Autumn, Morning Light Kingdom, Border Garrison Town located in the Northern border.
Far from the Wei River, there was an experimental field cultivated for planting new crops. A few tender green seedlings were scattered in the field, while the others either did not sprout or had withered and died from scorching.
A shabbily dressed farmer, holding a hoe, paced back and forth by the field, his face full of worry.
Not far away, a man dressed in noble attire walked quickly, followed closely by a rare female Knight.
This young noble man had characteristic silver curly hair, shallow red eyes beneath his brows revealing a hint of anxiety, and delicate, well-proportioned features. Although he didn't possess a beauty that could captivate countless women, he was considered a refined and elegant man.
The female Knight had very long blue hair; even tied in a single ponytail, the ends reached her waist. Under her willow-like brows were a pair of large, sky-blue eyes. Her appearance was delicate but expressionless, giving people the impression of a cold beauty.
Seeing someone approach, the farmer quickly put down his hoe and walked up to bow and greet them, fearing he might accidentally offend the noble.
"Good afternoon, Your Excellency."
Glancing at the situation in the field, the Marquis frowned and turned to look at the farmer beside him.
"Failed again?"
"Yes, Your Excellency," the farmer replied cautiously, "I have tried planting several types of wheat seeds and other crop seeds you provided. Watering them more did not help; most of the sown seeds did not sprout, and even if they did, they would wither and die from scorching within a few days."
"How could this be? Is there really no way at all?"
The Marquis raised his hand to rub his forehead, his disappointment clearly visible on his face.
Except for some land along both banks of the river, other areas could not be cultivated, and the area and yield of arable land were decreasing year by year. It seemed impossible for Border Garrison Town to achieve food self-sufficiency.
After a moment of hesitation, the female Knight behind him gritted her teeth and stepped forward, comforting him: "Your Excellency Aisen, there will definitely be a way. Now is not the time to give up."
"Thank you, Mapel. I haven't given up; I'm just thinking about what the town should do in the future."
Putting away his disappointed expression, Owen forced himself to put on a resolute face, not wanting the Chief Knight to worry about him.
Next, Owen reached out and patted the farmer's shoulder, thanking him: "You've worked hard these past six months, helping me test so many seeds."
"No, no... not hard at all! Your Excellency."
Being thanked by a noble, the farmer was overwhelmed with fear and could barely speak coherently.
"Anyway, my family's farmland is affected by the curse, and it can't grow much grain."
As soon as he finished speaking, the farmer had a second thought. He had tested so many seeds but failed to produce any results, and he wondered if the promised reward would still be honored.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but show a troubled expression and cautiously asked: "Um, Your Excellency, my task of testing the seeds has been completed. I wonder if the final reward you promised is still valid?"
"Of course it's valid!"
Owen said readily, then turned to Mapel: "When we go back, go find Clive and withdraw 20 silver coins from the treasury to give him."
"Yes." Mapel nodded.
"That's great! Thank you, thank you, Your Excellency."
The farmer was overjoyed. With this money, he wouldn't have to worry about anything this winter!
Just as the farmer was about to follow Mapel to collect the money, he saw her face tighten, and her right hand rested on the hilt of the sword at her waist.
Is she going to kill him to silence him? 20 silver coins, that's nothing to His Excellency; it wouldn't come to that, would it?
Money can be forgone, but life cannot!
The farmer immediately knelt, almost pressing his head to the ground, and pleaded loudly: "Your Excellency Knight, please don't kill me! I beg you, I can forgo the reward."
He could only beg for mercy, not resist or flee. Because the other party was a Knight who had practiced martial arts since childhood, fighting was impossible, and fleeing would expose his back to the Knight, leading to a quicker death.
"Your Excellency Aisen, please be careful."
However, Mapel did not pay attention to the farmer. Instead, she drew her long sword and quickly stepped in front of Owen, assuming a defensive stance.
What's going on?
Confused, the farmer turned his head to look behind him, only to see a deep, small black hole appearing above the experimental field, as if space had been punctured.
That black hole frantically sucked in the surrounding air and continuously grew larger, soon reaching the size of a watermelon.
A silver-glowing, egg-sized sphere emerged from the black hole. The black hole disappeared, and the silver sphere hovered in the air for a moment. After locking onto Owen as its target, it flew over quickly.
"You won't succeed!"
Taking a few steps forward, Mapel gripped her long sword with both hands and swung it horizontally at the silver sphere.
The moment the silver sphere was about to touch the blade, something magical happened: the silver sphere split into two smaller spheres, avoided the sword's swing, and then rejoined into one.
Mapel's expression first showed surprise, followed by panic.
"Get out of the way!" she shouted back at Owen.
If he could, Owen would have wanted to avoid it, but the silver sphere seemed to have eyes, relentlessly pursuing him. He had only taken two steps when the silver sphere caught up to him, directly hitting him in the head.
There was no scene of a broken head and bleeding as expected; the silver sphere seemed to have "melted" into Owen's head. Afterward, Owen's body stiffened, and he fell to the ground.
"Your Excellency Aisen!!!"
Before losing consciousness, the last image Owen saw was a regretful Mapel running towards him, and the farmer kneeling on the ground, at a loss.
...
Upon opening his eyes, Owen found himself in a vast, white space. He was wearing the same clothes he had on when he went out to inspect the experimental field, and he clearly remembered everything that happened before he fainted.
In front of him, there was a table and two chairs, with one person sitting on one of the chairs.
That person had black hair and black eyes, an extraordinary appearance, and yellowish skin. The clothes he wore were very strange: a white top inside, and black outside, clean and tidy, with a knotted blue ribbon on his chest.
Owen had never seen such clothes, yet he felt they looked very formal, perhaps worn only on official occasions.
"This is fantastic! The experiment was successful; I have proven the existence of parallel Universes." That person was excitedly talking to himself.
Parallel Universe? What is that guy saying? I don't understand at all, huh? Wait a minute!
Confused, Owen suddenly realized that he could understand what that person was saying, even though the other party was clearly not speaking the language of this world.
Since that was the case, it meant that they could communicate. Owen calmed down and threw a series of questions at that person.
"Who are you? Where is this? You..."
"Stop!" That person interrupted, "I know you have many questions. There's plenty of time now, we can talk slowly. Please sit."
The other party raised a hand, gesturing towards the empty chair opposite. Owen didn't hesitate; he walked over and sat down directly.
"What would you like to drink?"
"Anything."
"Then black tea it is."
With a snap of that person's fingers, two small teacups and saucers appeared on the table, with steaming black tea in the cups.
Although Owen was surprised by the sudden appearance of the black tea, he still pretended to be calm and picked up the teacup. He was not afraid of poison in the tea; someone who could perform such a feat could easily kill him, so there was no need for such a low-handed method as poisoning.
As the black tea entered his mouth, a spark of insight flashed in his eyes. The taste was rich and mellow, with a lingering aftertaste—a fine tea!
"Oh?"
Seeing this, that person was slightly surprised and said, "You are truly calm in the face of the unknown. Your psychological resilience is quite good."
"Panicking is useless." Owen put down his teacup, "Now, can I ask my questions? Who exactly are you?"
The other party also took a sip of black tea and said unhurriedly, "Don't rush. Before asking others, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"
"I am Owen Eisen, Marquis of Border Garrison Town in the Eastern Territory of the Morning Light Kingdom."
"Pleased to meet you, Your Excellency Aisen." The other party smiled and nodded, "I am a citizen of the Earth Alliance, a major shareholder and board member of Xichuang Group, Li... Hmm, let's use a foreign name. Wenster Li, that's my name."
After hearing the introduction, Owen looked bewildered; except for the name, he didn't understand anything else.
"Pfft!"
Wenster couldn't help but chuckle, then said: "I knew you wouldn't understand, so let me put it another way. I am not a person from your world, but an otherworlder. Do you understand now?"
"This..."
Owen swallowed the words "This is impossible!" He remembered being in an unknown space and Wenster's various strange aspects, so the identity of an otherworlder might be true.
"Alright, I'll tentatively accept that you are an otherworlder." Owen continued to ask, "Then where am I now? It wouldn't be the otherworld you mentioned, would it?"
Wenster shook his head: "Of course not. This is your spiritual world, or rather, your dream. When you wake up, you'll find yourself lying in bed."
"Just a dream..."
Upon hearing this, Owen breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to still be in his own world; he still had many things to deal with.
Looking directly at Wenster, Owen had one very important question: "What do you want to do?"
"What do I want to do? My experiment is complete. Interdimensional No. 3 successfully broke through the barrier between parallel Universes, allowing me to meet a person from another Universe."
At this point, Wenster changed the subject.
"However, seeing your low level of development, I suddenly had a new idea. Your Excellency Aisen, when I arrived, I saw that you were encountering difficulties, seemingly related to land. If I told you I have a way to make your land capable of growing grain, would you believe me?"
"What did you say? Is that true?"
His previous calmness completely vanished, and Owen's emotions fluctuated intensely. He couldn't be blamed; it would be strange if he weren't excited, as the other party could solve Border Garrison Town's food problem.
"Don't be so agitated. The help I can provide is far more than just this." Wenster smiled, "Let's put this aside for now; we can talk about it when you wake up. We can talk about something else first, can't we?"
"What do you want to talk about?" Owen asked.
"Everything about your world. Of course, I will also tell you what my world is like."