'I said I'm done. Why am I still reading …'
— — —
Thales opened his eyes gently.
'Where is he?
It's not important.
What's important is that he felt something.
His thoughts seemed to have changed. They seemed to have become unorganized, like the gurgling water behind a veil.
'He seems to be … indifferent to everything?
'How could this be?'
Thales vaguely knew his own situation, but he did not want to change this feeling.
'This is good, isn't it?
It's like I've entered another realm. '
Thales looked up.
In front of him was a gray … round grain?
Yes, Thales saw a gray stone grain.
No, it was not one.
It was one of the countless stone grains embedded in it.
'Amazing.'
These stones were so far away from each other that no matter how much time passed, they would not be able to get closer to each other by even an inch.
But they were so close. They were closer to each other than most of the existences in the world. They were so close that they were almost connected.
For thousands of years, tens of thousands of years, or even hundreds of thousands of years later, they maintained this distance between them. Sometimes they were as far as the heavens, and sometimes they were so close that they were almost face to face.
'What a magical world, isn't it? There's such an interesting and vivid relationship between two solidified stone grains.
'What about all the other existences in this world? Do they also have such an interesting relationship?
'Definitely.
'Why didn't I notice this before?
'Didn't I notice the wonders of this world?
'Maybe I was too stupid before.'
Thales thought calmly and without a ripple in his heart.
He slowly lifted his gaze.
The stone grains were getting further away from him … or maybe closer?
That was still not important.
What was important was that the distance between him and these stone grains was changing. And at every moment when this distance changed, they also became different from each other. The stone grains were him, and he was the stone grains. It was the same.
He continued to look up.
'Ah, so that's how it is.' Thales suddenly understood. These stone grains formed the surface of a floor tile.
A rough, uneven, and uneven surface.
What a wonderful combination.
They were just stone grains, but because of the special distance and position between them, they became another kind of existence.
An existence called the "surface of a floor tile".
Just like humans.
When distance and position were lost, each individual was an independent person.
But when they increased or decreased the distance between them, changed their positions, and stood together … at the same time, they stood in the same dimension, in the same region, and in the same society. They became different existences.
An existence known as the Crowd.
'Wait a minute,' a small voice told him in Thales' senses. 'Maybe it's the other way around. It's precisely because of their existence that the location and distance are determined.
How did he know all this?
Forget it, it's not important.
The important thing is — it's fun.
Let's see more.
Thales saw it. It was a grayish-black octagonal floor tile, and it was connected to countless other floor tiles of the same shape.
Are these tiles made by people? That was why the distance between the floor tiles was so uneven.
Or perhaps, the person who put them together thought that they were very even? Because they could not perceive the beauty of uniformity? The beauty of balance?
Or perhaps, this was what they meant by 'evenness'. That's right, if you zoom in a little further, wouldn't these tiles be a very even floor?
Thales raised his gaze to the highest point.
He knew that it was daytime.
This was because the existence known as "day" was defined by the position of the ground and the sun.
The sun had already passed its zenith, forming a beautiful angle with the ground.
In front of him was an exotic house. The four corners of the strange, flaky eaves curled up. The door was made of heavy, sunken wood, and the windows were made of glass and Crystal Drops. There were also black-haired and black-eyed humans dressed in flowing robes moving in and out of the gorgeous house from time to time.
Without exception, they all looked nervous.
'Why are they nervous?'
Thales' thoughts moved a little. He knew why.
In that house, there was a woman — a young woman with black hair and eyes. She was surrounded by a group of women, and she was crying out in pain in a pool of blood.
The woman's lower abdomen was swollen. She was in labor.
They did not have to be nervous. He saw that the life in the woman's abdomen was strong and strong, and it was moving its limbs continuously.
She would give birth naturally.
And a man who looked like the woman's husband, who wore elegant and noble clothes and accessories, was blocked outside the house by another group of men. He had a difficult expression on his face.
'I see,' Thales thought. 'The inside and outside of the house are isolated.
'This is why the inside of the house is tense and dignified, and the outside is tormented and difficult. What a pity, if only they could see each other's situation …
'Even … if only they could see the girl in the woman's abdomen …
'Would they not have to be nervous, worried, afraid, and tormented?'
Soon, the woman's screams stopped, and her abdomen slowly flattened.
And with a weak wail, a baby girl covered in blood was carried out.
The man outside the house got the news. He broke through the blockade and rushed into the house without a care for anything else.
The man trembled as he knelt in front of the bed. He held the woman's weak hand and comforted his wife nervously and anxiously in a language he did not understand.
The woman smiled.
Finally, someone respectfully handed the baby girl, whose eyes were tightly shut, to the man.
The man trembled as he took his daughter.
'Oh my god …'
Thales, who was watching all of this from the side, looked at the excited man with black hair and black eyes, then at the woman with black hair and black eyes, who had a gratified expression on her face.
He could not help but want to laugh.
'What would happen if they knew the truth?'
The baby girl slowly opened her eyes and looked at the first person she had ever seen in the world.
The man who was holding the baby girl trembled when he saw the baby girl clearly.
The man raised his head in shock and looked at the people around him in panic. He spoke in a language Thales did not understand, as if he did not know what to do.
Someone walked forward with a frown and glanced at the baby girl. Then, he froze on the spot.
There was an uproar in the house.
Then, the woman's trembling screams and wails, the servants' anxious comforts, and the man's roars came one after another …
'Hehehe …' Thales laughed as he watched all of this.
'Yes, he looked at the baby girl and her blue eyes. Her crystalline blue eyes were completely different from the black eyes of her "father" and "mother".
'That man probably did not expect that his wife's daughter was not his daughter, right?
'How ridiculous.'
Thales looked away, and the thoughts in his mind turned over like a machine.
'If the man had seen that his "daughter" had a pair of blue eyes that were not inherited from him a few months ago …
'No, that's not all.
The baby girl's skin was obviously fair, her hair was curly, and the bridge of her nose was a little high. This was already very obvious before she was born. Unfortunately, the man did not know.
'If he knew …
'Then, do I still need to be like today, after being filled with anticipation, worry, torment, and wait, to be greeted with disappointment, pain, resentment, and anger?
'No.'
'I don't need it.
'But the man can't see through his wife's belly, so he can't see his wife's betrayal. So he's destined to experience all of this.
'His vision is too narrow, and his knowledge is too limited.
'This is the price of stupidity and ignorance.
'Sad and ridiculous.'
Thales was tired of all this. He turned his head.
'Hmm?
'That's not right.'
He was looking forward to seeing the inner walls of the mansion.
But what did Thales see?
'The rising sun.
'And …
'Black, perhaps with a little white?'
'No.'
'Black is the color of water.'
'White is the foam and reflection on the surface of the water.'
'What he saw was the ocean under the morning sun.
'An endless ocean.'
'Endless?'
'No.'
'It's too narrow.'
'This ocean.'
From one end to the other, this ocean was very small.
On one side of it was a smaller island, and on the other side was a long and narrow coastline.
But it was also very, very big, almost boundless. This was especially so for this long and narrow sailing ship that was like a small boat sailing in the ocean.
Thales quietly looked at the flag on the ship.
On the flag was a white seagull holding an anchor in its beak.
'Interesting.
'The seagull and the anchor.
'The sky and the bottom of the sea.
'The distance that seems so far away, but it's so close that it can't be separated.'
The sailors on the ship did their work dutifully.
A young man without even a beard, dressed clean and tidy, behaving appropriately and politely — a stark contrast to the boorish sailors around him, who were covered in sweat and dirt — stood beside the rudder, chatting with the helmsman, who looked impatient. He stared at the surface of the sea in front of him with an excited expression on his face.
"Believe me, the previous difficulties were just Errol's test … We've already passed through the Black Whirlpool. According to the sea chart passed down by my ancestors, we'll soon find it …"
This time, Thales understood.
The man's common language had a rather strange accent. The rise and fall of his voice and the cadence of his voice were particularly obvious. It was different from the crude, vague, short and forceful Northland accent and the meticulous Constellation accent.
'This young man seems to be someone … the captain? Or the employer of this ship? '
Unfortunately, Thales laughed again. Once the man turned his head, he would see the contempt and disdain in the sailors' eyes.
"Why would the boss listen to this brat? I heard that he's a ruffian from Vallier Gang, not a noble?" One of the sailors whispered to the old sailor beside him, who was tidying up the mooring ropes. "He even followed him and took the risk to sail the ship to this … place?"
"Of course he's a ruffian. It's just that a few generations ago, his ancestor was elected to one of the Thirty-six Seats." The latter glared fiercely at the young man. "He owes the boss a huge debt. For some reason, not only did the boss not touch him, but he also immediately left Crystal Jade City and rushed to this cursed place. He didn't even go to Evergreen Island, which was scheduled for the voyage."
"The Eye of the Sea's Eradication … Is this place really that unlucky?" The first sailor frowned. "Everyone's complexion is terrible."
"Of course. Think about it." The old sailor spat on the ground. His expression was unpleasant. "The entire Empire is buried under our feet. We don't know how deep the sea is. There are also millions of people from the Empire. They've been soaked in seawater until they've turned into dry bones, and they've been bitten to pieces by the sea fishes …
"Legend has it that their wronged souls haven't been able to rest in peace for six hundred years. They're filled with resentment and pain …
"Strange things happen here every year. They're very, very strange …"
But the young man could not see the scene behind him.
Even when he turned his head, the sailors put away the emotions in their eyes and lowered their heads to do their work. Because of this, he would never know his true position on this ship.
'Why is he so stupid?
Doesn't he know that the helmsman's heart is beating faster, his blood is flowing faster, and his entire person is becoming more and more agitated?
'Why is he still nagging at the helmsman?
Doesn't he know that when almost everyone on the ship looks at him, their pupils will shrink, and they'll release disgust and disgust?
Doesn't he know that a piece of wood at the bottom of the ship can no longer bear the weight and might be lifted by a huge wave at any moment?
Doesn't he know?
Of course … 'Thales continued to laugh. None of the people on the ship could see that in the thick fog about a few thousand meters away, a ferocious warship with a blood-red parrot flag was heading towards them.
The fierce pirates on the ship opened their foul-smelling mouths. Amidst the noise and intoxication, in the midst of wine and blood, they counted their harvest from a few days ago and toyed with the shivering captives, especially the women.
The leader of the pirates was still excitedly announcing that they would return to port after seizing one more ship.
In the pirates' armory, polished blades, swords, crossbows, and bows were waiting quietly.
'That young man and the ship he's on … Why are they so stupid?
Why are they still sailing forward?
'It's such a simple and obvious thing …
'Why don't they know?
'They're in the most amazing world, but they know nothing about everything around them?
'What a waste.
'How boring.'
Thales could not help but feel agitated.
He turned his head again.
'Huh?'
He saw a grain of sand under the moonlight.
'Sand.
A wonderful creation. '
It was stacked together with countless others of its kind, and with the same wonderful and average relative positions, it formed an entire desert.
Just like that, countless grains of sand rubbed against each other, squeezed against each other, and stuck close to each other.
Just like that, countless grains of sand pushed, resisted, and moved away from each other.
Thales looked at every grain of sand in the desert and sighed in his heart. 'They form an equally wonderful desert.'
He turned his head again.
'I see … a leaf in the dark?'
This time, he had experience.
'It's not just leaves.
It's a forest. A dark forest under the night sky.
Pairs of fluorescent eyes could be vaguely seen in the forest. They were the eyes of countless animals that were either hunting or being hunted.
'But they're still too pitiful.'
Thales sneered in his heart.
A badger happily dug an ant's nest next to the wet soil. There was a huge beetle in the nest, which made the hungry badger overjoyed. Unfortunately, it did not know that hundreds of meters away, its companion, who had a night of pleasure with it, had already become prey in the mouth of a lone wolf.
And an old lone wolf, who had hunted a badger and was excited about its dinner, did not know that a wolf of its kind, who had been in the same pack as it, was being hunted down by a forest panther from a branch under another tree.
The panther also did not know that the offspring she gave birth to six years ago was dying under the hooves of an angry Giant Rhinoceros by the stream.
The Giant Rhinoceros also did not know that in the upper reaches of the stream, a group of fully armed humans were excitedly skinning the remains of its cousin, keeping the bones, and extracting the flesh.
And this group of humans also did not know that in the dense forest behind them, countless eyes that flashed with a faint purple light were coldly staring at them, and in the dark, they silently drew their bows and arrows.
These purple-eyed, sharp-eared creatures probably also did not know that in a sentry post in the forest several miles away, one of their kind was engaged in a life and death battle with another white-skinned, sharp-eared creature with a machete and a sword. At the last moment, his chest was pierced by a sword.
The white-skinned, sharp-eared victor spat on the ground and left in disdain, leaving the purple-eyed corpse on the ground to slowly rot. Then, it was turned into food by a group of ants beside it.
This group of ants had only migrated here a few days ago. Their faces were covered in dirt, and they were the losers of another war. Another powerful ant colony had chased them here. But perhaps they would be very happy to know that the group of old enemies who chased them out of their habitat had just brought back the carcass of an old beetle when they were killed by the claws of a mischievous badger.
Thales watched quietly as the most complete food chain dominated everything in this place.
'They … these creatures don't know about all this?
'This is really interesting and sad.'
At this moment, Thales suddenly felt a strange heat flow.
'From his entire body … Wait, his entire body?'
Thales suddenly realized a problem.
'Where's my body?'
In the next moment, a strange feeling was transmitted to every one of his senses.
Countless scenes flashed before his eyes at the same time, like rapidly flowing water curtains.
'Eaves with different styles.
'A ship sailing under the sea.
'A quiet desert under the moon.
'A forest full of life.'
Thales watched everything without blinking.
'Interesting.
'Fun.
'Wonderful.'
More and more scenes flashed before his eyes: a glacier in a blizzard, a castle on a sea cliff, a warm wetland, a grassland under the setting sun, a vast plain at dusk, a fortress at night, the sea reflecting the moonlight …
Soon, Thales felt that the world in front of him became clearer and clearer.
It became stranger and stranger.
He also became more and more excited and satisfied.
Everything in the world was displayed in front of him. He saw and heard everything. He knew everything like the back of his hand.
No.
Not only that.
He knew everything.
It was as if he was standing in the place where everything happened.
He was in everything.
He was everything!
Thales became happier and happier.
He was enjoying this feeling.
And he wanted more.
More!
He wanted to see more, know more, get more.
More!
The scenes in front of him flashed faster and faster.
More and more urgent.
The scenes became shorter and shorter.
In the next moment …
* Boom! *
It was as if thunder exploded in his ears.
Thales only felt his vision go black.
All the scenes no longer changed. Instead, they were fixed in front of him!
It was as if he was watching countless movies at the same time. The movies showed everything in the world!
It was as if he was standing in all corners of the world at the same time.
It was more than that. It was more than that.
Thales suddenly felt a heavy pressure on his senses.
In the next second …
All Thales could feel was a violent tremor.
A dull sound reverberated in his consciousness.
His consciousness seemed to have bumped into something.
Thud!
This sound … was like someone knocking on the door.
Thud!
His consciousness swayed again.
Thud!
The third sound. Thales trembled slightly!
After an unknown amount of time, Thales suddenly felt that everything around him moved in an instant.
At that moment, it was as if a door had been pushed open.
He entered a new world.
In this new world, his senses were extremely clear.
From the tiniest particles, the deepest underground, to the vast sea, the boundless sky, he not only saw everything in the world.
At that moment, it was as if he was the world.
But it was also at this moment that an accident happened.
A tingling sensation that irritated his skin approached his consciousness.
Thales trembled slightly. A faint doubt rose in his heart. 'What's wrong?'
His consciousness seemed to have suddenly risen into a silent and dark void.
Almost at the same time he entered this void, Thales immediately sensed something strange.
It was like instinct.
'Right.
It felt as if someone was spying on me. '
He did not know how he sensed it, but his instincts told him that there were a number of strange gazes behind the darkness of this void.
Thales subconsciously raised his gaze, wanting to see through the darkness.
However, the moment he thought about it, he sensed the existence closest to him without warning.
It was a ball of light.
A colorless ball of light.
Thud!
There was another violent collision.
In the darkness, this colorless ball of light suddenly appeared. It gave him a vague feeling as if it was shrouded by clouds and fog, as if it could not be touched.
Before he could react, the ball of light moved slightly.
Soon after, a lifeless sentence reverberated in his ears.
"Rude."
Thales' vision swayed.
'What?
This ball of light … has a consciousness? '
"Huh?"
At this moment, the colorless ball of light asked. Its words were still dry, "I have never seen you before. Where is your name of origin?"
'Name of origin?
Mystic … Mystic … The First Mystic Covenant … '
Thales recalled a few familiar terms from his memories, which seemed to be separated by a layer.
He suddenly shuddered!
But before he could think about it, his gaze suddenly moved away from this ball of light.
"Hey!"
The dry voice slowly became softer, as if it was shouting from afar, "Who are you?"
Thales ignored it. His consciousness seemed to be sinking.
Thud!
Thales felt his vision tremble again.
He encountered a pile of iron-gray … shining fragments?
Unlike the ball of light just now, this pile of fragments seemed to be lifeless and unconscious.
But just as Thales was confused …
Another puff of brown smoke appeared in front of him.
But this puff of smoke also gave him the same feeling as the iron-gray fragments.
It seemed to lack vitality.
It also did not know how to speak.
Thales' heart stirred. The pile of fragments and the puff of smoke slowly left.
Thud!
There was another collision. Thales was already somewhat used to it.
Soon, a green light appeared before him.
But this time, this light was conscious.
The green light had an ever-changing silhouette, from a circle to a rectangle, from an oval to a long strip.
"Ayaya." A gentle but rude voice came from the green light. Just like its owner, the voice floated around. "Which idiot is it? Is his brain damaged?
"Knocking on the Door?
"Boss Freuland? Little Asda Dummy? Old Devil Zarkel? Fierce Kirei? Cute Top Student L? Or the flat-chested Giza? "
'These names … sound familiar?'
A few questions rose in Thales' heart.
'This is …
'Where am I?
'What am I … doing?
'Why can't I remember anything?'
"Hey, hey." The voice from the green light continued to laugh. "Don't tell me you're the legendary Taurus!"
After thinking of a few questions, Thales' thoughts suddenly became chaotic.
In his panic, the green light suddenly disappeared before his eyes.
"Hey, why did you leave … You can't really be Taurus, right?"
The green light's voice came from afar.
"Don't be in such a hurry to leave … You're my idol … At least leave an autograph …"
Thales crashed into the door twice more. He encountered two strange, lifeless, and soundless existences. One was a silver wall of light, and the other was a golden cube.
While Thales was at a loss, a faint purple light appeared before his eyes.
The purple light flickered slightly, but it gave him a sharp and fierce feeling. He could not look at it directly.
And its reaction was very simple.
"Get lost!"
It seemed to be a bad-tempered fellow.
"Get lost!"
The fierce voice continued to travel into his ears.
Immediately after, the faint purple light disappeared.
Thales was slightly taken aback. A question emerged in his mind as he drifted about.
'What's going on?'
The next second …
* Thud! *
After another crash, Thales arrived in front of a glowing human silhouette.
'A human silhouette?'
It flashed with a familiar blue light.
'Another one?
'This feeling … It's like it's flowing endlessly, and it's everywhere?'
However, a familiar voice slowly traveled into his ears from the silhouette.
"Stop knocking on the Door.
"Thales."
A thought appeared in Thales' mind.
'It knows me?
'This familiar voice …'
"All of us can feel your presence."
'All of us?
'My presence?
'Me?'
At that moment, many memories seemed to suddenly return to Thales' mind.
Thales thought of something.
"Wait a minute, you are …" Thales stared at the ball of light, puzzled. A vague name emerged in his fuzzy mind.
"You are Asda?"
The blue silhouette flashed slightly.
Thales confirmed his guess.
"I was trapped underground. I don't know what happened to you, and I don't know why you can knock on the Door directly …"
The Air Mystic, Asda Sakern's pleasant voice traveled slowly from the ball of light. It sounded calm and steady, without a hint of extra emotion. "But this is too dangerous. You must immediately leave your original form …"
Thales revealed a puzzled expression. "What?"
But 'Asda' did not respond to him. He only heard the Mystic say anxiously,
"Listen! They sensed it too …
"They will definitely come for you!
"Before you are completely locked onto …"
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