Chapter 32 - Reader: Study hard and make progress every day.

The Gnome Ruins is one of the main plots of “Mixed Blood.” The protagonist left the Elf Forest and began to travel the Chaos Continent. In order to carry out his revenge, he joined the mercenary guild. Newly registered mercenaries are ranked “E” and can only take on some very simple E-class tasks, such as errands. The protagonist then saw the “Explore the Gnome Ruins” task, which was unranked. As long as he can bring back a high-grade S-level material from the ruins, his mercenary rank will rise with rocket-like speed. This will give him the authority to do a lot more, including forming his own mercenary company.

After the protagonist completed the task, a mercenary group that was going to the Gnome Ruins sent him an invitation. The protagonist met his old enemy whom he had been entangled with for a lifetime (TN: basically his biggest rival). However, because both sides were concealing their identities, they were able to happily cooperate with each other, even creating a feeling of mutual affection.

That was when the “Mixed Blood” comments section was invaded by “rotten” females (fujoshis).1 Du Ze suspected that the doujinshi in his hand was the result of their online discussions. Damn it!

The Gnome Ruins are divided into two, the inner city and the outer city. The outer city is the gnome’s manufacturing district while the inner city is the gnome’s residential area. In the fourth age, the gnomes ruled the continent. Streams of materials and treasures were sent to the gnomes’ steel city, the heart of the entire Chaos Continent. After the gnome race’s mysterious disappearance, the Gnome Ruins became a source of treasure for other races. Although there were numerous perils, the lure of massive wealth is strong. The protagonist and his team of enemies were very awesome and even broke into the inner city.

They found a magical door while exploring the inner city, but they could not open it. Everyone was convinced that the gnomes’ greatest treasure was inside. They tried to open the door, but all was in vain until the protagonist touched it. Everyone was shocked when the protagonist was sucked into the door.

When the protagonist woke up, he discovered that he had awakened his gnome bloodline. He learned that the door is called the Gate of Wisdom. He was now in the place where the gnomes studied forging and metallurgy. The protagonist can only leave after he has completed all of the required courses. By the time the protagonist exited the Gate of Wisdom, he mastered the gnome language and learned how to make artifacts.

“Bzzt, clank, bzzt, clank.”

The sound of footsteps interrupted Du Ze recollection of the plot of “Mixed Blood.” Du Ze and Xiu looked at the other end of the street where a tall figure was slowly walking over to them. It was an old mechanical puppet. They could hear its parts clanging at its every step. Though its appearance was worse than the one star mechanical puppets they had seen before, this one had five stars on its chest.

The one star mechanical puppet stood at attention, like a soldier in front of its superior, and reported to the old mechanical puppet: “Number XH17178 has brought this lost individual home.”

The voice of the old mechanical puppet was also an electronic synthetic sound, but Du Ze felt that it was a little bit more human: “Stand by.”

“Beep – the order has been received, going into standby mode.”

The one star mechanical puppet put Du Ze and Xiu down before silently retreating to one side. The old mechanical puppet looked at Du Ze and Xiu. When it saw Xiu’s gnome form, its eyes suddenly flashed. Even its voice became excited.

“Welcome back to the homeland, child.” The blue lights of the old mechanical puppet gave off a gentle feeling. He said, “You can call me old John.”

Xiu keep quiet and did not respond. Old John muttered: “Have you been lost too long, child?”

It turned to the one star mechanical puppet and gave the order: “Take him to the Gate of Wisdom.”

“Beep – carrying out order.”

The one star mechanical puppet stretched out its hand and picked up Xiu. The movement was very gentle but firm – Xiu was tightly grasped. The mechanical puppet paused for a moment before grabbing Du Ze, as well.

Xiu’s eyes widened as they were carried away by the mechanical puppet. “What are they going to do?”

Send you to school.

Du Ze’s face was calm as he answered: “Teach you the gnome language.”

They reached their destination just as they finished talking. The mechanical puppet brought them to a circular plaza. It was empty except for a tall metal door that was suspended in the air. Strangely, the door was floating in the air with no visible support. The mechanical puppet stopped in front of the door and placed Xiu and Du Ze on the ground.

Xiu was curious about the metal door that was engraved with some wonderful runes and patterns. It seemed to contain some kind of hard to read the truth and wisdom; he couldn’t help but want to reach out, to touch it in his desire to know more.

As soon as he touched the door, his fingertips were sucked into it and the mesmerized Xiu instantly came back to his senses. He was flustered. He found that he had involuntarily touched the door and now the door was sucking him inside with more and more force, as if eager to eat him up. Xiu noticed that Du Ze was some distance away from him.

“What’s going on?”

When the small person looked panicked, it really made another person want to hug him and protect him. Du Ze tried to comfort his family’s child: “Don’t be afraid, you will become stronger.”

Chapter 32.2 – Reader: Study hard and make progress every day.

“Aren’t you going with me?”

“I can’t go in.”

When he heard that, Xiu forcefully pulled out his hand and went back several steps to grab Du Ze’s right hand. However, Xiu’s hand did not exactly pull free of the door. Instead, the door’s metallic substance stretched out like a rubber band – then it snapped back in place. Xiu and Du Ze slammed into the door. The Phoenix also smashed into the door and slid down, dizzy from the impact.

Fortunately, Du Ze was unharmed. He hit the door with only a little bit of force.

Xiu was still being sucked into the Gate of Wisdom. Even so, Xiu still stubbornly clung to Du Ze’s right hand.

Du Ze’s hand was hurting, so he said: “Let go.”

“No.” Xiu’s amber eyes flashed with a strong emotion, almost looking paranoid. “You can’t leave my line of sight.”

Naughty bear child, you’re overdoing it! You need to learn to be a good person; you are not a young man like me! Ah, dang, this little kid! Exactly like a noisy kid who goes to school for the first time and demands that his parents stay with him!

The little Phoenix finally recovered from its dizziness and woke up. It flapped its tiny wings while watching the tug of war and issued a cry.

“Chirp, chirp, chirp.”

Seeing Xiu and Du Ze inextricably entangled, the small Phoenix flapped its wings and flew up clumsily to Du Ze, hitting then tumbling down its target.

Du Ze felt that his nose was hit before his vision was filled with the trembling fluffy Phoenix lying on his face, cheerily shouting: “Chirp!”

Bear child + stupid, cute pet = a disaster.

Even if Xiu wasn’t willing to let go, the increasingly powerful suction was pulling him in. Xiu’s small hand slipped from Du Ze’s wrist to the palm of his hand, then to the doujinshi Du Ze was holding. Du Ze removed the baby Phoenix that was covering his eyes and saw what was happening. His mind was filled with a terrible premonition. Suddenly, with a ripping sound, the doujinshi tore and his premonition came true.

After swallowing up the flaxen-haired gnome, the Gate of Wisdom went back to its original appearance. Only some silly, cute person was left standing in front of it, staring at his incomplete doujinshi. Countless words ran through his mind, but his reaction could be summed up in one sentence: WTF!

The baby Phoenix sitting on the ground saw its “mother” with a grim look on his face, so it spread its wings and acted cute: “Chirp ~”

Stay calm, that is the protagonist’s cute pet, do not touch it.

Du Ze took a deep breath and, trembling, examined the doujinshi. The doujinshi has 40 pages, and Xiu had torn away ⅕ of it. Du Ze saw that the missing pages were the ones with the pistol play, mouth x, and the human form H scenes. Should he thank God that the protagonist will not see the shape-changing scenes? Du Ze held the doujinshi in his hands and wanted to cry: When will this terrifying day end?

“Bzzt, clank, bzzt, clank.”

Old John walked into the plaza and looked at Du Ze standing there alone. Its blue lights flashed. “He’s inside, isn’t he?”

Du Ze nodded impassively. Old John laughed; the sound was very strange to Du Ze who had not thought that a machine could laugh so happily and naturally.

“Good. I thought I would never again have the chance to see these little Masters – no no no, though they’re small, they don’t like the word ‘little’ at all.” Old John chuckled: “They are always very cute, aren’t they?”

The little Phoenix seemed to be curious about Old John. It struggled to flap its wings and tried to get onto Old John’s shoulder. Old John squatted down and let the little Phoenix perch on its slightly rusty shoulder. It straightened up its body and looked at the metal door. “It takes 300 days for a gnome to master the forging skill. Inside the Gate of Wisdom, time runs faster. The ratio of time is 60:1, comparing the time inside to that of the time outside. It should take about 5 days before he can come out.”

Du Ze learned from the novel that the gnome’s special skill is that they can control not just space, but also time. Ye Zhi Qiu wrote that, if only they had enough time, the gnomes could probably invent a machine that can control all of space and time. However, the one thing the gnomes lacked was enough time. For some mysterious reason, they disappeared during the long course of history in the world of “Mixed Blood.”

At this time, Old John said to Du Ze: “Would you like to tour our homeland, gnome’s friend?”

******

******

Xiu woke up and found himself in a silver-white enclosed space with no exit nor entrance – he was sucked in by the door.

When Xiu stood up, his clothes slipped down. His eyes widened when he looked at his hand – it wasn’t the elf’s long-fingered hands, but a pair of small, child-like hands. It wasn’t just his hands, his entire body had shrunk to half his former size as though rejuvenation magic had been cast on him and he had regressed to his childhood.

Xiu nervously held up his clothes and walked closer to a wall. In its silvery white surface, a blurred reflection could be seen of … a gnome. Xiu looked at his reflection. He now had flaxen hair and the pointed ears of a gnome. Xiu reached out and touched the wall hesitantly.

This is … me?

Suddenly a blue light swept over the room then condensed into the image of a small figure that appeared in front of Xiu.

Xiu became alert but was shocked when he saw that the short person opposite him was a gnome like him.

“Welcome to the Gate of Wisdom, child.” The gnome smiled at Xiu: “No need to be nervous, as long you make an effort to learn, the lessons here are very simple. Do you have any questions? You can ask me anything.”

Xiu stared the person opposite him and asked, “Are you a gnome?”

“No.” The short person shook his head: “I am just a projection.”

Indeed, if you examine it closely, you will see that that person’s body is not real.

“What is this place?”

“The Gate of Wisdom. You can master the gnome’s talent here: Forging.”

“How do I get out?”

The gnome took out a long piece of parchment. “You will be able to leave as soon as you finish these courses and pass the exams.”

Xiu looked at the length of the parchment and was silent.

“What’s the problem?” The gnome smiled and said, “Now we can start our first lesson.”

“One last question.” Xiu looked at the gnome: “Where is the gnome’s treasure?”

The gnome still kept its programmed smile. It stretched out its finger and pointed to its own head. “Here.”

“Wisdom is the greatest treasure of the gnome tribe.”

– excerpt from “Mixed Blood”

*******

The author has something to say:

Reader: Study hard and make progress every day. (Takes out “Mixed Blood”)

Protagonist: Study hard and make progress every day. (Takes out Doujinshi)

Author: Study hard and stop today. (Login to Jian Wang 3)1