After having lunch at Professor Drake’s house, the maid rented a carriage from a four-wheeled carriage rental company in the City, and then Xia De set off with the Professor, who had packed up.
Although their destination was very strange, the coachman driving the carriage did not ask anything. After dropping the two off at Lake Ness in the eastern part of Huntington City, he stopped by the roadside and watched Xia De push the Professor’s wheelchair away.
The dirt road in the countryside was completely unsuitable for the wheels of a wheelchair, but fortunately, they did not walk very far. After confirming that the coachman was out of sight, Xia De pushed the Professor down the lake embankment and looked out at the Great Lake from the shore of Lake Ness.
This was a lake in the western part of the City that Xia De had randomly chosen on the map. Lake Ness was very calm in winter. Although the lake surface had not completely frozen over, a thin layer of ice had already appeared. A cold wind swept through, and Xia De showed no reaction, while Professor Drake, bundled up tightly, shivered.
He saw Xia De untie the cloth wrapped around the long, strip-shaped object he was carrying, and then he saw the longsword inserted into its scabbard.
“Mr. Watson, actually, that’s not your real name, is it?”
Moving his gaze from the silver sword, the Old Professor held his red knitted scarf with both hands, his eyes fixed on the Great Lake in front of him.
“Yes.”
“You actually—no, never mind.”
Xia De looked down at the Professor, standing to his side:
“I hope when we return to the lake again, you’ll still thank me like this. The truth might be cruel to you.”
“I might regret it in the future, but at least for now, I won’t.”
To visit the Lake Goddess, a sword was needed this time. But even with a sword, the condition of “forgetting the desire to visit the Lake Goddess” still had to be met. Xia De hoped to distract himself and the Professor by chatting with him, and the Professor also had this intention, talking casually with Xia De about his Knowledge of the Great Lake in front of them.
As the two were talking, they suddenly heard a strange sound from the lake. Xia De immediately pushed the Professor closer to the lakeside, and then he and the Old Professor saw ripples appearing on the lake surface, as if there was an earthquake at the bottom of the lake.
The splashing sounds of the lake water became more frequent and dense, and gradually a huge vortex appeared near the shore.
Xia De held night watchman in front of Professor Drake, and the Professor was surprised to see the sword in Xia De’s hand emitting a silver glow:
“Mr. Watson, do you need help? I also have a pistol on me.”
“No need, I can handle it myself.”
In just the time it took for two sentences of conversation, in the center of the huge vortex in the lake, a frog made of pure water, taller than Xia De, leaped out from underwater. It jumped high, blocking the sun in front of Xia De and Professor Drake, and the fear of the giant creature made the Old Professor shrink into his wheelchair.
And as the frog’s huge shadow completely covered Xia De, he held his empty left hand in a phantom grip and made a throwing motion towards the sky:
“Lightning Spear!”
Silver-white lightning exploded in his hand, and with the throwing motion, the silver-white Lightning Spear, centered in his palm, overflowed forwards and backward with its intricate patterns. The moment the Lightning Spear formed was the moment it was thrown.
Professor Drake only heard a clap of thunder, and just as he wondered why there was thunder at this time, the huge pure water frog in the air had already dispersed into a large number of water droplets falling into the lake.
Splashing sounds continuously echoed in front of them, stirring up large amounts of water mist on the lake surface. And in that water mist, two jets of water shot out from the nearshore lake surface. The two streams of water did not shoot straight into the sky, but rather ascended and then curved to converge.
They formed the shape of an archway. When the archway closed, the water that fell after the frog exploded cascaded downwards, filling the doorway.
“This, this—”
The Professor was too stunned to speak.
“That frog was too weak; it seems the Lady in the Lake doesn’t want to make things difficult for us.”
Xia De muttered. Seeing that this water gate was in the lake near the shore, still some distance from the lakeside, and having learned from his previous experience, Xia De bent down, picked up a pebble, and threw it onto the lake surface. Sure enough, he saw the pebble “floating” in the air.
“There’s an invisible hidden path on the lake surface.”
Xia De whispered to the Professor, pushing him onto the lake water. The Professor looked down uneasily; such a scene was perhaps too miraculous for an ordinary person like him.
“And then there’s the door.”
Pushing the Professor to a stop in front of the door, Xia De threw a pebble into the water curtain within the archway. The pebble bounced back as if it had hit a hard wall, bounced a few times on the invisible path beneath their feet, and then fell into the lake.
“Do we need to solve a puzzle to get through this?”
The Professor, familiar with legends, asked.
“It’s not that troublesome.”
Xia De stepped forward with his sword and swung it to split the water curtain. The blade passed directly through the transparent water curtain, piercing into another space, and as Xia De “picked” the water curtain aside like silk, the water gate completely opened to the two of them.
The Professor said no more, letting Xia De push him through the water gate and onto the surface of Lake Cherub, which was surrounded by forest.
There was still an invisible path on the lake surface, but after walking only a few dozen more steps forward, they arrived at Lake Heart Island.
Upon reaching the Island, Xia De once again saw the wild wolf that had been resurrected by the Swamp Witch. Creatures resurrected by relic power belong to the undead, and this wolf now showed signs of decay all over its body. Last time, it tried to attack Mia, who had run to the Island first, but was scared away by Xia De. This time, it only dared to peek at the two from a distance, and upon seeing Xia De, it immediately turned and ran away again.
“Is this it?”
The Professor’s hands gripped the wheelchair armrests tightly, his face flushed from excessive excitement.
“Can you remember anything?”
Xia De asked, but the Professor still had no memory of the place.
They soon arrived at the center of Lake Heart Island. Under the large stone in the center of the Island’s core lake, which looked like several slender megaliths fused and pieced together, the White-robed Lady with the staff still stood in her original place.
Professor Drake’s wheelchair, of course, could not cross the lake surface directly like Sister Devlin. So Xia De carried the Professor on his back, then lifted the wheelchair with both hands, took a few steps to gain momentum, and leaped towards the center of the Island’s core lake.
After stepping on the water, he carefully lowered the wheelchair. Only after confirming that the wheelchair did not sink did he place Professor Drake into it.
By this time, the Professor was too excited to speak, while Xia De respectfully greeted:
“Good afternoon, Lady.”
“Good afternoon.”
The White-robed Lady with the staff radiated a soft light. In the afternoon light, on the strange and sacred lake surface, she returned Xia De’s greeting.
“I am here to complete the second trial.”
Xia De glanced at the Professor:
“Now to answer the three questions of the second trial, I think I should have found the answers.”
“Kansas Drake, a retired folklorist professor living in the Old Town of Huntington City, Carson Rick, during the sixth epoch, why did he come to me?”
The White-robed Lady asked gently.
“Because he was pierced by Aiken Ola’s Arrow of Knowledge, became a talented person, and then, with the help of Harald Ondiba, became a Ring術士.”
The Professor looked up at Xia De, who shook his head:
“But the death of his guide, Harald Ondiba, made the Professor fear what he had always pursued. Yes, his whole life he pursued knowledge and wisdom. When he truly touched non-human Knowledge and power, he became afraid, afraid of the goal he had pursued his entire life, so he came here. This was not to distance himself from Harald Ondiba, but merely out of fear of the Knowledge and power of a Ring術士. Otherwise, I would not have been able to find that photograph.”
The Professor pursed his lips, then lowered his head, his face pale. The White-robed Lady with the staff continued to ask:
“What wish did he make here with me?”
“Professor Drake was completely terrified, so he asked you to erase the fact that he became a Ring術士. Although the Professor’s wish was essentially unrelated to Harald Ondiba, the fulfillment of the wish severed his connection with Harald Ondiba. Therefore, for so many years, neither the Church nor the Pantanal Voodoo Society has been able to find Aiken Ola’s Arrow of Knowledge hidden in the hands of an ordinary person.”
The White-robed Lady nodded slightly, and the Professor trembled all over.
“Then, what price did he pay?”
The Lake Goddess asked finally. Xia De’s expression was serious, and Professor Drake suddenly looked at Xia De, as if begging him not to reveal the answer. He tugged at Xia De’s sleeve, but ultimately did not plead.
Xia De looked down at the Professor:
“Professor, please answer this question yourself.”
The Professor took a deep breath, then exhaled with a tremble. He hung his head, burying his face in his hands. Xia De did not rush him, merely watching him.
This was indeed a very sad story. A person pursuing Knowledge, yet fearing the wisdom he pursued. Extraordinary knowledge and wisdom might truly be a curse, at least for Professor Drake.
After a long while, the Professor finally lowered his hands and looked up:
“The price was my legs.”
It seemed that every mortal who made a wish to the Lake Goddess had to pay with a limb, but Xia De did not.
“And my memory, which might be part of the wish, or perhaps the price. But the most important price was my talent.”
Xia De looked at the Professor, who looked down at the water surface beneath his wheelchair:
“Although I still don’t remember what happened then, I think I can understand myself from a decade ago. To pursue a result for a lifetime, but when the wish is truly fulfilled, to then fear what one has gained. I was probably truly afraid, wishing to erase my power, and then paying with my talent and wisdom as the price, completely, utterly making it impossible for me to ever walk that path again under any circumstances.
I opened the door, saw the scenery behind it, and then went mad because of it. In fear, I closed the door again and nailed it shut, but then a decade later, I asked someone else to tell me what was behind the door after all.”
Ripples appeared on the water surface beneath the wheelchair, as if water droplets had fallen into the lake.
“Is that correct?”
Xia De sighed deeply, then quietly asked the Lake Goddess. He opened the mahogany box, revealing the arrow inside:
“Harald Ondiba trusted Professor Drake deeply. After helping him awaken and become a Ring術士, he temporarily placed the arrow in his hands. This is the core of Professor Drake’s incident, serving as proof for the second trial.”
The White-robed Lady nodded slightly, revealing a gentle smile:
“Correct, you have completed my second trial.”
Xia De maintained a reserved expression, though he really wanted to laugh loudly. Although investigating Professor Drake’s matter involved no combat, the investigation itself was not easy at all:
“Your trials are very interesting, at least these stories are interesting. So, what is the third trial? I’m already impatient. Will the third trial be more complex than the second?”
“No, the third trial is very simple.”
The White-robed Lady with the staff replied softly:
“The third trial is, now, here, defeat me.”
Xia De immediately stopped wanting to laugh at all.
--- Side Note ---
PS: Tomorrow’s update plan: two chapters of 5k words each in the morning, and one chapter of 5k words in the afternoon.
