Chapter 52 Trial of Wisdom Ashlin spoke: "Woof!"...

Well, at least she found the problem.

The cat language spell failed. Why? The language connection between her and the cat cannot be easily broken. Could the orc high priest even interfere with something like this?

It's okay, she just needs to cast it again.

“Auris animi, lingua bestiae,” she said, raising her staff to the cat.

The green light startled Lucas. He jumped off the table and hid under Ashlin's feet.

No, no, no, no, no.

Ashlin grabbed her hair and frantically rubbed her head.

The hourglass was only half full when she discovered the most terrifying problem in the world.

Lucas is an indispensable companion on her journey; without him, how could she possibly solve the puzzles alone?

Throughout the entire journey, Lucas had hardly left her side; now, though he was here, the cat language spell had failed, and his mind was completely that of a kitten, and in half an hour they would become skeletons in the corner.

The more panicked she became, the more tangled her thoughts became, with countless terrifying possibilities flashing before her eyes: the Spider-Man paralyzing them with venom, then wrapping them in silk, waiting to devour them at their most delicious moment, when their vital signs were at their lowest...

The tree hollow trembled a few times with her panic, and tiny branches sprouted haphazardly from the floor.

Suddenly, a huge window appeared in the previously closed wooden wall.

Countless orcs watched her trial with great interest outside the window. The long queue seemed to vanish rapidly as she qualified for the trial, and all the orcs became spectators.

"To add a bit of fun for you." The high priest's voice came from somewhere and then disappeared.

Ashlin gritted her teeth. Perfect, being humiliated in front of everyone under immense pressure was exactly what she needed.

Very interesting.

"A human little girl wants to pass the trial?" A fox-man outside the window sneered. "Hmph, I think we shouldn't let her waste her time. Let's rush in and grab the trial qualification!"

Did Ray steal the trial qualification before? Ashlin squinted, searching, but the leopard girl didn't come, probably afraid of being exposed.

The fox snorted. "I envy Ray; at least she achieved her goal."

The orcs started chattering and arguing. "I bet she'll fail the first trial!"

"I bet she'll give up in five minutes!"

“I bet she succeeds. Twenty bronze coins.” Billy Mara’s voice.

Ashlin smiled at him. At least she wasn't without supporters.

Calm down, Ashlyn Bailey, you can complete the trial on your own.

Don't forget this is a test of wisdom, a test of your brain's capabilities. Panic and confusion will do no good.

Solved half the problem.

“You are my problem,” she said to the cat. “I have to start with you.”

The little black cat, with its bright blue eyes, tilted its head to look at her.

Ashlin couldn't resist patting his fluffy head.

Lucas, being a pure black cat, was not as arrogant as before, but he was still very dissatisfied with this action. He jumped off the table again and bared his teeth at her as a warning.

Start with Lucas...

This is a trial designed specifically for her, so the problems and solutions must be closely related to her. She is the witch of the forest, and the witch of herbs, isn't she?

Cat, potion. Lucas overturned all colored potions.

In a trial meticulously designed by the High Priest's magic, there will be no useless information and no coincidences.

A cat's mischief may not actually be mischief.

Ashlin steadied herself on the table, glaring at the medicine that the black cat had knocked over.

The colorful medicine dripped through the parchment, making a soft, dripping sound under the table.

On the parchment, the areas soaked with the potion shimmered with a faint iridescent light, as if it were coming from a stained-glass window in a church.

She was right.

Ashlin immediately held up the parchment. The colored light shone into the strange, unfamiliar characters, which scattered like ants and then returned.

They twisted, stretched, elongated, and flattened, rearranging and recombinizing, becoming a universal language in her eyes:

Invisible Lock

Me who collects things

Close to the dragon fire

The answer has already been given.

"What does it say? I can't even see it with an eagle's eye," someone in the stands outside the window said. "The glass needs cleaning."

"Billy, is it still worth withdrawing my bet now?" someone asked regretfully.

Ashlin smiled and gave Lucas's head a good rub.

"Well done! Even though you've become a troublemaker, you're a useful one!"

She skillfully dodged Lucas's attack on the back of her hand.

"Meow!" Lucas was furious. He gave her a few disdainful looks and went to play with something else.

Undoubtedly, this is a riddle.

An invisible lock… Ashlin immediately thought of the silver key the branch had just handed her. Indeed, there was a key, but no real lock. Was the lock invisible?

The "I" who hid things implies that someone has hidden something. Who is "I" referring to? Is it High Priestess Arachnia? Did she use invisibility magic to hide the lock?

The closer the dragonfire was, the stranger it became. The only dragonfire was in Ashlin's inventory, unless the High Priest also possessed dragonfire. But how could that be? Only dragontooth torches could hold dragonfire, and there were clearly no dragontooth trees in Coldclaw Forest, let alone dragontooth torches in the priest's tree hollow.

The answer has been given, and it sounds like it was forced into rhyming to fit the riddle, since four sentences are much more aesthetically pleasing than three. Ashlin couldn't figure out what it meant.

She sat on the floor, playing with the silver key. Lucas leaned over, grabbed the key, and was delighted by the crisp sound it made.

Ashlin opened her inventory, took out a Dragontooth Tree Torch, and lit the dragonfire. Nothing happened.

"Cool, I want a torch like that too," the Qilin exclaimed.

The audience held their breath, seemingly filled with anticipation.

Ashlin put the torch back, but then touched something in her bag.

A book.

She brought no books, only Sanova's notebook, scattered spell drafts, and pages of magical letters.

Ashlinn held her breath and took out the book.

It is "Introduction to the Fundamentals of Magic".

It wasn't an original copy, but the one I saw at Mara's house.

Ashlin glanced at the black cat and immediately understood.

Lucas stole the book sometime during the night and stuffed it into her spatial backpack—that cunning fellow.

"The one who hides things" probably refers to Lucas, who hid the books. The high priest was indeed very capable, able to see through many things.

However, what reason would Lucas have to steal this book? It couldn't be opened at all, and it had nothing to do with what they were looking for.

The thought that Lucas was hiding more from her infuriated her.

However, it won't last long.

Was the invisible lock the same one on the book? If so, she needed to know its location. Usually, locked books have locks on the side. She tried, but it didn't work.

Let's try a different approach.

The biggest difference between this book and the original is the mysterious signature: LKD

Ashlin placed the silver key against the LKD and turned it gently.

With a click, the three letters lit up in silver. The lock opened.

Gasps of surprise erupted from the audience. The fox, its chestnut skewer falling to the ground, was utterly dumbfounded.

“Well done, Ashley!” Billy shouted.

She opened the cover. The cover was just a facade; the book didn't actually contain the contents of "An Introduction to the Fundamentals of Magic," but rather magic notes written in neat handwriting.

For some reason, she felt that the font looked familiar.

The answer has been given; she recalled the riddle. The solution might be in this notebook.

Warning: If you have opened this notebook, it means you are no ordinary person. Either you are a descendant of gods, or you are just like me.

The reason I used "An Introduction to the Foundations of Magic" as the fake cover is because I believe this notebook is also a foundation of magic. I'm not denying the works of Archmage Iller, but his theories only apply to those of divine lineage and ordinary people who practice magic, not to someone like me. Therefore, I need to summarize my own magic. Alternatively, I could treat this notebook as a personal diary, which would also be a good idea.

In short, I concocted a potion that made me one of the animals, so I could communicate with them.

The crow told me...

The following section contains some information about the Dragon Clan campaign, which is not very helpful to Ashlin.

So that's the answer.

Half the problem solved… Ashlin wanted to laugh. If she could transform herself into a small animal and temporarily communicate with Lucas, that would indeed solve half the problem. The recipes and medicine bottles on the table also hinted that this was a trial involving concocting potions.

It's really interesting that the High Priest designs unique trials for different trial participants.

Time was running out, and although she wanted to continue reading, Ashlin skipped a few pages and went straight to the appendix to find the potion LKD mentioned.

Unfortunately, LKD was quite proficient in Ancient Magic, and he wrote all the recipes in Ancient Magic, which Ashlin couldn't understand at all.

She dipped the rainbow water that Lucas had just overturned onto the ancient magical script, transforming it into Common Language:

"Foxtail beans: 1 piece"

"Animal Hair: 3 strands" (Note: This animal hair must be different from the animal hair you are talking to, otherwise it will cause magical disorder, which may manifest as permanently believing that you are an animal, shouting at humans, etc.)

"Lemon juice: 5 drops"

Ivy leaves: 7 pieces

"Mandragora root powder: 9 rickets"

Water: 100 Rick

"Heat the copper pot for 5 minutes. Stir clockwise 7 times, then stir counterclockwise 7 times, until the liquid turns the color of animal fur."

Ashlin dragged out the copper pot, poured in water, and heated it directly with dragonfire to save time. Her gaze quickly swept over the various bottles and jars of different sizes and shapes, picking out the lemon juice and ivy leaves. The few "suspicious" animal hairs that Tree had just handed her also came in handy.

The only problem is foxtail beans. Foxtail beans are a specialty of the Foxtail River Bend in Dias, and even the high priest of Coldclaw Forest doesn't have them.

The high priest didn't... but she and Sanova did. More precisely, they had some on their work desks at home.

That's right.

Space Scissors!

She recently redrawn the runes on the spatial scissors, replenishing their magic power, and they can be used again.

The runes are directional, and the spatial scissors can cut through space, allowing her to reach her hand to retrieve something forgotten on the table at home.

Fifteen minutes left.

Ashlin's spatial scissors sliced ​​through the air as her hand groped on the table in Foxtail Bay.

The orc audience erupted in cheers and shouts, clearly none of them had ever seen spatial scissors before.

"My goodness, she's a forest goddess! She's really something!"

"Isn't this cheating?" the fox asked, but no orc paid him any attention.

Ashlin first found a few sheets of paper, probably Sanova's reply to her; then a sleeping herb bottle and an excitedly amusing pencil; and finally, she managed to grab a small porcelain bowl that was trying to escape.

A bowl filled with foxtail beans.

Ashlin frowned, grasped the handle of the object along its smooth surface, and pulled it into her own space.

It is a dagger.

On the hilt of the dagger was an eye and an inverted crescent moon. Ashlin recognized the symbol: the moon eye symbol, the emblem of the moon goddess Celeste.

She also remembered that on that night, an identical dagger had appeared on the altar of the moon goddess, next to the unconscious Sanova.

How did this dagger end up on her table? Did Sanova bring it back?

Sanova has always been an eccentric, and he might be using the dagger to track down the dark wizard.

Ashlin held up the dagger and examined it repeatedly, perhaps there really was some clue on it.

Some viewers were terrified. "Coo coo coo, what's that dagger? It's so scary, coo coo coo."

The fox cried out, "Why is she carrying a dagger? She's going to kill the cat!"

"She's going to commit suicide with a dagger." The four-legged creature was terrified.

Ashlin stuffed the dagger into her backpack.

Brewing the animal potion left her drenched in sweat. With five minutes remaining, her potion remained a lifeless, grayish-black. But the fur she had just placed in seemed to be platinum-gold.

"Meow," Lucas said to the potion, probably because he didn't really like the color either.

The hourglass is almost empty.

Ashlin stared intently at the potion and the formula when suddenly, a small object floating on the surface of the potion caught her attention.

A single black hair.

One of Lucas's cat hairs had somehow fallen in.

She didn't want to cause the magical chaos that LKD mentioned!

“Oh, damn it,” Ashlin muttered, glaring resentfully at the black cat. The cat gave a completely innocent snort.

Seeing that time was running out, she quickly tried to scoop up some cat hair with a small wooden spoon, but she couldn't get it out no matter what she tried.

Ashlin panicked, and the wooden spoon suddenly enlarged, allowing the cat hair to successfully float onto the spoon and escape.

Finally, the gloom faded, and the potion turned like egg yolk, its color gradually fading until it finally burst forth with a brilliant golden light, like a solar corona, illuminating the entire tree hollow.

A huge gasp of surprise erupted outside the window.

Lucas sniffed it curiously, then walked away disgusted.

Ashlin sincerely hoped that the smell was just disgusting to the cat.

Before the last grain of sand was poured into the downstream sand pit, she used a reagent bottle to scoop out a small bottle of medicine and drank it all in one gulp.

Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as I imagined; it tasted a bit like crushed cookies.

Ashlin's field of vision suddenly lowered, and Lucas, who had been a kitten, became an animal sitting on her level. His colors were much more uniform than humans', and the tree hollow had turned blue and yellow.

Hundreds of scents assaulted her nostrils, the strongest of which naturally came from the black cat before her. He exuded a pleasant, minty aroma.

Lucas scrambled under the chair in shock, his eyes wary.

Ashlin spoke up: "Woof!"

...So those three hairs were dog hair!

A note from the author: