Chapter 33: Chapter 033: Dragon Clan Girl Pandora
Editor: Atlas Studios
Standing on the back of Giant Dragon Gregory, as they flew through the sky, Richard had once wondered what Gregory’s daughter would be like.
Initially, he imagined she might be a relatively small giant dragon. Compared to Gregory’s massive, fighter-jet-like form, she might be four or five meters long and weigh several tons. Though categorized as a “Mini Dragon,” visually, she should have more impact than a giant crocodile.
Not long ago, Gregory had transformed into a middle-aged sturdy man with a sallow complexion. Richard thought, if his daughter were in human form, she might be a muscular girl standing about 1.7 meters tall, akin to female weightlifters on modern Earth.
However, Richard hadn’t anticipated that the daughter would look completely different.
A petite figure walked up from the foot of the mountain. As she slowly approached, what eventually appeared before him was a human girl of no more than seven or eight years old, about 1.2 meters tall, enveloped in purple.
Her hair was purple, like lilacs, smooth and natural. Her clothes were purple, like lavender, exuding a faint fragrance. Her eyes were purple, like two purple gemstones, clear and bright. The pendant on her delicate white neck and the bracelet on her fair wrist were also purple, like drops of purple stardust from the sky, dazzlingly bright.
She seemed to be a girl who had walked out from a purple world.
The purple girl—Pandora!
But more noticeable was not her appearance; it was her aura, an impenetrable, cold demeanor.
During her walk, through her gaze, in the aura she exuded, it constantly conveyed the same message: Don’t provoke me, don’t look at me, don’t come near me, and definitely don’t talk to me!
“Tap, tap, tap”—the dragon girl named Pandora walked past, casting an icy gaze at Richard before turning away and coldly walking into the Black Castle.
The impression she left on Richard was like that of a high-energy girl character named “Hui Yuanai” in “Detective Conan.”
“So, the father and daughter live separately?” Standing in place, Richard mused to himself aloud, “However, this daughter seems a bit different from what I imagined.” Then he shook his head. If he was kidnapped to be a playmate for such a girl, it was likely more complicated than he had previously thought.
But that wasn’t the important thing; what mattered was continuing his research, uncovering the truth of this world. Speaking of which, with even dragons appearing, how many more magical things were waiting for him in this world?
As evening approached,
In the clearing between the Black Castle and the dragon’s lair, a bonfire crackled, grilling a plump wild rabbit. The rabbit’s fat slowly seeped out, shimmering like gold across its surface. Occasionally, droplets fell into the flames below, hissing as they ignited and swiftly sending out a fragrant aroma.
The Black Castle stirred with movement, accompanied by the sound of footsteps, as the girl named Pandora emerged, stopping about three or four meters from the bonfire, eyes fixed.
Richard turned his head, blinking his eyes, and pointed to the rabbit over the fire. “Want some?”
The purple girl did not answer, her cold gaze unchanged, showing no hunger for the food. It seemed more like disapproval and a warning, akin to… “The bunny is so cute; if you dare eat the bunny, then I’ll… eat you.”
In the absence of mutual understanding, silent communication was inevitably difficult, especially when one side’s expression remained unchanged.
Richard blinked, speaking again, “Hungry?”
“…” No response, as if she didn’t understand at all.
Raising an eyebrow, Richard recalled that he had communicated with Gregory in the common language of the continent without issue. Perhaps Gregory had learned it over his long life. This meant that the girl, Pandora, likely couldn’t speak the common language and might communicate in another tongue.
“Podtonian?” Richard tried another language.
“…” Still no response.
“Klingon?” Richard tested another language.
“…” Again, no response.
“Fiji?” He tried a third language.
“…” Still no response.
“Asgarnian? Maskorian? Rakdanian? Montpeak…” Richard began testing a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth language, one after another.
Having lived on this world for fifteen years, Richard had thoroughly mastered several things, particularly languages. Although not all languages of this world could be mastered, he had the most comprehensive knowledge essential for exploring the world.
After all, this was a real world. Richard didn’t believe that everyone on a continent would speak only one language.
The problem now was that after testing the languages across these seven or eight language families he knew, Pandora showed no response.
“In that case…” Richard turned the rabbit over the fire, unwilling to give up, contemplating other methods.
Language was the most crucial communication tool for intelligent beings (humans); it was the primary means of interaction. Generally, language emerged in specific environments out of necessity, leaving a distinctive imprint on it.
Using a biological perspective, several languages evolved in specific environments from particular ancestral languages. According to the relationships among various languages, they could be categorized into several language families, which further divided into language groups, branches, and specific languages.
Simply put, language has a four-tier relationship of “language family → language group → branch → language.”
From the source, language fundamentally stems from those specific ancestral tongues. Languages under the same ancestral language might differ significantly, but not fundamentally. Some are even quite close, such as Chinese and Japanese. As long as the counterpart’s language family could be identified, it could greatly reduce language barriers, possibly not enabling fluent communication in a short time but allowing the expression of simple ideas.
Since the current world’s language family couldn’t communicate with Pandora, what about some modern Earth languages? Earth’s language system was more extensive, comprising 13 language families, 45 language groups, and countless branches and languages.
Decision made, Richard didn’t hesitate, looking at Pandora and consecutively testing some widely used languages from 13 language families.
“English? Sanskrit?” testing the Indo-European family.
“…” Pandora remained unresponsive, merely looking cold and curious.
“Finnish?” testing the Uralic family.
“…” Pandora still gave no response.
“Mongolian?” testing the Altaic family.
“…” Pandora continued to remain unresponsive.