Chapter 27: Naughty Child
A magic item that can store knowledge and various information?
Ethan's request wasn't high; in fact, mages had many similar methods, but Ethan mentioned an additional requirement: it needed to be able to continuously 'absorb' or 'copy' newly acquired books or other data into this magic item for his later convenience.
"Oh, that's a good idea, but I need to research how to implement it."
For mages of Merlin's level, powerful mental strength granted them incredibly strong memories; even knowledge they had never encountered could be memorized in their minds with very little time, without even worrying about forgetting or misremembering.
However, Ethan was far from reaching that level, making such a magic item very necessary.
Because he couldn't have a fixed residence like many mages and collect all the books he gathered. Based on the environment Ethan had described earlier, storing books was indeed a difficult problem – and precisely because Ethan currently needed to collect and carry a large number of books, this became the most troublesome issue for him at the moment.
"It would be great if there were some visual references."
Ethan certainly knew more visual references, even many kinds, such as the tablet computer he used in his previous life, which was a very convenient tool. He had even considered making something similar, powered by magic stones, thinking the resulting item might be even better to use.
However, because he had no understanding of magic stone technology, this was just part of a future contingency plan.
Besides that, the most suitable reference for Merlin was the wristband that recorded his information.
"Do you think this will work?"
"Oh?" Merlin took the thin white strip of band Ethan handed him. This item was very inconspicuous, usually hidden beneath his bracer, so even Merlin hadn't noticed it.
Now that he saw and touched it himself, Merlin also noticed its extraordinary nature: "Interesting, with this as a reference, I'll quickly get some ideas."
Ethan suddenly remembered that he had also obtained a magic stone and wasn't sure if its properties were the same, so he simply gave it to Merlin as well for him to study.
Seeing the magic stone, Merlin became even happier. He took the wristband and the magic stone and dove into his laboratory, not even bothering to say goodbye to Ethan.
A legendary mage was still a mage; when encountering something interesting, they would inevitably reveal some habits common to mages. It was just that Ethan had encountered too few mages before and didn't react immediately.
Arthur, who had been by his side the whole time, explained in a timely manner: "When Lord Merlin encounters something interesting, he tends to focus too much on that matter, neglecting other people or things, so I hope you won't feel offended by it."
"Oh, no!" Ethan waved his hand, "I was just wondering how long it would take Lord Merlin to make what I want."
Arthur had great confidence in Merlin's ability: "I believe it won't take long."
The two young men, who were certain to become partners and would drift on the seas and adventure in various planes together in the future, also took this opportunity to chat for a while to increase their understanding of each other.
In terms of age, Arthur was still a youth, only fourteen years old, much younger than Ethan.
Moreover, Arthur, who had just entered puberty, appeared somewhat thin and not very tall, coupled with his voice that was starting to change... Ethan couldn't help but feel like he was acting as a babysitter.
Arthur was very intelligent, and combined with his continuous careful observation of Ethan, the person who would take him to adventure in various worlds and learn about and witness all kinds of worlds and knowledge in the future.
So when Ethan showed a wry smile, he quickly guessed his thoughts.
Therefore, the young Arthur suggested that the two of them have a spar.
Anyway, the two of them had nothing to do now; chatting was a way to get to know each other, and so was sparring. As partners, it was also very necessary to understand their comrade's combat abilities, otherwise, when encountering an unexpected situation, you wouldn't know whether you should trust your teammate's strength to let them face it alone, or if you should worry about their safety and step in to rescue them.
Ethan also understood this point, so he didn't refuse Arthur's suggestion and directly nodded in agreement.
The result...
The result made Ethan very embarrassed!
Arthur might be young, but he was after all the king's biological son. Although it wasn't suitable to bring him directly back to the castle due to his background, the great mage Merlin was entrusted with raising and providing him with comprehensive instruction.
There was even less possibility of any difficulties in terms of food, clothing, and expenses, and coupled with the training methods Merlin had tailored for him since childhood, over a decade of uninterrupted training had made Arthur's strength far surpass that of ordinary people.
Looking at Ethan, who had been malnourished since childhood, a mage apprentice who started halfway and hadn't even gotten his foot in the door, had learned a few simple close-quarters combat techniques from a priest, and had just started practicing basic swordsmanship by himself...
After being hit hard by Merlin once, Ethan was taught a lesson by the young Arthur again, which made him quite depressed. Fortunately, although Arthur's foundation was solid, his strength wasn't strong enough due to his young age, and because he had been practicing diligently, he lacked real combat experience. Thus, Ethan won a few rounds in the later part, managing to save a little face.
"Your foundation is very good."
"Your foundation is too poor."
The two of them sparred for most of the day, inevitably employing the 'Mouth Jutsu' technique during their exchange to interfere with the opponent's performance. Precisely because of this, their relationship became much closer after the spar, and they spoke with fewer reservations.
"I've only been learning swordsmanship for a few months, and I've been practicing by myself."
Arthur nodded. If that was the case, Ethan's poor swordsmanship foundation was understandable. Furthermore, since Ethan was a mage, he would definitely spend a lot of time cultivating magical knowledge, leaving him even less time to practice swordsmanship.
"In that case, it's already quite remarkable that you have the strength you do now."
Ethan gave a wry smile. He wasn't sure about this point. Perhaps it was just because his foundation was too poor, which was why his initial progress was fast, and he might soon encounter a bottleneck – in close combat, he was at a great disadvantage due to his lack of strength. And strength, being limited by talent and living conditions, wasn't so easy to increase or improve.
As for Arthur, at only fourteen, his strength wasn't much weaker than his own. When he was a few years older and his body fully developed, Ethan estimated he wouldn't even be able to withstand a single sword strike from him.
"Perhaps I can consider finding something to improve my physical fitness?"
After all, he couldn't be sure what world he would go to in the future. While the Calm Sea was alright, he wasn't planning to just drift there for the rest of his life, waiting to die. He definitely had to push towards a wider world – in that case, the Sea of Storms became a chasm he had to cross. Besides having a better ship, a strong body could also increase the chances of success.
Besides this factor, there was also the matter of lifespan.
Now that he possessed the ability to travel through different worlds, without even mentioning eternal life, at least exceeding the lifespan of ordinary people had become a possibility.
Moreover, traveling back and forth between different worlds, time passed very quickly. If he didn't find a way to increase his lifespan, he might die of old age and frailty before even achieving his goals.
"That would be a great loss."
So, although Ethan seemed to be wandering around aimlessly during this time, in reality, he always had various plans for his future in his mind.
And then he constantly adjusted the order of these plans according to various unpredictable circumstances.
Initially, improving his strength to ensure he could protect himself could be considered accomplished.
Finding a method for continuous and systematic cultivation has now, after meeting Merlin, also gained some direction.
As for creating a magic item capable of storing a large amount of knowledge and data, which was a side task that needed to be resolved during cultivation, it also now had a direction with Merlin's help.
Once these two goals were completed, the next priorities were physical fitness and lifespan.
Ever since he confirmed that he could travel between planes, ideas in this regard had appeared in his mind, but his personal safety was more pressing, so he had to hide these thoughts deeply.
It wasn't until this moment that, due to the factor of physical fitness, he also began to consider how to increase his lifespan.
"Many planes can increase one's lifespan, the only trouble is I'm not sure if I can go to those worlds." Currently, the most reliable method is still to take things one step at a time, while diligently cultivating to become a mage as soon as possible.
According to Ethan's guess, many mages had means to increase their lifespan, perhaps learned from certain secret texts, or possibly realized on their own while cultivating various spells. He believed that as long as his magic power increased to a certain level, he could even solve the lifespan problem with his own abilities.
Relatively speaking, how to improve physical fitness was more troublesome – in fact, improving physical fitness could also indirectly increase vitality, and it would also enhance his combat power, making his life safer.
Currently, the most effective method for him was persistent exercise; there were no shortcuts.
This time, he also had a professional teacher, the future legendary king of Britain: Arthur Pendragon!
The young King Arthur seemed to have found the joy of being a teacher in Ethan. Almost every day at dawn, he would call Ethan up and apply the training he had done in his youth to Ethan without fail.
"Is this all the training you did when you were eight?"
After three days, Ethan, who had been feeling something was off, finally asked. And this sunny young King Arthur miraculously showed an embarrassed expression.
"Actually, I increased the amount of training I did before by several times to teach you. After all, I was too young back then and couldn't handle such a large volume of training at all."
"..."
Ethan tilted his head back and looked at the sky, never expecting that King Arthur, with his thick eyebrows, big eyes, and righteous face, was actually a mischievous and scheming child. Unfortunately, this expression didn't last for more than a few seconds before Merlin, who had been missing for several days, finally appeared, and also brought Ethan good news: what he wanted was ready.