Chapter 2771 Elderstone and Star Chess <TOC> Chapter 2773 Silver-Haired Girl
Translator: SumTLMan
As for wait a bit longer, naturally it meant waiting for the upcoming 「trial」.
Only before they had come back to their senses, the Black Count was the first to break the silence: 「No need to wait…… it has already arrived.」
Everyone reflexively turned their heads, only to see that in a corner on one side of the corridor, at some unknown moment, there had appeared a little girl with an innocent and lovely face.
Her attire also suited her image well: a full rabbit outfit, a rabbit-ear hairclip on her head, and a carrot-shaped crossbody satchel across her body, brimming with childishness and childlike innocence.
As for the appearance of this rabbit girl, no one paid it too much mind, what they were thinking about was that this rabbit girl should be the same as the earlier bard and astrologer, both being a 「question-setting machine」, only they did not know what type of question she would pose?
The bard’s question concerned a baffling poem. The astrologer’s question concerned the analysis of a celestial sign.
From their getups, it seemed one could see the direction of their questioning.
Following this line of thought, would the question posed by this rabbit girl perhaps be related to small animals?
While everyone pondered, the rabbit girl made no further move, but like a carrot squat she crouched in the corner, propping her chin with both hands, tilting her head as she gazed at…… Angel.
That the rabbit girl would fix her gaze on Angel was something no one found surprising.
Previously, the bard had noticed only Daus, and the astrologer had noticed only the Black Count, so the appearance of a 「person」 who noticed only Angel was very normal.
What everyone was more concerned about was that this rabbit girl seemed not to be wearing a 「mask」? By rights, isn’t there a third shattered mask?
Also, why did she not make a sound? You should know, the previous bard and astrologer both took the initiative to speak, although what they said was not anything good either, it was only to 「pose questions」, but at least they spoke up on their own. This little girl, however, did not say a single word, and as for when she appeared, no one knew; if not for the Black Count’s reminder, they would likely have overlooked her existence.
「Is she mute? Or is she waiting for you to greet her?」 Daus said to Angel in the mental connection: 「It’s normal for little ones to be reserved, so it’s your turn to take the initiative!」
Daus’ tone carried coaxing, not because he had spotted some trick, but purely because he wanted to watch Angel make a fool of himself. In his view, though this kid’s clothing looked cute, appearing here was absolutely abnormal, likely yet another little troublemaker, or a delinquent child.
Whichever the case, it was certainly not easy to deal with. So egging Angel on to approach was just to watch a good show.
However, what followed somewhat disappointed Daus, because after studying Angel for quite a while, that kid abruptly said nothing, simply turned around and vanished.
And before she disappeared, she took from her carrot satchel and tossed out a broken mask.
At that, the earlier doubt was resolved. She did not lack a mask; she just had not worn it on her face, but kept it in her satchel.
But once this doubt was solved, a new doubt was born: what about the promised trial?
Why was there no trial? Simply stared silently at Angel for a while and then threw out the mask, what was going on?
「On what basis, huh?」 Daus kept muttering in the mental connection: 「Why can you do nothing at all and get the mask? The Black Count and I worked hard to solve the problems!」
No sooner had Daus’ words fallen than Vai murmured at the side: 「It was clearly Kael who solved the problems.」
Daus: 「Anyway I also put in effort, at least I was the one who wrote! And he actually did nothing at all, didn’t even make a sound, this is unfair!」
Though Daus was theatrically lodging a complaint, his words indeed poked at everyone’s curiosity.
This little girl’s behavior was far too different from the previous two!
「Could it be that at such a young age she already judges by looks?」 Vai muttered.
Daus objected: 「What are you thinking? If it’s really about looks, I’m much more handsome than he is!」
As for Daus’ confident declaration, whether Vai agreed or not was another matter, but one thing was certain, compared with Angel who was using a shapeshifting spell, Daus indeed looked a bit better.
At the very least, Daus’ attire was crisp and neat. Angel’s current getup, by contrast, was a bit slovenly and languid.
As for comparing Angel’s true face with Daus’, that was hard to judge.
Because they still did not know what Angel’s true appearance actually looked like.
Previously, everyone had thought Angel’s true face was that blond-haired, blue-eyed look on the magazine periodical. But when the Sovereign of Wisdom earlier used the True Word Book, the projected true visage of Angel, though the specific contours were not clearly seen, was definitely not the look on the magazine.
Therefore, there was fundamentally no basis for comparison.
Seeing Vai and Daus starting to argue about the question of 「whether he looks good or not」, the Black Count, who had not spoken, finally could not help but speak: 「There’s no need to discuss this topic, whether questions are posed or not, whether there is a trial or not, is not for us to decide.」
This remark by the Black Count amounted to a setting of the tone. With this tone set, everyone also ceased arguing.
Only then did Angel speak: 「I understand your doubts, but the Black Count is right; that girl’s abnormal behavior is not something I can decide.」
「There are only two things I can tell you: first, in that girl’s satchel there was not only the mask, but also an avatar of the Wood Spirit. That is to say, the creature we sensed earlier should have been her. Second, the masks are complete.」
The first matter was not all that important. They already knew earlier that the other side definitely possessed an avatar of the Wood Spirit. The only thing needing attention was this: if the Wood Spirit’s avatar was on the rabbit girl, then who were the prior bard and astrologer? What relation did they have to the rabbit girl?
However, these questions were temporarily unsolvable and could only be set aside.
The second matter, on the other hand, was what most deserved attention at present. After all, whether the bard, the astrologer, or the rabbit girl, each left a mask before vanishing. Clearly, this mask has some special significance.
Now the shattered mask had finally found its last puzzle piece, perhaps this special significance was about to be revealed.
「Could this mask be the surprise the Sovereign of Wisdom spoke of giving us?」 Daus said.
Vai: 「Probably.」
Daus watched Angel piece together the final shard of the broken mask, a trace of hesitation on his face: 「If it’s really a surprise, just one mask is too few…… the three of us can’t even split it.」
Vai, a bit speechless, said: 「We don’t even know what the mask actually is, and you’re already thinking about divvying it up?」
Daus, unfazed by Vai’s sarcasm, patted Vai on the shoulder: 「You have to know, this is the reality of the Wizarding World. When it comes to profit, if you don’t speak up first, in the end there’s a good chance you’ll be deliberately overlooked.」
No sooner had Daus finished than he received a look from Angel, and the Black Count pointed his nostrils at him as well.
Daus hastily coughed: 「I wasn’t talking about you; I was imparting…… experience…… to little Vai.」
Angel said nothing, merely gave Daus a deep look. The Black Count, however, straightforwardly tossed Daus a silencing spell, a big red X directly sealed over Daus’ mouth.
With Daus’ capability, he could have broken this silencing seal, but in the end he still did not do so; he merely protested a little with his eyes and then retreated to stand beside Vai.
After a few more seconds, Angel finally pieced together the mask the rabbit girl had left.
When the three fragments of the broken mask were combined, they themselves seemed to possess spirituality and fused into each other. In the blink of an eye, the cracks disappeared, and what appeared before everyone was a complete mask.
The mask’s appearance was very ordinary; at least, compared with the masks of the Gray Merchant and his underlings, in terms of aesthetics it fell a long way short.
It wouldn’t even be wrong to call it a face cast.
Overall it was gray-white, its size of normal specifications, the features three-dimensional but without distinguishing traits, the eye area, mouth area, and nose had no apertures cut. This could be counted as a feature of the Wizarding World: not using the nose to breathe, not eating, not needing eyes to see, are basically the standard configuration of a mature transcendent; so when crafting masks, simply nothing is provided. Masks derived from Angel’s right eye, by contrast, are the outliers.
「My lord, does this mask have any special effects?」 Vai asked curiously.
Previously, in everyone’s eyes, aside from its material being somewhat puzzling, this mask was a mundane object. But the scene just now of the mask self-fusing played out right before their eyes; the fact that it could self-fuse already proved that this mask was anything but ordinary.
Angel shrugged crisply: 「I don’t know; we’ll only see after putting it on.」
Having spoken, Angel looked toward Daus: 「Do you want to put it on and try?」
Daus’ eyes lit up at once, but soon revealed wariness. There were clearly so many people present, and even Angel himself could have tried it on, yet he just had to fix his gaze on him…… a trick! Surely a trick!
Given Daus’ understanding of Angel, there was definitely something off here.
Thinking of this, although Daus was a bit curious about what effect the mask had, he still made a gesture of refusal.
Angel narrowed his eyes slightly and said nothing. But this unperturbed attitude made Daus all the more feel that his choice was not wrong.
At this time the Black Count said: 「Earlier, you said this was Elderstone?」
Angel nodded: 「Yes, the entire mask is made of Elderstone. Therefore, the mask should have inherited a portion of Elderstone’s effects; however, this kind of material is very special, it’s properties are determined by the holder.」
The Black Count: 「What do you mean?」
Angel: 「We have to start from Elderstone’s effects.」
「According to the materials I’ve read, Elderstone is recorded as a kind of ‘living’ stone; it has an effect akin to prolonging life.」
「A living stone, something like a stone spirit?」 the Black Count asked in puzzlement.
Angel shook his head: 「Not so.」
If it were truly a stone spirit, Angel would directly have said it was a kind of stone with life, or an earth elemental creature.
But Elderstone and such earth elemental creatures are actually not the same, it has no life, but it has memory.
Its memory comes from the holder.
Elderstone’s most basic effect is actually life extension. So long as you carry Elderstone on your person, your life, your time, everything is frozen at the moment you begin carrying it.
Thereafter, as long as you continue to carry Elderstone, your life will remain in a frozen state and you will not grow old.
And the conceptual meaning of 「aging」, which is composed of time and experience, is recorded and substituted for by Elderstone.
And because Elderstone takes the holder’s aging upon itself, it was thus named 「Elder」 Stone.
Due to Elderstone, the holder will not grow old, but that does not mean there are no side effects at all. In this process, Elderstone records what the holder sees and gains, that is, memories.
In the Wizarding World, there is a faction that defines being alive as having memory. They believe memory is the essence of all life; so long as memory remains, and can continuously expand, then that is being alive, and to be alive means you have life.
Therefore, according to this faction’s definition, when Elderstone possesses memory, in a certain conceptual sense it is another 「living」 you.
Whether this definition is right or wrong, set aside for now. But after Elderstone possesses memory, it indeed exhibits some changes.
Originally, Elderstone had only the effect of prolonging life; but once memory exists within Elderstone, these memories can be called life, and can become power.
And this power of memory comes from the holder. Therefore, when Elderstone exhibits special effects beyond life extension, it is hard to determine what those effects specifically are, one must consider what the holder has experienced.
「So that’s how it is……」 Vai showed a look of sudden realization: 「Then in that case, Elderstone can serve as a medium of knowledge inheritance?」
A wizard’s experiences are also a process of knowledge deposition and digestion. If these memories are recorded through Elderstone, would that not be a different kind of inheritance?
Angel: 「That depends on how much memory the Elderstone has recorded.」
Vai: 「Ah? What do you mean?」
Angel smiled and said nothing. Instead, the Black Count at the side said: 「If the holder carried Elderstone for ten thousand years, then when someone else obtained the Elderstone, what effect would there be?」
Angel: 「They would probably be directly scoured by a ten-thousand-year torrent of memories into idiocy, no?」
The moment Angel’s words fell, Daus’ eyes bulged round, his finger trembling as he pointed at Angel. Though he did not speak, the accusatory meaning was full.
Angel said with a smiling squint: 「If not ten thousand years, but decades, or a hundred years, so long as your brain can withstand it, then the inheritance Vai spoke of is actually possible. So this is a rare opportunity, you know.」
Vai directly rolled his eyes and turned his head to sulk.
「If someone really wore this mask for ten thousand years, then wouldn’t that mean we also shouldn’t wear it casually?」 Vai asked.
Angel: 「A mask worn for ten thousand years was merely an example given by the Black Count, I just followed along with that example and spoke casually. I never said it could really be worn for ten thousand years.」
「Elderstone is not unlimited life extension, it depends on Elderstone’s quality and capacity, this mask’s quality and capacity are both decent, but to say it can be worn for ten thousand years is probably not achievable.」 Angel paused, then added: 「Even a thousand years is probably pushing it.」
Chapter 2771 Elderstone and Star Chess <TOC> Chapter 2773 Silver-Haired Girl