The bright moon hung high, the lake water swayed, and the clear surface mirrored the moon and stars above.
The white-haired boy and the silent man looked at each other.
— Curiosity.
This word might seem like nonsense to others, who might find it rather preposterous, and even horrifying to think that Ian would dissect someone for such a reason.
But the old knight knew, this was a perfectly valid reason.
Especially for him, and for all those Sublimators who cultivated the powers of ’True Form’ and ’Bloodline’, being curious about the construction of their own bodies could even be considered a bonus.
"Dissection, I can understand," the aged man nodded slightly and continued to ask, "But why here?"
"To make such a mess of blood and flesh at home?"
Ian shook his head and retorted, "Isn’t that blatantly telling everyone I’m the murderer? Not to mention the need for water to clean the tools and hands; with all this mess, the stench is so strong, even the neighbors next door can smell it."
Without pausing, the old man immediately followed with another question, "Was this a spur-of-the-moment act, or had you planned it beforehand?"
Ian replied without hesitation, "It’s a bit of both. The thought only occurred to me after I killed my uncle, after all, it would be a waste to just throw away such a large lump of meat when I could use it for study."
At this moment, the old knight was quite satisfied.
Yet he raised an eyebrow and posed the final question, "Even if the lake and forest are safe, aren’t you afraid of attracting wild beasts by dissecting here?"
He said with some significance, "If I hadn’t been here to help you drive away the beasts... what would you have done?"
"Attracting them... they would start by eating all this scattered mess, right?"
Glancing sideways at the bloodied and indistinct corpse, Ian turned his head back, smiling casually, "Besides, I’m not without means. It’s not yet certain who would eat whom."
He still had Sleep Powder in his arms; ordinary wild beasts were nothing but a delivery of food to him.
Even if a large pack of wolves or leopards came, it’d be enough for him to drop the body and flee to a safe place himself.
The old knight remained silent.
At this very moment, he had made up his mind.
"Why would you dare invite me?"
But the old man still lowered his gaze and said quietly, "Ian... Even if your Spirit Energy can truly detect my good intentions, with your intelligence, you also know that if necessary, I would not hesitate over the life of a child."
"It is neither gratitude nor a win-win situation. The moment you saw me, you had already prepared both the invitation and the contingency plan for failure—tell me the reason behind this risk."
And Ian silently raised his head.
He looked up at the starry sky.
The sky of Terra World, compared to Earth, was particularly dim, apart from an overly bright moon, the entire sky had only a small area with stars, and even those were very faint.
This was clearly not a normal sky; the secrets above the sky of Terra were as perplexing as those on the ground of Terra.
Just the same... they aroused curiosity.
— Like a question longing for an answer, he yearned without reason, wanting to know.
"Aside from an uncle."
Bowing his head, Ian earnestly fixed his gaze on the old knight’s countenance and articulated his thoughts smoothly, "I need a guardian, a teacher to tell me more knowledge."
"Although my uncle was scum, without him, there would be no one to teach me the script and other knowledge of this world, and moreover, it’s very troublesome to have no adults in the household at Harrison Port."
"Indeed," the old knight nodded, agreeing, "It’s very bad to have only children at home."
Such were the customs of The Empire; if children lost both parents in the border regions, the family legacy would be taken, lands would be redistributed, and even the children themselves were considered property, with an uncertain future.
"You could replace him—at first glance, I knew it was my best chance, and one that could change my future life,"
"The opportunity to gain more knowledge."
Ian smiled at the serious old man. He had found a suitable area and began digging a hole to shovel in the dirt: "And this requires your agreement."
The boy had initially planned to bury just his uncle, but due to unforeseen events, he needed to bury a native and a Forest Leopard too, which meant his workload was more than just doubled.
However, just as Ian had begun shoveling a few times, a hand reached out and took the shovel from Ian’s hands.
The frowning old knight gestured for Ian to stand aside and then showed him how to use the shovel properly, displaying the movements and techniques with far greater proficiency than the boy, who had never used a shovel either in his past or present life; it was evident he was adept at farm and miscellaneous work.
After demonstrating for five or six minutes, the old knight had dug a pit that had begun to take shape.
Then, he handed the shovel back to Ian, who smoothly took it and imitated the old knight’s previous movements to continue digging.
"In The Empire, there are few children like you who want to read and write... they don’t even know what knowledge means."
Observing Ian’s actions and offering advice on force techniques and correcting subpar movements, the old knight spoke gravely, "Even the children of Nobles and scholars are the same, they consider knowledge a tiresome and worthless thing, preferring martial arts, building achievements, and becoming a member of The Empire’s governing body rather than reading and learning to write their own names."
— And yet, they also forbid the spread of knowledge, he thought silently.
"Understanding a civilization begins with its script."
The pit was large enough to hold several bodies. The boy pushed the corpses of his uncle, the native, and the Forest Leopard into it and started to shovel dirt over these individuals who had intended to kill him: "To truly understand a civilization, a world, one must learn to read and write."
Breathing slightly wearily, Ian said calmly, "Likewise, they are needed for the journey of exploring the unknown, whether it’s deciphering or recording, reclaiming or pioneering."
"Your name? My teacher, if you agree, my future exploration starts with the knowledge you impart,"
He looked up at the man, and the aged man once again locked eyes with those light blue pupils.