Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 426 - 425: The Blurred Border of the Material World

No one is more suited to examine Emily than Kamel—as an energy spiritual body creature trapped in the defied Fortress for a thousand years, Kamel had nothing to do in the last few hundred years of entrapment. He explored every brick, beam, and crevice of the Fortress and thoroughly researched every detail and mystery of his own body. This ancient Arcane Master once said:

”As a researcher, I am experienced both in researching and being researched.”

Emily’s situation is not entirely the same as his, but at least the essence of ”energy creature” is common. Based on his own research results, Kamel knows how to proceed when faced with another energy creature.

After some tentative negotiations, Kamel first confirmed Emily’s current state of consciousness: ”Her thinking ability is intact, but her modes of perception and feedback are somewhat chaotic, likely due to the dislocation caused by a sudden change in life form. That’s why she’s acting somewhat... unlike a normal person.”

Gawain nodded, watching Emily floating around Amber—this little girl seemed curious about every stranger in front of her, approaching everyone present with the mindset of ”researching new things.” But during this process, she did not have much effective communication with others; she seemed to immerse herself in her spiritual world, merely allowing limited interference from the reality of the material world, which made her behavior somewhat peculiar.

According to Kamel, when a human suddenly transforms into an energy body creature, the world in their eyes will be ”overlapping” and ”illusory” for a short time, much like observing a flame through layers of curtains, elusive in nature. The transformer’s mind will also change accordingly to match this bodily mutation. This displacement is not permanent, and Emily is clearly in the middle of this change now—the only consolation is that she seems to be adapting quite well.

”Does she still retain her memories?” Wright couldn’t help but ask curiously, ”I mean... is she still Emily?”

”Most will generally remain, just like I did, but how she deals with these memories is unpredictable. It depends on her later mental reconstruction,” Kamel said. ”But either way, she is still herself, able to retain her identity—which is the biggest difference between us energy creatures and the undead.”

Speaking with a slight sigh, Kamel added, ”The child must have a very special Holy Light Affinity Talent... This talent should have manifested before she died.”

”She once said she saw a circle of light around me...” A glimmer flashed in Wright’s eyes as he suddenly recalled forgotten details from that night, ”I thought she had mistaken the campfire’s glow for something else...”

”What she saw might be the Holy Light surging around you—those lights have never left you, but you cannot perceive them, causing them to scatter and drift away,” Gawain speculated. ”And I remember you said that the people who adopted Emily said the child was ’not quite right in the head’?”

Wright nodded, ”Yes, they said Emily had odd ideas from a young age, often experiencing hallucinations, sometimes even startling adults.”

Pittman marveled, ”A talented poor girl—such things do happen occasionally, but compared to those children who can receive a good education and develop healthily from a young age, such things usually only exist in the imaginations of the impoverished... It’s just all too coincidental.”

”No, I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” Wright suddenly shook his head, looking at Emily with a strange light in his eyes, ”I believe it’s the guidance of the Holy Light... The Holy Light brought Emily to guide someone as dull as me.”

Emily heard Wright’s voice and giggled, gently landing behind Wright, grasping the latter’s shoulder like a layer of fine gauze. After apparently pondering something with a tilted head, she swung her arms at Kamel, emitting a warm and bright glow.

Kamel paused briefly, then responded with a soft laugh, raising his arm to emit a cheerful light-blue radiance as a reply.

Amber, watching from the side, was baffled, unable to help poking Gawain’s arm: ”Hey, can you understand what the two of them are doing?”

Gawain couldn’t fathom the communication mode between two luminous beings and could only guess, ”...Perhaps after transforming into energy bodies, they can resonate communication?”

Kamel floated over at that moment, ”I don’t know what she means either; I just flash a couple of times in response.”

Gawain & Amber: ”...”

Kamel looked at Gawain and Amber’s bewildered faces and himself felt a bit awkward: ”No, Amber, you can be excused, but my lord, didn’t you amuse children when you were young?”

Gawain: ”...”

This left him speechless—he did have memories of amusing children, but who could turn such a significant curve in this circumstance!

”I want to know how I should care for her,” Wright said with concern for another matter, ”I’ve never had any experience in this area.”

Pittman heard this and immediately approached with a smile, ”Then you came to the right person—back then, I also helped take care of kids...”

Gawain interrupted the old man loudly before he could finish: ”Wright, think it over—Pittman brought up Amber.”

Amber, who was joking with Pittman a second ago, immediately glared: ”What’s wrong with me? Am I not good enough?!”

”Don’t make things more complicated, Emily is just a child.” Gawain cast a commanding glance at Pittman and Amber, silencing the old and young disgrace of the territory, and then turned to Kamel, ”You should explain—Emily can no longer be considered a normal human child. What does she require for growth and development?”

Kamel nodded and said to Wright, ”Let her stay by your side for now. From what I’ve observed, she’s capable of self-sustenance, but still requires a small amount of Holy Light from you as a supplement. Besides energy, she doesn’t need water or food. Additionally, she needs appropriate interaction with others to quickly rebuild her complete mentality and reduce her anxiety. Lastly, keep a constant watch on her condition. If her energy form becomes unstable or she suddenly becomes extremely agitated, use your Holy Light power to soothe her or check for any overly strong energy sources causing interference. If you encounter a situation you can’t resolve, come to me.”

Wright carefully noted down each point of concern. Once he’d memorized them all, he lifted his head, exhaled softly, and turned his face to look at Emily, still resting on his shoulder: ”Rest assured, this time, I will definitely protect you.”

Gawain also smiled and slowly stepped forward, extending a hand to the little girl: ”Child, welcome to the Cecil Clan.”

...

After leaving the chapel, Gawain did not return to the feudal lord’s mansion but instead went to the White River with Amber.

As the days reached midsummer, Anzu, a northern realm, remained cool, especially by the White River. Even at noon in summer, a cool breeze often blew. Gawain stood on a tall concrete platform by the riverbank, enjoying the breeze while gazing toward the mechanical bridge.

The massive mechanical bridge connected both banks of the White River, and on the opposite side, the northern banks Development Zone fields rippled with waves of wheat. In the distance, pipes stretched from the river to the shore, which Gawain knew housed the northern banks Development Zone’s water pumps.

As various types of magic-conducting machinery were produced, advanced mechanical pumps had long replaced the territory’s earliest waterwheel devices. But to this day, a waterwheel still operated in the western area of the southern bank, kept in memory of the difficult early days of developing new regions.

”You’re not going home, but here to see wheat?” Although Amber was dutifully fulfilling her role as a guard, following Gawain to the riverbank, she couldn’t keep quiet for long and began muttering after just a short while.

”This helps me think,” Gawain replied nonchalantly.

The image of Emily floated in his mind.

Whether Emily’s current state counts as ”coming back to life,” Gawain couldn’t decide. Was this the guidance of the Holy Light, or mere coincidence? He wasn’t interested. Yet, upon seeing Emily’s spiritual form, he couldn’t help but feel perplexed, prompting him to find a quiet place to ponder.

Soul, entity, spiritual body (or energy body)... where exactly is the boundary between them?

If counted from the satellite era, Gawain may have been in this world for a million years. If counted from rising from the coffin, he’s been active in this world for over a year. However, he still couldn’t completely shed the cognitive constraints of his previous life. This world’s strangeness—or ”irrationality”—still troubled him frequently.

Once human, Kamel became a mana creature after receiving energy infusion from Amoen, the Giant Stag. Ninety percent of his body comprised of what is called ”arcane energy.” Previously a human, Emily’s soul survived independently influenced by Wright’s Holy Light, becoming a spiritual body creature, entirely formed by Holy Light. What constitutes their bodies is ”energy.”

Can energy be tangible and substantial? Can energy be seen and felt? Is the boundary between energy and matter so blurry?

The concept from his previous life told Gawain that energy is invisible, intangible. It exists, but humans can only confirm its presence through the phenomena it generates. It can transform with matter, but this process is extremely difficult. Yet in this world, everything was vastly different.

In the realm of magic, the boundaries of the material world seem so vague... How do those incredible changes occur?

Gawain’s gaze landed on the distant wheat waves—those waves, those streams, that soil, and all those tangible things. Could they suddenly change form without adhering to E=mc²?

What is this world’s foundation constructed upon?

In contemplation, Gawain suddenly thought of the chaotic wave, of materials transforming in the chaotic wave, and the transformed magical environment in the aftermath.

Is the chaotic wave the moment when energy and matter’s borders are the most blurred?

He didn’t know how to explain to this world’s native creatures the confusion and thoughts in his mind. Even a top scholar like Kamel would probably not comprehend the alternate worldview in Gawain’s mind. Yet, he indeed found a slight clue—a slight clue possibly relating to this world’s essence. He instinctively felt that the changes in Kamel and Emily couldn’t be simply justified with ”all of this is due to magic,” and behind these changes... perhaps lies the deepest secret of this world.

Amber stood nearby, watching Gawain’s pensive expression. She keenly sensed Gawain was getting agitated over a near-unsolvable problem. Though she didn’t know what the problem was, she spoke: ”Emily lived, huh? In any case, it’s a good thing, right?”

Gawain snapped out of the challenging puzzles, for which there were currently no answers, startled for a moment, then began to smile, looking at Amber: ”It’s rare for you to make a sensible statement. Yes, no matter what, this is indeed a good thing.”