"You've come." Calder did not turn his head, but stared at the lush forest in the distance.
Hearing such familiar words, Dorian suddenly remembered the conversation he had with his brother just now, and couldn't help but smile slightly.
"Yes, I've come," Dorian said, pointing to the ointment on the table for the mute servant.
The mute servant waved his hand at Dorian.
Dorian sighed, picked up the ointment, and sat next to Calder.
"Mentor, you haven't followed the doctor's instructions again." Dorian unscrewed the glass bottle's lid and applied the thick green ointment little by little to Calder's shriveled limbs.
"It doesn't matter whether I apply it or not." Calder's eyes were filled with a trace of reminiscence and sadness. "I'm dying soon. 'It' won't let me live any longer."
"Who is it?" Dorian suddenly looked around vigilantly. "Could it be your enemy?"
Calder paused, then shook his head. "No enemies. My enemies are in another time and space."
As soon as he heard his mentor mention "another time and space," Dorian subtly ordered the mute servant to leave. Even though the servant couldn't speak, Dorian always sent him away when his mentor spoke of "the past," just in case.
Dorian still found the idea of his mentor's origins incredible. Calder was from another world, or another planet, and due to an accident, he had traveled to this strange land. Baron Marcus Varen, Dorian's father, had rescued him, leading to everything that followed.
Dorian originally didn't believe in "time travel," but as Calder taught him more and more, building his understanding of the micro and macro worlds, he had no choice but to believe it. The knowledge Calder shared, while conceptual, was so valuable that it far exceeded the current level of education in the Kingdom of Veridia. Even if Dorian had lingering doubts, he was mostly convinced.
Seeing the mute servant close the door and hearing his footsteps fade, Dorian asked softly, "Then... who is the 'it' that you speak of?"
Calder was silent for a moment, then asked an unrelated question. "Do you believe the world has a consciousness?"
Dorian was taken aback. After a moment of thought, he cautiously replied, "Are you talking about the 'Anima Mundi'?"
The Kingdom of Veridia didn't have the concept of the Anima Mundi, the World Soul. The idea had been something Calder had shared with him, a myth from another world, and Dorian was surprised to hear him bring it up now.
"Similar." Calder nodded slightly. "In the past, I was a firm believer in science. Even when they said the end of science was faith, I never believed it. But after coming here, I've increasingly felt that some things are changing. Among them is this concept of a 'World Soul'."
Calder's eyes gazed at the distant green mountains. "My body began to mysteriously fail after coming to this world. I had my internal biomechanism check my body, and there were no lesions, no diseases."
Dorian didn't understand "internal biomechanism," but he understood the rest.
"Since you have no diseases, why..." Dorian looked at Calder, whose body was almost skeletal. His heart was filled with even more questions. Calder was only in his early fifties, but he looked eighty or ninety.
"Why did I become like this?" Calder murmured to himself, then chuckled. "If you had asked me half a year ago, I wouldn't have been able to answer. But... as I am about to enter the grave, 'it' seems to be much more at ease, and it has indirectly made me understand the source of my illness. The reason my body is like this is simply a matter of acclimatization. Because I am not from this world at all."
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In the grand hall, under a crystal chandelier, two men sat across from each other at a long rectangular table. Behind them, several knights stood fully armed.
On the left sat Elias Varen, the heir to the Varen Manor, his brows furrowed. On the right was Earl Alaric, a middle-aged man in silver armor with a thick brown beard that obscured his face.
Earl Alaric came from the Sword of the King, a family of warriors renowned for their bravery and skill. Now, many of their elite forces were fighting the Vargan Empire on the front line. No one knew why the Earl had suddenly come to the small town of Eldoria.
After a long silence, the tension in the room grew, with the auras of the knights on both sides rising. The Alaric knights, being a warrior family, quickly overpowered the Varen knights. One Varen knight, unable to bear the pressure, dropped his longsword with a loud clang.
Seeing this, Elias frowned slightly and spoke first. "I apologize, my knights are unaccustomed to such formality."
He waved his hand, and his knights immediately knelt and took a step back. This simple action subtly diffused the aggressive energy of the other party's knights.
"Earl Alaric's sudden visit... could it be for the matter of supplies for the front line?"
With the two nations at war, the Vargan Empire, though not large, was a collection of islands scattered across the gap between the Azure Sea and the Storm Sea. The Kingdom of Veridia's navy was weak, forcing them to defend their coastline passively. The long-term stalemate had led to a severe lack of resources, and the nearby towns, including Eldoria, had become crucial supply chain links. The Varen Manor bore the brunt of this responsibility.
"The support from the Varen Manor has been invaluable," Earl Alaric said, his voice a low rumble. "Without it, our vanguard would have already crumbled."
He changed the subject. "There is no issue with the food and water. I came here today to ask about something else entirely."
"And what might that be?" Elias asked, raising an eyebrow.
Earl Alaric smiled, but his beard made it hard to see his expression. Elias, however, did not see a smile in his eyes.
"I wonder if you've ever heard of the Aetherial Filament?"