After finishing the MIA meeting, Amber went straight to Gawain's study.

Gawain was sitting behind his desk at this time, carefully flipping through an ancient book that had been repaired and reinforced, his gaze slowly moving on the mottled pages and the letters redrawn by the bookmaker, the smell of alchemy potions that had not yet completely dissipated slowly wafted into his nostrils, the content of this ancient travelogue made him think from time to time, and then, a sudden voice from the air interrupted his movements—

"Hey! I heard you looking for me just after the meeting! Amber's figure emerged from the air, with an ever-eternally elated energy, "Another task that needs to process money?" ”

Gawain raised his head from the ancient book and glanced at Amber who was standing in front of him, a smile appeared on his face, and he pointed to the chair next to the desk: "Sit down, I have something I want you to see." ”

At the first moment, Amber noticed a hint of unusualness behind Gawain's smile and tone, and this seemingly big grin, but actually quite keen, "half-elf" immediately shook his ears and frowned suspiciously: "What are you...... What are you going to show me? ”

Gawain stood up from behind his desk, exhaled a long breath, and gently pushed the ancient book forward: "Here you go—don't worry, it's been repaired, and it won't be so easily damaged." ”

"A book?" Amber was stunned for a moment when she saw that it was just a book, and subconsciously took it, but soon her indifferent expression gradually froze, she vaguely noticed something, her eyes revealed a complex and incredulous gaze, she slowly raised her head and looked at Gawain, "...... Is that the book? ”

"Definitive evidence has been found," Gawain nodded slightly, "a shadow thief of unknown origin tried to steal it from a church - that's why the book was sent to the library of St. Luan's Cathedral for safekeeping. We compared everything we could find and finally determined that it was what your adoptive father wanted to steal. ”

"That's it...... Just for it......" The expression of eternal elation on Amber's face faded, and she grasped the mottled cover of the ancient book with some force, but soon let go of her hand as if she was afraid of damage, and she stared at the repaired letters on the cover, her fingers slowly stroking over it, her eyes changing several times, but in the end she neither cried nor laughed.

After a long time, she looked up at Gawain: "I saw that you were looking at it just now...... What's so special about this book? ”

"Strictly speaking, it is made up of several books pieced together—several fragments and fragments, which a crappy compiler has forced together, and of the 'parts' that make up the book, the largest proportion, and which I think most likely to interest your adoptive father, is a travelogue."

Amber's eyes widened: "Travelogue? ”

"Mordir's Travels," Gawain nodded, "the author is the Duke of the North six hundred years ago, Mordirle Wild. ”

As the head of intelligence, Amber was no stranger to the name and the information behind it, and she was taken aback: "...... You mean, the Wilder family's lost notebook?! The one that Victoria also mentioned to you? ”

Gawain nodded, pointing his chin at the ancient book in Amber's hand, "Now it's in your hand." ”

"Yes...... Why would my adoptive father ......" Amber glanced down at the "Travelogue" in his hand with an incomprehensible gaze, "It's worth the risk he takes?" ”

"I've been trying to find the cause, from the contents of that travelogue, but I haven't found it yet," Gawain said, "and I only have the last bit left, maybe we can find it together." If your adoptive father had heard about parts of this travelogue before deciding to take the risk, and his information was correct, then we would have seen it. ”

Amber nodded immediately, and went over to Gawain to open the book - after glancing at the contents, she scratched her hair a little embarrassed: "Forehead...... It seems that the main thing is to ask you to find ......"

She saw that the text of the travelogue was made up of a dizzying, illegible array of words and phrases: it was the lingua franca of mankind six hundred years ago, closer to the writing of the ancient Gondor Empire, and although the lingua franca of modern mankind was derived from it, over the centuries the words had changed dramatically from their spelling to the grammar of the whole sentence.

Amber could only make out some of the short sentences in vaguely, and it would be as difficult to understand them as hard as reading a book by Gu Gondor.

She suddenly understood why a "crappy compiler" could have pieced together such a book with a few other miscellaneous books that had nothing to do with it, apparently only specialized scholars with a knowledge of the written word and clergy with a great deal of knowledge could understand it—and of course, an old dumpling who had been resurrected from the days of Gondor.

Gawain knew this, so he didn't shirk it, and after moving the book a little to his side, he began to make out the words on it with Amber.

There is a staggering richness in this ancient travelogue, and its author, the Duke of the North six hundred years ago, is clearly very different from the nobles of today. Mordir Wild lived in an era closer to the first pioneers, and he was even influenced by the first Grand Duke Wilder, which made him far more adventurous and ...... than later generations Innovations in the field of death.

His footprints covered every corner that humans could explore at that time (even the realms that no human had ever set foot in except him), especially after completing the transfer and arrangement of the Duke's powers and responsibilities, his adventures were even more astonishing, from the borders of the Gondor wasteland to the Violet Realm, which was still mysterious to humans at the time, from the frozen mountains of the Holy Dragon Duchy to the depths of the desert east of Typhon, and even some other dimensions occupied by elemental beings, never knowing where the space fragments floated in the universe...... He's got to know it.

Each time he explores a new place, he entrusts the notes he has already put together with one of his loyal servants (who will wait for the return of his master in a safe place), writes new records for the rest of his exploration, and when he returns safely, he organizes these new notes, integrates them with his previous notes, and takes them with him to the next adventure.

This kind of behavior seemed quite incomprehensible to Amber, who was born hundreds of years later, and after reading several thrilling expedition records in a row, she couldn't help but frown and asked, "A great nobleman like him...... Why are you so keen on adventure? A lot of the 'adventures' in this are obviously beyond the level of leisure, and they are no different from seeking death......"

“…… He was close to the pioneer generation, the descendants of the pioneers at that time, and they were still deeply influenced by their parents and grandparents," Gawain shook his head, "Many people believe that humanity will one day return to the heyday of the Gondor, and for that day to come, they will have to tread every inch of land on this continent to find a safe frontier for human civilization at that time." I haven't met Mordir's generation, but I can imagine what their children would be like based on my generation, and I'm sure that Mordir-Wild wasn't the only adventurer of his time - only a great nobleman and a powerful man like him could afford to keep his notes alive today. ”

Amber blinked incomprehensibly, no longer in question, and turned her gaze back to the second half of Mordir's notes, and beside her, Gawain's gaze suddenly slowed as it swept over some of the words of the old pages.

Amber immediately notices this: "What do you see?" ”

“…… I suspect I've found something that piqued your adoptive father's interest......" Gawain said as he quickly flipped through the next few pages and took a cursory look at the contents, slowly frowning after a few changes in his eyes.

"Then you can read it to me," Amber saw that Gao Wen didn't say it for a long time, and suddenly became a little anxious, "Hey, I must know that most of these contents have something to do with my life experience, I'm mentally prepared, you tell me......"

"In his later years, Mordirth Wild explored the Shadow Realm and successfully established a ...... with the inhabitants of the Shadow Realm" After a moment of thought, Gawain nodded, and stretched out his hand to point to the words in the travelogue—

The following is a handwritten transcript left by Modir Wild:

"X-month-X-day...... After a few less successful attempts, I finally found a weak spot in the real world, a natural shadow rift. This rift can be ritualized and stabilized, allowing a human to step into it in its entirety and stay for an extended period of time, rather than briefly navigating the Shadow Frontier as other Shadow Professions do. I'm not sure if the ancient Gondor mages used this to open the Shadow Gate, but it's the best way I can find it......

"On the Xth of the month, when I was fully prepared, the rift opened, as stable as I had imagined, but slightly smaller than expected, but still sufficient. I decided to walk through this door tonight at the height of the Shadow Powers, wishing me luck......

“…… Across the door was a world that was even more barren and weird than I had imagined...... Colorless, lifeless black, white and gray make up everything in this world...... Real-world objects are projected in a bizarre state in this space, where the town where I temporarily live appears as a large stack of twisted fragments of buildings, while the distant mountain peaks seem to become a wriggling black fog......

"It's obviously not a good place for ordinary people to live, and I don't see any value in resource extraction, but I decided to go deeper. The good news is that aside from the elemental imbalance, the magic here is still the same as in the outside world, and I can exert more than eighty percent of my strength here......

"X-month-X-day...... I met those creatures! They looked like humans, wearing strange clothes like rune cloth, like smoke bound to human form...... They floated by far away, and I don't think I alerted them. I'm sure it's the legendary Shadow Dwellers, the wise inhabitants of the Shadow World, and it is said that only a handful of masters who specialize in the Way of Shadows have seen these mysterious creatures by chance, but even those masters have no record of successfully establishing communication with the Shadow Dwellers......

"I, Mordirle Wild, the most powerful human spellcaster in the realm, though not a shadow mage, intend to challenge me to try to establish communication with these mysterious beings who may be able to tell me the secrets of this strange and bizarre world......

"X month X day, I didn't fight.

"X month X day, I didn't fight.

"On the Xth of the Xth month, I was fully prepared, and even returned to the real world to perform some special rituals, and I believe that I have accumulated enough experience, including how to deal with their elusive invisible bodies and their growing numbers, that I no longer have weaknesses.

"X month X day, I didn't fight.

"Modir, Modir! Look at your record of shame! You're the most powerful human spellcaster in the realm! How can you be chased and fled by a group of strange enemies who can only murmur one after another?

"X month X day, I didn't fight.

"I think we should outwit it.

"I'm not young anymore, I have to rely on strategy like an old mage of my own age...... With the right approach, the shadow dwellers might be reasonable.

"I'm going to keep all the previous failures intact, maybe it can give some warning to future generations of adventurers. Of course, this may be detrimental to my image, but as an adventurer, it is my duty to try the way, and even the most embarrassing experience is a valuable experience, and I can't hide my failures.

"On the bright side, I'm getting older, so I don't have to rush to publish these records and leave a last word for future generations to publish it so that I don't hear the ridicule...... Maybe someone will be impressed by my sense of humor......"

Gao Wen had already taken a cursory look at it just now, so his expression could still be stretched at this time, but Amber next to him couldn't help but pull the corners of his mouth, and he couldn't help but say after a while: "This person has a big brain......"

Gawain: "He was one of Victoria's ancestors......"

Amber: "That's what the wise fool said......"

"It's just that his personality is more special," Gawain said solemnly and indifferently, pointing to the words that followed, "Let's go on, he's starting to try to get close to the shadow dwellers in a special way." ”

Amber quickly shut up and leaned her head over - even though she didn't quite understand, she followed Gawain's fingers and looked down:

“…… The Shadow Dwellers seem to be extremely repulsive to outsiders, who see me as an intruder in the real world, and refuse to communicate again and again, so what if I make myself look like a creature living in the Shadow World?

"It's a bold and feasible idea, I know some special rituals and potions - large doses of Shadow Potions may not be so kind to the stomach, but maybe the shadow dwellers will be friendly to me, and a little gastrointestinal discomfort will be less important......

"X-month-X-day...... I followed the above lines of thought to complete the ritual, transforming myself into a shadow-like form and ingesting a sufficient amount of Shadow Elixir. I found an old friend who knew shadow spells, and he said that I now 'just look like a shadow,' so I guess nothing goes wrong.

"I've decided to try to make contact with the Shadow Dwellers tonight—my shadow power will be at its peak at that point, and my disguise will be flawless.

"X month X day, I didn't fight.

"Came back with severe diarrhea.

“…… (Ancient Gondor's foul mouth) (Ansu foul mouth) (Northern foul mouth) (unsightly vulgar language)"