Time had left deep marks on this arrow, its appearance a perfect work of art and an antique. Xia De gazed at the arrow in the mahogany box, whispers echoing in his ears. As the image of the arrowhead seemed to be etched into his mind, the strange whispers and inexplicable thoughts that arose in his heart urged him to immediately use the arrow to pierce his own heart.
Xia De yearned for the power of Knowledge, and this arrow seemed to yearn for the Outsider who gazed at it.
He took a deep breath, focusing his mind so as not to be affected by the relic. Reaching out a finger, as his finger touched the chillingly cold golden arrowhead, Her voice sounded in his ear:
Miracle - Ancient Voice triggered. You have learned a story from the First Era.
The ancient God of wisdom once, with the Sage of the Silver Moon, jointly wrote the myths of mortals on the land of the First Era. The Recorder silently wrote everything, and the Guardian Mentor of Knowledge polished the arrow of Knowledge and power, sheltering mortals who sought light in the lightless darkness. The Ancient God once said: “Knowledge is hidden in the world, and wisdom is hidden in the soul. The wise are like water, and will surely depart; the foolish are like fire, burning all things.”
Directly touching this sage-level relic, even though Xia De's mental power was extremely strong and he considered his conviction firm, after listening to Her narration, he still took a great deal of resolve to close the box again.
“This item contains the power of the Ancient God 【Guardian Mentor】. One of the three conditions for the Selected One Ritual has been met.”
He closed his eyes, trying his best to forget the whispers he had just heard, and to drive the image of the arrow from his mind. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Professor Drake looking at him with some concern, having recovered.
The Professor and Xia De both saw the 【Aiken Ola Knowledge Arrow】 in the wooden box, but the Professor did not show any strange expression, as if he had only seen an antique.
“Professor, didn’t you feel anything special?”
“What special feeling?”
Professor Drake asked curiously instead:
“Are you asking if I remembered anything? I’m sorry, I just feel like this arrow is very familiar, but I still don’t know how it ended up in my hands.”
Xia De frowned slightly. This wooden box was the arrow’s containment measure. Since Xia De had not taken it out, the whisper element would not directly affect the two of them. However, the mental impact of looking directly at the relic, and the urge to use the arrow that arose from the bottom of one’s heart, would appear as long as one looked at the relic.
“Please take another look.”
Saying so, he opened the wooden box again. The relic’s influence was immediately perceived by Xia De again, but Professor Drake still seemed to feel nothing, as if what was in the box was truly just an ordinary antique.
“This definitely isn’t me having a problem, so the Professor has a problem.”
Xia De continued to look at Professor Drake, and the Professor became even more confused:
“Is something wrong with me?”
“I contacted Professor Terris Manning of Tobesk, and he praised you as a very inspired person. When faced with strange phenomena, you are always the first to notice something is wrong, and you always seem to find the most suitable research direction.”
Xia De pursed his lips:
“After you returned from the ‘Lake Goddess’ adventure, does this peculiar talent still exist?”
The Professor recalled for a moment, then shook his head slightly:
“That adventure and the fact of my broken leg had a great impact on me. Yes, since that adventure, I have indeed become much duller.”
Xia De then thought of the first time he came to Professor Drake’s place and received the photo with the “Swamp Witch’s Curse.” That time, he was immediately affected by the curse, but Professor Drake felt nothing at all.
“It seems your wish also included the removal of some unique talents.”
Xia De spoke very cautiously, and the Professor’s face became even more grim:
“God, what kind of wish did I make back then?”
He lowered his head and looked at the teacup he was holding, the swirling hot steam blurring the Professor’s glasses.
Xia De had some new ideas. He opened the box again, this time directly taking out the arrow:
“Professor, I want to use this arrow to cut your finger.”
Although Professor Drake didn’t know what Xia De wanted to do, he didn’t object. So Xia De very carefully used the sharp arrowhead to make a small cut on Professor Drake’s finger. Because the wound was too shallow, only the skin was peeled back, and the Professor had to squeeze hard to make blood seep out.
The Old Professor frowned slightly, lifted his gaze from his finger, and looked at Xia De holding the arrow:
“How interesting, it seems I have gained some Knowledge in my head.”
He patted his head:
“Very fragmented Knowledge, something about ancient insectivores. Oh, what is all this?”
Xia De asked in his mind:
“If I’m not mistaken, if an ordinary person is cut, they either become a talented person or they slowly die. And if a Ring術士 is cut, then it is…”
Some strange Knowledge appears in one’s head.
Xia De pursed his lips and extended his hand, signaling the Professor to shake his hand. After shaking hands, Xia De confirmed once again that Professor Drake was an ordinary person.
“Professor Manning’s letters, organized by Dorothy, indicate that Professor Drake is extremely enterprising and has pursued knowledge and wisdom throughout his life. The special physical conditions of the Professor described in the two missing letters—hallucinations, enhanced physical functions—are very consistent with the state after a Ring術士 awakens… I probably understand.”
To prevent Father Nobel’s description of this relic from being wrong, Xia De again used the arrowhead to cut his own finger. He experienced the wonderful pain and noticed some strange Knowledge pouring into his mind.
Suddenly, he frowned. Amidst the Knowledge related to sin and living sacrifice, there was a set of ancient characters. And those characters, Xia De had seen them once before.
“Professor, do you still remember the book we found when we were looking through the letters last time? The book had ‘Knowledge is Power’ written in strange characters.”
“Yes, and you translated the characters for me.”
The Professor, who was pondering the strange phenomenon, nodded.
“I have some guesses about this. Is it possible that those words were written by you in the book?”
“But I don’t recognize those characters.”
“Just because you don’t recognize them now doesn’t mean you didn’t recognize them before.”
Saying this, Xia De took out the book and then had the Professor copy the letters, comparing them to the original line. The letters of the ancient script were like complex spirals, and even copying them by sight would result in significant differences from the original letters. But after the Professor wrote them with a fountain pen, although there were slight differences, it could basically be determined that the writing in the book was the Professor’s handwriting.
“But what does this mean?”
Professor Drake still didn’t understand.
“This arrow…”
Xia De considered for a moment, deciding to reveal some of the truth first:
“A certain peculiar group of people can gain Knowledge by touching this arrow. But the problem is, Professor, you do not belong to this peculiar group of people.”
“Peculiar group of people?”
The Professor looked at Xia De hesitantly. Xia De reached out and touched the teacup on the table, and the tea water glowed silver in the Old Professor’s astonished eyes.
He dripped the tea water onto his injured finger, and then dripped some onto the Professor’s finger. Ten seconds later, the wounds on both their fingers completely disappeared.
Professor Kansas Drake’s mouth fell open:
“The rumors are true, there really is such a thing as mysticism and supernatural powers?”
“You shouldn’t be so surprised. Seasoned historians and folklorists like you and Professor Manning couldn’t possibly not know this. It seems you truly forgot. More accurately, perhaps you don’t belong to the special group now, but all signs indicate that you once did.”
The old man was completely confused, while Xia De narrowed his eyes:
“It’s very interesting that I’ve investigated your background, and a lot of evidence proves that you are just an ordinary person. This isn’t the Lake Goddess’s cover-up; Her cover-up has deliberately left loopholes, but your ordinary person background is perfectly normal. That is to say, your becoming what I call a special person was a very short-term thing. Plus, the other effects of this arrow, an ordinary person being cut, has a chance of becoming a talented person…”
Although the Professor didn’t understand Xia De’s words at all and was even more confused, he was greatly shocked at this moment:
“You found the truth?”
“Professor Manning praising your incredible inspiration is itself very useful information.”
Leia believed that her younger sister, Princess Angelina, also had the talent of a Ring術士, simply because the little princess also had incredible inspiration, even though she hadn’t reached the age of awakening yet.
“In your letters to Professor Manning, you mentioned that you suddenly became very healthy; your diary also mentioned that you saw some hallucinations. This itself also indicates that some changes have occurred in you.”
Xia De looked at the photo of Harald Ondiba and the Professor on the table:
“You and he have a very good relationship, and he is the holder of the arrow; when he was unexpectedly captured, the arrow was actually in your hands, which means your change is related to him; a Father I know once said that this Mr. Ondiba might have unknown followers within Huntington City; your reputation is very good, I don’t think you are a bad person, so the wish won’t be… Professor, please answer me one question!”
Professor Drake was startled by Xia De’s serious expression:
“Young man, I can handle it, ask away.”
“Suppose a possibility: you have pursued a certain goal all your life, but when you truly achieved it, you were frightened by the goal itself. In that case, is it possible that you would abandon your life’s pursuit, even at the cost of forgetting it?”
The Professor’s mouth opened slightly:
“I don’t know. But if I really gave up, then my life would be too tragic. Are you saying…”
Although the Professor was old and had some talents erased, age brings more wisdom to humans, and he guessed some things.
Xia De nodded slightly, then saw Professor Drake reveal an expression as if struck by lightning. The Old Professor sighed deeply, hunched and shrunken in his wheelchair, looking older than ever before.
“Although I cannot prove my conjecture, I think I have reached a conclusion. The Lake Goddess granted your wish. I used conjecture to fill in the missing parts of the deduction process, which is certainly not rigorous enough. Fortunately, I am also a very inspired person. This is probably the truth.”
“Mr. Watson, you said that investigating what happened to me was a test given to you by the ‘Lake Goddess’?”
“Yes.”
Xia De nodded.
“Are you planning to tell Her that you have completed the trial with your current guess?”
“Yes.”
The Professor looked up, pleadingly at him:
“Take me with you, Mr. Watson, please, take me with you. I don’t want to say that I’m old and don’t have many years left to live, but please, Mr. Watson, take me with you to visit the Lake Goddess again. Let me know the story of the past, even if it might be the last journey of my life.”
This meant that Professor Drake occupied one of Xia De’s precious wish slots. Xia De looked at him and patted the mahogany box:
“This arrow is mine.”
“Alright, young man.”
The Professor, with droopy eyelids, tried to keep his eyes open and look at Xia De, the light in his eyes like a final burst of energy:
“When do we leave?”
Xia De looked at the midday sunlight outside:
“Let’s leave after lunch, rent a carriage.”
He hesitated for a moment and then said:
“Professor, since you already made your choice in the past, why do you need to know the truth? It might only make you more miserable. Here are the letters Professor Manning sent you. The Professor in Tobesk encourages you to live actively, perhaps getting a cat would be very nice.”
He placed the letters on the desk, but Professor Drake just leaned back in his wheelchair and looked up at the ceiling:
“I’m just unwilling to enter the grave with questions.”
They remained silent in the study for a long time.
