Chapter 11: Memory

The noise returned downstairs, while upstairs, it was as silent as the bartender had said.

Xiao Fen, or rather Palin, listened to the movements outside again. After determining that there were absolutely no other problems, he slowly walked back to the sofa near the window, looked at the empty fireplace, and started to daze.

To say he was dazing was not entirely true. To be precise, he was reciting the memory data of that book in his mind.

This was a rather thick book. Even with Xiao Fen’s current level, it was very difficult to fully understand it. Fortunately, he did not need to understand too much now; he only needed to know a few general key points.

This recitation did not take too long. After a few minutes, he had already understood most of the basic knowledge that needed to be mastered.

First, this world was not a complete Otherworld. It was a world created by the World Tree, Yggdrasil. There was only one purpose for creating this type of world, and that was to test various “Trialists”.

Secondly, since humans possessed wisdom, power ful individuals had appeared continuously. These individuals often possessed abilities unreachable by ordinary people due to gene mutations. These people were called ability users in modern times.

In fact, their internal name was Awakened, meaning people whose abilities had obtained Awakening.

Third, there was a strict hierarchy within the Awakened. Those below Level 4 were uniformly called Trialists, meaning people who needed trials to mature, while those above Level 4 could be called Awakened.

Fourth, Xiao Fen was involved in this Trial World for reasons unknown even to him. To leave this world, he only needed to complete the final mission and accept Yggdrasil’s mission settlement, after which he would be released back to the Real World by Yggdrasil.

Fifth, completing missions issued by Yggdrasil in the Trial World would earn a large number of Gene Points. Besides allowing Trialists to level up, these Gene Points could also be used to trade for various rare materials, just like Xiao Fen did earlier.

It could be said that Gene Points were the common currency within the Awakened.

Finally, the total mission difficulty of the Trial World would continuously increase due to the triggering of various side missions.

For example, in the Trial World Xiao Fen came to, the previous mission difficulty was only B+, but when Xiao Fen triggered and completed Traces of Lux, the total mission difficulty would have a huge increase.

The more missions triggered and completed in the future, the greater the final mission difficulty would be.

In addition, there was a small key point, limited to the Trial World created by Yggdrasil.

In these worlds, some monsters would randomly drop some keys after being killed. These keys could open different boxes. Yggdrasil hid different treasures behind those boxes, of course, purely relying on luck.

“So it was a key.”

Xiao Fen thought so, and conveniently took out that crystal from the leather bag. Sure enough, under the illumination of the gas lamp, in the central area of the crystal, an ancient bronze-colored key was shining with a dangerous light.

After scrutinizing this key for a while, Xiao Fen shook his head slightly.

He was not some Awakened, and he had not thought about becoming an Awakened for the time being. These keys did not seem to mean much to him, at least in the situation where there was only one key now, he did not have the idea of using such a key to open a lock immediately.

The roars of those monsters outside the window became denser. It sounded like the main force of these huge beasts had arrived at the Web location and was engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the Master of the Web.

However, this was not important to Xiao Fen. What he wanted to do most now was to have a good meal, then find a way to take a bath, thoroughly wash away that strange foul odor that had not dissipated from his body, and then make a comprehensive consideration for the future.

Just as he was thinking this, the door was knocked with a “dong dong dong”, and a pleasant voice sounded outside the door: “Your dinner, sir.”

Xiao Fen frowned slightly. Perhaps the steak could be made this quickly, and the salad too, but boiled mussels was a very time-consuming dish. This type of shellfish dish took at least about 30 minutes to boil well; it would absolutely not be made so quickly.

According to the records in the book left by Lux, there should be three types of people in the current Trial World.

Passersby, other Trialists, and Xiao Fen.

Before Xiao Fen made any extra moves, passersby might show basic friendliness to Xiao Fen’s performance, or they might have basic curiosity. This all depended on the arrangement of the World Tree.

However, the World Tree also restricted these passersby from causing unnecessary interference with the Trialists.

Therefore, it was certain that mere passersby would not develop such intense curiosity about Xiao Fen in this world that they would need to use a clumsy excuse to come and check on him at a time like this.

Thus, there was only one type of person standing outside the door now.

Trialists interested in Xiao Fen’s true identity.

Only Trialists would be interested in other Trialists and remain unaffected by the World Tree’s interference.

Thinking of this, Xiao Fen’s heart stirred slightly, and he made a new judgment within just a few seconds.

“The only ones who could know I’m staying in this room are insiders of this tavern.”

“As a Trialist, not going to complete the mission but instead working in a tavern for passersby, there is only one possibility: this Trialist not only cannot complete the mission but is also under threat to their life, forced to hide their identity to survive temporarily.”

“A Trialist’s life being threatened indicates that their team has collapsed, most of the members are dead, and the members have lost the ability to look out for each other, which is why this situation has occurred.”

“If teammates are injured and unable to provide support, it proves that this Trialist is also injured, and severely so.”

“Therefore, the Trialist outside is a lone Trialist who is also severely injured.”

Thinking of this, Xiao Fen felt greatly reassured. He took the oddly shaped short blade from his leather bag, held it in a reverse grip, slowly walked to the door, and asked in a low voice: “Is my mussel dish ready?”

The woman outside the door paused and said: “I’m sorry, sir, your mussel dish isn’t ready yet. Fermira said you might be very hungry, so she asked me to bring some food up first. Once the mussels are cooked, they will be delivered together.”

Xiao Fen smiled slightly and said: “In that case, did you bring the item I mentioned to Fermira earlier?”

The woman outside clearly did not expect Xiao Fen to be so alert. Saying yes or no might arouse Xiao Fen’s suspicion, so she smiled charmingly and said: “Sir, I’m not sure what you discussed with Fermira, but Fermira only asked me to bring food. You see, you can’t expect me to keep holding this tray forever.”

Xiao Fen’s last trace of doubt vanished. Suddenly, he whispered in Mandarin: “If you can understand this, then we both know. If you cannot understand, then you will continue to wait outside for a while.”

Silence suddenly fell outside the door. After a few minutes, the woman whispered: “Damn it, who are you?”

This time, the woman also used Mandarin, even more standard than Xiao Fen’s Mandarin, which had a slight local accent.