Chapter 10: [Forbidden Secret Path]

“For want of a nail, the shoe was lost;

For want of a shoe, the horse was lamed;

For want of a horse, the battle was lost;

For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.”

Renn had, of course, heard this nursery rhyme, but he never imagined that something similar would happen to him!

Fortunately, it was not too late.

“Renn, what’s wrong?”

Looking at Renn, who had suddenly frozen, Bobby opened her eyes wide and asked with concern, “Are you feeling unwell?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Renn showed a pure smile, “I just happen to be a little hungry, thank you, Bobby.”

With that, he took the black bread from Bobby’s hand.

I don’t care about this or that, let’s eliminate this 【Imperfect Branch】 first!

Seeing this, Bobby nodded in satisfaction, “Renn, you must eat more; only by eating more can you grow tall.”

“Look at you, you’re so thin…”

Although her way of showing concern was a bit strange, Renn could still tell that Bobby was actually a kind-hearted little girl.

Renn found it very difficult to associate her with the “Gluttony Lady” in the Perfect Life Notes who killed several children her age and embarked on the Forbidden Secret Paths.

The so-called Forbidden Secret Paths are promotion routes different from the fifty-one complete sequences.

Unlike the conventional Secret Paths, which have been confirmed to be fundamentally stable and recognized by the world.

The Forbidden Secret Paths have always been known for their danger and chaos.

Many extraordinary abilities from the Forbidden Secret Paths often possess strange side effects.

With the slightest carelessness, an extraordinary person’s rationality would slide into the abyss of madness, or even turn into a mindless monster.

And to advance on the Forbidden Secret Paths, the rituals required are extremely bloody and cruel, usually requiring “peers” as materials.

Even after paying such a heavy price, extraordinary people on the Forbidden Secret Paths find it difficult to climb to the highest ranks.

Simply because…

Most of the Forbidden Secret Paths are incomplete!

It is said that a certain great existence, in order to protect the world from being polluted by those forbidden secret powers, forcibly erased the highest sequences of many Forbidden Secret Paths with supreme power!

It is for these reasons that extraordinary people embark on the Forbidden Secret Paths.

Either they are desperate and forced into it, or they are out-and-out madmen and lunatics!

The Bobby in front of him obviously did not voluntarily embark on this path.

‘Is it the contamination of Forbidden Knowledge…?’

Thoughts surged in Renn’s mind.

But suddenly, he realized something—

The Perfect Life Notes had not yet given a prompt for the elimination of the 【Imperfect Branch】!

In other words, Bobby’s future of becoming a Great Scholar of Sin might still exist?!

After a moment of thought, Renn came to a conclusion:

Accepting this piece of black bread only meant that Bobby had initially let down her guard against him.

To truly avoid the future in the 【Imperfect Branch】, the key lies in preventing Bobby from being isolated by other children later on.

Or to eliminate the possibility of her coming into contact with Forbidden Knowledge.

If eliminating the 【Imperfect Branch】 is viewed as a quest in a game.

This piece of black bread is like a prerequisite for completing the quest.

And even…

This is not the only solution to complete the quest.

If it were an evil player, they could directly find another way to quickly complete the quest—

For example, directly killing Bobby, nipping the danger in the bud!

Of course, reality is not a game, and Renn could not adopt this method to solve the problem.

“The key to the problem is still Forbidden Knowledge!”

Renn’s small face tightened, looking somewhat serious.

Forbidden Knowledge doesn’t just appear out of nowhere.

If there are contaminated individuals, it means that a carrier recording Forbidden Knowledge has flowed into Black Flag Island.

If it is not resolved, even without Bobby, others will be infected.

However, Renn was not clear about the time point when Forbidden Knowledge flowed into Black Flag Island.

“Now, I can only do what I can.”

After clearing his thoughts, Renn quickly clarified what he needed to do:

“On the one hand, I need to build a good relationship with Bobby to prevent her from going astray.”

“On the other hand, I need to make my parents pay attention to the spread of Forbidden Knowledge, and it would be best to dig out this landmine in advance.”

With a slightly different mindset than when he arrived, Renn soon went to the academy with Philip and his daughter.

The academy was not large.

It mainly consisted of two classrooms and a training ground.

Before coming, Renn already knew that the primary academy’s curriculum only had two subjects—cultural studies and combat skills!

And children would be divided into large and small classes according to age, teaching different courses.

However, considering the pirates’ terrible literacy rate and the common people’s illiteracy rate of up to ninety percent in this world, the children’s primary task in the academy was…

To learn to read!

If they couldn’t even read, what cultural studies could they talk about?

Therefore, in the initial stage, both large and small classes attended lessons in the same classroom.

After bidding farewell to Philip, Renn led Bobby through the main entrance of the classroom.

The classroom was bustling, with about thirty children.

The youngest looked only four or five years old, while the oldest were twelve or thirteen.

—Children over thirteen years old were already considered half-adult laborers in this era.

At this age, it was common for islanders to directly go on ships as odd-job workers or do other jobs to supplement their household income.

In fact, if it weren’t for Lyon’s command, many pirates would not be willing to send their children to the academy for lessons.

Just then.

The children also noticed Renn and Bobby at the door, and their faces showed surprise.

Although Renn was only three years old, the excellent genes from his parents had already begun to show, making him a beautiful young boy with delicate features.

His slightly pointed and long ears, emerald green eyes, and exceptionally steady demeanor were also different from ordinary children, which greatly surprised them.

“Is he… Renn?”

“Is he Captain Lyon’s son?”

The younger children didn’t react much, but the expressions of the older children, around ten years old, changed somewhat.

They already had some understanding of social etiquette, and coupled with their parents’ instructions before coming to the academy, their gazes towards Renn were somewhat unusual.

Renn had long expected this.

Since he was a privileged class on the island, it was normal to be treated specially by his classmates.

However, there were always some hotheads who didn’t follow the script.

A seven or eight-year-old boy stood up from his seat, walked “thump, thump, thump” to Renn, and spoke.

“Renn, fight me!”

Renn: “…”

Bro, who are you?

“My dad said that he originally had the chance to become the leader of the Black Flag Pirate Group, but he lost to Captain Lyon in a duel, which is why he could only be the first mate,” the bold little boy said righteously, with his own logic.

“They all say you’ll be the next leader of the Black Flag Pirate Group, so if I beat you, I can be the leader!”

Beside them, the slightly older children looked helpless.

“That guy Roger is being stupid again…”

By now, Renn also knew the identity of this little boy.

He was the son of Simmons, the former first mate of the Black Flag.

Simmons had an excellent relationship with Lyon, being a crew member who followed Lyon from the beginning, and was now considered the second-in-command of the Black Flag Pirate Group.

Only he would dare to say such things to his son.

A fleeting thought flashed in Renn’s mind, and looking at Roger, who was two or three heads taller than him, Renn simply said,

“Alright, let’s have a fight then.”