activa-t Chapter 4192 The Debate on Definition
Chapter 4192 The Debate on Definition
Chapter 4192 The Debate on Definition
"By the way, did you find any special markings near the crack?" Gray Porcelain raised his hand and asked curiously.
“Special markings?” Barbaregun asked in confusion, “Didn’t I just say that…”
"I asked before whether the crack itself had any characteristics, now I'm asking whether there are any markings near the crack," Gray Porcelain corrected earnestly.
It took Barbaregon a moment to understand what "grey porcelain" meant.
"You want to copy our homework and just follow the markers to find the crack we discovered?"
Gray Porcelain opened its mouth, as if to say something, but Gabriel beat it to it, manipulating the illusion puppet to blink subtly: "How can this be called copying homework? We were just trying to save time..."
Barbaregon thought about it and realized that what Gabriel said wasn't wrong.
Judging from Angel's confident answer just now, it's clear that locking down the rift won't be difficult for them; it's just a matter of time.
but……
Barbaregon shrugged, and the three heads shook their heads in unison: "I can't help you with that."
Gray Porcelain: "Why?"
Barbaregon: "Actually, you will get the answer once you pass the Book Spirit's test."
Once you pass any of the Book Sprite's tests, the Book Sprite will point out the direction of the rift, and the "Guidance Radar" will be unlocked in the text bar at the same time.
The radar will record the direction the book sprite points and display a glowing linear arrow on the screen.
In this way, no matter how many forks the road the challenger team takes, the arrow will always lock onto the correct direction, avoiding problems such as getting lost.
Along with the radar came a Wonderland notification.
The message included instructions on how to use the radar, as well as some information about the "rift".
It explicitly states that the crack will move within a certain range, so a single linear arrow can only indicate its approximate range of movement.
Only by completing more trials by the Book Spirit, and adding two, three, or even more linear arrows to the radar, can the activity of the rift be gradually restricted until its movement trajectory is completely locked.
This can be understood as follows: before radar pointing at it, the fissure is in a state of irregular Brownian motion, and each additional linear arrow will compress its range of movement until it is completely deactivated.
This is precisely why the location of the rift that the Dragon Squad locked onto at the time may not be the location that other squads were able to locate later.
“It’s impossible to copy someone’s homework,” Barbaregun concluded.
Upon hearing this, Huici's face darkened.
However, upon closer reflection, the inability to copy others' work can be seen as a form of fairness. For the challengers, this is a good thing.
……
"Is there any other information?" the rabbit girl asked.
Barbaregun paused for a moment, then nodded emphatically: "Yes, there is another piece of information. In my opinion, this information is even more crucial than the previous two."
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the group, who had been somewhat relaxed, instantly turned serious.
Barbaregon didn't keep anyone in suspense and revealed what it considered crucial intelligence—
After finding the first rift, the Dragon Squad triggered the option to "Close the Rift".
Closing the crack is very simple. Just have someone stand at the crack's location and then select "Close Crack" in the text bar.
However, according to the clues from Wonderland, they need to find three rifts, and all three rifts must be closed simultaneously.
In other words, they must leave one person at the rift while the others search for new rifts. Once all three rifts have been found, they agree on a time via team chat and then close the rifts together.
At this point, Barbaregon suddenly paused, the expressions of his three heads turning serious as he solemnly swept his gaze over the crowd: "Remember, whoever stays is crucial; choosing the wrong person means total defeat. The Dragon Squad fell because of this."
At that time, after discussion, the Shenlong Squad decided to keep the member who was good at art.
They felt that since they had figured out the pattern of the Book Spirit's tests, even if they encountered art-related questions later, they could simply switch to other Book Spirits to challenge them. Temporarily removing this team member who specialized in art would not have a significant impact.
They had a very clever plan, but reality dealt them a fatal blow.
When the main force went to other floors to look for new fissures, the original fissure was fine at first, but soon a large amount of black mist suddenly emerged.
Immediately afterwards, a book demon emerged from the black mist and challenged the remaining guards.
"The Challenge of the Book Demon" and "The Trial of the Book Spirit" are completely different. If the Book Spirit fails the trial, one person is banned. If the Book Demon fails the trial, the entire team is banned.
What's even more challenging is that the Book Demon's test will inevitably be a "battle contest".
The survivors were purely artists, utterly inept at combat. They had no chance against the Book Demon and were instantly defeated.
As his failure notification popped up, the entire Dragon Squad was teleported out of the level.
"Later, after reviewing the situation, we learned from the fairy realm prompts of the remaining guardians that once the rift was locked, it would continuously release special fluctuations to prevent it from being closed, specifically to attract book demons to interfere."
"The Book Demon's stance is different from that of the Book Spirit. The Book Spirit guides the way, while the Book Demon blocks the way."
“Therefore, those who remain must not choose the weak! We must leave behind someone with fighting ability, someone who can confront the Book Demon head-on!” Babaregon’s tone was solemn. “We suffered because of this, and as a result… there was no result.”
When Angell heard this, he roughly understood.
The Echo Library is a hodgepodge: walking around is a puzzle game, encountering book spirits is a quiz game, finding rifts is a treasure hunt, and once you find a rift, it turns into a tower defense game.
Overall, this level looks complicated, but each individual "game" isn't particularly difficult. It's just that the difficulty increases when these games are combined.
The challenger team needs to be very well-rounded; otherwise, they could easily fail if they are not careful.
……
After recounting the information about the Library of Echoes, Barbaregon chose to leave.
After sending Barbaregon back to the athletes' camp, Angell returned to the Word Manor.
At this moment, the people around the stone table were still discussing the information they had just received in hushed tones. Only after Angel took his seat did the whispering gradually subside.
"Mr. Angell, did you find any additional intelligence when you left?" Gray Porcelain was the first to raise his hand.
It had wanted to ask before, but it had to hold back because of Barbaregon's presence.
The others also perked up their ears, clearly curious whether Angel had made any new discoveries.
Angell lived up to everyone's expectations and nodded slightly: "There is additional information, but I feel that after revealing this information, our choice of the next challenge level may have to change."
Everyone looked surprised and puzzled: "Huh?"
Angel: "Two pieces of intelligence. I'll start with the less important one, which is related to the Scarbugi front."
Angel briefly explained the information he had heard from Seto's squad.
This information will be useful when they prepare to attack the Scarborough front; but it's not of much use for now, though the bunny girl still wrote it down carefully.
"The second piece of information, which I also consider crucial, is what I heard from the Konoha clan squad."
Angel recounts the Konoha team's encounter at the Angel Gate on Earth.
When everyone learned that the "false ground" of the red umbrella and the "no-fly zone" of the airborne bacteria could form a new combo, they all fell silent.
They can't stand on the ground, and they can't stop in the air, so how are they supposed to fight?
However, what has attracted the most attention is the angel's innate ability—the Pure Domain.
"Is a pure domain an instant death condition?" Laplace asked, frowning.
Angel nodded: "Yes, if the conditions are not met, you will die instantly if you get close to the angels on the ground. You can think of it as an enhanced version of the Silver Coral Island threshold."
The prerequisite for entering Silver Coral Island is that only those who are purely good and kind can enter.
However, if you do not meet this prerequisite, you may not be able to enter Silver Coral Island, but you will not suffer any other losses.
But earthly angels are different.
If you do not meet the conditions for "seeing" an angel, but still insist on seeing one, you will die upon seeing him.
But here's where things get weird.
The prerequisite for entering the "pure realm" is: a pure being.
So what is meant by "pure one"? How do you know if you are a "pure one"?
Everyone now understood this "difficulty": if they didn't solve the problem of the "pure ones," they wouldn't even be able to get close to the angels on earth.
As everyone frowned and remained silent, Maggie broke the silence first: "The word 'pure' has a certain philosophical meaning. Its core meaning is: free from impurities, unaltered, and returning to the essence."
"If we understand it this way, can the pure be considered as a group of people who adhere to their original intentions, have simple motives, and refuse to be alienated?"
Montand nodded: "Your definition is very clear, I have no objection. But according to your definition, do you consider a knight who dedicates his life to chivalry, upholding justice and loyalty, to be a pure knight?"
Maggie answered without hesitation: "Yes."
"If the lord to whom this knight is loyal joins a war launched by the empire in order to reclaim and expand the territory, resulting in the deaths of countless people, can he still be considered a pure knight?"
Maggie froze, hesitating for the first time: "Well... at least his heart hasn't changed, and war itself is hard to define right and wrong. So, it should still count, right?"
Montand didn't comment, but simply nodded and continued, "Alright, since you think war is a different story, let me give you another example. If a knight, out of loyalty to his lord, spares the lord's wicked son, do you think that's 'staying true to one's principles' or 'deviating from one's true nature'?"
“Furthermore, if the lord’s son commits evil deeds and the lord condones it, what would you think?”
The way of chivalry is loyalty and justice.
But now, loyalty and justice have become contradictory: upholding loyalty means violating justice; practicing justice means betraying loyalty.
Maggie opened her mouth, wanting to say, "He can persuade the lord to change his mind," but then she felt that it was easy for her to say that when she was not in the same boat: the knight's status was already limited by the lord, so how could there be so many perfect solutions?
To say that "the knight is pure" is an understatement, yet he clearly let the villain go; to say that "he is not pure" is an understatement, yet he did not deviate from his original intention of "loyalty".
After agonizing for a long time, she could only smile bitterly: "I don't know... It seems like no matter which one I choose, it will be tainted with impurities."
“That’s the crux of the problem,” Montessori finally pointed out. “You define a pure person as one who ‘stays true to himself and has pure motives,’ but ‘true to himself’ can be full of contradictions.”
A knight's loyalty and sense of justice are his true nature, but when they conflict, neither choice can be considered pure.
Therefore, humans are never simply "pure" individuals, but rather a collection of multiple desires. If we use the definition of the Magi to select the purest, almost no one would meet that criterion.
"Moreover, adhering to one's original intentions, having pure motives, and refusing alienation are highly subjective and idealistic expressions."
Everyone has their own standards. What you consider "pure" may be seen as "foolish" by others. What you believe in as your "true self" may change tomorrow due to circumstances.
If the criteria for judging angels on earth are really this vague, then this challenge is impossible to pass—no matter how tricky the rules of the fairy realm are, they are never an unsolvable philosophical debate.
Angel nodded in agreement: "That's right. If defining 'purity' is a subjective judgment, then no one can get close to the angels on earth. Because no matter how pure a person is, if the angels on earth deem you impure, you will still die."
In other words, if the key to defining "purity" is held by earthly angels, then this challenge is completely unsolvable.
Laplace agreed: "So there must be something wrong here."
"The Magi is talking about purity in a philosophical sense, but the purity required by earthly angels, or the purity set by the rules of the fairy realm, may not be an abstract concept in a philosophical sense, but rather a quantifiable standard."
Angell glanced at Laplace and nodded, saying, "I also agree that it is not an abstract concept, but a clear standard."
But what is this specific standard?
Angell doesn't know either.
"Could it be that as long as one holds onto some kind of pure dream in their heart, they meet the standard of a pure person?" Gray Porcelain speculated endlessly.
Gabriel: "Compared to yours, I think that a person who has never lied might be more in line with the standard of purity, because it is easier to quantify."
"Hey, how do you quantify not lying? You can't have someone else doing the statistics, can you?" Gray Porcelain retorted.
Gabriel: "The mute has never lied."
Gray Porcelain: "..."
Angel ignored Gray Porcelain and Gabriel's bickering and continued, "So, that's why I think that after I've shared this information, everyone might need to consider other levels first."
The pure realm of earthly angels is really hard to define.
Before a clear standard for "purists" is established, Angell personally feels that it's best not to choose this level.
After a moment of contemplation, everyone agreed with Angell's statement.
Initially, they preferred the earthly angels, mainly because they felt that choosing one of the three—earthly angels, quantum ghosts, and unknown deities—might be easier with earthly angels.
However, it has now been discovered that earthly angels have a clear "meeting threshold," and this threshold is a death sentence, so naturally, that's another story.
(End of this chapter)