The newcomer was Brewer Darrow.
He was surprised to see Siles already in Room 666. After walking in, he greeted him, “Good afternoon. You’re certainly early.”
“Good afternoon.”
Brewer seemed to want to say something, but Siles’s cold, expressionless face, coupled with his status as a university professor, made him a little apprehensive.
However, it was too awkward for the two of them to share a room in such silence.
So finally, Brewer pretended to be casual and said, “Yesterday… I privately met with my fiancée.”
Siles looked at him in surprise and said, “You listened to Mrs. Fuller’s advice?”
“Yes.” Brewer was a little nervous, but he couldn’t hold back his desire to confide. “She is a very beautiful young lady, very, very… very much to my…”
Siles smiled slightly: “Congratulations.”
Brewer looked at him and couldn’t help but say, “Professor, have you ever felt this way? It’s just… at the first glance of someone, you feel your soul has been captured by them.”
Siles was silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head.
Brewer murmured, “It was truly wonderful… magical… It reminded me of stories about believers meeting Gods.”
“Believers meeting Gods?”
Brewer was stunned for a moment, then said, “Oh… that’s… that’s an old story in our family.”
Siles asked curiously: “Can you tell me about it? If it’s not inconvenient…”
“Of course, Professor.”
It seemed that the identity of Professor Siles did give him some leverage on many occasions. Siles recalled what Knight Commander Bunyan had said earlier—if he needed help with his research, he could also ask him.
Brewer seemed to recall for a moment, then said, “My family originally did not belong to the Duchy of Constance; we only came here after the Mist Era began. At that time, part of the Mist dissipated, so my family decided to go out and look for opportunities.
“After the Mist dissipated, the Duchy of Constance was exposed and besieged by other countries while caught off guard. My family helped the Duchy of Constance under such circumstances and was knighted.”
His tone was very proud, seeming to value and take pride in the family’s glorious history.
Brewer paused for a moment, the thick arrogance on his face dissipating a little, and then he said, “That was nearly four hundred years ago. In fact, before coming to the Duchy of Constance, our family already had genealogical records, archives, and documents.
“In one of the family journals, it mentions that an ancestor of the family once obtained a… I don’t know how to describe it, should I say, a manuscript? It was a small booklet with drawings and written descriptions, roughly talking about a believer meeting a God and becoming very emotional.”
Siles held his breath and listened, asking, “What did that drawing look like? Have you seen it?”
“No.” Brewer shook his head. “That booklet was lost during our migration long ago; it was just mentioned in passing in the family records.
“I remember… er, the record said it was a small figure kneeling in worship, and some… chaotic lines drawn high in the sky. Like something hiding in a dark cloud.”
Chaotic lines high in the sky. Something hiding in a dark cloud.
Siles was suddenly stunned, immediately thinking of the painting he had seen in Atherton Square not long ago. Also darkness and dark clouds high in the sky, with something seemingly hiding in the darkness.
Siles frowned for a moment.
Perhaps because Siles’s expression was too serious and solemn, Brewer said dismissively, “Professor, that happened four hundred years ago. If you ask me, that booklet might be even older, definitely useless now.”
Siles took a slight breath, unsure if it was because of Brewer’s expression resembling an overgrown brat, or his indifferent tone.
He said, “Brewer, we are Revelators.”
Brewer was blankly stunned for a moment, then his expression changed subtly: “You mean… that was a Time Trace?” He swallowed subconsciously. “That painting? A Time Trace related to a God?”
Siles nodded, then shook his head. Just as he was about to explain, several other people walked in, so Siles didn’t say more.
But his earlier words seemed to have already brought a huge shock to Brewer. He sat on the sofa in a trance, probably forgetting that he came so early to talk about his fiancée.
Sure enough, until Carol arrived, the shocked Brewer failed to mention his meeting with his fiancée to Mrs. Fuller.
When Carol pushed the door open, he habitually showed that cheerful smile. He said, “Alright, dear Revelators, today you will learn the second ritual, as well as some theoretical knowledge.
“From now on, our course progress will accelerate, striving to let you complete this introductory stage early and become a Revelator in the true sense.”
He first distributed the potions, then the Time Traces.
This time, the Time Traces looked like pieces cut from some metal product, with edges polished very smoothly. One side was smooth, and the other had some exquisite patterns, but overall, it was still very simple, heavy metal.
Siles played with it for a moment, then whispered: “Shield?”
Carol hadn’t explained yet, but hearing Siles’s word, he immediately cast a surprised look: “How did you tell?”
Everyone looked at Siles.
Siles was slightly stunned, then explained, “The first ritual is for introduction, so the second ritual should be more practical. The Revelator will likely encounter some dangers, so it is very likely a ritual about protection or evasion.
“And the shape of this small piece of metal, these patterns, are somewhat similar to a shield.”
Carol was dazed for a moment, unable to help but praise: “You are truly very sharp.”
Siles shook his head and said modestly, “I just habitually think a bit more.”
Carol didn’t dwell on this matter. Soon, he explained: “This is part of a knight’s shield from the Church Knights. They were used in combat, then scrapped, and finally collected by us to become Time Traces for the ritual.”
The former Church Knights. Siles thought.
Aside from the Duchy of Constance’s army and police force, the Church Knights were also the legitimate violent apparatus of this country.
The former two were usually responsible for handling “ordinary” events, while the latter, in addition to dealing with matters related to Gods and faith, probably also handled “abnormal” events, just as Carol said in the first class.
…Perhaps the Historical Society was also a branch of the Church? A more secularized one.
While Siles was thinking, Carol smiled and said, “There might be Knight Commander Bunyan’s shield among these, but they are all mixed together and indistinguishable. If you are lucky enough, maybe you can get the blessing of the past Knight Commander Bunyan’s power.”
The Revelator couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement.
Knight Commander Bunyan—that young, handsome knight, worshipped by many residents in the city, especially young girls, for his devout faith, outstanding appearance, and superb skills.
Siles’s gaze caught Miss Angela Clayton’s fair, slender fingers gently stroking the shield fragment in her hand.
Hmm… Siles began to seriously consider a question: Why not model the male protagonist of his novel after Bunyan? Wonder if Knight Commander Bunyan would mind.
“Alright, back to business, back to business.” Carol coughed twice. “The name of this ritual is [Invisible Shield]. The effect is that after completing the ritual, an invisible air shield will appear in front of you, which can block attacks from the front.”
He suddenly looked at Siles, emphasizing with an indescribable tone: “The ability of this ritual is limited to an invisible shield appearing in front of you. The shield cannot change position, nor can it withstand overly fierce attacks.
“These two points are the flaws of this ritual.”
He seemed to be saying this specifically for Siles.
Siles nodded calmly on the surface, feeling somewhat helpless inside… To hide some secrets, he seemed to have really fixed his image as a pedantic research fanatic.
…Forget it, it couldn’t be called a bad thing.
Carol added: “Releasing this ritual is also very simple. Just tap lightly with your knuckles on the front side of the shield fragment—that is, the side with the pattern.
“Of course, the specific position and force will affect the Ritual Fit, but generally speaking, this ritual will not fail.”
This made Siles stare at Carol with a probing look.
Carol paused, but finally explained the reason: “Because we knew these shields would eventually become Time Traces for the [Invisible Shield], we specially asked knights to hold the shields before cutting them, and then had others attack every part of this shield.
“Of course, this is also part of the knights’ daily training. Killing two birds with one stone.”
Only then did Siles realize.
A marvelous feeling arose in his heart.
Because something could serve as a Time Trace and reproduce power from the past, could people prepare specifically for this in advance in the past?
This world, because of this magical Revelator power, seemed to have a subtle sense of cycle and reincarnation in time. The past will eventually reappear, and the future already exists.
This was truly…
The Earthling quickly came up with a wild idea—what if he specially made Time Traces for his future self to use?
During the subsequent practice process, Siles kept thinking about the feasibility of this approach.
He casually tapped the shield fragment with his knuckles, and then felt the blue radiance flowing and spilling from his fingertips again, wrapping around that small piece of metal.
Then, the blue radiance suddenly unfolded, forming a majestic, half-person-high shield composed of blue light about forty centimeters in front of him.
Siles: “…”
Wasn’t it invisible?
He frowned slightly, then relaxed.
It was naturally a good thing that the invisible shield became visible. If he really encountered a battle in the future, he could directly see the size and shape of the shield, and naturally adjust his position flexibly to catch the enemy off guard.
Siles barely suppressed the subtle emotions in his heart.
He took out the Fit Ruler from his pocket and unsurprisingly found that his Ritual Fit this time was still a 10.
If every ritual was a 10, it meant he didn’t have to consider the success rate and intensity of his rituals; every ritual was released in the most suitable and powerful way.
…Okay, this was indeed a good thing.
While Siles was thinking, Carol walked over. He looked in front of Siles, reached out, and felt his palm blocked by an invisible shield. Only then did he nod with satisfaction and praise, “You are truly a genius.”
Siles hesitated, not wanting his oddity in this regard to be discovered.
So he asked, “Carol, I have a question for you.”
Carol: “…”
He didn’t want to hear it!
But Carol listened to Siles’s question in the end.
“Making Time Traces in advance, preparing for your future self?” Carol pondered for a moment. “This is a question that is very difficult to… practice concretely.”
Siles listened to him.
Carol said with a headache, “Siles… the problem is, we cannot predict the future. It is impossible to prepare for a specific event in the future at any given time.”
Siles was slightly stunned and whispered, “That’s true.”
Looking at this young scholar who always came up with whimsical ideas, Carol thought for a moment and encouraged him, “However, this is indeed a line of thought. Er… it might contradict some Revelator concepts.”
Siles asked: “What concepts?”
“Some Revelator believe that the older the Time Trace, the more powerful it can bring,” Carol said. “So your concept of wanting to… ‘make’ Time Traces for the future within a short time might not fit their ideas.”
“Worshipping the ancient.”
“Yes.” Carol was always cheerful, but at this moment he couldn’t help but sigh. “They are all old people with high positions and great power within the Historical Society.”
Siles suddenly thought of the conflict between Grenfield and his teacher, Joseph Morton, the Vice President of the Historical Society.
He actually didn’t have a particularly clear understanding of the issues between them, but judging from Carol’s attitude, it seemed that within the Historical Society… there were indeed many factions.
Siles didn’t ask more, and Carol just shook his head on his own without continuing. He said, “I think you can indeed go to the Research Department. They will welcome you.”
Siles didn’t answer this question directly.
Carol didn’t mind. At this time, Siles was just a beginner Revelator. Even if he had many whimsical ideas, they remained at the “thinking” stage.
Then, Carol went to guide others.
After everyone successfully released the [Invisible Shield] and had a decent Ritual Fit, Carol called them back to the sofa in the center of the room and mentioned another issue.
“Just now, I mentioned that the shield fragments in your hands are all from the Church Knights’ shields. I want to ask you a question: Do you think there is any difference between the shield released by the ritual and the actual Church Knight’s shield?”
Young Darrell Hobbes answered cheerfully: “Not as powerful as the Church Knight’s shield! I just tried it. If I hit the wall hard, as long as I press my whole body weight on it, that invisible shield shatters!”
“Correct.” Carol nodded, then glanced at Darrell strangely.
Why would Darrell, this young boy, know the power of a Church Knight’s shield?
Seeing everyone looking at him, Darrell subconsciously scratched his hair and coughed: “My brother is a knight in the Church Knights! He belongs to Knight Commander Bunyan’s squad!”
The others immediately cast strange looks at him.
Angela looked like she wanted to pull him aside to talk about Knight Commander Bunyan.
Carol coughed and loudly asked them to refocus. Then he said, “Since everyone understands this point, does anyone want to guess why this situation occurs?”
Time Trace Integrity. Siles thought to himself.
They looked at each other, and finally Mrs. Fuller said, “Because our Time Traces are fragments of shields? The power of a fragment can never match the power of a complete shield.”
“Correct!” Carol praised repeatedly; he indeed thought the six Revelator in this group were excellent. “This is a question we are going to mention today, Time Trace Integrity.”
The others listened attentively.
“Remember the example I gave when talking about the Revelator last Monday? If you get a murder weapon from a killer three hundred years ago, you can borrow the power of that killer.”
Angela subconsciously said: “Complete Time Traces can exert more powerful strength?”
“Of course! If at this moment, you are holding a real knight’s shield, and then you start the ritual, you can obtain your own strength plus the strength of the past knight. The two superimposed, the power exploded and the protection possessed will naturally be more brilliant.
“However, for convenience, we usually carry such shield fragments with us.”
Everyone nodded.
Time Trace Integrity would affect the power ultimately exerted by the ritual. Very easy to understand. They only obtained fragments of the shield; in a sense, they were just placing such fragments in front of themselves, hoping this small piece of metal would work.
“But,” Siles suddenly said, “you mentioned Knight Commander Bunyan before. If we obtained fragments of Knight Commander Bunyan’s shield, the power exerted would be correspondingly stronger, right?”
Carol replied: “You are right. The past owner of the Time Trace will also determine the power of the ritual.”
Eric Correns couldn’t help sighing: “There are really so many influencing factors.”
Three elements, three dimensions. But in practical application, there were more variables to consider. Siles thought the same.
He thought again of the question he had asked at Grenfield’s antique bookstore: Are there really no levels among the Revelator? Why is their power so chaotic?
But then he thought, judging from the tone Carol intentionally or unintentionally revealed, the power of the Revelator was obviously not unrelated to Antinam.
And Antinam only appeared four hundred years ago.
The Revelator had only appeared for a few hundred years in total, and were still a semi-public secret profession. It seemed completely understandable that they lacked a system. Because they were still in the process of exploration and organization.
Siles took a deep breath, convinced by the reason he thought of.
Soon, Carol brought the topic back: “How to judge Time Trace Integrity is also something we need to do, but this cannot rely on external objects, only on our own experience, understanding of past history, and… common sense.”
“Common sense?”
“Yes. Like your shield fragments, common sense can tell you they are incomplete, right?”
Everyone nodded thoughtfully.
Carol clapped his hands and said, “Time Trace Integrity requires you to understand and judge in future practice. This is a process of accumulation.
“In the end, if you are familiar enough with the power of time, you can even confirm whether something is a Time Trace and whether it is a complete Time Trace the moment you discover it. And this all requires years of research and practice.
“This is the content of today’s class. You can continue to try the ritual [Invisible Shield], or [Flowing Wind].”
Carol took out a handful of leaves from his pocket: “I picked these up on my way here. They are different from the previous leaves. You can practice Ritual Fit again.”
He distributed the handful of leaves.
Then, he added: “Now, regarding the two dimensions of Time Traces and rituals, we have discussed them all. Of course, I know you will have many questions and doubts, but at least we are about to complete the introductory process.
“On Wednesday, we will discuss the issue of potions… yes, potions. This is a complex topic that requires a long enough time to get started.”
Carol seemed to be in a hurry. He glanced at the clock in the room and then said, “There is still a little time, let me say a few more words. Generally speaking, Revelator will eventually embark on different paths.
“Potions, Time Traces, rituals, and what I have been telling Siles, research, that is, the path of academic theory. The first three are the most common choices. When we learn the Three Elements, it is also when the Three Elements choose us.”
Angela asked at this time: “Carol, what about you?”
Carol Hausmann was an enthusiastic and outgoing person. The Revelator present knew this very well, so Angela asked this question with a bit of curiosity.
“Me? I am on the path of rituals.” Carol laughed. “By the way, when facing other Revelator, don’t ask about their path choices casually. This is a very private topic.”
“Oh!” Angela quickly said, “Sorry, Carol.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Carol said, “I am your guide, this is what I should tell you. Moreover, my path is no secret in the Historical Society.”
While they exchanged these few sentences, time passed bit by bit.
Carol looked at the clock, subconsciously exclaimed, and hurriedly said, “I have to go. I have something to do this afternoon. You just practice here, don’t wander around. In an hour, you can leave on your own.”
He picked up his items and waved to the Revelator in the room: “See you Wednesday.”
“See you Wednesday,” they said one after another.
After Carol left, Angela sighed: “Carol is really a good person.”
Others agreed.
Afterward, they scattered to practice without chatting. Siles did the same. He tried to observe the flow of the blue radiance and then imitate the process.
This allowed him to quickly achieve what should be theoretically full fit—his Fit Ruler didn’t cooperate well—through his own efforts.
Siles breathed a slight sigh of relief. He didn’t want to rely on this blue radiance to cheat forever. What if one day such blue radiance disappeared?
Siles had always been cautious and meticulous.
At four in the afternoon, the ritual time ended. They ended their practice one after another, said goodbye to each other, and left the Historical Society.
Siles’s Knowledge attribute increased by one point again, reaching 48. The definitions related to Revelator, Ritual Fit, and Time Trace Integrity each added one point to his Knowledge attribute. It seemed that knowledge related to potions could also continue to increase his Knowledge.
However, he didn’t seem to have any place needing a check recently.
Thinking about these things, Siles unconsciously walked at the very back, coincidentally meeting Brewer Darrow who suddenly stopped.
“Darn it!”
“What?” Siles asked.
Brewer said, “I’m getting engaged tomorrow. I wanted to tell them.”
Siles was slightly stunned, then smiled and said sincerely, “Congratulations. Perhaps it’s not too late to tell them on Wednesday.”
Brewer nodded as well. They parted ways at the entrance of the Historical Society.
Siles took a public carriage back to Lafami University, then walked back to 6 Hayward Street.
It was getting late. He planned to drop his things off at the dormitory and then go to the cafeteria for dinner. He happened to meet his roommate in the living room on the first floor.
“Siles.” Lorenzo greeted him. “By the way, there’s a letter for you on the coffee table. It was stuffed under the door, and I brought it in for you when I came back.”
“Thank you,” Siles said politely, then went over to open it.
He browsed it briefly, then was slightly stunned.
Seeing his expression, Lorenzo asked curiously, “What does it say?”
Siles said in a low voice, “My apprentices. The college made an appointment for me to meet them at three tomorrow afternoon.”
Hearing this, Lorenzo patted his shoulder and said with a smile, “Hope they are obedient students. Some professors encounter overly stubborn students and get huge headaches when guiding their theses.”
Siles nodded: “I hope so too.”
But for now, the most important thing facing Siles was not the apprentices, but the major elective course tomorrow morning.
Lorenzo went to the cafeteria with Siles for dinner and also chatted about the first class tomorrow. Lorenzo said, “Don’t worry, those students must be very curious about you now.”
Siles asked slightly surprised: “Why?”
“New professor. Major elective course, both freshmen and seniors will come to class; they’ll be curious anyway,” Lorenzo said. “Don’t worry.”
Siles thought about it and felt slightly reassured.
He didn’t really have stage fright or social anxiety, but he instinctively resisted such occasions. After all, he wasn’t really the young, twenty-four-year-old Siles Noel.
That evening, Siles spent some time reviewing his lesson plans, and reviewed the content of the next few classes, as well as the content of the public elective course tomorrow night.
The major elective course had two class hours of content, while the public elective course tomorrow night had three class hours. Each class hour was forty-five minutes.
After practicing a few times, Siles temporarily put this matter aside. He spent some time thinking and organizing things needed to be done in the future.
Novels, theses. Classes, apprentices. Revelator, apostates.
Speaking of that apostate, he went to the Lafami Central Cathedral on Saturday, and it was already Monday night. More than two days had passed, yet there was no news from the Church, which deeply worried Siles.
But he didn’t worry too much about it.
That night, he spent some effort pondering the content and conception of his novel. When he felt sleepy, he went to wash up and then fell asleep.
The next day, he woke up at seven in the morning.
His class was “Literature of the Silence Era and Its Theoretical Evolution—Taking Three Famous Authors of the Silence Era as Examples,” starting at ten in the morning and ending at eleven-thirty. He still had plenty of time.
Siles finished washing up and changed into the suit he had prepared long ago. Speaking of which, he knew before that this body had handsome features and a steady aura, but when he put on the formal suit, he realized that Siles Noel was indeed extraordinarily handsome.
He looked at the black-haired, black-eyed young man in the mirror. White shirt, dark blue vest, and suit jacket. He didn’t wear a tie, and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, otherwise it would look too serious.
But even so, this face still appeared aloof and dull, very unapproachable.
Siles stared at himself in the mirror for a moment.
Then he thought, just go deal with the students like this.
He happened to meet Lorenzo when he went downstairs. Siles nodded to him casually and said, “Good morning.”
Lorenzo looked at him with a slightly strange gaze and said, “Why are you dressed so formally?”
“Creating some professorial dignity in front of students?” Siles said with a hint of a joking tone, “I’m too young.”
Lorenzo glanced at his collar: “Honestly, the university doesn’t forbid teacher-student romances.”
Siles: “…”
Huh?
He looked at his roommate inexplicably.
Lorenzo sighed heavily and couldn’t help saying, “Professor Noel, do you understand how many people are curious about your appearance, figure, family background, and academic level now? Do you understand how respected a young professor is in Lafami City, and how many single ladies are willing to marry you?”
Siles shook his head, lowered his eyes, and adjusted his cuffs—honestly, he wasn’t very interested. After all, he had no intention of developing any possible romance in this world.
Lorenzo looked at him and finally lamented, “As a roommate, I feel my future days won’t be easy.”
He said it as if joking.
Siles felt he was making a fuss.
Lorenzo muttered something, then put his arm around Siles’s shoulder and smiled again, “Let’s go, dear roommate, time for breakfast.”
“You don’t have class this morning?”
“No,” Lorenzo said. “The professor I follow doesn’t need me to follow him all the time. So my movements are relatively free. If there’s anything, he will notify me in advance.”
“That’s very considerate.”
Lorenzo muttered, “Perhaps.”
They went out together.
Siles wasn’t used to wearing formal suits, but this body was tall with long legs, broad shoulders, and a narrow waist, fitting this outfit exceptionally well. The August morning was starting to get hot, and Siles felt he might be able to go to class wearing only a shirt.
If it weren’t for the fact that university classrooms in this world still retained that relatively traditional, strict teacher-student atmosphere, he would have just worn a light T-shirt like university teachers on Earth.
…Although clothing in this world hadn’t reached the casual level of T-shirts yet.
Siles sighed with regret in his heart.
They attracted quite a few gazes in the cafeteria. Walking beside Siles, Lorenzo said exaggeratedly, “I feel like an invisible man.”
Siles whispered, “Maybe we can switch.”
“No no no, this makes me very comfortable,” Lorenzo said. “Thank you, my dear roommate. I’m finally no longer the youngest teacher in the School of Literature and History.”
Siles: “…”
Was this his roommate’s goal?
While eating breakfast, Siles casually unbuttoned his suit jacket, turned back, and met Lorenzo’s strange gaze again.
Siles was silent for a moment, then said, “What now?”
Lorenzo hesitated, then finally said, “Dear roommate, I don’t like men.”
Siles: “…”
He narrowed his eyes, saying coldly and casually, “Neither do I.”
“Oh! You actually like women.” Lorenzo became regretful.
Siles was distressed by Lorenzo’s strange attitude.
Lorenzo said, “I originally hoped to find a suitable marriage partner in the university, but now you appeared.”
Siles was silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head: “I don’t like women either. Listen, maybe you can do me a favor, help me tell everyone who hopes to have any intimate contact with me—I am focused on academics and have no intention of romance.”
Seeing his serious attitude, Lorenzo nodded seriously too. A moment later, he asked curiously, “But why? You are so young, whether it’s men or ladies, there must have been times when your heart fluttered, right?”
Siles shook his head.
Neither he himself nor the memories of the original body had ever encountered anyone who made his heart flutter. He could indeed—appreciate, that should be the word—those pure, beautiful loves.
But for himself, he never fantasized about obtaining such a romance.
He wasn’t someone good at this. He was reserved and reticent. While on Earth, he had already developed a set of living habits that made him comfortable. He couldn’t imagine what drastic changes a new person appearing in his life would bring to his peaceful existence.
Sometimes, day-after-day life also forms a kind of inertia.
Siles—or rather, He Jiayin. He had lived on Earth for over thirty years and knew very well that he didn’t expect to find a lifelong partner; he was satisfied with his life.
And after coming to the Fisher World, he had no time to ponder those things. His life was already filled with exploring this world and playing the role of this young man named Siles Noel.
He wanted to return to Earth more. Return to his Earth filled with fried chicken, cola, hot pot, milk tea, and the dreamlike internet.
Lorenzo’s words caused some complex emotions to surge in Siles’s pitch-black pupils.
Lorenzo didn’t notice Siles’s expression and demeanor—he was always like this, always so steady and calm that he seemed expressionless. He said, “Indeed, for you, focusing on academics is a better choice. You are still young.”
Siles felt Lorenzo seemed to have misunderstood something.
But after thinking for a moment, he finally felt there was no need to explain. So he gave a noncommittal response, silently accepting Lorenzo’s guess about him.
After this breakfast, Lorenzo yawned and said goodbye to Siles, saying he was going back to the dormitory to catch up on sleep, while Siles took his folder to the Literature History Professor’s office on the fourth floor, waiting for the class to begin.
In the afternoon, his apprentices would also come to his office.
Siles belatedly sized up the two-seater sofa in the office, then looked at the chair behind the desk. After thinking about it, he felt it was enough to accommodate him and his two apprentices, so he let go of his worries.
Now this office was no longer as chaotic as before, and to some extent bore Siles’s mark. However, the things left by Professor Cabel always made Siles uneasy.
He didn’t intend to look through the materials and manuscripts in the low cabinet at this moment, but walked to the bookshelf and carefully examined the books there.
He had scanned them roughly before and knew they were all academic monographs. He was curious if he could find materials related to his thesis topic among them.
However, when he stood before the bookshelf, he suddenly heard the dice in his mind, which had been silent for several days, suddenly start rolling, and a check was automatically triggered.
[You need to perform a Knowledge check.]
[Knowledge: 48/48, Success.]
[You realize that there are some clues on this bookshelf that you previously ignored. Perhaps it is precisely because you recently gained relevant knowledge that you are able to discover the anomalies.]
Listening to the dice’s description of the result of this check, Siles subconsciously narrowed his eyes. Then, it suddenly occurred to him: was he getting more and more used to narrowing his eyes lately?
…Could he be becoming nearsighted?
Siles subconsciously thought in that direction for a moment, then gathered his thoughts and looked at the bookshelf in front of him.
Able to discover anomalies because of recent new knowledge?
He had come to the office when moving the day before yesterday, and the dice check wasn’t triggered then, so… was it because of the trip to the Historical Society yesterday? Because he learned the definition regarding the integrity of Time Traces?
Time Trace Integrity…
Time Trace Integrity can be judged through experience, common sense, and the degree of understanding of historical knowledge.
…In other words, on this bookshelf, there existed an incomplete Time Trace that he hadn’t discovered or understood well enough before?
