Shadow Realm.
Gawain doesn't know what kind of understanding of the world of shadows is in today's people, but in his inherited memories, the Gondor Empire 700 years ago has done a lot of research in this respect—they are so experienced. Scholars all staring at the boring classics and data all day long, and watching instruments buried in the magic well to guess what the world really looks like, and there is also a classic model used to describe the "structure" of the world.
In this classic model, scholars believe that the world is divided into several "boundary layers", of which the uppermost layer is the most stable material world. Everything in it has laws to follow. It can be directly contacted and is easy to observe. It is also the world's surface layer. The realm where most living things live;
And below the physical realm is the shadow realm that most humans cannot directly touch. The shadow realm is a twisted reflection of the physical realm. Normal humans cannot directly touch and observe it, but they can perceive and measure it through the skills of the magic and spiritual field; from the shadow realm further down is the darkness realm, which is a more illusory and secretive area, the reflection of the shadow realm, it has reached the level of unspecified magic and spiritual power that is impossible to explore, some lucky magicians have caught a few shadow creatures with basic rationality and can communicate, and then guessed the existence of the shadow world from the words of those creatures.
And some radical scholars have extended this classic model. They think that there may be a deeper level under the shadow world, but that level is already in the realm of the gods, which was laid down by the God of Creation when he created this world. "The foundation of origin" is no longer a category that mortals can study.
According to Gawain's understanding, this model is like layers of translucent craft paper. The actual image of the real world is at the forefront, and the shadow of this actual image is projected on the layers of paper. Blurred and distorted.
He and Amber are on the back of the second piece of the paper-the shadow world.
Even if it is only the second level, it is already a place where most humans have never set foot.
He was wise not to ask why Amber could enter the shadow world at this time-and from Amber's words just now, it can be judged that she herself was the first time to "enter such a deep place", and most of the questions would not be answered.
There are still many secrets in this world worth exploring, and many things can't be understood from the sky for many years.
After a simple judgment, Gawain felt that following Betty's footsteps was the only breakthrough point.
But before leaving the scene, he looked back a little worriedly. Heidi, Rebecca, and others still stood there as "porcelain dolls". Their bodies were resisting the mist of resentful spirits in the real world, but in the shadow world, they were still at the time of the attack, and the black mist that permeated from the ground was constantly decaying them.
Fortunately, judging by the speed of the mist erosion, they still time for a while.
"Perhaps this is the true state of the Wraith Mist," Amber also glanced at Gawain's line of sight, shook her head, and said, "If our discovery is sold to the Secret Magic Society or the Astrology Association, how much would you say is worth it?"
"They will spill a bunch of potions and tie a record spar on your head and then throw you into the shadow world as a human detective with the last exile spell." Gawain gave Amber a blank glance. "Follow up, business matters. ."
Amber followed Gawain while still muttering: "But I can let you come forward. How do you say it is also the founding ancestor of Ansu, can they still force the ancestor with the potion?"
"What do you think?" Gawain twitched, "They are happy to hang a photo of me on the wall, write a book, and offer gold on the table, and even the king will bring the entire family and the youngest to give me a bouquet in person every year. They will take three days off. There is no risk and they can earn a good reputation, but if this ancient ancestor really pops out of the coffin, the first reaction of the group of people who put me on the wall may be to push me back to the coffin and hammer over two hundred nails on the coffin board. It is more ruthless compare to you."
Amber was bewildered in shock: "Why?!"
Gawain glanced at this ignorant half-elf and strode ahead: "Because the three-day tomb-sweeping holiday in the country will be gone!!"
After saying this, Gawain walked forward, leaving Amber behind. after a long time, she suddenly yelled: "Wait a minute! You are mistaken! There are no holidays for sweeping your grave! Only to pay tribute to the founding kings. It's only three days off when you're alive! You're dead so early, so you don't know..."
Gawain almost fell over on his heels.
Even though Amber was dispelled by the thought of selling the intelligence of Shadow Realm, Gawain had his own plans. He was curious about the Shadow Realm, or... he was curious about the entire world.
So one day, he has to figure out all this.
The trace of footprints did not extend far.
Perhaps the environment of the Shadow Realm is so special that the rules of judging distances in the material world are difficult to gauge here. Gawain and Amber only walked a short distance along with the footprints, and suddenly a wooden house appeared in front of them.
The wooden house is small and broken. I don't know how long it has been standing here. A circle of broken fences can be seen around the wooden house. Looking at the sparseness of the fence, I am afraid that it can no longer play a defensive role. In a corner of the wooden house, Gawain noticed a touch of color.
That is the color of moss. It looks very contrast in this black and white world, and as time goes by, that little of color is fading quickly.
Betty's footprints stretched to the door of the wooden house.
Amber drew out his small dagger, and gestured nervously in front of her chest: "Wait, you old man, you should directly drive in and chop ghosts-like melons and vegetables, I will support the battle behind..."
Gawain thought for a while, resisting the urge to throw her to the ground. Instead, he held one hand on the hilt of the Trailblazer's sword, and carefully pushing away the gray-white door with the other hand.
However, no attacks came.
Inside the wooden house is just an ordinary room, old and rundown, like an old black-and-white photo.
But there are people inside.
A man with a shabby beard and a shabby short robe sat behind a square table in the middle of the wooden house. He was so haggard with vicissitudes that Gawain could not judge his true age at all. Behind this man, you can see two stands. A wooden rack full of bottles and cans and an old alchemy stand.
The equipment needed for magic experiments can be seen everywhere in the room, but they are all piled up with more tattered debris. Any normal mage might want to cry by impulse when seeing this shabby and miserable scene.
The man behind the square table raised his head and looked toward Gawain. He gave a stiff smile: "Ah, guests, t's been a long time since no guests have come to my laboratory. And there are still two?"
Amber poked her head out from behind Gawain, and the half-elf girl's face was full of alert: "No... no fight?"
Gawain did not draw his sword, but he did not let his hand leave the hilt. He kept his attack posture and stepped into the wooden house: "We passed by and came to find someone-a girl about fifteen or sixteen years old., She is holding a pan..."
However, the man behind the table did not seem to hear Gawain's words. He just smiled rigidly and nodded slightly: "Please find a place to sit. Annie is preparing lunch. There is no place to rest in the mountains and old forests. If you don't dislike it, Stay here for dinner."
"Annie?" Gawain asked subconsciously.
"It's my daughter," the man smiled, "very well-behaved."
At this time, the girl's exclamation came from the side: "Master?"
Gawain went to see that Betty was standing by a small door in the corner of the wooden house with a look of surprise.
"Betty? You're fine," Gawain breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm here to pick you up."
However, Betty shook her head slightly, and the man behind the square table also looked at the little girl and asked gently, "Annie, is lunch ready?"
Betty nodded obediently: "It's almost there, Dad."
The little girl turned around and went back to the kitchen. Gawain and Amber exchanged glances. After confirming that the weird man behind the square table did not respond, they followed.
Betty is cooking in the kitchen, using her pan. A cluster of pale flames leaped from the stove, and the sausages on the pan were frying.
Amber's attention is on something strange: "Can you cook in the shadow world?"
"What's going on?" Gawain came to Betty and asked in a low voice.
Judging from the little girl's demeanor, she was not affected by spells such as mind control, but she stayed here to cooking with her own will and called the weird man outside "Dad", this is really a bit Strange.
"I don't quite understand either," Betty's face was as always a little confused, "but the person outside seems to treat me as his daughter..."
Amber's eyes widened: "Then you treat people like your dad so obediently?"
Betty shook her head: "He is very poor...so I want to cook him a meal before leaving."
Gawain and Amber glanced at each other.
Then Betty suddenly reached out and took something from the pocket of her maid's skirt, an old notebook. She handed it to Gawain.
"Master, here,-this was given to me by that man. I don't understand many things in it, but you should be able to understand it."
Gao Wen took the notebook which was not very large in doubt and hurriedly flipped through the last few pages after opening it.
Amber curiously moved her head forward: "What what? Let me see... magic formula? Rune order?"
The half-elf lady who was dizzy from those complicated symbols and calculations raised her head and looked at Gawain with a dazed expression: "So that strange old man is a wizard?"
"Strictly, he is a wild mage," Gawain picked up the notebook and knocked on Amber's head. "And when you entered the door, and you saw so much magic research equipment, didn't you see it!"