Chapter 104: Stranger… Sphere

The sphere seemed to pause for a moment after hearing Gawain’s words—though it was impossible to tell for sure. After all, it was just a smooth metal orb, with no eyes, no face, no limbs, no expression whatsoever. When it hovered silently in midair, you couldn’t even tell if it was listening. Yet, after a two-second silence, it finally replied, “Isn’t that obvious? You brought me here from somewhere else, so of course I’m not from this world!”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Gawain said, completely unfazed. “You must come from much farther away—so far that just saying ‘far’ doesn’t even begin to describe it. A thinking, speaking metal sphere that emits strange energy waves, controls magic and metal—I’ve never heard of any race like that in this world.”

“That just means you haven’t seen enough,” the sphere said, sounding almost mocking. “In the past couple of days, I’ve learned a bit about you from that human who calls himself a Druid. You guys seem to have gone through a massive decline. You’re unbelievably backward now. So how much could you possibly have seen in your lifetime? With your human eyes and your word-of-mouth information, the things you get to witness are far too few…”

Hearing this, Gawain felt a bit more confident.

The sphere was right. In this era and this world, most people really were “blindfolded.” The lack of reliable information channels and the chaotic feudal fragmentation made it hard for anyone to access or gather new knowledge. Only a handful of high-ranking nobles, great mages, or knights bothered to look beyond their borders. The rest—like Andrew, the Viscount of Tansang Town—were self-isolated. A farmer who toiled the land all day might only ever read a few pages of news in his entire life. So if Gawain himself were one of these “blindfolded” people, judging the sphere as an alien visitor just because he hadn’t seen anything like it would indeed be laughable.

But the real Gawain wasn’t blindfolded. He had been watching this world evolve for countless years—since the continent’s monkeys hadn’t even learned to walk upright. Though he couldn’t see what was happening on other continents, no matter how isolated or strange their lifeforms were, none would have evolved into a metallic alloy sphere!

Unless, of course, there really was some godlike race beyond his sight that had rapidly unlocked Zenith Star technology, built an alloy shell with anti-gravity levitation and strong AI—and somehow this thing had ended up on Loren Continent a thousand years ago, captured by those Gondor mages… But Gawain would sooner believe Amber would return the pocket watch to Andrew’s steward next door.

So he smiled and approached the sphere, placing his hand on its surface.

The sphere immediately shrieked, “Hey, hey! What are you doing!? Don’t get all angry on me! Or else I—”

It cut off mid-sentence as Gawain sent a message directly into its mind through magical resonance (did a sphere really have a mind to receive that?). “Don’t you think you look way too different from every other living thing in this world?”

The sphere was silent for a few seconds, then replied through the same magical resonance: “Why the mysterious tone? Just say what you mean.”

“Because I know there are things you might not want others to know,” Gawain smiled. “So you can just tell me.”

“Well, I don’t want you to know either!”

Gawain remained calm. “Where exactly did you come from? How did you end up here? How long have you been in this world?”

The sphere pretended to be confused. “I don’t even understand what you mean—aren’t you jumping to conclusions a bit?”

“Sigh, I appreciate your effort, but honestly, your unique appearance makes it impossible to hide. And you’re underestimating how much I know. That Druid named Pittman told you, right? Most people here were born after the civilization’s decline, but the lord of this land—that’s me—was actually resurrected from the peak of civilization seven hundred years ago. And I’m a naturalist.”

The sphere fell completely silent this time. Apparently, that loose-lipped Druid had told it about this.

With his broad perspective as a traveler from another world and the information he had, Gawain was almost certain the sphere was an alien visitor. He just couldn’t tell if it had crossed worlds like him or simply came from another planet. Either way, this poor thing was definitely the unluckiest kind of traveler: it looked nothing like anyone else…

That was awkward—way more awkward than those black-haired, black-eyed travelers who got mistaken for demon children. How do you convince people you’re from some mysterious, distant Eastern kingdom when you look like an alien?

For his own safety and because he didn’t yet know the sphere’s true nature, Gawain couldn’t reveal he was a traveler too. But he had other identities to bluff with: a naturalist from a highly developed civilization seven centuries ago. That should be easier to deal with than some “ignorant, isolated native.”

“Think about it carefully. Your secret might not be as important as you imagine,” Gawain said, softening his tone. “I’m not a religious fanatic, nor one of those mages who studied you a thousand years ago. I don’t care if you’re an alien visitor. I won’t call on any gods to purify you, nor will I drill holes in you with metal tools. I just want to talk—to satisfy my curiosity and maybe find a way to help you.

“You have almost nowhere else to go. Beyond the mountains is a wasteland full of those monsters you saw a few days ago. To the north lies a feudal kingdom in decline, where ninety-nine percent of the people are more stubborn, extreme, superstitious, and unreasonable than I am. You can only stay here—so why not be friends with us?

“Of course, if you still don’t trust me, I can let you leave. You can go to the human kingdoms or south of the mountains. But I can’t guarantee you’ll come back alive, and—”

“I can’t remember,” the sphere suddenly interrupted with a metallic tremor in its voice, cutting off Gawain’s words.

Gawain blinked, realizing the sphere was cooperating. He quickly controlled his excitement and asked curiously, “You can’t remember?”

“I can’t remember where I came from, or how I got here,” the sphere said gloomily. “You guessed right—I do come from a ‘very far’ place, farther than you can imagine. A thousand years ago, you had concepts of planets and the universe, so you should understand. Let me be frank: those who studied me back then privately wondered if I came from another planet. But I’m telling you, it’s even farther than that—beyond the concept of ‘universal space.’”

Gawain’s expression grew serious. “Actually, some astronomical knowledge hasn’t been completely lost. It’s just that without observation and calculation technology, the knowledge has degenerated into legend. But you said you can’t remember your homeland or how you arrived. How can you be sure you didn’t cross universal space?”

The sphere sounded helpless. “I’m amnesiac, but I haven’t lost common sense—two places with different physical laws can’t be in the same universe.”

A surge of excitement and thrill welled up inside Gawain. A companion—albeit just a sphere—a fellow traveler who crossed worlds like him, someone who could discuss planets, the universe, and time-space travel with him. For someone who had been alone in this world for who knows how many millennia, this was incredibly thrilling.

Of course, he now had new friends and family—though distant by blood—like Amber, Rebecca, Hetty, Byron, and others he could trust. But could any of them discuss the universe and time-space? Well… maybe if Rebecca’s imagination stretched a bit more…

Gawain pushed the flood of chaotic thoughts aside and carefully asked, “Are you really so sure you crossed universes? Have you considered that physical laws might not be uniform across the universe? Maybe different star systems have different rules?”

“Sigh, I have thought about it, but it’s impossible,” the sphere said dejectedly. “My race has explored the entire universe we live in, and we’re even starting to figure out how to pierce the world barrier. If physical laws varied across the universe, it would be in our elementary textbooks by now… So from day one here, I ruled out the possibility of being stranded on an alien planet.”

Gawain was stunned.

This sphere came from such a powerful and advanced civilization? They had explored the entire universe? Even studied how to reach other universes?

Gawain himself was a traveler, and after discovering the physical laws here differed from Earth’s, he had already suspected he had entered a so-called “alternate universe.” So the sphere’s story didn’t surprise him. But he was amazed that its race was so advanced… Could this sphere be the golden key behind his own upcoming technological explosion—sweeping the continent in half a year, uniting the world in a year, and reaching space in two?

After a moment’s thought, Gawain chuckled to himself: just a fantasy. The physical laws don’t even match up… In such a strange world, anyone who travels here is bound to be confused.

And this sphere was probably even more lost than him: it only had a sphere’s worldview, while he at least had Gawain Cecil’s knowledge as a foundation…

The sphere sighed, unable to hold back: “It’s really not easy to talk to people. Everyone in this era is so ignorant and arrogant. Forget about the universe and time-space—just try explaining the atmosphere to your camp folks, and they won’t get it… I finally found someone I can actually talk to.”

Gawain felt a pang of bittersweet emotion. The sphere had spoken straight from his heart. His own feelings were no different.

Stranger meets stranger sphere—what a fateful encounter!

(End of chapter)