Chapter 1: Knowledge

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The night sky was moonless, and a cool, gentle rain was pattering down. The raindrops struck the soil and rocks on the riverbank, washing away the bloodstains. A faint, coppery smell lingered in the air.

This was the bottom of a deep and secluded canyon. A swift stream that had cleaved through the rock rushed in the center of the valley bottom. The sound of the gushing water echoed ceaselessly in the canyon.

On either side of the deep valley, one side was a sheer cliff, while the other was a steep slope. Countless tenacious shrubs and trees struggled out of the rocky soil. At the bottom of the slope, the gradient gradually became gentler, forming a sloping tidal flat riverbank. And on the riverbank, there was a scene of tragedy.

Two or three wagon carriages had overturned on the riverbank. The bodies of humans and horses were strewn about everywhere. Thick blood oozed from the hideous wounds and was washed into the nearby river by the rain. The expressions of horror were frozen on the faces of the deceased.

At the tragic scene of blood and rain, all was silent, seemingly devoid of any sign of life. Of course... it only seemed that way.

Near the riverbank, inside an overturned carriage that was barely held in place by a rein hooked on a rock, preventing it from slipping into the river, a young girl was leaning against an upright seat, her eyes closed in silence.

The girl was around thirteen years old. She was dressed in a simple white - brown dress, along with cloth shoes and short socks. It was not an outfit of the wealthy. Many parts of her body were stained with blood. Her long, silver hair fell neatly to her shoulders, and in the dim environment, it even reflected a faint silver glow. Nearly half of her fair and serene, closed - eyed face was dyed red by the blood. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that the blood flowed from her forehead beneath the right bangs.

Just like the surrounding environment, the silent girl also seemed to be a part of this tragedy. That was until... her eyebrows twitched slightly at a certain moment.

After an unknown period of time, a faint breath emerged from beneath her nose, which should have been completely still. Then, along with the girl's chest rising and falling once again, that breath gradually grew stronger.

"Whoo..."

The girl's eyebrows knitted tightly together, showing an uncomfortable expression. She raised a hand and touched her right forehead.

'It hurts so much... so cold... Did I have a nightmare? Or did I fall out of bed?'

Chaotic thoughts were churning in the girl's mind. As the pain on her forehead gradually subsided, her thoughts became clearer, and she started to think about more things.

'Is it raining outside? Why is there the sound of water? There's no river near my home. Is someone turning on the faucet early in the morning to wash the outdoor ground?'

Amidst all these confusions, the girl slowly opened her eyes, revealing scarlet pupils. The dark environment made it difficult for her to see clearly for a while. After adapting for a while, she could finally make out the scene in this dark and confined space.

Then, she immediately froze on the spot.

Inside the carriage, across from the girl, there was the body of a woman leaning against another upright seat. Shards of broken glass that had fallen from the carriage window were stuck in the woman's throat. The still - flowing blood had stained the canvas dress red. Her eyes were wide open, and the fear she had shown before death was vividly conveyed to the girl's eyes without the slightest diminution.

"Shh..."

At the sight of this scene, the girl gasped. The instinctive fear of the dead instantly filled her mind, and all other doubts and confusions were completely swept away.

For a moment, the startled girl immediately stood up. However, she accidentally hit the top of the carriage with a "thud". Hunched over and covering her head, she looked around. Only then did the girl realize that she was in such a small space.

Sharing a confined space with such a hideous corpse, the girl felt even more creeped out. She quickly stretched out her hands and groped around, trying to find a way out. Fortunately, she soon felt the carriage door above. With a hefty push, she opened it and quickly clambered out of the carriage.

"Damn it! What the hell is going on? Where the hell am I? Why is there a corpse!?"

While thinking this to herself, the girl struggled to climb out of the carriage. Then, when she reached the riverside where it was drizzling, and saw the tragic scene in front of her, she couldn't help but stand there stunned.

There were more corpses, not only of people but also of horses. The stench of blood in the air couldn't be washed away by the rain. The overturned carriages were not just the one behind her. The gas lamp hanging on the front of the carriage swayed ceaselessly, with a flickering flame casting a weak light in the rainy darkness. The wheels of the carriage were still turning, as though it had been galloping not long ago.

"What... the hell is this... If this is a prank... the cost is too high... Is it really necessary to be so over the top just to play a trick on me?"

In the rain, the girl stared blankly at the scene before her and mumbled to herself. Fear and confusion welled up within her. Then she shook her head vigorously, trying to force herself to calm down.

"Don't panic... Calm down... Observe the situation first... Ouch!"

Just as the girl was attempting to calm down, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head. She couldn't help covering her forehead again.

Immediately afterwards, she felt her thoughts in turmoil. Countless memories that didn't belong to her all came rushing out at once, throwing her mind into chaos.

"Whoa... What is this..."

Gritting her teeth, the girl reached out to steady the carriage beside her, struggling to keep herself from fainting. Just like this, as she gasped, her chaotic mind gradually calmed down, the sharp pain in her head gradually subsided, and the girl... obtained a memory that didn't belong to her. Or rather, the soul now inhabiting the girl's body obtained the memories of this body.

"Whoa... Whoa... So it's not a prank. It's... time travel... right?"

Still gasping for breath, the girl finally understood her current situation.

The girl's soul at this moment was a time traveler from a modern, different world. And the girl who originally hailed from this world was named Dorothy.

According to Dorothy's memories, she was an ordinary girl who lived in a remote village. Her father, a hunter, died in an accident during a hunt. Her mother disappeared after her father's death. Since she was a child, she and her only blood relative, her older brother, were adopted by the kind-hearted people in the village, her father's relative, Aunt Hannah's family.

Except for her naturally silver-white hair and scarlet pupils, Dorothy was a beautiful ordinary girl. Raised by Aunt Hannah, she grew up with her older brother. She was very sensible and obedient since childhood and often helped the adults with things.

Due to her natural intelligence, Dorothy was sent to the church class in town to learn reading and writing. By her teens, she had become one of the few literate people in the village, and often helped villagers write and read letters.

Dorothy's older brother was six years older than her. As the village land was enclosed for sheep farming, at the age of sixteen, he followed other young people in the village and followed the trend of going to the city to work. It has been three years since then. Not long ago, Dorothy's brother wrote to her. He said that he had found a good job in the city and could afford a decent house, so he wanted to invite Dorothy to live with him in the city.

When Dorothy received the letter from her brother, she was extremely happy. She right away bid farewell to the villagers, packed her things, and boarded a carriage bound for the city. However, much to her surprise, not long after they set off, the carriage convoy she was in was robbed by bandits.

By the riverbank at the bottom of the valley, rubbing her temples, Dorothy digested the memories in her mind while looking at the steep slope beside her. Many items that had tumbled out of the carriage were still hanging on the branches of the slope. In Dorothy's memory, while being pursued by the bandits, the convoy had overturned, and almost the entire convoy had rolled down the slope. Apparently, judging from the current situation, it seemed that no one had survived...

In Dorothy's last hysterical memory, she heard the shouts of the bandits and the roars of wild beasts. Amid the piteous cries of the horses, the world in front of her began to tilt. Finally, after a severe sharp pain in her forehead, her memory completely ended.

"Sigh... What a poor girl. She finally got the chance to live a good life in the city, but who would have thought this would happen..."

With a sigh, Dorothy exclaimed, then her expression suddenly froze as she felt something was wrong.

"Wait... Girl?!"

Suddenly realizing the seriousness of something, Dorothy immediately reached her hand down. After several attempts with no result, her face contorted.

"It's gone... It's really gone... I'm Dorothy... Dorothy is a girl. I... I've become a girl?!"

For a moment, Dorothy was completely stunned on the spot, her expression blank as the light rain fell on her.

Just then, a sound from afar pulled her back to her senses.

"Hey! We found it! The carriage rolled over there!"

"Boss! We found it!"

Hearing several unfamiliar but understandable voices coming from afar, Dorothy couldn't help but feel a tightness in her heart. She turned to look in the direction of the sound. In the darkness on the distant riverbank, sporadic flames were flickering. Those flames were swaying towards her.

It's those bandits! They found the place and are coming down, searching along the river towards this side!

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Dorothy frowned. She no longer had the mood to dwell on other issues. She quickly crouched down and hid behind a carriage.

"This is bad... Those guys must have come down to look for valuables... They're all ruthless bandits. I have to run quickly..."

While thinking, Dorothy surveyed the surrounding environment, trying to find a way to escape. However, unfortunately, apparently due to the rain and the rising water level, the directions Dorothy could escape from had been flooded by the rapid current. The steep slope beside her was too steep, and with the slippery condition in the rainy weather, it was impossible to climb up.

The only way to leave now was in the direction where the flames were dancing in the dark night. However, that was also the path where the bandits were searching. If she escaped from that direction, she would surely run into the bandits.

"Damn it... Is this a dead end?"

Realizing the dangerous situation she was in, Dorothy was extremely anxious for a moment. Just as she was considering whether to pretend to be dead on the spot to deceive the bandits, an eerie voice lacking any emotional inflections, impossible to tell whether it was male or female, as if murmured by countless mouths simultaneously, suddenly sounded in her head.

「Soul integration completed... Link established...」

「Sacrifice Knowledge... Bestow Knowledge...」

"Huh?"

Hearing the voice in her head, Dorothy was taken aback for a moment, then shook her head to compose herself.

"What the heck is going on? What's this voice? It's coming right from my head? Could this be the so-called... system that often comes with time travel?!"

Although a bit confused by the sudden voice in her head, with the crisis at hand, Dorothy quickly adjusted her thoughts, thinking about how to seize this possible opportunity to resolve the crisis.

If it was really the common system in time travel novels, then it must be able to give some time travel benefits! Maybe it can be used to handle these bandits!

Thinking like this, Dorothy closed her eyes and silently mused to herself like praying, trying to communicate with the so-called "system".

"Whatever you are who spoke in my head just now... Can you give me some power?!"

Dorothy thought as such, and that voice quickly responded to her and sounded again.

「Power... is Knowledge... Sacrifice the Knowledge of this world... Obtain the Knowledge of another world...」

Hearing the voice in her head, Dorothy couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. She thought that this power seemingly needed to be exchanged, and it required Knowledge for the exchange. What Knowledge did she have to exchange?

As soon as Dorothy finished thinking, that cold and strange voice immediately answered again.

「Currently... the most valuable Knowledge of this body... is language and writing...」

"Language and writing?"

Hearing the words of that voice, Dorothy remembered that in the memories associated with this body, Dorothy, a girl born in the countryside, the thing she was most proud of was that she could read and write. This was the fruit of her hard work in the church study class with intermittent sessions. It was the biggest difference between her and the other children in the village. In this low - tier society with a high illiteracy rate, literacy was a highly prized asset.

The mastery of writing and language was naturally a kind of Knowledge. Could the so-called "system" in her head turn this Knowledge into power?

Anyway! The situation is urgent now. I can only give it a try first!

With these thoughts in mind, Dorothy silently mused to herself.

"Sacrifice the language and writing that I have mastered... Whatever it is, give me the power to solve the current predicament!"

After silently reciting these words, Dorothy began to wait in a panic. Moments later, a response appeared in her mind.

"The Prit language, complete grammar, mastered 3,027 words, capable of reading and writing..."

"Using this as a contract... for exchange..."

Along with the words in her mind, Dorothy felt a throbbing in her head. Immediately afterwards, a stream of information that belonged neither to her past self nor to the original Dorothy poured into her mind.

This, too, was a language...

Right in front of Dorothy at this moment, a series of mysterious and archaic characters appeared out of thin air. These characters were bold and rugged, wild and imposing, sharp and forceful, as if some giant beast had scratched them onto the rock with its sharp claws.

"There are Draconic, the Way of Roars, 3 characters..."