There are three rooms on the second floor of 13 Milford Street.
Ciles rented the easternmost room.
He didn't have much information about his neighbors on the second floor. He only knew that a man in his thirties lived in the west room, and a young couple who left early and returned late and rarely made a sound in the middle room.
The man he has now encountered by chance is the one in the west room.
He hadn't seen this neighbor since becoming Ciles the night before last. Now, at first glance, he found the man quite conspicuous.
He wore an exotic orange-red cloak, with a beautiful, multicolored feather pinned to the collar. He wore an extravagantly tall hat and pointed boots.
A belt made of fangs, rings, feathers, and bones hung from his waist. Under his cloak, each ornament on the belt made a crisp clinking sound.
His face was painted with oil paint, especially around his eyes, to an extreme degree, enough to warrant a masquerade ball. The red, orange, white, and purple paint made the man look like a child who had spilled a palette of paints.
Ciles paused for a moment before nodding politely as a greeting.
The oddly dressed neighbor coughed instinctively, then said nonchalantly, "I'm not going to do anything bad."
Ciles remained silent.
The man became even more embarrassed.
Finally, he stammered out an explanation of why he was dressed like that: "I am a folklorist! You know, with the development of the Land of No Return, the Duchy of Constance has established stable channels of communication with more and more countries."
"The customs and habits of those countries are quite different from those of the Duchy of Constance. I'm going to attend an exchange meeting later, so I dressed like this to blend in with the local customs."
"Isn't that strange? That's just how people are in those places."
Through the man's explanation, Ciles finally understood why the man was dressed like that.
Folklore… Ciles nodded thoughtfully.
In the history of this world, the current era is called the "Mist Era." The "mist" in this name does indeed shroud a large part of the land in Fisher's world, and these places are known as the "Emberless Lands."
The Land of No Return is a desolate land shrouded in layers of dark gray mist. The mist also isolates the world's nations from each other.
Countless countries, tribes, and villages lived in isolation. Until a few hundred years ago, the fog over the Emberland began to dissipate, and the development of the Emberland, as well as exchanges with other countries, were put on the agenda.
Now, many lands in the Ashlands are no longer shrouded in mist. These lands are called the Withered Wastes, for they are indeed endless, barren, and yellow plains.
The development of the land of embers naturally gave rise to disciplines such as folklore studies, which research the cultures of one's own country and other countries.
Ciles believed the man's story, but still felt some doubt.
The man seemed oblivious, simply introducing himself: "My name is Alfonso Carlisle. We've been neighbors for a while now, and we still don't know each other's names."
Ciles nodded and said, "Cilles Noel."
The folklorist, dressed in a flamboyant manner, nodded to him, then said he was in a hurry and left.
Ciles watched his departing figure, then calmly looked away and returned to his room.
He placed the umbrella by the door, the manuscript on the desk, and then took out his wallet, dice, pocket watch, paper, and pen from his coat. He then took off his coat and sat silently on the sofa for a while.
The things that happened with the Revelation were truly beyond his expectations. He hadn't imagined that he would come into contact with the extraordinary power of this world in such a short time.
coincide?
His gaze lingered, seemingly casually, on the dice on the desk.
After a moment, he stood up and went to the bathroom to take a hot shower. It was still drizzling outside, which made Sires feel comfortable returning to the warm and dry room.
He was terribly hungry, munching on bread while drying his hair. He really wanted some hot soup, but there was nothing to eat. He secretly planned to go to Logan Market the next day to buy some fresh ingredients.
The apartment itself didn't have a kitchen, but the ground floor of 13 Milford Street was where Mrs. Finn and her family lived. When Mrs. Finn wasn't using the kitchen, the tenants could cook for themselves, but they were required to clean it afterwards.
Soon, Ciles finished his bread and dried his hair. He changed into a simple set of pajamas and felt the sticky rainwater finally leave his body.
But there's nothing that can be done about it. The weather in Ramifa is like this every year at the end of July; instead of the warmth of summer, it's gloomy, damp, and cold. Then in August, it's the other extreme: the sun shines brightly, almost scorching the earth.
By the end of October, the weather will become damp, cold, and rainy again. However, there will also be a holiday of more than two weeks at that time.
People call it winter break because after this holiday, Lamifa will face a long winter. However, some call it rain break because the rainfall is so abundant.
This day is Monday, July 24th.
Lamifa University will start its semester on the first Monday of August, which happens to be August 1st this year.
The calendar in this world is quite similar to that of Earth in the past, with twelve months in a year, thirty days in each month, and seven days in a week. However, the specific festivals and holidays are very different from those on Earth.
The academic year at the University of Ramifa consists of three semesters. The first semester runs from August to the end of October each year, followed by a two-week winter break. If the rainy season is long, the winter break will be extended accordingly.
The second semester runs from early November to February of the following year, with a one-month spring break at the end of February. Similar to the winter break, the spring break is a holiday designed to welcome the arrival of spring.
The third semester runs from the end of March to the beginning of July. Exams are usually held in the first week of July, followed by a three-week holiday known as summer break—or, more accurately, the rainy break in July.
Each year, graduates receive their holidays earlier, giving them ample time to look for jobs.
When Ciles was still a student at Ramifa University, he was already very familiar with the academic system. But when he became a professor, things became much more complicated.
He now has to deal with headaches over his lesson plans during the last week of July.
The college required him to teach two general elective courses and two professional elective courses. The former spanned the first and second semesters, while the latter consisted of one course in the first two semesters and one course in the third semester.
The elective course in the third semester is manageable, but the two general electives and one specialized elective are urgent matters that need to be addressed in a week.
Ciles sighed almost imperceptibly.
He quickly calculated his schedule for the coming week—he had to go to the History Society on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons; and he had to move and tidy up his office on Sunday. In other words, he still had a full Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
In addition, he will probably have to study the teaching materials and the reading list for the students, and be prepared to deal with apprentices who do not yet know his specific identity and research topic.
...That was quite a rush.
He lowered his eyes and wrote the titles of his courses on the draft paper: "An Overview of Literature from the Age of Creation to the Age of Mist", "An Appreciation of Literature from the Age of Silence", and "Literature of the Age of Silence and Its Theoretical Evolution—Taking Three Famous Authors from the Age of Silence as Examples".
The first two are general elective courses, and the last one is a specialized elective course from the first two semesters.
Overall, the curriculum remains consistent and is becoming increasingly in-depth. He can prepare for all three courses at the same time.
Finally, he underlined three words: the Age of Divine Birth, the Age of Silence, and the Age of Mist.
The Age of Divine Birth is the first recorded era in history, the era of the birth of the gods. According to legend, this is the era of the birth of the gods.
After the birth of God came the birth of man. People believed in and worshipped the existence of God, and thus the second era was called the Age of Faith.
Human civilization gradually flourished, establishing empires and developing productive forces. Several empires fought and clashed with each other, while the gods remained behind the scenes, protecting their followers. The Third Age was known as the Age of Empires. This was a long and glorious era.
The Fourth Age is a mysterious era, with very little information remaining, and much of what is available is vague and shrouded in secrecy. Based on some archives and manuscripts, it is referred to as the Shadow Age. Indeed, it was an era hidden in the shadows.
Following the Age of Shadows, humanity and the gods seemed to enter a period of extreme decline. In the Fifth Age, gods perished one after another, the continents were shrouded in mist, empires were fragmented, and people were isolated from the world. This was the Age of Silence, a period filled with chaos and death.
After the Fifth Age, humanity in the Sixth Age recuperated and thrived. The God of the Past and History appeared, and people once again lived and developed under the protection of the gods, extending their sphere of influence back to the Land of No Return.
The dividing line between the Silent Era and the Fog Era is the appearance of Antinum.
This surviving deity is also considered the guardian of humankind. He does exist, and He does indeed protect humanity in some way.
Thinking of the eye pattern and symbol on that door, Cyrus couldn't help but wonder, was this god of the past and history the source of the Revelation's power? Or did He actively bestow power upon the Revelation?
After thinking for a moment, Ciles shook his head; there were still too few clues.
He simply stopped thinking about it, glanced at the names of the courses he had written down on the draft paper, thought for a moment, and then opened the materials he had taken from Professor Cabel's office.
Some of these were well-organized course materials. Cyrus was fortunate enough to find among them the complete syllabus and lesson plans for the course "An Overview of Literature from the Nativity to the Mist."
He immediately put it neatly aside, intending to examine it more closely later.
He continued to peruse the materials and found some scattered information and lesson plans. However, he still found himself with a headache, realizing that he would probably have to integrate the materials and reading lists himself, and then prepare lessons for the two courses related to the Silent Era.
Fortunately, that was at least Ciles' area of expertise.
He took out the useful parts and put them aside, planning to look for his school notes the next day and synthesize them into a general framework for the two courses.
He remembered taking Professor Cabel's elective course. But he couldn't simply replicate Professor Cabel's lectures; that would be too inappropriate.
As he pondered this, Ciles casually pulled out a manuscript.
He glanced down at it, then suddenly paused, because he realized that the content of the manuscript didn't seem to have much to do with Professor Cabel's lectures.
This appears to be some random scribblings by Professor Cabel; a quick glance reveals words like "madness" and "shadow."
Thinking of the mysterious Fourth Age, the Shadow Age, Cyrus became somewhat interested in the contents of the manuscript.