Chapter 425: The Blurred Boundaries of the Material World

No one was better suited to examine Emily than Kamail. As an energy spirit trapped within the Rebellious Fortress for a thousand years, Kamail had spent the last few centuries of his imprisonment with nothing to do but explore every brick, every beam, every crevice of the fortress—and to study every secret and detail of his own form. This ancient master of arcane arts once said:

“As a researcher, I have extensive experience both in studying and being studied.”

Emily’s situation wasn’t exactly the same as his, but at least they shared the essential nature of being energy beings. Drawing on his own research, Kamail knew how to approach another energy entity.

After some tentative interaction, Kamail first confirmed Emily’s current mental state: “Her cognitive abilities are intact, but her perception and responses are somewhat disordered. This is likely due to the sudden shift in her life form, causing a kind of misalignment. So right now, she behaves a bit… unlike a normal person.”

Gawain nodded, watching Emily as she floated around Amber like a curious child. The girl seemed fascinated by every unfamiliar face before her, approaching each with the mindset of “studying something new.” Yet, despite this, there was little meaningful communication between her and the others. She appeared immersed in her own inner world, only partially influenced by the physical reality around her. This made her behavior somewhat odd.

According to Kamail, when a human suddenly transforms into an energy being, their perception of the world becomes “overlapping” and “illusory” for a time—like trying to observe a flame through layers of veils, elusive and intangible. The transformed mind also shifts to match the new form. This misalignment isn’t permanent, and Emily was clearly in the middle of this transition. The one comforting fact was that she seemed to be adapting fairly well.

“Does she still retain her memories?” Leight asked, curiosity getting the better of him. “I mean… is she still Emily?”

“Most of her memories remain, just like with me,” Kamail replied. “But how she processes those memories depends on how her mind reshapes itself later on. Regardless, she is still herself—this is the biggest difference between beings like us energy entities and the undead.”

Kamail’s tone grew a bit wistful. “This child must have an exceptionally rare affinity for the Holy Light… a gift that must have been evident even before her transformation.”

“She once said she saw a ring of light around me…” Leight’s eyes flickered with a sudden memory. “At the time, I thought she’d mistaken the campfire’s glow for something else.”

“She probably saw the Holy Light flowing around you—that light has never left, you just couldn’t perceive it, so it scattered aimlessly,” Gawain speculated. “And didn’t you say the people who took Emily in mentioned she was ‘a bit odd’?”

Leight nodded. “Yes, they said she had strange ideas from a young age and often experienced hallucinations. Sometimes she even scared the adults.”

Pittman sighed. “A gifted girl from a poor background—while not unheard of, such things usually only exist in the imaginations of the impoverished, compared to the well-educated, healthy children of wealthy families… It’s all just such a coincidence.”

“No, I don’t think it’s coincidence,” Leight suddenly shook his head, eyes shining with an inexplicable light as he looked at Emily. “I believe it’s the guidance of the Holy Light… It arranged for me, a foolish man, to meet Emily.”

Emily heard Leight’s voice and giggled, lightly drifting behind him. She reached out and grasped his shoulder, settling there like a wisp of silk. Then, tilting her head as if pondering something, she suddenly waved her arms at Kamail, her entire form glowing with a warm, bright light.

Kamail paused, then smiled softly and raised his arm, responding with a gentle blue glow of happiness.

Amber watched, wide-eyed and puzzled, before nudging Gawain’s arm. “Hey, do you understand what they’re doing?”

Gawain, unable to grasp the communication between two glowing beings, could only guess: “Maybe after becoming energy beings, they can resonate and communicate?”

At that moment, Kamail floated over. “I don’t really know what she means—I’m just flashing a couple of times along.”

Gawain and Amber exchanged blank looks.

Seeing their confusion, Kamail felt awkward. “Come on, Amber, forget it. Lord Gawain, didn’t you ever play with children when you were younger?”

Gawain was speechless. How could he explain that, yes, he had memories of playing with children, but not in a way that would make this situation any less baffling?

“I want to know how to take care of her,” Leight said anxiously. “I’ve never had experience with this.”

Pittman immediately stepped forward, grinning. “Then you’ve come to the right person—I’ve helped raise children before…”

Before the old man could finish, Gawain interrupted loudly, “Leight, think carefully—Pittman helped raise Amber back then…”

Amber, who had been joking with Pittman moments before, suddenly glared. “What’s wrong with me? Am I not good enough?!”

“Enough with the chaos. Emily is still a child,” Gawain said firmly, shooting a stern look at both the old and the young troublemakers. Then he turned to Kamail. “You tell us—Emily is no longer a normal human child. What does she need to grow and develop?”

Kamail nodded and addressed Leight. “Let the child live with you for now. From what I’ve observed, she can sustain herself, but she still needs a small amount of Holy Light from you as a supplement. Besides energy, she doesn’t require food or water. Also, she needs appropriate contact with others to help rebuild her mind and reduce her anxiety. Finally, you must monitor her closely. If her energy becomes unstable or she suddenly grows extremely restless, use your Holy Light to soothe her or check for any strong energy sources nearby that might be interfering. If you encounter anything you can’t handle, come find me.”

Leight carefully noted each point. When he had memorized them all, he looked up, exhaled softly, and turned his face toward Emily, still resting on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. This time, I will protect you.”

Gawain smiled and stepped forward, extending a hand to the little girl. “Child, welcome to Cecil.”

…

After leaving the church, Gawain didn’t return to the lord’s manor. Instead, he took Amber to the banks of the Whitewater River.

Summer was approaching its peak, but Ansu, a northern kingdom, was always cool, especially by the river. Even at midday, a refreshing breeze blew. Gawain stood on a high concrete platform by the riverbank, feeling the wind as he gazed toward the mechanical bridge.

The massive bridge spanned the Whitewater River, connecting both banks. Across the bridge, the northern frontier’s farmlands rippled with waves of golden wheat. Farther along the riverbank, pipes extended from the water to the shore—Gawain knew this was where the northern pumping station was located.

With the advent of various magical machines, advanced mechanical pumps had long replaced the earliest waterwheels in the territory. Yet, one waterwheel still operated in the western part of the southern bank, preserved as a tribute to the hardships of the early settlers.

“You’re not going home to check on the wheat?” Amber, dutifully acting as a guard, had followed Gawain to the river but couldn’t keep quiet. After standing there a moment, she muttered.

“This helps me think,” Gawain replied casually.

Emily’s image surfaced in his mind.

Was Emily truly “resurrected”? Gawain couldn’t say. Whether it was the Holy Light’s guidance or mere coincidence, he wasn’t interested in debating it. Seeing her spiritual form had simply stirred some confusion in him, and he wanted a quiet place to think.

Soul, body, spirit—or energy form… where exactly was the boundary?

Counting from the satellite era, Gawain might have been in this world for a million years. Counting from his own resurrection, he’d been active here for over a year. Yet he still couldn’t fully shed the mental constraints of his previous life. The strangeness—or rather, the “irrationality”—of this world still troubled him.

Kamail, once human, had become a magical being after receiving energy infusion from the giant stag Amon, his body ninety percent composed of so-called “arcane energy.” Emily, once human, had become a spirit entity after being influenced by Leight’s Holy Light, her entire form made of light. Both their bodies were made of “energy.”

Can energy have form and substance? Can energy be seen and touched? Can the boundary between energy and matter be so blurred?

In his previous life, Gawain had learned that energy was invisible and intangible. It existed, but humans could only confirm it through its effects. Energy and matter could transform into each other, but that was an extremely difficult process. Yet here, everything was different.

In the realm of magic, the boundary of the material world was astonishingly blurred… How did these incredible transformations happen?

Gawain’s gaze settled on the distant wheat fields—the waves of grain, the flowing water, the soil—all tangible things that could suddenly change form without obeying E=mc²?

What was the fundamental nature of this world?

Lost in thought, Gawain suddenly thought of the magical tides—the transformations of matter during those tides, and the altered magical environment afterward.

Were the magical tides the moments when the boundary between energy and matter was at its most blurred?

He didn’t know how to explain the confusion and thoughts swirling in his mind to the native inhabitants of this world. Even a top scholar like Kamail probably wouldn’t understand the alternate worldview he carried. Yet, amid the friction between these two perspectives, he had found a tiny clue—perhaps a hint at the very essence of this world. He instinctively felt that the changes in Kamail and Emily couldn’t be dismissed with a simple “it’s all because of magic.” Behind these transformations… might lie the deepest secret of this world.

Amber stood nearby, watching Gawain lost in thought. She keenly sensed his growing frustration over some nearly impossible question. She didn’t know what it was, but she spoke up anyway: “Emily’s alive, right? So, all in all, that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

Gawain snapped out of those impossible questions swirling in his mind. He paused for a moment, then smiled and looked at Amber. “It’s rare to hear you say something so straightforward. Yeah, no matter what, that’s always a good thing.”

(End of chapter)