Chapter 50: The Secret Pact Scroll

“My son finally back!”

Ace returned to Teacher Peter’s house as usual, and as soon as he entered, he saw Romon, who was chatting happily with Peter, mutually exchanging flattery.

Romon saw Ace return and opened his arms for a fierce bear hug.

“You’ve grown quite a bit taller. You’ll definitely be taller than your old man when you come of age.”

In the evening, Ace returned to their home in the First District with his father, Romon.

The villa was spotless, tidy, and warm. This was the result of Marina bringing people to organize and clean early that morning. When Marina saw Ace, she hugged his head, kissing him without restraint.

The family listened as Ace recounted his travels over the past six months, while Ace listened to his parents describe the changes on the estate.

The entire estate now had neat paved roads, and public latrines and septic tanks had been built. The residential area was also complete. The workshops—the brewing workshop, flour workshop, printing workshop, weaving workshop, and iron tool workshop—were all thriving. An earthen wall had been built on the outside of the estate, which they planned to reinforce with stone next year.

The food crop planting area, grape planting area, olive tree planting area, and vegetable planting area outside the settlement had nearly doubled in size. The number of cattle, sheep, and horses in the livestock area had greatly increased. The iron mine exploitation was already established, and the newly discovered coal had begun to be used.

The estate had also built a small fishing port at the river estuary, capable of constructing simple fishing boats for fishing trips.

Ace’s envisioned independent small kingdom was beginning to take shape. He was very happy and discussed the subsequent development with his parents. The family finally went to sleep late that night.

A few days later, Ace finished organizing four books: New Medicine, Materia Medica and Prescriptions (Salia South), Common and Difficult Diseases, and Surgery. He also successfully replicated the Emotion Suppression and Thought Activation Soul Runes.

Woodblock printing had a relatively high cost, so Ace first found a few people to transcribe three sets. He kept one set for himself. One set was entrusted to Teacher Peter to give to the Grand Regent to gain support. Another set was distributed to scholars at the academic gathering, and the final set was given to Athena.

Royal Palace, Athena’s court.

“These four books on the New Medicine are the result of my work over the past six months. This is a gift for you.”

“Aren’t you going to introduce these books to me?” Athena asked with a gentle smile.

“Haha, let me introduce them. New Medicine is the general outline of my medical philosophy, a book that guides my approach. Materia Medica and Prescriptions is my compendium of collected and improved prescriptions and personally verified effective medicinal materials, totaling 458 prescriptions and 1203 medicinal materials…”

After Ace finished introducing the books, Athena nodded repeatedly in agreement. “Ace, you are right. The old medicine simply doesn’t work for treating diseases. When my Royal Father returns, I will introduce him to the New Medicine and establish a big hospital in Medimus City-State. You will be the Director!”

Ace watched Athena forcefully draw a big circle with her arms, and a strange warmth rose in his heart. He said, “I plan to experiment on my own estate first. My estate currently has over 2,000 people, which is perfect for establishing a small hospital. Once my small hospital is properly set up, I will come back to the city-state to establish a large one.”

“You have an estate and never told me? You are too cunning! I have never been there. When I come of age, I want to visit your estate,” Athena said sulkily, her cheeks slightly puffed out.

“We are good friends. I welcome Your Highness to visit my estate at any time.” Ace suddenly stood straight and performed a proper dance invitation bow.

Athena’s ruby-red eyes immediately narrowed into crescent moons. “Then it’s settled!”

The two chatted about various things for a while. Seeing that Athena was in a good mood, Ace seized the opportunity. “I am very curious about the mysterious Wonder of the pact we signed when we first met. May I borrow it for a few days to observe?”

“The Secret Pact Scroll? It’s with Uncle Arnold. Don’t look at me with those pitiful eyes. Here is what we can do: I can borrow it for you, but you must only look at it in my palace and cannot take it away.”

“No problem!” Ace said, somewhat excited. He was a scholar and was seen by Athena as a Pseudo-Hero. It was the perfect opportunity to research the Wonder with a mix of truth and pretense.

Half an hour later, Athena handed the Secret Pact Scroll to Ace.

“What exactly do you want to observe?” Athena asked curiously.

“I am a famous city-state scholar. In my medical research, I found that many things can be gradually understood and utilized. Now that I have near-Pseudo-Hero strength, I find that my perception ability has greatly improved. I want to sense the Wonder up close to see if I can truly understand it, utilize it, and even craft it myself.”

Ace spoke with a mix of truth and pretense. He knew Athena was a sincere person, and this explanation would be more persuasive to her.

“Ace, you are truly full of ideas. I know many powerful Heroes, but no one has ever pondered these questions. I have many other Wonders here. If you don’t mind, let’s research them together.”

Ace felt as if he had been struck by a huge unexpected windfall. Research, he must research!

However, the research was not smooth sailing. The complexity of the Secret Pact Scroll exceeded Ace’s imagination. It had a super-complex, three-dimensional Soul Rune structure. More than half of it was impossible for Ace to analyze, and he could only analyze a small portion.

Ace spent his days researching Wonders in the Royal Palace and his nights meditating. Once a week, he made time to answer Daina’s questions.

This went on for almost a month. Ace finally analyzed over 10 new Soul Runes.

Many Wonder rune structures are three-dimensional and extremely complex, possessing extremely high Mana accumulation effects. They are impossible to fully perceive and thus impossible to analyze.

If using Mystery Level to describe Wonders (Magic Items), the Blessing Sphere of Light has the highest Mystery Level and cannot be analyzed at all. The Secret Pact Scroll is second, with only a small portion analyzable. The Eye of Illusion is third, and it can be fully analyzed.

Rune structures similar to the Eye of Illusion’s three-dimensional structure are merely the lowest tier of three-dimensional rune structures—the minimum required for a mid-level Monster or a Hero. There should be more detailed classifications above this, but Ace does not know them due to his current strength limits.

“Your Highness Athena, after a month of research, I have gained a lot. I can perceive the mysterious and complex patterns within the Wonder, but I still cannot figure out their meaning. I think if we can figure out their meaning one day, and can consciously craft them, we will be able to create Wonders.”

Ace had to show some results after a month of research, so he spoke a mix of truth and lies.

“I have also heard that some Heroes with particularly strong perception have discovered these mysterious patterns, and that the patterns even have special internal structures. It’s just that these naturally formed mysterious patterns are too mysterious for us to understand. Attempts to trace them almost always fail.”

Athena did not have high expectations for this. She believed she understood the supernatural world better than Ace. Although she was optimistic about Ace’s research potential, she did not think Ace could figure out in one month what other Heroes had failed to understand in a lifetime.

Ace gave a practiced smile. The development of mathematics in this world was too slow. Without foundational knowledge such as coordinate systems, vectors, basic axioms of planar geometry, the square root function of real numbers, and pi, it would be virtually impossible to successfully analyze the Soul Runes and their constituent Mana essence.

Not to mention that some complex Mana essence configurations require calculus, which is essentially unattainable for the Heroes.