Knowledge Transcends Time

It's part of a message from my great, great, great... Well, you get the picture. This will advance my research by leaps and bounds. Thank you so much!

I must decipher this ancient code... Please, retrieve the book with the royal crest on the front for me.

That book is where I've collected and summarized the results of my studies. Take good care of it.

Not long ago, a great number of shining crystals fell on the Corinda Plains. Can you get me some samples of those?

What? What? What do you want? I'm a busy man. I'm searching for the truth behind the elementals becoming unstable.

Nooo! This is a disaster! Our best lead is...

Huh? What's up?

I will tell you what is up, young man! The ancient tome passed down through generations of my family disappeared during the recent timequake!

Uh, I'm sorry to hear that, but don't you think we have bigger things to worry about right now?

You uncouth young pup! As a cultural artifact, that book's value is immeasurable. True, it's written in some kind of code, so I don't yet know what it says, but still! It may hold the secret to stopping the timequakes, or infinite renewable energy. I have to know!

All right, I get it, just calm down for a minute!

Sorry... I got a little too enthusiastic...

Look, I understand how much a family heirloom like that must mean to you. How about I try to track it down?

Would you? Well, you young people aren't so bad after all!

No problem. So, what does this book look like?

Well now... It's bound in aged leather, and the pages have a peculiar watermark, like this. It appears to be a royal crest used around 20,000 years ago...

Y'know, I feel like I've seen this mark before...

...Ah! (No doubt about it, that's the Palsifal crest.)

You recognize it?!

Oh, uh... I could be wrong. Let's just say I have an idea that may be worth looking into.

Please do, lad, you're my only hope!

Sure... I'll be back.

I doubt an old book could survive all the turmoil of a timequake that violent. On the other hand, we might just find the original somewhere in Palsifal Palace's library. Maybe we can ask one of that guy's ancestors what it all means.

What? What? What do you want? I'm a busy man. I'm searching for the truth behind the elementals disappearing... Eh? You want the use of my leather-bound volume? I applaud your thirst for knowledge. It's a feeling I know well, my whole family are scholars. Why does it have to be this particular book, though, eh? Hmm...

Fascinating. I'll tell you what, you can have it, provided you do a something for me in return. A trifling matter, really. As I told you, I'm looking into the causes and effects of this incident with the elementals. Not long ago, a great number of shining crystals fell on the Corinda Plains. Can you get me some samples of those? Do this, and I'll happily hand over my book to you.

We're back. I've got something for you.

Wonderful! This is just what I needed.

Great. Glad we could help. So, about that book...

A promise is a promise. I'm impressed you even know about this. You see, this book is where I've collected and summarized the results of my studies. In a way, this is the groundwork for my current research into the elementals. Since it's written in code, I never thought anyone else would ever need it. Oh, I was planning on releasing the results in good time, of course. But it seems the future needs this more than me. It does seem a little unreasonable to keep all this knowledge to myself...

You're not going to go back on our deal, are you?

No, no. Let me just put this in here and... there. Go, take it.

Thanks a ton! We'll take good care of it.

Ah, you're back! Dare I ask, did you have any success?

We did find an old book. Is this the one you wanted?

Yes! This is it! What a relief. It looks in even better condition than the last time I saw it... curious.

Yeah, well...you know timequakes. I'm guessing you still can't read it?

Alas, yes. My family has spent centuries trying to decipher it in vain. If my ancestor saw fit to bequeath it to his children and their children, I just know it must be important.

Hm, what's this? A guide! A guide to the code, pressed between the pages! I never noticed this before...

Oh, that's what the old man put inside.

I see, I see! This means that, that stands for this... And if we switch these around and apply that rule... Ah-ha!

Did you get something?

Indeed! It's part of a message from my great, great, great... Well, you get the picture. This will advance my research by leaps and bounds. Thank you so much!

You're welcome.

Wow, just imagine it, the same research going on over tens of thousands of years. And even without our help, that book made it all this way through that one family... I hope they find the knowledge they're looking for. They've worked real hard on it.