Chapter 4157: Disaster Knowledge Domain

"The 'Juvenile Unicorn Protection Act'? Of course there's no such law—unicorns are powerful and don't need humans to make laws to protect them. What are you worried about? No, she just wants to play with you, don't worry about her getting tired from it."

Because little Lianna had gone to school, Emilia rode on the back of another little unicorn, flying low beside Xia De. Elly had reverted to her unicorn form and followed along with the other little unicorns.

Although Emilia's answer reassured Xia De somewhat, he still had "her" remind him never to ride an unfamiliar little unicorn in the future.

The "Central Courtyard" was the hub area of the massive St. Byrons Academy castle, from which one could reach every part of the academy—east, west, south, and north—so even on a Monday morning, quite a few people could be seen here.

The courtyard was built in the style of a garden, with flower beds clustering around little paths that connected to the rest of the academy. Because the weather was nice today, a dwarf couple sat on a bench by the flower beds on a date, an elven Miss who loved painting was sketching the academy castle, and in the pavilion at the southeast corner of the courtyard, the academy drama club students had gathered to discuss the script for their next performance.

The ancient "Dragon Blood Tree" stood at the very center of the courtyard. This tree was one of the academy's more precious assets, so it was surrounded by a low stone fence reaching knee height, with small flowers planted within the fence, and red-copper-colored rune chains connecting the stone posts—though these were merely decorative and served no practical purpose.

Facing the direction of the academy castle's main gate, an information board stood beside the Dragon Blood Tree, with the tree's history written on it.

Xia De, Elly, and Emilia came together to pay their respects beneath the tree, and then everyone heard little Xiao Miya meowing at the tree.

Xia De thought the cat had discovered something, but from the dense red branches and leaves of the Dragon Blood Tree, a white cat and a black cat darted out, landing and quickly running off into the distance—clearly startled by little Xiao Miya.

"Meow~"

Little Xiao Miya looked quite pleased with herself, and Emilia explained with a smile:

"Some of the academy cats like to rest in the trees. Speaking of which, can little Xiao Miya climb trees?"

"She probably can... but I don't recall ever seeing her do it."

This ancient tree, said to be five thousand years old, was enormous in size. Emilia passed beneath it every day and had long since taken it for granted as part of the scenery, so she had never examined it closely. But from the outside, there was nothing particularly unusual about this ancient tree, and Xia De could only sense that it possessed an extraordinarily vast life force.

After a quiet apology, the three stepped over the fence, and then Xia De and Emilia reached out to touch the ancient tree's bark.

Emilia felt time; Xia De felt life; and Elly leaned in to sniff.

"This tree is truly ancient."

That was the only conclusion the little elf with pointed ears reached, while the white-haired unicorn Miss sounded somewhat puzzled:

"It seems like there's something here, but then again, maybe not."

As for Xia De, what he actually felt wasn't much either:

"This tree's life force is somewhat excessively strong. There are also some thousand-year-old trees in the Vesta Glade, but none of those trees' life energy can compare with this one. It gives me the feeling that it's still a small tree still growing, with room to keep growing in the future."

The branches, leaves, and roots of the Dragon Blood Tree were all widely used as materials for witch potions and alchemy. From the founding of St. Byrons to the present, who knew how many witches and warlocks had touched it—if the secret truly lay in this tree, then discovering it certainly wouldn't be simple.

Emilia then flew up to inspect the canopy, having already decided that if anyone caught her, she'd say she was looking for cats. Xia De circled the trunk once more, bent down to touch the earth and sense it, and then saw Elly sniffing at the tree again.

When Emilia returned empty-handed, Elly pointed at the great tree with great certainty:

"This tree definitely has a problem!"

Then she reminded him:

"You can let the kitty take a look."

Xia De looked at the cat on his shoulder, then grabbed her by the waist and held her up toward the great tree. Little Xiao Miya looked quite a bit longer now than when she was lying down, but this time she was quite obedient—sniffing along, and then letting out a "Meow~."

Neither Elly nor Emilia knew what the cat meant, but Xia De, who had spent a long time with little Xiao Miya, guessed her meaning:

"She's probably saying this tree has a problem and we should investigate more carefully. Also, she's asking me where I'm going for lunch today, reminding me not to forget lunchtime."

"Can a single meow contain that much meaning?"

Since both Elly and little Xiao Miya thought the tree had a problem, Xia De felt he had reason to believe the tree really did have a problem.

Just as Xia De was pondering how to investigate this tree's secret, a shout came from afar:

"Emilia! Professor Danister is looking for you—something's happened at the library. She wants you and Miss Marks to come help."

A mermaid Miss who looked a little older than Emilia said as she walked over quickly, addressing Emilia by name directly—clearly a friend of Emilia's. As for "Miss Marks," of course that referred to Elly Marks.

"What's wrong with the library?"

The little elf asked, leaving the tree together with Xia De. The mermaid Miss had beautiful pink coral ornaments behind her ears, and a head of sea-blue long hair with the texture of satin.

She was about to speak, then looked at Xia De:

"And this is..."

Emilia blinked:

"A relative of Elly's."

"Huh?"

Xia De looked at her in astonishment, but Elly nodded:

"Yes, he, unicorn."

It was well known that innocent unicorn Misses don't lie, so the mermaid Miss immediately believed it:

"Can adult unicorns turn into humans now too?"

She muttered to herself, then gestured for Emilia to follow her toward the library:

"Professor Danister says this is something only you or Elly can handle—it seems to be a 'Library Disaster.'"

Emilia's pointed ears twitched—she understood what kind of incident this was.

"Library Disaster," or "Knowledge Disaster," refers to a series of catastrophic events classified under "Knowledge and Wisdom." During the early Chosen One stories Xia De experienced, because the world was relatively stable, the manifestations of the Calamity weren't particularly obvious, nor as tricky as they are now.

But now that the Chosen One's story has progressed to the tenth, disasters that previously showed no outstanding performance have become more frequent and more troublesome.

The so-called "Knowledge Disaster" mainly manifests in two aspects. On one hand, certain "knowledge" suddenly becomes toxic—once learned and deeply understood, it produces enormous effects on one's spirit and mind.

On the other hand, there's book activation—books themselves come alive and develop supernatural abilities based on the content recorded within them. The most common ability, or rather one that virtually every disaster book possesses, is the use of spatial power similar to a "maze lock," externalizing the knowledge within to cause regional disasters.

This kind of space formed by stories and knowledge is collectively called a "Disaster Knowledge Domain."

Fortunately, "Knowledge Disasters" don't occur frequently. Although once they take shape their impact is enormous, both the Church and the academy possess early-warning methods that allow them to resolve the problem before a "Knowledge Disaster" can expand.

Moreover, dealing with the second situation only requires sealing the book itself. But to seal the book itself, one must first find that book within the "Disaster Knowledge Space."

Although Time and Destiny aren't the powers directly suited to solving this problem, as the Chosen One they possess strong resistance to the Calamity's power, so Emilia had frequently been called upon to resolve such issues in the past.

However, this was the first time a "Knowledge Disaster" had occurred in the academy library. This library was under the protection of the library's guardian god 【Grey-Robed Sage】, and even though it stored a vast number of books, theoretically the likelihood of problems arising was far lower than elsewhere.

The affected area was on the first floor of the library. When Xia De, Elly, and Emilia arrived, the problem area had already been cordoned off, though the rest of the library remained open as usual.

A grey satin-like curtain enclosed an area roughly the size of half a football field, with bookshelves and the curtain together forming a wall. Outside this wall, the academy's professors were discussing the problem and arranging rituals to block the further expansion of the space unfurling from within the book.

When the mermaid Miss brought everyone to see Dac Dac Nisi, the administrator Young Lady, whose mood was clearly not very good, briefly informed the three of them of the current situation:

"The Calamity Domain of Knowledge has just formed, and it was already detected by the library's scouting ritual. The situation isn't very complicated yet. It's been confirmed that the problematic book is 'Ancient Druids: An Analysis of Beginner Shapeshifting.' The domain behind the screen wall has already turned into a vast primeval forest larger in area than the Vesta Forest, and a preliminary investigation found a large number of hostile entities within the forest.

That book should be on some entity inside. Everyone who enters will be directly transformed into an animal, and as time goes on, they will gradually lose their self-awareness and become real animals. Only those who are themselves masters of shapeshifting can resist this influence."

Although Amelia was also there, Dac Dac Nisi only asked Xia De and Elly:

"Can you two go handle the problem here?"

Elly had only joined the academy for two months and had not yet encountered this kind of thing, which was why Dac Dac Nisi had Xia De come help as well.

"No problem."

Xia De nodded. Amelia also knew it would be more convenient for the two of them to handle it, so she said from the side:

"I'll wait for you outside. Once the matter here is resolved, let's go have lunch together."

?? PS: Let me summarize the various manifestations of the Calamities that have appeared so far. In fact, beyond the main manifestations, there are other anomalies, which won't be discussed here.

? Balance - None yet

? Darkness - Descent of Darkness

? Death - Edge of Life and Death

? Knowledge - Knowledge Calamity - Calamity Domain of Knowledge

? Earth - Distorted Earth

? Space - Disordered Space

? Light - Peculiar Radiance

? Time - Time Tree Hollow

? Fate - Infinite Serpent / Before the End

? Life - Distorted Life Spark