Chapter 62: The Value of Literacy

Page (1/3)

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

Doctor Schneider asked again.

"Did I? Probably..."

He observed the expressions of the two:

"I suppose so. I fell fast asleep right after finishing it."

Aiden said with some hesitation. In truth, he had stayed up late playing with Mia for a while, and by the time he read the book, it was so late that he simply couldn't hold on any longer and drifted off. A headache was indeed present, but it was most likely caused by sleeping too late and being woken up too early in the morning by a starving cat.

"That's quite normal. Books containing mad knowledge always affect the reader. Even though a ring-swarlock possesses another self to block the direct power of the knowledge, the swarlock himself is still impacted. Aiden, you really don't need to rush; acquiring a spiritual rune is a process."

The doctor kindly consoled him. Aiden kept his mouth shut and nodded, while asking inwardly in his mind:

*(Is my mind strong, or are you the one helping me block those influences?)*

*(You are me, and I am you. There is no difference.)*

During the study session, Aiden could only understand about half of the difficulties encountered in a ring-swarlock's studies as brought up by Doctor Schneider and Miss Louisa.

Doctor Schneider had recently taken an elective course called "Ether Mechanics." The course itself was only open to swarlocks above the fifth ring and did not impart power, focusing purely on theory. The standard name of the course should be "Mechanics of Spirits," which studied the mutual influence and interaction between idealistic spirits and matter.

However, Professor Rutherford, who taught the course, liked the past era's alternate name for spirits—namely, "ether"—which was why the course was named Ether Mechanics.

This course was extremely difficult to comprehend and belonged to the most cutting-edge content in ring-swarlock theoretical studies. Of course, the doctor was not aspiring to engage in theoretical research, nor was he interested in the course itself; he simply wanted to use it to become acquainted with Professor Rutherford.

This professor from the School of History was quite formidable, possessing remarkably deep attainments in the arcane arts of time and space. Aiden would also interact with him in the upper grades.

Doctor Schneider was almost completely unable to comprehend the contents of the course. While doubting his own intelligence, he hoped to discuss topics such as "the completely different theory of spirits," "Hilbert ether space," and "representation changes" with Miss Louisa, who was one year his junior, in order to find new lines of thought.

Aiden believed that the blank expression Miss Louisa wore at the time must have looked very much like himself when he first ventured into the realm of occult theory.

Compared to the doctor, who had unwisely chosen to audit "Ether Mechanics" and thus fallen into deep distress, Miss Louisa's problems were much simpler.

She was preparing for the July examination season and intended to finish her fourth-year non-practical courses. Therefore, she had recently temporarily set aside her primary profession—novel writing—and dedicated herself entirely to memorizing and understanding theoretical knowledge.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

The blonde writer's biggest current headache was ancient languages. Aiden's courses of this type were merely introductory, whereas Miss Louisa was already going to apply them in practice.

She had learned that the general examination content would be chosen from the book *The Chasing Four Elements: Wind and Fire*. This book was written in the southern tribal language of the Fourth Season—Savic—and the book itself was one of the occult books inscribed with the elemental elements of [Wind] and [Fire].

Miss Louisa hoped the doctor could help her do a preliminary translation of this thick, hundred-odd-page book, but upon hearing the title, the doctor immediately shook his head:

"The dozen or so ancient languages I studied all passed the exams with barely passing grades. Louisa, it's not that I'm unwilling to help you, but that I cannot help you."

He was clearly reminded of the scene from many years ago when he was preparing for his ancient language exams, his entire being eager to escape the book in Miss Louisa's hand.

Aiden, sitting to the side, took advantage of the two arguing over how to pass the exam to lean forward and peer at the old, blue-ink handwritten book opened to page 29.

He immediately understood the contents of both pages, totaling fewer than 200 runes. It roughly described a story of a personified wind element traveling through the Abyss of Madness.

Feeling a slight throbbing in his temples, Aiden looked away. Sure enough, he had once again understood a language he knew nothing about, yet the power inherent in the language itself was harming him.

"I think I can help you translate it."

Aiden said softly.

The so-called "golden finger," or special ability, of the otherworldly traveler in this world—aside from the woman in his head with the lovely laugh—was simply the ability to understand all languages. This ability was quite dangerous, because the more ancient and mysterious a language was, the more perilous it became. The recent runaway incident of the poet-grade relic [Box of Darkness] was a fine example. Who knew when Aiden might translate something he shouldn't and end up with his head exploding from it.

However, for a ring-swarlock's studies, this ability was remarkably useful. He had considered hiding this from everyone, but it was clear that exposing a part of this secret would yield greater benefits.

"Aiden, you can read it?"

Doctor Schneider asked hesitatingly. He had been leaning back against the sofa to avoid the paper and pen Miss Louisa was handing over, but now he sat up straight and casually pointed at a rune on the page:

"What does this mean?"

"Abyss."

Aiden said, then looked at the doctor, who in turn looked at the writer:

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

"Probably... right?"

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

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

"Still, how on earth do you understand this?"

"I'm not sure either. Just now, the [Time and Space] spiritual rune suddenly flashed on my fate ring... and then 'the other me' prompted me that I had comprehended this language."

The doctor and the writer simultaneously wore expressions of sudden realization:

"At the moment you came into contact with the ancient language, the power of [Time and Space] guided you to acquire knowledge of the past. So that was it."

They formulated an explanation on Aiden's behalf.

This wasn't entirely nonsense, because spiritual runes truly did sometimes activate on their own without any physical touch.

"Then, Mr. Hamilton, would you be willing to help me translate this book?"

Miss Louisa handed the paper and pen to Aiden once more:

"Two weeks, before mid-July. A simple translation will do; it doesn't need to be extremely precise. On one hand, it's for the sake of your mental health—I certainly don't want a fellow ring-swarlock in our group to lose control just because of my exams; on the other hand, if I get an exceptionally high score, I won't be able to answer the professor's questions at all."

Her reasoning was meticulous.

"I think two weeks should be no problem."

Aiden nodded. The blonde writer finally wore a look of relief:

"I won't let you do this for nothing. I can offer you a rare spell, [Leap of the Frog]. This will grant you enhanced leaping ability for a short period. Aside from requiring disgusting frog legs as spellcasting materials, it has practically no flaws. This is a quite rare spell. When I contributed it to the school library back then, I obtained two practical credits all at once."

Of course, Aiden did not refuse.

Page (3/3)