novelnext Chapter 4185 Zhang Sheng Library
Chapter 4185 Zhang Sheng Library
Chapter 4185 The Library of Echoes
Fortunately, aside from being a bit eccentric during her self-introduction, Thereta was quite normal, except that she occasionally spoke with a sentimental tone.
But this isn't a big problem.
Next, at Ivoda's prompting, Thereta began to introduce the Library of Echoes—
"I'm sorry, this is my first time giving a presentation, and I haven't prepared at all... Let me think about where to begin..."
"Let's talk about the mission objectives of the Echo Library first."
"The objective of the Echo Library mission is somewhat different from the other levels. It is not about hunting a monster, but about sealing away a strange being."
"However, the information in the text column does not say who this 'strange being' that needs to be sealed is, and the book spirit also avoids talking about it. But one of the 'sculptors' in my team heard an interesting thing from a book demon after defeating one of the book demons—the book demon used a very special nickname when it mentioned this being."
"It refers to that being as 'He'."
As Tereta spoke, Angel also began to recall the text information about the "Echo Library" from the six-layered puzzle—
Welcome to "Echo Library," one of the six-part platter.
"Level Description: This level comes from ???, and the challenger team's goal is to successfully seal ■■■■."
There are two censored parts in a message.
The "???" at the beginning indicates that the instance containing the Echo Library has not yet been opened, so it can be ignored; as for the "■■" at the end, that's a bit interesting.
Black codes are rarely used for text field information.
Generally, using a black code represents "blocking," implying that if it becomes known to others, there may be unknown risks.
Knowing only the name can cause problems, which clearly indicates that the other party's identity is extremely unusual.
Now, Teresa mentions that the book demon in the library is referred to as "He," which seems to suggest that the object of the seal may not be an ordinary life form, but rather... a god.
Only when facing a deity is the pronoun "He" used!
The people at the Stone Table Conference were stunned by the bombshell that Thereta had dropped right at the start of the meeting.
"You want us to seal away a god? Isn't the power of the Celestial Realm overestimating us a bit?" Gabriel, manipulating the illusion puppet, couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice.
“Right, isn’t this level called ‘Library’? Mr. Angell said before that it was a level that would test one’s artistic and intellectual knowledge. How did it suddenly become associated with a god? What kind of library is this?” Gray Porcelain questioned, then suddenly realized something and cautiously looked at the rabbit girl: “This level, I… I shouldn’t go, right? How could I be qualified to be compared to a god…”
Seeing the unease in Gray Porcelain's eyes, the Rabbit Girl softened her tone and reassured her, "We'll discuss who to choose later. Besides, we might not necessarily choose the Echo Library for the next level."
In response to the rabbit girl's words of comfort, Gray Porcelain murmured, "I hope they don't choose me."
As he murmured, he suddenly noticed that Angell was looking at him from across the stone table.
There was no urging in his eyes, only unwavering support.
That gaze is so familiar.
Back in Nereid, Angor looked at him in the same way. Even though he was facing a giant abyss dragon that could devour people, that one glance inexplicably ignited a burning passion in him to charge forward.
He pursed his lips, remained silent for a few seconds, and added softly in his heart, "However... if in the end I really need to go, I... I will try my best..."
Compared to the astonishment of Grey Porcelain and Gabriel, Montessori and Maggie remained quite calm upon hearing the news.
After all, their identities are special. As a half-blood demon, Montedan cannot avoid the demon god in his struggle for survival in the abyss; and Maggie, as a spiky person, cannot avoid the Outer God in her life.
After hearing it so many times, I stopped caring.
Of course, the most important reason is that they are not contestants and do not have to face the gods, so they naturally have no reason to be nervous.
“We won’t discuss His identity now; let’s return to our mission objective.” The rabbit girl asked, “How can we seal Him? And what are the book spirits and book demons you mentioned earlier?”
Theresa: "According to the information in the text box, the Book Spirit is helping us, while the Book Demon is our enemy."
"However, I personally think that the relationship between these two kinds of beings is very subtle. Perhaps they are different names for the same kind of beings. Just like the Tooth Fairy and the Mirror Sea Scholar, they sound like two different groups, but in essence they are still the same group, just with different positions."
As soon as Thereta finished speaking, Ivyda gave him a sharp look and touched her lips with her index finger, as if to tell him not to talk nonsense.
Tooth Fairy and Mirror Sea Scholars are relatively sensitive topics in the Daytime Mirror Domain. It's fine to talk about them in private, but if you talk about them in front of them, or if they find out that you've been talking about them in secret, then congratulations, you've directly offended two forces.
Theresa remained calm: "It's okay, they've already blocked me."
"Block?"
Thereta said quite frankly, "I once published a collection of poems called 'The Epic of Ten Thousand Races.' In this collection, I wrote a commentary for each race in the Mirror Realm of the White Sun. I wrote a commentary for the Tooth Immortals and the Mirror Sea Scholars together, using the line, 'Born of the same lineage, how can we bear to harm each other?'"
"After the poetry collection was published, I was blocked by both the Tooth Fairy and the Mirror Sea Scholar."
Previously, Thereta would have been somewhat restrained, avoiding mentioning these racially sensitive topics in public. But now that he's been blocked, it doesn't matter anymore; he even brings up the tooth fairy example when it's not necessary.
Otherwise, he would feel like he'd been blacklisted for no reason and had lost out.
Since Ivyda had never logged off and had never read Thereta's poetry collection, this was the first time she had heard about this. After a moment of confusion, she sighed and stopped trying to dissuade her.
Thereta continued, "In short, book spirits and book demons, one is an aid and the other is an obstacle, but you can't tell which one is a spirit and which one is a demon from their appearance, and it's easy to be confused by them."
After a pause, Thereta continued, "As for how to seal that divine being, I can't give a specific answer yet. After all, our team hasn't even closed a single 'rift' yet, and we haven't even grasped the prerequisites for sealing, so naturally we can't talk about the subsequent steps."
"A rift?" The rabbit girl frowned. She had just figured out the difference between a book demon and a book spirit when a new term popped up, prompting her to ask, "What exactly is this 'rift'?"
Thereta shook her head again: "I'm not sure about the specific definition of 'rift' right now. It's not mentioned in the text, but I guess it might be related to the 'He' that was sealed away."
As Teresa spoke, she seemed to realize that she had used a lot of abstract terms and concepts, but had not yet explained the basic rules of the Echo Library.
He quickly began to explain from the beginning.
"To understand the concept of rifts, we need to start with the process of the Echo Library..."
"Once all teams enter the Echo Library, three Wonderland-themed prompts will immediately appear in the text box—"
"Note 1: The Echo Library has three floors, and each floor contains a [Rift]. Please find and close the rifts with the help of the Book Spirits. Beware of Book Demons during the search!"
Note 2: All three cracks need to be closed at the same time.
"Note 3: Once all [Rifts] are closed, ■■■■ will enter a weakened state."
These three points of attention are actually guiding challengers on what to do next.
"Finding the Rift can be understood as the main quest of this level. However, it is difficult for us to find the exact location of the Rift, because although the Library of Echoes is called a library, it is actually more like a large maze."
"There are three levels, which means there are three different mazes. There are also various branching paths, mechanisms, and portals in the mazes, and our concept of our location is very vague. Under such circumstances, it is very difficult to find the one and only rift in such a huge maze. Therefore, we need the help of the book spirit."
The Book Sprite is similar to the NPC that guides you on each floor.
It can help challengers find the right direction, but it's important to note that the book sprite won't help you for no reason; it will put you to the test.
You will only receive help if you pass the test.
As for what the test will be?
There are many different types of tests, but the vast majority are tests of knowledge, with occasional combat tests.
"By the way, the Book Spirit's test can only be completed by one person. The team can discuss it first and then send the most suitable person to test the space and start the competition challenge."
If the teammate who performed the test fails, they will be imprisoned in the space and unable to participate in any further challenges. At the same time, the book spirit will also disappear.
After talking about the book spirit, Thereta casually mentioned the "book demon" as well.
"The situation of the book demon is quite different from that of the book spirit."
"Upon encountering the Book Demon, it will inevitably initiate a battle and randomly select one person from the team to challenge. If the battle is lost, the entire team will be kicked out of the Echo Library, and the challenge will be considered a failure."
This is the difference between a Book Sprite and a Book Demon: if you fail with one, at most your account will be banned, but with the other, your entire group will be banned.
Furthermore, you can discuss who to send for the Book Sprite's challenge, but you can't do that with the Book Demon. If you randomly select a weak teammate, then you can expect the entire team to be banned.
"If that's the case, if I go in and get randomly pulled into a battle, wouldn't the whole team be wiped out? I'd just be a burden..." Gray Porcelain suddenly spoke up.
He was clearly saying he was a burden, but his tone was inexplicably joyful.
Everyone naturally understood Gray Porcelain's thoughts; he was laying the groundwork for his later "inability to be selected."
However, Angell slowly said from the side, "It's alright, I still have some super-powerful items here..."
Gray Porcelain was stunned, and stiffly turned to look at Angell.
Angell smiled at him.
Gray Porcelain hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "Isn't it a bit of a waste to use a super-powerful item on me?"
"What does it matter if we waste a little compared to the final victory?"
Gray Porcelain dared not speak again, fearing that Angell would immediately decide to send him. He could only silently shrink back...
On the other side, after a pause, Thereta suddenly remembered something: "There's one more thing I forgot to mention. The book spirit's guidance doesn't directly point you to the location of the rift, but rather points you in a direction."
For example, if you pass the test, it will point to "east" and tell you that the crack is in this direction.
But the east is a vast area, and who knows exactly where it is?
So at this point, you need to find a new book spirit, pass the test again, and then the new book spirit will point you in the right direction.
The true location of the crack can only be determined by adjusting and comparing its position from multiple directions.
Simply put, it is: multi-directional cross-positioning.
If you're lucky, you can find the location of the rift after completing two or three trials; but if you're unlucky, or if you have a poor sense of direction, then that's another story.
"It sounds so complicated..." Just hearing about it made Gray Porcelain seem very complicated.
Gabriel, however, listened with great interest: "This mechanism is a bit like a 'treasure hunt,' and it's quite interesting. If I had to rate this mechanism, I'd give it a six out of ten."
“I don’t find it interesting.” Gray Porcelain: “In the vast maze, you have to find the book spirits, locate the coordinates of the rifts, and possibly even encounter book demons…”
Theresa added, "There are also mechanisms and decryption. Many paths are hidden, and you need to decrypt them or find the mechanisms to find the way out."
Upon hearing this, Gray Porcelain felt even more troubled: "See? We'll have to deal with traps and puzzles in the maze. Just thinking about it makes me feel exhausted."
At that moment, Angel's voice reached Gray Porcelain's ears again: "It's alright, I'll find a way to get the map."
map?
Gray Porcelain suddenly realized that when Angell and the others were conquering Nereid together, he seemed to know a lot about the various regions and even knew where the buried ores were.
Therefore, Angell said that if he could get his hands on a map, he definitely could.
Gray Porcelain opened his mouth, but then closed it again. He shouldn't have spoken; every time he tried to foreshadow his "non-participation," Angell ruthlessly interrupted him.
Gray Porcelain felt helpless and could only give Angel a resentful look.
Angel ignored Gray Porcelain's gaze and turned to Thereta: "Passing the Book Spirit's test will give you guidance. What about defeating the Book Demon? Will it also provide guidance?"
Thereta shook her head: "No, there's no reward for defeating the Book Demon... Well, no, maybe there is a reward, but we haven't figured it out yet."
"What do you mean by 'there's a reward, but no discovery'?" Gabriel asked, puzzled.
Tretta said, "After defeating the Book Demon, it will leave behind a message before it disappears, which may contain some hidden information."
"If we defeat a relatively large number of book demons, we might be able to piece together key information from their last words."
"The above is speculation from our team's 'writer,' and its accuracy is not guaranteed. It's also possible that the last words are just that—last words—without any hidden information."
"But it is true that some information can be extracted from their last words."
For example, the Dawn Poetry team once defeated a book demon, and in the book demon's last words, it mentioned the sealed "He".
It was through the title "He" that they obtained a crucial piece of information: the entity that the Library of Echoes needed to seal was most likely a god.