Chapter 63 World B: Ethan spent several days putting together some...

Ethan spent several days writing down all the knowledge he thought Ethan might need.

Including those ancient magic circles and potions that he had painstakingly studied before. He was worried Ethan wouldn't understand, so he kept explaining them to Ethan, filling all of Ethan's time with his explanations, leaving only a pitiful amount of sleep.

If it weren't for the obvious dark circles under Ethan's eyes and his frequent, uncontrollable yawning, making him seem not particularly awake, Ethan would have forgotten that the dead man was just him, while his counterpart was alive and of course needed sleep.

Now that you mention it, it seems like we haven't really seen the other body eating much; it's just been drinking specially prepared nutritional supplements.

Ethan was shocked!

He wanted Ethan to eat properly, so he even cooked a large meal for him, but Ethan barely ate two bites and then stopped eating. In the end, the other magicians finished the meal together, while Ethan, who couldn't eat either, and Ethan, who also couldn't eat, just watched from the sidelines.

Ethan still didn't think it would work.

He taught Ethan a magical potion made from the fewest and most common medicinal herbs, which could both satisfy hunger and provide the body with the necessary nutrients.

Ethan's mage faction needs to constantly change bases to evade the guardians' pursuit. Just dealing with those who want to kill him is already difficult enough, and resources are scarce. Therefore, Ethan is pleasantly surprised by this low-cost potion.

Ethan was like a sponge that absorbed water like crazy when it came to studying. He even felt that sleeping once every two days was enough, and five hours of sleep was fine too, but Ethan was afraid that he would die suddenly.

Flipping through my memories, I painstakingly found a magic potion in an inconspicuous corner deep within them—a magic potion that invigorates the spirit.

Of course, what Starfall kept in his library wasn't some ordinary potion, and he wouldn't waste time having Ethan learn potions that weren't very useful, because there were plenty of better ones.

This doesn't just make you feel instantly energetic; it makes you feel refreshed as if you've slept for days, as if your body has actually had that much sleep, and you're less at risk of sudden death.

After understanding Ethan's very serious situation, Ethan, who knew he wouldn't stay in this world for long, brought out the potion at Ethan's request and brewed many bottles for Ethan at once.

Then came Ethan's days of frantic studying. He maintained a frequency of drinking the potion once every four days, and he studied with full energy every day. His mind did not become sluggish due to sleepiness, but instead he quickly memorized the knowledge points.

Even Ethan, who was initially so mad as to fear Starfall's abandonment after choosing him, now feels like he's never been this terrifying before.

Whenever Ethan got tired of studying, he would look at the picture of Tenas on the sandbag and then quickly go back to studying.

Ethan glanced at Ethan, who was writing furiously, and then at the almost completely destroyed photo of Tenas on the sandbag.

It's clear that he really wants to become stronger, and it's also clear that he has a strong desire to kill.

Ethan felt that, apart from Starfall, he admired Ethan the most.

While Ethan was studying hard to get stronger, Tenas wasn't idle either.

Tenas took out a cigarette, pulled a Dupont from his pants pocket, and with a crisp sound, a flame rose.

The warm glow of the flame softened Tenas's features. He lowered his eyes, took a drag of his cigarette, and lit it with the flame.

White smoke rose, blurring Tenas' handsome face, leaving only his faintly visible deep blue eyes, gleaming with a peculiar light.

Having made that choice, of course I should complete it properly. Since I've already made it, I won't regret or hesitate.

So, who else? Who else needs to be eliminated to better achieve that goal?

"This is so troublesome—" Tenas drawled out, his tone still carrying a hint of sweetness even though no one was complaining: "From now on, I'll have to go on missions all by myself."

Tenas bent his left hand and gripped his right elbow, stretched, and jumped down from the height.

Her toes landed lightly, and her black coat, stained with blue and red blood, fluttered and landed again.

"Oh right, I almost forgot about you guys." Tenas was about to leave, but stopped after taking a step, turned back with a bright smile: "You'll forgive me, right? I just wanted to achieve my goal."

His tone was like a coquettish plea, yet he spoke with absolute certainty, both sweet and arrogant.

Only endless silence answered him.

"Looks like he's dead for good." Tenas chuckled, taking a deep drag of his cigarette before exhaling.

The white smoke slowly drifted towards the spot where he had just been sitting—a mountain of corpses built by his former colleagues. Upon touching the corpses, it seemed to be instantly ignited, and the mountain of corpses burst into flames.

An indescribable smell, like burning sebum, filled the air at the scene.

Tenas made a cross gesture, his expression compassionate, and his voice somber: "May the Lord bless you."

But as he turned around, his expression vanished completely, and he left calmly.

Click!

While Ethan was explaining his understanding of the knowledge to Ethan, unexpectedly, a bead on his wrist broke off, and the fragment even lost its color.

Ethan picked up the fragments, his face grim. He searched in order to find which guardian each bead corresponded to and discovered it belonged to a guardian from Germany.

"What happened?" Ethan asked with concern when he saw that Ethan's face was pale and that he was gripping the shards so tightly that he didn't even notice that he was about to be pricked by the shards.

At first, he was indeed wary of Ethan, who looked exactly like him when he was young, and suspected that he was a robot or some kind of similar person created by Tenas to target him.

At first, Ethan didn't believe in the idea of ​​a counterpart, but he proved himself by showing that he knew a lot about himself, many of his habits, and even some things that Tenas didn't know, so it wasn't part of his plan.

It's a bit strange, but since there's magic and city wills in this world, isn't it normal to have parallel universe counterparts? It's also normal for counterparts to travel to different worlds to borrow power in order to save their own world.

Isn't the other person a little too trusting? After asking just a couple of questions, he blurted out everything, especially the look of disbelief and betrayal on his face when he learned that Teans had lied to him.

When he shamelessly deceived people, he readily accepted it and actually taught them a lot of knowledge that he had not learned in this world, becoming a little teacher.

He finds it hard to feel repulsed by his unselfish and genuinely caring peers; a small flame of warmth grows within him, warming his cold heart.

He actually quite liked Ethan, he thought.

"I need to leave." Ethan suppressed his unease and grief over the loss of his companions, and was somewhat anxious to find them: "Some of my companions have died, and I cannot stay in this world any longer."

This is bad news, at least for Ethan and Ethan.

Ethan didn't immediately open the portal to leave. Instead, he urgently wanted to teach Ethan as much as he could in the last few days, so he set his departure time for two days later.

Everyone was reluctant to see Ethan leave. Even though Ethan spent most of his time imparting useful knowledge to Ethan, the wizards all had a very good impression of him, and the surviving wizards prepared farewell gifts for him one by one.

Even if it wasn't the Ethan I knew, or the magicians I knew, we had still interacted in real life in my world, so it was easy to discover similarities.

Ethan was saddened by the passing of so many of his predecessors, by the unbearable suffering of those war-torn survivors, and by the events unfolding in the world, feeling powerless to change anything.

The magicians were saddened by his death in another world, but Ethan in that world didn't seem to be in such a terrible state. Everyone was still alive, and his acquaintance, Tenas, was doing well. Compared to him, Ethan was somewhat fortunate, so his grief didn't last long.

Ethan was racing against time to retain as much knowledge as he could, controlling it with magic, and writing several books in an effort to make Ethan as powerful as possible.

Ethan always felt that there wasn't enough time. Suddenly, it was the night before he was to leave. He still had so much left to write, even if he had written and recorded it all at the same time, he still couldn't finish recounting the vast knowledge he had acquired during his four years as a guardian.

Ethan's phone rang; he had received a message.

However, due to the different worlds, Ethan and Tenas, who were originally friends of Ethan, could not send him messages. In this world, only Ethan and Tenas had added him.

But... Ethan glanced at Ethan, who was packing his things, and secretly turned on his phone.

"The Spokesperson for Montage Lies: Ethan ~^V^"

"Montage Lie Spokesperson: Want to hang out, Ethan? (￣▽￣？) Just you and me, we won't tell little Ethan!"

...Tenas asked him out? Did he know he was leaving? Ethan had a strange feeling.

Should we go out or not? Should we tell Ethan?

"Montage Lie Spokesperson: Ethan, you've read this (^▽^)o Don't pretend you didn't see it~"

"Montage Lie Spokesperson: Ethan, reply to me ∧v∧"

After hesitating for a long time, Ethan tentatively typed out a message.

"Ethan: 1"

"Montage Lie Spokesperson: It's a deal! ^U^ It's a promise! Ethan has to come!"

Ethan: "..."

Ethan: "???"

He just wanted to prove he saw it, consider it a reply, and then he agreed?!

In the end, Ethan went anyway, and after much hesitation, he still didn't tell Ethan about it.

Go check it out, see what Tenas is up to, and whether he knows he's leaving soon. Where did he get that information?

Tenas and Ethan had arranged to meet at a park. When Ethan arrived, Tenas was sitting on the lawn, looking at the river that shimmered even at night.

"Good evening, Ethan." Tenas turned around and smiled at him; he was wearing casual clothes tonight.

"Speak, what brings you here today?" Ethan didn't respond to his enthusiastic greeting, secretly on guard, because he had been badly fooled by Tenas's montage lies before.

“Don’t be so serious—” Tenas patted the grass beside him and invited him to sit down: “Come, come, sit here, let’s have a good talk. I mean, let’s have an open and honest talk, don’t worry, I won’t lie to you this time.”

Ethan sat down.

"Why did you lie to me?" Ethan fired first, looking quite imposing. "Listen to what you said back then, did any of it get to the point? Was that just a small conflict? You were mortal enemies!"

“Because if I didn’t lie to you, you wouldn’t have agreed at all,” Tenas said matter-of-factly.

And just like that… he said it… Ethan was astonished by his candor.

“I really want to mend my relationship with Ethan so much—” he drawled, his tone sweet and familiar to Ethan: “Ethan is so cold and cruel to me now, he hates me to death.”

"Isn't that right?" Ethan thought. Even if he forgot Selene, he would still hate the culprit to death, let alone the person in front of him who killed Bertha and many of the mages in her camp. It was practically a blood feud! Wait, Bertha in this world seems to be Ethan's adoptive mother, so it really is a blood feud.

A gentle breeze rustled through the lush leaves, creating a soothing lullaby that helped me relax.

“I really want to make up with Ethan so much—” Tenas sighed, looking somewhat worried. “But Ethan’s attitude is too tough. He even thinks I’ll hurt his mother and has disfigured himself. I knew I couldn’t push him like this after I killed Bertha. He really has no trust in me at all. He was so proud of his face when he was little because it looked a lot like his mother’s.”

The wind seemed to have picked up, the rustling sound had become louder, and it had messed up Ethan's hair.

"..." Ethan rubbed the goosebumps on his arms, listening to Tenas's sighing and helpless tone of regret, and felt a chill run down his spine. Only now did he truly understand the real Tenas that Ethan had described. Just this tip of the iceberg was enough to make him feel very uncomfortable and angry.

“I’ve realized Ethan is absolutely right. Don’t you know how weird you are? And what do you mean by ‘after killing Bertha’ and ‘there’s no trust left’? Listen to what you’re saying!” Ethan tried to calm down, but his anger only grew stronger because of Tenas’s attitude.

He was furious. The immersion was too strong. Just thinking about losing Selene, Bertha, and their fellow magicians made Tenas look utterly repulsive. How could someone be like this? He kept saying he wanted to reconcile, yet his attitude was like this. What did he mean by realizing he couldn't force things like that only after killing them? What kind of damn trust issue was this?

With Bertha's example as a cautionary tale, forget about trust or distrust. Isn't it perfectly normal to think your own mother will be the next target? You seem like the kind of person who would do something like that!

I'm so angry! I'm furious with him!

He shouldn't have gotten involved in this messy entanglement, because he was an outsider and was leaving soon anyway. Any normal person could tell who was right and who was wrong just by listening! But hearing it really made him furious, so why did he make the brain-dead decision to actually meet them? Ugh, I'm so angry, I'll go back and tell Ethan.

Just as Ethan stood up, preparing to leave, he heard another soft sigh.

“Even you are like this,” Tenas said dejectedly. “No wonder Ethan ignores me and treats me like I’m invisible.”

Hello, don't know how to spell "speechless"? Speechless, did you hear that?!

Ethan empathized with his counterpart, Tenas, who had absolutely no self-awareness. Putting aside the previous animosity, he was now so angry that he didn't want to speak. He had never seen such a shameless person. Was he really Tenas's counterpart? Besides having the same face, the same appearance, and the same city they protected, what else did they have in common?

What made him stop was Tenas's words.

“Do you remember the magical contract we went through back then?” Tenas said lightly.

Of course I remember, how could Ethan not remember?

Ethan glared at him, realizing he had tricked himself into signing a mission he couldn't possibly complete. There was no doubt he wouldn't get any help in this world; it was all for nothing.

Tenas extended his index finger, and strands of gold thread surged from all directions to his fingertip, gathering into a sphere the size of a ping-pong ball, which slowly floated in front of Ethan.

Ethan took a step back warily: "What is this?"

“What you want comes from the power that the city’s will bestows upon the guardians.” Tenas said casually, “But I did lie to you from the beginning. Whether you complete it or not, I will give you the power.”

"What is your purpose?" Ethan remained cautious and did not answer. After being deceived, he had serious doubts about the credibility of Tenas's words.

“There’s no purpose,” Tenas said matter-of-factly. “Because you are Ethan, an equivalent of little Ethan.”

Ethan: "..."

Why doesn't he believe it? Is it really okay to be so intimate? You two are mortal enemies! Please stop doing this, okay? He's scared, afraid you'll do something terrible again.

Ethan wanted to accept the offer, but he also wanted to refuse. The sooner he could gather the necessary energy, the better, so he could return to normal as quickly as possible. He wanted to refuse because Tenas himself was too unsettling to him, and he imagined his counterparts would feel the same way.

To take it or not to take it? That's a good question.

Ethan silently took out his coin, tossed it up and it fell back down, and the final answer was to take it.

The coin is right, if you don't take it, you're wasting your time; consider it compensation for emotional distress.

Ethan took out the device and collected the energy ball.

Before leaving, he hesitated for a moment, then said thank you before turning and entering the portal.

Tenas paused for a moment, then laughed.

The trees behind him rustled again, and a dark figure jumped down from a tree. Tenas turned around, his smile unchanged.

“Good evening, little Ethan,” he said.

-----------------------

Author's Note: When Ethan trusted:

Teans: Actually, I'm a girl.

Ethan: Wow [starry eyes]

When Ethan doesn't trust:

Tenas: I'm a boy

Ethan: I don't believe it. [Smirks]

This world ends here, and then there's a little side story before entering the second world [sprinkling flowers]. I've been so busy preparing for my internship lately, and I'm also experiencing writer's block. But this afternoon I saw that I hadn't failed any of my courses, so I wrote 5000 words. I didn't expect to be able to write until after 1 a.m. I'll finish tomorrow.

The meteorite in this world was worn away during its early integration with Yangyan, so he didn't appear. Yangyan City, along with the other cities, has been in a deep slumber ever since, whether you like it or not.

Then Ethan is weaker than Ethan [because Ethan has the City Will bonus].

Tenas's upbringing definitely influenced the course of this world. The side story will explain some of that. I wrote about what he did to accomplish something, and even I doubt what I created—it's a bit too eccentric. [You'll find out in the side story.]