Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 228 - 82 Cylinder_1

Chapter 228: Chapter 82 Cylinder_1

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"What is this exactly?" Catherine took the silver cylindrical object, stared at it for a long time but still couldn’t make sense of it, so she got bored and kept rotating it with her finger tip: "Seeing you and Vivian, it seems like you have found a treasure. Maybe it’s something valuable? You mentioned that we have all seen something like this, but I genuinely can’t remember."

"Only the shape is different, the rest is very similar." Pannis mysteriously smiled: "Think about its texture."

"I got it." Lina suddenly jumped up, waving the hammer in her hand: "Haha, I remember now, haha."

"Hey hey, why are you starting to go crazy again." Pannis dodged while holding his head: "Don’t make trouble, it’s life-threatening."

"Last time we went to the Harvest Festival in Angus Village, we found a pyramidal object in the goblin ruins underground." Lina stopped her overly excited actions: "It has the same texture, and it feels very similar to this cylinder."

"You are right, it is the same kind of thing." Pannis snatched back the cylinder from Catherine’s fingertip and carefully held it: "This thing, we usually call it... um, Goblin Cylinder."

"Hey, you just made that up on the spot." Lina raised her hammer again: "What’s it really called?"

"Even if you ask me, I don’t know." Pannis smiled bitterly: "That’s thousands, tens of thousands of years ago, how could I possibly know? I just gave it a random name."

"Okay, what is the use of this thing?" Catherine intently stared at Pannis with hopeful eyes: "Is it rare? Can it be sold for a lot of money?"

"Well, it’s not worth much, generally speaking." Pannis sighed: "Although this item can be activated, basically no one knows its use, so nobody will buy it."

"So it’s worthless." Catherine immediately lost interest and said dejectedly: "I was so hopeful."

Pannis chuckled, activated the cylinder with a slight energy. A conical beam shot from the top of the cylinder, and formed a screen at the end. The screen was very hazy and displayed many weird characters, but they were too blurred to see clearly.

"Same as that cylinder." Lina dropped her shoulders uninterested, and weakly said, "You can’t see anything written on it. It’s completely useless. So boring."

"Actually, there’s a great secret hidden behind this thing." Pannis lowered his voice and whispered: "If you crack this mystery, heh heh, what does the treasure of the Naren Kingdom account for? What do millions of dollars of debt matter? What do precious rare books matter?"

"Quick, explain it." Two figures appeared before Pannis’s eyes with the swiftness of a gust of wind, two young girls sat in front of him, looking at him with calm and refined gaze.

"I don’t know why Vivian thinks this item is valuable, but for me, I recalled a rumor from a long time ago." Pannis’s tone was a little rueful, as he lightly said, "It’s a story about nearly or even over ten thousand years ago."

"Among the existing goblins, there are a few who are still deeply interested in research, and I happen to know one. He once told me that during the era of the Goblin Empire in the Second Age, some classified technology data was encrypted. The most sturdy and reliable items are used to record these data, like we like to use Magicsteel alloy as a permanent recording material now."

"In these technology data, the top secrets are often encrypted with a special means. This encryption tool, there were no more than ten sets even in the heyday of the Goblin Empire. So, only the most precious and secretive contents were eligible to be recorded this way."

"Are you saying that this cylindrical object is one of these encryption tools?" Catherine asked in surprise: "Are you sure?"

"Not certain, but it looks very similar." Pannis continued: "This kind of tool is usually composed of a fixed code disk and six to eight encryption parts. Without any of these parts, they can’t work. To distinguish these ten sets of encryption tools, the goblins marked each set with a different color, with silver being one of them."

"Before you find all the parts, no one is able to read the contents inside. The exact reason is unknown, but based on the pyramidal object and the cylinder, it seems that if you use one part alone without the code disk and other parts, like just now, it’s impossible to see the contents clearly. Only when you put different parts into it based on the shapes on the code disk, can you read the secret correctly."

"So instead of reminiscing about the treasure we just missed, let’s focus on what we have. Think about it, we’ve already found two of these cipher machines that contain the deepest secrets of the ancient Goblin Empire. If there are six parts in total, we’ve already got a third of it. If there are eight, we’ve then secured a quarter. If we can find all these parts and uncover the secret, the benefits that it’ll bring, hehe, just think about the Guild’s 8% rule."

There’s a rule in the Adventurers’ Guild. When an adventurer discovers an unclaimed ruin, they’re entitled to keep all the items inside. If the ruin is too large or too dangerous for the adventurer to handle alone, they can report it to the Guild. The Guild then organizes the exploration and handling of the ruin, and the adventurer who discovered it gets 8% of the profits. This rule has since expanded to include findings of great potential value. If these discoveries were handed over to the Guild for handling, manufacturing, and selling, the discoverer would hold an 8% interest for 50 years, no matter how much was invested. Thanks to the Guild’s authority and credibility, more and more adventurers were willing to share the treasures they found but couldn’t handle themselves with the Guild. This is what Pannis was referring to.

"Think about it." Pannis’s voice deepened. "What kind of secret could prompt the use of a code disk? A recorded experiment? Some simple data? No, those things wouldn’t warrant such a sophisticated method of recording. Only the most essential secrets would. For example..."

"For example?" Catherine leaned forward increasingly as Pannis spoke, her eyes brightening, her breathing becoming quicker, a flush of excitement spreading across her wheat-colored cheeks. Her nostrils flared slightly, and the knuckles on her hands whitened from her clutching hands: "Go on, like what?"

"Guess. What if... we find all the code disks and inside we discover the formula for goblin metal." Pannis wore a devilish grin on his face. "How much do you think we’ll earn in thirty years?"

"R-r-r-really?" Catherine almost bit her tongue, speaking in a frenzy. "We could really find such a formula?"

"Of course not." Pannis spread his hands, looked up at the sky as if he didn’t care: "How could we."

"I’ll kill you." The voices of the two girls overlapped. A Falcon Shield and a shining hammer were swung through the air simultaneously. Unexpectedly, a fireball also appeared, but it wasn’t quite powerful. Apparently Vivian had woken up and was listening intently to Pannis’s words.

"Help! Wait a second, don’t hit me. Don’t kill me. Help!" Pannis twisted his body in every possible way to dodge the girls’ coordinated attacks, panting for breath: "Let me finish."

"Speak up." Catherine saw Vivian wake up, and knelt on the ground, allowing her to rest comfortably on her lap. As she took off her soft fur cap and gently stroked Vivian’s hair, she glared at Pannis: "What is it, exactly?"

"There definitely won’t be a formula for goblin metal, because for the goblins that wouldn’t even count as a top secret." Pannis explained: "That means that what’s in these parts is worth far more to the goblins that the formula for goblin metal. It likely has

information that we couldn’t even dream of. If we find all six to eight parts, the knowledge or benefits we gain won’t be worth less than the formula for goblin metal."

"Didn’t you say we needed a special code disk?" Lina asked. "Shouldn’t that be counted in?"

"Yes, we do need a code disk. But, the friend who once mentioned this to me was a goblin, a goblin scholar to be specific. Coincidentally, he has the silver cipher disk, and he even let me see it." Pannis smirked proudly. "That means we only need to find another four to six silver parts."

"Wait, if he showed it to you, why aren’t you sure how many parts there are?" Catherine frowned and asked.

"Haha, haha." Pannis scratched his head and looked up at the sky again: "Who would bother counting them. By the way, did I mention why I’m so certain that these contents are something we couldn’t even dream of? Because my goblin friend once revealed to me..."

"Speak up!" The girls all yelled together, "We really want to beat you."

"Haha, he told me, it’s a shame that the parts containing the ciphertext are lost. Otherwise, he would be able to unlock a scientific secret that would send shockwaves throughout all races in the Yarran World." Pannis said in a low voice, "A secret that would drive the entire world mad."

"Stop it." Lina rubbed her arms, holding her chest, "I’m getting a little scared from what you said, is this secret really something we should be meddling with?"

"What are you scared of, we won’t be the ones to hog it. As long as we report to the Guild, having the mage’s guild and the adventurer’s Guild backing us up, there’s nothing to fear." Vivian sat up and patted Lina’s head: "When the time comes, we just need to sit back and collect our benefits. Look at our eldest sister, her eyes have glazed over and she’s drooling. She must be dreaming about how she’s going to spend that money."

"Not at all." Catherine blushed slightly and quickly retorted: "I’m still very rational. Firstly, if the secret is too big, the two major guilds may not be able to handle it. So, caution is key. Secondly, who knows where the remaining parts could be. You see, these two parts we’ve found have come from the weirdest places. There’s no logic to their locations at all. The others could be hidden in any corner. Finding them might be quite a challenge."

"That’s okay. We have plenty of time to search slowly." Pannis said leisurely, "Plus, if fate has chosen us to find these two parts, it’ll naturally guide us to the remaining ones. I believe this."