The azure sky stretched as far as the eye could see, as pure as a gemstone, without a single cloud, like a giant blue curtain covering the earth.
The scorching summer sun baked the earth, and the blazing sunlight poured down mercilessly, causing layers of water vapor to rise from the ground and slowly dissipate in the air.
Looking out, the land in the distance seemed to be twisted and deformed in the heatwave, as if the whole world had become unreal in the scorching heat.
A wagon laden with supplies was slowly making its way towards the castle that was faintly visible in the distance. This was the wagon that Green was riding in.
Green, who was originally sitting in the carriage, wanted to see more of the world, even if it was just the geographical environment.
So he got out of the carriage and took over Old Green's job, letting Old Green go inside the carriage to rest.
Green looked around at the desolate scene. Under the scorching sun, the once lush green grass and trees showed signs of weariness. The leaves had all withered.
Green gazed at the distant castle, examining it closely. A castle resembling those of the Middle Ages stood atop the plain. Its walls, tens of meters high, effectively defended against invaders. The white stones that formed the castle reflected the sun with a almost blinding gleam. The castle walls also featured numerous arrow slits, normally kept closed.
Once the war begins and the enemy invades the castle, these arrow slits will be opened, and the arrows fired by archers will show the invaders what death truly means.
A moat surrounds the castle, with a constant flow of water passing around it. This was a project personally supervised by the Baron, diverting the river originating from Annabelle to the castle via excavated channels. This effectively deterred enemy invasion.
Leaning against the carriage railing, Green continued to steer the carriage forward. According to the memories in his soul, it would probably take another two or three hourglasses before the carriage returned to the castle.
During this time, Green has been sorting through the memories in his soul.
After two hourglasses had passed, the originally winding and narrow path began to widen, and the ground was covered with more and more fine pebbles, no longer the original muddy road. Green, sitting in the carriage, could clearly feel it. The carriage's journey also became increasingly smooth, no longer as bumpy as before.
Even without Green's prompting, old Green, who had traveled this road countless times, lifted the carriage curtain. He glanced at Green first, then turned to look at the distant castle.
"We don't need to go through the main gate of the castle. We can take the side path and go directly around the castle back to our warehouse," Old Green said to Green.
The castle's storehouses are divided into inner and outer sections, with the inner storehouse being the core of the entire castle. The storehouses that Old Green oversees mostly store miscellaneous items for the entire castle and are not of high importance.
Without suggesting a visit to the castle, Green nodded in response to Old Green's words and adjusted the carriage's direction, changing it from a straight path to a winding one.
Green drove the carriage slowly along the castle's moat, while the guards standing on the castle walls watched without moving, paying no attention to Green's carriage.
Green wasn't surprised. Everyone in the castle knew old Green, and his carriage bore the Crowe family crest. Even the new guards, seeing the crest, knew the carriage had close ties to the Crowe family and wouldn't dare offend it.
Both fields were very quiet, save for the clatter of the carriage. Occasionally, a bird would chirp.
Following the route he remembered, Green drove the carriage forward. Finally, the warehouse where Green and Old Green lived came into view.
The place where Green and Old Green lived was some distance from the castle. Although it was also used as a warehouse for the castle, it was mostly filled with useless junk and very little of it was actually useful.
This warehouse could be seen as a stepping stone set up by Baron Crowe specifically for old Green. It's likely that after old Green's death, Green, as his adopted son, will take over its management. However, by then, his treatment will probably be less favorable.
Green silently pondered these thoughts, a sense of crisis welling up within him. In his youth, Old Green had studied breathing techniques, which had already damaged his vitality. Coupled with the further damage to his vitality caused by his injury, he feared his days were numbered, and he needed to intensify his training.
Growing increasingly anxious, Green increased the carriage's speed by a third, quickly driving it to the stables.
Old Green also climbed out of the carriage the moment it stopped, holding onto the handrail.
Without much talk, Old Green told Green to "unload." Green cooperated with Old Green and unloaded the numerous supplies from the truck. Fortunately, they were just some daily necessities, so the task was completed without much physical exertion.
After completing these tasks, Green removed the harness and herded the horses into the stable. He performed the entire process with exceptional skill, showing no difference whatsoever from his usual demeanor.
Old Green sat to the side, watching as Green drove the horses into the stable, then found a pile of hay and placed it in the horses' trough. The horses, which had been working hard for a long time, quickly began to eat the hay in the trough.
Seeing that Green had finished everything, Old Green stood up. "Green, come with me." Old Green didn't explain why. He just silently walked ahead.
Green quickly followed Old Green's lead, taking two steps at a time. Under Old Green's guidance, the two arrived at the warehouse entrance.
Green looked up and saw the warehouse gate, guarded by old Green, bisected in two by a massive horizontal lock. Over time, the gate, once made of fine wood and painted a vibrant red, had become somewhat dull and lifeless after years of weathering. Rainwater streaks ran down its surface, marking the passage of time.
Old Green pulled the key to the warehouse door from his pocket. A click sounded. The lock was open.
Old Green pushed open the warehouse door with force, and the door creaked and groaned as it moved under his strength.
The warehouse doors were wide open, revealing the contents inside, mostly tables, chairs, and benches from the Baron's manor, along with agricultural tools like hammers and axes. Old Green ignored these items.
Old Green led Green deeper into the warehouse. The moment they entered, a damp, rotten smell of wood assaulted Green's nostrils, causing him to frown.
In Green's memory, this warehouse was just a formality, and it was rarely opened throughout the year. In addition, the key was always kept by old Green, so Green really had no recollection of what was stored deep inside the warehouse.
As they passed through the clutter, the light grew dimmer. Old Green, walking ahead, skillfully pulled out an oil lamp from the side and lit it. The faint light illuminated the depths of the warehouse, allowing Green to clearly see his surroundings.
The arrangement of items deep inside the warehouse was completely different from that outside. All items were categorized and stored, and although they were still just miscellaneous items, the way they were arranged showed that the supervisors took them very seriously.
Old Green led Green through the warehouse, winding its way around until they finally stopped in front of a huge piece of cloth. Green examined the cloth closely; it was clear that something was hidden beneath it. The raised sections were the best proof.
Old Green put the oil lamp aside, pulled up a corner of the cloth, and with a strong swing of his arm, the entire cloth flew up, revealing what had been hidden underneath.
A suit of armor came into Green's view.
In the dim, flickering light of the oil lamp, the armor reflected a halo of light. The constantly shifting shadows made the armor seem almost alive.
When old Green saw the armor, he reached out and gently stroked it, as if he had seen a lover.
Green didn't ask Old Green any questions; it was obvious that this armor was the one Old Green had worn on the battlefield. As a former knight's apprentice, Old Green certainly deserved his own set of armor.
"Green, this armor is passed down to you. We will begin formal training tomorrow. Are you ready?" After thinking for a long time, Old Green suddenly looked at Green and said, his eyes full of questioning, as if testing whether Green was really ready.
Seeing Old Green's scrutinizing gaze, Green straightened his body, his muscles taut, and his eyes fixed on Old Green with a firm and sharp look. Then he said, "I'm ready."
Seeing Green's determined gaze, Old Green smiled. Although he didn't know why Green had changed so much today, it was a good thing that he had ambition.
Old Grimm opened the box next to the armor. He took out a longsword that gleamed with a cold light and a powerful bow made of metal, and handed them to Grimm with both hands. "You are not ready to wear the armor directly yet. Without the strength of a knight apprentice, you cannot bear the weight of this armor. First, train your swordsmanship and shooting skills."
Seeing that old Green was willing to teach him, Green quickly accepted what old Green handed him.
The moment he got his hands on the longsword and metal bow, Green's hands involuntarily slipped downwards due to their weight. Realizing this, Green quickly used his strength to lift them up.
Feeling the weight of the two items, Green was filled with joy. In his previous life, ordinary people would have had a hard time just picking up such heavy objects, let alone using them in combat.
In this world, this is merely equipment used by ordinary knight apprentices. So how immense is the power possessed by full-fledged knights and those of higher ranks? Grimm was filled with reverie about this unknown power.
Old Green, standing to the side, watched Green fiddling with the two weapons in his hands and a smile appeared on his face. "Alright, stop fiddling with these things and hurry up and cook something. I'm starving."
Hearing Old Green's words, Green suppressed his joy, grabbed two items, and ran to the kitchen.
This world, resembling medieval Europe, has no fancy ingredients.
Green took out two slices of white bread he had bought from the market. He added some honey sauce and chunks of meat, and that made up his dinner.
At the dinner table, there were only Green and Old Green. Green wolfed down the food in front of him, holding honey sauce in one hand and roast meat in the other, constantly stuffing it into his mouth.
Since arriving in this world, Green has been constantly thinking, even without engaging in physical labor. His mental exertion has been considerable. Compared to Green, Old Green ate much more slowly.
After finishing his meal, Green couldn't help but marvel at his good fortune. He had gotten off to a flying start. This meal, though seemingly ordinary, was, in this world of low productivity, the finest food for ordinary people. Only on the founding day of the Kingdom of Lodin would all merchants offer discounts, at which time commoners could afford white bread. As for honey sauce and roasted meat, those were foods unimaginable to the average person.
After finishing his meal, Green picked up a napkin and wiped the food residue from the corners of his mouth.
[Ding, sufficient energy intake detected, super-intelligent chip activated.]
A voice rang directly in Green's mind.
The sudden sound made Green instinctively look around.
After looking around, Green realized that apart from Old Green who was eating with his head down, there was no one else around. Only then did Green realize that the voice had appeared directly in his mind.
[Super intelligent chip... isn't that the code name for the quantum chip I had implanted in my past life? Could it be...?]
Recalling the experiments of those mad scientists in his previous life, and the specific function of chips, Green was filled with anticipation.
[I never expected the chip to have traveled through time with me.] Green was still somewhat incredulous. His initial calm was shattered; his heart began to race, and his breathing quickened.
Old Green noticed Green's unusual behavior. "Green, what's wrong? Why are you so tense?"
Green quickly explained that he was fine, just a little nervous about training the next day. He then immediately told his father that he needed to prepare for tomorrow's training and would go back to his room to rest.
Back in his room, sitting on his bed, Green immediately chanted in his mind, summoning the chip's operating platform.
[Super Intelligence, initiating initial setup.]
[Initial setup has begun. Please name the chip.] A female voice rang in Green's mind again, similar to an AI named Xiao Ai from the 21st century.
Green couldn't help but complain.
"This voice system must have been taken from the market! The first chip was made so carelessly, no wonder it failed back then." Green had every reason to suspect that his failure to implant the quantum chip was because his makeshift team simply didn't understand the experiment.
"Truth." After a barrage of complaints, Green said without hesitation the name he had thought about for a long time in his previous life.
"Naming successful, truth at your service, you will become the smartest person in the world, remember to give a good review." Ignoring the chip's antics.
Green began studying the chip's various functions, based on his memory of the chip's description. As a first-generation quantum chip, and considering the special requirements of his previous life, this chip possessed the ability to be optimized at two extremes.
These are storage and analysis. In terms of storage, quantum chips modify a human cell by binding to human genes. After modification, a single cell storage device can store all of humanity's knowledge accumulated over nearly a thousand years.
In terms of analysis, it has significantly enhanced logical analysis and high-precision data processing, which is equivalent to a supercomputer equipped with top-notch artificial intelligence.
[Truth, may I now access human-related knowledge?] Green was testing it. Following the chip manufacturing process, this chip had already stored human knowledge upon completion. If this knowledge were also transferred, it would be an immense treasure.
[Storage space detected, no knowledge found.] The final result disappointed Green. Hearing the voice from the chip in his mind, Green sighed.
[Well, it's already a huge blessing that the quantum chip came along with me; asking for more would be unreasonable.] Calming himself down, Green opened his storage space and began inputting his knowledge. As one of the world's top scientists in his previous life, the knowledge he carried was a valuable asset.
Green turned off the lights and lay down on the bed, but instead of resting, he continued to input knowledge.
Tonight will be a sleepless night.