William Clark stood quietly in the hall, beside him was a fireplace adorned with a half-length bust. In front of him was a rectangular dining table covered with a worn tablecloth.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked around.

“I... actually came back again??”

William Clark felt it was a bit unbelievable.

He had thought he would have the same nightmare as before, and he was already prepared to fight against it.

But unexpectedly, he had come here once more.

“What exactly is this place...!?” William Clark searched through all his memories, but found nothing about the manor before him.

“Logically, dreams should be places I’ve seen before. Many dreams are woven from scenes, people, and things I’ve encountered in the past, but now, I don’t feel the slightest sense of familiarity with this place at all...” William Clark frowned deeply.

He looked down at himself.

He was still wearing the same gray long underwear he had on before going to bed.

“Even the loose thread is recreated?” William Clark raised his right hand; a fine thread was pulled out at the elbow of his sleeve, perfectly reproduced here.

He paused, then decisively strode straight toward the study.

He had already explored the other parts of the manor; now, what interested him most was the study, especially that book left open on the desk.

Quickly twisting open the wooden door, William Clark soon returned to the study where he had left last time.

The furnishings in the study were just as before.

Two rosewood bookshelves were filled with books, a low wooden table had a stack of books, a candlestick, and a large open tome.

William Clark walked over in a few steps, sat down in front of the low table, and lowered his head to carefully examine the contents of the book.

The densely packed text and diagrams were all extremely clear.

“So real... it’s as if I’m not dreaming at all.” William Clark felt a chill in his heart.

To confirm whether he was dreaming, he reached out and pinched the corner of the wooden table.

The sensation was the same as before, as if wrapped in thick cotton, with no sense of the sharpness of the edge.

What surprised him, though, was that this time the tactile feeling was much more realistic and delicate than in previous dreams.

“...” Withdrawing his hand, William Clark refocused his attention on the book before him.

The long passages of ancient Grein script gave him a headache.

“My memory isn’t that strong; at most I can memorize a little at a time. At this rate, how long will it take to finish even one page?” William Clark was speechless.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to ignore everything else for now and just translate bit by bit. Maybe as he kept going, he’d get more proficient?

“Looks like I have to go back to my old profession.” In his previous life, he had worked in ancient text translation.

Fortunately, the Grein script in this world was about as significant as Old English on Earth—though obscure, it was still possible to roughly translate the meaning.

In this area, William Clark was quite skilled.

“Just treat it as learning another foreign language. If I can really read this book...”

The anticipation and curiosity in William Clark’s heart surged like a spring.

He was truly, deeply curious.

What exactly was recorded in this ancient book from his dream?

Could it really be, as the cover suggested, about ancient swordsmanship?

And if he could read this book, did that mean he could also translate and read all the other books on the shelves?

William Clark felt as if countless ants were crawling in his heart, making him itch with excitement.

Having made up his mind, he began once again to memorize the first page of the open book.

It was the same book he had tried to memorize last time; this time, he was carefully examining the first page.

Time passed little by little.

By the light from who knows where, William Clark repeatedly recited and memorized a small passage from the first page.

Without knowing the meaning, memorizing an entire passage of ancient script by rote was extremely difficult.

But William Clark had done this in his previous life and was experienced. Soon, using his own techniques, he managed to memorize the entire first passage on the page.

Chapter 10

The translation progress was extremely slow.

Because he lacked research on Grein grammar, William Clark could only piece things together word by word, much like using a search engine translator.

Especially some local slang and idioms, which gave him even more of a headache.

After entering the dream for the second time and copying the book from memory, William Clark found that every night thereafter, he could enter that manor.

Each time he went there, he would memorize a sentence or two, then translate it into Selene, which was the language he used daily.

This life continued for four days in a row.

Gradually, with the help of his experience from his previous life, the translation work became smoother.

The Grein script wasn’t an especially obscure language; there were quite a few grammar books available for download online.

After much research, William Clark downloaded a lot of materials for his translation work.

Soon, the first page of the book was gradually translated.

“What really limits me is my memory.”