Published at 9th of February 2026 7:21 am

Chapter 2540: The Return of the Black Hat

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Little Tom’s performance in answering questions was not much different from other Talented Ones. When he was lucky enough to encounter an examiner who gave multiple-choice questions, he occasionally guessed three correctly and passed a Zodiac Palace. However, most of the time his luck was very bad, and the probability of being punished was quite high.

Only, while others screamed repeatedly during punishment, Little Tom endured from start to finish.

Sometimes after the punishment, he would ponder for a long time, as if savoring the punishment.

This kind of performance stood out among the Talented Ones.

"Aba aba... he..." Dox originally wanted to comment on Little Tom, but suddenly realized: "I can speak now!"

The green hat disappeared, and ten minutes passed.

"Don’t target me anymore, I promise to be quiet!" Dox hurriedly said to Cha Cha.

Despite saying this, Dox secretly sent a Mind Ribbon to Angel. If he was annoyed by the noise, he could speak to Angel through the Mind Ribbon.

However, Angel refused the connection of the Mind Ribbon.

Dox winked at Angel, but Angel acted as if he hadn’t seen it. In the end, Dox could only sigh; Angel and Cha Cha were in cahoots, and he was fighting alone... it was really annoying.

Next, Dox forced himself to stop talking and just watched the show.

But seeing something confusing, Dox couldn’t help it and finally broke the silence, asking: "Little Tom must have discovered something, right?"

At that time, Little Tom was flustered by the questions from the questioner of the Sour Zodiac Palace. He got none right and could only accept punishment. And this time, without any resistance, he didn’t even enter the second stage before turning into white bones under the acid rain. Then he resurrected and continued his new Zodiac Palace journey.

This lack of resistance, directly dying, was faster than those grinding away in the Zodiac Palaces.

Angel shrugged: "Who knows? But with a high Mental Power Value, perhaps he really can discover some clues of Illusion Techniques. But even if discovered, death, injuries, limb loss, these pains are still real. We can only say Little Tom’s endurance is strong."

"However, relying solely on dying to pass the trials won’t really train anything; it should be limited."

Hearing Angel’s low mutter, Dox couldn’t help but retort: "You are indeed the one who modified the secret chamber to give them hardship, you just want to see them struggle. You truly are trans..."

Before he finished, Angel flicked his eyes, and the Rabbit Cha Cha immediately understood, another green hat fell on Dox’s head.

Dox: "Blah blah blah..." You authority dog!

Angel ignored Dox’s angry stare and instead communicated with Rabbit Cha Cha for a moment. Although Rabbit Cha Cha was very displeased with Angel interfering with the Twelve Zodiac Palaces’ questions, after all, Angel was the one who created it, so it nodded and agreed with Angel’s idea.

So, when Little Tom arrived at the new Blooming Zodiac Palace, the questioner, Lady Fragrance, said at the beginning:

"Challenger, everything you’ve done is under Cha Cha’s watch. Relying on death to quickly clear the level is not okay."

"From this level on, if you fail, you must survive the punishment to proceed to the next Zodiac Palace. Otherwise, you will remain in this Zodiac Palace."

Little Tom thought he had found a way to quickly reach the endpoint, but this loophole was immediately fixed, so he had no choice but to follow the rules.

Lady Fragrance’s questions were all related to flowers, and the flowers she mentioned were all absent from the Southern Domain. Little Tom, without a doubt, was defeated under Lady Fragrance’s fragrant skirt.

The punishment came as expected.

In a sea of poisonous flowers raging around, reaching the central tower was the first stage.

The effects of the fragrance of poisonous flowers vary, some make people fever and itch, some cause skin peeling, others drive people mad, and of course, there are also lethal ones...

How to find a reasonable path was key for Little Tom.

But Little Tom was not very meticulous in thought, and his grasp of details was very limited; his chosen method was to burst straight through. He experimented himself to find the most suitable path.

Then he died time after time.

In the end, Little Tom’s face turned pale from death.

The experience of dying can occasionally be endured once, but continuous death, piling pressure on the mind, is enough to drive a person to collapse.

For example, now Little Tom didn’t dare to die anymore. If he died one more time, he would probably go crazy directly.

Fortunately, experiences from previous deaths allowed Little Tom to find a relatively safe route. He struggled but managed to reach the central tower.

Seeing Little Tom’s experience, Angel nodded in satisfaction. Without being able to cheat by dying, Little Tom’s performance was no different from other Talented Ones, and there was no need to pay too much attention to him anymore.

Moreover, now it was time to focus on something else.

Angel turned around and saw Abulei coming out of the Rabbit Hole slide, smiling warmly: "You are the first to arrive here, welcome."

Abulei looked at the surrounding environment, then at Angel, feeling a little flattered.

"Lady Melo hasn’t arrived yet?"

"I said, you’re the first to arrive." Angel gestured for Abulei to come over and sit down, and by the way, he introduced Rabbit Cha Cha to him.

Abulei’s expression was slightly shy: "I, I actually didn’t come on my own, it was..."

"I know, it’s the Crowned Parrot. But she’s your summoned creature, you’re of the Summoning System, and summoned creatures are part of your combat power."

Abulei thought about it and agreed, but it seemed the Crowned Parrot had not realized it was a summoned creature yet. For instance, at this time, it was already running around uncontrollably.

Abulei looked up and saw the Crowned Parrot fly to face Rabbit Cha Cha, looking left and right.

Abulei quickly called out softly, asking the Crowned Parrot to hurry back, but the golden support paid no attention to Abulei.

Luckily, Rabbit Cha Cha didn’t seem to care, continuing to sip tea with a smile.

"You are very interested in Cha Cha?" Angel asked at this time.

The Crowned Parrot was relatively friendly towards Angel, after all, Angel’s presence had prevented Red Sword Dox’s threats against it. So, hearing Angel’s question, the Crowned Parrot pondered for a moment, then said:

"A very strange creation, it smells a bit familiar."

Angel’s eyes narrowed slightly: "Oh? What familiar smell?"

The Crowned Parrot recalled for a bit: "It seems like the smell of a Mysterious Spirit, but very, very faint. I might have smelled it wrong? Nonetheless, it’s a truly peculiar creation, like a life, but without the breath of life."

The Crowned Parrot’s answer made Angel’s heart skip a beat.

He didn’t show it on his face, but he assessed the Crowned Parrot’s background more highly.

Previously, he didn’t care about the Crowned Parrot’s origins; no matter if it used to be the summoned creature of a Great Wizard, how it could be. But now he had to pay attention because the Crowned Parrot had accurately pointed it out right after entering the Rabbit Hole.

Indeed, Rabbit Cha Cha had a Mysterious Aura. But Angel used some special methods, and with Cha Cha’s inherent traits, these auras had been almost completely blocked. Judging from Dox’s obliviousness to Cha Cha, he also didn’t perceive the Mysterious Aura.

No one expected this unremarkable Crowned Parrot to reveal the truth with a single sentence.

Yes, the Rabbit Cha Cha is a creation with a mysterious flavor. It all started with an "accident" by Angel.

Not long ago, Angel was setting up a Magical Energy Array and Illusionary Realm in the secret chamber. Perhaps strongly influenced by the book "Dance of the Metal," Angel’s setup was quite whimsical and imaginative, probably the first time he unleashed his creativity so freely.

The final effect was usable, but somewhat unconventional.

So Angel decided to rethink, or rather, open up his whimsical ideas once again. He reclaimed all the Illusion Nodes he had set up and then refined a core object for the current Magical Energy Array.

Angel fused all the Illusion Nodes into this core object, and this object itself was both connected to the Magical Energy Array and an alchemy creation, as well as an illusion generator.

Up until this point, everything was still normal.

But Angel couldn’t resist opening up his mind again, and he took out a mysterious object that had been dormant in his bracelet for a long time.

—The Coronation of the Mad Hat.

This mysterious object could take effect whenever used on alchemical tools with a "Transformation" Magic Pattern Horn. And the core object of the Magical Energy Array happened to have a "Transformation" Magic Pattern Horn.

Angel thought to himself at the time to perform a white hat coronation to optimize the Magical Energy Array. This could make the Magical Energy Array more powerful, so even if a True Knowledge Wizard came, it could hold for three to five days.

However, what Angel didn’t expect was that something went awry.

The coronated white hat turned out to be a black hat instead.

According to Mr. Feng, the mysterious object "The Coronation of the Mad Hat" is 99% likely to be a white hat, with a very small chance for a black hat to appear.

But Angel hadn’t used this mysterious object many times, and the black hat had already appeared twice.

The last time was with the Magic Rune Scroll of the Sunlight Sanctuary, which shall be set aside for now. But this time, it directly coronated the core object of the Magical Energy Array with the black hat.

The effects of the black hat are completely different from the white hat. Once a black hat appears, any alchemical work or Magic Rune Scroll would undergo a disruptive change and a special effect would inevitably appear.

Although this special effect could be good or bad, once it appears, the item will surely contain a mysterious aura.

Even though the effect might be slightly inferior to a true half-step mystic, if used correctly, it’s no less than those half-step mystics.

And the special effect of the Magical Energy Array core object after being coronated by the black hat was the appearance of the Rabbit Cha Cha.

Whether the Rabbit Cha Cha is real or not isn’t important. But Cha Cha indeed is an intelligent creation.

After Cha Cha appeared, it formed a kind of mind link with its creator, Angel. Angel also instantly knew Cha Cha’s abilities—

Cha Cha possesses the ability to dominate this Magical Energy Array and also has the power to manipulate the illusions set up by Angel.

This might not sound like much, and Angel initially thought the same. Until Cha Cha wildly expanded the extending magic patterns of the Magical Energy Array, turning a tiny secret chamber into a vast world, Angel was left in silence.

This is no longer just dominating the Magical Energy Array, but turning the Magical Energy Array into its own Domain.

After Angel understood Cha Cha’s abilities, Cha Cha also understood its own functions.

Protect the visitors, expel the enemies.

This function was Cha Cha’s highest rule in its mind and the rule by which it took form. So, after its birth, Cha Cha began to ponder how to accomplish this.

Thus, Angel offered a suggestion.

The Twelve Zodiac Palaces came into being.

Angel’s suggestion was purely for fun, but unexpectedly, Cha Cha took it quite seriously and did a good job of it.

Apprentices could see it as a trial, and if the enemy broke in and faced punishment, they would truly die.

The above is the entire mental journey of the birth of Cha Cha.

It is both the result of Angel’s whimsical ideas and an unintended creation.

Angel never expected, though, that none of the others, including Dox, discovered Cha Cha’s truth; instead, it was the Crowned Parrot that first noticed something was amiss.

Now, Angel can basically confirm it. The Crowned Parrot’s background is definitely not simple; not everyone can casually mention a Mysterious Spirit.

However, even though the Crowned Parrot was right, Angel dared not casually engage with it on this topic and instead said calmly, "Cha Cha is indeed a special creation, but speaking this in front of Cha Cha, isn’t it a bit impolite?"

At the very moment those words fell, before the Crowned Parrot could react, a fluffy rabbit ear hat landed on its head.

The next second, the Crowned Parrot transformed from a parrot into a rabbit just like Cha Cha. Only, this rabbit had a few tufts of silly hair forming a crown on its head.

At first glance, quite cute.

"Huh, it can actually transform me, is this Illusion? It doesn’t seem to be." The Crowned Parrot bounced around the table for a while, then hopped to the pool to see its reflection: "Quite cute, except I can’t fly."

The Crowned Parrot seemed unbothered by the change in appearance, but on the other side, Dox was irritated: "Why can it still talk? Muzzle it too. It’s more chatty than me, has a sharper tongue, and is rude. Give it a green hat immediately."

The Rabbit Cha Cha lazily glanced at Dox: "Because it’s better looking than you."

Upon hearing this, Dox’s anger instantly surged.

Not daring to vent at the Rabbit Cha Cha, he directly started a verbal spar with the Crowned Parrot.

Even though the Crowned Parrot had turned into a rabbit, it did not hinder its performance. Dox could only timidly follow the opponent’s thought process.

However, since Dox was somewhat prepared, many witty remarks he had not yet exhausted, he wasn’t too nervous, waiting for breaks in the Crowned Parrot’s talk to slip in, hoping to seize the high ground!

Only, Dox’s little schemes hadn’t succeeded before divine retribution struck.

"So noisy, shut up for me."

As Cha Cha’s words dropped, another green hat landed on Dox’s head.

While across from him, the Crowned Parrot remained unscathed.

Glaring angrily at the Rabbit Cha Cha, Dox received the same reply: "It’s good-looking, you’re not."

Dox’s eyes bulged wide.

Meanwhile, the Crowned Parrot took small rabbit steps, with a mischievous grin, and walked opposite Dox.

A new round of verbal sparring began, but this time, Dox was helplessly at the mercy of his opponent.

Dox did seek Angel’s help, but Angel pretended not to notice. Diverting the Crowned Parrot’s attention to Dox was better than it focusing on Cha Cha...

Therefore, Dox might as well wish himself good luck.

Share