Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2288: Chapter 2289: A Fate That Has Been Written

The Book of Kael, which the Temple of the Oracle possesses ownership and title, is currently kept by the Orderly Guild due to some unknown reasons.

The Book of Kael is what Prophet Wizards call this Mysterious Object, for Kael is the only Prophet Wizard in legend who ascended to the pinnacle of Miracles.

Non-Prophet Wizards, however, prefer to call it... the Book of Destiny.

A mysterious book capable of scripting fate.

Its rank is comparable to Augustine’s Twinborn Mirror. In the Origin World, Augustine’s Twinborn Mirror is referred to as the Mirror of Truth, containing secrets of truth as many wizards, including Miracle Wizards, have stated.

That the Book of Kael can be ranked alongside Augustine’s Twinborn Mirror speaks volumes.

Having stayed in the Temple of the Oracle for many years, Feng naturally heard about the powers of the Book of Kael. He contemplated for a time and eventually adopted the suggestion to use the Book of Kael to alter the fate of the Demon God’s descent.

Thus, Feng expended significant favors and resources to apply for the use of the Book of Kael through his connections at the Temple of the Oracle with the Orderly Guild.

At this point, Feng paused: "You should have figured out by now that the reason you are here is not because I chose you, but because the Book of Kael chose you."

Angel was still a bit confused: "How did the Book of Kael choose me?"

Feng shook his head: "I don’t know either."

Seeing Angel’s face filled with doubt, Feng pondered for a moment and said: "Although the Orderly Guild told me to avoid revealing the process of using the Book of Kael to outsiders, since you have been chosen by the Book of Kael, you are not an outsider. I can briefly tell you what happened at that time."

After saying that, Feng organized his words and began recounting what happened when he interacted with the Book of Kael—

It was an ancient palace shrouded in dusky times. Feng, led by a fully armed guardian, entered the palace.

Unlike other places where the Orderly Guild stores Mysterious Objects, this vast palace contained only one Mysterious Object, which was the Book of Kael.

Upon entering the ancient palace, Feng heard low, convoluted, and indistinct whispers around his ears.

Not seductive whispers, but more like the whispers of a Demon God.

Just listening to these whispers, Feng saw various images continuously floating before his eyes, some from the past, some from the future. These images attracted Feng, making him want to delve deeper, to uncover the secrets of the past and foresee what the future holds...

However, before Feng could immerse himself in these images, the fully armed guardian woke him up: "The future images you see now are fake. The images from the past are also fake. But if you insist on watching them deeply, the fake ones may turn real."

If the probability collapses, it may trigger a terrifying disaster. Therefore, if Feng viewed those images exceeding a certain limit, to not alter key events, the guardian would immediately kill Feng.

Even if the guardian did not act against Feng, sometimes the torrent of fate could sweep Feng into a muddy swamp, never to rise again.

And these images caused by whispers are the side effects of the Book of Kael.

Of course, for humans, this is a side effect, but for the Book of Kael, it is a kind of Mysterious Trait.

Feng speculated that perhaps because of this Mysterious Trait of the Book of Kael, the Temple of the Oracle placed it within the Orderly Guild. If it were kept at the Temple of the Oracle, those Prophet Wizards curious about the future might be tempted by the Book of Kael, ending up crushed under the wheels of fate one by one.

Feng gathered his thoughts, emptied his mind entirely, and disregarded the whispers and images he could not shut out, following the guardian step by step to the center of the ancient palace.

There, Feng finally saw the Book of Kael.

Contrary to its extremely exalted reputation, the Book of Kael’s form appeared very ordinary.

It was just an ancient notebook with a black leather cover and yellowed parchment inside.

Even the yellow parchment had some ragged edges, looking like it had been used by its owner for many years.

Feng was not surprised by the appearance of the Book of Kael because many Mysterious Objects look unremarkable. Like Augustine’s Twinborn Mirror, which is as renowned as the Book of Kael, it looks like an ordinary vanity mirror filled with various usage marks, with some areas still bearing residues of white cosmetic paste.

According to legend, these marks are engravings left by their previous owners before they became Mysterious Objects.

"What should I do now?" Feng asked the guardian.

Guardian: "You just need to pick up a pen, open the Book of Kael, and write your request on the first page. You don’t need to worry about the rest."

Following the guardian’s instructions, Feng opened the ancient book pages and wrote his request on the blank first page: to prevent the impending Demon God catastrophe in the Southern Domain.

When Feng wrote his request, he did not avoid the guardian because the guardian already knew what he was asking for... Or rather, the reason Feng’s application for the use of the Book of Kael went so smoothly was because they knew what he wanted. After all, the Southern Domain Wizard World, being one of the Four Wizards’ Realms, would have its foundation devastated if the Demon God catastrophe struck.

What Feng sought was beneficial to the entire Wizards’ Realm and not just self-serving. Coupled with the connections from the Temple of the Oracle, this made the application for the use of the Book of Kael so successful.

After Feng finished writing his request, the words on the book pages seemed to blur and soon disappeared.

The book pages returned to being blank.

As Feng was puzzled, the murmurs in his ears suddenly became more prominent. No matter how Feng settled his thoughts and calmed himself, he couldn’t ignore those murmuring whispers, which only became increasingly pronounced.

At that moment, the guardian beside him remarked: "Since you’ve written your request, you don’t need to block out the voices around you anymore. Listen to the feedback they bring you..."

Because of the guardian’s words, Feng completely opened his heart, letting the whispers surround him.

And as the whispers continued, numerous images began flooding into his mind.

The first image was the terrifying scene of the Demon God’s descent upon the Southern Domain.

Upon seeing this image, Feng immediately understood that this was the Book of Kael responding to his request... He had originally thought that the Book of Kael would write its response on the book pages, but unexpectedly it communicated the feedback through the murmured whispers.

Feng began to delve deeply into these images, one by one.

Each image represented some content. All these contents were tasks that the Book of Kael required Feng to do.

For example, it instructed Feng to go to the Abyss to teach an Abyssal Flame Dragon hidden in the Ice Valley the skills of painting.

It instructed Feng to visit Lassudral to befriend a curator named Night.

For instance, having Feng come to the Tidal World...

When Feng was supposed to go somewhere, what he was supposed to do there, and what type of things he was supposed to say, all of it displayed vividly in the images. One could say, the Book of Kael arranged Feng’s life meticulously.

Yet, even though the Book of Kael presented every detail to Feng, it never revealed the reason behind these actions.

In other words, all the things Feng did in both the Abyss and the Tidal World, he didn’t know why he was doing them.

Time flew by, and it wasn’t until Feng followed the Book of Kael’s guidance, starting to lay the groundwork in both worlds, that he vaguely sensed that all his actions were merely preparations. These preparations would one day, in the future, become waves of destiny, pushing someone to break the impasse, writing the final symphonic Chapter.

...

After listening to Feng’s story, Angel was taken aback for quite a while.

He always thought that the one orchestrating it all, putting him in this position, was the root of all evil—Mirafil Feng.

But unexpectedly, before the conclusion emerged, Feng was actually in the same blinded state as he was, except Feng was just blindly following while Angel was truly blind.

Feng was merely the executor; it was the Book of Kael that set it all up.

Coming to this realization, Angel reflected on his journey from the Abyss, discovering that these stacked layers of plots were terrifyingly perfect, something far beyond what Feng could have orchestrated alone.

His direction, his thoughts, every choice he made seemed to be laid bare before the mastermind.

And each of Angel’s decisions also involved the surrounding others.

In other words, this was no mere setup but rather a grand stage where countless people were pulled on to be supporting characters in this predetermined play. Angel, on the other hand, was destined to be the protagonist.

The intricacies involved were truly numerous. It’s important to note that even if Angel had a sudden flash of insight and decided not to go to the Abyss, or if he chose to take a different path when faced with a crossroads, many things would have changed.

In such a scenario where the variables were almost uncontrollable, to set up such a perfect plot was indeed beyond human capability.

Feng couldn’t do it, nor could other Prophet Wizards, even those capable of performing miracles.

Only a Mysterious Object like the Book of Kael could disregard all logical reality, effortlessly laying out such an almost impossible scheme.

Because of this realization, Angel did not doubt Feng’s account.

His slight anger toward Feng also partly dissipated. Although there remained some deep-seated discontent, after all, Feng was the instigator, which could not be denied.

However, aside from the negative perception of Feng, Angel also felt a certain gratitude toward him. The reason being, Feng’s original intention was also Angel’s – he did not wish for the Demon God’s catastrophe to descend upon the Southern Domain. Of course, Angel hadn’t realized that he himself would ultimately be the one to prevent the catastrophe.

"I have already told you everything about the Book of Kael. Do you have any more questions?" Feng gave Angel some time to ponder until Angel came back to his senses before he asked.

Angel thought for a moment, then said, "I understand the general situation, but what I don’t quite understand is, the affair with the Demon God could have been concluded in the Abyss. Why did it involve a whole lot of things with the Tidal World afterward?"

In Angel’s view, starting from when Odeclass gave him the ornate Pattern Key, to the subsequent journey to the Tidal World, it all seemed of little importance.

This had little to do with the original intention of the scheme—to prevent the Demon God’s catastrophe from descending upon the Southern Domain.

So, why was there a need to set up a Tidal World scheme afterward?

Feng chuckled lightly, "In novels, when a hero defeats an evil dragon, they often find the dragon’s hidden Gold Coin or a beautiful princess taken captive, rewards arranged by the author for the hero’s victory over the dragon."

"Although the Book of Kael is not a novel, it follows a similar principle that you reap what you sow."

In other words, the scheme in the Abyss is the battle checkpoint, while the scheme in the Tidal World is the reward checkpoint. Angel’s previous speculation was indeed correct.

"Is the treasure the reward?" Angel paused for a moment: "You provided this reward?"

Feng nodded: "That’s right, since it’s my request to the Book of Kael, naturally, I must bear the cost."

"What if you don’t pay? After all, your request is already completed, you could completely disregard the rules of the Book of Kael."

"I wish I could," Feng shrugged, "but it’s not allowed."

"Why not?"

Feng: "Whether it is the Tidal World or the Abyss, they both belong to a single scheme. Remember, it’s ’a’ scheme, not ’two’ separate schemes. If it were two schemes, they could be split apart, but for a single scheme, if I don’t pay the price, the scheme cannot be considered complete."

"If I really pocket this reward, I assure you, unexpected incidents will arise in this scheme. Perhaps the Lord of the Flameless will soon find new opportunities, quickly gaining a new True Spirit, once again descending upon the Southern Domain; or another Demon God might suddenly become interested in visiting the Southern Domain..."

"Therefore, this scheme must be complete. The Tidal World is also an indispensable part of this scheme."

"The keeper of the Book of Kael once told me a saying: fate will not easily let speculators go."

"Here, ’fate’ refers to the fate written by the Book of Kael. If not completed, being targeted by the Book of Kael would indeed be troublesome."

For this reason, even if Feng felt heartbroken over the treasure, he dared not break the rules.

Angel noticed that when Feng mentioned "paying the price" and "treasure," a touch of heartache always flashed in his eyes. This reminded him of what Frost Iser and Nami Midori had mentioned. Feng, while setting the treasure, looked reluctant and pained, much like the current situation.

Angel was very curious about what exactly this treasure was that made Feng... even his painted consciousness felt heartbroken.

Angel voiced the doubts in his mind.

It seemed Feng had expected Angel to ask this question, he sighed deeply, and from the starry cloak, slowly took out a small metal box.

With a look of reluctance, Feng placed the box down, but ultimately pushed it towards Angel.

"This is the greatest treasure Feng left behind."

Angel looked at the metal box displayed on the table. It was a box no larger than a palm, about the size of a child’s pocket watch, with a similar thickness, not seeming to hold much.

Yet, just this small box held Feng’s deeply pained gaze, which couldn’t help but spark Angel’s intense curiosity.