"The reward for language... is also language?"
Inside the tent, Kapak responded to the words in his mind, muttering to himself, trying to grasp their meaning. After thinking for a while, he understood the meaning of the sentence.
'Is that powerful spirit saying that as a reward for bestowing this language upon me, I also need to offer a language?' Kapak understood the other party's meaning, and then fear couldn't help but rise in his heart.
'I also need to offer a language to that spirit, but... besides the Prit language that spirit just bestowed upon me, the only language I know is my tribe's own language. I cannot sacrifice my own people's language for the Prit language, the language of the invaders.'
Kapak thought this, his relatives and friends were in the tribe, he was born in the tribe, he was a warrior of the tribe, he certainly did not want to give up the tribe's language.
'Could this spirit be an evil spirit? According to the Shaman, some evil spirits like to play with humans through such exchange contracts. Could it be that I am now entangled with such an evil spirit?
'It first gives me the language of the invaders, and then wants to take away my own language, making me unable to communicate with my compatriots, forcing me to interact with the invaders' society, making me enslaved by the invaders again, and hostile by my compatriots, while it can find pleasure in this?'
Kapak imagined this in his mind, and instantly felt terrible. He quickly prostrated himself towards the picture book and prayed devoutly and fearfully.
"Powerful spirit from whereabouts unknown, I regret that I cannot part with my own language. Please take back the previous grace..."
In the library of King's Campus, Dorothy, who had just walked out of the washroom, heard this and couldn't help but smile wryly. She thought to herself.
'This is just like me before, thinking that knowledge disappears after being sacrificed. This is indeed a misconception. It seems I need to explain it to him...'
Thinking this, Dorothy then sent another message to the other party.
"Knowledge lies in inheritance and communication, not in deprivation."
These words echoed in Kapak's mind inside the tent. After a moment of stunned silence, he suddenly reacted.
'Knowledge lies in inheritance and communication, not in deprivation. Yes... when the Shaman taught us to read, he didn't suddenly become unable to recognize characters. Language is not an object... it's not something you lose when you sacrifice it...'
Kapak, who had high comprehension, immediately understood the principle. He immediately worshipped the picture book devoutly.
'Powerful spirit from whereabouts unknown, thank you for your enlightenment. I am willing to offer the language I have learned since childhood as a reward.'
As soon as Kapak finished praying, a copy of the Spirit Seal Language knowledge recorded in his mind was immediately duplicated, and the information channel transmitted it to Dorothy in the distance.
Inside the library, Dorothy received the complete set of Spirit Seal Language knowledge transmitted by Kapak. She did not waste the precious, little remaining capacity of the Book of Souls to inscribe this knowledge, but stored it first and replied to that side.
"The reward has been collected."
Inside the tent, Kapak, who was kneeling on the ground, paused slightly after hearing this voice. He then checked if he could still recognize the Spirit Seal characters carved on the wooden sign of the tent and spoke a couple of sentences in his spoken language. After finding that there were no problems, he couldn't help but feel joyful.
'I still know my tribe's language! Sacrificing knowledge doesn't make me lose knowledge! Just as that spirit said, knowledge lies in inheritance and communication, not in deprivation!
'I have mastered a new language with almost no cost. Seeking knowledge as a sacrifice in exchange for knowledge, is this that spirit's principle of action? It's truly special and powerful...'
Kapak, who had almost gained a bestowal out of thin air, was extremely excited at this moment. While looking around, he also worshipped the picture book.
"Powerful spirit from whereabouts unknown, thank you for your grace. May I know your name?'
Kapak asked this, and after a while, he received a reply.
"Akasha…"
"Akasha…"
Kapak savored the pronunciation for a moment, and after confirming that he had never heard it before, he prayed again.
"May I ask, powerful Akasha, are you the spirit residing in this picture book?"
"I do not reside anywhere. The text you see is merely a medium for me to communicate with you."
'Medium... as expected, how could such a powerful spirit reside in such an ordinary thing...'
Kapak thought with understanding, and then he opened his mouth to pray and ask.
'May I ask, powerful Akasha, you have bestowed grace upon me, what else do I need to do for you?"
"Collect valuable knowledge and offer it up, and I will bestow upon you equivalent knowledge..."
The deep voice echoed in Kapak's mind. After listening, he nodded thoughtfully. He now understood that in the future, he could also use other valuable knowledge to exchange for more blessings.
Equivalent exchange, this is a fair spirit! And he doesn't even lose the things he exchanges! This is even fairer!
"Powerful Akasha, I will try my best to collect precious knowledge."
Kapak prayed again, and the responding voice quickly sounded.
"You may. If you cultivate valuable knowledge, you can pray to me. Do not tell others about my existence for now. Keep the text you possess safe. You can use it to contact others like you."
"Understood, I will follow your instructions."
Kapak said this, and then the voice in his mind disappeared and never sounded again.
After kneeling before the picture book for about ten minutes, Kapak finally stood up, walked over to the picture book, picked it up, and then looked at his wooden box of collections, which were all the strange things of those invaders that he had collected.
Sitting by the wooden box, Kapak began to rummage through the various small industrial items one by one, looking at all the text printed on them. The characters he couldn't read before, he could now understand completely. Because he could read the characters, he knew the names and functions of many things.
"Is this... a music box? Is this... a watch?... Is this a cane? Are these... medicines?"
Just like that, Kapak continued to rummage curiously by the wooden box. He eagerly read all the Prit text he could see, learning the names and even functions of these invader items. He had to sigh, although the white-skinned people who killed and seized land were utterly hateful, their things were indeed utterly wondrous.
...
Meanwhile, Dorothy, who had finally tricked Kapak into sacrificing the Spirit Seal Language, sat down contentedly in her seat in the library.
'Phew... I finally have a new language again. Although I can't use the precious capacity of the Book of Souls to inscribe it, I can use the system to exchange it. If it's a language, it should be exchangeable for a Dragon Shout.'
Dorothy thought this, then opened the long-unused system exchange and used the Spirit Seal Language to exchange. After a while, the exchange result came out, and the result was indeed a Dragon Shout.
To Dorothy's surprise, this time, the exchange using the Spirit Seal Language did not exchange all three stages of the Dragon Shout at once. This time, she only exchanged one stage of the Dragon Shout.
"Dragon Shout, Slow Time."
"Shout at time, commanding it to yield to you, slowing down the surrounding time by thirty percent."
"Akatosh is the beginning of time, Alduin is the end of time, and all Dragons are also fragments of time. Therefore, slowing time is one of the highest-level Dragon Shouts, involving the essence of the Dragon."