Chapter 401: Language Learning
“Oh~ I didn’t expect breakfast here to be so sumptuous.” As I walked through the breakfast buffet area, I looked at the variety of breakfast foods, many of which I had never seen before—some were oddly shaped, some were creative, and others I simply couldn’t bring myself to eat.
But overall, it looked pretty good, and I tried a little bit of everything.
“The taste is not bad. What’s wrong? You look like you didn’t sleep well last night?”
As I savored the foods that tasted quite good, I planned to try a bit of flavor perception from the five senses training in body cultivation. However, I had no clues at the moment. Since becoming self-awakened, my perception of taste had improved significantly, not just for flavor, but all five senses had slightly enhanced.
“Hmm? No… maybe I just slept too long yesterday, so I didn’t sleep much last night… actually, my energy has mostly recovered.”
“That’s good. So, for the next few days, I’ll have to trouble you with teaching me language and writing,” I said with a smile.
After all, when learning a language, generally, mastering common pronunciations and grammar is sufficient for communication, so my requirements weren’t too high. I planned to take a few days for learning, barring any surprises.
With my memory shelf spellbook, many things could be recorded directly. Even if pronunciation couldn’t be captured by the memory shelf’s text or images, there was always pinyin.
Therefore, if I wanted to learn something and found a method, I could learn it quickly.
Moreover, when talking to Qiu Ruxin, I had some understanding from the information communicated through her consciousness and her spoken words. At this stage, I had a certain foundation.
Personally, I felt that the language spoken by Qiu Ruxin wasn’t too difficult; after all, it was an internationally recognized language. If learning it were too challenging, it wouldn’t likely be adopted as a common language.
“I will do my best!” Qiu Ruxin nodded vigorously, seemingly very eager.
“Mm.”
I responded indifferently. Qiu Ruxin’s sudden enthusiasm truly surprised me, leaving me with no excuse to explain this phenomenon.
Could it be that there was such a thing as love at first sight between the same s*x in this world?
I wouldn’t believe such a small probability would occur to me.
Whether it was her approach to me right after I took a shower yesterday, or her deliberately waiting by the door this morning, both seemed rather abnormal. This shift seemed a bit quick.
When did this change start?
From… becoming wealthy? But Qiu Ruxin didn’t seem like a materialistic person. What else could it be?
As I pondered this question, my gaze wandered until I finished drinking the porridge-like substance in the bowl. My eyes caught the two threads of fortune at one side of my body.
The fortune that originally floated around me like a rootless duckweed was now involuntarily drifting toward Qiu Ruxin, and so they also entered my line of sight.
Seeing this, I seemed to suddenly realize!
What if Qiu Ruxin was influenced by this fortune?
But there was another question: why hadn’t this happened in the main world?
If people with fortune are naturally drawn to the child of fortune, then after the dream communication competition, I should have at least been the center of attention.
Moreover, Teacher Ji seemed to have mentioned that having fortune would at most influence some of the decisions of the child of fortune. For example, during the rock-paper-scissors tournament I hosted, many children of fortune participated for various inexplicable reasons, causing a ruckus with me.
But… I hadn’t seen anyone who had a fondness for me. Take Tan Han, for example, the child of fortune I interacted with the most. Did she have feelings for me?
Not necessarily.
But if I couldn’t figure it out, I should just experiment and see for myself.
I used my mental power to interfere with the threads of fortune, pushing them away from me. These two threads of fortune were significantly different from those in the main world; at least, I could shift the fortune without needing the complicated transfer ceremony I had previously used.
At this moment, the two threads of fortune quickly returned to Qiu Ruxin, merging with the single one that had originally formed around her to become a more solid golden thread, ultimately hidden within a nearly withered fortune seed.
After feeling the nourishment from the fortune, that fortune seed seemed to emit a hint of vitality; but that was all.
Such a change was indeed minuscule—almost imperceptible.
I still remembered how even a slight bit of fortune had caused significant changes in that adorable catgirl from the Catgirl Academy.
“Um… Sister Xiao Han, is there something on my face?” At this moment, Qiu Ruxin instinctively touched her face.
Just a moment ago, she seemed to feel something had happened, but upon closer inspection, there was no abnormality. Only Sister Xiao Han was looking at her strangely, or rather, staring at a particular spot?
“Oh, it’s nothing.” I shook my head, treating it as if nothing had happened.
Soon, breakfast time came to an end. On the way back, I discussed with Qiu Ruxin the tasks we were to undertake next, and we ultimately decided to claim the reward first, to avoid any extended delays.
Back in our guest room, we gathered to search online for guides on claiming the Excavator bounty.
However, as we searched for information, Qiu Ruxin did not appear as delighted as before.
“What’s wrong? Your expression doesn’t look good. Did you see something unfavorable?” I curiously asked as I watched Qiu Ruxin operate the computer.
“Actually, it’s a bit troubling… The site for claiming the Excavator bounty belongs to a public welfare organization, and it lists all of the excavators who are wanted.”
“So?” I asked curiously.
“The bounty relies entirely on crowdfunding…”
“Ah? Crowdfunding?” I looked at the webpage Qiu Ruxin was operating, and although I couldn’t understand the text, I could make out the images. “So, the rewards are very low?”
“No… quite the opposite. Because of these excavators, many families have been ruined worldwide, and there are plenty of wealthy individuals. Many are willing to spend considerable sums of money on bounties as retaliation against these guys.”
“So what do you mean by it being troubling?”
“As fewer and fewer people dare to take action against the excavators, putting money into this is akin to throwing money into the water; not even a sound can be heard… Moreover, the few who have successfully killed excavators to claim rewards often meet their demise during the review process as they are retaliated against, and there are even rumors that someone has taken off with all the money.”
“Is that true?” I looked at these posts; even though I couldn’t understand them, I could sense the anger conveyed through the words, symbols, and images.
“Whether it’s true or not doesn’t matter. Even whether those who claimed bounties were genuinely killed by the excavators is uncertain, but there’s definitely no way to collect the money…”
“Oh, so it’s a money-making scheme?” I responded.
“Mm… it seems that way. Meanwhile, the international wanted notices have seemingly been removed after acknowledging the identities of these excavators…”
“Tsk… no wonder…” I recalled the time I spoke with that man about using his corpse to claim the bounty. He would say such things because he knew I wouldn’t be able to?
No, it’s not necessarily because he knew; it could also be that he understood the nature of this world’s humanity better than I did, realizing that even if I possessed great strength, claiming the bounty would be fraught with difficulties.
By the way, what are the chances I could receive a bounty from them?
Naturally, there are possibilities. If I were to destroy a country, they would be willing to offer that bounty and more just to persuade me to stop.
However, they would then secretly convene to discuss strategies against me.
In summary, it boils down to one word: trouble!
“What should we do, Sister Xiao Han?”
“Just chill~ Do I need to bicker with those guys?” I shrugged, but I noted this grudge for now.
Next time I find the lifeblood of this world… they will have to pay for it.
“But… the excavators who were killed…”
“Let them stay there.” I said nonchalantly, since that wasn’t their actual bodied existence.
As the bounty situation faded into nothing, I began to focus on understanding and learning the language of this world.
The more I recalled, the more I felt this world was like the small world the Academy Head mentioned, which would eventually collide with the main world.
All that was left was to verify.
So I wanted to take this opportunity to try to learn and organize information about this world, including but not limited to language, writing, culture, history, current events, and technological level, etc.
I believed that when I brought this knowledge back, the Academy Head would be quite curious, especially regarding information about the excavators. I wondered if she had any understanding of such entities.
“Then… shall we start with basic kindergarten materials for literacy?” Qiu Ruxin tentatively asked, as she had never taught someone how to read and write before and had no experience in this area.
“Mm, my memory is excellent. You just need to walk me through the meanings, contexts, and pronunciations of the characters, then teach me some grammar, and I should be good.” I nodded in agreement.
Then, Qiu Ruxin began to operate the computer, clearly searching for educational materials.
“Hmm? Is it a paid resource? Wait… I’ll look for more options.”
After she found a resource she liked, she clicked on it immediately, only to discover it required payment! This was naturally unacceptable to her, “Strange, these types of materials are available for free at the library. Why is it so expensive on the Plant Network?”
“It’s fine, we’ll pay. We’re not short on money right now.” I said, as to me, time and efficiency were the most important considerations, everything else could be put aside.
In the end, out of necessity, Qiu Ruxin had no choice but to let me input my bank account details for payment. This seemed to hit her hard, as she had initially insisted she was skilled at finding free resources but ended up having to pay.
“This is too strange… Is there really no kind-hearted person who uploads these kindergarten literacy materials?”
“Alright, don’t get too hung up on it. The money has already been spent. Let’s get on with it.” I consoled her from the side.
Hearing my words, Qiu Ruxin had no choice but to accept reality and started teaching me.
However… while it was called teaching, it was actually focused on me because I was very clear on what I needed to learn, but Qiu Ruxin didn’t know what to teach. I couldn’t just passively wait for her to teach me slowly; that would be too inefficient.
As life gained structure, my life in this world began to get on track.
Learning the language proceeded faster than I had expected; of course, this wasn’t solely due to the memory shelf spellbook, but also due to my practical application of the spell and my own efforts.
Now, using this language, I could roughly communicate with people, albeit with a strong “foreign accent,” which isn’t something that could change overnight, especially since only a few days had passed.
I found it incredible that I could learn a foreign language sufficiently for smooth communication in just a few days. Wouldn’t that earn me the title of “genius” in my past life?
Moreover, in these past few days, my focus had not only been on language learning; I was even more concerned about studying that Reverse Summoning Spell.
Only by thoroughly understanding this could I hope to return. However, as I successfully gathered the summoning runes for the Reverse Summoning Spell, a wave of unease rose within me.
Because, in principle, to be summoned by the Reverse Summoning Spell, the other party would need to set up the summoning ceremony for me to cross over.
This means it was a one-way door; the other party must open the door before I have the option to be summoned.
This method… it seems so much like summoning an evil god to invade a world, holding a ceremony to call upon the evil god’s descent.
And maybe the other party wouldn’t even pay attention to them.
Upon further reflection, this spellbook was derived from Teacher Ji’s “Extraordinary Knowledge.” Would that “Extraordinary Knowledge” be inappropriate?
The more I thought, the more reasonable it seemed, and it even sent a chill down my spine.
But putting aside unrealistic thoughts, it seemed this was merely a single rune among the entirety of that “Extraordinary Knowledge,” so it was best not to jump to conclusions too early.
Now that I had solidified the summoning rune for the Reverse Summoning Spell, I only needed to create a specific anchor point for this summoning rune to use. Alternatively, every time someone wanted to summon, they would need to use this rune for the ceremony, which is still quite troublesome.
At this moment, I glanced at Qiu Ruxin, who seemed unable to complete this ceremony independently.
Thus, I needed to provide a concrete vessel for this rune ceremony, and that vessel would be the anchor point for the Reverse Summoning Spell. Once the ceremony commenced, I could sense who was summoning me from which direction.
However, there was also a very obvious problem: the main world had no summoning rune ceremony left by me, and I had no means to transmit this rune ceremony back to the main world…
This was practically a deadlock.
I had been summoned here with fortune as guidance, but with no summoning rune to return, no instructions, and no coordinates, plus I had severed the earth vein shackles and deviated from the script, how could I go back?
Do I really have to wait for who knows how many months until those witch mentors arrive in this world?
What if this is not the world the Academy Head mentioned?
I certainly can’t resign myself to a lonely old age here! I can’t let Sister Bai remain widowed like this!
After calming down from my excitement, I began to contemplate the current situation. This spellbook had been made by the Academy Head. Let’s hypothesize: is there a possibility that the Academy Head left some backup, like… the summoning rune for this spell!
But there was also a problem: unless the Academy Head activated that rune, I wouldn’t be able to perceive that summoning coordinate.
Continuing this line of reasoning, if the Academy Head would not joke about my life, then how would she ensure I wasn’t in danger upon arriving in this world?
The answer… seems to be becoming clearer.
I looked down at myself; the shield that the Academy Head bestowed upon me remained hidden and unaffecting. Even I couldn’t actively disperse it. To break this extraordinary shield, even I would need to employ quite powerful means.
“No, I can’t test it now. First, I need to handle the follow-up affairs… cough, first, I need to prepare everything; otherwise, it will be amusing if I can’t come back…”
