Inside the hut, Elias, who was sleeping soundly under a worn-out quilt, was instantly startled awake, the icy numbness in his feet making him gasp, but Elias didn't dare to delay, shouting, "Coming."
Ignoring his feet, which were almost numb with cold, Elias quickly put on his old clothes, picked up the leather coat that served as a second quilt over his worn-out cotton quilt, and opened the wooden door.
The biting cold wind of winter, mixed with ice shards, made Elias's body tremble.
Outside the door, Master Hemlock was curled up on the dilapidated wooden carriage, holding a whip in one hand and a tobacco pipe in the other, puffing away, the carriage leaving two ruts in the bumpy snowy ground.
"Hurry up, the road is bad today, we'll be scolded if we're late."
Master Hemlock puffed hard on his pipe, then grumbled at Elias.
"Oh, got it."
Elias closed the wooden door and agilely got onto the carriage, everything was as usual; ever since he started this stable job with Master Hemlock, Elias would hear him grumble a sentence every day.
Hemlock didn't say much, finally taking a puff from his pipe, then fiercely cracked the whip, and the old horse grunted, pulling the carriage forward through the bumpy snowy ground.
Elias leaned against the dilapidated carriage railing, looked at the dark sky, and closed his eyes again to doze; based on past experience, on such a snowy day, the old carriage would take at least half an hourglass to reach the Viscount's Mansion in the city, and by then, it would be almost dawn.
Leaning on the carriage, Elias smelled the familiar dry tobacco scent and felt deeply grateful to Master Hemlock from the bottom of his heart.
Elias's earliest and most primitive memory was a winter day with heavy goose-feather snow; his memories before that were a blank, and no one had ever seen Elias, as if he had appeared out of thin air in this world.
From then on, Elias often mingled with a group of orphans in Bissel City, living a begging life where he barely had enough to eat, until one day, the childless Master Hemlock saw that Elias was quite clever, and thinking of his own lack of children, he took Elias back.
Master Hemlock chuckled, "When I die, these two huts and the old horse will be yours."
To be honest, these two rural huts and the old carriage weren't worth much, but they filled Elias with gratitude towards Master Hemlock, whom he regarded as his adoptive parent.
As for the livelihood that Master Hemlock and Elias relied on, it was to arrive at the Viscount's Mansion in Bissel City every morning before dawn, clean up the large amount of trash left after the all-night revelry of the high-ranking noble lords, transport it outside the city to dispose of it, and then go to the Viscount's territory to procure all the supplies for the next night's revelry.
This round trip usually took up most of the day.
After half an hourglass, clatter, clatter, the road surface became smooth, paved with stone.
Elias, who was dozing in the carriage, naturally woke up without Master Hemlock's prompting, knowing that they had arrived in Bissel City and would soon reach the Viscount's Mansion, so he quickly brushed off the snow from his body, tidying his appearance.
Although Elias and Master Hemlock usually arrived at the Viscount's Mansion after most of the nobles who had been reveling all night had already left, and even if some occasionally remained, those high-ranking noble lords would not even glance at these two lowly servants, so appearance was of no use whatsoever.
However, the Elder Varus of the Viscount's Mansion was a difficult character, always making trouble for Elias and other Odd jobs servants, waiting to gain some benefits; he had more than once used flimsy excuses like untidy appearance to extort silver coins from Master Hemlock.
The two tall, sturdy knight guards at the gate of the Viscount's Mansion were already exhausted after a night of guarding; they glanced at Master Hemlock and Elias, whom they had known intimately for several years, and paid them no mind.
Master Hemlock offered a fawning smile, while Elias jumped off the carriage, lowered his head, and entered the Viscount's Mansion, not daring to look around, heading straight for the luxurious hall that had to be meticulously cleaned every day.
Elias and Master Hemlock, who were originally dispirited, suddenly felt that today's atmosphere seemed different; they saw the Elder Varus at the entrance of the hall with a gloomy face, his cruel, triangular eyes glaring fiercely at Elias and Master Hemlock, then he scurried over to them.
The Elder Varus whispered, "Stay here and wait, block your ears, and close your eyes."
"Yes, yes."
Elias and Master Hemlock hurriedly responded.
Faint sounds of quarreling came from inside the main hall; although not very clear, they could vaguely distinguish that a girl was making a loud fuss.
Instinctively, Elias and Master Hemlock knew that this must be an important person.
After waiting for nearly an hourglass, it was completely bright, and Elias and Master Hemlock were stamping their feet and shivering in the snow from the cold.
The Elder Varus, who had been waiting at the entrance of the hall, walked over with a gloomy face and whispered, "If you can't stand the cold, then don't come tomorrow."
Elias and Master Hemlock's expressions changed; after struggling a few times, Master Hemlock pulled out a silver coin from his worn burlap clothes, slipped it into the Elder Varus's hand, and repeatedly smiled obsequiously, "We can stand it, we can stand it."
"Hmph."
The Elder Varus skillfully put the silver coin into his pocket, no longer paying attention to the two, and waited anxiously at the hall entrance, peeking inside from time to time.
Elias couldn't help but whisper, "Damn it, he just took benefits from us a few days ago, and now he wants more!"
"Alas, forget it, just bear with it. There are plenty of people who want our job, and the Elder Varus would be glad if we left."
Master Hemlock sighed.
When a person gets old and is about to go into the ground, they become more open-minded, no longer having the fiery temper of youth.
Just then, a girl wearing luxurious noble clothes rushed out of the hall; her exquisite face was covered in tear stains, and she stopped beside Elias and Master Hemlock, shouting into the hall.
"I won't go to some Lilith's Hut Wizard Academy, and I certainly won't become a Wizard!"
After speaking, the girl still seemed unsatisfied, fiercely pulled out a book and threw it away, then ran out of the Viscount's Mansion with large strides.
"Rebellious! Rebellious! What are you two still standing around for? Why aren't you chasing her quickly?"
A pot-bellied noble lord, his face flushed with anger, roared at the two armored knights beside him.
However, to Elias's disbelief, the Viscount Lord, who was usually high and mighty, now stood beside the pot-bellied noble with a helpless expression, coaxing him in a low voice.
"Hmph, what does she know? The great Wizard is the Dominator of this World, do you know what price I paid for the test half a year from now?"
In a great hurry, the Viscount Lord followed the pot-bellied noble out of the Viscount's Mansion, not even glancing at Elias and Master Hemlock.
As for the Elder Varus, he also hurried out, taking both gatekeepers with him before leaving, disappearing into the snow.
In an instant, the courtyard became empty and silent.
Seeing no one around, Elias instinctively reached to pick up the book on the ground in front of him, but Master Hemlock stepped forward, tapped Elias's hand with his tobacco pipe, and whispered, "Do you want to die?"
Elias grimaced in pain and whispered, "It should be fine, right? If anyone asks later, we'll just say we threw it away with the trash. After all, that noble Young Miss just threw it on the ground."
Master Hemlock thought for a moment, then looked up to confirm that no one was around, and nodded, tacitly agreeing with Elias.
Elias tucked the book inside his clothes, then nonchalantly followed Master Hemlock to clean the hall; the massive amount of trash left after the noble lords' all-night revelry was all swept into the carriage.
Until they were about to leave, no one asked about the whereabouts of the book, so Elias didn't pay it any mind.
After all, it was common for trash to contain some treasures that noble lords disdained but servants cherished.
Creak, creak…
The carriage, loaded with a full cart of trash, slowly left Bissel City.
Sitting on the carriage loaded with trash, Elias no longer felt sleepy; he suddenly thought of something and took out the book he had picked up from his embrace.
Frowning, servants like Elias who worked for noble lords generally couldn't read. However, Master Hemlock, in his youth, had been an accounting apprentice at a shop, and although the shop later closed, he had learned to read, and had taught Elias these past few years.
However, the reason Elias frowned was that the characters on the book's cover were not commonly used in daily life; they were unfamiliar words.
After thinking for a long time, Elias finally recognized the words.
"The Modification of Hunting Nose and Olfactory Atlas? What is this thing?"
Elias's eyes widened; he had thought it was a bard's biographical novel, which was the favorite type of book for noble Young Misses and Young Masters, but he never expected that the noble Young Miss had thrown away a book with such a strange title.
Wait!
Elias suddenly thought of something, his eyes widening, filled with disbelief!
Could this be a book of mysterious magic and sorcery recorded by a Wizard?
Wizards had always been a topic only noble lords were qualified to discuss; ordinary people might not even see a Wizard, whose whereabouts were secretive, once in their lifetime.
In the eyes of ordinary people, Wizards wielded mysterious and unpredictable sorcery, full of evil and mystery; there were often rumors of Wizards massacring commoners, eating children's eyes, and using commoners for evil sorcery experiments.
But these Wizards were revered for their greatness because they could easily kill commoners and even knights, possessing extraordinary power.
Elias had even fantasized more than once about how those mysterious and great Wizards managed to wield such mysterious and great powers, and why ordinary people couldn't.
If he became a Wizard and gained those mysterious and great powers, he wouldn't have to endure the whims of those noble lords, would he?
With an expression of disbelief, Elias quickly flipped through The Modification of Hunting Nose and Olfactory Atlas, which he had just acquired, and began to read it word by word. Sometimes, when he encountered an unfamiliar word, he would ponder it carefully or even temporarily skip it.
Slowly, a shock began to appear on Elias's face, as if a whole new world had opened up!
So-called scent is the volatile molecules of different substances in the air that are distinguished by a biological olfactory System; the strongest irritating odor, stench, accounts for half of the odors that organisms can distinguish.
According to The Scent Atlas, normal humans can distinguish approximately 300 to 400 different scents, and occasionally, some individuals with peculiar functions can distinguish about 600 scents.
However, this scent distinction is pitifully low compared to some other creatures!
For example, the infant-crying chicken, a creature that can emit cries like a human infant, has been experimentally shown to distinguish at least 6,500 different scents.
Another example is the Yin Butterfly, a magical creature that can only survive by collecting foul odors, capable of distinguishing over 8,200 different scents…
The book mentions that the creature known to capture the most airborne scents is called the Three-Headed Dog, a formidable creature that many Wizards dare not provoke, capable of distinguishing any known scent that Wizards can isolate, totaling 17,852 types.
The Three-Headed Dog's sense of smell has reached an incredible level!
Hunter Nose Transformation describes the Wizard's knowledge of sorcery, where a Wizard modifies their own body to achieve perfect evolution of their sense of smell, based on their physical condition, to mimic the keen sense of smell of certain creatures.
Among them, the magic and sorcery experiments involved many strange Materials, and there was also one word that appeared most frequently in the book that Elias still hadn't figured out: Cells?
"Elias, Elias!"
Master Hemlock had to call twice before Elias snapped out of the wonder of the magic book; he hastily put away the magic book and helped Master Hemlock begin to dump the trash from the carriage.
After dumping all the trash from the carriage, Elias followed Master Hemlock to purchase goods from the Viscount's territory as per their usual routine, for the noble lords' consumption that evening.
They worked until evening, when Master Hemlock and Elias finally transported all the goods to the Viscount's Mansion in the city, then, with a dozen copper coins, they rushed back to the countryside. In the carriage, Elias was still engrossed in reading The Modification of Hunting Nose and Olfactory Atlas.
Master Hemlock looked back at Elias and sighed, "You child, you're truly bewitched today. Is this book really that good?"
Elias chuckled, saying nothing more, but his heart was filled with longing and awe for this mysterious Wizard World.
Are there truly moving mountain life forms in the world?
Rivers flowing from the sky?
And what exactly are those so-called Alien Worlds?
What is the principle behind Wizards wielding powerful magic and sorcery?
A series of questions surfaced in Elias's mind, but no one could answer them.
"Alas, you're seventeen in the blink of an eye, aren't you? Hmm, next year I'll renovate the house and see if I can find a suitable girl from a nearby family for you to marry. I hope I can see my grandchild before my old bones are buried."
Master Hemlock mumbled.
Elias, without looking up, casually mumbled, "What nonsense are you talking about? You old man will live a hundred years."
"Hehe…"
Master Hemlock smiled and continued driving the carriage back along the familiar road.