Chapter 401 : Chapter 401

Chapter 401: Language Learning

"Oh I didn't expect the breakfast here to be so plentiful."

Walking in the breakfast self-service area, I looked at the dazzling array of breakfast items.

There were many delicacies I had never seen before—some oddly shaped, some creative, and some that I couldn't bring myself to try.

But the overall selection looked good, and I sampled a little of everything.

"The taste is quite good. What's wrong? You look like you didn't sleep well last night?"

While meticulously tasting the reasonably good food, I intended to practice the sense of taste, which was part of the Five Senses Enhancement in Body Cultivation.

I had no specific plan yet, but since becoming a Self-Awakened Body Cultivator, my perception of taste had greatly increased.

Not just taste, but all five senses had slightly improved.

"Hm? No... not really. Maybe I slept too much yesterday, so I didn't sleep much last night... Actually, my energy is almost fully recovered."

"That's good. So, for the next few days, I'll have to trouble you with teaching me the language and writing," I said with a smile.

Generally, learning a language—mastering common characters, pronunciation, and grammar—is enough for communication.

I didn't have very high demands, so I planned to spend a few days learning.

After all, I had the Memory Bookshelf Spellbook, and many things could be directly recorded.

Even if pronunciation couldn't be recorded by the text or images in the Memory Bookshelf, there was still romanization.

So, if I found the right method, I could quickly learn anything.

Moreover, in my conversations with Qiu Ruxin, I had already gained some understanding from the information transmitted through her consciousness and her spoken words, so I already had a certain foundation.

I personally felt the language Qiu Ruxin spoke was not very difficult.

It certainly lived up to its reputation as a World Common Language.

If it were too difficult to learn, it wouldn't have been adopted as a universal language.

"I'll do my best!"

Qiu Ruxin nodded vigorously, seeming very excited.

"Mhm."

I replied calmly.

Qiu Ruxin's sudden enthusiasm truly surprised me.

I couldn't even find an excuse to explain this phenomenon myself.

Was there such a thing as love at first sight between two people of the same gender in this world?

I wouldn't believe such a small probability would happen to me.

From her searching for me after I bathed yesterday to her deliberately waiting by the door this morning, none of her actions seemed normal.

This shift seemed too rapid.

When exactly did this change begin?

Since... I became rich?

But Qiu Ruxin didn't look like a gold digger.

What else could it be?

Pondering this question, my gaze drifted until I finished the bowl of what looked like congee.

My gaze fell upon the two threads of Destiny on the side of my body.

The Destiny that was rootless on my body was now involuntarily drifting toward Qiu Ruxin.

Thus, they were also reflected in my sight.

Seeing this, I instantly realized!

What if Qiu Ruxin's sudden interest was because of this Destiny?

But this still left a question: why didn't this happen when I was in the Main World?

If people with Destiny would involuntarily attract a Child of Destiny, then after the Dream State Exchange Competition, I should have been the center of attention.

Moreover, Teacher Ji Niang seemed to have said that Destiny at most influenced some of the Child of Destiny's decisions.

For example, I held a rock-paper-scissors competition, and Children of Destiny came over for various inexplicable reasons to join my fooling around.

But... I hadn't seen anyone develop a strong affection for me.

For example, Tan Han, the Child of Destiny I interacted with the most.

Did she have affection for me?

I doubted it.

But if I couldn't figure it out, I wouldn't dwell on it.

Instead of thinking slowly here, I would experiment.

I used my mental power to move the Destiny threads away from me.

These two threads of Destiny were very different from the Destiny of the Main World.

At the very least, transferring this Destiny didn't require the cumbersome transfer ritual I had to use before.

Instantly, the two threads of Destiny swiftly flew back to Qiu Ruxin, like young swallows returning to their nest.

The two threads merged with the faint thread already on Qiu Ruxin, condensing into a more solid golden thread, which finally disappeared into her nearly withered Seed of Destiny.

That Seed of Destiny, upon receiving the nourishment of Destiny, seemed to emit a hint of vitality, but that was all.

This change was very subtle, almost unnoticeable.

I remembered that even a single thread of Destiny caused a significant change in the adorable Cat Girl from the Cat Girl Academy.

"Um... Little Han Sis, is there something on my face?"

Qiu Ruxin subconsciously touched her face.

Just now, she seemed to feel something happen, but after examining herself carefully, there was no anomaly.

Only Little Han Sis was staring at her strangely, or rather, at a certain part of her body?

"Oh, nothing," I shook my head, acting as if nothing had happened.

Soon, the breakfast time passed.

On the way back, I discussed the next steps with Qiu Ruxin.

We finally decided to first collect the bounty before any more complications arose.

Back in the guest room, we huddled together and opened the computer to search for guides on collecting the Secret Diggers' bounty.

But as the information was retrieved, Qiu Ruxin's face no longer looked happy.

"What's wrong? You don't look well. Did you see some bad news?"

I asked curiously, watching Qiu Ruxin operate the computer.

"It is indeed a bit bad... The organization that handles the Secret Diggers' bounty is a public service website. It lists all the wanted Secret Diggers."

"And so?"

I asked curiously.

"The reward money is entirely crowdfunded..."

"Huh? Crowdfunded?"

I looked at the webpage Qiu Ruxin was operating.

Although I couldn't understand the text, I could understand the pictures.

"So the bounty is very low?"

"No... it's quite high. Countless people worldwide have been ruined by these Secret Diggers, and many of them are wealthy. To take revenge on these people, many are willing to spend huge sums of money on bounties."

"Then what do you mean it's 'a bit bad'?"

"As fewer and fewer people dare to oppose the Secret Diggers, throwing money into this is like throwing money into water; you won't even hear a splash... Furthermore, the few who did kill Secret Diggers and went to collect the bounty mostly failed to receive it. Most were killed by the Secret Diggers' retaliation during the verification process, and there are even rumors that someone embezzled all the money."

"Seriously?"

I looked at the posts.

Although I couldn't understand the words, I could sense the anger in the text, symbols, and pictures.

"Whether it's true or false is no longer important. It's not even certain if those who went through the process to collect the bounty were truly killed by the Secret Diggers, but the money is definitely impossible to get..."

"Oh, it's a scam to collect money?"

I realized.

"Mhm... it seems so. At the same time, the international arrest warrants seem to have all been withdrawn after officially recognizing the Secret Diggers' status..."

"Tsk... no wonder..."

I recalled the man saying he was fine with me claiming the bounty with his corpse.

He must have known I wouldn't get it.

No, not necessarily known, but he might have understood the human nature of this world better than me, realizing that even with my great strength, collecting it would be incredibly difficult.

Did I have a chance to collect the bounty from them?

Naturally, I did.

If I started by destroying a country, they would be willing to pay the bounty for these guys, or even more, to beg me to stop.

But then, they would secretly meet to discuss ways to deal with me.

In short, it would be a huge headache!

"Then what should we do, Little Han Sis?"

"We'll find a way. Do you think I'll let those people get away with it?"

I shrugged.

But I would certainly remember this grudge.

If I found the lifeline of this world next time... they would be in for a rough time.

"But... what about the killed Secret Diggers..."

"Just leave them where they are."

I said casually.

Anyway, those weren't their real bodies.

With the bounty matter dropped, I focused on learning and studying the language of this world.

The more I reflected, the more I felt that this world was indeed the Small World that the Academy Head said would collide with the Main World.

Now, all that remained was verification.

So, I wanted to take this opportunity to try and learn and organize the information about this world, including but not limited to the language, script, culture, history, current development, and technology level.

I personally felt that the Academy Head would be very curious about this information when I brought it back.

There was also the matter of the Secret Diggers.

I wondered if the Academy Head knew anything about their existence.

"Then... should we start with basic children's textbooks for literacy and reading?"

Qiu Ruxin asked tentatively.

She hadn't taught anyone how to read before and had no experience in this area.

"Mhm. My memory is very strong. You just need to guide me through the meaning and context of the words, the pronunciation, and finally the grammar. That should be enough," I nodded, having no objection.

Qiu Ruxin then started operating the computer, clearly searching for textbooks.

"Hm? It requires payment? Wait... let me look for another one."

Qiu Ruxin finally found a satisfactory textbook and immediately clicked on it, but found that it required a fee!

This was something she couldn't accept.

"That's strange. Textbooks like this are free to read in the library. Why is it so expensive on the Plant Network?"

"It's fine. Pay the fee. We're not short on money now."

I said.

Time and efficiency were the most important things to me now; everything else had to wait.

Ultimately, out of necessity, Qiu Ruxin reluctantly asked me to input the bank account information for payment.

This incident seemed to have been a big blow to Qiu Ruxin.

She was initially very insistent on finding free resources but ended up having to pay.

"This is so wrong... Are there no kind-hearted people uploading these children's literacy textbooks?"

"It's alright. Don't take it so seriously. The money has already been paid, okay? Hurry up now," I comforted her.

Hearing my words, Qiu Ruxin had no choice but to accept reality and begin teaching me.

However... it was more of a self-study session led by me than actual teaching.

I knew what I needed to learn, but Qiu Ruxin didn't know what to teach.

I couldn't passively wait for her to slowly teach me.

That would be too slow.

With a structured life, my time in this world was back on track.

My language learning was faster than I expected.

This was due not only to the Memory Bookshelf Spellbook but also to the Flexible Learning and Application Spell and my own effort.

I could now barely communicate with others using this language, although I had a strong "foreign accent" when speaking.

But that was not something that could be changed overnight, and it had only been a few days.

I found it incredible.

Learning a foreign language in a few days and communicating fluently—wouldn't that earn me the title of "genius" in my past life?

And my focus these days was not just on language learning.

I placed more importance on researching the Reverse Summoning Spell.

Only by thoroughly understanding this could I have a chance to go back.

However, as I successfully condensed the Summoning Rune of the Reverse Summoning Spell, a wave of unease washed over me.

To be summoned by the Reverse Summoning Spell, the principle was that the other party had to set up a summoning ritual for me to be able to pass through.

This meant it was a one-way gate.

Only when the other party opened the door did I have the option of being summoned through.

This method... felt so much like an Evil God invading a world—holding a ritual to summon an Evil God and begging for its descent.

And the Evil God might not even heed their call.

If I thought about it more closely, this Spellbook was derived from Teacher Ji Niang's [Transcendent Knowledge].

Could that portion of [Transcendent Knowledge] be... not quite proper?

The more I thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed, and I even felt a chill.

But setting aside the wild ideas, after careful thought, this was only a single rune from the entire [Transcendent Knowledge].

So, it was best not to jump to conclusions too soon.

Now that the Summoning Rune for the Reverse Summoning Spell was resolved, I just needed to craft this Summoning Rune into a specific anchor point to use it.

Otherwise, every time someone wanted to summon me, they would need to arrange the ritual using this rune, which was quite troublesome.

I glanced at Qiu Ruxin.

She didn't look like someone who could independently complete this ritual either.

That's why I needed the rune ritual to have a specific carrier, and that carrier would be the anchor point for the Reverse Summoning Spell.

Once the ritual was set up, I could use this spell to sense who was summoning me and where.

But there was still a very obvious problem: there was no summoning rune ritual left behind for me in the Main World, and I had no means of transmitting this rune ritual back to the Main World...

This was practically a dead end.

I was summoned here with Destiny as a guide, but to go back, I had no summoning rune, no guide, and no coordinates.

I had also severed the Earth Vein Chains and left The Script.

How could I go back?

Did I really have to wait for the witch mentors who would arrive in this world in an unknown number of months?

What if this wasn't the world the Academy Head spoke of?

I couldn't just stay here until I grew old!

I couldn't let Big Sis Bai become a widow like this!

After calming down from my excitement, I analyzed the current situation.

This Spellbook was made by the Academy Head.

Assuming there was a possibility that the Academy Head had left some kind of contingency, such as... the Academy Head had left the Summoning Rune for this spell!

But that also presented a problem: unless the Academy Head activated that rune, I wouldn't be able to sense the summoning coordinates.

Following this line of reasoning, if the Academy Head wouldn't gamble with my life, how could she ensure I wouldn't encounter danger after arriving in this world?

The answer... seemed to be on the tip of my tongue.

I looked down at myself.

The shield the Academy Head cast on me was always invisible.

I couldn't even dispel it actively.

To break this incredibly mysterious shield, even I would need to use extremely powerful means.

"No, I can't test it now. I need to take care of my final arrangements... Pah, I need to get all my preparations done first. Otherwise, not being able to go back would be quite the joke..."