some special connection between Lord Kamil and Cubic."

Dangross and Cubic didn’t quite understand the tail head’s response, but they didn’t dwell on it as this notion sounded implausible. Since it’s stated that no completely identical elemental creatures exist, assuming this premise is baseless.

However, after hearing this, Angel nodded secretly. Compared to the first deduction result, he actually thought the second ambiguous result might be the truth.

The tail head didn’t explicitly state what special relationship Kamil and Cubic might have, but the possibilities are nothing outside a few.

Kinship. This possibility is very small; even blood relatives can’t be completely identical. Not to mention, elemental creatures don’t have the concept of blood relatives.

Avatar. This possibility is relatively high, as if they look identical, only avatars make sense.

But if it really is an avatar, Kamil should be the main body, able to control every action of the avatar; yet Cubic doesn’t seem to be under Kamil’s control, otherwise, it wouldn’t have secretly divulged Kamil’s true body.

Unless Cubic was lying.

But Angel had done a psychological profile on Cubic, and in his view, Cubic was not lying; moreover, Cubic was completely unaware that he was Kamil’s avatar.

This situation was very subtle. Angel thought of many possibilities, and the only logic that seemed cohesive was: Cubic might indeed be a type of avatar, and the main body was Kamil; only, this avatar encountered some accident, resulting in Cubic having an independent consciousness.

Only this way could many things make sense. But if this were true, Angel could only say that Kamil was truly big-hearted. There is a certain subtle connection between avatars and the main body; some powerful beings can even use the avatar to curse the main body. Kamil’s avatar developed consciousness, and not only did it not eliminate it, it leisurely raised it, which was a bit bizarre.

"Cubic, can you talk about the situation when you were born?" At this moment, Lobal’s tail suddenly asked Cubic.

Angel glanced at the tail, showing that he and the tail thought the same.

Cubic did not conceal it and roughly retold the situation of his birth.

After hearing it, Angel became more convinced of the avatar speculation.

Because Cubic’s birthplace was right next to Kamil. There were already enough coincidences before, and now there’s another one: A flying pig identical to Kamil was born right next to Kamil.

So many coincidences clearly indicate some issues.

Cubic’s original words were: "Sir Kamil saw I was born by its side, and looked surprised. Discovering I looked similar to it, plus the fateful birth by its side, Sir Kamil said it was destiny and thus adopted me."

This is Cubic’s perspective, but to Angel, Kamil’s surprise upon seeing Cubic was not because Cubic was born by its side but because the avatar surprisingly developed independent consciousness?

This way, many things make sense.

However, just this does not solve another issue: Why did Kamil conceal its true body?

Angel thought about it and felt that this matter might need to be looked at separately.

Cubic’s birth was something that appeared much later. Kamil had begun to conceal its true body much earlier, reportedly refusing to let others see its true body since its birth.

Thus, Cubic and Kamil’s concealment of the true body are two different things.

Now knowing Kamil’s true body is also a cute flying pig... Angel seemed to understand why Kamil wanted to hide it.

Perhaps it’s some kind of pride or self-esteem?

After all, a flying pig is one thing, but being so cute perhaps made the young Kamil feel some subtle emotions, so it concealed its true body?

By now, Angel felt he had pieced together what he believed to be the truth.

As for whether it was the case or not, Angel wasn’t too concerned since he inquired about Kamil’s true body just to change the subject. Knowing or not knowing made no significant difference.

If he truly wanted to confirm whether the gossip secrets were true, he could ask the real Kamil in the future. By then, using his proposed conclusion as a reason might even open up Kamil’s talk.

After finishing gossiping about Kamil’s secrets, even though there was almost no useful information for him, it made Angel more determined not to consider taking Cubic as a elemental partner. After all, the "avatar" theory he deduced still had some unsolvable inconsistencies. Unless Kamil clarified those oddities, Angel wouldn’t even let other Wizards take Cubic as an elemental partner.

...

The gondola continued to fly, moving forward along the Gentle Wave Sea.

Even with Speedy as propulsion, reaching Malaya Ice Mountain quickly would still take some time.

The ocean’s scenery was beautiful, but endlessly viewing the same landscape would also become tiresome.

When Angel was feeling utterly bored, there was a stir from the bracelet.

With a wave of Angel’s hand, a miniature church built with bones and painted with golden patterns appeared on the table.

During this period, Dangross had often seen this scene, so it wasn’t surprised; however, Lobal and Cubic looked over with eyes full of doubt, not knowing where Angel conjured this strange building from.

Angel didn’t explain because he knew, with Dangross’s personality, as long as Angel didn’t forbid it, Dangross would surely explain it to them later. Even if they didn’t ask, Dangross would take the initiative to speak, because the thin sense of superiority from "I know, but you don’t" was enough to let it boast for an entire afternoon during a dull journey.

After Angel took out the Dead’s Church and stroked it, a humanoid phantom shadow wearing a bull horn helmet poked its head out from the church.

Before Tullas could speak, Angel directly said, "No word from Nis again?"

"Yes." After Tullas said this, with Angel’s consent, it returned on foot to the much-missed Wilderness of Dreams without delay.

Angel sighed, put the Dead’s Church back into the bracelet, and then took out the Dream Conch along with a slab of stone...

Using the Dream Conch, he sent the location on the stone slab to Nis.

After finishing all this, Angel could already hear Dangross explaining to Cubic what space is and what spatial artifacts are.

While explaining, Dangross occasionally glanced at Angel, using eye contact to confirm if it made any mistakes.

Angel was too lazy to respond, yawned, and said to Toby, "I’ll be going in for a while; call me if anything happens."

Having said this, Angel leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and his consciousness stepped onto the Bridge of Dreams.

The outside world was somewhat dull, so Angel planned to take a stroll in the Wilderness of Dreams.

His location remained the same as always: the top of the Sky Tower.

He planned to first check on Frode’s side; whether it was the ceremony in the Silver Hue Principality or the peculiar altar within the mountain belly, both piqued Angel’s interest. He wondered if there had been any progress in those few days he hadn’t visited.

Angel pushed open a door from the balcony and entered Frode’s office.

Before entering the Wilderness of Dreams, he sensed Frode was already in the office. What he didn’t expect was that besides Frode, there was another person in the office.