Chapter 11: The Da Vinci Code

Looking at the study list that had already been dragged onto the floor in his hand, Reketon felt his future life would be bleak and dim.

He grabbed a pile of books on the first floor of the library, returned to the third‑floor lounge, and began to leaf through them bit by bit. Thanks to the memory boost and comprehension enhancement from the magic pill, Reketon felt his reading efficiency was far higher than during his university days.

In just that morning he had already finished half a book, which, in the past, Reketon would have thought took at least a week to read.

"Hey! Reketon, let's go eat lunch! Our church's cafeteria is the best." Qiaoxi had spent almost the whole morning in the lounge playing cards with Joseph, until Joseph was called away by the captain for work. Reketon fully experienced how the joy between people doesn't always translate, and at that moment he could not grasp Qiaoxi's carefree enjoyment at all.

"Ah! Let's go! I need to rescue my stomach and my brain." Reketon stood up and stretched his back and waist.

"By the way, how's your reading progress this morning?" Qiaoxi asked curiously.

"It's still pretty good, I guess!" Reketon's gaze fell on the stack of untouched books, and his voice grew softer as he spoke.

"Haha! It's fine; when I first started I also found reading hard, but as I read more books I discovered my control over the magic pill improved, and my reading speed naturally increased." Qiaoxi patted Reketon's shoulder reassuringly.

"I haven't really leafed through a book in ages; today I recalled the fear of being ruled by knowledge." Reketon said with a look of utter ennui.

"Haha, let's go, let's go. We'll eat lunch first, then you can nap at noon; there's plenty of time, you don't have to rush to read so much." Qiaoxi said, dragging Reketon out of the lounge.

After eating lunch with Qiaoxi in the Knowledge Church's cafeteria, Reketon had to admit the church's food was indeed tasty; the work meal wasn't lavish but certainly flavorful.

With Joseph absent, Qiaoxi had wanted to invite Reketon to play cards with him, but unfortunately Reketon didn't know how to play that kind of cards, so he declined, saying he would rest a while and review the morning's reading.

Reketon's remark received strong approval from Teacher Kesi, who said he would look for more books suitable for Reketon's current reading level in the afternoon.

Reketon could only stare blankly and nod; the words he said were his alone to bear. Resigned, he could only shout in his mind, "Someone, save the kid!"

Reketon reclined his chair into a lounge angle at his reading spot and lay down, closing his eyes to rest.

"I need to find a way to speed up the progress; otherwise I'll be reading forever. If knowledge could just flow into my mind on its own, that'd be great!" While thinking this, Reketon suddenly had an epiphany.

He wasn't a pure Reader‑Path Exceptionalist; as a Seeker‑of‑Secrets Path Exceptionalist he could simply wait for the Hidden Sage to voluntarily impart knowledge, especially since he wasn't afraid of being tainted, and the bonuses from the Reader Path made it easier for Reketon to digest knowledge injected into his mind.

"The only problem is that I seem different from ordinary Seekers‑of‑Secrets; the Hidden Sage might not come to voluntarily impart knowledge."

After all, we're all workers of the Knowledge Wilderness Group. Sigh! If I could use the Sequence Two sage trait inside me, that would be great; I recall the sage's mythic form is a mass of information, and as an information being the sage should find learning and mastering knowledge quite simple.

I can only wait and see; if the Hidden Sage doesn't approach me out of collegial courtesy, I'll have to actively contact it via ritual magic.

The Hidden Sage likely lacks information from early First Era Earth civilization, so offering it information it doesn't have should guarantee it won't refuse; I just don't know how many trades those memories can make with the Hidden Sage.

Let's first see if I can get it for free through colleague relations; such a trivial request shouldn't be refused by a great being—after all, the Night Goddess even reimburses her followers' bills.

The more Reketon thought about it, the more convinced he was; suddenly excited, he stood up from the lounge chair.

"What? You just lay down and now you want to start reading again?" Qiaoxi, seated opposite, looked up at the standing Reketon after being startled by his movement and asked.

"No, I suddenly feel I can't keep reading those books under pressure; the efficiency is just too low, we need to balance work and rest!" Reketon, convinced of his newly formed thought, shook his head and said.

"Balancing work and rest? After a bit of thought you finally decided to play cards with me." Qiaoxi said.

Qiaoxi and Reketon's conversation seemed abrupt in the quiet lounge, naturally drawing the attention of several teammates still there; besides Joseph and Jessica, who had been called away by the captain, the lounge also held Xiya and Mr. Kesi, both casting curious glances.

"It's not impossible, but we need to change the game; playing cards like this is too boring. Let's switch to a method that's both entertaining and trains our thinking." Reketon said, struck by a sudden idea.

"What kind of game?" Qiaoxi asked, a bit puzzled.

Xiya and Mr. Kesi, from elsewhere, also approached with interest to see Reketon's game.

"It's simple; I call this game the Da Vinci Code." Reketon paused, observed Qiaoxi's reaction, noted their puzzled expressions, and felt relieved that no one understood the game yet.

There's that senior Russell who never leaves other time‑travelers a chance to survive; every subsequent time‑traveler says it's hard to handle! Fortunately, the former Huang Tao seemed uninterested in such games and didn't come to this era.

"Do we have playing cards? We need twenty‑two cards and some modifications." Reketon turned his gaze toward the three who had come over.

"Just twenty‑two cards is enough?" Xiya asked.

"Yes, that's right." Reketon nodded.

"I happen to have a tarot deck here, exactly twenty‑two cards." Xiya fetched a brand‑new tarot deck from her seat.

"Do you have a pen and paint? I need to write numbers in different colors on them; it will damage your tarot cards—may I?" Reketon asked Xiya for permission.

"Just do what you like; I hope you can make this boring tarot deck more interesting." Xiya's words and voice always evoked involuntary extra associations.

"Um, I think you'll like this game; it's fun." Reketon replied stiffly.

Facing Xiya, Reketon felt like a 3‑D otaku who had seen a 2‑D goddess step into reality; every time he saw Xiya's face he couldn't help glancing longer, yet conversing with her felt awkward, much like the doll‑loving vampire Emlyn White, who loves dolls but rejects them when they become alive.

A 2‑D goddess is always a goddess, but when she appears alive before him, Reketon feels extremely uneasy; thus each interaction with Xiya makes him feel especially awkward, though he can't show it.

"Coincidentally, I have some; I've given up my dream of becoming a painter, but I haven't thrown these away yet." Qiaoxi produced his old paints and brushes from somewhere.

Reketon discovered the set also contained crayons, and selected red, blue, and white ones, which were more convenient to use.

"Give me a moment; I'll color the cards while I explain the rules to you." Reketon grabbed the crayons and tarot cards and began.

"The rules are simple: there are twenty‑two cards, eleven red and eleven blue, each marked with numbers 0 to 10. I'll keep the backs up and shuffle, then the four of us each draw three cards." Reketon explained while handling the cards.

"Once a card in hand is flipped, it's eliminated; the last person standing wins. We'll play a round now so you can fully grasp the game." Reketon gathered the colored, numbered tarot cards, kept the backs up, and began shuffling.

"Any questions?" Reketon asked while shuffling, checking if everyone understood.

"Indeed a simple rule; sounds interesting." Xiya nodded in approval.

"We can add extra constraints to enhance the experience, such as no paper or pen assistance—use only our brains, no discussing strategies or reasoning, and each guess must be under one minute. That will improve the game feel." Mr. Kesi supplemented Reketon's rules.

Those were already part of the rules; Reketon simply omitted them to let everyone learn quickly, never expecting Mr. Kesi to add them after hearing the rules once.

Reketon could only sigh inwardly at how strong Readers are at mastering and understanding knowledge; after Mr. Kesi's additions, Reketon could already predict the game's outcome—most likely Xiya and Mr. Kesi would decide the final winner, while he and Qiaoxi would only contend for last and second‑last places.

"This can't be played with Reader‑Path Exceptionalists; even if you do, you need to find Sequence Eight players, otherwise you can't win at all." Reketon had already concluded this in his mind.

"Then let's start! I'm really curious about this game; I hope our big boy can satisfy me!" Xiya teased Reketon.

Prompted by Xiya, Reketon quickly finished shuffling and began drawing cards in turn to start the game.

……

"Sigh! I still wanted to win a couple of rounds using my familiarity with the game first!" Reketon sighed.

As expected, he and Qiaoxi were utterly defeated, while Xiya and Mr. Kesi performed expressionless calculations, offering no extra information beyond the revealed cards; relying on memory and reasoning, the two Sequence Eight players, Reketon and Qiaoxi, were crushed.

"Haha! Looks like I won; this game's great, and our big boy still has many surprises!" Xiya, having taken first place, teased Reketon.

"I lost; this game is still useful for low‑sequence Exceptionalists, especially those in the reasoning trainee stage, as it trains logical reasoning well. But for higher‑sequence Exceptionalists it's insufficient, because the magic pill's boost is too great, making such small games meaningless—though as entertainment it's still fine." Mr. Kesi gave his commentary on the brand‑new tabletop game.

He added, "Of course, this is only for us Reader‑Path Exceptionalists. I don't have to sit here reading every day; finally I have some other entertainment."

"Is that so? I just had a bold idea. How about I contact a factory and turn this game into a complete product? Then publish it in the church's newspaper and magazines; Teacher Ke Si's review makes me think this game could become popular." Leikton suddenly had an idea.

Leikton's idea wasn't about making money; it was simply because, as a time‑traveler, he felt he had to do something flamboyant.

"Huang Tao will bring an industrial revolution to this world, so I'll bring a wave of gaming trend; I have to leave some legend for the time‑traveler that Ke Lai En will later send." Leikton's mind was already sketching his grand blueprint.

(End of Chapter)