How Level Zero Devil Destroys Player Experience

"..."

If the previous paragraph was still incomprehensible, then now even a fool can sense the strong atmosphere of Type-Moon Heavy Industries, and all my doubts were completely answered after I subconsciously looked at the cover -

"Arano's Legend of Lust II: The Energetic Argonian Maid"

Hill was silent for a long time. The first thing he said after closing the book was, "I think it is too early for Your Highness to learn this knowledge."

It was July, the height of summer, and the sky outside the library was very bright, with the scorching sun radiating its warm rays.

But I suddenly shuddered.

After having my copy of the registration confiscated and being lectured by Hill on the healthy development of minors, I finally understood what it felt like to sleep in class and be caught reading porn.

For the entire afternoon, I could only look at the books that Hill brought, not daring to do anything else.

However, because of this, I have a general idea of ​​the plot of the copy in my mind, but I feel like something is missing.

"what?"

Just as I yawned and was about to turn to the next page of the book in my hand, I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye and couldn't help but let out a light exclamation.

Hill next to me noticed my strangeness and asked, "What's wrong, Your Highness?"

"I don't know why the inspection stopped."

"Maybe all the books around have been checked out." Hill said without hesitation, and his tone didn't sound flat.

However, I shook my head and blinked at the skill bar.

"No, my data shows that there are still more than 10,800 books that have not been checked in."

“…Which book did you stop at?”

"The Long Chronicles of Agwana." Looking at the book title displayed on the system message, I don't know why, but I always feel like I have heard this name somewhere before.

When he heard the name, Hill paused for a moment, as if thinking, "Your Highness, do you remember the general rules of the inspection that I told you about before?"

"Automatically check in the books within a certain range, but only ordinary books. There are some special books that need to be read..."

I looked up and recalled for a moment, and soon caught Hill's meaning, "Could this be a special book?"

“It could be something else.”

"Other cases?"

The series of questions made that cute little face even more confused.

Hill did not answer directly, but closed the reference material he was studying with me and stood up gracefully from his chair.

"Anyway, we should be able to find out after we go and see it first."

According to the library's own recording magic, we quickly found the book on the fourth row of bookshelves.

"It doesn't seem to be anything special?" I flipped through the book in my hand titled "The Long Chronicle of Aigwana".

There are some signs of age that are hard to conceal even on the inconspicuous brown cover. The pages are yellowed, the edges are peeling and fading, and there is a little dust on the golden lace background.

It looks like a history book that has been covered in dust for a long time.

Just looking at the name engraved on the cover, I felt a sense of familiarity, but I couldn't remember it for a while.

"Your Highness, didn't you receive any hint?"

"No." I shook my head. According to Hill, if it is a special book, it can be saved in the big library, and various effects can be obtained after reading it.

However, after having bought this book for a long time, I still haven't received any so-called system message, which makes me confused.

"If it's not a special book, then it could only be a special case, such as a sealed piece of equipment or a quest item."

Even Hill, who was always knowledgeable, looked thoughtful.

Mission props?

Looking at the book in my hand, I curiously reached out and flipped over the cover. I originally just planned to browse it casually to see if it would trigger any tasks.

However, a piece of gilded text was found at the beginning of the volume:

The Titans fell, and the sages rested in the valley; the stars began to appear, the shadows of the white crows and trees slanted towards the northwest, and the lost ones found their way; the order of the seven stars returned, and the gods lowered their crowns.

“…a crown.”

I read this text softly, and something seemed to come to my mind. However, before my thoughts could come to an end, a system message suddenly appeared in front of me.

System: Trigger the Winter Lake Illusion.

As the system prompt sounded, the surroundings suddenly changed drastically. The library they were originally in instantly fell apart into countless particles, and then re-formed into a completely different world.

The forest appears peaceful under the cloud-covered night sky. Through the gaps between the dense bushes and branches, you can see a beautiful and flawless lake like a mirror not far away.

It looked like an ordinary forest, but when I noticed the magic circle underneath and the stone slabs with different patterns carved around them.

My thoughts that were interrupted by the system prompt instantly returned, and when I connected it with the previous sense of familiarity and the words of the system prompt, I subconsciously remembered something.

"Is this... the Winter Lake puzzle?"

……

Wake up and add more

Chapter 81: Winter Lake Puzzle

"This is... the Winter Lake puzzle."

I carefully observed the magic circle and stone slab beside me, and became more and more certain of the current situation.

It turns out that this trial is hidden in this book. No wonder I always felt that the title of the book was familiar.

"Puzzle?"

But the sudden appearance of a figure beside me scared me.

"Hey, Hill, why are you here too?" If I remember correctly, this should be a special scene for one person.

"I was worried about your highness's safety, so I used a little strength." Hill explained. As a maid's duty, she would naturally not allow any dangerous situation to happen, and it did not count as a violation of Lady Alice's orders.

"I used a little bit of strength..."

Although I know that Hill is very powerful, I only have a rough idea of ​​his strength now. Alice is just an intelligent computer, but I didn't expect that I also have a Hill who can modify the system rules.

"Please don't mind me. In comparison, what does your highness mean by the Winter Lake puzzle?"

Hill didn't want to dwell on this topic too much, so she brought it back to the previous question. Although she had a full understanding of a lot of history, it was impossible for her to know every detail.

What's more, this is just an existence named by players.

The so-called Winter Lake puzzle is a special trial recorded in a forum post in the previous life. I have said before that there are many opportunities in the library, and the player who posted this post is one of the lucky ones.

The content is roughly that he found a strange book in the library, and then was inexplicably teleported to a mysterious forest. He needed to solve the puzzle of this place and finally get an extremely powerful prop.

At that time, I went to the library to find some information. I happened to find this post while searching, and I got a general understanding of the whole story.

But if I want to explain it to Hill now, I definitely can't just say this.

I made up a little excuse, "I just saw this Winter Lake puzzle in a book about the Aigwana region. It's a somewhat special legend."

Fortunately, in order to find inspiration, I did take a lot of history and legends from other regions as references, so this statement should not be seen through.

Seeing that Hill didn't have any suspicions, I was relieved and continued to explain, "The content of this puzzle is related to a passage, the passage on the first page of the book. Then, based on this passage, use some special existences in this scene to solve the puzzle."

The Titans fell, and the sages rested in the valley; the stars began to appear, the shadows of the white crows and trees slanted towards the northwest, and the lost ones found their way; the order of the seven stars returned, and the gods lowered their crowns.

In that post, this passage contains the key to solving the puzzle, and I still remember the general idea of ​​it.

"...the gods brought down their crowns." Hill repeated the text silently, but still had no clue.

I saw it all, but I was not surprised. If the secret was so easy to understand, the poster who wrote such a long analysis would be crying his eyes out.

Of course, this explanation would not work. “After all, this is a relatively complicated puzzle, and I just happened to know it.”

"So, Your Highness knows how to solve this puzzle?"

"I know something." I didn't dare to say too much, so as not to arouse suspicion, but I could still give a hint, "The beginning of this text, the fall of the Titans should refer to an era."

"In the 146th to 152nd year of the Enze calendar, during the Fire Prison War, the Titans were destroyed." After a moment's thought, Hill gave the exact time based on my hint.

I nodded. "Contact the Sage and the Seven Stars behind. Hill, what can you think of?"

After thinking for a moment, Hill had the answer.

"The Seven Lights Circle Council that appeared in the Aigwana region, the founder of the council, seven sages from different elemental fields, died in the Fire Prison War."

"The first puzzle is about this. The seven sages of the Qiyao Yuanli Society master the secrets of different elements: fire, ice, forest, lightning, wind, earth, and light."

I bent down and picked up one of the stone slabs with different patterns that were scattered on the ground nearby, and casually placed it in a corner of the hexagram magic circle.

With a rumbling sound, a huge red stone tablet rose from the ground in an open space near the lake not far away.

"This magic circle actually represents the Seven Lights Circle Society, but the positions of each person are not random, but have special meanings. Hill, guess what it is?"

"Flame, red."

Hill glanced at the red stone tablet rising not far away, then turned to look at the stone slab with flame patterns placed on the magic circle. He seemed to have grasped the key, "If we match the elements to the colors..."

"Red, blue, green, cyan, purple, yellow... white?"

"That's right, it's the three primary colors, worthy of being Hill~"

Even without looking up, I knew Hill had already come up with the answer.

At this time, I had already placed the stone slabs in my hand on various positions of the hexagram.

Loud noises continued to sound from the other side of the lake, corresponding to the placement pattern of the stone slabs on the magic circle, or the principle of the three primary colors. Huge stone tablets of different colors rose from the ground one after another and appeared under the night sky.

Between the flames and frost is the dark purple of lightning, between the frost and the forest is the indigo of the wind, and the forest and the flames gave birth to the ochre of the earth.

As the six monoliths rose, six hazy chains of light appeared between the six monoliths, connecting them to each other.

If you look down from the sky, these six huge stone tablets and six light chains look like a magic circle that has been magnified several times.

As the last stone slab symbolizing light fell in the center of the magic circle, the last huge stone tablet slowly rose in the center of the lake.

Unlike other stone monuments, this one looks like a piece of transparent crystal suspended in mid-air, without any bumps or depressions, and as smooth as a mirror.

In other words, it is a mirror.

Click, click.

The six huge stone tablets surrounding the lake suddenly changed direction, and six hazy rays of light instantly focused on the huge stone tablet in the center.

At an incredible angle, they merged into a beam of light that shot up and cleared away the thick clouds above the forest.

In the twilight, the pure night sky with shining stars appears.

"Then next is the second puzzle."

The stars begin to appear, the white shadows of the trees slant towards the northwest, and the lost ones are enlightened.

Hill looked up at the bright night sky. "The stars are beginning to appear. Is this what's happening now?"

These seemingly unrelated sentences are actually inextricably linked to the previous text, and can be said to be a link between the previous and the next.

"But if it's just a description, there's no need for it to be included." I reminded him slightly, and didn't forget to make a joke, "Of course, it's not ruled out that the author wanted to fill up the word count to cheat the manuscript fee."

It's like the unfortunate kid who's racking his brains to write an 800-word essay.

Hill ignored my last sentence and turned his gaze from the night sky to the surrounding forest, or rather, to the shadows of the trees in the moonlight. "The shadows of the white crow trees are slanting to the northwest. Is that the direction, Your Highness?"

"No, if it's a direction, it's too straightforward." I shook my head. "Think about it, when will the shadow of the tree be diagonally oriented to the northwest?"

"Aigwana is in the northern continent, early morning or... midnight." As if he was thinking of the stars that were beginning to appear, or as if he saw something from the expression on my face, Hill's tone of guesswork finally became certain.

"We are only using one of the information in this sentence now. It is not enough. The White Crow Tree is also an information point."

"White Crow Tree..." Although the previous performances were already very good, it was obvious that no matter how rich Hill's knowledge was, it was impossible for him to know all the knowledge.

Why do I feel as guilty as the author of a Chinese reading comprehension class?

I didn't want to bother Hill any more, so I explained, "The White Crow Tree is a species unique to Aigwana. Its leaves grow lush only in winter, and they are dark green with a hint of white, so it is called the White Crow Tree."

"The first two sentences refer to the time point of winter midnight." Hill responded quickly and concluded, "Add to that the Enlightenment for the Lost, so the whole sentence refers to the morning star at winter midnight?"

It seems like a good deduction, but I shook my head. "The lost people in this sentence do not simply refer to people who have lost their way. In fact, it is the same allusion as the sage who fell asleep at the bottom of the valley."

In the ancient legend of Aigwana, there is a constellation that is the incarnation of a god. It is shaped like a crown and guides people whose souls are lost. Countless warriors and sages have been saved by it. It only appears once a year at midnight in winter, which is also the end and beginning of the cycle of years and months.

The name of this constellation is -