Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2923: Chapter 2924: Luigi’s Interpretation

The climax of the "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea" not only features a passionate bonfire party on the tortoise’s back but also includes a thrilling battle with dolphins and the deep-sea King squid, as well as the joy of encountering various sea spirits and the melancholy of bidding farewell to shoals of fish.

The climax can be considered the most classic segment of the whole "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea".

Angel had never heard how the Wizard of Light interpreted it, but Luigi’s rendition still moved him, even vaguely stirring the Spirit Sea.

This surprised Angel; the reason the three Sainthood Chants are so renowned is due to their unique effect, which is not quite like a potion, yet surpasses one. They can soothe the spirit and bring peace to the soul.

Unfortunately, currently, apart from the Wizard of Light, only some wizards from Extinguished Torch Academy can interpret the "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea" to such a mystical level.

But now, listening to Luigi’s performance, Angel also feels the stirring of the Spirit Sea. Does this mean that Luigi has also grasped the essence of this Sainthood Chant?

Keep in mind, this is the Crystal Origin of Dreams, and Luigi’s current physique is no different from mortals, without the accompaniment of a harp, yet it can cause the Spirit Sea to surge; the effect in reality would surely be more astounding.

Previously, Angel found Luigi’s originals to be average, so he paid him little attention.

But now, he regards Luigi with newfound respect.

His usual originals might not be exceptional, but these are mere minor flaws, not affecting his achievements in the halls of art.

It makes sense, given the careful selection of the three Temporal Bodies by Laplace; there must be something distinctive. Glaipnir as an Astrologer complements the Reflection of the Heart of Laplace; Rabbit Girl carries Laplace’s memories, with astonishing combat prowess. In terms of naming the Temporal Bodies by their roles, Rabbit Girl could be called the War God, the Loli War God!

Luigi’s identity is easy to discern as a Bard. But aside from this role, he only seems notable for his strong intuition.

Setting aside intuition, is Luigi truly without any merit?

Angel doesn’t quite believe this.

Being the only male Temporal Body of Laplace, he might have some external memories mixed in, but certainly carries some traits of Laplace’s—otherwise, he wouldn’t be one of the three Temporal Bodies. What exactly he carries, Angel doesn’t currently know.

But listening to his performance now, Angel is convinced that Luigi is far from simple; could he be carrying Laplace’s artistic talent?

At the very least, this performance is enough to shock Angel.

Angel now particularly wants to hear Luigi’s performance in reality... of course, it must be a proper rendition, not his spontaneous ditties.

The climax of the "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea" is gradually reaching its end.

Soon, it will enter the final segment of the "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea".

According to Luigi, what he has of the finale of the "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea" is incomplete, and he supplemented the rest himself. Angel is curious—having already pushed the "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea" to its peak at this point, how will he interpret it without the official ending?

Will it end plainly, be a poor continuation, or amaze everyone?

Angel personally feels a plain ending would be best.

The "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea" itself doesn’t need an "amazing" story arc; it’s more like a beautiful, flowing narrative, both an adventure and a journey, an exploration with sea creatures, and a little journey across the vastness of life.

It begins with a beautiful and expectant melody, ending with a beautiful yet slightly melancholic tune.

This is what Angel hopes for, and this is also what the original version of the "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea" aims to express.

The original version constantly mentions that the journey with the sea creatures will inevitably end, and the place where it ends is called Silent Strait.

This is the final destination of the Singer.

A Singer in pursuit of a perfect voice must understand not only how to make their voice radiate with splendid light but also how to listen, and find the true melody deep within amidst silence.

Silent Strait is such a place; here one can hear the true sound of nature, yet it’s unable to convey any melody, seemingly a forbidden zone for all Singers. But for the protagonist of the "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea", his true transcendence occurs at this final Silent Strait.

He bids farewell to all his companions, drifting alone through Silent Strait, listening to the true sound of nature while seeking the melody buried deep within.

The final result doesn’t state whether he found it; instead, it closes with the Singer returning to the shore as the end. It’s an open ending—pessimists may feel he didn’t find it and see it as a regret, optimists may think he did and see it as a fulfillment.

Everyone has their own interpretation, and perhaps this is what the Wizard of Light wants to see.

Honestly, in Angel’s view, this is a deliberately set suspenseful ending; a suspenseful conclusion can be cliché, but never tacky.

Luigi doesn’t know the content of the finale; he only knows the Singer’s destination is Silent Strait.

Why the Singer goes to Silent Strait, and what inner understanding Silent Strait will bring the Singer, Luigi is quite unaware. As he brings the Singer to Silent Strait, how might he continue the tale?

The intense drum chanting finally reaches its end.

Luigi sings of the farewell between the Singer and the sea spirits, a sorrowful yet hopeful tune about the road ahead.

Hearing this, Angel nods slightly; Luigi sang this correctly. Because Silent Strait is indeed not a place of despair; it still harbors hope.

Since Luigi highlights the "hope for the road ahead," the subsequent parts shouldn’t be too bad.

With this in mind, Angel continues to listen.

Time passes slowly.

The final segment takes longer than expected for Luigi to finish, but having heard the entire finale, Angel is completely stunned.

The ending Luigi crafts contrasts entirely with the Wizard of Light’s intended ending for the "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea"; they are even two completely opposing concepts.

Yet after listening, Angel doesn’t know how to critique it.

To evaluate the final ending, it would certainly need comparison with the finale constructed by the Wizard of Light for the "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea".

Yet Angel is completely baffled now; he doesn’t know how to compare.

If the original ending of the "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea" scored a perfect ten, Luigi’s continuation could be seen as a zero, a ten, or even surpassing ten.

Why such drastic change? Because this conclusion is truly unimaginable!

In Angel’s perspective, it is certainly not a poor continuation but rather a novel perspective that leaps out of the framework.

The Singer bids farewell to the sea spirits, rides on a dilapidated raft, and drifts into the wave-less Silent Strait.

Nightfall descends, and he gazes up at the starry sky.

Watching the sea illuminated by starlight, looking at the distant glow beneath the deep night, at this moment, Luigi speaks again.

A regular ending here doesn’t require many lyrics; the melody and accompaniment could convey the Singer’s journey of the heart.

But Luigi doesn’t know the real ending, so he chooses to speak.

This place cannot hold songs nor express any melody; hence, his words are not singing nor melody, but a monologue.

A monologue of the soul without lyrics.

The language of the monologue is unlike any human language, a language Angel has never heard.

This language seems to possess the ability to transcend time, capable of piercing the soul, as if able to reach the depths of the universe... while listening to this language, it also imparts a solemn religious feel.

This peculiar sensation, as if pulling Angel back to his childhood. Under the night sky, he sat beside Jon, watching Jon chant to the stars in an unknown tongue.

The same unknown language borne in reverence and religious sentiment, resonating with the depths of the universe.

Though Jon used this monologue in yearning, yearning for the "Celestial God" deep within the cosmos, hoping the great yet nameless Celestial God would return him to Earth, to reunite with his wife and daughter.

At that time, the language Jon used was Tuscan, and the recitation in his mouth was "Divine Comedy."

Now, the language Luigi is reciting in is different, but the feeling of conversing with the "Celestial God" is similar.

However, Jon humbly begged for the Celestial God’s mercy; while Luigi, with neither arrogance nor humility, conversed with the unknown Celestial God that has existed in the depths of the universe since ancient times.

The tone of the recitation was at times calm and at times tumultuous, making it seem as if he were asking the Celestial God some questions.

These questions might be philosophical, such as where did I come from, and where am I going?

Or perhaps about truth, what is truth, can truth exist?

Or other profound and mysterious questions.

Ultimately there is no answer as to whether the Celestial God responded to the singer.

Beneath the vast starry sky, this series of inquiries with the unknown Celestial God, or critiques of true knowledge of oneself, became the final scene of this "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea."

The concluding recitation was long and lingering, seeming regretful, yet also enlightened.

It too was an open-ended conclusion.

But the original version and Luigi’s version are fundamentally different.

When it comes to which version better fits the overall tone of "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea," Angel would think it is the original.

But if asked which version Angel prefers, he must admit, even if he couldn’t understand the lengthy recitation, he prefers Luigi’s version. Because this version takes "Ode to the Spirit of the Sea" to a higher level!

However, just because Angel prefers it, doesn’t mean the ending is good.

Why would Angel say, a score of 0 is fine, 10 is okay, and surpassing 10 is also acceptable.

Because a score of 0 is due to many being unable to understand the deeper meaning within, thinking the tone completely differs from the preceding journey. Or understanding the deeper meaning but considering it a transgression, an unforgivable act in the eyes of the faithful.

A score of 10 is the height this adaptation should have, and it is also a recognition.

As for surpassing 10, it not only recognizes this ending but even sees the height Luigi reached when writing this ending.

Yes, height.

Or perhaps, vision.

This is a vision that the Light Feather Wizard cannot depict, one that transcends to a great dialogue with the divine spirit.

The singer’s pursuit is good, but if the singer can transcend to a higher vision, even better!

Therefore, Angel cannot score it, nor can he compare which version’s ending is better.

But without a doubt, this was an extremely classic performance.

And as Luigi’s recitation ended, the phantom dolphin reached the shore, while the countdown on the Joker’s neck still had a full ten minutes.

On a track that was originally limited to five minutes, when Luigi finally completed the challenge, the countdown still had ten minutes left. This seemed absurd, yet somehow expected?

Without a doubt, Luigi successfully passed the third track.

Now it depends on his score.

And the high or low score actually has an observable indicator, that is the audience’s reaction.

When Luigi finished performing, the audience was silent for a long time, seemingly still immersed in the scene Luigi created of conversing with the Celestial God, even the host didn’t react.

After a very long time, the host was the first to come back to his senses.

He coughed twice and spoke in a somewhat dry voice, "Truly... a stunning performance. I even doubt I will ever again witness a performance more moving in my life."

At first, it was somewhat dry, but the more he spoke, the smoother it became, until the audience also came back to their senses.

The audience erupted into unprecedented enthusiastic cheers, along with uniform applause.

When Angel heard this enthusiastic applause, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed that these audiences had some appreciation...or rather, the Dream Creator of this special dreamland had appreciation, not a fundamentalist. If it were the latter, they would probably be condemning Luigi’s transgression.

However, speaking of which, the Dream Creator of this special dreamland is actually quite obvious. It should be this host.

If it were a special dreamland like Helen’s Dream, killing the Dream Creator would definitely end the special dreamland. Unfortunately, this special dreamland is not a killing type, and it cannot be exited by killing the Dream Creator.

While Angel was sighing in his heart, Luigi was already pulled into the air by the spotlight.

The neon lights directly opposite him almost instantly exploded.

Moreover, two rows of neon lights lit up together!

Without a doubt, Luigi scored the highest, 20 points, on the fiery hoop track!

Not only that, when Luigi sat back down, three bouquets of flowers floated down from the sky, along with a white envelope.

"With an extremely brilliant performance, the Red-tailed Frog challenger received three bouquets of flowers from the audience! As I mentioned before about the flowers, I won’t repeat." The host paused at this point, "Besides the flowers, there’s an envelope I gifted. Although this envelope cannot be exchanged for points, it represents my sincerity, hoping the Red-tailed Frog challenger can feel my respect for your performance."

The host’s other words of praise were ignored by everyone. At this moment, all eyes were on Luigi.

Glaipnir nodded gently, "A good performance."

The Rabbit Girl also nodded vigorously, full of affirmation for Luigi’s performance.

Luigi himself was quite proud, holding his head high, afraid others might miss his pride.

Angel also took the opportunity to offer a few compliments.

After speaking, Angel instinctively looked at Laplace, as everyone else had given Luigi affirmation, only Laplace hadn’t expressed anything.

At a glance, Angel was slightly taken aback.

Laplace was indeed looking at Luigi, but her expression was somewhat subtle, with her brow slightly furrowed, seemingly somewhat dissatisfied with Luigi’s performance.

Luigi’s performance was flawless, meeting Laplace’s requirement for a "perfect score," and even received three bouquets of flowers, equaling 23 points. This score was quite high, so why was Laplace dissatisfied?

Is it because of the final part Luigi performed?

In fact, Angel had some doubts in his heart after watching Luigi’s performance.

Where exactly did Luigi’s final part come from? It might be original, but certainly not entirely original.

Because that "dialogue with the Celestial God" had a very high vision.

Like playing chess, thinking it’s a fair match, but actually, the opponent is playing a guiding game. It seems there’s give and take, but the opponent is overseeing the entire board, coordinating the performance.

Such a vision, Angel found it hard to believe was Luigi’s own understanding.

If not Luigi’s, then this great vision could only have one possible source, from...Laplace?

So, was Luigi’s final continuation reliant on Laplace’s vision?

In that case, is Luigi inheriting Laplace’s vision?