In Sumeru, pretend to be a scholar

Chapter 10: The Short Story of the Desert Stone Slab

Things in the desert.

Wang Yan's gaze swept over the stone slabs and bottles and jars in front of him, which indeed had a strong desert style, especially in terms of color.

The items in front of me were all yellowish-brown, and apart from one of the jars which had a painted design, the others looked quite rustic.

On one of the more intact stone slabs, however, there were many winding and crooked characters engraved on it, which looked quite interesting.

Looking away, Wang Yan turned to Ke Lai: "Can I try?"

"Of course, although these are from the ruins, they are not worth much. You can buy a few from anyone in the desert."

Since Ke Lai had already brought out the items, he was naturally willing to let Wang Yan handle them.

Wang Yan nodded and picked up the more intact stone slab.

Unfortunately, his ability is to understand languages, not to appreciate antiques. His understanding of desert civilization is limited to game texts, so he naturally can't see those bottles and jars.

Rather than pretending to know what you don't, it's better to show it from the start.

I'm someone who studies ancient scripts!

Wang Yan glanced at the stone slab and immediately understood the winding characters on it. He even remembered a tricky pronunciation technique.

'Can this even be considered language proficiency?'

Wang Yan was startled by this reaction, but his expression did not change.

In Wang Yan's memory, the spell "Language Mastery" should allow people to understand and read languages ​​and characters, but the ability to directly interpret pronunciations into the brain seems to be nonexistent.

However, since he was already there, Wang Yan didn't delve into the matter further.

My gaze remained fixed on the stone slab, where the winding characters were now legible.

-----------------

The red sand swallowed the last well.

I saw the chieftain's lips split open and bleeding, yet he still raised his flint-inlaid scepter and led his people to kneel on the scorching sand dunes.

"King of the Red Earth, grant me deep roots; King of the Yellow Sands, grant me cracks; King of the Red Sands, grant me a mark; O King of the Sea of ​​Sands—"

"Please let your dormant veins beat again."

We shouted in praise of the great Wang Qiding.

Seven days and seven nights, we excavated the rock veins marked by our ancestors.

When the youngest boy collapsed from dehydration, the shovel suddenly struck out with a hollow echo.

Beneath the sand layer, a trace of moisture seeped from a crevice in the rock.

A miraculous trickle of water gushed forth, leaping across my cracked palm.

Under the blazing midday sun, it gleamed with a faint, golden light, like blood and a promise bestowed by the depths of the earth.

The clan chief sprinkled the first handful of water onto the altar.

The moment the water seeped into the sand, a tender bud broke through the hard shell and unfurled two bronze-colored leaves.

We firmly believe that the desert has never died; it merely takes a brief nap at the turn of each century.

The great King of Red Earth, King of Yellow Sand, King of Red Dust, King of the Sea of ​​Sand will forever protect us.

-----------------

"It's a very short story, probably left behind by some unknown tribe in the desert."

"It tells the story of the tribe praying to the Red King, and the deeds of the tribe."

"Judging from the ending of the story, which says that the Red King will forever protect the tribe, the timeline of this story is very likely after the Red King's fall."

"As for the rest, I can't decipher it."

Wang Yan withdrew his gaze, put down the stone slab, looked at Ke Lai, and told her the contents of the stone slab.

Ke Lai listened attentively, her eyes filled with admiration: "Amazing! Mr. Wang Yan, you understood it so quickly. I can't do that, I'm too stupid, I can't understand it at all."

Wang Yan felt a little embarrassed by the gaze and shook his head slightly: "It's nothing. After all, I study ancient writing, it's my profession."

After a pause, Wang Yan smiled and said, "Just like Ke Lai can cook, dry medicinal herbs, and patrol the forest, I can't do those things."

After being praised by Wang Yan, Ke Lai smiled shyly. After a while, she said, "Mr. Wang Yan speaks so well. Just like Amber, you really know how to comfort people."

Wang Yan smiled and said, "It might be comforting if one person says that, but if others have praised you in the same way, then it means that it is an objective fact."

"Oh dear, I can't argue with you." Ke Lai waved her hand even more shyly, then quickly changed the subject, "And these, can Mr. Wang Yan see them too?"

She pointed to the bottles and jars on the ground.

Wang Yan looked over and shook his head: "It doesn't look like any advanced pottery technique. Apart from this painted jar, the others should be ordinary utensils used by tribal people and don't have much value."

Wang Yan said this with great certainty.

After all, these things were brought back by Kavi, and if they were really something of great value, Elhesen wouldn't have given them to Cole.

Despite Alhesen's occasional "bullying" of Kavi, he is actually quite sensible.

Upon hearing this, Cole nodded unconsciously.

She also felt that these bottles and jars were not as good as the pottery made by the locals of Huacheng Guo.

“As for this painted jar…” Wang Yan paused for a moment.

He stared at the painted decoration on the jar, as if he could understand the lines and patterns and the artistic conception of the painting.

But it always feels like something's missing, as if there's a veil between us, making it hard to see clearly.

After a moment, Wang Yan shook his head: "My artistic skills are indeed not very good, I can't see the meaning of this jar."

"These are common storage containers in the desert, and the main color of the painting on them is bright red, representing meat."

The voice came from behind Wang Yan.

Wang Yan subconsciously turned around and saw it was Tinali.

“Master Tinari!” Cole called out as well.

Wang Yan asked curiously, "Does the Tinali also study desert civilizations?"

As soon as he said it, Wang Yan suddenly realized that the ancestors of the Tinali people came from the desert, so what was the point of studying this?

Sure enough, Tina shook her head slightly: "This is just common sense, it's not really research. Anyone who has been to the desert and interacted with the desert people will know this."

"The red storage containers are for meat, the green ones for vegetables, the yellow ones for grains, and the blue ones for water..."

"The desert people's fascination with color is very simple."

Tina explained to Wang Yan and Ke Lai.

Wang Yan nodded slightly: "I see. I've learned something new about everyday life."

“It’s nothing,” Tinari waved his hand, then looked at Cole, “You guys have already…”

Before he could even ask the question, Cole excitedly said, "Master Tina, Mr. Wang Yan is amazing! He deciphered the contents of the stone slab at a glance."

Then, Ke Lai told her the little story that Wang Yan had just told her.

Tina's eyes flickered slightly, and a hint of approval appeared in her gaze as she looked at Wang Yan.

Although Tinari was a proponent of life, he naturally understood the contents of this book when it was delivered to Corleone.

Tina Li naturally knew the little story above as well.

The fact that Wang Yan was able to decipher the story so quickly suggests that his identity as a 'paleography scholar' is somewhat credible.

You could even say it's very impressive.

An ancient script scholar in Liyue who can decipher the ancient script of the Sumeru Desert is definitely a learned and talented person.

"A good interpretation."

Tinali offered a compliment.

Then he thought for a moment, looked at Wang Yan, and asked, "Wang Yan, do you have any follow-up plans?"

Chapter 11 Tina's Recommendation

Taken aback by Tina's sudden question, Wang Yan finally reacted.

"What are the next steps? I'll probably go to the Faculty of Education, and I'll also need to find a job to earn money."

Wang Yan gave a wry smile: "I lost my luggage. If I hadn't met Amir and Iraz, I would be starving to death by now."

It means that I am penniless and have nothing to eat.

Tinaari was not surprised.

He knew exactly what Wang Yan possessed.

Before Wang Yan knew it, Tinali had already examined him.

"With your proficiency in classical Chinese, you should have no problem getting into an academic institution specializing in intellectual theory."

Tinaly then changed the subject: "I heard from Amir that you know the Traveler?"

They've arrived.

Wang Yan's heart tightened.

One lie requires countless lies to cover it up.

Therefore, the best outcome is to eliminate the lie before it has any impact.

Wang Yan gave an awkward smile: "I know the Traveler, but the Traveler may not remember me. She is also very famous in Liyue and has helped many people."

Tina nodded slightly and smiled, "That's right. She's always been famous, and everyone in Sumeru knows her."

He seemed quite satisfied with Wang Yan's answer; if Wang Yan had said that he and the traveler were acquaintances, Tina would have gone to verify it.

His tone became a little more friendly as he continued, "By the way, are you familiar with the Order Academy?"

Wang Yan's eyes flashed, he thought for a moment, and shook his head: "I wouldn't say I know much about it. I only know that there are six major schools of thought in the Academy of Teachings, and my goal is the School of Knowledge."

In fact, Wang Yan was not lying.

Putting aside the storyline in the game, Wang Yan didn't really know much about the Order Academy.

How does this enormous academic institution operate? What departments does it have besides the W school? What are the relationships between the different schools of thought? Wang Yan didn't even know if the Academy charged tuition.

“Well… how about I explain it to you?” Tinari said with a smile.

Wang Yan immediately nodded: "That would be the best option."

“Alright, let’s go inside and sit down to talk.” Tinari pointed to Cole’s hut.

The three entered the house. Wang Yan and Tina sat down, and Ke Lai poured them a glass of water before going out to attend to other matters.

"I won't talk about the previous Order Institute, but only about the Order Institute after Lord Kusagami's reform, which is the current Order Institute."

Tinari spoke calmly, but when he mentioned the previous Order of the Church, he became somewhat emotional.

It should be noted that the great sage Hazard and the epistemological sage Kavaja are currently in exile in the Dothraki.

The Tinaari were practically their warden.

Wang Yan nodded slightly, remaining silent and appearing to listen attentively.

“As I said before, if you can decipher the contents of the Corleone Slab, I can recommend that you find an epistemological scholar and join the Church Council.”

"This method is the recommendation method. Nowadays, apart from children who have received education at the Academy since childhood and can directly obtain Academy student status, the most common method is the recommendation method."

"Find a scholar who is at least of the [Heban Tu] level to give you a referral, and after passing the exam, you can obtain the corresponding school's academic status."

“Obtaining student status and becoming a beginner is only the first step. During this stage, you need to learn from the public course instructors of the Academy and attend classes until you pass the examination and are promoted to [Tereyasi].

"Of course, you can take the exam even if you don't have a scholar's referral. But after you pass the exam, you will become a non-scholar until you join the corresponding school of thought."

"In addition, the Little Lucky Grass King is very kind. During this period, tuition is free, textbooks are free, and you can even eat for free in the dining hall of the Faculty of Education with your student card. However, you will need to arrange your own accommodation."

The Church of Christ is large, but also small, after all, it is built on the sacred tree.

They don't have enough extra rooms to use as student dormitories.