“Special method?”
Confusion was written clearly across the little faces of both Evin and Cecilia. It was no wonder. Without memories from my previous life, even I probably would not have known what to do.
However, after recalling some of the details mentioned—though not stated outright—in that forum post, I roughly understood the key.
“The answer should be in the water.” Looking at the relatively calm underground dark river below, I thought for a moment before jumping in.
The water in the dark river was not very deep. Stepping down a bit would reach the bottom, but that did not mean I could move freely underwater.
Holding my breath, I relied on the dark vision bonus from my equipment to quickly observe the situation at the bottom of the dark river. Soon, on the wall opposite the bank, I discovered some unique wedge-shaped characters and scratch marks. Among them, one area looked slightly different from the surroundings, with a faint seam visible.
Seeing this, I immediately reached out and pressed down.
With a series of creaking sounds, a stone slab about half an arm’s length away from that area slowly slid to the side, revealing a wide passage. The water flow beside it seemed blocked by some mysterious force and could not pour in.
I showed an expression of “as expected.” Just as I was about to surface and call Evin and Cecilia, I suddenly heard two plop sounds behind me. Turning my head, I saw the two little ones had already jumped into the water and swum to my side. They had probably been worried about me.
I gestured for Evin and Cecilia to follow me forward and took the lead into the passage.
Both sides of the passage were covered in the same special wedge-shaped characters and various strange marks I had seen on the dark river wall earlier. Even I had never seen this form of cuneiform before. But that made sense. Epoch had over a hundred related languages, not even counting unique regional dialects. Recognizing them all was obviously impossible.
“Is the hidden space An An mentioned right here?” Evin asked, looking curiously at the text and images on both walls along with Cecilia.
“No, this is just the entrance. The real one is further ahead.” Seeing the bright light appearing ahead, I quickened my pace and soon reached the end of the passage, standing before a vast open space. It was more accurate to call it a library than just a space.
Though it could not compare to a national library, it was similar to those built by towns or families. The interior space had an elegant ancient bell-shaped streamline design, with a rounded arched dome extending downward. Clean white walls, wooden staircases, and the light cast by hanging golden chandeliers made the entire space look breathtakingly beautiful. The bookshelves on the ground floor were arranged symmetrically in a hexagonal pattern around the center, dividing the library into three hollow layers from top to bottom.
Evin, who had walked in behind me, was immediately captivated by the surroundings.
Cecilia, however, was sharp-eyed and noticed something first. “There’s a book placed in the middle.”
In fact, I had noticed it even before she spoke. In the central area on the ground floor, surrounded by many bookshelves, stood a small cylinder with an open book floating above it.
I walked over, reached out, and picked up the book. The two girls quickly followed.
“Is this the special equipment An An is looking for?” Evin leaned her head closer, curiously watching the book I had taken from the stone pillar. “It doesn’t look particularly special.”
“This is just an ordinary book. And they said it was a powerful piece of equipment. How could it be handed over so easily?”
I paused for a moment, then flipped straight to the first page. “That said, calling it ordinary isn’t entirely accurate either. It has a strong connection to the puzzle here. Only after solving it will we obtain the actual equipment.”
The opening page was written in gilded text:
The radiant sun and firefly moon reflect each other’s glow, forming day and night; the God King stands alone as the twin stars appear, the world shifts; ten thousand zhang of glory forge the immortal authority.
If the Eternal Library had shown no reaction, just looking at this familiar puzzle format would have made me think I had found a remnant page from it.
Still, many puzzles in Epoch drew from historical allusions and records, so similarities were not strange.
“…Ten thousand zhang of glory forge the immortal authority.”
Evin quietly read the words beside me, seeming to realize something. “There are three semicolons in the sentence… Could this puzzle be divided into three parts?”
Cecilia, with her sharp observation and awareness, noticed another key point from the surroundings. “This library is also divided into three floors. They must be connected somehow, right?”
Their reactions surprised me somewhat. Even the knowledgeable Syl had trouble organizing her thoughts when encountering such difficult problems. Yet Evin and Cecilia had quickly guessed the core.
Perhaps it had something to do with modern ways of thinking.
“You two are half right. To be precise, there are three puzzles. Each floor of the library corresponds to one of them. Only by solving the corresponding puzzle can you access the next floor.” I glanced at the transparent curtain at the staircase entrance. Through the records from that forum post in my previous life and connecting it with the content in the book, I already had a good grasp of how to solve this puzzle.
“Take a careful look at the bookshelves around us. Do you notice anything special?” I closed the book and reminded the two.
Hearing this, the two little ones immediately looked around and quickly spotted the unusual detail.
“All the books on these shelves are the same color!” Evin walked up to one bookshelf.
“The shelves behind are the same too. Not only are the colors identical, but they’re all the exact same book,” Cecilia said as she walked from behind the shelf and casually pulled out two books in front of Evin.
The moment the two books were removed, one of them suddenly disappeared. Not only that, all the books on the entire row of shelves in front of them vanished as well.
The two girls were momentarily stunned.
“No need to worry. If you put the books back, everything will return to normal,” I explained from behind. “The other bookshelves are the same. You two should have some idea of what’s going on now, right?”
Cecilia and Evin tried it out and found that, just as I said, once the books were placed back, the entire shelf was instantly full again. Evin looked at the green books in front of her, a flash of insight striking her. “Could the key to the first floor’s puzzle be placing these colored books onto the appropriate shelves?”
“There are thirty-six rows of bookshelves on the first floor, arranged symmetrically in six directions. The colors are divided into red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple,” Cecilia, who had strong initiative, walked a full circle around the area and summarized her findings.
Combining their information, Evin and Cecilia immediately came up with an idea and looked at me together. “The three primary colors?”
It was obvious they thought they had guessed the correct answer. Evin looked smug, practically writing “praise me” on her face. Although Cecilia did not show much expression, her eyes were full of satisfaction.
“Pretty smart.”
I smiled and gave them a light round of applause.
Too bad the answer was wrong.