Night fell.
Everything in the miniature garden, except for the area near the library and the newly established fairy territory in the distance, was shrouded in deep darkness.
This is the first time I've ever seen a miniature garden at night.
It's not that I didn't pay attention, it's just that I didn't take it to heart.
Having just finished the basics of sandbox construction, I was called away by my advisor to assign coursework. Without having time to fully verify the functionality, I submitted it, thinking that as long as it ran, it would be fine, and simply left it aside. Most of the time I spent idly in the sandbox was during the day, and the few nights I did were mostly spent holed up in the room fiddling with the controller. I never thought to pay attention to the empty night sky, where there was nothing but a dim silver disc.
The pale silver light cast its glow upon the earth, but failed to illuminate it, only highlighting the darkness of the night.
If it weren't for the ever-burning lights inside the library and the presence of a grove of white jade trees nearby that emanated a gentle glow, everything around would likely have been swallowed up by the encroaching darkness, leaving no trace of light.
I opened the nearest window and leaned out to look up at the dark night sky, wondering if I should rework it, at least adding a few more light sources to brighten it up. The hole Hikari and her friends had recently created still hung in the sky, and the current repairs were merely a makeshift attempt to embed fragments into it. While it plugged the leak, it looked somewhat out of place, and I was just thinking of making time to fix it.
But this also presents a problem.
The miniature garden is, after all, constructed from a series of complex spells. Although it already has a backend interface that can be freely added to, removed from, or modified, doing so is equivalent to initializing the system, and everything inside would have to be reloaded. Not to mention whether the fairies' residence and the experimental base set up by the eldest sister would be affected, the storage and deployment of the Library of All Things alone would be extremely troublesome.
Although the main body is just a key, it took me a whole week to accumulate the magical power needed to activate it! And why did I ever have the brain fart to stuff the core that could maintain the stability of the Little Garden inside?! Just to make things easier for Tu!
How do you separate this thing?!
Of course, another problem is even more difficult to solve.
"...What does the starry sky actually look like?"
I vaguely recall being held in my mother's arms as a child, lying on the soft lawn. A gentle breeze carried the scents of flowers and grass, and insects and birds chirped merrily. In my ears, I could hear my mother's gentle voice, and the occasional patting of my back.
But more than a decade has passed, and the memories have faded to the point that I can hardly distinguish whether the images remaining in my mind are real or just my imagination. I have even forgotten the many starry scenes I saw that day, with only my mother's joyful voice pointing to the stars in the sky remaining deep in my mind.
"...Across that shimmering river, the brightest star on the neck of the eagle is the Cowherd, and on the opposite side, the brightest star in the middle of the lyre is the Weaver Girl. Add to that the most beautiful and dazzling star at the tail of the swan, and the triangle formed is what people used to call the Summer Triangle."
"Hmm? Did you say something?"
The sound of [Aisha] came from the side, pulling me back from my self-playing memories.
Turning my head, I saw the painter, looking somewhat weary, lean forward and gaze at me with a hint of confusion: "If you want to see the Summer Triangle now, it might be a bit difficult. By nightfall, it will have already set and will no longer be in the best observation area. If you're not very familiar with astronomy, it will take some time before you can see it."
"At this time of year, four prominent stars outline an imperfect quadrilateral, nestled in Pegasus's chest and abdomen. In autumn, one can rely on this to discern the direction one must travel."
I turned my head in surprise: "You know a lot about this?"
The artist puffed out her chest proudly, then paused, a hint of melancholy creeping over her: "After all, my... predecessor had traveled abroad. In order not to lose my way and end up in dangerous forbidden zones, it was still necessary to have some basic knowledge of astrology."
"I thought it was astrology."
"This is still outside the realm of astrology."
[Aisha] shook her head slightly, a faint smile on her face, sighed softly, took a step forward, and also leaned against the window frame, looking up outside: "This is just a skill that people who often wander in the wild have to master."
Hesitating for a few seconds, I didn't dare to take the bait, but she continued her narration, her slightly melancholic voice flowing like a tranquil stream: "You've seen it too, haven't you? During that period of confusion, I went to many places and met many people. The shadows of the past always chased after me, making it hard for me to shake them off or escape them. Only when I happened to be traveling with others, sitting around a campfire, chatting about our travel stories, were I truly relaxed."
"That's the knowledge I learned from them during that time. The shady and sunny slopes of hills, the amount of tree canopy, the location of moss growing on roots, the distribution of insects and birds, the sextant on the sea and the starry sky... For those who cannot skillfully use magic, they need to master more in order to make a living, and their way of understanding the world before them is decisively different from that of the mages."
"However, even though those skills may seem inefficient and outdated, they are a simple and effective way of understanding the world for them. A few skilled practitioners may even have a greater control over their surroundings than mages who do not often venture into the wild."
“...That sounds really impressive,” I agreed.
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