Chapter 29: To My Disciple, Angur

Time passed, and Angel's daily life remained unchanged, though his mental state had recovered significantly compared to the despondency of the past few days.

During his days of solving problems, Angel discovered something very strange—

The *Bauhinia* seemed to be circling in a small area.

Not long ago, Angel discovered that the red reef he had first seen half a month ago was visible again today. This was already the fourth time in nearly half a month that he had seen this uniquely shaped reef.

Because of this, Angel concluded that the *Bauhinia* had no intention of leaving the Devil's Sea; it was merely circling nearby.

Angel had once tried to communicate with the ship's navigator, but the man only mumbled incoherently, unwilling to offer any response.

It was obvious that the navigator knew the *Bauhinia* was going in circles; however, since he was unwilling to say more, one could infer that perhaps this strange behavior was being directed by someone important. He could not speak, or rather, he dared not.

Who could command the helm of the *Bauhinia*? Without a doubt, only a transcendent—the Wizard.

After deducing this, Angel did not press the matter further. No matter what the Wizard intended to do, how could a mere mortal like him stop it? Besides, in the vast, boundless Devil's Sea, his only hope for survival was the *Bauhinia*. Whatever decision the Wizard made, he could only comply.

He did not like this feeling of powerlessness, but he had no choice but to obey. He could only hope that one day he would possess the strength to protect himself, so that the weight of his life would no longer be held in the hands of others.

...

Today was the 167th day since Angel left Gru Town, and also his final day of solving problems.

Angel solemnly opened the red lacquer wooden box in his luggage. Inside the box was a square crystal plate, no larger than a matchbox and as thin as a cicada's wing.

This crystal plate did not originate from this world; it was something Jon had brought from Earth.

In truth, on Earth, this crystal plate was merely the carrier for a holographic communication tool, distributed worldwide in the form of a wristwatch. The strap of this smart watch had long since broken over the years, so Jon had simply torn it off and discarded it, leaving only the core plate intact.

Angel closed his door and skillfully pressed the slight protrusion on the bottom right of the plate—the power button.

A crude holographic screen projection, accompanied by a row of holographic buttons, appeared out of thin air before his eyes.

The screen currently displayed a line of Chinese characters

[Screen locked. Answering the question set by the administrator is required to unlock.]

[Question 100: Using the Sidell Five Aberrations, re-correct the following holographic map, and then use a Vigenère square to parse the final code according to the arrangement of the spectrum:]

Question 100—this was the final problem Jon had set for Angel.

Before boarding the ship, every time he used the plate, he had done so surreptitiously, turning it off immediately after memorizing the question. Only after boarding the ship and having private space did he become a bit bolder.

Every time a question was solved, the next one would automatically pop up. Angel had parsed the problems Jon left behind across various disciplines: chemistry, physics, medicine, mathematics, and even philosophy. Although the physical constants of this world differed slightly from Earth's, Jon's questions were all based on fundamental applications, which Angel was able to handle.

Today, he would solve the final mystery—

After spending an entire afternoon, when Angel finally arranged the answer to this last question, he suddenly froze.

"9371201."

To an outsider, this was an utterly incomprehensible number, but Angel understood it.

The calendar of the Golden Sparrow Empire: The year 937 of the Golden Sparrow Calendar, the first day of the Month of Frozen Earth (December 1st).

This day was Angel's birthday.

"Is this the final answer?" Filled with doubt, Angel entered the number into the answer field on the screen.

Once the numbers were entered, a burst of light and shadow shifted, followed by a line of system text.

[Answer correct. Screen unlocked. The administrator may reset the login password in the system.]

As the text vanished, what appeared before Angel was a clean desktop featuring an image of a grassland. In the upper right corner of the desktop, there were two icons: one was a folder, and the other was a text document named "To Angel."

Although Angel had heard Jon mention how this smart watch operated, this was his first time operating it personally. With a hint of curiosity and anticipation, Angel reached out and lightly touched the document icon.

In the next second, an electronic document appeared quietly before his eyes.

「To my disciple, Angel

I wonder how long these hundred questions have troubled you? And I wonder, where in the distant reaches are you right now?

Many times, I feel you are being too hard on yourself. There was no need to push yourself so hard for an old man like me.

I once said that my hometown was an ancient civilization with five thousand years of history; of course, compared to the history of this world, it isn't considered "ancient." In the neighboring countries of my homeland, there existed another nation with a long history. A poet from that country, who lived his life as a philosophy, once said: "The sky leaves no trace of wings, but I have flown."

In my life, I was born on Earth and died on an alien planet; it has been quite an extraordinary life. I have seen two blue skies, though they belong to different times and spaces. It is just a pity for my ill-fated wife and children; I thought it was merely a research expedition lasting a few days, but alas... I never expected that this departure would mean never seeing them again.

However, looking at it from another perspective, my wife and my daughter are like that sky on Earth—traces of my existence.

And you, my disciple Angel, are the trace I have left in this alien sky. Because you have not only inherited the culture of Huaxia but will also ignite the flames of Earth's civilization in this world.

Speaking of which, the traces left by this "bird" of mine are truly remarkable; they span not only time and space but even cosmic quadrants. While others travel through time to seek revenge or glory, my journey is for the propagation of the gospel of civilization. Hahaha, although I might die a bit earlier than those novel protagonists, haven't I lived a bit more loftily than you all?

Speaking of the world of wizards, I am truly interested. I thought this world would be as dull as Earth, but I didn't expect it to hide such a mysterious corner. However, I suppose I won't have the fortune to peer into this transcendent corner, will I?

What a regret.

However, while I cannot peer into it, you can. Therefore, I hope that you—my disciple Angel—can take the world of wizards to its absolute limit. Just like every scholar loyal to their discipline, use concepts as singularities and use knowledge to trigger new universes.

The previous 100 questions are finished, so the new task I give you now is this: complete a thesis that embodies the true essence of the wizarding world. Are you willing?

The reason I am writing this letter to you, besides what I just said, is that I actually want to tell you to make good use of the knowledge I have taught you. Although some physical constants in this world are incorrect, for a scholar, while the result is important, the logic used to calculate it is equally vital. I have already taught you the logic; I hope you can find a path that suits you.

By the way, if I am not mistaken, you should be at sea right now.

There isn't much entertainment at sea, so I have stored some things in this smart chip as my final gift to you. I hope you like it.

—Jon.」

After reading this electronic letter, Angel fell into silence for a long time.

Closing his eyes and clenching his fists, he felt an inexplicable ache in his heart. He did not know what kind of mood Jon was in when he left this letter, but he could feel the tender affection behind every word.

As Angel reminisced about his years living with his mentor, he couldn't help but fall into a daze.

It wasn't until the night was deep that he finally snapped out of it.

He let out a sigh, though he knew not who he was mourning or what he was sighing for.

Recalling the operating methods his mentor had once described, Angel carefully saved the electronic letter. To ensure its safety, he even created a new document and copied it once.

Only then did he close the letter.

With a sense of melancholy and a strange sense of anticipation, he opened the only folder on the desktop.

*I suppose this counts as a "cheat"?* _(:зゝ∠)_

Compared to the high-end smart chips in similar wizarding works, this smart plate might be a bit "low-end," and its functions are almost non-existent (much like the smartphones we use today, just with less storage and fewer resources), and it cannot bind to a host.

But... it's better than nothing, right? Right? Right?

(End of Chapter)