Chapter 62: The Value of Literacy

"So, after finishing this book, did you feel any headache?"

Doctor Shi Nai De asked again.

"Did I? Probably..."

He observed the expressions of the two people:

"Probably, I fell into a deep sleep right after finishing it."

Xia De said hesitantly. In truth, he had delayed some time playing with Little Mia that night, and he had stayed up too late reading the book, only falling asleep when he couldn't hold on any longer. The feeling of a headache was indeed there, but it was likely because he had slept too late and was woken up too early in the morning by the starving cat.

"That is normal. These books containing mad knowledge will affect you upon reading. Even if a Ringed Shushi has an 'Another Face' to block the direct power of the knowledge, the Ringed Shushi themselves will still be affected. Xia De, you don't need to be anxious; obtaining Spirit Runes requires a process."

The doctor kindly advised. Xia De kept his mouth shut and nodded, while asking in his heart:

"Is my spirit strong, or are you helping me block those influences?"

【You are me, and I am you; there is no difference.】

At the study group, Xia De could only understand half of the difficulties encountered in Ringed Shushi studies raised by Doctor Shi Nai De and Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha.

Doctor Shi Nai De had recently participated in an elective course called "Ether Mechanics." The course itself was only open to Shushi above the Fifth Ring, but it did not teach power, only studied theory. The standard name of the course should have been "Mechanics of Spirits," which was the study of the interaction and influence between spirits—which exist in idealism—and matter.

But Professor Lu Se Fu, who taught this course, liked the alternative name for spirits in the past era, which was "Ether," so the course name became Ether Mechanics.

This course was extremely difficult to understand and belonged to the most cutting-edge content of Ringed Shushi theoretical courses. Of course, the doctor was not interested in theoretical research, nor was he interested in the course itself; he just wanted to use it to get familiar with Professor Lu Se Fu.

This professor from the History Academy was quite formidable, having achieved significant accomplishments in the strange arts of time and space. Xia De would also have contact with him in the higher grades.

Doctor Shi Nai De was almost completely unable to understand the content of the course. While doubting his own intelligence, he hoped to discuss topics like "The Theory of All Different Spirits," "Hilbert Ether Space," and "Phenomenal Changes" with Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha, who was one grade below him, to find new ideas.

Xia De believed that the blank expression Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha showed at that time was very similar to his own when he first stepped into the field of mystical theory.

Compared to the doctor who overestimated his abilities by taking "Ether Mechanics" and thus fell into deep distress, Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha's problems were much simpler.

She was preparing for the July exam season and intended to finish the non-practical courses of her fourth year. Therefore, she had recently even put aside her main profession, which was writing novels, and focused entirely on memorizing and understanding the knowledge of theoretical courses.

The blonde writer's biggest difficulty at the moment was ancient languages. Xia De's courses of this type were only introductory, while Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha already had to apply them to practice.

She had learned that the general exam content would be chosen from the book "The Four Elements of Pursuit: Wind and Fire." This book was written using the Southern Tribe language of the Fourth Era—Xiaweike language—and the book itself was also one of the mystical books inscribed with the elements 【Wind】 and 【Fire】.

Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha hoped that the doctor could help her translate this thick book of over a hundred pages, but the doctor shook his head immediately upon hearing the title:

"The dozen or so ancient languages I learned were all passed with barely passing grades. Lu Lu Lu Yisha, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's that I can't help you."

He was clearly thinking of the scene when he was preparing for the ancient language exam many years ago, and his whole person was avoiding the book in Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha's hands.

Xia De, sitting to the side, took advantage of the two arguing about how to pass the exam and stretched his head to glance at the old book, a blue ink manuscript, which was opened to page 29.

He immediately understood the content of the less than 200 runes on both pages, which roughly described the story of the anthropomorphic wind element traveling in the Abyss of Madness.

Feeling a slight throbbing in his temples, Xia De looked away. He had indeed understood a language he knew nothing about again, but the power of the language itself was hurting him.

"I think I can help you translate it."

Xia De said softly.

The "Golden Finger," or special ability, of the outsider in this world, besides the woman in his head whose laughter sounded very pleasant, was only the ability to understand all languages. This ability was quite dangerous because the older and more mysterious the language, the more dangerous it was. The recent loss of control of the Poet-level Relic 【Dark Box】 was a good example. Who knows, one day Xia De might die with his head exploding because he translated something he shouldn't have.

But for the study of a Ringed Shushi, this ability was quite useful. He had considered hiding this point from everyone, but it was clear that exposing a part of the secret would bring him more benefits.

"Xia De, you can understand it?"

Doctor Shi Nai De asked hesitantly. He had just leaned back on the sofa to avoid the paper and pen Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha handed over, but now he sat up straight and pointed at a rune on the page:

"What does this mean?"

"Abyss."

Xia De said, then looked at the doctor, and the doctor looked at the writer:

"Is the translation correct? I only have a passing level; I can't understand these."

"Probably... correct, right?"

Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha, who didn't even have a passing level, said:

"However, how do you know this?"

"I'm not sure either. Just now, the 【Time and Space】 Spirit Rune suddenly flickered on my Fate Ring... and then 'Another Face' prompted me that I understood this language."

The doctor and the writer showed expressions of sudden realization at the same time:

"The moment you came into contact with the ancient language, the power of 【Time and Space】 guided you to obtain the knowledge of the past. So that's how it is."

They made an explanation for Xia De.

This was not nonsense, because Spirit Runes did sometimes function on their own without any contact at all.

"Then, Mr. Han Mi Er Dun, can you help me translate this book?"

Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha handed the paper and pen to Xia De again:

"Two weeks, before mid-July, a simple translation is fine, no need to be very precise. On one hand, it's for your mental health; I don't want the Ringed Shushi in the same group to lose control because of my exam. On the other hand, if I get an exceptionally excellent score, I won't be able to answer the professor's questions at all."

Her thinking was very meticulous.

"I think two weeks should be no problem."

Xia De nodded, and the blonde writer finally showed a look of relief:

"I won't let you do it for nothing. I can give you a rare spell, 【Frog's Leap】. This can allow you to have stronger jumping ability in a short time. Besides needing disgusting frog legs as casting materials, it has almost no shortcomings. This is a quite rare spell. When I contributed it to the school library, I obtained two practical credits at once."

Xia De, of course, did not refuse. ===== CHAPTER 63 =====