As his eyes closed, the strange characters he had previously remembered gradually began to surface in his mind.
Colin, following the order, began reading from the first and only complete tome he discovered in the stone tree.
With the aid of the Crown of Enlightenment, these originally unfamiliar characters now seemed familiar. However, due to the influence of some peculiar power, understanding them was still difficult, which made his reading speed extremely slow.
About two hours passed before he barely finished half of the first book.
The contents of this half primarily discussed the birth of the Ancient Tree of Life.
"Existing within the multiverse... born in the Star Realm..." Colin opened his eyes, murmuring to himself, somewhat shocked.
If the records in the tome were true, then the Ancient Tree of Life was undoubtedly a transcendent existence, comparable to the Divine!
But it was not a divine being, not born of faith; its true body resided in the Star Realm, and its offshoots existed in multiple realms simultaneously. Its distinctive characteristic was that it would nurture beings known as elves.
Such information made Colin even more certain that the ancient tree in the cave behind him was neither an actual offshoot of the Ancient Tree of Life of this realm nor the true Ancient Tree of Life!
'But what exactly is this entity that believes itself to be the Ancient Tree of Life?'
He furrowed his brows tightly, closing his eyes again.
However, this time, Colin chose not to continue reading the latter part of the first book.
Instead, he began to quickly browse through all the remaining characters memorized in his mind, to verify another hypothesis!
Hence, about an hour passed, and Colin once more opened his eyes, his expression somewhat enlightened.
'These books within the stone tree, rather than being histories recorded by the Elf Clan, seem more like memories of the Ancient Tree of Life... or perhaps, the memories of the strange gigantic tree in the cave behind.'
After careful contemplation, Colin concluded—
"They are more like the memories of the strange gigantic tree behind."
The judgment was mainly because most of the records and descriptions in the books, although often written in the first person, were not genuine. Some parts seemed clearly to be products of self-imagination...
With this in mind, as if trying to verify something, Colin slowly stood up, glanced at the cave behind, and walked out toward the exterior of the palace.
About half an hour later.
He returned under the blue sky and entered the largest stone tree.
In the room filled with bookshelves, Colin stood quietly in front of the first bookshelf, his expression solemn.
'Indeed, these books that Lillian and I had previously taken have now all returned to their original places on the shelf.'
He touched the books in front of him with his hand, then thought,
"Although I don't know the reason, thinking positively, at least those books I did not remember initially, now I have a chance to read them again."
Thus, in the next half day, Colin, relying on his Superbrain, took mental note of all the accessible tomes without seeking deep understanding.
Then he returned to the palace under the blue sky, where he began reading from the second half of the first book.
Nasi was in the cave behind the palace, and Lillian might also possibly return to the palace through the Treasury Arch.
To be the first to know of these changes, it was naturally best for him to stay within the palace.
Thus, time flew by.
Colin spent almost all his time perusing the books.
However, the further he read, the more disordered and repetitive the content in the books became; they were almost all nonsensical. Often, a very thick book's entire message could be summarized in a single sentence.
But the strange characters had not a single repetition... or rather, under the influence of some power, he could not discern any repetition.
In such circumstances, to avoid missing any crucial information, Colin's reading speed remained unable to increase.
Finally, after seven days passed, and the Dark Red Wind was about to sweep in, he had barely managed to read through half of all the books.
However, despite the content mostly being nonsensical, it was enough to bring him some extraordinary benefits.
Colin slowly stood up, the Crown of Enlightenment on his head quietly shrinking like a phantom, eventually leaving a pattern of intertwined golden and green leaves on his forehead.
Such a faint pattern also slowly disappeared under his skin with a thought.
Not only that, the Elf Armor he was wearing and the Ancient Tree Spring Necklace he was adorned with underwent the same transformation.
They all quietly vanished, allowing Colin at this moment to revert back to a merely handsome yet ordinary young wizard.
Seemingly an invisible benefit from reading the strange characters, he inexplicably gained a deeper mastery of these treasures crafted by the Elf Clan.
This change was not only external where the appearance could be hidden, but both the Elf Armor and the Crown of Enlightenment could unleash stronger powers in Colin's hands!
Clang.
With a thought from Colin, the Elf Armor and others reappeared on his body.
The unexpected gains did not bring him much joy... he still could not find a way out.
Having read through half of the books, he had learned some secret histories that might or might not be true.
For instance, initially, the Elf Clan had only one king, the Ancient Tree of Life actually had no substantial self-awareness, resembling a strange life form that felt neither sorrow nor joy, while rooted across different realms, and so on...