Chapter 34：Helson’s Letter

Sean played with a ring on his finger, and a slight smile appeared on his face.

The ring was the reward he had won at the Scholar's Hall.

Although Sean had indeed been a little bit arrogant, he had still been logical. Therefore, the three old pedants could not say anything about him. In the end, they could only feel an indescribable disgust. However, to protect the face of the Wisdom Divine Temple, the three pedants could only change the process of the examination a little bit within a reasonable boundary. That was why the old pedant proposed that they could give Sean a ring that was given to him by his mentor during his early years, as long as Sean was able to say the name of the creature imprisoned inside the cage.

The other two pedants were surprised when they heard the proposal, which made Sean laugh internally.

Sean had guessed from the facial expressions of the two pedants that the ring had to be a useful item. Therefore, he had no problems agreeing with the proposal.

In the end, the reality was that Sean, the cheater, won.

He only said four words.

Dark Shadow Demon-eyed Leopard.

...

Outsiders were forbidden to enter the back hall of the Wisdom Divine Temple.

There were many places like the God Temples and Divine Temples, where outsiders were not allowed to enter. Many people believed that it was because there were valuable treasures hidden inside. The rule applied to the Wisdom Divine Temple as well, except that the back hall was just a library. The books inside this library could not be read by outsiders or be used to teach outsiders. That was why there was a rule that forbade outsiders and unlicensed scholars and clerics from entering.

Sean already knew that there was an underground research institute below each Wisdom Divine Temple.

The research institute studied all kinds of things that were on the Miracle Continent. The things they studied ranged from plants to creatures, from demonic beasts to immortal beasts, and even people. The outside world believed that undead spirits were products of undead spirit mages. The belief was wrong. The first undead creature that existed on Miracle Continent was born from the research institute of the Wisdom Divine Temple. Later, it was only because of various "coincidences" that the undead spirit mage profession started to exist in this world.

Of course, no magicians had been born in the Wisdom Divine Temple since then. Even the position of the cleric sector was one level lower than a scholar. All kinds of magic also disappeared from the Wisdom Divine Temple. As a result, Magic Associations were created on the Miracle Continent. Later, through the gradual developments of the continent's history, the Magi Empire finally appeared. After that, the first magic revolution emerged.

During that revolution, mysterious magic was finally divided into different sectors. It was divided into the spiritual energy sector, the life sector, the elements sector, and the mysterious skills sector. Similarly, the accurate settings of a magician's strength and the various professions also emerged one after the other. At the same time, the status of undead spirit mages was recognized.

If one took the time to trace them back to all their roots and map out their family trees, it was clear that they all had connections to the underground research institute of the Wisdom Divine Temple.

Everyone from all the kingdoms recognized the Wisdom Divine Temple. A large part of that was because this Divine Temple did not need to compete for the power of faith. In other words, anyone who had knowledge was the source of faith for the God of Wisdom.

At the moment, inside the underground research institute of the Wisdom Divine Temple, a white-robed old man finally closed a book in his hand.

There were more than 30 books of varying sizes and ages on the tables around the room. Some of them had pages that had turned yellow, and some smelled like ink. However, whether the books were big or small, new or old, they all had one thing in common. They were all opened to a specific page and were fixed in place on the tables.

It was evident that some kind of experiment was currently underway.

"Have you found out the identity of that young man?" The old man in the white robe was one of the three pedants. He currently looked like he was in very high spirits, and there were no traces of old age on him at all. "Such an outstanding young man could not have been unknown before. Although the Dark Shadow Demon-eyed Leopard is a rank seven demonic beast, its four legs are no different from many of the other leopard demonic beasts. However, that young man was able to recognize it at a glance. It proved that there had been a big mistake in our research direction on the Dark Shadow Demon-eyed Leopard.

"Professor, you are saying that…"

The person standing next to the white-robed old man was the female cleric who had made a terrible impression on Sean earlier. An expression of surprise was displayed on her face.

"Yes, send him a letter of invitation," The old man wearing the white robe said excitedly. "The person who can take away the philosopher from me is not simple."

The professor was so happy that he seemed very child-like. He even began to stare in high spirits at the very weak Dark Shadow Demon-eyed Leopard in front of him. It seemed as if he was trying to find something he had not noticed before.

In contrast to the professor's excitement, Lena, the female cleric, was at a loss. The young man she had looked down on was so powerful that he was able to take away the philosopher, which the professor had regarded as a treasure. She remembered that the professor attached great importance to the simple ring. The ring was a gift from his mentor when he was a scholar.

Lena realized that she was a little bit jealous of the young man named Sean. Who was he, anyway, and why had he shown up out of nowhere?

But even if she was jealous, she still had to prepare the invitation letter from the Wisdom Divine Temple.

...

The rate that the Wisdom Divine Temple completed their tasks was swift.

They only took one afternoon to find out where Sean was staying. Even though they were still very curious about Sean's origins, the Wisdom Divine Temple had never cared about a person's background. Therefore, that night, Sean received an invitation letter from the Wisdom Divine Temple.

Helson's Letter.

"Sometimes, I wonder whether you are human or not." Cecilia looked at Sean with a face full of astonishment. She looked back at the invitation letter in Sean's hand. "I can't believe you received Helson's Letter."

"It's just a research invitation from the underground research institute of the Wisdom Divine Temple, isn't it?" Sean glanced at the letter, then threw it to the side indifferently.

In reality, Sean was by no means calm inside, he had just learned to master his expressions.

The importance of the Helson Research Institute under the Wisdom Divine Temple to the scholars was the same as how important the God of Light's Heresy Trial Institute was to its fanatic followers. It was just that the Helson Research Institute was low-key and secretive, unlike the Heresy Trial Institute, which was high-profile and well-known across the continent. Apart from a tiny number of aristocrats, no one even knew about the existence of the Helson Research Institute. Even the scholars and clerics at the Wisdom Divine Temple did not know.

The legend of the Helson Research Institute was also an inspiration for many people, especially scholars. As long as they could participate in any of the research projects at the Helson Research Institute that were successful in the end, they would not need to worry about food and clothes in the future. It was easy for scholars to have both fame and wealth. Therefore, many people on the continent were eager to receive the "Helson's Letter," which represented the highest praise from the Knowledge Hall.

However, Sean knew more about the letter.

The Helson Research Institute was not as simple as it seemed on the surface. Back in the game, when the players came into contact with the institute, the game had reached the rank-four era. Also, the confidentiality of the Helson Research Institute was beyond all the players' expectations. A player had once participated in a project with the Helson Research Institute. They had announced it on the forum, which was where Sean saw it. He was expelled from the Helson Research Institute on the same day. The God of Wisdom had sent an oracle to express that the player had not kept his promise.

Of course, all the players knew that it was the GM who was behind it. It did not make them any happier that someone was tracking what they said outside of the game.

But no matter what, that was very far into the future for Sean.

Sean was only in a rank-two class. He was nowhere near the rank-four class that other people had been when they had been approached to join the research institute. He still had many things he wanted to accomplish before he even thought about joining them.

After thinking about it, Sean realized that his performance earlier at the Scholar Hall's examination must have been too abnormal. He had been able to reveal what the Dark Shadow Demon-eyed Leopard was by just looking at its legs, so the three pedants must have been impressed and seen Sean in a new light.

Sean looked at the ring in his hand and was no longer as excited as before.

[Philosopher, legendary, wisdom +5, will +5, permanent effect 'concentration': It is difficult for anything to distract you (difficult to interrupt when casting). Permanent effect 'intelligence': Your rich personal and life experiences made you an extremely wise person (gain a bonus when solving problems). Special: You have received Boni White's approval.]

[Material description: It looks like a plain ring. However, it is a gift from Professor White's mentor, and has an extraordinary significance.]

The ring was legendary level. Even though its attributes were not comparable to the Blood Striped Hexagon Ring Cecilia wore, Sean was much more excited about getting the legendary ring than Cecilia's magical ring. He knew that not any piece of equipment above the legendary level had a massive attribute bonus. Back in the game "Miracle," the most apparent difference between legendary equipment and the magical equipment was that all equipment above the legendary level had special effects.

Just like the concentration and intelligence attached to this 'philosopher' ring, it had an ability that ordinary magical equipment did not have.

Sean did not know whether the "intelligence" effect had worked or not, but he could easily see what this "special" on the ring meant. He now finally understood the meaning of the sentence, "you have received Boni White's approval." When he thought about it more deeply, Sean also realized why the professor had found him. It had to be related to the Dark Shadow Demon-eyed Leopard.

If ordinary people received the invitation letter, they would be very excited to participate. In an abstract way, Sean understood that. It was an incredible opportunity, and if he had been anyone else, it would have been foolish for him to turn them down.

However, Sean was different. He knew more about the world than anyone else, especially with what had happened on the game forum regarding the Helson Research Institute. It provided Sean with an understanding that others did not have about the underground research institute at the Wisdom Divine Temple. Not only did it represent the highest praise and reputation of the Knowledge Hall, but it also represented the shackles and surveillance of a person's freedom.

The latter two limitations were the reasons why Sean wanted to reject the invitation.

Sean's index finger gently tapped the table. Before he knew it, he was lost deep in thought. His brain had already started to work extremely quickly. The two permanent effects from the legendary philosopher's ring had begun to produce an unexpected result. Without the ring, Sean would never have thought of such grave problems.

A moment later, Sean's eyes started to glow with a new brilliance.

With his current ability, he was not yet strong enough to completely ignore the Helson Research Institute. However, he knew why Professor Boni White wanted to find him, which meant he could take advantage of it.

After Sean had thought about it thoroughly, he picked up his pen and wrote a reply letter with all of his knowledge about the Dark Shadow Demon-eyed Leopard, as well as its special features and habits on it. Sean also expressed in the letter that he was entangled in some mundane affairs, and therefore he could not personally participate in the research at the Helson Research Institute. He felt very helpless and disappointed and hoped that his knowledge could help Professor Boni's investigation in some way. At the end of the letter, Sean asked Professor Boni to forgive him.

When he finished the reply, Sean sighed softly and put down his pen. "Ron, oh, Ron. You absolutely must not let me down."