The manuscript was not a record of ancient magic, nor was it a lost treasure. In fact, it was a rough and highly compressed log that Vivian had written down on and off since thousands of years ago. The main content was her every sleep and awakening, as well as some of the things she had seen and experienced during her activities in the world. Since some of the contents of the manuscript were filled in by memories, the record could actually be traced back to more than 10,000 years ago — or even further back. At the beginning of the manuscript, there were scenes of the end of the Quaternary Ice Age. 10,000 years was just a conservative estimate.
But Vivian herself had completely forgotten about it. If she had not been lucky enough to reunite with Pavel, perhaps these precious, irreproducible information would have been lost forever. Thinking of this, even Hao Ren broke out in a cold sweat. This girl's memory was really unsettling.
Sleeping and awakening again and again, using these key events as nodes, the manuscript recorded the experiences of an immortal over the past 10,000 years along a vague timeline. The primitive landscape of the Earth could be seen in the ancient text. The ancient gods and demons that had been turned into ashes with the end of the Mythological Era also frequently appeared between the lines.
Along with Vivian's voice, Hao Ren's thoughts slowly drifted back to the ignorant era of mankind — to the Earth, it was something that happened not long ago, but to mankind, it was already an unverifiable ancient time. At that time, mankind was still a savage creature living in caves. The earth was ruled by ancient beasts and the mighty nature. The ancient otherworldlings with god-like powers ruled the world. Most of them did not even think of establishing a theocracy in human society — but their activities had deeply influenced the primitive people of that time, so the primitive people of that time developed the most primitive and ignorant belief in the primitive gods. They lumped all kinds of natural phenomena together with the otherworldlings who could summon the wind and summon the rain, and classified them as primitive gods. At that time, Vivian wandered aimlessly in the world, and on certain occasions and at certain times, she was even one of those primitive gods.
But each time she walked the world, she would not stay for too long. The inexplicable drowsiness was always bothering her.
The record on the manuscript continued, and now there was the germination of human civilization. For Vivian, this was an interesting phenomenon.
"… I woke up in an underground crack. The stone chamber I slept in was intact, but it had sunk deep into the ground. It seemed that there was an earthquake during my sleep. Fortunately, I did not fall into the underground magma. It was spring on the surface, and it became strange again. The place that should have been a big lake was now a grassland, and the soil nearby had become very fertile. They found herding people. They no longer wore animal skins, and their village had changed a lot — some houses, built with stone and wood, they seemed to be developing quickly. My clothes were already very tattered, and it was becoming more and more unnecessary to maintain them with magic. Maybe I could get something from the humans …
"By the way, I found a lithograph near the place where I hibernated. It still recorded my bad mood before I went to sleep. This is really strange. I don't have any impression of it. It was strange that I had no impression of it, but I decided to copy these notes as they were in the past. It might be useful in the future.
"Moving along a river, I found more fertile land and a larger human settlement. It was surprising that they could reproduce on such a large scale in the wilderness. There must be something that helped them fend off the threats around them. Humans can deal with beasts in groups, but they can't deal with my kind … Going up the river, I found the humans' protectors. They were my old friends, Amon and Osiris. They were protecting a human kingdom, which was very strange, but also very happy. Their attitude towards humans was better than my other kind … I remembered that I had met Zeus and … Hmm, should it be Hela? Or Hera? The couple seemed to have similar thoughts, but I don't know where they live now. Maybe I should go find them. My physical strength was recovering well, and it was a good time to embark on a journey.
"… Couldn't find Zeus and his wife, because I got lost in a strange place illuminated by the red moonlight. Feeling irritated, there were villains everywhere who were hostile to me. No matter how many I killed, it would only make my anger grow stronger … Maybe there was some kind of illusion here. In any case, sleepiness came, and I had to continue my hibernation. "
Hao Ren frowned, as if he had found something suspicious between the lines. Vivian just continued to translate.
"… Woke up in the water. Maybe it had been soaked for a long time. It seemed that something had changed during the hibernation, and an underground river had flowed in. The world was always changing, and no matter where you slept, it was not a hundred percent safe. Even if you could hide yourself from people and animals by burying yourself underground, it was difficult to deal with geological changes. I found the notebook that I had left behind before I went into hibernation. In it, I wrote about fighting with others and feeling irritable. But just like before, I had no impression of the strange emotions I had during that period of time. I could only believe that they had really happened. I now had a new way of taking notes, and I could copy the things on the slate and rags onto the soft yarn that Horus gave me.
"I still remember the previous plan to set off to find Zeus and Hera. I remember that they had settled on a high mountain, and according to the position of the stars, I should still be able to find them. I hope the stars did not change too much.
"… Found Zeus and his wife, and I were very happy with them. The humans under their protection were also very prosperous, and they even built huge stone cities and wonders. Although the buildings did not have magic power, they were almost as big as the temples … It seemed that Poseidon was a little dissatisfied with this. He did not like to see that humans had the ability to build wonders like the gods.
"… In my spare time, I sorted out some of the previous records. I was very confused about my hibernation and awakening. Others, including the werewolves and the revenants, did not experience hibernation as many times as I did. I found some patterns … "
"Some patterns …" Vivian put down the manuscript, her face slightly pale. "Mr. Landlord, why do I feel strange?"
Hao Ren had long felt that there was something strange between the lines of the manuscript, but those things were vague and difficult to grasp. He rubbed his chin and looked at Vivian. "You don't remember anything about this manuscript?"
"Not at all," Vivian frowned. "But according to the fragmented information revealed in the manuscript, although I had forgotten some of the things recorded in it during my previous hibernation, there would always be a little bit of memory left. So, later on, I was able to supplement the fragmented memory with this manuscript. But in the last hibernation … I simply forgot all of this, including the manuscript itself. "
"The last hibernation … was after the battle with the vengeful spirit three hundred years ago, right?" Hao Ren looked at Vivian. "That was the most 'serious'. Your memory loss happened to be the most important part: you forgot that you have been recording this' diary 'for the past ten thousand years."
Vivian looked at the manuscript. The simple drawings on it recorded some of her experiences on Earth, but more of them were all kinds of strange 'creatures' that looked like monsters. Every time Vivian went into hibernation, she would go through a big battle. She would destroy the monsters in frustration and anger, and then she would fall into a deep sleep because of the 'drowsiness'. Before that, she would draw the image of her enemies, as if to help her identify them when she woke up. The next time she encountered these monsters, she would be the first to be alert.
Looking at the strange drawings, Vivian said softly, "According to my conclusion, there are two types of hibernation. One is when I have nothing to do, or when I'm starving to death, I choose to sleep to pass the hard days. This kind of hibernation is controllable, and it seems that there are no sequelae. After waking up, I will only lose a small part of my memory, or not at all, and there will be no signs of physical exhaustion. The manuscript, on the other hand, records the second case: drowsiness overcame them, and they had to sleep. "
Hao Ren looked into Vivian's eyes. "After this kind of uncontrollable drowsiness, you will lose a lot of your memories, and your body will be abnormally weak when you wake up?"
"To be honest, I'm not sure." Vivian waved her hand, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "The most difficult thing for a person with amnesia is to confirm what they have forgotten. But I really can't remember many of the details mentioned in this manuscript, and I did feel abnormally weak after waking up several times … "
"Including the most recent." Hao Ren tapped the table with his knuckles. "Your most recent hibernation was after destroying the vengeful spirit. That was also an uncontrollable hibernation caused by drowsiness. So you're in a weakened state now?"
Vivian looked at herself and said, "But I feel pretty energetic."
"Don't mess around. People always feel like they have a huge advantage before they die."
"… Mr. Landlord, you really don't know how to speak."
Hao Ren coughed twice and said, "Ahem, that's pretty much what I mean. Anyway, I don't know if you've noticed one detail: In the record of this manuscript, every time before you 'drowsiness overcame', you would experience the same thing! "
Vivian's eyes narrowed. "I've noticed it. Manic, angry, inexplicable disputes with others, and … a fierce battle with an unknown person. I've never seen the enemy mentioned in the manuscript, and these drawings are very unfamiliar. "
"But the manuscript is indeed written by you." Hao Ren stared into Vivian's eyes. "Are you sure you can't remember the content of this part? Even your last hibernation was 300 years ago. Can't you remember whether there was such a phenomenon at that time? "
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