The Curvature of the World

Vereesa vanished for seven days, and Shane spent those seven days conducting experiments. The continuous high-intensity study of spells left him feeling somewhat fatigued—not physically, but mentally.

"No wonder that since ancient times, even many outstanding mages only mastered one or two schools of magic. Maybe I should go out for a walk." Shane decided to relax.

That morning, he sent all the murloc slaves out to patrol and demonstrated to them with a Fireball what grilled fish meant. That unlucky fellow's corpse was fed to the kobolds for breakfast.

Leaving the nursery and heading east through the forest path, one could see Sun Sail Harbor's landmark—the lighthouse. In truth, the building was a mage tower. The eternal light at its peak was merely a byproduct of one of that mage's experiments.

Shane did not enter Sun Sail Harbor. Instead, he turned south at the bend and entered the woodland road connecting to Silvermoon City. A peculiar tranquility seeped from the forests on both sides, and now and then, mana wyrms flickered in and out of sight. He sat beneath a tree, opened a book, and began to read.

"Oh? So you like quiet forests too."

Shane looked up and saw Vereesa sitting above his head again, though the view beneath her skirt was well protected this time.

"You've been following me?" Shane closed his book, no longer as surprised as he had been the first two times.

"Have you studied Divination magic?"

"No. I specialize in Conjuration, with Protection and Evocation as secondary studies."

"Then it must be intuition." Vereesa flipped down beside Shane, bent over, and inspected him closely from head to toe. Her ears twitched faintly in a steady rhythm.

"Too bad you're still wrong. I haven't just been following you. I've been watching you ever since seven days ago, when you were conducting experiments day and night. The day before yesterday, you accidentally knocked over an ink bottle. That expression on your face still makes me laugh when I think about it. Hehe."

What was going on? Shane tried hard to recall. He had never known Vereesa had such a habit.

"Relax, relax. I don't have that kind of habit." Vereesa noticed Shane's expression. "This was just a ranger's test—a test of environmental stealth and tracking."

"And the result?" Shane asked.

"Of course I passed. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise, how could milady possibly show herself?" Shane finished for her.

"Are you angry?"

"Not at all," Shane said firmly.

"Then you are angry. Dawnblade men are so petty." Vereesa put on an angry face, but it quickly turned into an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I peeked at you for seven days. You're a man, so be generous and forgive me, a woman."

"Hmph."

"As an apology, I'll share a secret with you too."

Since she had said that, Shane took the opportunity to forgive her.

Vereesa then led Shane deeper into the forest. Her secret could only be shared in a certain place. As a ranger, Vereesa leaped lightly among the branches, flying from one tree to another with the agility of a bird.

Shane did not have such speed. He cast a spell that made his feet fleet, but he still barely managed to keep up. Vereesa stopped every so often to wait for him.

By the time the sun had begun to tilt westward, they finally arrived. It was an enormous tree, so large that there were no others of its kind within a hundred meters. Its crown spread like an umbrella, covering the sky above.

With several leaps, Vereesa vanished among the leaves. Not long afterward, a rope dropped down from the tree. Shane grabbed it and cast Levitation on himself, allowing himself to be pulled up into the canopy.

"Look, this is my secret base." Vereesa planted her hands on her hips proudly.

The secret base was a small wooden cabin. Beyond the treeline about a kilometer from its doorway, they could see the blue sea and the horizon.

"It's a wonderful place," Shane praised sincerely.

"Right? Right? I found this place when I was little. Whenever I argued with my sisters, I would run here. Thinking back on how I was then, I feel very sorry for my eldest sister."

Shane did not disturb Vereesa as she reminisced. He sat with her at the cabin entrance and watched the sea. Vereesa did not speak, and neither did he. Time passed drop by drop as the sun gradually sank below the horizon.

"Thank you for staying with me for so long," Vereesa said only after the last ray of sunlight disappeared.

Shane smiled and nodded. He had not expected that beneath her lively nature, she also had such a sentimental side.

"Women are all emotional," Vereesa suddenly said, startling Shane with her abrupt remark.

"Intuition, intuition. I don't know why, but the moment I saw your face, my intuition surged up."

That night, the two stayed in the cabin. Shane provided a magic lamp and a warming spell, while Vereesa found food. The night became one of heartfelt conversation. Mostly, Vereesa spoke while Shane listened. Nearly all of it was about Vereesa and her two sisters.

It also included this incident of following him. Vereesa had asked her sister why she had been discovered by a mage. Alleria taught her how to break alarm wards and how to approach a mage. Shane became her test subject. Vereesa was very proud that Shane had not noticed her.

At sunrise, a new day arrived. Shane and Vereesa parted ways at the fork leading toward Silvermoon City. Seemingly afraid of running into acquaintances, Vereesa sneaked through the forest and took a small path home.

Shane returned home and continued practicing spells. Though he had been very happy with Vereesa, Shane was still a mage. Having fun did not stop him from remembering interesting things.

Given enough time and a better location, he could calculate the curvature of things like the slightly bent horizon, as well as the world's volume and surface area. With long-term observation, it might even be possible to create a celestial model of the Azeroth system.

This was an interesting matter!

Thinking back to his previous life, he had only known that the world roughly contained several landmasses, while its overall appearance had always remained unclear. Taking this opportunity to figure it out truly felt interesting.

Silvermoon City's high towers would have been good locations, but they belonged to the mages. As someone at the bottom of the mage food chain, Shane could only find another way.

"If we can't go to the towers, then we'll go to the high mountains by the sea." That was what Vereesa said.

When she visited, Shane told her that he needed to go somewhere he could see the distant horizon curve. Vereesa patted her chest and said she could solve the location problem.

Thus, Shane brought along a magic pouch filled with tools and went on another outing with Vereesa.

"But you come out every day. Don't you need to practice magic?" Vereesa's chatter never stopped along the way.

"I can practice while walking." Shane held out his right hand, and three magic spheres appeared above it, revolving around the same center. "Look, the results of my practice."

Vereesa looked at Shane's hand, then at his face. "In some respects, you're stronger than the mages I know."

Hearing that, Shane recalled a saying from his mentor: mages had ranks, but one must never look down on any mage because of rank.

"Fine, as long as you don't blow yourself up," Vereesa said at last.

Practicing continuously while walking lowered his concentration, making the spells much harder to control than usual. But in order to control the magic spheres, his focus was thoroughly trained. Sometimes, Shane wondered whether he could make three spheres—or even more—orbit around his body or circle above his head.

After a day of travel, they finally reached the place Vereesa had mentioned. It was a towering cliff by the sea, high enough to see the horizon's slight curve.

He had long prepared a coordinate grid. Using the line where sea met sky as the background and the grid as a canvas, Shane used an obscure spell: Image Spell. He directly imprinted the background onto the coordinate grid, then traced the planet's curve.

Vereesa watched the entire process with curiosity, but she held herself back from speaking.

"If you have questions, ask them." After finishing his work, Shane saw that she could no longer endure it.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm calculating how large this world is."

"How large the world is?" Vereesa could not understand.

"In other words, I can calculate how large a sphere our world is."

"A sphere?"

Well, a ranger's studies did not cover the world's large-scale geography. Shane patiently explained that the world was round, along with the theory of universal gravitation.

"So, by relying on this curve, we can calculate how large a sphere Azeroth is?" Vereesa nearly pressed her face against the canvas, completely failing to notice that gravity was offering quite a view through her collar.

"Ahem. This curve alone isn't enough. If there were two small islands on the sea to serve as reference points, then it could be calculated."

"Shane, you're amazing. Even though I don't understand it, it sounds so interesting. I know a place where you can see two islands. Come with me."

Vereesa was an elf of extraordinary initiative. For half a month, she dragged Shane along the coastline, practically taking care of all their food and lodging. Whenever Shane offered to help, she refused, saying only, "Finish the project quickly. Leave everything else to me."

Half a month later, the two returned to Shane's nursery. The project only needed to be compiled onto a single sheet of paper to be complete.

"I never imagined the world was actually like this. Compared to the outside world, Quel'Sera is only a tiny place." Vereesa accompanied Shane as he completed the final work, raised the scroll containing their conclusion high, and spun around three times.

Shane understood how she felt. After all, this was something the two of them had achieved together.

"Next, I'll send the results to my mentor. Maybe we'll become famous."

"It feels wonderful to be able to help you, Shane."

"Thank you, Vereesa." Shane snapped his fingers. Silver trim appeared around the edges of the scroll, and two names appeared in its lower-right corner: Shane-Dawnblade, Vereesa-Windrunner.

First-circle spell: Magic Signature. Once applied, the scroll could no longer be altered.

Vereesa was startled at first, then gently stroked Shane's name and her own. "Is this really all right? I'm a ranger!"

"There's nothing wrong with it. This is the shared result of both of us."

"You always say such strange things." Vereesa.