Cataclysm King

Chapter 620: Faro's I Am the World

No one knew the location of the evil dragon Marodius's lair. All we knew was that the last time it was seen was in a dense forest a hundred miles northwest of Blackrock City.

Although the Seven Kingdoms are prosperous and populous, outside of the towns and villages, the wilds are full of ferocious monsters.

Even though the "Dawn Mercenaries" is an S-class mercenary group, their speed in the mountains and forests is not fast.

They had to deal with the monsters that suddenly appeared along the way, while also clearing a path through the dense forest.

It was not until the evening of the next day that everyone arrived at the "Black Stone Forest Farm".

This is a natural forest with huge black fir trees, which are towering.

Unfortunately, due to the frequent presence of the Wind Demon Wolves, after the last family of lumberjacks was eaten by the monsters more than ten years ago, there has been no human trace within a radius of dozens of miles.

The sun had already set, and the Dawn Group used the dilapidated cabin of the lumberjacks in the forest farm as their camping place.

They are not afraid of the monsters that others are afraid of.

In the wooden house, a bonfire was burning brightly.

Several huge pieces of barbecued meat were sizzling on the campfire. This was the [Earth Demon Bear] that was hunted during the day.

Everyone sat around the fire, chatting intermittently.

Archer Sival was using a knife to process the fat on the bloody bear skin. After all, this complete bear skin could be sold for a good price in the Adventurer's Market.

Heavy Knight Robert is oiling and maintaining his precious armor.
Magician Gwyneth was still frowning as she tried to decipher the secret black magic words on several stone slabs.

Ji Xun was still reading Faro's travel notes.

The hunter and trapper Efa was holding some bread crumbs in his hand and feeding them to the nest of mountain mice that belonged to the "original owner" of the house.

He is an animal trainer and is proficient in some animal languages.

The mountain rat ate the crumbs and squeaked a few times.

Yifa seemed to understand, and turned to his companions and said, "Captain, these mountain rats said that there is a terrifying aura underground in the northwest. It must be the evil dragon."

Ji Xun listened and nodded: "Okay. Then everyone should have a good rest tonight, there may be a tough battle tomorrow."

They were all tacit partners who were already familiar with each other's abilities, and everyone nodded in unison.

However, at this moment, Gwyneth, who had been frowning while trying to decipher the slate, suddenly brightened up: "I finally cracked it! Oh my God, these magic codes are encrypted using the '13-sided dice encryption method'!"

Everything the magician studies is incomprehensible, and her teammates don't know why she is so amazed.

Heavy Knight Robert asked, "Thirteen-sided dice? Gwen, what is this?"

Gwyneth explained: "Well. This is a very special magical encryption method. The text is not seen as a plane, but as a three-dimensional polyhedron like a dice. The polyhedron will be arranged in order to make a complex sentence out of a few simple words. A word may have different meanings in multiple phrases. Turn it and there will be a new meaning."

Magical knowledge is a very precious thing in this world.

It is usually not passed on.

In order to keep their research secrets, magicians like to use all kinds of strange encryption methods to preserve their results, and also to show off their erudition.

Therefore, many times, some ordinary-looking old books in the antique market may be encrypted volumes of secret spells left by ancient magicians.

Of course, the most commonly used ones are those black magicians who are regarded as "taboo" in order to prevent being discovered by the Seven Gods.

Several teammates were still confused after listening to it and could not understand such complicated encryption methods.

However, Ji Xun caught something special: "Thirteen sides?"

In his understanding, multi-sided dice usually have an even number of sides.

Gwyneth nodded: "Yes! This is the special feature of this encryption method. It is a high-dimensional pattern that cannot be drawn and has one side folded. It is called 'the hidden information of the gods'. I don't understand its principle either, but I know some cracking formulas."

Everyone became interested as soon as they heard it.

Their intuition told them that since this stone tablet could be encrypted in this way, it must be related to some big secret.

After a pause, Gwyneth explained, "It is said that this encryption method was first discovered in ancient ruins three thousand years ago. The predecessors of the magic academy studied it for a long time before they accidentally cracked it. My teacher said that this 'thirteen-sided dice encryption method' is so special that it seems to not belong to this world. If I don't know some formulas, I won't be able to decipher it even if I am given hundreds of years."

Decryption is a very boring task. The easiest way is to observe the patterns and apply various known encryption techniques.

Being able to decipher it requires a lot of luck.

Ji Xun and his friends didn't care how it was cracked.

But I am concerned about what is recorded above.

Gwyneth looked at the curious eyes of her teammates, then looked at the stone tablet with a slightly strange expression: "Well, although it is a little incomplete, I have roughly cracked it. There is a very strange sentence written on this stone tablet."

The slate reads: "I suspect that the 'world will' has blocked part of human cognition, causing us to lose our ability to perceive the true universe. I want to open a world rift to see if my guess is true."

When they heard this beginning, everyone's expressions twitched.

"What a crazy guy. No wonder he is considered a forbidden black magician. Opening a rift in the world? Oh my God, isn't that guy afraid that the world will be destroyed because of this?"

"Hey, on the other hand, the Southern God Rain three thousand years ago was really powerful. He could actually tear the world apart? This is the power of a god, right?"

"Could it be that this valley is the remains of the world rift? If that's the case, there might be some top-level magic treasures. Maybe the evil dragon chose this place because it was attracted by the magical aura."

"Hahaha, I'm looking forward to it more and more."

"."

After all, they were mercenaries, so they didn't have to worry about any black magic. The deciphered intelligence gave them a professional acumen, a premonition of treasure.

Ji Xun also became very interested.

Compared to treasure, he enjoys the adventure of exploring the unknown more.

However, for some reason, Ji Xun was not thinking about any magical relics, but a question: "Encryption?"

Will it?
Ji Xun looked at the travel notes in his hand and suddenly an idea came to his mind.

Since this Faro was also a bard from three thousand years ago, and his strength might be extremely strong.

Could it be that this guy also knows Nan Shenyu?
Also, is it possible that the travel notes in my hands also contain encrypted information?

Thinking of this, he suddenly had an idea and turned to ask, "Gwen, what is the principle of the 'Thirteen-sided Astrology Dice Encryption Method' you mentioned?"

Gwyneth heard that it was the captain who asked the question, so she didn't hesitate to say, "Ah, that's hard to explain. But just remember a few formulas like this and that."

Ji Xun just listened silently.

The teammates on the side were already overwhelmed, with painful expressions as if their brains were unwilling to process the complex information.

However, Ji Xun didn't know why, he always felt that it was not difficult to understand.

Those words automatically turned into an orderly and regular formula in my mind, and then formed a very strange thirteen-sided dice.

It was as if I had seen it before and was just getting familiar with it again.

Gwyneth roughly explained the principle of decryption. Looking at the painful expressions of her teammates, she laughed and said, "Haha, don't think you will understand it all at once. It took me several months to get started."

It’s hard to get started as a magician, let alone some of the big and strong melee professions.

Everyone felt relieved and just ate their meat and laughed.

Gwyneth turned to look at Ji Xun who was deep in thought. She knew that the leader liked to study some strange knowledge, so she added, "Leader, if you really want to learn, I will tell you slowly."

"Ah."

Ji Xun nodded, as if in response.

But he didn't know where his thoughts had gone.

And the next second, his eyes fell on the travel book he had read before.

A magical scene quietly unfolds.

The words that originally made up the travel notes suddenly seemed to come alive, automatically shuffled into different order, and then formed into the shape of thirteen-sided dice.

"what"

Seeing this, Ji Xun didn't know what was going on and was shocked.

But before he could think too much about his surprise, he discovered that the words on the dice had turned into another completely different content!

"Hey, adventurer of the future. The fact that you can read these words proves that you are not a foolish believer deceived by the Seven Gods. Then, you are qualified to see the truth of the world."

When Ji Xun heard this, he was stunned, as if he saw a free-spirited adventurer talking to him across three thousand years.

At the same time, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

Not just this time, but in the past twenty years, Ji Xun often felt that what he was experiencing seemed familiar.

It was as if I had experienced it before in a certain time and space.

But then, the next sentence made his expression serious.

"But unfortunately, the truth of the world may make people despair."

It was as if he was reading a novel that he couldn't get enough of. From the first sentence, Ji Xun's eyes were fixed on the changing words and couldn't move away.

The following content follows:
"My name is Faro. As you can see in the travel notes, I am an adventurer and a bard. In my life, I have traveled to the seven kingdoms, the endless sea, the abyss, explored countless ruins, and read countless books. Well, I have some innate talent for deduction. This is why I can easily reach the peak of extraordinary power. So I am absolutely convinced that the world we see may have some 'problems'."

"Yes! I suspect that this world has 'consciousness'. There is a higher-dimensional consciousness that prevents me from exploring the truth."

When Ji Xun saw this, he felt an inexplicable sense of absurdity.

It was as if the understanding of the world that I had built up over the past twenty years was shattered in an instant by some external object.

Some strange thoughts popped up in my mind.

And as he guessed, this "Faro" is really a top-level expert? !

Ji Xun continued reading.

"I'm not sure what the 'world consciousness' is. I only know that it is a high-dimensional secret that humans cannot access. It must be the truth of the world deliberately hidden by the 'Seven Pillars' and 'Titan God Baal'. So if you want to find the truth, you have to avoid the so-called gods."

"I traveled around, trying to find the hidden truth."

"I am sure that if my rank were higher, I might be able to see clearly what the flaw is. But I can't break through. It's as if there is an invisible shackle in this world that prevents people from touching the mystery that transcends the peak."

"In my deduction, this world is like a well. Someone has put a lid on the well, restricting even my thinking. So, I have been looking for a way to open the lid." "Later, I was sure that there was a mysterious force in this world that prevented me from seeing the truth."

"."

Ji Xun frowned when he saw this.

The content before my eyes seemed to be not just words, but like a strange magic, it entered my mind in a very strange way.

Then it was branded.

"Before, I always suspected that the area I explored was not wide enough. Perhaps the truth of the world is hidden at the end of the endless sea, underground in the abyss, or even at the end of the starry sky. But later, I found that the direction of my lifelong travel and exploration may be wrong."

"Hey, brave warriors of the future, when you see these notes I left behind, have you ever thought about this question: How can you be sure that the world you are in now is real?"

Seeing this, Ji Xun seemed to hear a tall giant in his heart asking him questions.

Like being struck by lightning.

Stunned on the spot.

How do we know that the world is real?

It sounds like a ridiculous question.

If the world is not real, how could it be false?

Ji Xun suddenly looked at his own body, the bonfire in front of him, and his friends who were eating meat and laughing.
If none of this is real, then what is real?

He wanted to reject this ridiculous idea and console himself that it might be some evil sect's rhetoric to deceive people.

But for some reason, there was always a persistent idea in his heart that made him continue watching.

"Yes! When I doubted the real existence of this world, I realized that I had found the right direction. At least among all the conjectures I have explored, this is the only direction that can reasonably explain all doubts!"

"No, to be precise, the world is both real and not real. It is relative. In our consciousness, it may be false."

"I know this is hard to understand, just like it's hard for the human brain to understand the pattern of a 'thirteen-sided dice' because it is a pattern that can only appear in an abnormal world. I'm using an inappropriate metaphor to describe it."

"Everything in a dream is illusory, but that is something people can only recognize when they are awake. When they are in a dream, everything is real. So, 'awake' is the right direction!"

Ji Xun no longer knew how to describe the complex fluctuations in his heart.

For a moment, he was actually a little dazed.

It was as if I was in some kind of nightmare at the moment, and I wanted to wake up, but I couldn't.

Everything around me seems both real and an illusion.

That feeling is terrible.

Moreover, Ji Xun's intuition told him that someone really had "injected" some extremely profound knowledge into his brain.

More than the brain can bear.

This was originally very dangerous.

I don’t know why, but Ji Xun felt very enjoyable at this moment.

It was as if someone was pointing the way in a foggy world, guiding him to see the truth in the fog.

"Of course, when you realize this law, congratulations, you finally have a 'soul'."

"So what is the soul?"

"How can you be sure that you have a soul?"

Ji Xun really felt like his brain had turned into a mess.

How can I have no soul?
Never doubted it.

But after reading what followed, he became suspicious.

"The fate of ordinary people is actually determined from the moment they are born. It seems that a person's life is full of variables, but in fact it is always a cause and effect line that can be deduced from the beginning to the end. 'He' may become a blacksmith, a farmer, a tailor, a slave, a noble, or a magician or a knight because of the family environment he is born into. But in fact, there is no difference. Born, grow up, grow old, and finally buried in the grave. What you think are variables are actually choices driven by desire instinct. When you are hungry, you look for food; when you are restless, you look for women. Farmers work hard in hunger and cold, thieves seek wealth in poverty, and nobles seek desire in wealth. The essence is the same. Most human beings are just beasts driven by instinct. Therefore, most people do not realize where their souls are."

"Life is like a play in a theater. Everyone plays a different role. So, is the role his soul?"

"No. When you watch your own performance from the perspective of an 'audience', you will find that the character in the script is just a part of your soul."

"The soul is in a higher dimension, beyond cognition."

"If the world is a stage and life is a script, then where is our true soul?"

"To understand this principle, we need to become 'observers' in the audience."

“So we are back to the original question: How can you be sure that the world you see is real?”

"I have spent my whole life getting a definite answer: this world is not real."

"To be more precise, consciousness is just a projection of the soul in this world."

“Is consciousness a projection of the soul?”

Ji Xun murmured in his heart.

I don't know when his attitude towards travel notes changed.

From suspicion, questioning and disdain in the beginning, to now, it was as if a bright light was lit in the darkness, illuminating a scene he had never seen before.

The bard named Faro described the ultimate question of thinking about the world.

Before I knew it, I had reached the end of the travelogue.

There are a few more paragraphs above.

"I'm sure I'm on the right track. But alas, I'm running out of time."

"Because the 'will of the world' not only limits the human body's ability to reach the peak of power, it also limits human lifespan. Humans cannot find the 'exit' of the world in their limited lifespan. This is a dead end that I can't think of any way to break."

"Hahahaha, I'm not feeling desperate! On the contrary, I'm now extremely convinced that all my deductions are correct!"

"And the fact that I can recognize these mysteries of the universe is not new. My soul in the higher-dimensional universe already knew them, and now the projected consciousness has just 'awakened'!"

"I created the law I found into a secret method to awaken the spiritual world. I gave it a very interesting name, called 'I am the World'."

Ji Xun finished reading it.

It seems as if a whole ocean of knowledge is stuffed into my head.

He couldn't even recall and repeat any complete sentence he had seen.

But his consciousness clearly told him that he had seen the ultimate secret of the world.

And for some reason, Ji Xun suddenly felt that he had mastered the secret method of "I am the world".

It felt like a little flame falling on the firewood, burning brighter and brighter.

Just like what was described in the travelogue, it seemed as if I had already understood it, but only awakened at this moment.

"Captain, what's wrong with you?"

"Captain?"

"."

Ji Xun was immersed in that state of enlightenment when he suddenly heard a call in his ear, and his pupils gradually focused.

The bonfire was burning brightly, and his companions' faces were all looking at him.

Ji Xun responded, "Yeah, it's okay. I was distracted by something I was thinking about."

Gwyneth didn't think much of it and habitually teased: "Oh, I saw you staring at the travelogue for a long time. I thought you were bewitched by some black magic."

Pastor Sina also laughed and said, "Haha, I really encountered this before when I was in the church. My teacher once cured a guy who read magic books carelessly and was bewitched by the succubus in the book."

Ji Xun smiled as he listened.

But before he could say anything, the heavy knight Robert beside him interrupted with great interest: "Tell me more about succubus!"

The warrior's vigorous blood always has nowhere to vent. Xina certainly knows what this guy wants to hear, and said with a smile: "Well, it's some indescribable action novels. Some not-so-serious magicians use the blood of succubus to write classics, making people indulge in the erotic descriptions, and then lose their blood and energy. It is said that just reading the text can give you the real experience of having sex with a succubus."

Robert's eyes sparkled as he listened, and he exaggeratedly teased, "Ah? Xina, next time you come across that kind of novel, don't rush to destroy it, show it to me first. I want to criticize whether succubus are really that evil."

The hunter-trap Eefa chimed in, "Hahaha, show me too!"

The members of the Dawn Group are all tacit partners to each other, and when they heard this, everyone burst into laughter.

Gwyneth saw that Ji Xun was fine, glanced at the travel notes in his hand, and didn't take it to heart.

It's just an ordinary travelogue.

Moreover, even if there really was an encrypted message, she never thought that someone could just flip through it casually and decipher the mystery that other magicians would never be able to understand in their lifetime.

Ji Xun did not explain what he had just read in the book.

Because he couldn't tell what he had seen.

Soon, everyone in the wooden house began to take turns to rest.

As the team leader, Ji Xun took on the first round of guard duty.

He climbed onto the wooden roof, lay on his back, and looked at the bright moonlight in the sky.

There are extremely complicated thoughts in my mind.

Ji Xun didn't know what he saw, but when he looked around at this moment, everything seemed different.

At this moment, the world seemed to flow clearly in his eyes.

The breeze, the moon, the trees, the earth, the bonfire.
Earth, wind, water, fire, light and darkness.
Various elements flow together to form a reasonable and traceable world.

Ji Xun felt something wonderful in his heart, a kind of pleasure in his head that came from glimpsing the truth.

Moreover, as the thought came to him, it seemed that the bottleneck of the legendary knight that had trapped him for ten years was about to be broken through.

(End of this chapter)