Xie De stared expressionlessly at the parchment of elective courses, which looked more like a price list. Based on his personal circumstances (city of residence, profession, age), the college he joined, and his core spirit rune, the academy had opened nearly two hundred elective courses to him for his first year. Among them were courses that looked quite useful at a glance, such as "Divination of Inspiration" and "Simplified Acquisition of Four-Element Spirit Runes."
Some courses required the completion of basic or elective prerequisites; otherwise, Xie De would have seen even more options.
The fees for the cheaper courses exceeded 20 pounds, while the most expensive ones could not be paid for with currency at all, requiring [Relics] or other specific demands and tasks as payment.
Fortunately, elective courses could be chosen at any time. When he visited the doctor every Saturday, he could simply contact the academy if he intended to pay.
Dr. Schneider suggested that Xie De familiarize himself with the basic courses for a while before considering electives. The old priest recommended a few useful ones, while Miss Louisa helped Xie De cross out a portion of them directly. Having spent a large chunk of her own substantial writing royalties on courses during her first year, she knew which ones were temporarily unnecessary
"You don't have to pass your electives; the academy and the professors don't care about that. But electives are a good opportunity for us correspondence ring-術士 (ring-mages) to meet and get to know the academy professors. You should know that whether some valuable elective courses are opened often depends on the professors' own willingness."
Miss Louisa continued her introduction. Xie De was familiar with this system; although it was slightly different from the past, he adapted to these rules easily.
Reading through the list of elective courses in his hand, he subconsciously flipped to the back when he reached the end. He had assumed the back of the parchment would be blank, but to his surprise, there was actually text
[Mr. Xie De Suren Hamilton, First-Ring Ring-Mage
Please prepare four wooden chairs in an empty, unoccupied room at midnight tonight. They must not have any holy emblems of deities. Place the four chairs facing each other in the cardinal directions—East, West, South, and North—surrounding a non-sterling silver basin filled with clear water. You must sit in the northern chair before midnight, ignite this parchment, and drop it into the basin.
Please dress formally. You may turn on the gas lamps, but please close the curtains. Do not tell anyone about this, including the ring-mages in your group. Professor Harms Sanchez of the Library Management College and Professor Hessinger Garcia of the History College wish to see you.
Saint Byron Comprehensive Academy - Student Affairs Office Professor Harms Jane Sanchez]
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Xie De staring blankly at the back of the parchment, Miss Louisa also looked at it.
"What's so interesting about a blank page? Oh, I see. You probably haven't used parchment before. Common sense dictates that we don't usually use both sides of parchment, so there's nothing on the back."
Miss Louisa was in a position where she should have been able to see the text clearly, yet she acted as if there was nothing there at all.
*Only I can see this? What does the academy mean? Do they have a secret mission for me? Talking to me alone—could my identity as an 'Outlander' have been exposed?*
Xie De thought to himself, memorizing the message before rolling up the parchment and placing it on the sofa.
Because of Xie De's [Space-Time] core spirit rune, the History College had promised to provide a [Keeper-level] relic for self-defense after he joined. This relic only appeared after all the books and documents were delivered, following the confirmation note.
The upper limit of items that a Poet-level relic could transmit was restricted to [Keeper-level], and even then, only some Keeper-level relics could be transported. Thus, it seemed the History College had gone to great lengths for Xie De.
The [Relic] was placed inside a cubic, rusted bronze box, smaller than a palm. The markings on the box's surface depicted incomprehensible, vine-like patterns.
Underneath the bronze box was an instruction document describing the function of this [Relic].
The relic was not a gift to Xie De; if he were to leave the History College or withdraw from Saint Byron Comprehensive Academy, he would need to return it. However, if he graduated normally, he would not need to.
[You have touched a 'Whisper'.]
According to common sense, Xie De shouldn't have known immediately that this was a relic, as he didn't know its properties.
"[The Twenty-Sided Die of Fate]?"
Xie De didn't shy away from the others and opened the antique-looking bronze box directly. The inside of the box was almost solid metal, with only a bronze-colored die embedded in the center.
The surface was covered in rust. It was a 20-sided die with the numbers recessed into the metal surface. The numbers were golden, some almost blending into the rust—a mark of the passage of time.
"I know this!"
Miss Louisa said with some surprise, raising her hand as if to touch her earlobe, but then shaking her head.
"No, I should say 'the other me' knows this. I probably scanned information about this die in a book by accident... But how could the academy give you such a dangerous relic?"
"All relics are dangerous; they are all terrifying residues condensed from the whispers of past times," Father Ougu reminded them, but the young writer shook her head, her blonde hair swaying slightly.
"This one is particularly dangerous. Its properties manifest in two ways.
On one hand, while carrying the die, most divination attempts will not work on the bearer, but this is only while carrying it. Carrying this die for a long time will cause one's own luck to permanently decline. I know luck is an immeasurable concept, but the [Whisper] element truly interferes with luck.
On the other hand, you can actively roll the die once a day. When the die is rolled, one matter related to the roller will be determined by the size of the number—the higher the number, the better the luck. And there is no skill or method to determine the randomly appearing number."
"Any matter related to the user?"
Dr. Schneider caught the key point. He was considered by others in the group to have poor luck, so he was particularly concerned about this type of relic.
"Yes. So, usually, after rolling it once, you won't immediately know which matter was affected, but you will definitely understand later. This is also one of the characteristics of the Twenty-Sided Die of Fate."
The blonde lady moved away from the bronze box in Xie De's hand with some trepidation.
"But in most cases, it only rolls numbers below 10, which lean toward bad luck—this has been statistically proven. And it is said that if you roll a 1, something more terrifying than death will occur. How could the History College give such a terrifying thing to a detective?"
The information provided by the academy was similar to Miss Louisa's explanation. This die could only be contained within that specially crafted bronze box. When not contained, the die would always subconsciously lure the holder to roll it. Furthermore, the probability of rolling each number was not equal; numbers below 10 were the most likely, which would lead to terrible consequences.
Therefore, Miss Louisa strongly advised Xie De not to use the die's active effect and to simply treat it as a [Relic] for interfering with divination.