In the following decades, the Assassins and Templars alike learned of the connection between the manuscript and the mysterious Precursor box, one of the only devices that could translate its incomprehensible text. In 1755, the inventor Benjamin Franklin was the first known human to properly use both pieces in tandem, electrifying the box with lightning. It was during this experiment that the Assassin Shay Cormac discovered the location of a hidden First Civilization vault hidden underneath the Carmo Convent in Lisbon, Portugal.

In 1839, the Mentor of the Indian Assassins, Hamid, tasked Arbaaz Mir with the recovery of a map from the Voynich manuscript detailing information on the Koh-i-Noor diamond, during their quest to protect the artifact from falling into the British Templars’ hands.

In 2013, Abstergo Industries warned memory research analysts at Abstergo Entertainment, who were assigned to relive the memories of European subjects during the 15th and 16th centuries, to look out for the Voynich manuscript during their Animus sessions, especially for its supposed connection to the English philosopher Roger Bacon.

Eventually, the box ended up into the hands of British Templar Francis Cotton. After Cotton’s death, his appointed successor, William Sleeman, took possession of the box and launched in 1841 a campaign to find Precursor Temples in India by using the box. In order to power it, he stole the Koh-i-Noor from the Assassins. However, his efforts were countered by Assassin Arbaaz Mir who recovered the stolen artifact and despite discovering a new Temple, in Herat, William had to flee with the box.

Decades later the box was now in possession of the Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, who in 1918 and along with his family was prisonner of the Bolcheviks in Yekaterinburg. Sent by the Brotherhood to recover the artifact, Nikolai Orelov was confronted to the Templars who had infiltrated theranks of the Red Army and also coveted the box. Infiltrating the house where the Romanovs were kept, Nikolai witnessed their murder but reached Princess Anastasia, who was holding the box, in time to secure the artifact.

However, as Nikolai was taking the Precursor box from Anastasia’s hands, the shard of the Staff around his neck and the box interacted, and the girl was somehow imprinted with the genetic memories of Chinese Assassin Shao Jun. Suffering from a kind of Bleeding Effect, Anastasia became overwhelmed by Jun’s skills and memories and the older man decided to take both her and the box to the Brotherhood in Moscow.

Once in Moscow, the pair reached to the Assassin Sergei, who took the box and promised Nikolai that they would keep her safe while discovering what the box had done to her. Nikolai then found out by eavesdropping on some Assassins’ conversation that they didn’t care about Anya’s safety and that Sergei only wanted to uncover the box’s secrets, and also that the procedure that they were planning to do on Anya was most likely going to kill her. Nikolai ultimately managed to rescue Anya, but left the box behind.

With Shay and Hope Jensen’s assistance, Franklin succeeded in powering the box, which projected a view of the Earth and displayed locations of several First Civilization sites, one of them being Lisbon, Portugal. The box was subsequently given to Achilles Davenport, the Mentor of Colonial Assassins, who kept it secure at the Davenport Homestead, the Assassins’ primary base of operations in the British colonies.

In 1759, Hope managed to replicate Franklin’s experiment and discovered another First Civilization Temple hidden in the Arctic. After the ordeal, Chevalier de la Vérendrye was tasked with hiding the box, and decided to ship it away from the colonies.

By December 1776, the box was in the possession of the French Assassins. Having switched sides to the Templars twenty years before, Shay learned of this and traveled to Paris. Rescuing

Franklin from a group of criminals, Shay enlisted his aid in entering the Palace of Versailles, claiming to have a business meeting there. After a meeting in the palace, the Assassins entrusted the box to Charles Dorian. Having made his way inside, Shay assassinated Charles and took the box from him, reclaiming it for the Templars.