Chapter 76 – Content of the Witch’s Book
“Uh, this is mysterious text from the East that I learned from whispers.” I said with a dry laugh, it was the only explanation I could give. I decided then not to answer any questions, just claim whispers told me everything.
“I see.” Jayad nodded. It was the only explanation he could accept either, since Parul had never been literate before. The fact that she suddenly knew so much knowledge could only be attributed to whispers.
This child from the Slums had no opportunity to learn or read novels. Or rather, even if they had, literature in this era wasn’t as advanced as it was now. With Jayad’s limited imagination, he couldn’t possibly conceive of transmigration or possession. At most, he thought Parul’s personality had changed drastically after a serious illness, and she had acquired a lot of strange knowledge.
“So, what do these writings say?” Jayad asked. In his opinion, these Chinese characters were even harder to understand than ancient scripts, and my writing was even more complex.
“I’m trying to translate the titles first. If I’m not mistaken, these should all be spell names. It’s better to know the names first to match them.”
As I spoke, I listed all possible interpretations. I wrote them on wooden chips on the ground and compared them one by one to find the smoothest meaning.
“Did Parul figure anything out?” Jayad asked impatiently.
“Yes, I figured out a little. First, the six complete pages should each record one spell. They should be Life Drain, Poison Cloud Technique, Demon’s Fire, Turn Stone to Mud, Supreme Hand, and Spirit Communication Technique.”
I could roughly match these spells to the magic the witch had used before. Except for the last one, Spirit Communication Technique, which I hadn’t seen, I had seen her use the other five. Through the effects and movements when she used them, I could determine the meaning of these spell names. I also discovered that some meanings were ambiguous. For example, the first spell could mean Life Drain, Magic Absorption, or even Assassination, all of which could achieve these effects. As for the last spell, Spirit Communication Technique, its name suggests a connection to the Undead and the deceased. It’s normal that the witch hadn’t used it without the appropriate environment.
Besides, I wasn’t in a hurry to learn this spell for now. The previous five spells were already very powerful. At least, I saw the immense power when the witch used them, which was enough for me to learn them slowly. I also didn’t want to learn spells that dealt with ghosts or the dead right now.
“What about the remaining two pages?” Jayad asked. There were two incomplete pages left. One was only half-rubbed, with the latter half of the paper blurred and unclear. The other was torn in half, and it was unknown what had happened.
“Let’s talk about the untransferred one first. This seems to be a page recording Potion Brewing. The first line here should be Spirit Cat Potion, and this character means potion’s consciousness.” I said, pointing to the first character.
This phrase was inverted. The correct translation should be “Potion · Spirit Cat,” but I wrote it as “Spirit Cat Potion” out of habit.
“This character appears multiple times on this page, so I believe this page should be specifically about potions and Potion Brewing,” I said.
“What about the other page?” Jayad asked. That page was in a worse state than the potion page. With the potion page, only a small part was not transferred. This one was torn in half vertically down the middle, so it was certainly incomplete.
“It’s a spell, possibly called Curtain Guardian or Shadow Attendant, but it’s definitely useless now,” I said regretfully.
