These days, Xiao Chen and Luo Ling would come to the magician's study and stay for a few hours every day.
This unknown magician has quite a collection of books, but so far, all the books the two have flipped through are about history, war, art and literature. Although magic is mentioned, most of them are historical events related to it, or articles and poems praising the greatness of magic. There is no content discussing the nature and usage of magic.
Xiao Chen put the book "Artistic Style of Moncayo Region" back on the bookshelf and took another book from the bookshelf. The title was quite attractive, called "History of War of Black Dragon Empire". He flipped through a few pages and a passage he came across caught his interest.
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"… Emperor Luca led his army to the elves' territory and asked them to submit to him, worship him as their master, and pay homage to him every year. But the elves rejected this proposal and used natural magic. The woods grew wildly and entangled with each other, turning into an impenetrable high wall. Soldiers and horses could not pass through, and even dragon knights could not fly over the top of the high wall. Luca asked the soldiers to cut down the trees with swords and axes, but steel was not as hard as these trees; Luca asked the soldiers to set fire, but the flammable grass and trees could not be ignited no matter what. Luca was blocked in front of the forest wall for three days until his ministers invited Master Gryon. The master spent another five days to use magic to refine a black beetle. When he put the black beetle on the tree wall, a plague of trees began. It only took one day for all the trees that made up the tree wall to wither and rot. When the tree wall collapsed, the plague spread to the forest behind the wall. As more and more trees died, the power of the elves became weaker and weaker. The emperor's army finally broke through the obstacles and began to conquer the elven kingdom..."
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"An invulnerable, towering wall of trees, and black beetles that poison an entire forest in one day. This is too powerful, even more powerful than biological weapons. It seems like a myth no matter how you look at it." Xiao Chen read a passage to Luo Ling.
Luo Ling shook her head thoughtfully and said, "I think it is different from the myths. Most of the historical books here have clear records and clear sources. Look at the specific years, places, people, circumstantial evidence, and related historical materials. They are all very complete. I think the authenticity should be high."
"I just think these cases deviate from the law of conservation of matter, which is unscientific. Look, the book says that Master Gracia used a horseshoe to conjure up a group of strong horses, allowing Emperor Luca and his guards to escape the enemy's encirclement. This is already creating matter out of thin air. I would rather believe in the magic of raising your hand to blast out a fireball in a computer game."
"This is magic. What's so strange about it being unscientific? How do you know that this world and our world are the same universe?" Luo Ling asked back.
Xiao Chen had no way to refute and could only continue to look through other books.
A long time passed, the sun was already setting, and the dim sunlight slanted across the bookshelf. Xiao Chen put another book back on the shelf and said tiredly, "We have read at least two-thirds of the book in the past few days, but we still haven't found anything truly related to magic."
"That's why there are always times when I don't want to read." Luo Ling threw a book on the desk. "There is always more nonsense in the book than useful content."
"I heard that you are already an associate professor at such a young age and have even broken the school record. How can you not love reading?" Xiao Chen asked her with a smile.
"Don't equate learning with studying. As an older graduate student, you must be able to understand this truth, right?" Luo Ling counterattacked.
Xiao Chen spread his hands and said, "For someone like me who has been in society for a while, when I think back to school, the thing that impressed me most was that I could study peacefully."
"Be careful not to become a bookworm by reading too much. Since you like reading so much, the row below is yours." Luo Ling said, pointing to a row of bookshelves in the corner of the room.
Xiao Chen was about to say a few more words, but when he saw the bookshelf Luo Ling pointed at, he stood up thoughtfully. He retreated to the center of the room, carefully looked from the first bookshelf to the next, then frowned and said, "There's something wrong with that bookshelf!"
He walked to the bookshelf, pointed at the middle shelf and said, "Look at these two bookshelves. They are right next to the seats, but the middle two shelves are empty, while the upper and lower shelves are full of books. Why would the owner of this place choose to put books in the most convenient location instead of the nearest one? You must have bookshelves at home, right? Aren't these places usually filled with the most frequently used and important books?"
Luo Ling stood up and touched the empty space: "You mean, there were magic books here, but they were all moved away?"
"No... I didn't move." Xiao Chen stared at that spot and said with certainty, "You know my eyes have undergone a strange mutation. When I looked at that spot very carefully just now, I felt a layer of mist there."
"A trick?"
"It's much more powerful than that. You searched for a long time with your hands but didn't touch anything. It should be able to release some kind of seal, right?" Xiao Chen guessed.
"Star and Moon Badge!" they said in unison.
Xiao Chen quickly took out the badge that he had used to unlock the entire room last time. He concentrated his mental power on it, and the badge once again emitted a faint light. He held the badge close to the bookshelf, and a strange and twisted ripple appeared in the air. Xiao Chen leaned his head over, with the badge pressed against his forehead. He clenched his hands tightly, his knuckles protruding and shaking slightly, as if he was struggling to open a locked door.
After a long while, a book and two scrolls actually appeared in a corner of the bookshelf. Xiao Chen shouted, "Take them down quickly!"
Luo Ling didn't dare to touch it with her hands. She pulled out the dagger from Xiao Chen's waist and slapped it horizontally on the bookshelf, sweeping the books and scrolls to the ground. Xiao Chen let go of the badge and collapsed to the ground.
"This seal is very strong, my head is about to explode!" Xiao Chen covered his head, closed his eyes and leaned on the desk.
Luo Ling walked over and squatted beside Xiao Chen, gently rubbing his temple with her hands. Her eyes glanced at the book, but when she saw the title, she was startled and her hands became heavier, pinching Xiao Chen so hard that he cried out.
The name of the book is "Shadow of the Sea of Consciousness", written in four big Chinese characters.
After a long while, Xiao Chen finally recovered. He opened his eyes slightly and said, "I can feel that there are still some scrolls and books in the bookshelf that are sealed, but I can only lift a corner of the seal with all my strength."
Luo Ling didn't answer and handed the book to him. Xiao Chen was also surprised to see these four words, "This world is indeed closely related to Earth! It's even in simplified Chinese... The title is also very classical, like a martial arts secret book."
He held the 30-centimeter-square book in his hands and looked at it over and over again.
It looked like a magic book in a fantasy game. The outer cover was made of an unknown red leather with metal inlays at the four corners. Although it looked old, the leather and metal were well maintained. The peculiarity of this book was that its cover was very thick, as thick as a finger, while the main text pages seemed very thin, almost invisible between the two layers of cover. There was also a buckle on the back cover of the book, locking the pages. The four characters on the cover were written very vigorously, no less than the inscriptions Xiao Chen had seen.
Driven by curiosity, Xiao Chen couldn't wait to open the clasp and flipped open the cover. What caught his eyes were many signatures, which were scattered all over the title page. Xiao Chen saw Chinese names, such as "Zhao Qitian", Spanish names written in Chinese, such as "Agresio Grion", and foreign names spelled entirely in letters.
"These should be the owners of this book." Luo Ling read out the names. "There are relatively few Chinese names, only seven or eight. There are about ten Spanish names written in Chinese. The remaining twenty or so are all spelled in letters."
"From the order of arrangement, everyone used Chinese at the beginning, but finally changed to Spanish. Our previous speculation makes sense. This place is not only connected to the Earth, but the Chinese have been here a long time ago." Xiao Chen identified the names and then turned the page.
The following page has only one line of text, also written in simplified Chinese characters:
I, the apprentice of the Dream Tower, can read this book only when my mental power reaches the state of concentration.
"Tower of Dreams?" The two looked at each other in surprise. They saw the confusion and worry in each other's eyes. Xiao Chen thought for a while, and reached out to turn the page, but Luo Ling held the page down.
"No!" she said loudly.
"Try it, just take a look." Xiao Chen gave her an affirmative look.
Luo Ling shook her head and said, "It's too dangerous! What does it mean to have a concentrated mind? What are the risks if you don't reach that level? What will happen after you see it? We don't know anything, so we can't take risks like this."
"You're too nervous. Maybe you didn't achieve your goal, but you just didn't learn anything. It's just a book. Relax." Xiao Chen said it easily, but his determination was firm. "Besides, we already know that this is a magical world. If you don't understand your opponent, there will be no future. You see, there has to be someone who takes the lead."
"We still have schools, so many people, science and technology, guns and ammunition. You don't have to rush to shoulder that kind of responsibility. Everyone's future belongs to everyone. Who do you think you are, Xiao Chen?" Luo Ling still refused to give in.
"I'm not that old. I just took a step ahead. When I touched the white light, I was changed. The white light strengthened my mental strength and opened a door to this world for me, giving me the opportunity to come into contact with magic and to use the flaming dagger and the star-moon emblem. So now, no one is more suitable than me to try this opportunity. The more we understand about this world, the more chances we have of survival. Otherwise, we will end up like a short-sighted ant, and we may be trampled to death without knowing it." Xiao Chen insisted.
Luo Ling looked at Xiao Chen with some sadness and admiration, "Maybe you can wait a little longer until your mental strength is stronger..."
"Don't you know that many boys have the dream of becoming a magician? I really can't wait." Xiao Chen winked at Luo Ling and moved her hand away. He turned around so that Luo Ling could not see the contents of the book. He calmed himself down and turned the page.
Luo Ling could only see the strong colorful light emanating from the book, which made Xiao Chen's face glow and change, a bit like being illuminated by neon lights at night. But soon her heart was tightly grasped, because Xiao Chen kept turning the pages of the book and never moved again.