fantasy novels Chapter 4213 Shell Book
Chapter 4213 Shell Book
Chapter 4213 Shell Book
The bunny girl and Gabriel seemed to understand that only the two of them could make the choice.
They exchanged a glance.
The rabbit girl raised her hand and volunteered, "I'll stay. Gabriel has never had the chance to participate in level challenges before, so this is a good opportunity for him to experience more."
Gabriel, manipulating the illusion puppet, said, "It's alright, I can stay and experience it too. As the leader, you'll definitely have to command everyone."
The rabbit girl shook her head: "Don't worry about command, Angel is here. Besides, after we arrived at the rift, I received a notification from the guild leader that the team chat has been unlocked. I'll add you guys to the team chat later... If I really need to give commands, I can do so in the team chat."
As soon as the words were spoken, everyone received a notification to "Join the Rabbit Hole Team Chat".
"Rabbit Hole Chief: If you have any questions, you can tell me in the team chat later."
The name of the team chat channel can be customized. This Rabbit Hole Chief is undoubtedly Rabbit Girl.
"Brave Gabriel: Commander, I really don't mind staying behind."
"Gray Porcelain: Gabriel is Gabriel, why add a prefix?"
"Brave Gabriel: Guess why I added that prefix?"
"Gray Porcelain: ..."
"Clever Gray Porcelain: Guess why I changed my name?"
The moment the team chat channel was created, it was immediately flooded with messages.
Angell glanced at Gabriel, then at Gray Porcelain beside him: "You two are together, why are you using the team chat channel?"
Gray Porcelain: "..."
"The clever gray porcelain: doesn't want to talk to stupid people."
"Brave Gabriel: I am not truly stupid, but some people are truly cowardly."
Seeing the team chat constantly popping up with new messages, Angell got too lazy to stop it anymore and simply shrunk the text bar and put it aside, out of sight, out of mind.
"Are you sure you want to stay?" Angell asked the rabbit girl.
Before the rabbit girl could say anything, Gabriel manipulated the puppet and said, "The captain is more important than me, so I'll stay!"
The bunny girl tried to persuade Gabriel, but Gabriel insisted on refusing.
Moreover, while Gabriel and the bunny girl were being polite and considerate to each other, he was also able to engage in some playful banter with Gray Porcelain in the team chat channel. This team chat channel truly unleashed Gabriel's talkative nature...
Seeing that the two were unable to give in to each other, Angel sighed: "You two stop arguing. It doesn't really matter who stays or who goes."
Those who followed were going to fight the Book Demon.
Those who remain must also fight against the Book Demon in order to "defend the tower".
So whether you stay or leave, the process remains the same; the only difference is that one is to fight while moving forward, while the other is to wait for the rabbit to run into the tree stump.
Moreover, even if they leave, they can only go one level at most, and the cracks in the second level will still remain.
"Think about it yourselves. Whoever wants to see more of the level design can follow along. Whoever wants to wait for the book demon to come to them can stay here."
Angell's explanation was so insightful that Gabriel and the rabbit girl actually listened.
Yeah, it doesn't really matter whether you stay or leave, so there's no point in refusing.
Thinking of this, Gabriel said, "In that case, I, the captain, will go with Mr. Angel to the second floor to see and experience the other puzzles of the Echo Library."
The rabbit girl nodded: "Okay, it's settled then."
After finalizing the list of those leaving together, Angel waved goodbye to the rabbit girl.
Before leaving, Angell glanced back at the reading table where the "rift" was located.
The countertop was completely empty, without even the slightest ripple of air.
Even with a god-like perspective, one can clearly see every grain of the wood on the desk and detect the slight tremor when a teammate touches it, yet there is nothing unusual in the area where the crack should be.
There were no traces of light, no energy fluctuations, and not even any signs of spatial distortion; it was as if that area was just ordinary air.
If the text bar hadn't explicitly pointed to this location, no one would have been able to find the crack.
Angel sighed. If the rift were even slightly more defined, he wouldn't have needed to find the book spirit; he could have come over directly...
While silently reflecting on his actions, Angell led the two little ones, who were chattering away in the team chat channel, outside.
The rabbit girl, with her arms crossed, sat on the sofa near the rift, preparing for battle.
If nothing unexpected happens, the Book Demon will attack the tower once Angel and the others reach the second floor...
……
Each floor of the Echo Library is like a maze, large and winding, with various puzzles and mechanisms.
But if you don't want to explore the "maze" and just want to go upstairs or downstairs, then it's very simple.
For example, on the stairs leading from the first floor to the second floor, they passed more than a dozen stairs along the way.
This number shows that finding the upper echelons is actually not difficult.
With the full map view activated, Angell easily found the way upstairs.
Just two minutes after they left the reading room, Angell led them to a dilapidated room and pointed to a hole in the ceiling: "Climb up from here to the mezzanine. And up there is the second floor."
Gray Porcelain stared in shock at the huge hole above her head: "This... actually works?"
Angel: "Don't worry, my senses tell me I'm right... Let's go, this cave entrance is quite large, enough to accommodate Gabriel's body."
After speaking, Angel snapped his fingers and used illusion magic to create a spiral staircase that led upwards along the cave entrance.
Angor gestured for Gray Porcelain to follow, while Gabriel floated up and drifted into the top opening before Angor could create the illusionary spiral staircase.
After a while.
Angel and the others found themselves in a similarly dilapidated room.
Ahead was a closed door, which was not open, but the sound of rustling water could be heard coming from behind it.
Why is there water?
Gray Porcelain looked puzzled and urged Gabriel to open the door in the team chat.
After casually mocking the coward, Gabriel arrived at the door, extended his tentacles, and pushed forward.
A shimmering expanse of water appeared before them.
Yes, it's not a corridor, nor a narrow room, but a sprawling expanse of "night sky waters".
The dark blue water surface shimmered with tiny phosphorescent lights, filled with scattered starlight, stretching all the way to the horizon; a full, round moon hung overhead, its silvery light spilling down and reflecting perfectly on the water, even the patterns on the moon's surface were clearly visible.
"This...this is the second floor?" Gray Porcelain's mouth dropped open. She reached out and touched the door frame to make sure she hadn't gone to the wrong place. "How come there's a sky and an ocean on the second floor of the library?"
"Or is it that this place has actually left the library and is in a hidden space?"
As Gray Porcelain stared in astonishment at the water before him, Gabriel beside him murmured, “Clever little Gray Porcelain, haven’t you noticed that the clouds above are just like a picture, completely still?”
Gray Porcelain was startled and subconsciously looked up at the sky.
Sure enough, the full moon and starry sky overhead, as well as the dark, heavy clouds, remained completely still and lifeless.
Upon closer inspection, it became clear that what was above them were not real stars and moon, but some kind of glowing paper.
The end of the waterway doesn't extend to the sky, but rather to the wallpaper pasted on the wall.
Compared to the static environment texture, the water surface was not so calm. There was a surging sound underwater, and ripples appeared on the surface from time to time... The sound of water they heard in the room earlier also came from this.
"There's no wind, but the water is still moving..."
Gray Porcelain swallowed hard, and said somewhat timidly, "Could it be that there's some kind of monster underwater?"
Gabriel: "Even if there were monsters, they wouldn't be interested in Cuphead."
Gray Porcelain: "?!!"
Angel glanced at the gray porcelain and said indifferently, "There are no monsters underwater, but there are a lot of water pipes. Otherwise, where do you think the water comes from?"
The surging sound underwater also comes from the interaction of the water cycle.
“Don’t worry, there’s no danger here. It’s just a shell library simulating a body of water.” Angell said as he walked to the door and raised his hand to make a grasping motion towards the water.
A magical hand, glowing with a pale blue light, emerged from the water, holding a palm-sized object covered in glistening water droplets that shimmered warmly in the "moonlight."
Gray Porcelain leaned closer to take a look, and her eyes widened instantly: "This is... a seashell?"
That thing really did look just like a white seashell commonly seen on the beach, with delicate wavy edges and a mother-of-pearl-like iridescence on the shell.
“To be precise, this is a shell book.” Angel tapped the top of the shell lightly with his fingertip, making a crisp “tap” sound. “A memory pearl is sealed inside the shell book, and the contents of the book are all stored inside.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the closed seashell slowly opened a small gap.
A silver-white pearl, about the size of a marble, was ejected from the crevice.
Angel picked up the pearl and said to Gray Porcelain, "This is the Memory Pearl... You can stick it to your forehead and try to feel it."
Although Gray Porcelain was full of doubts, seeing Angel's determined expression, she carefully took the seashell and placed the cool pearl on the porcelain surface of her forehead.
The moment they made contact, Gray Porcelain's eyes went unfocused, and its body swayed slightly, as if its soul had been ripped away. Its once vibrant expression froze, leaving only a dazed look in its eyes, and even its breathing became lighter.
Gabriel watched with curiosity and couldn't resist reaching out to touch him, but Angel stopped him with a look.
A full half minute passed before Gray Porcelain blinked abruptly, as if waking from a long dream, and stammered, "There are...there are books inside! All books!"
"A book?" Gabriel leaned closer curiously. "How could there be a book inside a pearl?"
“It’s true!” Gray Porcelain recalled with a look of surprise, “Just now, when I touched the pearl between my eyebrows, I felt dizzy and fell into a narrow but bright room. There were many, many thick books piled up in stacks.”
"I glanced through it and it seems to be about cooking and processing aquatic products."
Gray Porcelain had no interest in cooking, found it a headache to watch, and then thought about leaving.
The moment the thought arose, its consciousness returned from that narrow space.
Gabriel was stunned. How could it be so amazing? A single pearl could be a small library?
"That's roughly the idea." Angell took the pearl and put it back into the gap in the shell. The shell seemed to sense this and closed up instantly.
Then he casually tossed the shell book into the depths of the water.
"Many marine communities use this method to store books. They can't bind books with paper like terrestrial communities, so they came up with the idea of using pearls, which can store memories, as a way to record civilization."
The small space that Gray Porcelain just went to is actually the "memory bank" inside the Memory Pearl.
Although memory pearls can store memories, they are very fragile, just like glass, and are easily worn out.
Just as human books have various protection methods, such as waxing, blanching, and insect removal, memory pearls also have their own protection methods, which is to put them into specific shells.
The memory pearl is nourished by the activity of the shell.
This particular type of shell is called a memory shell, and if it contains a memory pearl, it is called a "shell book".
These memory shells can generally live for a hundred years, and some can even live for hundreds or thousands of years.
In other words, as long as the memory shell doesn't die, the memory pearl inside can also be preserved for just as many years.
This is the unique Tibetan calligraphy of a certain marine ethnic group.
“There are some merfolk tribes in the Southern Region who use this method to store books,” Angel said, which is why he was able to recognize the shell book immediately.
This body of water is a special repository for shell books.
Moreover, not only here, but the second floor of the Echo Library has a large number of simulated water areas, with various shell books piled up underwater.
Of course, there are also regular libraries on the second floor, but overall, compared to the first floor, this floor offers a wider selection of books from different ethnic groups.
After briefly explaining the situation of the Shell Book, Angel suddenly turned around and said, "You two wait here for a moment, I'll be out for a bit."
"Get out?" Gray Porcelain and Gabriel were taken aback.
Angell: "I sensed a book spirit outside the simulated waters, and I went over to complete its test first."
“If you two come out, I’m worried that the book spirit will count you two in the assessment.”
Upon hearing this, Gray Porcelain and Gabriel immediately stood still obediently.
Compared to the book spirits' various knowledge quizzes and tests of their knowledge, the two of them preferred to fight the book demons. Yes, Gray Porcelain thought so too.
Book demons still have a chance of winning battles, but the challenges from book spirits are varied and unpredictable. It boasts of being a "clever gray porcelain," but when it comes to the book spirits, it's a complete waste.
"When I go to do the test, you two should stop arguing in the team chat and remember to keep an eye on the situation with the guild leader."
Now that they've reached the second floor, the rabbit girl on the first floor should soon face the test from the book demon.
They might even already be defending the tower.
They are currently in normal challenge mode, and even with God's-eye view, Angor cannot see the situation on the rabbit girl's side. Therefore, they can only confirm the situation through team chat.
"Understood." Gray Porcelain and Gabriel nodded obediently.