Azure Scepter

Page 40

"The contaminated grain is mainly concentrated in the Earl of Harlan's territory, so the best way is to cut off the source of the problem directly, so that the contaminated grain cannot be transported out at all. This way, Edith will not have to face a moral dilemma."

"Therefore, the simplest plan is to expose Losevie's conspiracy within a month, cut off the transport of contaminated food to other places, and then just wait quietly for the Kingdom of Orko to complete its mobilization, and then take down Losevie in one fell swoop."

Next to “avoid putting her in a moral dilemma”, Trier wrote the planned deadline: “April 25th”.

Suddenly, Noe's voice interrupted Trier's thoughts: "You're writing those strange characters again!"

"Again?" Trier paused for a moment, then looked up in disbelief.

For security reasons, all the texts he used to organize his thoughts were written in Chinese!

In an instant, a hidden unease gripped his heart like sharp claws formed from frozen ice. His previously peaceful thoughts were instantly detonated as if by a high-yield bomb, and he felt as if his brain was boiling.

My heartbeat quickens rapidly.

dong dong!dong dong!

"Creak!" The chair made a jarring sound, and the transmigrator stood up abruptly.

“Every time you had a headache in the past, you would write down these characters. I once asked you what those characters meant, but you never told me.” Noi looked up at Trier, her scarlet eyes filled with anticipation. “Master, come and read my memories. Although you don’t remember them, I still remember them all.”

Trier quickly went to Noi's side and placed his hand in her silver hair. Noi obediently closed her eyes and leaned gently against Trier.

The next moment, countless fragments of memories came rushing in.

2. Currently, 13 chapters are missing...

Noi's memories came flooding back.

At this moment, in Trier's vision, a labyrinth of mirrors seemed to appear before him, golden memories like rays of light refracting in the cracked mirrors, reflecting thousands upon thousands of intricate scenes:

Under the bright sunshine, young Noe, carrying her elaborate black skirt, carefully waded through the trickling stream, the water droplets shimmering dazzlingly in the golden sunlight.

In the dim candlelight, a young Noy lay on a musty wooden table, intently reading the scriptures of the Radiant Church. Molten wax dripped onto the table with a crackling sound, then slowly cooled and solidified.

Noy's will, like the moon's glow, refracted across all the mirrors of memory, leaving Trier momentarily dazzled.

"It's too chaotic. Let's do some initial sorting first," Trier thought to himself.

With a slight thought, the chaotic mirror of memories folded and shifted rapidly according to time under his will. In an instant, the complex memories were neatly arranged into a rectangular matrix, just like the screen in the monitoring room.

"We'll just have to look at them one by one from now on."

Trier's gaze swept rapidly over the golden memory cubes, and at that moment, a golden memory suddenly struck him like an arrow released from a bow.

“I’m trying to recall the first time I saw those square characters,” Noy said softly. “Is this what it feels like to have your memories read? It feels so peculiar, like soft, hairy tentacles brushing against the crevices of your brain…”

Trier remained silent, carefully observing the fragments of memory that suddenly appeared.

In the hazy golden light, a black silhouette-style castle tower can be vaguely seen.

“It’s an early memory, probably from around age 10,” he thought. “I can use immersive observation methods.”

With that thought in mind, he reached out and grabbed at that memory.

The moment his fingers touched the memory, a blinding white light suddenly erupted, and he instinctively closed his eyes.

The fragrance of irises is intoxicating, but it is mixed with a slightly cold, rusty smell.

The blinding effect of the bright light gradually faded, and Trier blinked, finally seeing everything clearly.

This was a rather luxurious bedroom, and he, as an outsider to the memories, stood like a ghost without substance on a soft and warm crimson carpet.

He looked up at the enormous floor-to-ceiling window in front of him, which was a full 3.6 meters high.

The white marble window frame is carved with bas-reliefs of angels. The angels' armor is carved in great detail, with the textures almost clearly visible. The muscles of the angels wielding their swords are highlighted with a highly linear style, with each muscle line seemingly contracting.

“It’s a relief in the style of the Kingdom of Orco. This should still be the Southern Duchy, but I need more details to pinpoint the exact location,” Trier thought.

He walked slowly to the window, which exuded a chill.

Through the frosty glass, one can see a golden sea of ​​irises, their blossoms swaying in the cold wind like surging golden waves.

Beyond the golden sea of ​​irises lies a maze of thorny bushes, and further on, a towering, cold stone wall. As Trier gazes into the distance, he can vaguely see a pure white sanctuary spire piercing the clouds at the edge of his vision.

“Wilt Cathedral, the largest Radiant Church church in the world.” Trier narrowed his eyes slightly. “So this is the capital of the Southern Duchy, Wilt—and where I am now should be the Arm Castle on the cliff on the south side of Wilt.”

"Trier!" Suddenly, a slightly childish female voice came from the left, with a hint of crying in it.

Trier turned his head.

—On the left side of the room, young Noe stood in panic in front of a large bed covered with dark blue velvet, with a pool of still-warm blood at her feet.

Trier's gaze passed over young Noe and landed on the figure lying on the bed.

Behind the dark blue curtains stood a boy with a frighteningly pale face. His deathly white neck was bulging with pale blue veins, like those of venomous snakes. Blood was flowing from his eyes, nose, and ears. The blood stained the soft red and black silk mattress like flowing water, then dripped onto the floor.

This was the first time Trier had seen his own appearance since waking up in Beaver Town, and he couldn't help but be a little surprised. The boy lying on the bed looked remarkably like him before he transmigrated, almost as if they were carved from the same mold!

"I'll go find the maid!" Young Noe's voice trembled. "You must hold on!"

“Don’t be afraid. Go close my diary first. Something’s strange,” Trier said slowly from the bed. He didn’t seem panicked.

“Okay!” Young Noi nodded quickly and ran to the desk on the right side of the room.

Trier followed her with great interest to the desk.

A thick diary lay open on the cherry wood desk. As Noy approached, the blurry handwriting on the diary instantly became clear.

The first line of the diary clearly reads three Chinese characters: “后移四” (Move four).

Below is a series of garbled characters composed of tadpole-like letters from various human nations. The dazzling letters are intertwined like seaweed, making one feel dizzy.

Time seemed to stand still.

Trier's mind raced like a well-oiled machine: "It's not gibberish caused by Noy's confused memories; this gibberish must be the result of encryption."

"It's clearly the simplest Caesar transform, and even the key has been written out—shift back four."

"The alphabet for a universal language is also 26, so we can easily draw a conclusion by directly applying the Virginia Cipher table."

After staring at the diary for two seconds, Trier formed his own answer in his mind, but the next moment, he couldn't help but frown.

The decrypted password is still garbled.

"Interesting, there are even other security measures," he thought. "If I were to design a security system now..."

"I understand—it's Pinyin. First, the letters of the universal language are translated into Pinyin letters, and then it is read out."

Young Noe slammed the diary shut. She carefully tiptoed and tucked it into the bookshelf. The thick cover of the diary bumped against a test tube containing a colorless liquid, making a clinking sound.

Although he couldn't see the contents of the diary, in those few seconds of staring, Trier had already come to the final answer in his mind.

The diary entries are:

"I am Chen Li, a time traveler."

"I must reduce my thinking, because excessive thinking has caused increasingly severe damage to my brain."

"My thoughts started to become fragmented, as if I were drunk. This was probably because my brain couldn't handle the overwhelming amount of memories and knowledge. According to the theory of soul and body in The Azure Scepter, I was likely to lose my memory, so I had to record it all."

"First of all, the southern duchy of the Kingdom of Orko where I am now is extremely dangerous. A blood plague will break out here in thirteen years, spread by contaminated food. The culprit is the lich Losevie. If I am unfortunate enough to lose my memory and forget what will happen in the future, then I must leave here. I suggest taking a ship directly to the Bitao Islands, where things will be relatively stable and safe in the future."

"Just to be on the safe side, I have stockpiled a large amount of survival and combat supplies in advance and hidden them in the suburbs of Eraf City, specifically in the underground area west of Thousand Sails Port, where the original guild branch building used to be."

"The list of supplies is as follows: 1. The legendary longsword "Wu Guang". All of the weapon's abilities have been fully unlocked. Once I get my hands on it again, I will have the most basic ability to protect myself in the undead frenzy."

2. A complete set of well-maintained enchanted chainmail.

3.30 high-quality spell storage stones, already stored with a large number of spells, enough to deal with any emergency—even if we encounter Lorsevie, it's enough to allow us to evacuate safely.

4. Other miscellaneous items, such as lab records, analysis logs, food, water, medicine, etc.

"Supplement 1: If I forget Chinese after losing my memory, wouldn't this diary be superfluous? -- I don't think so. Here's why: First, if I completely lose my memory, then I can't be considered myself anymore. In that case, dying because I didn't get the diary wouldn't be a problem for me, so it's not superfluous. Second, this is just a preparatory measure. In the future, I will try my best to solve the problem of amnesia. In conclusion, using Chinese and encryption in this diary is very meaningful."

"Addendum 2: If possible, also save Noi; she's really adorable. If she dies, you could consider turning her into an undead; Corpse Princess or Bound Spirit are both good options."

P.S.: I'm really sorry, I've been too busy with real-life things lately, and I only had a little free time today.

Chapter 72 The Past (Part Two)

When Trier thought of the diary that had been translated into his mind, his first feeling was a strong sense of incongruity.

If the information revealed in the diary is correct, then it means that his time travel occurred much earlier than three days ago, and it is even very likely that he had already traveled back in time when he was still an infant.

However, when he awoke three days ago, he had no primary job level. This meant that he hadn't acquired any job level over the long period of time, which was undoubtedly extremely strange.

If not obtaining the warrior rank could be attributed to being too young or having a poor physique, then not obtaining the mage rank seems utterly absurd.

“Given my personality, it’s unlikely I would waste such a long time,” he thought. “So the answer is quite simple—I used to have job ranks, but those ranks disappeared for various reasons.”

With this thought in mind, Trier's gaze swept across the bookshelf next to the wooden table, and he immediately noticed a heavy book with a black cover next to the blue potion.

It is a spellbook, an essential medium for most mages to cast spells.

Trier looked thoughtfully at himself lying on the bed, blood constantly seeping from his eyes.

“An underdeveloped brain means a lack of intelligence, and a lack of intelligence makes it difficult to handle complex knowledge. However, if this is taken as the premise of reasoning, then we will fall into an obvious paradox—children’s intelligence level is significantly higher than that of infants. If children suffer from amnesia because they cannot handle knowledge, then it is even more so in infancy.”

There are essentially two answers to this contradiction.

"Either I transmigrated during my childhood, or some event triggered this state."

"If the person time-traveled during childhood, it would be difficult to have had time to plan and acquire 30 storage stones and ancient artifacts. Furthermore, a hidden hiding place could not have been assembled in a short period of time. Therefore, this hypothesis is unlikely to hold true."

"Therefore, the unknown answer was transformed into the known. Some kind of event triggered this state of amnesia."

Trier walked to the bookshelf and looked at the black magic book again.

The sun shone on the cover of the spellbook, and dust was clearly visible in the beam of light, but Trier focused his attention slightly and saw that the spellbook was swirling around it like a vortex, distorting the path of light—it clearly contained extremely difficult spells, the mere existence of which was enough to slightly affect reality.

"Therefore, the opportunity should be to become a mage. In the realm of magic, knowledge is not an ethereal divine art, but something with tangible meaning—a mage's knowledge and a non-mage's knowledge are two different concepts. Too much knowledge will make the mage's connection with the dream world too close, which will likely cause unknown negative mental damage."

"In conclusion, the mystery has been solved. This also explains why I prepared the ancient longsword and chainmail, instead of the staff and the corpse."

Solving the puzzle put Trir in a good mood, and he couldn't help but think about his next plan: "Now I should return to reality, clear out the remaining undead in Beaver Town within two days, and then head to Eraf..."

But at that moment, young Noe walked straight past him and ran back to the bedside.

Trier's gaze unconsciously followed Noy back to the blood-stained bed.

“Trill…” she called softly, “I’ve hidden the book. Don’t worry, I’ll go find the maid now, and you’ll be safe and sound.”

Young Trier did not answer. He struggled to lift his forehead, which was covered in cold sweat and murky blood, and then laboriously turned his eyes to look out the window.

Have you seen the head gardener?

Noi blinked blankly: "What?"

"Judging from their schedule, they should be trimming the bushes near the thorn maze right now."

"Maybe...they have something to do today?"

“Besides, it’s far too quiet now. This castle is never usually like this,” young Trier said slowly. “Something’s not right. We’d better prepare for the worst—can you help me up?”

Neu quickly reached out to help, but the next moment, young Trier suddenly changed the subject.

"No, no need—go find your mother now and have her take you away from here immediately."

"Huh?" Noi froze abruptly, frowning in confusion. "But if I leave, who will protect you?"

"A little girl protecting a powerful spellcaster? Is that even possible?" Trier thought to himself.

Just then, the sound of rustling footsteps came from outside the window, and the faint sound of metal armor clashing could be heard among them.

Just as Trier was about to walk to the window to see what was going on, the next moment—

"boom!"

The door to the room was violently kicked open!

A blood-soaked man staggered into the room, leaning weakly against the wall. His voice, trembling with sobs, was incoherent as he said, "It's over, it's all over. He killed my brother—no, he killed Sophie first. He's completely insane. He'll definitely kill you next, Trier. What should we do?"

Trier instinctively looked at the other person.

He was an extremely handsome man. At this moment, his dark eyes were filled with fear, as if some unspeakable evil was chasing him from behind.

Suddenly, a metallic glint reflected into Trier's eyes. After observing for a moment, he realized that the other's arms were actually made of metal—mithril and cold iron were stretched into strips like muscle fibers, intertwined and twisted into cold metallic muscles.

Two mechanical arms were deeply inserted into the other's shoulder blades. A dozen signal transmission tubes made of deep purple crystals were attached between the metal fibers. The crystals were combined with blood vessels in a twisted way. The two mechanical arms seemed to have become one with the flesh and blood.

In an instant, a name leaped into Trier's mind like a shooting star.

—Cohen, the Mountain Splitter.

"Mountain-Splitting" is not an exaggeration, but an objective description of his deeds. Cohen is an extremely famous swordsman in "Azure Scepter," worthy of being called a sword saint. At the end of the Age of Insects version, he even single-handedly changed the terrain of the entire Ronald Mountains with a single sword strike.

According to some fact-checkers in the guild, Cohen was originally an earl of the Southern Duchy, and his father is the current Duke of the South. However, due to a congenital deformity, he was born without arms, which directly led to his mother's death in childbirth.