Chapter 119: Bran and Earl

Chapter 119: Bran and Earl

Bran took some time to meet a few wizards in Northland City. He just wanted to get a general idea of their abilities. He had hoped to chat with them casually, but they were all very stiff and formal. This quickly made Bran lose interest.

Peter could turn into a firefly. Paul was a big, strong man who could make his skin tough like cowhide. Polly was a little girl of seven or eight who could transform into a lion, though for now, it was only a half-grown cub.

Bran noticed something about Polly. This transformed cub actually let out meowing sounds, making it hard to tell what species it really was. But Bran, as the former Lion King, would not make a mistake.

Polly’s transformation had some limit. The little girl could not turn herself into an adult lioness. Bran explained lion habits to her, even made a statue of an adult lioness and imitated a lioness’s roar, which scared the girl until her eyes filled with tears. But it had no effect. It seemed it would take time. Maybe it was the unease of meeting a stranger for the first time, maybe she needed time to understand the new knowledge, or maybe this kind of transformation was limited by her age. These guesses could only be confirmed with time.

For Peter, who could turn into a firefly, Bran had no solution. He did not know much about insects and could not give any advice. Nor was he ready to teach out his own key secrets.

Paul was a member of the Knight Order. Bran briefly explained human body structure and skin composition. Whether he could find a path to Evolution still needed observation. But seeing his eager expression, he probably had some ideas.

…

After the others left, Bran looked at Earl, who had stayed behind. “You have been observing me for a while now. Did you learn anything?”

Although he had always hoped for guidance, when he heard Bran’s question, Earl was still very careful in his explanation. “I did not mean to offend you. I just wanted to receive your unintentional gifts.”

Bran waved his hand. “No need to be so formal. Just answer my question directly.”

“A little. I tried to imitate your mana barrier.” As he spoke, Earl tried hard to spread out his own Night, and continued to explain, “During the day, it can only be like this. My power is strongest only at night.”

Bran looked at this tent-like space, his mind full of questions. “How did you do this? How did you first use your ability?”

“A piece of black cloth, a black cloak. At first, I draped it over myself. When I jumped from a high place, I used it like spread-out wings. Now I open this cloth like an umbrella.”

Bran smiled, thinking to himself, “Wings, huh? Not a bad idea. I’ll try that later myself. The rest is probably due to differences in perception, and a woman’s point of view. If it were a man, what would he use it as? Maybe as a plate of armor, a shield. Jumping from a high place, he might hold up a big shield. That wouldn’t be flying; that would be crashing…”

Amidst these random thoughts, a notion slowly rose in Bran’s mind: “Maybe abilities can be categorized more simply. The final form of many abilities is actually influenced by the wizard’s own perception. And since perceptions differ between individuals, it’s impossible for them to be the same. That’s why abilities are also so varied.”

Since it’s influenced by perception, then the environment at the time must be the most important. So Bran asked, “What were you learning when you awakened? Or what were you doing during that period?”

“Learning sewing. It’s a skill all women must learn.”

“Is that so?” Bran asked without thinking. Why didn’t the men of the Northlands get this treatment? Instead, they were expected to be presentable in the hall and capable in the kitchen.

Seeing Bran’s unconscious reaction, Earl probably guessed the situation of the Northlands men. A faint smile appeared on his face, but he held it back.

“And what about Paul?”

“He has good leatherworking skills. You probably know our situation. Although we have Knight training, we also have to solve our own life problems.”

Bran sighed. “It would be better if he were a blacksmith.”

This puzzling statement left Earl unsure how to respond, so he could only remain silent. But at the same time, a bit of anticipation and excitement began to rise. He felt he would surely gain something today.

Bran, however, fell into various strange thoughts. Why did Polly transform into a lion? The animals she encountered most here should be cows, horses, cats, or dogs. As for the child Peter, did he perhaps discover a firefly breeding ground? A lion that meowed! A boy who liked fireflies.

Bran shook his head, temporarily pushing these thoughts away. Everyone was influenced by their living environment, limited in their thinking, not just himself. He asked Earl, “Have you seen fog?”

“Yes.”

“Have you seen water vapor?”

“Yes.”

“Water vapor condenses back into water on a pot lid. Have you seen that?”

“Yes.”

With these questions, Earl felt he was grasping something. That day when he was spying on the city wall, Peter said it was full of fog, a fog of mana. Then the words of the Great Wizard came to his ears: “You were the one who turned it into a cloth. You were the one who made it a cloak. What it is depends on you.”

“Depends on you.” Earl repeated it without thinking, then said again, “Depends on me!”

Bran said no more, quietly waiting for the result. An idea is like that. Once you get it, it’s a lightbulb moment. If you don’t get it, you just keep going in circles.

…

The mana in front of Earl began to change, like a spreading veil of gauze, becoming translucent. Layer upon layer of the gauze veil filled the space around him. But something was still missing. How does this become fog? How can cloth possibly become fog? Earl sank into his own world, struggling hard.

The gauze veil danced violently, finally shattering into countless fragments filling the air…

Bran watched with great interest, observing this fascinating change. He could have clearly stated the answer, even given various vivid demonstrations. But he did not want to miss this rare test subject—a person bound by reality, a wizard who had not received modern education, could not understand various natural phenomena, and had lost their imagination. How would he find his way out of this difficulty?

Earl had completely fallen into his own world. His thoughts were becoming chaotic. But he still remembered that sentence: “Depends on you.”

“Depends on me. If the Great Wizard says it depends on me, then it must depend on me. I was the one who turned it into a cloth, so was it originally fog? It must be. It is fog.”

In Bran’s eyes, the countless fragments in the air suddenly burst apart and turned into thick fog, real thick fog.

…

Earl, now clear-headed, bowed respectfully to Bran, a bow full of gratitude.

Bran did not care whether Earl was full of gratitude. What he cared about was how Earl completed the transformation. The answer was somewhat unexpected. Earl’s final choice was blind belief—believing that Bran was correct. He did not consider the process in between at all. The mana obeyed his will. He now believed that the true form of his ability was fog, though this fog could condense into his cloth, his cloak, and his tent.

Bran did not know what the original form of an ability was. Whether it was fog or a stone, in Bran’s eyes, these were just methods of using an ability. But looking at Earl now, wrapping himself in a mass of fog, Bran felt all this was truly fascinating.