First Glimpse of the World

Knight Wright had just opened his mouth to speak when Dennis, standing nearby, brought over two chairs and smiled at Ophelia. "Ophelia, sit and listen. I'm curious too. I heard he's a genius whose talent doesn't lose to yours."

Ophelia's attitude remained cold. She did not have the slightest fondness for her two brothers. Marshall was like a stupid mad dog, while Dennis was a cunning wild fox. She was not naive enough to think Dennis had come to notify her because he truly had her interests at heart. He merely wanted to fan the flames from the sidelines.

Still, Dennis had helped her after all, so she gave him face and sat down. It was not because he had saved a genius for her—Ophelia did not care about that. It was simply because Adam was somewhat special to her.

Knight Wright recounted everything from beginning to end. After listening, Ophelia showed no reaction. She merely instructed the attendant behind her to send Adam back to his room, then nodded to the two men and left.

Dennis still wore a broad smile as he rose to see Ophelia off, appearing utterly unconcerned. Yet his clenched fists and the veins bulging at his neck revealed that his heart was far from calm.

"This world really is unfair."

Ophelia's group walked along the paths of the manor. Everyone who saw her stepped aside, bowed slightly, and stood at the edge of the road. Only after she had passed did they straighten again. This respect had nothing to do with status; it was simply awe for strength and nobility.

She softly instructed the Maid, "Go to my room and bring an unused jar of ointment."

The Maid headed in another direction, her heart full of envy. She knew just how precious the young lady's ointment was. In the entire manor—no, in the entire Northland—only the young lady and the Earl were qualified to use it. It was something made by Mages. She had heard that when its Raw Materials were alive, they could Tear Apart a knight with ease.

Naturally, Ophelia did not apply the ointment herself. After the knight under her command spread it evenly over Adam's entire body, Ophelia dismissed everyone around her and sat alone in Adam's room, her eyes closed as she silently waited for him to wake.

Night fell.

This secret medicine, brewed from unknown materials, was remarkably potent. The wounds covering Adam's body healed at an astonishing speed visible to the Naked Eye. Its medicinal power seeped through his skin and entered his body, producing gentle benign energy. Supported by that energy, his cells began dividing at an accelerated rate, rapidly compensating for his body's overload and beginning to nourish Adam's frail constitution. The coma that had been expected to last several days thus came to a swift end.

High-quality Nutrients detected entering the body. Cells beginning accelerated division. Organ strength, muscle strength, blood activity, and bone calcium content increasing.

Adam actively cooperated with the medicinal power. His perfect control over his body allowed him to absorb the treatment completely. The benefits of this single jar of ointment were worth hundreds of times his usual food.

"Since you're awake, begin training the Breathing Technique. Gather your Mental Power and use only your breathing rhythm to vibrate your body," Ophelia said as she opened her eyes.

Adam followed her instruction without hesitation and began breathing at the special rhythm. The absorption of the medicine sped up another level. The thick layer of ointment on his skin rapidly dwindled, until only a thin film like black dead skin remained and fell away.

"Not enough." Adam spoke his first words. If he had a few more portions of such benign energy, his body could reach the standard for training the Breathing Technique instead of falling unconscious as it had this time.

"Heh." Ophelia gave an unreadable response.

Adam sat up in the darkness, reached out to tear away the remnants of medicine on his body, then picked up the neatly folded new clothes beside his pillow and put them on. After that, he sat at the edge of the bed without saying a word.

Ophelia did not avert her eyes while Adam dressed. She did not even move. Only after the silence had spread for a long time did she say, "Don't you have anything to say?"

Ophelia's voice was very soft. It seemed less like a question than self-talk, but Adam heard the unrest within it. He realized that the person before him stood on the brink of an outburst.

Ophelia's feelings were exceedingly complicated.

Though she was the Earl's biological daughter, she had not lived happily. Her birth mother's lowly status and early death had deprived her of any experience of familial affection. And as the Uncrowned King of the Northland, why would her father cast his gaze upon such a laughable figure, little different from an illegitimate daughter?

Within the manor, her awkward status had doomed her to an unhappy childhood. Though she was the Earl's child, she was no different from the Servants. Yet because she was the Earl's child, no one dared befriend her. Everyone avoided her like the plague. The only one who did not deliberately keep away from her was Adam, a fool.

In a corner where no one paid attention, a filthy Yellow-haired Girl sat beside a frail, big-headed boy, chattering endlessly as she shared her hard-won food. That had been the only warmth in Ophelia's cold childhood.

Only when Ophelia revealed her dazzling talent at the age of ten did her circumstances improve. But in exchange, she could no longer get so close to Adam—not because of status, but because she could not control her own strength. She feared that a gentle touch might kill this sole "friend" of hers. Later, the cultivation she needed and the environments she had to experience became too dangerous, so she had Adam work for her, giving him a way of life comfortable enough to last until death.

"Adam, why would a fool who had been foolish for sixteen years suddenly awaken? Why would he learn the Breathing Technique without anyone teaching him? Why would he possess such powerful Mental Power? Should I be happy for you? Or have you been deceiving everyone all along?"

And me? Ophelia thought.

Adam sensed the intense emotion radiating from her. This emotion should be called sadness. Emotional thinking had replaced Logical Thinking. He felt that he should explain.

"I..." This pronoun felt somewhat novel to him. "...come from Another World."

Ophelia's expression became quite vivid. It was not shock, but mockery. She said, "This is the Mage World, the Mage Plane. Ever since the great Prometheus True Spirit Grandmaster altered the world coordinates, and Anne Croft, World Guardian, sacrificed herself to elevate the plane's essence, not a single creature from another world has been able to descend here on its own. And now you're telling me you come from an Other World?"

Adam's eyes abruptly widened, and his Mental Power instantly spread outward. The information revealed in Ophelia's words thrilled him. This truly was not a monotonous, boring world. Powerful beings capable of changing the world existed here. Adam did not believe the world could be changed through strength; it could only be changed through knowledge. Only knowledge could change the world.

As Adam's Mental Power surged, wind roared through the sealed room, and the fragile materials nearly shattered. Yet Ophelia remained immovable as a mountain, her tone growing even more mocking. "What? Now that I've exposed you, you want to fight me?"

Adam truly had little memory of her. When he had first arrived in this world, he had been at his most difficult stage. The viruses had been enormous in number and completely occupied all his memory, while the Antivirus Program progressed slowly. He could only cut off all external connections and seal himself away, or else he risked being overrun by the viruses at any moment. This situation did not ease until after he turned ten, which was precisely when Ophelia separated from him.

But since he had already begun explaining, Adam did not care whether Ophelia believed him. As for exposing his identity? Adam did not consider it important information. Moreover, he had already learned from her words that creatures from another world did not seem to be any great secret in this world.

Unexpectedly, Ophelia seemed to lose interest in his explanation at once. She rose and left listlessly, saying as she departed, "Forget it. It doesn't matter. Since you possess such talent, don't involve yourself in the struggle between my two foolish brothers. A Mage Master will definitely come. When that time comes, I'll help you fight for an opportunity."

After all, you never truly harmed me. Giving you an opportunity can count as doing all I can. Ophelia thought sadly.

"Remember, never sign any contract." With that final warning, Ophelia left.

Adam sat alone in the room and sorted through the information. This time, his gains were enormous. Not only had he grasped a method of cultivating Supernatural Power and initially improved his frail constitution, he had also learned something of the world's true nature. Most crucially, he finally knew that this was not a boring world. That was enough.

But he also had doubts. The Breathing Technique was a direct and crude application, like finding water in a river and drinking it, finding fire on the ground and using it. It was not a matter of first understanding the principles, then creating, and only then applying.

"The knowledge systems are not entirely identical. Preliminary assessment: Mental Power should be one form of Fundamental Force, naturally existing. After Mental Power, Second Special Energy, and Third Special Energy, there should be a medium. The interaction between Mental Power and this medium produces Supernatural Power."

"Existing conditions and stored knowledge are insufficient. Unable to observe the medium or analyze the true source of Supernatural Power."

After establishing an observation task, Adam began practicing the Breathing Technique on a small scale, controlling his intake of Third Special Energy and strengthening his body in a gentler manner.

The essence of Knight Breathing Technique cultivation was to overdraw the body's potential. Without a dynamic balance between Outside World energy and bodily expenditure, cultivation was suicide. From this, it was clear that this was merely an outdated, inefficient method. By the same reasoning, the knight's path had an end, and that end would be very easy to reach.

From Ophelia's words, Adam analyzed that Mages were a powerful profession far surpassing knights, capable even of changing the world through themselves. The fragile body of a Carbon-based life-form could never bear such power. Therefore, Mages should exist for the purpose of altering the essence of life or elevating the soul.

"Genetics and mysticism?" Adam murmured inwardly. In the end, the available data was still insufficient for deeper research.

Adam stopped the Breathing Technique. Even with only this small-scale intake of energy, his body had already shown signs of overload in less than an hour. Adam could not help looking forward even more to the arrival of the Mage Master, hoping to become one of them.