Chapter 130 The Hermit's Classroom Opens Again

Odis recounted the Fourth Epoch plight of the Elves in a storytelling tone. Hearing about the total decline of an entire race, the other members of the Tarot Club couldn’t help but feel a touch of melancholy.

Audrey asked, “Are there still Elves today?”

“To my knowledge, there should be,” Alger answered, “They live in the perilous reaches of the Berserk Sea, enduring a very harsh existence. I’ve also heard that they discovered a few relatively safe islands within those treacherous waters, though no one knows the exact details.”

This instantly sparked a hint of yearning for the sea among everyone present. Because of the Berserk Sea, vast swathes of uncharted waters still existed across the ocean.

Dangerous and unknown though they were, they offered boundless room for exploration and adventure…

The grand palace fell quiet for a few seconds before Odis broke the silence: “Miss Magician, I have a matter I’d like to discuss with you privately.”

Fors was momentarily taken aback, thinking: ‘Is it about publishing again?’

“All right,” she replied.

And so, with the assistance of Mr. Fool, an isolated space for private communication between The Hermit and Miss Magician was established.

Odis got straight to the point: “Miss Magician, we spoke about the Abraham family last week. You ought to be in contact with members of that family, correct?”

Fors immediately grew somewhat wary, “What… what do you need?”

She did not outright deny it. For one, she had indeed traded intelligence regarding the Abraham family last week. That she had some connection to this ancient family was already common knowledge among the members, so denying it served no purpose.

Furthermore, with Mr. Fool’s protection, Fors believed that Mr. Hermit had no way of finding her in the real world and posed little threat to her, allowing her to admit it candidly.

Besides, she was rather curious about what business the other had with the Abraham family.

Odis cut straight to the chase: “I wish to purchase a Mystical item with the ‘Travel’ ability from the Abraham family.”

Klein, who was eavesdropping from the side, thought to himself: ‘No wonder The Hermit said he was short on cash… he’s looking to buy a Sequence 5 Sealed Artifact. An ability like that, at that level, won’t come cheap!’

Fors relaxed her guard slightly, “I can indeed get in touch with a member of that family, but I’m very sorry… For certain reasons, I can’t help you inquire about such matters at present.”

She had recently established a stable connection with Mr. Dorian Gray Abraham of the Abraham family, and she was well aware that she was still under the scrutiny of this member of an ancient family.

If she suddenly asked to purchase a Mystical item from him at this point, Dorian would very likely go into hiding and cut off all contact with her.

Odis was slightly taken aback at this response, realizing that the timing of his proposal was somewhat inappropriate.

He offered a helpless smile: ‘It seems my only option is to pursue the avenue through the Queen Mystic…’

Even so, Odis did not end the conversation right then and there. Instead, he said, “If you ever feel the timing is right, you can help me get in touch with them and broker this deal. Well, if a transaction is ultimately reached, I will pay you a commission of 600 pounds.”

‘600 pounds!’ Fors took a deep breath.

That was nearly equivalent to her entire current savings, but she still managed to keep her composure and said, “Alright, I will inform you when the time comes.”

As soon as their private conversation concluded, Audrey, who had been waiting nearby for quite a while, said, “Mr. Hermit, I would like to initiate a transaction with you to learn more about the topic of occult symbols we discussed earlier.”

“Certainly.” Odis nodded, “Please state your questions.”

Audrey asked, “Mr. Hermit, what specific functions do occult symbols serve?”

“To thoroughly explain this question to you will cost 1,000 pounds,” Odis quoted his price, “Are you certain you wish to proceed with the transaction?”

“I am!” Audrey breathed a slight sigh of relief, surprised that it was only 1,000 pounds.

Odis nodded, then asked again, “Would you like for it to be a private exchange?”

Audrey chose as she had before: “Everyone can listen together.”

Fors couldn’t help but sigh in admiration, “You truly are a generous lady.”

Derrick said bluntly, “Miss Justice, if you wish to know anything about the Forsaken Land of the Gods or ancient myths and legends, please feel free to ask me.”

Thanks to The Hermit’s previous explanation of mystical symbols, the other members had grown very curious about his research and wanted to listen in as well.

Audrey loved this kind of atmosphere and smiled, “No problem.” However, after pondering for a moment, she added, “The sum for this transaction is quite substantial. I propose that if the other members wish to listen in, they should contribute something as well… for instance, the ancient myths The Sun mentioned just now.”

She genuinely did not care about this amount of money. Although the prior assassination of the Intis Republic’s ambassador had drained her personal savings, her weekly allowance was still more than enough to cover the transaction.

However, Audrey had noticed just now that Mr. Hanged Man and Mr. Hermit seemed somewhat uncomfortable with her generosity. This instantly made her realize that she was violating some of the rules of Beyonder gatherings.

Everyone had been allowed to listen during the last transaction, but if things proceeded the same way this time, it would likely set a precedent. Furthermore, a transaction worth a thousand pounds could not be treated as casually as before.

That was why Audrey promptly amended her words.

Hearing Miss Justice’s remark, Alger felt a sense of relief and said, “Ask whatever you want about matters of the sea.”

Fors also chimed in right away: “I am willing to offer a chapter of Sights in the Spirit World.”

Behind the gray fog, Klein thought to himself: ‘Sights in the Spirit World has truly found its purpose in your hands…’

He had originally planned to make The World claim disinterest in the exchange and simply eavesdrop as The Fool. However, after a brief reconsideration, he realized there was no need to be so frugal.

Thus, he had The World say, “I possess a wealth of occult knowledge and can share some with you.”

Audrey smiled and said, “Very well, the deal is struck. Mr. Hermit, let us begin our exchange.”

The prices offered by the other four members were all things that piqued her interest.

Odis nodded and began his explanation: “To clearly explain the specific function of mysticism symbols, we must first address two fundamental questions: first, the essence of mysticism symbols, and second, the process of their formation. Let us address the second question first. As I mentioned earlier, the textual logic employed by mysticism symbols differs entirely from the logic of the language we use today. Let’s conduct a thought experiment together…”

“…Imagine traveling back to the Second Epoch, or even the First Epoch, stepping into an ancient human tribe whose members lived a grueling existence, constantly at risk of falling prey to Beyonder creatures. In days fraught with the peril of imminent death, certain critical pieces of information had to be passed down to future generations to minimize the cost of repeated trial and error…”

“…Spoken language was a viable medium, yet it was prone to ambiguity during transmission; thus, a need arose to keep records. The earliest script must have resembled realistic drawings. In fact, the precursors to written words were likely simplified narrative pictures.”

As Mr. Hermit spoke, the others seemed to envision a primitive tribe where a singular, solitary figure stood before a rock wall, carving and drawing upon its surface.

Just then, Alger suddenly realized a problem: “Representational words are easy enough to depict. For instance, the ‘wheat’ we discussed at our last gathering only required drawing the shape of wheat. But how were abstract meanings expressed?”

“That era possessed its own wisdom,” Odis replied with a smile, “For example, in standard mysticism symbols, the glyph representing ‘light’ looks like this…”

With Mr. Fool’s assistance, Odis manifested the symbol for ‘light’. The upper half of the symbol was a circle, while the lower half consisted of five distinct strokes.

Klein noticed that the lower portion bore a slight resemblance to the Chinese character for light ().

“Let us examine the lower half first,” Odis explained, “Doesn’t this shape look like a person half-kneeling on the ground with open arms? And the circle above represents the sun. First and foremost, this reflects humanity’s attitude toward the sun, and by that, I mean the sun in the literal sense…”

“…The sun in the sky has always provided us with light and warmth freely, never demanding anything in return. Therefore, mankind’s attitude toward sunlight was to kneel upon the earth in praise. Once this scene was captured by the inventor of writing, it evolved into the abstract concept of ‘light’.”

Alger, Audrey, and the others nodded slowly. To those who had never encountered pictographic writing, what The Hermit had just explained lay beyond their conventional knowledge, yet it made complete and rational sense.

Even Klein felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he were listening to an educational show explaining Chinese characters.

Odis continued, “Most universal occult symbols used by humanity were formed this way. Someone once described the scene after these symbols came into being: the sky churned, ghosts wept, and the gods raged… Humans could now record everything between heaven and earth. Future generations could easily inherit the experiences of their predecessors, and over time, even ghosts and gods held no more secrets…”

“…Thus, it was seen as a form of blasphemy; a blasphemy where humanity broke free from its own limitations. Language is produced by the vocal cords and received by the ears. Animals, too, have their own calls. That is an ability bestowed upon us by the Creator. Writing, however, is entirely different. It is a creation born wholly from ourselves!”

Fors felt a profound empathy from antiquity, a resonance with the ingenuity of early humanity. But she suddenly sensed a fracture in this empathy.

Mr. Hermit’s subsequent explanation resolved her confusion: “However, during the Second Epoch, humanity integrated in a very short span of time and was forced to abandon their original writing.”

Seeing everyone’s puzzled expressions, he smiled and explained, “Imagine this: the pictographs of one tribe were entirely different from those of another, as were their pronunciations. For instance, the character one tribe used to describe ‘grain’ might have been used by another tribe to describe ‘foxtail grass’, with entirely different pronunciations…”

“…When human tribes suddenly began merging on a massive scale, they had to solve the language barrier. None of the tribes were willing to yield… they would never allow the character they had long used for ‘grain’ to be read as ‘foxtail grass’. So they could only compromise, each taking a step back to bypass the script itself and reach a consensus on pronunciation. In short, they agreed on how to pronounce ‘grain’, disregarding what the symbol representing it looked like. Gradually, phonetic scripts took shape and quickly became dominant.”

Klein thought to himself: ‘That sounds like a massive headache. That’s what happens when you don’t have a First Emperor!’

{T/N: Klein is referencing ‘Qin Shi Huang’ here, the first emperor of China.

Qin Shi Huang’s circumstances are largely similar to the example used by Odis in his explanation in that the First Emperor apparently invented the title Yellow Emperor ‘huángdì’ () rather than reusing the existing title for king; ‘wáng’ ()…}