From the Ship of Fools to Earl of Wugang

As evening falls, the mixed forest is ablaze with the light of the setting sun, and the branches and leaves of oak and eucalyptus trees droop in the golden and red interplay of light and shadow.

Edmund pushed the cart through the woods, the old butler following behind him with soft, silent steps.

They came to the meadow at the edge of the woods, where the sun, hanging above the sea, had gilded the entire bay with a mirror-like bronze hue.

The rocks below the cliffs revealed their wet backs after the tide receded, and the waves roared between the crevices of the rocks.

"Right here." Edmund put down the cage and looked around.

This is a grassland surrounded on three sides by mixed forests, and on the fourth side are cliffs and the boundless sea.

The wind surged up from below the cliff, carrying the scent of salt and the deep sea, stirring the tips of the grass and the hem of his clothes.

The twenty-three birds on the cart had been painted with silver-gray ink and kept for seven days, during which Edmund had a vague impression of each one.

Most pigeons are docile and slow-witted, while the seven crows each have their own temperaments, with one gray crow being particularly irritable.

It pecked his finger hard on the first day he applied ink, and Edmund remembered the bird from that moment on; he could recognize it by the arrogance in its beady black eyes.

At this moment, it was locked in the outermost cage, staring at Edmund through the wooden bars, as if to say, "What tricks are you up to now?"

Edmund hung the amulet made of crystal-topped sea scallop around his neck, then took out the twenty-two-sided blue-black agate.

He held the agate in his palm, feeling its cool and slightly trembling touch.

Everything was ready, and Edmund nodded to Thomas.

The old butler retreated to the edge of the woods, put his arms behind his back, and silently watched the young man in the center of the grass.

Edmund began to open the cage doors one by one. The pigeons hopped and skipped out of the cages, circling and chasing each other in the air, flying towards the horizon.

The crows would linger at the cage door for a few seconds, tilting their heads to survey the outside world before leisurely flapping their wings and flying away.

After the other birds had left, only the gray crow remained. Edmund took a step back and met the gray crow's beady black eyes as it crouched at the bottom of the cage.

"Let's go, your companions have all left."

The gray crow tilted its head and let out a hoarse, low cry.

"You pecked me once, so we're even."

The gray crows remained motionless. The distant flock of pigeons had become a string of tiny dots on the horizon, rapidly receding into the distance. Time was of the essence.

Edmund reluctantly reached out, making a gesture as if to shoo it out of the cage. The gray crow then reluctantly hopped to the cage door, paused for a second, and then spread its wings to take flight.

It circled Edmund's head once, its silver-gray ink on its wings drawing a near-perfect silver arc in the setting sun.

After its last hoarse cry, the gray crow turned and followed the trail of the departing flock, disappearing into the twilight.

Edmund watched it leave, and in the distance, silvery-gray specks of light dispersed, merging into the twilight where the sea met the sky.

He let out a long breath and held the dark blue agate up to his eyes. The twenty-two facets shimmered in the last rays of the setting sun. He opened his mouth and put the agate into his mouth.

As he swallowed, an indescribable tremor spread from the base of his tongue to his throat, as if the agate were vibrating slightly in his mouth.

A cold, sharp sensation exploded in his chest, as if someone had lit a cold flame in the center of his chest cavity.

The sensation spread from my chest to my limbs, then climbed upwards, reaching my skull.

Edmund felt his consciousness begin to detach from his body. The last time, on the lawn in the garden, his consciousness slowly sank into the water, but this time the river itself surged up and swept him away.

The world rapidly faded in his senses. The golden red of the grass turned gray and white, the sound of the sea breeze was pulled into a monotonous hum, and the ground beneath his feet lost its solidity.

A gray-blue chaos reappeared in his consciousness, boundless and filled with countless fragments and blurry giant shadows.

This time, however, a force radiated outward from his chest. It was like an anchor, crashing heavily into the "bottom layer" of chaos.

Edmund felt a violent tremor from the depths of his soul, as if something was rearranging itself within him.

The floating debris no longer seemed so far away; he felt as if he had been accepted by the world.

On the spiritual level of this world, in the gray-blue chaos of this dream realm, he finally found a place to belong.

The moment this thought took shape, a huge shadow swept across the chaos.

Edmund looked up and saw the enormous albatross.

It was as if the sky had fallen, and the colossal beast that blotted out the heavens swooped down from the infinite heights, heading straight for him. The spiritual tide that burst forth with the tearing of its wings was like a silent storm.

The image of Siheng's "Lingtianweng" confirmed your departure.

[The gift is now effective.]

Immediately afterwards, the albatross flapped its wings and soared up, shattering the gray-blue dome above its head, and pure, invisible transparent light poured into the cracks.

Chaos began to collapse, and Edmund felt himself being pushed back to reality. The process of consciousness returning was like surfacing from deep water; the pressure gradually lessened, and his senses restarted one by one.

Edmund opened his eyes and saw a deep blue coastline after the sunset.

Information flows are refreshed in consciousness.

You have successfully completed the first stage of the Traveler's Journey, the "Traveler" advancement ceremony.

Your current rank is Traveler (Traveler's Path - First Tier Transcendent).

[Abilities updated as follows: Activation (Basic), Spiritual Perception, Swift Steps, Vitality (Passive), Path Intuition (Passive), Astral Blink (Special)]

Edmund slowly exhaled a long breath. He noticed that the old butler was still standing under the oak tree at the edge of the woods, in almost the same posture as before the ceremony began.

The old butler was shrouded in a melancholy blues, and his perpetually respectful face now displayed an indescribable complex expression.

This expression reminded Edmund of something Thomas had said: Rebecca's adoptive father had performed a similar ritual.

So many years ago, was there also such an evening when this old butler stood under the same oak tree, watching another person complete a similar ceremony on the same meadow?

What did that person experience afterward? Scientific expeditions, relics, the covenant with Dionysus, the immersion in the spiritual realm... In the end, he chose to seal everything away, becoming a traveling wine merchant, spending the rest of his life staying as far away from those things that had once fascinated and terrified him as possible.

The old butler said nothing; he waited quietly for Edmund to return from the grass and then pull the cart.

"Congratulations, sir. Let's head back."

Edmund nodded and followed Thomas toward the country house.

The sea breeze surged up from the cliff behind them, sweeping across the empty meadow.

The twenty-three birds had disappeared into the distant horizon, their wings bearing the silver-gray markings as they flew home.

Or rather, they flew off to their respective distant places.