Chapter 199 Connection
Inside the tent, seeing the unexpected words appearing at the end of the comic book, Kapak’s brows furrowed slightly. Although he did not recognize the meaning of this word, he felt that it should not be there.
All other texts in the comic were black and seemed very neat, as if printed, while this word was blue and not as regular as the other letters, suggesting it had been written by hand.
‘Is this word meant to be written on a blank page? Does it have a special meaning? What does it mean?’
Looking at the word on the paper before him, Kapak thought this, then searched his wooden box for a while, eventually pulling out a small notebook. When he opened it, he found it filled with writing.
In this small notebook, there were many words, with stamp-like clusters of other text next to them, both corresponding to each other.
Kapak had once been a slave in the city established by invaders from across the sea. There, to make him understand what work to do, the factory owner hired people to teach these alien slaves simple vocabulary. Though this was to better exploit Kapak, he still diligently learned these foreign languages and even took notes. The small notebook he now held was one he brought back with him.
On one side of the notebook were phonetic characters made up of letters, which, according to the invaders’ name for it, was called Prit language. On the other side, the stamp-like text was known as Spiritual Seal Language, a written form used by many tribes across the continent.
The vast land where Kapak lived was home to many tribes, each with vastly different languages and customs. However, their written language was the same. According to the priests, long ago, all tribes united under a great king who ruled over them. Under the king’s divine power, warriors could even embark on expeditions to the world across the sea.
But when the king died in battle, countless disasters befell the tribes, splitting them apart. After countless years, the great legacy of the king faded away, leaving only the written language behind. However, only a few people within the tribe, led by the priests, knew this language. Kapak, having once been an assistant to the tribal priest, also knew this script.
At this moment, the small notebook in Kapak’s hands was a simple vocabulary translation book, comparing Spiritual Seal Language with Prit language. Kapak flipped through the small book, trying to find the meaning of the word written on the blank page, but after much searching, he couldn’t find it.
The vocabulary in Kapak’s translation book was limited, mostly including terms he needed as a slave, such as “work,” “eat,” “keep working,” “move things,” “shovel coal,” “no rest,” “work all night,” “work all day,” and so on…
Finally, after much searching, Kapak found a word in his small notebook that closely resembled the one on the blank page, differing only by a few letters. Based on the Spiritual Seal Language translation afterward, Kapak understood the specific meaning of this word.
It meant “ignorance,” “fool,” or “idiot,” commonly used by factory owners to scold people. Since Kapak had heard this word often, he figured out its spelling and pronunciation. When he killed the factory owner, he loudly cursed this word ten times in front of the workers, causing a group of workers to join in.
‘Oh… So it means “ignorance.” It just has a few less letters. Apart from the missing letters, it looks quite similar. Yes, it must be a mistake by the owner of this comic, who missed a few letters.’
Satisfied with finding the meaning, Kapak confirmed that the word on the comic book was “ignorance” or “fool,” just with a few missing letters.
‘Yes, I can take this chance to correct it and reinforce my memory of the word. Next time, I won’t need to flip through the notebook.’
Thinking this, Kapak decided to correct the misspelled word. He rummaged through his collection box again and pulled out a bottle of ink and a pen. After filling the pen with ink, he placed the comic book on the ground and began writing on the blank page, having practiced the technique with a pen in the city.
Under the original word, Kapak first wrote what he believed to be the correct word, then added the corresponding Spiritual Seal Language below. After a quick glance, he nodded in satisfaction.
However, soon something surprising happened. The characters he wrote, whether in Prit language or Spiritual Seal Language, disappeared into the white paper.
Kapak stared wide-eyed at this sight, astonished.
…
On the main island of the eastern coast of the Prit Kingdom, in Tivyán, at the Royal Sacred Crown University, King Campus.
In the library’s washroom, Dorothy looked at the characters appearing on her copy of “Navigation of the Literary Sea” in astonishment. She couldn’t read the strange stamp-like text, but she recognized the Prit words.
‘Ignorance? Fool? Why is someone cursing me here? I wrote “knowledge,” and you replied with “ignorance”? What does this mean?’
Dorothy thought angrily, looking at the book. In fact, in Prit, “knowledge” and “wisdom” were the same word, and adding a few more letters turned it into its negative form, “ignorance,” which was used as an insult.
‘I don’t know why the person linked by “Navigation of the Literary Sea” sent some unreadable characters and a Prit “ignorance.” What does this mean?’
Dorothy pondered the text on the book and then considered a possibility, deciding to ask the system.
“System, check if there’s any new knowledge related to language.”
“Reply: Detected a new Spiritual Seal Language vocabulary: ignorance.”
The system responded to Dorothy, who nodded in understanding.
“Indeed, this strange text is a new language, corresponding to the Prit word ‘ignorance.’ This time, the person linked by ‘Navigation of the Literary Sea’ might be a scholar who knows a language called Spiritual Seal Language.”
‘This scholar might be using the book linked by “Navigation of the Literary Sea” to draft something, and I happened to see it. How interesting.’
Thinking about the person on the other end of the “Navigation of the Literary Sea” knowing a new language, Dorothy’s eyes lit up. Then, taking a pen from the magic box, she wrote in Prit on the “Navigation of the Literary Sea.”
“Prayer.”
After finishing the word, Dorothy watched as the text slowly seeped into the paper.
Through “Navigation of the Literary Sea” as a medium, Dorothy’s system could extend the range to detect anonymous prayers. As long as they were communicating through the “Navigation of the Literary Sea,” Dorothy could perceive any anonymous prayer sent by the other party.
Of course, whether the other party would subconsciously pray just by seeing the word “prayer” depended on luck. If it didn’t work, Dorothy would gradually communicate with the other party and induce them to pray.
…
Inside the tent, seeing the text disappear from the book before him, Kapak was momentarily alarmed and immediately stood up, grabbing his short axe.
“What’s happening? Why did my words disappear? What’s going on? An evil spirit? Witchcraft? Or something else?”
Kapak nervously looked at the pages on the ground, wondering whether to show this strange thing to the priest. Just then, new text suddenly appeared out of nowhere, forming a new word.
‘The text just vanished… now it reappeared. It’s that kind of letter text… what does it mean this time?’
Curiously, Kapak leaned closer to the book. After not understanding, he picked up his translation notebook and flipped through several pages until he found the corresponding word.
One was “prayer.” The white people, whether workers or factory owners, paid attention to this. Whenever they had free time, they would go to their church and pray to their gods. Because this was a common occurrence, Kapak remembered it.
“Prayer… Who am I supposed to pray to? To this book? Could it be responding because it contains a powerful spirit?”
Kapak muttered in his own language, recalling the rituals when praying to the Wilderness Spirit. Having witnessed items containing guardian spirits, Kapak felt a sense of reverence, believing that perhaps the book contained a powerful spirit inside. Only objects with souls could possess wisdom.
Whether it was an evil spirit or a guardian spirit, they were both objects of worship for the tribes.
At this moment, far away, Dorothy’s system finally reacted. She immediately consumed the “Enlightenment” spirit, establishing an information channel with Kapak.
