Nighttime, in Prince William's palace, the dining room.
On the long dining table, the candle flames flickered, making the entire room appear dim.
Prince William sat quietly at one end of the table, as if waiting for someone.
Suddenly, with a creak, the dining room door opened, and a figure stepped inside. Due to the dim light, the person's face was indistinguishable, but from the silhouette alone, it was evident that this was a handsome young man.
"Your Highness..." The figure walked in, quickly attempting to greet, the voice exceedingly respectful.
William raised a hand to halt the formalities, and softly said, "Sit down, I've been waiting for you."
According to etiquette, the other person should have sat at the opposite end of the table, but William gestured toward the seat close beside him.
The figure hesitated slightly, then apprehensively sat next to William.
William clapped his hands, and immediately a maid entered the dining room, bringing the prepared food to the table; a simple fare of white bread, pork chops, half-cold roasted hare, mushroom soup, and malt wine.
The two began to eat, the process somewhat silent, the atmosphere slightly oppressive.
William said nothing, focusing solely on eating as though it required one hundred percent of his attention. No matter the taste of the food, he chewed it earnestly, then swallowed.
The figure beside him seemed somewhat tense, although also eating with noble-standard etiquette, the pace was painfully slow, cutting a pork chop into small fragments, sending one piece at a time to the mouth. In the oppressive atmosphere, beads of sweat trickled down the face.
Suddenly, as if recalling something, William placed his knife and fork lightly on the table, causing a gentle "tap," and turned to look at the figure beside him.
The figure gulped down all the food in the mouth rapidly, placing the cutlery down at the same hurried pace, meeting William's gaze.
"Hmm." William spoke, "You should be quite familiar with my brother, correct?"
"His Highness, Lord Richard? Of course... of course familiar," the figure cautiously replied.
"Then what do you think kind of person my brother is?"
"Uh, well..." The figure hesitated, pondering a long time, preparing words, "From what I understand, Lord Richard is very intelligent, but also quite peculiar, always researching things related to wizards or conducting various experiments. In short... appears completely different from you, Your Highness."
"Indeed." William nodded, as if in agreement, his eyes flickering, "Richard... hmm, my brother, he is indeed very intelligent, very peculiar. In fact, he's been since childhood.
You should know I'm two years older than him. But you certainly didn't know, he was fluent in speaking and communicating with others at the same time as I was—when I was three and he was one."
The figure's face showed surprise.
"Of course, in reality, I don't know these things myself, considering being so young, who would remember. These were all things Father told me. Father also mentioned that my brother exhibited many strange behaviors in childhood, such as never crying or laughing, utterly unlike a child, as if someone else's soul was hiding in that little body.
He learned to read quickly, studied quickly, by six, the court tutor could no longer teach him. Afterward, he frequented the library the most. According to the librarian, even Richard's reading speed seemed faster than ordinary people; others were truly reading, while he was merely flipping through the pages. Crucially, after flipping through, he remembered everything very firmly. I recall when I was ten and he was eight, Father tested us one day, and... do you know what happened?"
William looked at the figure, who shook his head in confusion.
A glint appeared in William's eyes: "The result was, I didn't even have the chance to think; essentially, Father's question wasn't even finished, and he already answered. Finally, Father asked how to be a good king. Looking back, if he gave Father a satisfactory answer, perhaps Father would have directly established him as Crown Prince. But do you guess how he responded?"
The figure shook his head again.
"He said..." William smiled complexly, "He said he couldn't be bothered to answer that question. He said that being a king was a troublesome affair, and he had more important things to do, couldn't be bothered with becoming a king."
"..." The figure didn't know what to say.
William shook his head, as if talking to himself: "Do you know how I felt back then? Surprised, hmm, and also fearful. Because I suddenly realized, this brother is actually far superior to me; if he wishes to do something, he would do it better than I could, but he simply doesn't want to, as though he had already foreseen the result.
My brother's peculiar—peculiar person, peculiar prince. Especially after Father's test, even more peculiar, starting all kinds of experiments, researching wizard-related things, creating all sorts of frightening objects. Like acid liquid capable of easily corroding sharp iron swords, or stones thrown into water causing a massive booming explosion.
No one knows what he wants to do, nor what his purpose is. In the end, even Father was somewhat fearful of him; otherwise, three years ago, there wouldn't have been that misunderstanding."
At this, William sighed lightly, looking at the figure, "I called you here not for other reasons. I want to be a good brother, to protect his safety, irrespective of what he does, as long as it's not too excessive, to let him have his way. At the same time, I wish to be a good king, to protect this country properly."
"So!" William's gaze became serious.
The figure straightened up, the next moment hearing William say, "You must do something for me, and that is..."
The figure's expression changed rapidly, after a long time, resolute, replied, "Yes!"
Nighttime, Richard's palace.
In the bedroom, Richard flipped through the "Monroe Chapter," his eyes constantly shimmering, occasionally revealing thoughtful expressions.
Although he successfully cast the first spell yesterday, he was not even regarded as a Level One Apprentice currently. A Wizard Apprentice has three levels: First-level Apprentice, Second-level Apprentice, Third-level Apprentice. Only after reaching Third-level Apprentice and successfully advancing was one considered a wizard.
Currently, he merely just entered the wizarding world, just the beginning, how to proceed with the remaining path still needs exploration and decision. Furthermore, relying solely on one Wizard book to decipher the entire world was plainly impossible. He needed to acquire more wizard-related things, even to encounter actual wizards and magic creatures in this world.
"The road is long and arduous, I shall seek upwards and downwards," Richard muttered to himself.
The road was long, but Richard didn't think he couldn't complete the task of scientifically analyzing spells. Even if spells are miraculous, they must conform to chemical and physical principles, surely shouldn't freeze someone with flames or burn someone with ice cubes.
Even if not conforming to chemical and physical principles, then at least they must fit within logic and mathematics, surely spells couldn't be random—shouldn't two identical spells combined be less powerful than one.
If truly , Archimedes, the leader of logic and geometry, would really use a lever to tilt the planet. Or as a math master and circle maniac, Archimedes wielded a big stick and directly slaughtered the Roman soldiers preventing him from drawing circles.
Anything unknown may appear mysterious, just like things that exceeded one world by far often were deemed as magic, but it always adheres to certain laws, and these laws are science.
Science is not some immutable entity, more so a way of thinking and a worldview.
What Richard genuinely wanted to do was unravel the science within the spells, understanding the reason for his arrival in this world, comprehending everything.
Transmigration, conquering the world, this phrase was merely for hearing pleasure, only upon happening would one realize how unreasonable it was.
If like ostriches, as described in many novels, choosing not to heed, pretending everything was normal to live, persuading oneself to be assimilated by the world, living according to the ways of this world or striving under its constraints to become the strongest, obviously was a choice.
But Richard did not want this.
To Richard, that was no different from artificial insects raised in a box. Being futile was an insect, striving hard, becoming stronger or even the strongest, still an insect, still inside the box.
What Richard wanted was to understand what was going on with this box, why he ended up in this box, then to step out.
The reason for becoming a wizard wasn't fundamentally wanting some earth-shattering power but figuring out what this pseudo-science completely absent from modern Earth was about. Understanding its core principles, mastering, and utilizing them.
Even the strongest wizard remains a wizard, remains the insect in the box. Unearthing all principles, stepping out the box will become a God. This is a qualitative difference.
After all, living in the box, one will never know if something will crash onto the box the next moment, directly obliterating the entire world.
"The road is long..." Richard muttered to himself, "So I mustn't waste time, must proceed swiftly..."