Shattered Text

"The script used in your hometown?"

"That's right."

Holding the red question, Linsey's eyes held a mixture of emotions.

The hometown he spoke of was not Earth, but his hometown in this life— Anville Village.

In this universe.

Common Language is a language used by people in countless worlds.

But beneath this most widely used language, some parts of the world also preserve relatively ancient traditions, including languages from very long ago.

Anville Village is an agricultural town under the rule of the City of Law capital.

They possess this heritage.

Although it is used less and less in daily life, this language is still occasionally used on important holidays such as Harvest Day or when recounting certain ancient epics.

Linsey was once a child and didn't know much about the language.

However, with the addition of Attribute Panel and experience points, this language has reached a point where communication is seamless.

Looking at the words in the crystal, Linsey slowly read, "Defeat the wicked enemy, dispel evil and reveal justice. Righteous Walker..."

Linsey's recitation stopped abruptly, and Hong immediately urged her on:

"What happens next? Keep reading!"

Linsey turned her head sharply, her expression as anxious as Red's. "That's it!"

"This piece of crystal is only this big; the text ends here."

The secret of Dragon Beast advancement is hidden in Crystal Valley.

But when Linsey arrived here, she encountered the writings of her hometown, which still contained the words "Righteous Walker".

The information suddenly presented to him left his mind somewhat confused.

According to the records in the Hidden Borderlands library, the Expedition Team was the first group of humans to arrive here in hundreds, or even thousands of years. Linsey also remembered the names and professions of the strong members of the Expedition Team.

There were indeed Law Knight in the Expedition Team back then, beings from the City of Law.

But there is absolutely no record of any Righteous Walker appearing!

"Could it be that when they passed through here, the Law Knight in their party went underground and created this Crystal Valley?"

Linsey immediately shook her head and rejected the idea after thinking about it.

The Expedition Team's long-term goal is to explore the boundaries of the known world. While they may conduct some simple explorations and investigations along the way, they will never venture this deep underground.

"If the Expedition Team is impossible..."

Linsey's thoughts began to drift towards the more distant past.

Hong, standing to the side, suddenly seemed to be deep in thought.

The girl had a strange feeling about this word, and then asked curiously:

"Linsey, what is Righteous Walker?"

Linsey immediately replied, "It's an awakened being driven by willpower, and their abilities are extremely powerful."

Hong pressed on, "How strong?"

Linsey thought about the legendary dragon-slaying stories, "A powerful Righteous Walker could probably kill that Dragon Beast on Black Mountain with a single sword strike?"

"..."

"It just sounds unappealing."

Following her intuition, Hong expressed her thoughts, then immediately shifted the focus to reality:

So what do we do now?

Linsey did not answer immediately.

His gaze shifted to the blue crystal in front of him. The text composed of golden threads did not end there; instead, the crystal supporting it broke for some unknown reason, causing the rest of the text to disappear.

"Red, the text here doesn't end, but the crystal has broken."

"Let's look around, maybe we can find something."

Hongwei nodded slightly, then turned around and began searching the surroundings.

Linsey also prepared to join the operation, but before leaving, he didn't forget to place a product appraisal on the crystal.

[Mineral: Blue Crystal]

Blue crystal that can be made into decorative items.

[A common type of crystal, readily available and reasonably priced in most places.]

If this were an ordinary piece of ore, then such information would be perfectly normal.

But it has text composed of gold patterns on it.

Linsey is recalling everything that happened on that night of Harvest Day four years ago, when the Law Knight restricted Alvitte's abilities, which also emitted a golden light.

Just minutes earlier, the light that had neutralized the Lizard Dragon Leader's attack was also golden.

"This is probably no coincidence..."

Linsey raised an eyebrow slightly.

He didn't think the words in front of him were anything ordinary.

However, the crystal that contains it is clearly just an ordinary ore, showing no signs of fusion with the Essence.

Linsey had an urge to wield Meteorite Pickaxe and dig the crystal out.

But considering the current situation and the Iron Pickaxe that had just exploded in Hong's hand, he abandoned this rash idea.

"In any case, let's look for any possible fragments first."

"..."

It's alright if we don't look for crystal shards.

As they continued their search of the surrounding area, Linsey and Red discovered more similar objects.

The natural curves surrounding the Crystal Wall.

At regular intervals around the perimeter, there are pieces of ordinary crystal inlaid with these golden characters. They are also in a broken and incomplete state, but more information gradually emerges in this way.

"Disrupting the world, blaspheming the dead, this sword shall be buried in the Abyss..."

"The Heptagram, the alliance; the Crown, the Divine Court. The Myriad Forms Technique govern all beings..."

"Ryan Olma ..."

The text inside the crystals varies in length, and some even contain a name.

Linsey and Red ran back and forth, collecting information one by one.

Then, on a red crystal, Linsey deciphered another passage.

"You annihilator, this is where you will die!"

Linsey had just finished reading and was preparing to continue searching for crystals and text around her, just like before.

But at that moment, Hong suddenly knelt down.

The girl clutched her heart with one hand, as if something was attacking her.

"Hong, what's wrong?"

Linsey immediately went over to check.

The girl's face was pale, and her hands were clenched tightly.

At such close range, Linsey could feel the Essence within the other person's body surging wildly, as if it were fighting against something deeply buried in their soul.

Hong looked at Linsey and spoke with difficulty:

"Sword."

"I remember... someone stabbed here with a sword..."

"..."

In the time it took to say those two sentences, Hong had already torn her clothes to shreds. An uncontrollable pain was crashing into her mind like a tsunami, driving her consciousness into a state of frenzy.

At this moment, Linsey could feel Red's heart rate increasing rapidly, and her body temperature rising in tandem.

Even an awakened being could not withstand such a drastic physical change!

"You should rest for a while."

Without hesitation, Linsey knocked Hong unconscious with a single slap.

The revival of memories was abruptly interrupted, and the girl's tense body relaxed as a result.

Linsey gently laid Red's body flat on her lap. The other girl was sleeping peacefully, her serene and soft beautiful face like something out of a fairy tale. Linsey could even feel the girl's moist breath on her hand.

But he had no time to appreciate her beauty at that moment.

"Well--"

"Let me help you this time."

Linsey sighed softly.

Just like when he was bewitched by the Fairy Girl, and Hong came to his rescue in time.

Linsey also stood up and continued searching the surrounding area for the text in the crystal, looking for clues to solve her current predicament.