Chapter 1053: The Desire for Knowledge

There were two more pages of content in the book, describing the circulation of the item in the hands of Transcenders during the Fourth Era.

The Fourth Era was an era of darkness and turmoil. Dark creatures occupied the vast majority of the land in the material world, and cannibal tribes ran rampant in the world. And intelligent life races could only assist each other to survive together, which led to the quite good relationship between races such as humans, elves, dwarves, fey, and dragons in the early Fifth Era, and directly led to the appearance of multi-racial hybrid creatures.

For example, Miss Fiona Dragos, whom Xia De met in the ruins of the Gadis Library in the Dead Valley, obviously possessed the blood of both humans and red dragons.

The powerful relic 【Source of Chaos】 also had many stories in the Fourth Era. 【Book of Fools】 showed those tragic and terrible past events to Xia De. Xia De flipped through them in a hurry, and realized that these stories written in ancient languages were themselves a strange power.

But very unfortunately, even the writer of 【Book

"This book does not abruptly display unnecessary content. It seems the 'Yellow Moon' requested by the bard refers to the Sage-level relic 【Source of Chaos】. Miss Daniste also mentioned this relic yesterday."

Xia De thought to himself, closed the book, and said to Sir Pulin, looking quite embarrassed:

"The knowledge this book gave me is the formula for the potion—Love Potion, and the learning method for the miracle—【Love Curse】. This highly unethical miracle allows the caster to unconditionally gain the favor of the opposite sex for a certain period. The learning requirements include spirit runes such as 【Reproduction】, 【Red Moon】, 【**】, and 【Love】."

He spoke some of the content from the "Book of Pink," and Sir Pulin did not doubt him, but instead said with a smile:

"Perhaps the 'Book of Fools' thinks that since you are currently troubled by emotional problems, you need this."

"Yes, yes."

Xia De responded with a mix of truth and falsehood, feeling quite helpless:

"Let's not mention the matter of Margaret."

"Oh, Detective, I did not mention Her Highness's name."

The smile on the knight's face became more pronounced. Seeing Xia De's embarrassed expression, he stopped teasing him and instead said: "According to the data, only a few people can directly obtain the most useful knowledge from this book. Mr. Hamilton, your wisdom has indeed been acknowledged by this book."

"I have no wisdom; I have simply seen more things than most people."

Xia De said modestly. Sir Pulin only assumed Xia De meant he knew a lot as a Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi, not knowing this was a metaphor from the Outlander.

"Sir Pulin, what did you see just now?"

Xia De asked, pretending to be curious; this was a probe.

The knight hesitated for a moment. Considering that Xia De had voluntarily spoken of the knowledge he had seen, the knight finally opened his mouth:

"Some secrets about this world, knowledge, wisdom, and the like."

He spoke very vaguely, but these contents seemed to be the conditions required for the Chosen One ritual that Luweiya had divined. But looking at Sir Pulin's disappointed expression just now, the knowledge the "Book of Fools" gave him should not have been enough.

"Knowledge and wisdom, huh."

Xia De sighed softly and steered the conversation in the direction he wanted to discuss:

"Speaking of which, mortals are truly amazing. Relying on the inheritance of knowledge and the sparks of wisdom, our civilization has been able to advance to this point."

Sir Pulin nodded. He did not mind talking to Xia De about his understanding of wisdom and knowledge:

"Indeed, it is amazing; this is a great achievement belonging to mortals. I think the reason the gods favor us, who are like ants, is because they value the miracles created by our knowledge and wisdom."

"But knowledge always has a weight, and we can only bear a little bit."

Xia De said, pinching his fingers, and Sir Pulin laughed:

"I love knowledge, and I love books. For me, even if there is a price to pay for chasing knowledge, I am willing to pay it, until I reach a position where I can no longer move forward."

"I met an old professor some time ago who also pursued knowledge and wisdom with this attitude."

Xia De mentioned Professor De-Lei-Ke again:

"But it is a pity that when he truly touched the knowledge and wisdom he craved, he became afraid himself."

The carriage was turning at the street corner, and the knight frowned slightly:

"Sorry, what do you mean by afraid?"

"He craved knowledge and wisdom he did not know, but when he truly knew what he had obtained, he was terrified that the truth of the world was so terrible."

Xia De shook his head, recalling Professor De-Lei-Ke's former words:

"We live on a peaceful little island called ignorance, surrounded by an endless black ocean, and we were never meant to set sail. The pitch-black tomb is right before my eyes; I wish to sleep here forever and listen to the wind and waves—that is what the professor said. In the end, he paid with his talent, his memories, and parts of his limbs, permanently abandoning that knowledge."

Xia De had no opinion on Professor De-Lei-Ke's choice. After all, when they last met, the professor had said that he had no regrets in his life, and when he walked toward eternal sleep, he would be incomparably peaceful.

But a mocking expression appeared on Sir Pulin's face:

"Mr. Hamilton, I have no intention of criticizing your friend, nor do I intend to criticize the life others choose for themselves. But that professor is, perhaps, a bit too... cowardly, isn't he?"

Although he was sitting opposite Xia De, he seemed to be opening his arms to the sea:

"Even if the world is like a black ocean and we live on a peaceful little island called ignorance, we must still go out to sea. To explore, to witness, to crave, to seek knowledge. If one does not see those unknown landscapes with one's own eyes and only seeks a peaceful long sleep, then why should a person live?"

Xia De understood his perspective:

"That old professor was also afraid because he learned of the dangers of supernatural knowledge. After all, once an accident occurs, the disasters caused by that knowledge and wisdom will also affect others."

Xia De said with a smile:

"There are many people with the courage to break through the island of ignorance and explore the dangerous black ocean, but people must always be wary of whether their actions will lead those dangerous and strange monsters living in the black ocean to the peaceful little island."

For a moment, Xia De seemed to see a sarcastic smile on Sir Pulin's face; he was not sure if he had seen it wrong.

【You did not see it wrong.】

"Mr. Hamilton, the process of seeking knowledge is always dangerous, but one cannot stop because of it."

"Therefore, we must grasp that measure. Balance, yes, balance the weights between danger and the pursuit of knowledge."

Xia De said, and Sir Pulin nodded, but he had lost interest in talking to Xia De.

Xia De could also feel that he and this gentleman from the Kingdom of Kaisen-Li-Ke were not the same kind of people. They were both brave in seeking knowledge, but Sir Pulin was perhaps a bit too reckless.

The carriage first sent Xia De to St. Deran Square, and then drove away with Sir Pulin.

Xia De had no other travel plans for the day, so he stayed in the study reading books and checking the accounts for the past year. After all, it was the end of the year, and he had to manage his finances well to prevent mistakes when the Kingdom Tax Bureau audited him.

After lunch, Little Mia was napping on the windowsill of the study, and Xia De took out the "Book of Fools" again to check the information on the Sage-level relic 【Source of Chaos】. But the sound of a bell came from downstairs, so Xia De got up to open the door.

The napping cat heard Xia De get up and walk away, so it jumped from the windowsill to the floor, then from the floor to the chair, and finally onto the desk.

"Meow?"

It noticed the book Xia De had left open on the desk, so it lowered its head and looked over. Large swaths of text and illustrations immediately appeared on the previously blank pages.

Its large amber eyes were full of confusion. Little Mia took a few steps back so she could see the full picture of the page. She stared intently at the things she couldn't understand, and then the book automatically turned to the next page in front of the cat. The back was also filled with dense text and images. The cat continued to stare carefully, nodding slightly, as if she really understood the content.

"Doctor?"

The person who appeared downstairs at Xia De's house was Doctor Shi-Nai-De. Seeing Xia De invite him upstairs, the doctor waved his hand:

"I have other things to do and will leave in a while. Last Tuesday, you entrusted me to peek at the desires of Le-Jin-Si Pulin. Today is exactly one week, so I came to tell you about the situation."

He started talking to Xia De in the foyer:

"This is a very strange person, very strange. As you requested, I did not get close to him, let alone enter his dreams; I only observed from afar. Speaking of which, I have to thank you for the invitation; I attended quite a few high-end banquets this week... I'm digressing. In short, Le-Jin-Si Pulin's desires are greater than anyone else's. Not to mention compared to ordinary people, even compared to Ring Mages, his desires are a bit too strong."

Seeing Xia De frown, the doctor added:

"Don't worry, those are not bad desires; they are desires for knowledge. A very crazy desire for knowledge, a craving for new knowledge, a craving for wisdom. I don't even need to use supernatural power; I can feel that intense desire with my own eyes."

He pointed to his eyes:

"I dare say, with such powerful desires, as long as he doesn't die, he will definitely do something extraordinary."

Xia De asked with some concern:

"No matter what kind of desire it is, isn't it always bad if it's too strong?"

"But it's not necessarily a bad thing. The key is whether Sir Le-Jin-Si Pulin can control his desires."

The doctor evaluated cautiously.