Laplace turned to Angor and said, "You should know now. Since Ancient Tooth Fairy dared to put Art of Darkness up for auction, they must know the hidden words in the blank space. They're probably the author's notes and thoughts."
"This kind of hidden text is definitely valuable, but the foundation of its value lies in the 'Art of Darkness'."
In other words, Ancient Tooth Fairy believed that Art of Darkness was more valuable than the hidden words.
It wasn't hard to understand. Knowledge itself was more important than "reading notes".
In fact, Laplace also agreed with this point.
Therefore, the Ancient Tooth Fairy still chose to auction the "Art of Darkness" before unlocking the hidden text.
Laplace suddenly paused. Under Angor's puzzled gaze, Laplace's voice came from the other side of the Spirit Bond. "Do you really think Ancient Tooth Fairy doesn't know how to solve the hidden words in Art of Darkness?"
Angor hesitated. "I … don't think so."
Laplace chuckled but didn't say anything.
Angor frowned. "You mean Ancient Tooth Fairy already solved the hidden words? Did they sell it because they knew the hidden words had no value? "
Laplace shook his head. "No. Ancient Tooth Fairy probably didn't solve the hidden words. But I think they already know how to do it. They just can't do it. That's all. "
Angor finally understood what Laplace meant. Ancient Tooth Fairy knew how to solve the hidden words, but they lacked the necessary conditions to do so.
Laplace said, "I said that because the Art of Darkness … is more like a handbook than a book."
Laplace pointed at the cover of the book. "Take a closer look at the two lines of words on the cover."
Angor looked at the cover as well.
The first line was "Black", while the second line was "Art". No matter which line it was, the characters were all beautiful and elegant, especially when looking at the swirling strokes at the corners of the words, as well as the jumping vertical and vertical strokes of the runes, they all showed how "unique" and "beautiful" the words were.
It would be very difficult to produce such a charming font just by relying on rigid printing.
In other words, the two lines of words were … handwritten by the author.
Handwriting, leaving blank space, hiding the words, binding and making a booklet. Wasn't this the norm for a wizard's handwritten letter?
It was no wonder that Laplace would say that this book was not like a regular publication, but more like a privately bound handbook.
However, regardless of whether it was a formal book or a personal handbook, what did it have to do with the solution of the hidden language? Angor was still confused.
Laplace did not continue to beat around the bush and directly explained, "The audience is different."
"Officially published books and personal letters written by Odoros are aimed at different audiences."
The former was aimed at the public. The latter, on the other hand, was targeted at a very small group of individuals.
At this point, Laplace suddenly asked, "Who do you think will end up in the hands of a wizard's handwritten notes if nothing unexpected happens?"
"Most likely, they'll fall into the hands of their relatives, peers, or students."
Laplace nodded. "That's right. Similarly, 'The Art of Darkness' is Odoros' personal handbook. According to the normal process, the target audience of the handbook he recorded must be someone close to him. "
"And the people close to him are most likely his students or peers from the Death Faction."
"Since we've determined the target of the Art of Darkness, what kind of hidden language do you think the book will contain?"
Of course, Angor knew what Laplace was trying to tell him.
"Something like an inherited language, or a common language used by the Death Faction."
An inherited language could be understood as a secret code between teachers and students. Only the inheritors of such a language could activate and read it.
A common language referred to a common code shared by an organization or a group of people.
Once someone from such a group came into contact with a common language they were familiar with, they would use a method that everyone in the group knew to decipher the hidden language.
Regardless of which type of hidden language the book contained, one thing was for sure — Ancient Tooth Fairy could not decipher it.
An inherited language could only be deciphered by someone from the same lineage as Odoros. Ancient Tooth Fairy did not receive Odoros' knowledge, so it could not decipher the hidden language.
If it was a common language, only someone from the Death Faction could decipher it. The Death Faction had been in decline for countless years, which meant it was impossible to decipher it either.
That was why Laplace said something like this.
Ancient Tooth Fairy knew how to decipher the hidden language in the Art of Darkness, but they could not do it. Because they did not meet the requirements to decipher the hidden language.
After listening to Laplace's explanation, Angor fell into deep thought.
"What's on your mind?" Laplace noticed that Angor remained silent for a while.
Angor shook his head. "Nothing. I'm just thinking. What's the common language of the Death Faction?"
"So you're going to decipher the hidden language of the Art of Darkness?"
Angor shook his head again. "Not yet. I'm just thinking about it. At least, I don't know anything about it from the information I gathered."
Angor obtained many books about the Death Faction from Nether City in the Nightmare Realm. However, none of them mentioned anything about the common language of the Death Faction.
But Angor was sure that the Death Faction had a common language.
For example, Brute Cavern also had its own secret code. Every organization had their own way of keeping secrets.
Generally speaking, there were two ways to decipher a common language.
The first was to use a unique codebook to decipher it.
Such codebooks were only available to the members of an organization. Also, they would usually change their codebooks every few days to prevent other organizations from deciphering the common language.
The second was to use supernatural materials or abilities that only belonged to the organization.
For example, the Magic Flute Monastery, a large wizard organization in the southern wizardry region. The secret language of the organization could only be deciphered with a supernatural material called "Holy Flute Water".
"Holy Flute Water" was an exclusive material of the Magic Flute Monastery, which could not be found anywhere else.
And because of the specialization of the "Magic Flute Holy Water", it became the Magic Flute Monastery's secret solution.
As for the research department of Floating Mech City, they used "Door Opening" to decipher the common language.
All members of the Research and Development Institute would learn a cantrip exclusive to the Research and Development Institute. It was called Door Opening.
It was usually used in the "City of Floating Mech". Anyone who wanted to enter or leave the city would need to use the cantrip.
However, if a member of the department used a secret language to decipher the secret, he or she could also use "Door Opening" to decipher the secret language.
Of the two examples mentioned above, one was to use transcendent materials, and the other was to use transcendent spells to solve the Universal Hidden Text.
But there was more to it.
Some common languages could only be deciphered by a supernatural aura.
For example, Sunders didn't say that Phantom Island was a "common language". However, in the notes he left for Angor, there were many hidden contents that required nightmare aura to read.
In a way, Sunders' method was also a "common language".
Now that he knew how to decipher the common language, he decided to check the secret language in Art of Darkness.
The secret language couldn't be deciphered using a codebook. Codebooks were usually used by low-level organizations, which had obvious drawbacks.
Therefore, the only way to decipher the secret language was to use a supernatural ability unique to the Death Faction.
Would the Death Faction choose exclusive Transcendent materials or unique Transcendent abilities to solve the Enigma?
Angor had no idea.
But both were possible.
If the answer was a supernatural material exclusive to the Death Faction, Angor guessed that it would be one of the four elements.
Only the Death Faction could create the four elements.
Therefore, it was highly possible to use the four elements as the key to decipher the secret language.
So, if the Death Faction chose to use supernatural abilities as the solution to the Universal Hidden Text, what kind of exclusive abilities would they use?
There was only one answer Angor could think of — Blacken!
Blacken was also a special spell used by the Death Faction. It could return substances to the four elements. No one who wasn't a member of the Death Faction could learn Blacken.
If the hidden text in the "Art of Darkness" was really activated by the Four Original Elements or the Blackening Spell.
Angor believed that he could give it a try.
After all, he already knew how to learn Blacken.
Of course, this was only possible if the secret language in Art of Darkness was a "common language" instead of an inherited one.
…
Laplace noticed the change in Angor's expression.
She didn't ask what Angor was thinking, but she could guess that Angor had found a way to decipher the common language of the Death Faction.
Laplace thought for a moment and said softly, "If you really have the ability, I think the Crystal Eye Race will allow you to read and use the 'Art of Darkness' even if you don't have the right to obtain the level-4 treasure."
As long as Angor could decipher the secret language, Jota wouldn't hesitate to lend Art of Darkness to Angor.
Angor considered and shook his head. "I don't have that ability yet."
He wasn't lying either.
Even if the secret language in Art of Darkness was Blacken or the four elements …
Angor had to learn Blacken first.
But he only knew how to learn Blacken. He hadn't mastered it yet.
"For now", he didn't have the ability to decipher the secret language in Art of Darkness.
But he wasn't going to give up on Art of Darkness. Since he knew there was a Death Faction alchemy book here, he would find a way to trade for it from the Crystaleye Clan.
Even if it wasn't for the secret language, he would still trade for Art of Darkness for the "historical facts" of the Death Faction.
And he was confident that he could achieve this goal.
After all, as the creator of the Dream Crystal, he had a lot of leverage.
Now that the Woe Puppet could show up at any time, the Dream Crystal was even more important. Angor could control more space.
Even if he didn't rely on the "outside threat", he was confident that he could get Art of Darkness just by relying on the souls sleeping inside the Saint Corpse Crystal.
There was no rush.
…
Laplace nodded. "You're right. There's no need to rush."
"You don't have to do it yourself. Just leave it to Glepnir."
"She'll do it. She'll … use what she has," Laplace said. "Consider it a gift in return for the Book of Stars."
Angor didn't reject Laplace's offer.
Compared to Angor, Glepnir was more suitable to handle such "diplomatic" affairs.
Besides, Angor believed that with Glepnir's methods and their current leverage, they wouldn't even need to pay anything. They only needed to drag the Crystaleye Clan for a while to get what they wanted.
So there was no rush. They just needed to wait.
Their private conversation came to an end for the time being.
Angor looked at Jota. "Now that we have a general understanding of Art of Darkness, we can show you the Book of Stars."
This time, Angor said "show" instead of "show".
Jota nodded. "So you're going to give the Book of Stars as the reward for the level-4 treasure?"
Angor nodded without hesitation. "Yes."
Without wasting any more time, Jota sent the book back to the servant. Next, the velvet in the spirit display cabinet began to flash again.
The familiar light circle appeared again.
This time, it swiftly arrived in front of a calm colossus.
Under Jota's "urging", the colossus slowly moved. It reached out a hand covered in white porcelain and blue crystal tubes and reached toward the sky.
The colossus moved like a child admiring the stars in the night sky. It couldn't help but reach out its hand to grab one of the stars.
Of course, a child couldn't catch a star.
But the colossus … did it.
When it reached out its hand, a cluster of floating light spots appeared around the "small sun" in the sky like a river of stars.
The colossus stretched its hand forward, and a shining "star" in the galaxy seemed to be pulled by some kind of gravitational force. It was like a shooting star that streaked across the sky, dragging a long tail behind it as it fell from the sky and landed in the colossus's palm.
The colossus didn't move. Stars were still shining on its hand.
At this moment, it really looked like a giant who could reach out and grab a star.
Without a doubt, this glowing "star" was the treasure the colossus was guarding.
The light circle, which had been waiting for a long time, quickly jumped onto the colossus' hand and formed a hexagram array to replace the glowing star.
Meanwhile, the real "star" had already reached the spirit display cabinet under the illumination of the hexagram array.
(End of Chapter)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
