Chapter 26
Xerath whispered, "Gentle breeze." A miniature whirlwind gently enveloped them, protecting them from the strong wind. Titus' tassels no longer flew around and hit its cushion, and Sylas's messy hair settled down. Xerath tidied it up and said, "By using magic to make the 'wind' orderly, it can fend off most of the chaotic winds. But the outer layers of 'wind' continue to be impacted and return to a state of disorder. We understand these rules and use them to keep Aimekotes safe in the heart of the desert. That is the power of humans."
She took off her shoes, enjoying the warm and vibrating cushion under her feet in the gentle breeze. She thought to herself that maybe Sylas didn't understand, but Xerath wanted to tell her these things. At least Sylas liked listening to her voice.
"Everything that happens follows certain rules, and these rules can be understood. Even if not now, someday they will be. Everything will be knowable or almost knowable. That's the difference between humans and beasts, or rather... intelligent beings and beasts. To some extent, humans, elves, orcs, and dragons are similar in this aspect. Although some people think we are inferior to elves and dragons."
Sylas nodded silently. But Xerath wasn't sure if she understood.
"People can eventually use these rules. The more you know, the more you can control. The more you know about elements, the more you can do with them." She made a complex mark in the air with her index finger, and the Earth Child walking beside her was thus banished back to the Elemental Realm.
"So, don't be afraid of storms. One day, you will discover... you are safe when facing them."
Sylas looked up at her gray eyes and asked, "Like you?"
Xerath smiled and replied, "Sort of, but we usually don't go out in rainy weather. You should remember that, right? You promised."
Sylas nodded.
Xerath nodded in satisfaction and said, "Yes, first, you need to learn how to protect yourself. That's important, right?"
"No... shield, don't use 'infringe,' means spell, right?"
Xerath gladly nodded, "There's a small mistake that needs correcting. 'Harm,' we usually don't use 'infringe.'"
Xerath was certain that her little creature had no talent for necromancy. Most of the time, a necromancer only needed to use the word 'infringe' to control the tiny bit of 'darkness' in the world, and cast the lowest level shadow spells. She was purely an elemental envoy.
"If you don't have a shield, you shouldn't use harmful spells on yourself."
Xerath laughed and said, "Good job! You can use the word 'just'. Remember it, you will use it often in the future."
Sylas also giggled along with her. This word wasn't difficult for her, she just didn't have many chances to use it. However, at that moment, she didn't understand how important this word, which represented progression, would be in her future.
"Why are dragons considered superior to humans?"
"Overall, dragons are smarter than humans and they live much longer. They can learn more rules than humans and they can naturally do many things that humans can never do."
"Like what?" Obviously, too abstract explanations were still beyond her comprehension.
"Dragons can naturally fly and use magic."
Sylas looked puzzled, and Xerath guessed that if she were a little older, she might say, "I can naturally use magic too." Thinking about this, she inexplicably felt happy.
"Are humans foolish?"
Xerath shrugged, "Although most humans don't have outstanding talents, many people are just lazy to change themselves, and they make a lot of excuses for their laziness. Humans have relatively short lifespans, which makes their language more efficient... In other words, the same sentence can be very long and complicated in Dragon language and Elven language, but it's short in the common language of humans."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that in the same year, humans can learn much more knowledge than Elves and Dragons, as long as you're willing to learn."
Sylas clearly didn't understand, but Xerath thought it wasn't necessary to explain further. Sylas couldn't understand the relationship between native language and thought patterns, otherwise their conversation would quickly become like an encyclopedia for beginners.
Although it's necessary for young children to have a teacher like an encyclopedia, it's a scholar's learning habit to find answers from books ourselves.
I should teach her how to read and write, so she can sit quietly all day like I did when I was her age, instead of dragging all the elements or me to play with her.
Then she regretfully thought, Sylas may have missed the best time to learn how to read. In fact, people seem to have a consensus that the best time for children to learn anything is before the age of nine. After that, there always seems to be a feeling of inadequacy when learning something new.
Of course, in her opinion, it's never too late to start learning a skill or language, but if the process is painful and boring, most people will lose their enthusiasm and confidence.
And why should she put so much effort into a demon beast that she's only been with for two or three months? Anyway, Virgil will definitely find a buyer for it. He is always good at doing this kind of business, or rather, good at discovering the strengths of any demon beast and finding buyers among a large group of customers who need those strengths.
The storm seemed to be getting closer to them. The sky was getting darker and the only light seemed to come from the warm living room behind them and the center of the storm in front of them. The wind was getting stronger, but the filtered breeze from the two wind barriers felt pleasantly cool. Sylas didn't think about going inside, and Xerath sat contentedly in the chair with her.
Humans have a strange sense of aesthetic for tragedy: they face a tremendous danger but ultimately discover that it cannot harm them. This is one of the reasons Xerath built the mage tower at the Elemental Gate.
She had the ability and courage to be in the midst of a dangerous storm and come out unharmed.
That afternoon, she shared many life experiences and cherished beliefs that she had never told anyone before. Xerath was the youngest student under her teacher's guidance, and for most of her life, she had always listened to others' teachings, read books she had never seen before, learned knowledge that slightly surpassed her own understanding, convinced those stubborn scholars who were hard to persuade. There had never been anyone who needed her guidance until now, so she organized these things and spoke them out for the first time to someone else.
It was a very strange experience. Once thoughts turned into words, they became something relatively unfamiliar, like pouring molten iron into a mold.
And Sylas listened the whole time. Xerath really wanted her to describe what she felt after hearing all of it, but Sylas didn't know how to speak very well, let alone accurately describe something.
In that moment, she seemed to understand why the necromancers were so keen on dissecting skulls and opening up people's heads. It seemed like there were so many secrets inside.
