After the meeting with the Military Intelligence Bureau, Hu Po went straight to Gawain's study.
Gawain was sitting behind his desk, carefully flipping through an ancient book that had been repaired and strengthened. His eyes moved slowly across the mottled pages and the letters that had been redrawn by the repairman. The smell of alchemy potions that had yet to completely disperse slowly drifted into his nostrils. The contents of this ancient travel book made him fall into deep thought from time to time. Then, a voice suddenly came from the air and interrupted his movements.
"Hey! I just finished the meeting and I heard you looking for me! " Hu Po's figure appeared out of thin air, carrying with it a perpetually cheerful energy. "Another mission that requires processing money?"
Gwen looked up from the ancient book and glanced at Amber standing in front of him. A smile appeared on his face. He pointed to the chair next to the desk and said, "Sit down. I have something to show you."
Amber immediately noticed something unusual behind Gwen's smile and tone. The seemingly careless but actually quite perceptive "half-elf" immediately twitched her ears and frowned suspiciously. "What … what do you want to show me?"
Gwen stood up from behind the desk, took a long breath, and gently pushed the ancient book forward. "Here you go. Don't worry, it's been repaired. It won't be damaged so easily."
"A book?" When Hu Po saw that it was just a book, she was stunned for a moment. She subconsciously took it, but soon, her nonchalant expression gradually froze. She vaguely sensed something, and her eyes revealed a complicated and incredulous look. She slowly raised her head and looked at Gawain. "… Is it that book?"
"We have found concrete evidence." Gwen nodded gently. "An unknown shadowy thief had tried to steal it from a church. So this book was sent to the library of St. Louen's Cathedral for safekeeping. We compared all the information we could find and finally confirmed that it was what your foster father wanted to steal. "
"That's it … That's it …" The perpetual cheerfulness on Amber's face gradually faded. She grasped the mottled cover of the ancient book with some force, but soon she let go as if she was afraid of damaging it. She stared at the repaired letters on the cover, her fingers slowly stroking them. Her eyes changed a few times, but in the end, she neither cried nor laughed.
After a long time, she looked up at Gwen. "I saw you looking at it just now … What's so special about this book?"
"Strictly speaking, it's a combination of several books — several broken chapters that a lousy compiler forcibly put together. Of the several 'parts' that make up the book, the one that occupies the largest proportion, and the one that I think is most likely to attract your foster father's interest, is a travel book."
Amber's eyes widened. "A travel book?"
"Modiel's Travels." Gwen nodded. "The author was the Duke of the Northern Region six hundred years ago, Modiel Werde."
As the person in charge of intelligence, Amber was no stranger to the name and the related information behind it. She was shocked. "… You mean, the lost notebook of the Werde family?! The one that Victoria also mentioned to you? "
Gwen nodded and pointed at the ancient book in Amber's hand with his chin. "It's now in your hand."
"But … Why would my foster father …" Amber looked down at the 'travel book' in her hand with a puzzled look. "Is it worth taking such a big risk?"
"I've tried to find the reason just now, from the content of the travel book, but I haven't found it yet," Gwen said. "I only have a little left. Maybe we can look for it together. If your adoptive father decided to take the risk because he heard part of the contents of this travel book, and if his information is correct, then we will definitely see it. "
Amber immediately nodded. She came to Gwen and opened the book. After glancing at the content, she scratched her head awkwardly. "Err … It seems that you still have to look for it …"
She saw that the text of the travel book was made up of a large number of confusing words and phrases. It was the common language of the human race six hundred years ago, which was closer to the ancient Kingdom of Gondor's writing. Although the modern language of the human race had evolved from it, after hundreds of years of change, the spelling of the words and the grammar of the sentences were very different from the contemporary language.
Amber could only vaguely recognize some of the short sentences in it, and to fully understand it was probably as difficult as to understand an ancient Gondor book.
She suddenly understood why a 'lousy compiler' would put such a book together with several other unrelated books. Obviously, only a professional, experienced scholar and a cleric with a lot of knowledge could understand this thing. Of course, an old dumpling from the Gondor era could also do it.
Gwen naturally knew this, so he did not refuse. He moved the book a little closer to him and began to identify the words and phrases in it with Amber.
This ancient travel book contained a wealth of content that left one speechless. Its author, the Duke of the Northern Region six hundred years ago, was obviously very different from the nobles of the present age. Modiel Werde lived in an era closer to the first generation of pioneers. He was even deeply influenced by the first generation of Duke Werde, which caused him to be far more adventurous and innovative than his descendants in the future … when it came to courting death.
His footsteps were everywhere that human beings could explore at that time (even including the territories that no human had set foot in except for him). Especially after the transfer of power and responsibility of the Duke was completed, his adventures were even more astonishing. From the border of the Gondor wasteland to the Violet Kingdom, which was still very mysterious to humans at that time, from the frozen mountains of the Dukedom of Holy Dragon to the depths of the desert east of Typhon, and even some alien spaces occupied by elemental creatures and space fragments drifting from unknown corners of the universe. He set foot in all of them.
Every time he explored a new place, he would hand over the already organized notes to a loyal servant in advance (the servant would wait for the master's return in a safe place) and write down new records in the subsequent exploration journey. After returning safely, he would organize and summarize these new notes, integrate them with the previous notes, and take them to the next adventure.
This kind of behavior was rather incomprehensible to Hu Po, who was born a few hundred years later. After continuously reading through the records of several thrilling adventures, she could not help but frown and ask, "A great noble like him … Why is he so keen on adventures? Many of the 'adventures' are obviously beyond the level of leisure. It's no different from seeking death … "
"… He was from the generation close to the pioneers. At that time, the descendants of the pioneers were still deeply influenced by their fathers and ancestors." Gwen shook his head. "Many people believed that one day human beings would return to the heyday of the Gondor era, and for the arrival of that day, they had to tread every inch of land on this continent, looking for a safe frontier for human civilization at that time. I have not seen Modir's generation, but I can imagine what their descendants looked like based on my generation. I can be sure that Modir Werde was not the only adventurer at that time. It's just that only a great noble and a Transcendent like him had the ability to pass down his notes to this day. "
Amber blinked as if she understood but did not ask any more questions. She turned her gaze back to the second half of Modir's notes. Next to her, Gwen's gaze suddenly slowed down when he glanced at some of the words on the old pages.
Amber immediately noticed this. "What did you see?"
"… I suspect that I've found something that has piqued your foster father's interest …" Gawain said as he quickly flipped through the last few pages. After roughly skimming through the content, his expression changed a few times, and he slowly frowned.
"Then read it to me." Amber saw that Gwen did not continue. She was a little anxious. "Hey, I know that this content is most likely related to my life. I'm already mentally prepared. Tell me …"
"In his later years, Modir Werde had explored the Shadow Realm and successfully established communication with the inhabitants of the Shadow Realm …" After a moment of thought, Gwen nodded and pointed to the words in the travel notes.
The following was the handwritten record left by Modir Werde:
"X month X day … After several unsuccessful attempts, I finally found a weak point in the real world, a natural Shadow Fissure. This fissure can be expanded and stabilized through rituals, so that a human can fully step into it and stay there for a long time, unlike other Shadow professions who have to travel through the boundary of the Shadow Realm for a short time. I'm not sure if the ancient Gondor mages also used this method to open the Shadow Door, but this is the best way I can find …
"X month X day, with all the preparations, the fissure opened. It was as stable as I thought, but the scale was slightly smaller than expected, but it was still enough. I decided to go through the door tonight when the Shadow Power is at its strongest. Wish me good luck … "
"… The world on the other side of the door was even more barren and strange than I imagined … It was colorless, lifeless, and black, and everything in this world was made up of black, white, and gray … Things in the real world were projected in a grotesque state in this space. The small town I temporarily lived in here was a large pile of twisted building debris, and the mountain in the distance seemed to have become a wriggling black fog …"
"This world is obviously not suitable for ordinary people to live in, and I don't see any value in mining resources, but I still decided to go deeper. The good news is that other than the imbalance of the elements, the magic here is still the same as the outside world. I can use more than eighty percent of my strength here … "
"X month X day … I met those creatures! They looked very similar to humans, wearing strange clothes that looked like runic cloth, like smoke that was restrained into a human shape … They floated by from far away, and I don't think I startled them. I can be sure that they are the legendary Shadow Dwellers, the intelligent people who live in the Shadow World. It is said that only a few masters who specialize in the Shadow Path have seen these mysterious creatures by chance, but even those masters have not successfully established a record of communication with the Shadow Dwellers … "
"I, Modiel Werde, the most powerful human spellcaster in this country — although I am not a Shadow Mage — want to challenge them. I want to try to establish communication with these mysterious creatures. Maybe they can tell me what kind of secrets this strange and bizarre world has …"
"X month X day, I have never fought them."
"X month X day, I have never fought them."
"On the X day of the X month, the preparations were complete. I even returned to the real world to perform some special rituals. I believe that I have accumulated enough experience, including how to deal with their invisible bodies and their increasing numbers. I no longer have any weaknesses.
"X month X day, I have never fought them."
"Modiel, oh Modiel! Look at your humiliating record! You are the most powerful human spellcaster in this country! How can you be chased by a group of strange enemies who can only whisper and run away? "
"X month X day, I have never fought them."
"I think I should outsmart them."
"I am not young anymore. I have to rely on strategy like an old mage of my age … If the method is right, the Shadow Dwellers may be reasonable."
"I want to keep the experience of my previous failures intact. Maybe it can give some warnings to future adventurers. Of course, this may damage my image, but as an adventurer, it is my duty to try the path. No matter how embarrassing the experience is, it is also valuable experience. I can't hide my failure. "
"On the bright side, I am old, so I don't have to rush to publish these records. I can leave behind my last words and let my descendants publish them. This way, I won't have to listen to those ridicule … Maybe even some people will be impressed by my sense of humor …"
Gwen had just roughly looked through it, so he could still keep a straight face. Amber, who was next to him, could not help but twitch the corner of her mouth. After a while, she could not help but say, "This guy has a big brain …"
Gwen: "He is one of the ancestors of Victoria …"
Amber: "Great wisdom may appear to be stupidity …"
"It's just that his personality is a little special," Gwen said with a solemn and indifferent expression. He pointed at the following words and said, "Let's continue. He began to try to approach the Shadow Dwellers in a special way."
Amber quickly shut her mouth and moved her head closer. Although she did not understand much, she still followed Gwen's finger and read on.
"… The Shadow Dwellers seem to be extremely resistant to uninvited guests. They see me as an intruder in the real world, so they refuse to communicate with me again and again. But what if I make myself look like a creature living in the Shadow World?
"This idea is bold and feasible. I know some special rituals and magic potions. A large dose of Shadow Potion may not be good for the stomach, but maybe it can make the Shadow Dwellers friendlier to me, and a little stomach discomfort is not so important …
"X month X day … I completed the ritual according to the above idea, transformed myself into a form similar to a Shadow Dweller, and took a sufficient amount of Shadow Potion. I found an old friend who knows Shadow Spells. He said that I now 'look like a shadow'. So, it should be foolproof.
"I decided to try to contact the Shadow Dwellers tonight. At that time, my Shadow Power will reach its peak, and my disguise will be flawless.
"X month X day, I didn't fight them.
"After coming back, I experienced severe diarrhea.
"… (Ancient Gondor) (Ansu) (Northern Territory) (Vulgar language) (Vulgar language)"
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