Chapter 14: Wild Mage

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

In the shadow realm.

Gawain did not know what the current human nations understood about the shadow realm, but within his inherited memories, he found that the Gondor Empire, more than seven hundred years ago, had done quite some research in this area. The scholars, who studied even till their old age, studied those dull books and data all day. They stared at the lattice rule that was stuck into the magic well to infer how the world truly looked like, and they had a classic model used to describe the ‘layering’ of the world.

In this classic model, scholars believe that the world was divided into several ‘layers’, of which the uppermost layer was the most stable physical realm. Everything within the physical realm adhered to laws of behavior that could be interacted with and observed easily, and it was also the layer where most creatures lived. The layer below the physical realm was the shadow realm that most humans could not directly access. The shadow realm was a twisted reflection of the physical realm. Normal humans would not be able to directly access and observe it, but they could sense and measure it through using the magic and spiritual skills. The layer below the shadow realm was the gloomshade realm, which was an even more incorporeal and secretive area, a reflection of the shadow realm. It was so inaccessible that it would not be reached with any magical or spiritual power. Some lucky mages had caught a few creatures of the shadow realm that had the basic intelligence for communication and speculated the existence of the gloomshade realm according to what little words they could make out of those creatures.

And there were some even more radical scholars that had extended this classic model. They believed that there might be a deeper layer below the gloomshade realm. But that layer would belong to the realm of gods, a realm, the ‘Origin’, created by the god of creation when he created this world, an area where mortals would not be able to study.

According to Gawain’s understanding, this model was like layers of translucent kraft papers. Reality was what you would see from the front. And the shadows of this reality would be projected onto the layers of paper behind it. The further behind was the layer, the more fuzzy and warped it became.

He and Amber were located behind the first piece of paper—the shadow realm.

Even the second layer was already a place where most humans had never set foot upon.

He was discerning enough not to ask Amber about how she had the ability to enter the shadow realm at that moment. Moreover, judging from what Amber said earlier, this was her first time ‘entering such a deep place’, thus he probably would not get any answer from her.

There were still many secrets of this world worth exploring and many things could not be understood by hanging in the sky for a long time.

A simple conclusion led Gawain to believe that following Betty’s footsteps would be their only way to move forward.

But before leaving this place, he looked back uneasily. Heidi, Rebecca and the others were still standing there in that ‘ceramic doll’ state. Their real bodies were defending against the Mist Wraith’s attack in the real world, but in the shadow realm, they were stuck in that instant when they were attacked. And the black mist permeating from the ground continued to disintegrate them.

Fortunately, judging by the speed at which the mist was corroding them, they still had some time left.

“Perhaps this is the Mist Wraith’s true form.” Amber looked in the direction of Gawain’s gaze, shook her head, and said, “How much do you think we should ask if we were to sell this piece of discovery to the Association of Mystics or Association of Astrologers?”

“They will force you to drink potions, tie a recording crystal to your head, put a tracking spell on you, and throw you into the shadow realm to be used as their scout-woman,” Gawain gave Amber the roll of the eyes. “Follow along. We have business to attend to. ”

As Amber followed behind Gawain, she continued to ramble on, “But you can show up personally, right? As the founding father of Anzu, they wouldn’t feed you potions, would they?”

“What do you think?” Gawain scoffed. “They were happy to hang me on the wall, write me in the books, and put me on the table. Even the king was willing to take his whole family to give me a bouquet personally and give himself a three-days vacation. It had no risk, and it would give him a reputation too. But if they found out that this ancestor had really popped out of the coffin, I’m afraid the first reaction of those people who put me there would want to push me back into the coffin, then hammer in two hundred nails in every direction. If they were a bit more ruthless, they would probably pour molten lead into my mouth… ”

Amber was stupefied. “Why?!”

Gawain looked at this half-elf who could not get the point, and he shot back at her irritably, “Because the three days of tomb sweeping across the country would be gone!!”

With that said, Gawain strode forward in large steps, leaving Amber behind who finally came back with a reply, “Wait a minute! You’re wrong! They don’t take a holiday when sweeping your tomb! It’s only when they offer sacrifices to the founding kings! You died early, so I guess you don’t know… ”

Gawain almost fell head first to the ground.

But although he dispelled Amber’s idea selling information about the shadow realm, Gawain had his own plan. He was filled with curiosity about this shadow realm, or perhaps… he was very curious about this entire world.

Thus, he wanted to understand everything about this world.

The footprints did not go very far.

Perhaps this was a special characteristic of the shadow realm. The way of judging distance that they had been so used to in the physical realm was not very effective here. Gawain and Amber had only walked a short distance following the footprints when a wooden house suddenly appeared in front of them.

The wooden house was small and worn out. It must have been around for a long time. He could see surrounding the wooden house was a circle of damaged fencing. From what was left of the fence, it was hardly able to be of any use as protection. Then, at the corner of the house, Gawain noticed color.

It was the color of moss, which was very eye-catching in this monochrome world. As time passed, the small patch of color was fading away quickly.

Betty’s footprints continued to to the cabin door.

Amber pulled out her small dagger and gestured nervously in front of her chest, “Later, you sir can use your Heavenly Descent and rush in and hack at everything. I’ll support you from behind…”

Gawain thought for a moment, and held back his impulse to grab Amber by the collar and throw her in to clear the way. Instead, with one hand on the handle of the Sword of Pioneers, he carefully pushed open the large gray door with the other hand.

However, there was no attack.

The wooden house was just an ordinary house, old and run down, like an old monochrome photo.

But there was someone inside.

A man with an unkempt beard and wearing a shabby robe sat behind a square table in the middle of the wooden house. He looked so haggard that Gawain could not tell his true age. Behind this man were two wooden shelves filled with bottles and jars and an old alchemy table.

The devices needed for magic experiments were everywhere in the room, but they were all piled up with other junk. Any normal mage would probably want to cry at the sight of such a miserable scene.

The man behind the square table looked up in Gawain’s direction, and he gave a stiff smile. “Ah, guests. It’s been a long time since anyone visited my laboratory. And there are two of you?”

Amber poked her head out from behind Gawain. The half-elf girl showed a guarded expression, “We’re… not fighting?”

Gawain did not pull out his sword, but he did not keep his hand too far away from the handle. Maintaining his readiness to attack at any instant, he stepped into the wooden house. “We’re passing by, looking for a person. She’s a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old, and she carries a pan…”

However, the man behind the table seemed as though he did not hear what Gawain said. He only smiled slowly and gave a faint nod. “Please take a seat. Annie is preparing lunch. There’s no place to rest deep in the old forest. If you don’t mind, stay for a meal.”

“Annie?” Gawain asked instinctively.

“She’s my daughter.” the man smiled. “She’s a very nice girl.”

Then a girl exclaimed from the side, “Lord?”

Gawain looked in the direction of the voice and saw Betty looking surprised as she stood beside a small door at the corner of the wooden house.

“Betty? It’s great that you’re okay.” Gawain immediately heaved a breath of relief. “I’m here to take you back.”

However, Betty shook her head faintly, and the man behind the square table looked at the young lady, asking gently, “Annie, is lunch ready?”

Betty nodded obediently. “It’ll be ready soon, Father.”

The young lady turned around and went back to the kitchen. Gawain and Amber exchanged looks. Upon confirming that the weird man behind the square table was not responding, they followed behind her.

Betty was cooking in the kitchen. Using her precious pan, pale white flames danced at the stove, and on the pan were sausages that were being fried and making sizzling sounds.

Amber’s concern was odd. “You can even cook in the shadow realm?”

“What’s going on?” Gawain came over to Betty and asked in a low voice.

From the young lady’s demeanor, he could tell that she had not been put under spells like mind control, but she was staying here to cook of her own choosing. And she was calling the weird man outside “Father”. Now that was truly quite strange.

“I don’t quite understand too.” Betty’s face was as confused as ever, “But the man outside seemed to treat me as his daughter …”

Amber’s eyes widened. “So you just take him as your Father so obediently?”

Betty shook her head. “He’s very pitiable… so I wanted to cook for him before leaving.”

Gawain and Amber looked at each other.

Then Betty suddenly reached into her maidservant’s skirt pocket, took out an old notebook, and handed it to Gawain.

“Lord, this is… the man gave this to me. I don’t understand a lot of things here, but you should be able to read it.”

Gawain took the notebook, which was not very thick, and he quickly flipped through the last few pages of notes.

Amber curiously leaned her head forward, “What? What? Let me have a look… magic formula? Rune sequence?”

The half-elf girl, confused by the complicated symbols and calculations, looked up in stupor at Gawain. “So that strange old man is actually a mage?”

“Strictly speaking, he’s a wild mage.” Gawain curled up the notebook, and knocked Amber’s head with it. “And couldn’t you tell the moment you entered the door and saw so many magic experimental equipment!”

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