Originally, Ye Chui’s group had planned to travel without pause, but they had not anticipated this unforeseen event. After discussion, they decided to stay temporarily by Lake Wenga, allowing Ye Chui to quickly teach Lessa the so-called divine script. At the very least, he wanted her to use more of the Bible’s power.
Divine script inherently carried divine power, a statement meant for believers. The divine script in the Bible could be amplified by faith power into potent attacks. In other words, only someone like Lessa, who had cultivated faith power since childhood, could wield the power of divine script. For ordinary people, learning divine script was merely studying a highly complex language, unable to awaken its inherent power. Of course, Ye Chui was an exception.
Ye Chui’s iPad seemed to be a special existence. Although Ye Chui could not activate the Bible’s power, his iPad spellbook was clearly a form of utilising divine script power.
The Any Name Magic Guild temporarily settled in the wooden hut by the small lake. Food was abundant here. The lake held plump fish, and the wilderness provided wild beasts, all rich sources of sustenance. Even with Guni, the super voracious eater among them, food supplies would not run short in the short term.
In the days that followed, Ye Chui taught Lessa the mysteries of divine script every day.
In another world, Chinese was one of the most difficult languages to learn. Ye Chui discovered that teaching others to learn it was undoubtedly one of the most challenging tasks in this world. At first, Debbie, Green, and the others were curious and wanted to try learning it, as it was essentially a foreign language. But when Ye Chui wrote a few simple Chinese characters on paper for them to recognise, even Guni, who knew little of the Castro Continent’s common tongue, retreated immediately.
Later, when Ye Chui began explaining the four tones of Mandarin, Green and Debbie also withdrew instantly. Each syllable had four pronunciations, each with different meanings. When combined with phrases and contexts, the meanings diverged entirely. It was enough to make one’s head spin!
Lessa persisted throughout. Surprisingly, Jacob also showed keen interest and persevered strongly. Of course, they often ended up utterly confused.
The snow on the Elven Plains gradually melted. The sun over the past two days had become exceptionally warm. It was now early spring, and the weather was warming rapidly. In the blink of an eye, Ye Chui’s group had spent half a month in the holiday hut by the lake. Since no one expected them to veer off the main road into the uninhabited reaches of the Elven Plains, no one had come looking in these days.
The task Ye Chui received from Prince Geller was to pose as a bastard son and divert attention for several months. Hiding here did not violate that mission. Besides, those baring their fangs at Ye Chui were surely scouring the world for his whereabouts.
In just half a month, Ye Chui could not possibly teach Lessa all the intricacies of divine script. But what he needed to do now was not to make her fully understand how to write and read divine script. He only wanted her to recite the Bible’s verses and comprehend their meanings. However, Lessa and Jacob’s enthusiasm for learning divine script was high. They seemed determined to master this strange script completely.
So, besides studying the Bible’s scriptures, Ye Chui devised some elementary Chinese textbooks for them to learn from.
Every few days, Ye Chui would hand out quizzes for them to complete. The questions were things like, “When Green went out, he nearly fell, and Debbie nearly fell too. So, who fell and who did not?” or “Green said to Debbie, ‘I’m going for a run to exercise in the morning, are you coming?’ Debbie replied, ‘I’ll go! I’m not going!’ So, is Debbie going or not?” He called them the Divine Script Proficiency Exams.
Usually, for a hundred marks, scoring ten or so by guessing was considered impressive. Well, this was just Ye Chui’s mischievous side.
The Holy Bible Lessa obtained differed vastly from the one used by the Church today. It lacked orderly chapters and consisted of segments of “divine utterances,” records of the God of Gods’ words and deeds by the Faith Goddess. It had no systematic structure, and each verse carried different powers.
In these days, Ye Chui specially categorised these verses, naming chapters based on their potential effects. For the chapter names, Ye Chui followed Lessa’s old habit of releasing holy words. For instance, the verse that restored mana and health became [Holy Word: Bloody Hell, I’ll Back You Up]. The one with defensive effects was named [Holy Word: Bloody Hell, I’ve Got Your Back].
Others included:
[Holy Word: Bloody Hell, I’ll Exorcise You] (Exorcises undead! Effective on the living too.)
[Holy Word: Bloody Hell!] (Low-level attack)
[Holy Word: Bloody Hell, That’s Insane!] (Mid-level attack)
[Holy Word: Bloody Hell, Super Insane!] (High-level attack)
And so on.
This morning, as Ye Chui slumbered, he was abruptly woken by a cry of alarm. The cry was not from his companions. It sounded more like a child’s voice. Ye Chui, looking haggard, climbed out of bed. Last night, Lessa had pestered him for half the evening about grammatical issues, leaving him severely sleep-deprived. Yawning, he hurried to the window and peered down. Below the hut, he saw the figures of an old man and a child.
They lay sprawled on the ground, faces etched with utter astonishment. Clearly, the sudden appearance of the hut had startled them. Perhaps they had been to this small lake before but never seen such a structure here.
Hearing the child’s cry, Green and Jacob rushed out of the hut to the pair. Ye Chui also hurried downstairs. By the time he reached outside, Green had already ascertained their origins.
“Guildmaster, they are from a nearby village. They came here this morning to catch fish but were frightened by our hut.” Green explained to Ye Chui with a smile. Thirty miles from this small lake lay a small village, marked on the map. Such villages usually had no names. Most had not existed long and would soon vanish from these plains. After all, eking out a living here was no easy feat.
The old man and child seemed to realise Ye Chui’s group meant no harm, but astonishment lingered on their faces. They stared blankly at the hut. Debbie, Lessa, and Guni then emerged from the hut, so Green explained the old man’s background to them. Ye Chui asked their names. The old man’s name was Harry, and he liked being called Old Harry. The boy, who appeared twelve or thirteen, was named Hank.
“Magus, you, how could you be here!?” Once their emotions settled somewhat, the old man asked Ye Chui reverently. He already knew Ye Chui was a magus.
“We are on a wilderness outing and happened to stay here for a while.” Ye Chui explained with a smile. When he came down from the hut, he had scanned them with his spellbook. They harboured no hostility and were indeed local villagers. So, he smiled and said, “If you do not mind, come inside for a cup of water. Our breakfast is just ready.”
Old Harry demurred at first but was eventually won over by their warmth and followed them into the hut. The simple room had a unique charm that left Old Harry and Hank in wordless awe. They often came to this lake. Just a month ago, they had been here, yet now someone had built such a hut so quickly, especially in deep winter. Green leaves grew on it, truly miraculous.
The breakfast Ye Chui’s group prepared was extraordinarily lavish for these villagers: fish, bread, and some dried meats and vegetables from Windrock City. At first, the old and young seemed restrained, but soon they could not resist the temptation of the food and began devouring it heartily.
Soon, they were full but still crammed as much as possible into their stomachs. Ye Chui then smiled and asked, “What brings you to the lake? Fishing?”
“We catch a few fish on the way, but we have something more important to do.” Hank, the boy, replied with his mouth full of bread. He had been quite reserved at first, barely speaking, but now he seemed much more relaxed.
“What important matter?” Ye Chui asked.
Hank glanced at the old man, his expression hesitant. Clearly, their purpose was secretive, not easily shared with outsiders. Ye Chui, seeing this, prepared to change the topic. They planned to leave today anyway, and he was not particularly interested in their errand. However, before he could speak, Old Harry waved his hand and said, “These fine folks look like good people. It is no harm to tell them. We are here looking for someone.”
“Looking for someone?” Ye Chui’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Who sent you?”
“It was the Divine Lady.” Hank answered. “She had a prophetic dream last night, saying a hero who can oppose the wolf bandits would appear near Lake Wenga during this time. So, early this morning, I came here with Grandpa…” After saying this, his eyes suddenly fixed on Ye Chui. “Magus, are you the hero the Divine Lady prophesied?”
“Divine Lady? Hero from prophecy?” Confusion flickered in the eyes of Debbie and the others. What on earth was this?
“Our Divine Lady is the leader of our village. She has guarded us for many years. We all revere her. Since she said a hero to oppose the wolf bandits would appear here, we had to make the trip.” Old Harry pulled a pipe from his fur coat. After confirming Ye Chui’s group did not mind, he lit it and took a satisfying puff before continuing. “But her prophecies are never very reliable. Forgive us for the amusement.”
Ye Chui and the others exchanged glances, all feeling intrigued. Debbie eagerly asked, “Did your Divine Lady say what the prophesied hero looks like?”
“Good sirs and ladies, the Divine Lady’s prophecies are like that. The wolf bandits are the fiercest around here. Even Windrock City’s officers cannot touch them. We are used to it. How could a hero come to oppose them?” Old Harry shook his head, exhaling a thick plume of smoke, then added, “The Divine Lady did not say what the hero looks like, but she did mention his name.”
“A name? What is it?” This time, it was Jacob who pressed.
“That name is quite a tongue-twister. What was it again…” Old Harry pondered, looking to his grandson.
Hank immediately replied, “Grandpa, that name is Aipade.”
Ye Chui: “Bloody hell!”
Aipade… iPad?
Debbie and the others also showed surprised expressions. What a peculiar name indeed!
But for Ye Chui, it was far more than peculiar. His spellbook was actually an iPad from another world, a term he was certain he had never uttered to anyone in this world. Yet now, the Divine Lady spoken of by Hank and Harry had prophesied a hero named Aipade?
