Exploring Technology in a Wizard World

Chapter 75: Chapter 075 Don’t…… Go

In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed, and autumn in the forest had come to an end, with winter arriving with a powerful chill in its howl.

The leaves of the trees had all fallen, leaving the forest somewhat desolate. The cold wind blew through the withered tree tops with a ‘whoosh’ sound, giving one a shiver that wasn’t from the cold alone.

Life became tougher for the animals in the forest. Due to a lack of food, they started living on a feast-or-famine basis, with the smart ones like black bears and pythons beginning to hibernate.

As for Gregory, his ‘leaving early and returning late’ behavior had become the norm, and his shadow was not seen all day. His human form grew increasingly pale, and he looked a bit exhausted and dispirited, for reasons unknown.

Richard, however, was unaffected and during this time dedicated himself to his research, achieving some results. On one hand was the Crystal Skull, and on the other, the spells from the Monroe Chapter.

Regarding the Crystal Skull, Richard had made a surprising discovery through his research. It turned out that the Crystal Skull was covered with Magic Runes. Its runes were several times more sophisticated than those he had seen in the mountain’s inner sanctum on the altar. They were micro-engraved on its surface and interior, nearly invisible to the naked eye, only discernible when magnified ten to several tens of times.

To put it simply, if a regular Magic Rune was like a simple circuit, then the Crystal Skull was like a complete small to medium-sized integrated circuit. This was akin to comparing a radio from Earth in the 1970s to a computer—the level of complexity was not on the same scale.

Within the Crystal Skull, many Magic Rune units were organically combined, granting the skull a multitude of possibilities. Richard was certain that if it could be completely deciphered, it could serve numerous functions. For now, he had barely managed to uncover two of them—two functionalities he had previously hypothesized:

The first function allowed input of mana with a specific oscillation that would cause the Crystal Skull to release a Spirit Shock. Upon hitting a living body, it could cause the target to lose control of their emotions, leading them to rage and act purely on instinct. The more mana input, the more pronounced the effect.

This functionality actually had a quite limited range of application. After all, a target that had lost control wasn’t necessarily easier to handle than one that was calm—they might exert a much greater fighting strength. Its use would have to be determined based on the actual situation.

The second function was to generate a self-sustained Spiritual Field. Creatures within this field, if they were sentient beings like humans, would have their spiritual strength trained and enhanced. If they were non-sentient beings, their mentality would be improved instead.

The scope of this Spiritual Field could be adjusted—the smaller the range, the better the effect. Richard tried reducing the field to less than a meter around himself, covering only his body, and found that it significantly improved his own Spiritual Strength. After more than a month, his spiritual power greatly exceeded that normal for a Wizard Apprentice and was advancing toward Wizard Level.

Beyond the research on the Crystal Skull, the learning of spells from the Monroe Chapter was underway. Over the past month, Richard had learned quite a few spells. Although they were all Zero-Circle Magic, the effects were not very substantial, he was trying to modify and combine them to be released through Magic Runes, thus breaking through the power limitations of Zero-Circle spells for a Wizard Apprentice.

…

That night.

The evening was as cold as ice, and the stars seemed to hang upside down in the sky.

Richard walked out of the castle and onto the open space in front of it, where Pandora was standing, gazing blankly at the night sky.

As Richard approached, Pandora turned to glance at him.

“What are you looking at?” Richard asked.

Pandora’s eyes twinkled, and after tilting her head in thought for a moment, she replied earnestly, “Stars,” and then pointed at one in the sky.

Richard looked in the direction Pandora was pointing and said, “The Polar Star.”

“Huh?” Pandora was puzzled. What Polar Star?

“Have you noticed that star is very bright, and it’s directly north?”

“Huh—” Pandora paused, then nodded after a while, “Huh.”

“So, it’s the Polar Star,” Richard spoke, “The Polar Star itself represents the direction of true north, the brightest of stars. Of course, stars move, so the Polar Star is also changing.”

“Huh?” Really?

“Of course it’s true. Specifically, it’s not that the stars are moving, but this planet we are on, Earth, moves. It spins around something called an axis, and it wobbles within a certain range, like a tall tree swaying when the wind blows.

This axis wobbles, and over time it slowly sweeps out a cone. Some astrologers, people who like watching the stars, call the time it takes to sweep out a cone a Great Year, or a Platonic Year. In today’s years, it’s about 25,800 years.

During each Great Year, our planet, Earth, moves against the fixed background of stars, and the direction of true north changes periodically. So, the Polar Star changes with it.”

Pandora’s eyes twinkled, and the next moment, she followed Richard’s pointing hand.

“That star, many people call it Vega, or Lyra α, it has a beautiful legend. And more than ten thousand years ago, it was the Polar Star,” continued Richard, pointing again and leading Pandora to look. @@novelbin@@

“More than three thousand years ago, the Polar Star was replaced by that one, called Right Pivot, or Ziwei Youyuan One, or Tianlong α Star.”

“A thousand years ago, the Polar Star was that one; it’s known as North Polaris B, or Little Bear β. Of course, it was also called the ‘Emperor Star,’ because in that era, as the Polar Star, it fit the imaginations of those who felt it corresponded to the person with the highest power on Earth.”

“Of course, people die, stars change, and now it has become this one called Gouchen Yi, or Little Bear Constellation α Star as the new Polar Star.”

“If you live long enough, you’ll find that in another thousand plus years, the Polar Star will be that one, called Shao Wei Zeng Ba or Cepheus γ. After another two thousand more years, it will become that one—Shangwei Zengyi. Another one thousand five hundred years later, it’ll turn into the star called Tian Gouwu. Then comes Tianjin Four, Tianjin Two, until after more than ten thousand years, having gone through nearly 25,800 years of cycles, the Polar Star will revert back to the original Vega.”

Pandora followed Richard’s pointing to gaze at each star in turn, completing a circle before turning back to look at him.

At that moment, Pandora felt a strange sensation in her heart, indescribable, but making her feel as if the man in front of her was very powerful—not in the way she could defeat animals, but in another kind of way—a way that was far more formidable than her own.

Hmm, it was confusing. But that was the feeling she sensed.

That stars moved, knowing things from ten thousand years past and future—what didn’t he know? What couldn’t he do? Ten thousand years, so many centuries all added up, even she, even Gregory, could not live that long.

But why did he know so much? Being so knowledgeable, what exactly was he always busy with? Why wouldn’t he play with her, why…

Pandora had many questions in her heart, but before she could voice them, Richard spoke first.

“I will be leaving tomorrow,” Richard said indifferently.

“Huh!” Pandora suddenly widened her eyes, staring at Richard, blinking, and then blinking again, slowly lowering her head. She bit her lip lightly, deep in thought, and after a long while, looked up and said to Richard, “Don’t—leave.”

Richard glanced at Pandora and then smiled, raising his hand to ruffle Pandora’s hair, “I can’t stay. I’ve told you before, there are many things I must do and I can’t stay here forever. The things I could do, the research, it’s all mostly done now, so I have to leave.”

Pandora opened her mouth as if to say more, but in the end, she said nothing. Because she didn’t know what to say, having never before had the experience of persuading anyone to stay.

Feeling his hand ruffling her hair, Pandora irresistibly felt a familiar, very comfortable desire to lean against him. But for some reason, she didn’t want to lean in; instead, she turned her head away from the hand stroking her hair, gave him a fierce glance, and walked back into the castle, exclaiming, “Huh!”

In the nighttime, Richard watched Pandora walk into the castle, and he gently shook his head.