Zixin touched the wolf's paw and the key, taking back what he "lent."
He sighed and started to think: From this first attempt, it seems like it's much easier than what I initially expected. Maybe I really was overthinking… no, even though the condition I made was simple, it did help me get to where I am now with better conditions.
"We should do a more complex one," Zixin said, and the wolf will silently nodded.
After some time, Zixin created the conditions: "The wolf would 'lend' a portion of Snowdrop from me. This could only be activated when I say the word "now." The moment the word is spoken twice in a row, it would be deactivated."
Zixin grabbed the key, and the same sensation as before coursed through him. A wave of both dizziness and exhaustion shook him, his mind falling into chaos. He bit his lip, and in the real world, he reached out, touching the wolf corpse's paw, beginning the transfer.
A second later, inside the White Palace, Zixin released his grip on the key and plopped to the ground, sweat pouring down his forehead.
In the real world, Zixin looked at the wolf and spoke, "Now."
Seeing no difference, he touched the wolf and spoke, "Now."
He closed his eyes and returned his attention to the White Palace. His mind, which was still inside, opened its eyes and glanced at the wolf's will that had entered through his hand.
The wolf's will wore a confused and shocked expression. Its eyes were wide, and it stared at Zixin as though it was looking at not a human but an anomaly.
Zixin frowned, tilting his head and inquiring, "What happened?"
The wolf's will's expression changed, and its gaze contained respect. The wolf's will stood up proudly, letting out a loud howl.
From the howl, Zixin learned that it experienced a year of his recent life. It experienced his life and deaths, but also his sadness. Not only that, it gained great admiration after it saw the Wolf Lord fighting him.
Interesting… it actually saw so much. Well, a year is a long but also short time. Based on its words, it didn't look like it experienced Elmer's, the wooden table's, and the Wolf Lord's memories. Which means Snowdrop is entirely directed at me. This probably has a deep contemplation of the concept of history. Zixin guessed vaguely, shifting his gaze and watching the wolf's will.
There wasn't much difference besides how long the experience was. Last time, it was two years, and I made sure to "lend" the same portion, so it should have been two years too. So, the deactivation part actually limited how long its experience was. Zixin made a few more guesses, and after a bit, they continued to try again and again for several hours.
…
While Zixin was trying to "lend" to the artifact shell, Hope stood on the side, watching him. However, the cat suddenly nudged its tiny head at her. Noticing the cat, she realized: It wants me to act…
She let out a heavy sigh, waving her hand, a sign of compliance. She looked around, noting the various details on the walls which seemed to be words from an unknown language. At the center, there were the three circles, and atop them was the chandelier.
The chandelier gave off a comforting light, making her feel at ease. Her body relaxed,d but her thoughts started to run: This looks like a puzzle. Why am I supposed to solve this? Couldn't Zixin have just… oh wait, if he did, what if it turns badly because the cat and the artifact weren't here? But seriously though, I don't feel like…
Hope grumbled, eventually thinking to herself: Forget it, this shouldn't be far from the last step.
She shifted her gaze back at the engravings. The cat nudged at her again,n and she glanced down. The cat lowered its head, and after realizing what it meant, she crouched down and heard what the cat said: "It's written in Limian."
Once she heard those words, Hope couldn't help but roll her eyes, thinking to herself: Of course it is! Most people and I only know Landanese because why else should you learn anything else? Every other language has an entirely different system, plus, everyone knows Landanese, so communication isn't an issue.
"Can you read it?" She whispered, and the cat nodded.
She took out her journal and pen and started to write down the translation the cat gave her. Ten minutes later, she stopped and read her messy notes.
From the looks of it, this is much simpler than expected. Fang Hau probably set up Restrictions to detect if someone says the correct words. Now, all I have to do is… rearrange it. After pondering for a bit, she started to take her time, organizing the sentences together.
While she did this, she didn't notice Schizel leaving the room to sit outside and probably sleep. The three Hunters, meanwhile, walked up the stairs and sat there, waiting for an opportunity to strike if anything major occurred.
"This is…" Hope muttered, staring at the sentence she wrote. The words were: 'Night and day, who chose this system?'
"What could this possibly be referring to? Night and day… who chose… this system… eh? Is it referring to fate? Could be, I mean, who could set the rules besides it? Maybe there are other possibilities." Hope muttered, falling into deep thought. Her thoughts clashed, destroying countless thoughts and leaving her with few answers.
"It might be about change. The night and day part seems to hint at this, plus it could also answer the question of the latter part." Hope sighed and rearranged the sentence.
She continued this for a while,e and she lost track of time. All that was in her mind was figuring this puzzle out. Although it started slowly, once she got used to it, her speed increased, and before she knew it, she wrote the final sentence.
She stood up and took a deep breath, speaking solemnly, "The world is made of truth and lies, but what gives? Significance can't be found without knowing the truth. Knowledge is born from curiosity, seeking truths rather than falsehoods. But if humans lack the drive to obtain knowledge, what use is it? Thus, the world changed. Night and day, who chose this system? Order was established by immortal hands. However, humans are still weak; what now? The stars were born, shining brilliantly only for their lights to reach us long after they vanished."
Hope paused, speaking the last sentence, "Then, perhaps humans were worth the trouble."
Just as she spoke the last few words, the lights from both the chandelier and the engravings suddenly started to move like flowing water. The lights from the engravings moved to one circle at the end of the crescent moon while the light from the chandelier moved to the other one. The two circles started to light up, but the circle at the center of the crescent moon remained the same.
…
Zixin, on the other hand, was trying to create a suitable condition for the artifact shell to agree to, but no matter how much he tried, it didn't seem to be content.
He shook his head and asked, "What exactly do you want?"
The artifact's will inside the White Palace lit up, and words appeared above it, which he read slowly: "Everything."
I never expected it to be this greedy. If I "lend" everything, that feels less like "lending" and more like giving. But I don't have much choice, do I?
He bit his lip and nodded. He closed his eyes and started to make conditions. After a bit, he spoke, "Snowdrop would be 'lent' at full without reservations. Snowdrop cannot be activated but instead be used as a power source, as it was intended to. And due to the artifact shell's body, this is possible. The sole purpose of this is to grant the artifact the ability to alter Restrictions. As long as the user who will have full control over the artifact's objective is not accomplished, Snowdrop will not be returned. If it is completed, Snowdrop will be returned in full immediately."
The artifact's will remained unbothered, and taking the silence as approval, Zixin grabbed the key, and the wave of exhaustion hit him. His body shook, but he immediately reached out,t and the artifact's will flew over and touched him.
In the real world, a small, gentle sphere of yellow light flew out from Zixin's chest and flew into the artifact shell. The light slowly disappeared, integrating into the artifact shell. The artifact shell started to change shape and form rapidly. One second, it was a small knife; the next, it was a cloak, then a coin, turning into various objects with no end in sight until it stopped, suddenly turning into a monocle.
Zixin left the White Palace and felt like the Body Enhancements provided were a lot weaker than before. However, he had already left, so it naturally dissipated.
He grabbed the monocle,e and a soft blue light came out of it, flowing like water and entering the final circle at the center of the crescent moon. Light erupted from the three circles as three rays of light shot out, curving in the air and drilling into the ground.
The room trembled, but Zixin didn't seem to notice, putting the monocle on, but just as he did, the center of the room vanished out of nowhere. The crescent moon disappeared,d and he started falling, feeling the weight of gravity's pull.
Hope's eyes widened in shock, dashing at him, but she was too late. Zixin fell into the endless hole,e and Hope fell to the ground. The cat walked next to her and said, "The time to absorb life essence is now."
Hope took a deep breath, composing herself before reaching out. The cat quickly transformed back into the gourd. Hope grabbed it, and rays of flowing green light started to flow out of the hole and were sucked into the gourd.