Chapter 2311 Unusual Development <TOC> Chapter 2313 The Salt Lake’s Visitors
Translator: SumTLMan
“Are you leaving?”
Although Parlysania’s perception was not as high as that of wind elemental creatures, its roots spanned the land, so it sensed Angel’s departure from the Lost Forest immediately.
It just didn’t expect that Angel, having just emerged from the depths of the Lost Forest, was now preparing to leave.
“Yes, there are some matters I need to attend to.”
“Did Highness agree?”
Angel nodded: “Of course.”
Parlysania looked deeply at Angel: “Since Highness has agreed, I naturally cannot stop you.”
Angel gave a half-bow, then took out the Gondola, ready to leave.
Just as he was about to step onto the Gondola, Parlysania suddenly said, “What are you leaving to do this time?”
Without waiting for Angel’s reply, Parlysania added, “Never mind, whatever you do. But, I hope you do not bring disaster to the Green Forest Domain, nor trouble for Highness Nemeti.”
Angel looked towards Parlysania.
This departure of his was to welcome the arrival of Lord Rhine and Mentor, which, in a sense, also signified the true beginning of the Tidal Realm’s transformation. Not just for the Green Forest Domain, but it held significant meaning for the entire Tidal Realm.
Parlysania’s sudden words, were they a result of intuition? Or the keen premonition of a transcendent being?
He and Parlysania silently looked at each other for a few seconds, and Angel softly smiled: “Of course.”
“Remember your words.” After saying this, Parlysania closed its eyes and spoke no more.
Angel nodded slightly, then stepped onto the Gondola. Dangros naturally climbed aboard, finding the most comfortable position, and let out a long breath.
“You…” Angel looked at Dangros.
“Ah, what is it?” Dangros also looked down at its body, admiring its beautiful ring finger, slender index finger, and fair skin, simply perfect.
“Nothing.” Angel initially wanted Dangros to stay here, but after thinking it over, he felt it didn’t matter if he brought him along. After all, Lord Rhine and Mentor would eventually meet Dangros too.
Moreover, the planar passages that are usually invisible could also offer Dangros some worldly experience.
Since Angel allowed Dangros to accompany him, he naturally wouldn’t be unfair to Cupid, who clearly possessed the potential of a sage. It made more sense for Cupid to see the world, certainly more so than Dangros.
Speedling, as usual, lifted the Gondola, accelerating its flight. Lobert guarded the side.
Thus, the dreamlike vessel swiftly left the bounds of the Lost Forest, soared into the sky, and flew over the high mountains of the Green Forest Domain, heading towards the distant horizon.
“After leaving the bounds of the Green Forest Domain,” Dangros curiously inquired, “Where shall we head next?”
“In an unnamed place where the spatial energy is relatively stable,” Angel was both answering Dangros’ question and informing Speedling of their next destination.
Upon learning of their target location, Dangros did not inquire further, for it would follow Angel wherever he went. Thus, the destination mattered little to it.
At this moment, Cupid expressed confusion: “Why head to an unnamed place?”
Cupid had initially thought Angel planned to take the blue raccoon and traveling frog to seek a corresponding elemental territory for healing. However, Angel’s response was unexpectedly different.
Angel blinked and said, “You’ll know in a bit.”
Faced with Angel’s teasing, Cupid could not press further and could only sulkily lie at the edge of the boat, lost in thought with a puzzled expression.
During the flight that followed, Cupid remained silent, while Dangros regained the privilege to immerse itself in —A Day of the Old Blacksmith—, indulging in the art of blacksmithing.
Lobert and Speedling, being reticent by nature, did not initiate conversation and remained silent, rendering the Gondola eerily quiet for a time.
After some thought, Angel gestured, releasing the Void Traveler from his bracelet.
Upon its release, the Void Traveler initially felt a slight fear due to the significant change in its surroundings. It was only after Angel emitted a soothing aura that it gradually calmed down.
Angel placed the Void Traveler in his palm, gently stroking it. Initially resistant, the creature soon surrendered to this unprecedented gentle touch, becoming as lazy as a hamster, flattening from a lump to a sprawl.
With energy vision, the Void Traveler resembled tender jelly, emitting a faint purple hue, like an amethyst. Even flattened into a pancake shape, it was dazzlingly beautiful.
Seeing that the Void Traveler had completely let down its guard, Angel softly said, “We’re going to be together for a long time; I can’t keep calling you ‘hey’ forever. How about, like Woof Woof, you take a nickname for easier reference?”
After Angel spoke, the air was filled with silence. The pale purple pancake in his palm remained indifferent.
“I almost forgot, you lack the ability to communicate directly,” Angel sighed. Not only did it lack communication skills, but it was also somewhat simple-minded. To express itself, it could only——
Angel extended his hand, touching his forehead with the index finger of his left hand.
Seeing this gesture, the Void Traveler hesitated for a moment before it gathered its pancake-like body, slowly floated up to mid-air, approached Angel, and eventually, its entire soft body pressed against Angel’s forehead.
An invisible tendril of energy entered Angel’s forehead.
Ding, connection to the Void Network established. ——This was Angel’s imaginative interpretation of the system prompt.
“Woof Woof, are you there?” This time, Angel initiated the network connection not to converse in “dog language” with the spotted puppy but to contact Woof Woof.
At this moment, in the boundless void shrouded in darkness, Woof Woof hesitated for a moment upon sensing Angel’s voice through the “network” and replied, “Is there something you need? Do you wish to speak with the master?”
Angel: “No, I have something I want to discuss with you.”
Woof Woof: “What is it?”
After hearing Angel’s thoughts, Woof Woof responded, “You can call it what you like. We do not necessarily need names like humans do.”
“Do you wish for the civilization of the Void Travelers to flourish?” Angel didn’t argue but instead changed the subject.
Woof Woof didn’t reply.
“If you don’t speak, I’ll take it as your agreement. If you’re smart enough, you should try to understand the human definition of civilization. When a group has self-identity, that’s when the development of civilization begins.”
“Self-identity?” Woof Woof asked, puzzled.
“Yes, it starts with understanding oneself, then comes the questioning, and a dialectical view of everything around. This is a necessary part of the birth of civilization,” Angel explained. “And the first step to self-identity, I believe, is to understand who you are.”
“The answer to this question might still be unclear to any creature up to this point. But that’s only for the deeper answers. I believe any group that has developed a civilization would know the superficial answer.”
Woof Woof: “The superficial answer? You mean…”
Angel took a roundabout way to get to, “Yes, a name. Having a name, or rather, a unique identifier for an individual, is what creates the concept of ‘I’.”
Woof Woof: “Is an ‘I’ necessary? Can’t a civilization grow without it?”
Angel: “…I don’t know, maybe there are civilizations without an ‘I’. But that’s not what we’re discussing right now.”
After a moment of silence, Woof Woof sent a signal through the network to Angel: “I understand. I will convey the significance of individual identifiers to the Void Traveler with you. But let me tell you beforehand, even if it has a name, it might not consider that its name, but rather have a conditioned response when you call it by that name.”
In other words, it’s like some pets with lower intelligence, who, after hearing their name called by their owners enough times, develop a conditioned reflex. They might not know it’s their name, but they recognize the frequency and amplitude of the sound as calling them.
“That works for me,” Angel was indifferent. Although the other party might not recognize the symbolic meaning of the name itself, calling it by a name, for him, was a small ceremonial aspect of life.
Woof Woof: “It won’t name itself, so if you have any thoughts or suggestions for a name, you can tell me, and I’ll pass it on.”
This was him being asked to name it.
Angel pondered for a moment and asked, “Do you have genders?”
“Does it make any difference?”
“Of course, the names of males and females always have a clear distinction in meaning.”
Woof Woof replied, “We do not have gender distinctions.”
“No gender? Then how do you reproduce the next generation?”
Angel was genuinely curious about the birth of Void Travelers. However, it was apparent that Woof Woof had no intention of discussing this topic with Angel.
Woof Woof’s silence served as a silent protest against Angel’s question.
Angel could only sheepishly retract his question and began to ponder the real issue… What name should he give it?
After a moment of thought, Angel said, “Let’s call it Haralenne.”
“Haralenne? That’s a strange name,” Woof Woof commented. “It’s a meaningless combination of characters.”
“It’s not a meaningless combination of characters. In my homeland, Haralenne signifies a dream as beautiful as an amethyst. It’s often used in fairytales as a wish for a wonderful future.”
Moreover, Haralenne was also the surname of Angel’s grandmother. Angel had never met Haralenne, but he had heard stories about her from Old Pat. She was a legendary woman who resisted traditional noble arranged marriages in pursuit of personal freedom and was a figure Angel admired in his childhood.
“A dream as beautiful as an amethyst,” Woof Woof repeated softly, no longer mocking or resisting. It told Angel, “I understand. I have conveyed your message to it. After ending the communication, you can try calling it by this name.”
After finishing, Woof Woof asked, “Is there anything else?”
Angel replied, “Nothing else for now. By the way, what are you doing now? You left in a hurry that day; was there something urgent?”
Since there was nothing else in reality, Angel and Woof Woof made small talk to foster a closer relationship, hoping to have the opportunity to study its Void Traversal in the future.
Woof Woof said, “I’m fine. If you have nothing else, I’ll close the communication. Or, would you like to talk to the master?”
Angel quickly declined, “No need, no need.”
Communicating with a spotted dog and not understanding its dog language was pointless.
“So, goodbye then. That’s what humans say when parting, right?” Woof Woof said.
“Yes, goodbye.”
The network closed, and the energy tendril inserted into Angel’s forehead automatically detached, leaving the pale purple Void Traveler lying once again in the palm of Angel’s hand.
Angel gently stroked it while softly calling out, “Haralenne.”
Haralenne lifted its jelly-like, large pancake face, its empty eyes looking towards Angel.
“It seems to be responding already,” Angel muttered to himself, testing it several times consecutively, with Haralenne showing a reaction to its name each time.
However, as Angel continued calling out, Haralenne’s response level gradually decreased.
Unless, right after calling Haralenne’s name, Angel immediately extended his left index finger to touch his forehead, connecting to the Void Network, Haralenne would then continue to show a relatively larger response.
If the calling persisted without any commands given, its response to the name would diminish.
From this test, it was evident, as Woof Woof had described, that Haralenne did not regard “Haralenne” as its name but rather treated it more like a switch for machinery.
Replacing “Haralenne” with sounds like “Hey” or “Eh” that could stimulate its response had a similar effect.
Although the outcome wasn’t as expected, there was still some effect.
It didn’t matter if Haralenne didn’t consider “Haralenne” as its name; it was enough for Angel to do so. Although it bore a hint of self-deception, sometimes, through continuous deception, the other party might indeed come to a realization.
After a one-sided conversation with Haralenne for a while, Angel then returned it to the bracelet space.
Leaving it outside would cause Haralenne to fear changes in its surroundings, and with Dangros, the mischievous child, awakening from the —A Day of the Old Blacksmith— illusion, it was necessary to preemptively avoid risks to protect Haralenne from the enthusiastic youngster.
“What have you learned from this experience?” Angel asked, looking towards Dangros, who had opened his eyes.
Dangros: “I kind of get it, but not really.”
“It’s okay, forging isn’t something you can master overnight. You can learn it gradually in the future,” Angel reassured.
Dangros: “Will Mr. Pat still teach me then?”
Angel, failing to detect the hidden anticipation in Dangros’ voice, thought Dangros was just worried about not being able to learn and promptly nodded: “Of course.”
Dangros’ eyes sparkled slightly, “I’ll learn it quickly!”
“I look forward to seeing what you’ll forge in the future,” Angel encouraged appropriately.
Dangros, holding its hand high: “Although I said I’d first forge a statue for my little brother, since Mr. Pat has mentioned it, my first creation will be a gift for… “
It paused, glancing at Toby on Angel’s shoulder: “For Lord Toby! My second creation, I’ll give to Mr. Pat.”
Angel didn’t think much about Dangros’ prioritization, happy that Dangros had the intention.
During their conversation, the Gondola finally arrived at a nameless place where the spatial energy was relatively stable.
Chapter 2311 Unusual Development <TOC> Chapter 2313 The Salt Lake’s Visitors