Chapter 905 — Anomalies in the Record

He was indeed an adventurer of great daring, and had an impulsive side born of his explorer's heart, but his actions inside that giant tower of metal... were really too impulsive, too reckless. This was not at all the judgment a wise, learned, powerful mage should possess when facing the unknown.

And this violently trembling handwriting, this slightly overwrought way of writing... all of it seemed a little off, as though another consciousness had suddenly been mixed into Mo Jin's behavior—a consciousness secretly, bit by bit, altering the adventurer's actions while he remained utterly unaware!

But since this notebook had survived, and Mo Jin Wilde had afterward returned safely and continued adventuring for many years, Gao Yang felt there must be some corresponding explanation or reflection left by Mo Jin later on (if not, the situation would be terrifying). So he steadied his patience and read on—

"...When my hand touched that column, all doubt vanished into thin air.

"...Without question, it is Eternal Slate—or rather, another 'divine artifact' of vast scale, made from the same material as the Eternal Slate.

"...I felt some knowledge enter my mind. This place suddenly became familiar. The writing floating in the projections became legible, and in an instant I knew the name of this place... Ah, it is called 'Monitoring Tower No. 1,' and it has another name, 'Arctic Forging Center.' It is a factory, a factory once used to produce weapons...

"...I also learned that two other monitoring towers exist in the world. They are not factories, however, but some kind of... passage? Bridge? I do not know the specifics of that knowledge..."

The writing in the notebook suddenly grew even more chaotic and scrawled; the trembling strokes seemed to contain a kind of madness. Gao Yang's brow furrowed tightly. Beside that writing were annotations left by the scholars responsible for restoring the ancient book—chaotic and meaningless letters, undecipherable at the present stage.

And among these chaotic words, Gao Yang found only a few passages of any use:

"...I know how to use this machine now! I know... I also found the forging materials; the users of old had not yet managed to consume them entirely... I must record how to use it... (unrecognizable text)!

"...Knowledge! Precious knowledge!! I must record it (disordered strokes). I cannot leave out a single word!

"...I intend to forge something, to prove that I was here. Oh... I have an idea... (scrawled, messy handwriting)"

Every passage was mixed with large amounts of heavy crossings-out. These unsettling marks seemed to reveal some kind of... struggle, as though Mo Jin himself kept writing things down and then kept scratching them out again. After several barely legible passages, Gao Yang suddenly saw, on the next page, a few enormous letters that seemed to have been carved through the paper itself:

"LEAVE!!"

A whole page, and upon it were written only these few letters.

Gao Yang's gaze was drawn to those letters, and his eyebrows could not help twitching. He was now one hundred percent certain that Mo Jin Wilde had run into trouble after entering that tower—his behavior had absolutely spun out of control, yet not entirely out of control. His last remaining reason and his almost reflexive "habit of recording" had left behind these unsettling words, and at the very end, he had been incredibly fortunate to escape that state.

The word "LEAVE" showed who had been the final victor in this contest of wills. Yet for some reason, the handwriting of this word was unlike any of Mo Jin Wilde's earlier handwriting... Gao Yang even began to harbor a strange thought: he felt those letters had been left neither by Mo Jin, nor by the consciousness that had influenced Mo Jin, but by... a third consciousness.

And after that startling single word, Mo Jin Wilde's handwriting clearly returned to normal:

"I woke up outside the tower.

"Some dreadful dizziness and headache plagued me for several minutes, and I had no memory at all of my experiences inside the tower—only a lingering, belated sense of palpitation that would not leave me.

"I found my notebook, lying right there at my hand, as though I had tossed it aside myself after stumbling out. I opened it and saw the words... the sentences I had left behind, and instantly cold sweat broke out all over my back.

"Goddess of Magic! What on earth happened?

"I have almost no recollection of that experience. From the moment I entered that door, everything that followed seems veiled behind a heavy curtain. I only remember wandering in some bizarre place—did I shout? Did I write something? Why did I touch a mysterious, unknown ancient relic? This is completely illogical!

"The only thing I remember is the light that flashed through my mind at a certain moment... a golden radiance, and it seemed that it was this that brought me back to my senses. Then another image returned to me: I was writing furiously, and then, suddenly, as though possessed, I wrote the word 'leave' upon the paper. I stared at that word in terror, as though it carried some magic, and then I turned and ran... I remembered more, recalled how I had fled all the way out of the tower at a dead run, like a frightened, foolish child...

"While checking my whole body for anything unusual, I found something in the pocket of my outer robe—a snowflake-shaped amulet. I do not remember when I came to possess such an amulet, but upon its surface was engraved the family crest... It contains a powerful magic, a magic that was clearly infused by my own hand as well, and moreover... its material seemed to be none other than Eternal Slate...

"This thing fills me with deep unease. It seems to corroborate certain mad sentences I left in my earlier notes, and by instinct I wanted to fling it far away, yet I hesitated... This may be the only thing I have gained in this mysterious place, and the only thing I can bring back. My memories from inside the tower have been erased for some reason, and I do not intend to go back there again...

"I must think this over carefully.

"Xth day, Xth month—this is a note added later. After a whole night of tossing and turning, I still had not decided how to deal with this amulet, and then, on the morning of this day, someone... or rather, a human-shaped dragon, suddenly appeared.

"It was a lady of utmost elegance and beauty, with very long golden hair..."