Chapter 57: Isn’t this Simple?
Anyway, what was going on with Undine was not a matter of concern for Baiyi, although it seemed like the group of Voidwalkers seemed to be very interested in that topic. When he tried to listen carefully to their discussions, it turned out that their topic revolved around slave training, bondage, and even gangbang! WHAT THE HELL GUYS?! THIS IS FREAKING RUDE! Even though the strength of the Merchant is kind of lacking compared to all of you but at least show some respect please!
Without waiting a second longer, Baiyi instantly banned those perverts who had subjected Undine to all kinds of BDSM act in their mind from speaking. She’s not born to be subjected to these kind of sick fantasies, okay?
After forcibly turning the conversation back to the normal direction, Baiyi turned his attention back to the outside world and continued to listen to those Soul Armatures who sounded like old retirees. Most of their talks was about their heroic deeds when they were young or how worrisome their practitioners were. Coupled with the relaxing ambience of ‘Seniors Park’, Baiyi felt like he had just turned several decades older.
To his delight, there was some useful information that he managed to glean from the conversation. For example, Baiyi overheard two Soul Armatures who seemed to be discussing the recent harvest of the expedition that the senior students went on.
“I heard that the discovery team from the Golden Chrysanthemum class managed to bring back many valuable things.
“Oh? Really? I heard something similar as well actually. It seemed like they have found the mausoleum of Emperor Rosse in the south. Don’t tell me they managed to get their hands on the treasures from the Ancient Rohserl empire?”
“No, it doesn’t seem to be a treasure, it’s more like a remainder from a supernatural being. It’s speculated that the item once belonged to the Sage Vagabond, Zandlayn.”
Of course, such topic would attract the attention of the people beside them. In a flash, a person interjected, “Do you mean the legendary Master Zandlayn? I heard not only was his power strong, he was very knowledgeable as well. He had also travelled to many different realms, that was why he was called ‘The Walking Encyclopaedia’. If it is something that belonged to him, then it must be worth a fortune!”
“Exactly! Even if the remainder is not some kind of treasure or equipment, just his knowledge itself is already a priceless! To be exact, his knowledge is the real treasure!”
When Baiyi heard this, he could not help but secretly smirked, Your so-called priceless treasure is only worth 20 years of memory of an ordinary Earthling, you know! Then, turning to the Explorer, he teased, Ooohh, I didn’t know that you are quite popular among the people here. Quite a fanbase you have right there!
“You flatter me!” The Explorer modestly said, “Previously, I liked to share my travelling experiences so maybe that’s why they remember me. I prefer exploring the world rather than being stuck in the Mage Tower doing research…”
Just as he finished his words, the Archmage immediately bellowed, “EXPLORING THE WORLD? ALL THE WAY TO MY ANCESTRAL GRAVE? AND YOU EVEN HAVE THE COURAGE TO LEAVE BEHIND YOUR THING THERE?”
Noticing the ire in the Archmage’s voice, the Explorer quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, Sir First Walker! The ruins of your Ancient Rohserl empire was the dream of all explorers, of which I’m no exception to as well. I can promise you that I only went to conduct academic research for the history of mankind and I swear I did not touch a thing at your royal mausoleum! Nor did I disturbt your peace as well…”
Psssst! How did you disturb his peace? He was already stuck at the Void that time anyway…
“YOU SHAMELESS GRAVE ROBBER!” The Archmage yelled.
“I really just wanted to do some academic research!” The Explorer defended himself.
Oooh~ A fight between a grave robber and the grave owner! I never thought that I’d be able to witness such a scene that usually only appears in novels with my own eyes! Baiyi was enjoying the fight.
“BUT YOUR SO-CALLED ACADEMIC RESEARCH BROKE THE ENCHANTMENT OF MY MAUSOLEUM! THAT’S WHY THOSE GROUP OF YOUNG KIDS WAS ABLE TO ENTER AND EASILY FOUND THE THING THAT YOU’VE HIDDEN THERE!” The Archmage jeered.
The 16th Walker, the Explorer, who was also widely known as Zandlayn the Sage Vagabond among the people, had a crude habit in his past life. Everytime he visited a new mysterious place in whatever realm, he would leave some remainder of himself behind, announcing to people that he had been there before. Of course, it was not something as petty as writing his name on the wall or carving a tortoise on somebody else’s coffin but instead, he would always leave behind his travel log. The travel log documented the process of how he managed to discover the place and his understanding of the place as well as all sorts of thrilling adventures that he had encountered on the way there. That could also be regarded as a noble habit, right?
Because of that reason, his adventures slowly spread to every part of the world and that was how the name Sage Vagabond was made known to every household.
But after he had gotten to know Baiyi, he once said before in a contrite tone, “Ah… It’s quite rash of me to have left all those logs behind…”
Oh? You have only just realized that it’s rude? Baiyi thought at that time.
To his surprise, the Explorer responded, “No, no, no! What I meant was if I could leave behind a game or a movie instead, wouldn’t that be awesome? Sigh, why aren’t we on Earth instead?”
Oh, you meant that? What? You think you’re Lara 1 or Drake 2 now? Aren’t you supposed to be repenting?
Anyway, the life of Explorer was basically like this. It was true that he had been to many places just for the sake of exploring new places and doing academic research without destroying those places nor did he ever tried to take any treasure away from the site. The action itself was blameless but he had indirectly caused many negative effects to those places.
As the Archmage said, when he entered, he would inevitably destroy the enchantment or the barrier of those mysterious and sacred places. Sometimes he even kill the guards and in turn, the place was no longer mysterious and it transformed into a dangerous place instead. Just like the mausoleum of the Ancient Rohserl Empire, during the students’ expedition, they only managed to find the logbook of the Explorer, which meant that the mausoleum had been emptied out by other tomb raiders some time ago! That was the main reason why the Archmage was so angry.
After the two had quarreled for a long time, the Archmage suddenly turned to Baiyi and said, “My beloved disciple! Show this grave robber the punishment that he deserves!”
Just like that, with that one sentence, the Explorer was sentenced to a Silence Spell for 30 days. Only then did the Archmage slightly cooled down a little.
Come to think of it, if the academy really found the logbook that he’d left behind then I do have an idea that we can use to our advantage, Baiyi suddenly announced.
Immediately, his teacher understood what he meant, “Oh? You mean those boring games that we played before? Hmm, that sounds like a feasible idea…”
Without a warning, Baiyi suddenly stood up, puzzling the group of Soul Armatures in the ‘Seniors Park’. With a clear voice, he announced, “Sitting here doing nothing is just too boring. Hmmmm, shall we play a game?”
Having said that, he picked a flower from a tree nearby and quickly used his Mana to envelope the flower, forming a barrier. A pale, blue colored light orb immediately appeared in his hand.
Opening up his palm wide, he asked, “Is there any great master who would like to try and take the flower out?”
“Oh? Cracking the barrier? Interesting! Let me try!” A Soul Armature volunteered as he swiftly reached over to take the orb and examined it carefully in his hands.
After a moment, a groan could be heard from him, “Hmmm… This is a barrier that is constructed solely from Magical Formations… I just…” As he said that, he tried to give it another shot but his Mana was pushed aside by the small force that was circling around the orb, indicating that his attempt failed.
He attempted to break through it again but in the end, shaking his head, he handed over the orb and said regretfully, “U-Uh… I’m not so well-versed in formations, perhaps there are other masters who could perform better than I did?”
“Let me have a go! I used to be a formation lover too!” Another Soul Armature sorcerer took over the orb and lowered his head to have a good look. After a while, he also shook his head regretfully and said to Baiyi, “Master Hope, this formation that you had cast is just too… too difficult. I was once the royal mage for the grand palace of the Dorsh Empire and I’ve also participated in the setting up of enchantments and barriers in the forbidden areas of the palace before but seriously, the enchantment of the Dorsh Empire’s treasure vault was not even as complicated as yours…”
Instantly, his remark spiked a heated discussion among the Soul Armatures. Even though the Dorsh Empire did not survive for long as it fell apart after only 300 years and even though its territory was not as big as the Ancient Rohserl Empire, it was an empire after all, not just a kingdom!
The enchantment that was cast on a kingdom’s treasure vault was not as complicated as the barrier that was created by Baiyi for fun? Even the safety of the priceless treasure was not as secure as a random flower from the roadside? So, it must have meant that…
“M-Master Hope, w-what is your real identity?” The royal palace mage asked in a whisper.
“Did you come from the Ancient Rohserl empire, Master Hope? Only the sorcerers at that era were keen on formations and enchantments.” Somebody else speculated.
Well, that fellow’s answer could be considered as almost correct, right? After all, Baiyi’s first lesson was indeed the orthodox way of teaching of the Rohserlian sorcerers. On top of that, he was personally taught by the most powerful emperor in the history as well…
But, is this formation really that difficult? Isn’t this the easiest level of the game that we usually play? Baiyi could not help but asked in the Void.
When he just entered the Void, before he started to develop simulation game for the Voidwalkers, there weren’t many entertainment options available to them in the Void. Therefore, the puzzle game that was suggested by the Explorer was quite popular. In short, the game was about creating a barrier out of their consciousness and pass it on for the others to crack.
For quite some time, the puzzle was quite popular among the Voidwalkers before it was replaced by the more interesting simulation games. However, it looked like the simplest level of that outdated game was still a little too difficult in the realm of reality.
It was, after all, only ‘simple’ in the eyes of the Voidwalkers.