Death of the Ancients

Angel placed the crumbled flatbread before the seabird, fully expecting it to dig in with delight. Instead, all he received was a disdainful sidelong glance.

Thinking it did not want the bread crumbs, Angel swapped them for fruit and little strips of dried meat. The seabird still turned its head away without even sparing them a look.

"Could it be thirsty?" The moment Angel said it, the seabird began pecking like a chicken again.

"Haha, so it really is thirsty." Without a second thought, Angel poured a cup of cold water and set it before the seabird.

Then he got slapped—

The seabird stretched out a wing and, with one flap, swept the cup away. It fell into the vast, boundless sea.

Then something Angel had never expected happened: the seabird flew straight into the room. After circling the cramped space once, it landed in front of his teacup.

There were still tea leaves from the Morning Dew After Rain tea he had brewed earlier in the cup.

"Oh—" Angel suddenly understood. So it was Morning Dew After Rain that had attracted this seabird.

What was the characteristic of Morning Dew After Rain? Angel had not known before, but now he did: Morning Dew After Rain was a magical plant.

This seabird had been drawn to a magical plant. Could it also count as an extraordinary lifeform?

Angel pondered it. This seabird might really have been raised by some extraordinary figure from the upper decks. After all, only wizard masters possessing unbelievable power could raise a pet with such a bizarrely distinctive style, right?

The seabird flapped its wings, pointed at the teacup, then pointed at Angel.

Angel immediately got the message and added warm water to the teacup. Tea from the ancient Huaxia kingdom of another world valued "first water, second tea"; the second infusion was richer and mellower than the first. The seabird had originally been a little disdainful of the "secondhand goods" in the cup, but when it caught the tea fragrance spreading through the entire room, it instantly seemed to float toward immortality, its wings fluttering in drunken delight.

Once the cup was full, the seabird did not even wait for it to cool. It thrust its pointed beak into the cup and began slurping. The water level steadily fell until the tea leaves at the very bottom were exposed.

After finishing the tea, the seabird was still not satisfied, so Angel filled the cup again. He had plenty of this tea anyway, and he had already finished drinking this cup himself; he had been planning to dump out the remaining leaves. Since the seabird wanted them, it made no difference if he threw them out later.

But Angel had not expected that after drinking several cups of tea, the seabird would directly eat the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup, even saving him the trouble of taking out the trash.

"Why not just rename you 'Scavenger'? You won't even let the tea dregs go." Angel said helplessly.

The seabird looked very satisfied after finishing its tea, its eyes curving into crescents. It ignored the fact that it had once again "been renamed," and instead gave Angel a very solemn nod, as though expressing its thanks for the cup of tea. Then, right before Angel's eyes, it tilted its head and pulled a small golden card from its slung satchel with its beak, placing it in front of him.

Seeing that Angel did not react, the seabird deliberately pushed the card a little closer to him.

"Huh, this is for me?" Only then did Angel understand what it meant, picking up the thin little gold card.

When it saw Angel take the card, the seabird gave a soft cry, as if saying something. Before Angel could react, it darted out through the window in a single burst.

When Angel looked outside, the blue sky and white clouds remained as before. Where was there any trace of the seabird?

"Interesting. It even knows to repay kindness." Angel shook his head and chuckled. "My mentor once said that for the kindness of a cup of water, one should repay it with a gushing spring. Does this count as the kindness of a cup of water, repaid with a card?"

Angel paid no more attention to the vanished seabird and turned his gaze to the card in his hand. The golden card was blank on one side, while the other bore a pattern. The pattern was precisely the plump purple-haired lady depicted on the seabird's bib and satchel.

He rubbed it with his fingers. The pattern was faintly raised, as though it had been engraved.

Such exquisite craftsmanship on such a thin card surely had a reason behind it.

However, Angel knew nothing at all about the pattern. No matter how profound the card's meaning might be, he would not understand it. He did not want to waste his thoughts on things he could not figure out, so he simply slipped the card into his pocket and continued his journey of relaxation.

Accompanied by the rustling rise and fall of the waves and the hum of undersea currents surging upward, Angel took out a book and began reading.

The title was: "Thoughts of Antiquity"

He had picked up this book at a bookstore in Sea Moon City. Most of its contents were myths the author had gathered from various regions and compiled together. Put simply, it was a collection of mythic oddities, though it included a little of the author's own views, hence the title Thoughts of Antiquity.

It was not until the evening glow filled the sky that Angel finally put the book down.

After finishing it, Angel felt rather moved. Rather than Thoughts of Antiquity, it might as well have been called Deaths of Antiquity. Every deity in the book met the same end: falling. Some died saving humanity, some fighting demons, and some simply succumbed to old age or illness. In any case, not one of them had a good ending. Whether the myths of ancient times were true or false could no longer be determined. Perhaps those so-called deities had merely been powerful wizards.

Ordinary people mostly regarded extraordinary power with unknown fear and silent resistance. Perhaps "the fall of the gods" was merely the wizards leaving the Old Earth Continent, but mortals were certainly powerful when it came to imagining things. After going so long without seeing anything extraordinary, it was entirely possible they had invented "the fall of the gods" to ** themselves.

Stretching lazily, Angel set down his book. Looking at the sky, he decided to go to the restaurant for dinner first.

After nearly a month aboard, Angel had gained a general understanding of the Bauhinia. There were several restaurants on the Bauhinia, with nearly every deck having one. The ship's hierarchy could also be distinguished from the restaurants' decor and the refinement of their food.

The Bauhinia Restaurant on the top deck was the most exquisite and luxurious, open only to wizard apprentices. It was said that a formal wizard was stationed aboard the ship as well, though whether that rumor was true remained unknown.

There were also some gifted people like him aboard the Bauhinia, around several dozen in all. They had been found across the various continents by guides from the three great wizard organizations: White Coral Floating Island Academy, Gravity Forest, and Hurricane Tower. Gifted people like them were considered the middle class aboard the Bauhinia, and they used the White Hibiscus Restaurant on the middle decks.

As for the sailors and servants, they ate at the Alfalfa Cafeteria on the lower decks.

When Angel arrived at the White Hibiscus Restaurant, it was right at mealtime, and people streamed back and forth in a bustling crowd. At a time like this, no one retained the pride of a gifted person. They carried their trays and obediently sat down; whatever the chefs made, they ate. Whether you had once been a noble or a tycoon, here you were only a rookie about to step onto the path of wizardry.

A rookie should act like a rookie. Any unnecessary pride could wait until one's wings had fully grown.

Following the doctrine of moderation his mentor had taught him, Angel did not make himself stand out. Like everyone else, he lowered his head and respectfully accepted a tray of grilled fish and bread from the chef. He picked up some lettuce and slices of winter fruit from the vegetable and fruit section, added a bowl of Inbei potato chowder with minced garlic, then took a seat by the window.

After eating grilled fish for half a month straight, Angel now missed the Chinese food his mentor made terribly. The thought that he would be unable to eat anything suited to his taste for the next several years immediately made his face fall.

"If I'd known I would be living alone, I should have learned to cook from my mentor back then." Angel mourned inwardly, though his outward manners remained impeccable.

The half-screened wooden door creaked open and shut. Some people entered, others left. Angel's seat happened to face the restaurant entrance, and he saw a young man in a silver-gray plaid lace shirt push open the paneled door and slowly walk in, every step landing to an irritatingly arrogant beat.

Ever since boarding the ship, Angel had kept a low profile. In the brutal world of wizards, he no longer had an older brother who spoiled him beyond all limits. Only by not standing out from the forest could one live in peace.

Thus, over the past month, aside from Alan and his sister, he had not socialized with anyone else. Even Irene and the others were doing their best to expand their circles of connections, but Angel had never dealt with anyone else. His life consisted of nothing but studying and solving problems.

Even isolated to this extent, Angel still recognized this young man with the manner of an effeminate aristocrat, which showed just how famous he was aboard the ship.

The third in line to inherit the Silver Heron Royal Family of the Central Empire on the Revelation Continent—Dev Silver Heron.