Farewell

Edward was a retired businessman and also a hereditary Baron, a member of the nobility of the Evergreen Empire. But despite being a noble, he didn't carry any semblance of arrogance.

Wu Xue inwardly praised the old man for his humbleness and gentle personality.

After stuffing his stomach to the limit, Wu Xue shamelessly tried to convey his desire to learn their language.

Edward reacted positively to his will and immediately ordered one of his servants to bring a book that taught Wootz to children and foreigners.

"I'm too old to teach him, so please do me this favor, Julia," Edward said to one of the older maids, a middle-aged woman with a stern face.

"I understand, My Lord," the maid named Julia nodded, "What is this young man's name?"

"I actually forgot to ask him!" Edward tapped his tight and tried to ask Wu Xue's name from him.

Wu Xue pointed to himself and said slowly and clearly, "Wu Xue."

"Wuxue?" Edward found it amusing, "It can only be a foreign name."

"My lord, how should I address him?" Julia asked, "Shall I call him young lord or just by his name?"

"It's too troublesome to ask him something like this just by gestures," Edward shook his head, "Just call him by his name, he doesn't seem like someone who bothers that much about ranks and addressing issues."

"Understood," Julia nodded and tried to explain to Wu Xue she would be the one teaching him.

Wu Xue smiled and suddenly took a big piece of gold from one of his pockets, but in truth, he was hiding the fact he took it from his space ring.

Although he was somewhat shocked, Edward reacted quickly and hurriedly refused the gold, he didn't lack gold and wasn't doing that to receive payment.

Wu Xue understood him after an initial confusion but then looked at Julia and smiled, he tried to hand the gold to her without hesitation.

Julia was shocked by the sudden development, she never possessed something as valuable as the huge piece of gold in Wu Xue's hands. She looked at Edward in utter confusion.

Edward smiled bitterly and said, "Just accept it, it's not like he seems to lack money."

Julia hesitated for a moment but then remembered how many things she wanted to buy and give to her son and daughter, she received the gold and bowed deeply to him.

Wu Xue tapped her shoulder and signaled for her to stop bowing, he pointed to the piece of gold and then to the book.

The shrewd retired businessman immediately understood what he wanted, "The boy wants to buy more books, can you believe it? He doesn't even know our language yet but is already so eager."

Wu Xue noticed his strange expression and took another piece of gold from his pocket, but this time he directly threw it outside through a window. The meaning was very clear, Wu Xue was filthy rich, and gold for him was just trash that occupied space in his pockets.

As for why there was so much ordinary gold inside his space ring, it was treated as a strange and beautiful rarity in the highest worlds, since it was only naturally found in the hard-to-enter protected lower worlds, so he always found gold to be somewhat appealing and got "some" for himself.

Even an experienced retired businessman like Edward had rarely seen someone treating gold as trash before. He wondered what kind of upbringing Wu Xue possessed to be like that, and wondered even more how deep and spacious his pockets were.

After that episode, everyone went to sleep with lots of thought in their heads.

Wu Xue found the bed and furniture in his room very comfortable and novel. The bed was made of very smooth and comfortable materials. The silk was not as mystical and otherwordly as the one he had in his cave abode's bed and cushion, but it was beautiful regardless.

He slept comfortably in that new environment, feeling lucky he met such a gentleman who offered him such convenience without wanting anything in exchange.

The next day, Wu Xue got up early just as the sun's first rays of light appeared on the horizon. He secretly left the mansion and began to observe the routine of the people of that place during the early morning. His curiosity towards that new culture was almost taking complete control over him.

After two hours, he returned to the mansion and pretended to have just awakened. Two maids entered his room and began to prepare things for him, which made him uncomfortable, and gestured for them to stop.

Edward came to know about that and was surprised that the young boy didn't want help from other people. Normally, young nobles would leave everything that was mundane for their servants to do, such as preparing breakfast and clothes for the day.

As time passed, everyone began to understand each other more clearly. After many interactions, Wu Xue began to grab a few more words of that language.

With little difficulty, he listened and learned from Julia how to speak, write, and read Wootz. He still possessed the same insane comprehension as before, so he took little effort to learn new words and language rules.

After just a week, he could talk and write most of the simple things. Julia was so shocked she almost called him a monster.

Edward was getting more curious about who Wu Xue was and incentivized Julia to teach him more advanced knowledge about Wootz.

After two weeks, Wu Xue was almost fluent in the language, very rarely meeting words that he didn't know the meaning of. Julia was almost crazy to the point of doubting her own intelligence.

Edward wasn't too shocked anymore. After three weeks of constant convivence, he came to understand more about Wu Xue. The first thing he gave note, was Wh Xue's insanely high capacity to learn new things and comprehend difficult concepts.

The second thing was Wu Xue's rare behavior of not differentiating between nobles and pheasants. Edward also came to know that Wu Xue wasn't a noble from his mouth.

The third thing was Wu Xue's apparent lack of worry about those around him, it was like he never worried about someone suddenly stealing his things or even doing something worse.

"Little friend, aren't you worried I might harm you?" Edward suddenly asked while they had dinner, "You don't seem to be the type who is ignorant of the world's abundant malice."

"Oh! What a sharp question, Old Ed," Wu Xue giggled casually and gulped down some wine, which he was forbidden from drinking by his mother before, "I have a reason for not having this worry, but I wonder if you will be okay after hearing."

Edward lifted one of his eyebrows and signaled for the maids to retire from the dining hall.

Wu Xue inwardly praised Edward's mindfulness, "I'm actually not a simple human. What I mean is that my strength is not something ordinary humans can rival."

Edward was shocked and got up from his seat, "You mean you are a Defiant!?"

"Defiant?" Wu Xue muttered in his heart, "Is it the name the people here call cultivators?"

"Answer!" Edward frowned at Wu Xue's silence.

"Oh, sorry for spacing out," Wu Xue returned to his senses, "I don't know what a defiant is, but I know that I can level this whole mansion flat with a single attack."

"...You are not a Defiant, then," Edward's mouth was wide open and his eyes were almost popping outside, "You are a fucking mage!"

"Mage?" Wu Xue tilted his head, "Old Ed, stop saying unknown terms to me, I'm getting more and more curious."

After forcibly controlling his feelings, Edward explained, "A defiant is someone who aspires to be a mage and is in the process of becoming one.

"A mage is someone who gained superhuman power enough to be considered the greatest weapon of humanity."

"Mages were just considered weapons?" Wu Xue asked with confusion.

"That's not what I meant," Edward shook his head, "Mages possess great status. If a pheasant mage is strong enough, he can stand on equal footing with nobles."

"This nobility system of this place sucks," Wu Xue suddenly snorted, "Everyone is human and everyone dies, who decided that some people should be treated differently because of their titles?"

"You better be careful outside to not say something like this," Edward sighed, "Although I agree with you that treating people differently just because of a title is wrong, the actual truth is that the nobility of the empire hold so much power that few dare to oppose them."

They then proceeded to talk about the political situation of the Evergreen Empire, something Wu Xue was also curious about.

After that day, Edward never treated Wu Xue the same, he always looked at the young boy with reverence, but no fear. After a few weeks of convivence, both of them developed some genuine friendship despite the age gap.

Wu Xue began to grow used to the cultural impact and slowly blended himself into the environment. He began to grasp the people's ordinary routine and began to make one for himself.

He also began to let Edward's servants take care of his most trivial needs. He did it because he once heard a few maids nervously talking with each other about whether he was unsatisfied with them, and if Edward would punish them because of this.

To make them feel more at ease, he began to act more like a noble, and 3ven began to give simple and trivial orders from time to time.

But to make himself more at ease, he would secretly put pieces of gold in their pockets from time to time.

Some maids would try and give the gold back to him, but he would just feign ignorance and say it wasn't his.

Time passed rather comfortably, and Wu Xue began to try and experiment with the Aura around him, but it simply didn't react to him. It was a problem since his reserves of energy were after all limited and he needed to absorb Aura to replenish them.

It was fine if he didn't use his True Qi, but in the case of a fight against a powerful enemy, he would be unable to last long.

He tried to gather information about how people of that world absorbed and used Aura, but even Edward didn't know much since he was just a normal person and a low-ranking noble.

As time passed, Wu Xue began to grow impatient. He felt the need to go outside and explore the world.

Edward saw his longing and made a suggestion, "You should go to Cliff City, it's a much bigger city and closer to the imperial capital.

"There are many mages living and working there, as well as a Magic Realm."

"I was thinking about this," Wu Xue nodded and said, "I'm deeply interested in those Magic Realms."

Edward chuckled and said, "It's a grand name, but most of the time they are just big buildings where mages gather to study and do research.

"Since you are a mage, there shouldn't be a problem in entering them."

Wu Xue smiled but didn't correct Edward, it was better for him to keep a secret the fact he had superhuman powers without being a mage. As for how he would enter the magical realm, he would deduce a plan.

"When are you planning to leave?" Edward asked with some reluctance.

"Don't be like this," Wu Xue laughed out loud, "We will meet again if it's fated."

"I hope my old bones support me until that fated day," Edward laughed too.

The next day, Wu Xue didn't waste more time and set off for Cliff City. He bid a simple farewell to Edward and Julia as well as the other maids, stepped on a branch, and made it carry him to the sky. Everyone was shocked by his ability to fly, except Edward.

"Mages are truly incredible," Edward muttered while seeing Wu Xue disappear in the blue sky.

"Master, look!" Julia suddenly called for him and pointed at a beautifully embroidered small box the size of a hand behind them, "It wasn't here before."

Edward had a premonition and opened the box, he was almost blinded by the sudden green light that enveloped all the people present.

Everyone felt their bodies being affected in some way as if they were receiving the best massage in the world. Almost no one there knew the true effects of that green light, it was cleansing their bodies from ordinary impurities and treating hidden ordinary illnesses.

Only Edward, who was an old man, felt that his body changed so much for the better that he suspected it was a sort of healing spell.

"Well, I hope fate brings us close again," Wu Xue muttered while flying, "Old Ed."