The starlight woman had vanished, leaving Shi Ming alone in the Mysterious Space.

With no other choice, he turned his attention to the characters on the floating stone slabs.

Every character on the slabs was unique and utterly abstract. There were no connections or comparisons to be made between them, making it impossible to deduce their meaning from scratch. Using conventional methods, Shi Ming wouldn’t be able to learn this script even if he stayed here for ten thousand years.

’Perhaps I need to use a special method.’

He focused his attention, concentrating his Spiritual Power on the first character of the first stone slab.

The character lit up.

WHOOSH.

He felt an infinite amount of information contained within that tiny symbol. It was like a dam breaking, instantly flooding his mind. His brain became a high-speed computer, frantically processing the torrential influx of data. For a moment, he had no capacity left to think about anything else!

’So this is... the way to decipher and learn... is it?’

This kind of passive learning was excruciating.

Especially with an information bombardment like this. If he didn’t accept it, he would have to endure the pain of his Spiritual Power being torn apart.

Ten minutes later, he could finally breathe.

He had also managed to grasp the meaning of the first character.

PHEW~

Strictly speaking, these characters couldn’t be classified as writing. Each one was more like a single drop of blood forming the basis of life, or a fundamental cornerstone upon which rules are built. It seemed simple, yet it contained endless foundational information. Even with his immense Spiritual Power, it had taken him this long just to deconstruct the true meaning of a single character!

A single character!

Ten minutes!

His Spiritual Power was failing; it was almost completely depleted.

Even upgrading the Dayun to a general-class drifter a few days ago hadn’t consumed nearly this much Spiritual Power.

’They’re using me like a supercomputer!’

’Just one character and my mind is already overloaded.’

’These twelve stone slabs have at least a thousand characters. If each one takes ten minutes, learning all of them would take at least seven days!’

’Seven days... and my Dayun is still waiting in that sea region.’

Before he left, he had given orders to the crew and granted basic defensive and combat authority to the two squad leaders on board. There shouldn’t be any issues in the short term, but seven days was far too long to be away! Of course, he was worried.

Besides, he might not even be able to learn it all in seven days, as he hadn’t factored in time for rest.

Once his Spiritual Power was depleted, it had to be replenished.

And replenishment would probably take a very long time.

Shi Ming let out a breath.

The starlight all around him twinkled.

He was surprised to discover his Spiritual Power was replenishing at a rapid rate.

’The stars in this space can help me replenish my Spiritual Power?’

’If that’s the case, then this is much better.’

’It seems that "teacher" of hers wasn’t completely useless after all.’

In just a few seconds, most of the Spiritual Power Shi Ming had consumed was replenished. He seized the opportunity and focused on the second character. Once again, countless abstract and incomprehensible pieces of information flooded his brain, which he analyzed and deconstructed bit by bit.

Time passed without him realizing it.

The number of ’characters’ he could recognize grew.

These characters were indeed from the same origin as those on the Mysterious Stele inside the Pyramid and the four characters beneath the Crystal Staff.

But what Shi Ming didn’t know was that...

...the characters on a 33,000-character Mysterious Stele, discovered at the Top of Mount Everest—the place known as the Old Continent’s only remaining sanctuary—were also of the same kind.

The scientists of Xirang had studied it meticulously. Even with the original stele, the top resources and efficiency of the Dragon Country, the most advanced computer analysis equipment on their ship, and years of research under immense computational power, they had only barely managed to translate a single text: *A Survey of the Marvels of the Endless Sea Region (Part 2)*.

This effort had consumed a vast number of Energy Stones and tens of thousands of Pure Dome Crystals.

If they knew that Shi Ming could master the analysis of a single character in just ten minutes, their jaws would surely hit the floor.

Besides, translating and mastering were two completely different things.

This script was exceptionally peculiar. Different arrangements of the same characters could yield entirely different meanings.

Only by deconstructing it as thoroughly as Shi Ming was doing could one truly learn and understand it. In the process, his Spiritual Power—the exact value of which he was unaware—was like an uncut jade being polished and refined under extreme pressure.

Whenever his Spiritual Power was about to give out, a star would fall and replenish it for him.

His condition steadily improved, and his pace of deciphering the characters quickened.

In the Mysterious Space, the flow of time was a mystery. Even for someone like Shi Ming, who had an excellent sense of time, it was impossible to know how much had passed during this immersive study.

’A few hours? Or maybe more than ten?’

During a break, he looked inside the honeycomb he carried, only to discover he hadn’t brought a watch.

’Looks like I’ll have to carry a precise mechanical watch with me from now on.’

’I can’t rely entirely on my own senses.’

Although he didn’t have a watch, Shi Ming had his own method for checking the time.

"Eye of Intelligence, acquire information!"

It was a unique way of telling time.

If the Eye of Intelligence didn’t respond,

...then it wasn’t yet midnight. If the Eye of Intelligence did respond, it meant a new day had begun.

...

...

...

「In another mysterious location.」

It was also an endless Star Sea, solitary and remote. But unlike the space Shi Ming was in, the stars here were all incredibly real.

Amid a flicker of starlight, a woman’s form materialized in the space.

She hovered above the starry expanse.

"You’ve finally completed your mission?" an unknown voice asked.

"I got lucky. I used a depleted Curio with tracking capabilities to find a young man. His physical constitution is good, and his Spiritual Power isn’t bad either. He should be able to learn the script."

"How long do you think it will take him to learn that script?"

"Hmm?"

The woman in the starlight gown seemed to be contemplating, making an assessment.

"His physical constitution is good, so he can withstand the Starlight Enlightenment. His Spiritual Power is also decent. Although it’s hard to determine its exact value, he was able to break my Illusory Scorpio, so he’s top-tier by any measure. With the Source Stele, it should take him one or two days to analyze a single character. At that rate, it’ll take a few years, for sure!"

"A few years? That is fast, indeed. It seems fate has smiled upon you this time."

...

...

...

「On the Endless Ocean」

The Dayun had been waiting in place for a full day.

"Why isn’t the captain back yet?"

Even when he was away from the ship for a long time, it was rarely for more than a day.

And he would always send them a message.

This time, he’d been gone for so long without any remote communication. The Dayun’s current orders were still the ones Shi Ming had set before he left: remain in the current sea region and await instructions.

Stone Pillar was getting antsy.

"Don’t worry. With the captain’s abilities, he could escape unscathed even if he ran into an S-rank sea beast,"

"All we need to do right now is follow his orders until he gets back."