The Treasure of Wisdom

Prologue: The Legend of the Mystery Isles

Long ago, at the farthest edge of the eastern sea, there lay a chain of islands that no map had ever charted in full. People called the place the Mystery Isles. At the heart of the islands there once lived a great sage. He could calculate faster than lightning, and he spent his whole life using his wisdom to help others. Whoever was troubled by any matter had only to come to him, and they would always return home with a solution. When he grew old, he gathered all of his knowledge into a single chest, which people named the Treasure of Wisdom. He then entrusted a guiding map, divided into four pieces, to the guardians of the four lands, along with a final teaching: true wisdom does not belong to the one who is most skilled, but to the one who uses it to help others.

Many generations passed, until one night the stars above the islands began to go dark one by one. Darkness spread across all four lands, and everywhere people grew fearful and troubled. Behind the darkness stood the Shadow Guild, led by a man in a black cloak known as the Shadow Lord, who wished to keep all wisdom for himself alone.

The Adventurer of the Starlight Guild

On the far side of the sea stood the Starlight Guild, the home of adventurers who used their wisdom to help others. The guild's smallest apprentice hunter had just passed the final lesson, so the guild leader gave a great mission: to set out and help the townspeople of all four troubled lands, and to help everyone lost in the darkness find their way back to the light once more. The apprentice was joined by a single travelling companion, Ping, a know-it-all compass owl whose needle did not point north, but always pointed toward whoever was in need of help. The little sailboat left the harbor at dawn, heading for the first land: Dawnbreak Island.

Dawnbreak Island

On the golden sand, the fishermen were in distress because a storm had scattered their belongings everywhere. The young hunter used arithmetic to help count, divide, and sort until every family had all of their belongings returned. In the Whispering Forest, a lost child sat crying, for the trees would only hint at the way out to those who answered correctly. So the young hunter answered question after question until the child was safely home. In the Mirror Cave, the hunter helped an old man who had been trapped in an illusion for many days, and at Rainbow Cliff, a bridge of seven colors stretched across the chasm once every question was answered, opening the path up to the ship of Captain Fang, a pirate who had seized the villagers' belongings. The battle of wits ended when the very last problem was solved, but instead of gloating, the young hunter asked him why he had done it. In tears, the captain confessed that he had been forced by Madame Maya of the Desert City; otherwise his ship would be taken from him. The young hunter offered a hand and invited him to become a good person again. And so Captain Fang returned all the belongings to the villagers, set himself up as a guardian of the sea, willingly handed over the first piece of the map, and volunteered to sail the young hunter across the sea to the Desert City himself.

The Desert City

A sandstorm raged so fiercely that the oasis market was all but deserted. The young hunter helped the merchants price their goods and arrange their wares, helped find water for exhausted travelers, helped guide out those trapped in the Pyramid Maze whose passages rearranged themselves with every mistake, and raced against the storm in the Sandstorm Valley to warn the village in time. The faster one could think, the more people one could help. When the doors of the Sun Temple opened, inside was the theater of Madame Maya, a magician who could make anything seem unbelievable, except for numbers, which never lie to anyone. When the young hunter saw through her magic in every scene, she sank to the ground and admitted that she had done it because she was forced by the Iron General of the Ice Kingdom, and that deep down she only wanted, just once, for someone to truly admire her performance. The young hunter told her that her magic would be at its most beautiful when it was used to create smiles. So Maya turned her theater of illusions into a theater of joy for all the children of the city, willingly handed over the second piece of the map, and whispered a warning that the Shadow Lord was keeping watch.

The Ice Kingdom

An unnatural cold blanketed the Ice Kingdom. The young hunter helped the villagers repair a bridge, helped search for a sheep that had strayed from the flock, and crossed the thousand-year glacier by thinking before stepping on each slab. The Snow Village had been forbidden to speak, but every time the young hunter helped someone, the villagers would secretly point the way with a smile. Crossing the Mirror Lake, where the ice was so thin that not a single question could be missed, the hunter reached the Black Ice Castle of the Iron General, an armored commander who had never lost to anyone. His armor could block anything except a correct answer. When the armor shattered, inside there was only a tiny mechanical puppet, sitting alone and trembling. It said that it had been created by the Shadow Lord to follow orders, and that it had never once had a friend. The young hunter reached into the broken armor and said that from now on it had a friend. And so, for the first time, the tiny puppet chose its own path. It used the power of the armor to build a wall to protect the village from avalanches, restored conversation and warmth to the people, handed over the third piece of the map, and shared an important truth: the crest on the Shadow Lord's cloak was the emblem of the sage's greatest disciple, who had long since vanished.

The Shadow Fortress and the Final Rescue

In the middle of a misty sea, the Shadow Fortress stood towering, but this time the young hunter did not go alone. Captain Fang volunteered to sail through the fog, Maya conjured light to guide the way, and the tiny puppet helped unlock the thousand-mechanism gate that would open only when every correct answer turned a gear, one ring at a time. Passing through the Tower of Time, where time flowed faster than normal, the hunter reached the Shadow Throne, where the Shadow Lord waited. He had once been the sage's most brilliant disciple, but his impatience made him crave answers without making the journey. When he was refused, he fled into the night during a storm. Loneliness and resentment slowly turned him into the Shadow Lord. His problems were the hardest and fastest ever encountered, but the young hunter had not come to win. Every correct answer lit a single star in the middle of the darkness, and when the light grew bright enough, the young hunter walked forward and offered a hand, saying that no one wanted to defeat him; everyone only wanted him back. The three friends who had once been lost themselves all called out to him together. The mask fell and shattered, and the Shadow Lord sank down and wept, for he now remembered that he had once loved arithmetic, and had once dreamed of using it to help people, just like his master.

The True Treasure

The four pieces of the map, gained through friendship, joined into one and shone with light. The ancient chest appeared and opened. Inside there was not a single grain of gold, only a light of knowledge that shone across the whole chain of islands. The stars that had gone dark returned to shine one by one. The image of the sage appeared within the beam of light and gave the answer: the true treasure is wisdom used to help others, and you have proven it all along your journey, for you helped everyone, even those who once stood in your way. The former Shadow Lord cast off his black cloak and became the greatest disciple once more, opening a small school to teach the children across the islands. Captain Fang took children out to sea to learn about the ocean, Maya put on shows that filled the air with laughter, and the tiny puppet watched over the village and kept it warm. As for the young hunter who had helped everyone with wisdom, they were granted the title of Young Sage. Ping flew happily in circles and said that wherever there are people in need of help, that is our next destination, because every time we help someone with the knowledge we have, a new star will always light up in the sky.