KB2 - Chapter II: Abnormalities and a new life

Chapter II: Abnormalities and a new life – Book 2: Dancing with the dragon


Wu Renren sat in a classroom, his fingers were dancing on the keyboard as he quickly recorded the discussion of the other two students.

"Categorical Imperative, that is, getting rid of the immature state that one incurs, such as laziness and cowardice. When Kant elaborated on Categorical Imperative, he emphasized that everyone must have their rationality, which also known as the universal rationality."

Another student answered with a beautiful voice:

"The universal rationality born of Categorical Imperative has been explored and utilized to its maximum extent, so much that it has created our era – where rationality is supreme, infinite, and eternal, it can bring us an unprecedented power -"

Hearing this, Wu Renren put his hands down and frowned. Usually a very gentle and polite person, he instead directly interrupted the other party and looked up: "This fellow classmate, I think that you may have not read Foucault talking about the relationship between power and knowledge, and Heidegger's theory of technology -"

But he didn't say anything further, because when he saw the person sitting in front of him, he was already shocked without any words.

Only to see at the opposite of Wu Renren,

Sitting there was a long-brown hair, handsome, equable and elegant man in blue clothing, the Magus of Air, Echidna Stern.

The other party was gently looking at him in this moment, speaking with a beautiful voice:

"If there really exists unrestricted power and omnipotent rationality in the world, Thales, you really-"

"-don't want it?"

Thales woke up from his bed!

In the darkness, he clutched the YS dagger under the pillow and gasped in cold sweat.

Thales jumped out of the bed, his barefoot touched the expensive heat preserving clay tiles, his nose was filled with the nice smell of a tranquility perfume, only then, he realized where he was.

His chest and the other wounds wrapped around by bandages and tapes felt itchy and painful, which made him sober up a lot. He then calmed his breath and stuffed YS back under the pillow.

Still having an unrelieved panic, he moved backwards and lied down onto the enormous bed that was enough for twenty Thales to sleep.

The silk pajama rubbed against his body, making Thales feel very unaccustomed; the multi-springs bed was soft and smooth, obediently sunken along the shape of his body; the quilt, made of silk cover and northern goose feathers, wrapped around him tightly; and the pillow, woven with the smooth silk imported from the Southern coasts, was upholding his head and shoulders.

At this moment, Thales feels like he was being squeezed from head to toe.

Just like when the Magus of Air wrapped him in the air and slowly compressed it.

Thinking of this, Thales heart was a bit depressed. He rolled up the weightless quilt that was smooth and comfortable, get to the ground again, search around, found a corner, then curled up and lay down. The hard ground and thick wall gave him a familiar and secure feeling.
Thales slowly uttered a sigh of relief and laughed helplessly.

I didn't expect that I could also have a day like this. He knocked on the solid clay tiles and smiled at himself.

Ah, I really miss those little guys in the sixth house - hope that Yara can take care of them.

But the piece of memory that he just found in his dream made his relaxed heart abruptly tightened again.

Dream is the reflection of subconscious. The memories of previous life are probably the deepest hidden pieces in his subconscious, but this time, even Echidna Stern appeared in his dream.

“So after all, I am truly concerned about that maniac’s words?" In the darkness, Thales muttered.

The brief encounter with the magus from a few hours ago flashed through his mind. The magus's sometimes rational and irrational behaviors, his mysterious magicen power, and the almost inhuman immortal body gave Thales’ heart a deep chill.

Also, there is that sentence of him.

"It seems that you don't know your essence, child."

This sentence emerged in his painful brain again.

Thales forced himself to drive away these unwanted disconsolate and fear emotions, and then calmed down to analyze the words of the magus.

According to Echidna, I’m just like him, a mag-- no, only a person who has the potential to become a magus.

From what Echidna’s expressed, people with this potential are quite rare, which is a good thing for me.

But for now, the magi don’t seem to be a type of character welcomed by this world.

What Echidna said could be strongly considered as his subjective point of view, but if only part of his words is true, about the war between magi and human, then the magi is truly an existence hunted by almost everyone and killed off right after any of them could see the light.

Moreover, Thales thought with concern, Echidna’s body -- that blue light projected from the wound where his heart was pierced, he is truly no longer human?

And also Joel Gatos, according to him, he should have arrived at The Ruin very early, so he must also hear Echidna’s words – Thales slightly clenched his fists – did he also know about the fact that I "lost control" in front of the magus?

If Joel knows, then will Gilbert and King Kaiser know? What will they think of me?

There are too many questions.

For example, my father, the king who is extremely indifferent and cold.

For example, I am clearly seven years old, but the Lamp of Blood that blessed by the gods was actually from twelve years ago.

For example, my own origin, my lineage and their meaning for this Kingdom.

For example, why the news of my return must be so confidential - Joel and Gilbert, those two guys truly acted like a bunch of thieves who just stole me back.

For example, what is truly going on in this world, medieval ecology? High fantasy? Steampunk?

Thales patted his head.

Not like this, I couldn’t figure out anything - my basic understanding of this world is still too shallow.

Alas, I’m just like a primary student starting from the basic of basics!

Thales reluctantly released a breath.

But his eyes immediately became serious.

Initiation, study, these things can come slowly.

But.

There is one thing that must be solved.

It is about my life and my body.

He restarted thinking about the magus’s words:

"It seems that you don't know your essence, child."

"But it doesn't matter, everyone has lost control for the first time, and we all started from ignorance."

Thales held his hands in the dark and recalled the "losing control" incident.

Echidna used magicen to compress me within the air and prepared to pinch me into a ball.

The inside of my own body boiled like being burned.

I saw the energy ball in his hand, which should be the so-called "air wall."

The energy ball turned red and suddenly appeared in front of me.

Then--

Wait a minute!

Thales seemed to have caught a key factor.

Blood, and a burning sensation!

Thales sat up slowly.

Clyde.

That name flashed in his mind.

He also experienced this sensation of blood boiling before, it was that two times when Clyde was beating and abusing him. And what these two incidents, and also the encounter with Echidna, have in common is his blood, he bled!

Thales thought that the burning sensation in his body was caused by the " divine miracle" in Gilbert’s words, activating when his blood drips onto the ground.

It seems now what Echidna calls "losing control" was also at the moment when the burning sensation appeared.

Thales suddenly realized that the first time he “lost control” wasn’t when he was in front of Echidna.

His real first time “losing control” was still with Clyde.

When Clyde tried to kill Carina, that bastard should be holding my YS dagger!

Then how did the dagger suddenly appear in my own hands?

Just as strange as when the energy ball suddenly appeared in front of me!

Clyde

The bleeding.

A burning sensation.

The dagger.

Echidna.

The energy ball.

Joel and Gilbert

The Lamp of Blood.

Thales closed his eyes and found himself unable to clarify these chaotic elements.

Too many.

Too messy.

But he wasn’t discouraged, on the contrary, there was a long-lost excitement emerging from the bottom of his heart.

Categorizing the complicated and chaotic events, setting up hypothesis and theoretical framework, eliminating irrelevant variables, summarizing using cause and effect logic, and finally verifying the completeness of the theory.

And moreover – there is the “uncertainty” that can never be confirmed, the “endogenous” that can never be ruled out, meaning no theory can ever approach the perfect “quasi-experimental method” and “counterfactual analysis”.

Isn't this a tempting puzzle that social science can never solve perfectly, and also my most favorite game back then?

Moreover, this time, it is not a multi-causal social phenomenon, that no one knows where to start and cannot be verified, but a single phenomenon in my own body, which can be verified repeatedly!

When Thales opened his eyes again, his pupils in the darkness were already full with the desire for challenges.

He tried to calm down and clarify the phenomenon he was facing.

There are few samples, too many variables, simple mechanism, so a complicated qualitative comparison analysis (QCA) is not desirable.

Directly using the most basic – Mill’s methods of induction - is enough.

First, select cases and incidents with bleeding and losing control as keywords.

He slowly closed his eyes, the familiar feelings rushed back to Thales’ brain, and the various chaotic elements and factors were quickly arranged in his consciousness.

According to the purpose of this research, there is still a chronological order for each sample to determine whether different "conditions" (not "causes") and "results" appear or not.

Each incident flashed quickly in front of his eyes, removing the incident sample with too many missing values, combining the conditions and results of each incident, and then distinguishing between levels and categories.

A clear and organized table emerged in his brain, and four observable comparison incidents were arranged in it:

Sample 1:

Condition 1.1: Clyde beat me for the first time. Condition 1.2: Bleeding. Result 1: There was no abnormality.

Sample 2:

Condition 2.1: Clyde beat me for the second time and was ready to kill Carina. Condition 2.2: bleeding. Result 2: Losing control, the dagger teleported to my own hands.

Sample 3:

Condition 3.1: Echidna was ready to kill me. Condition 3.2: Bleeding. Result 3: Losing control, his energy ball appeared in front of me.

Sample 4:

Condition 4.1: I verified my bloodline in front of Joel, Gilbert and also the lamp. Condition 4.2: Bleeding. Result 4: There was no abnormality.

Enumeration finished, starting the comparison.

Seeking the same differences and summarizing by induction.

The table was slowly simplified, normalized, and then combined to form a paragraph.

Thales blinked softly.

Conclusion: When encountering a murder incident while bleeding, there is a chance that the so-called "losing control" will appear – surrounding objects or energy will be displaced to varying degrees.

No, this conclusion is still too preliminary.

First, the sample size is still too small. Second, some disturbance variables cannot be excluded.

Then, the "murder incident" seems too board, it may be a false mechanism, could it be something that was triggered by the murder incident, and that thing is the real cause of “losing control”?

In addition to that, I must find a way to take that lamp into consideration.

Finally, it can only prove the relevance of several things, while the cause and effect logic is still insufficient.

In any case, Thales turned to lie down - at least I have a preliminary conclusion about "losing control."

The next research direction -

As Thales uttered a sigh, he suddenly felt a little tired in his brain.

So after all, he rubbed the temples on both sides, thinking about these things is still too much for a seven-year-old brain?

But he was immediately surprised to find out that something wasn’t right.

The logics summarizing and interpreting from just now, he should at least need to write them down on a draft paper with a pen.

But I was actually doing it in my own brain – almost instantly?

After a long while.

Thales patted the floor and felt the pain in his brain.

Sure enough, from magicen to losing control, from the so-called bloodline to the efficiency of this monster-like thought processing - this body, this brain...

There are abnormalities.

Thinking that, Thales slowly went to sleep.

——————————————————

When Thales was politely awakened by Gilbert, he found himself back on the bed and was neatly covered in the quilt.

"Thales, my honored little gentleman, a good day to you."

Gilbert respectfully opened the curtains, and the afternoon sun shone through the huge windows, making this luxurious and comfortable room luminous.

Gorgeous heat preserving clay tiles with the Stella crest, lounge sofas made of giant Dasia olivacea skin, an enormous copper bed with four legs, huge Limestar chandeliers on the ceiling, and a covered hearth built inside the wall, were all presented in front of Thales’ vision.

All of this constantly reminded him that his life had changed.

Unbelievable, just a few hours ago, he was still a beggar in some criminal gang, living precariously like a man walking on thin line.

And now, he was the descendant, the bloodline of the sovereign of the entire Stella kingdom.

"Now it is two o'clock in the afternoon, I sincerely recommend that you get up and eat at this time. It can effectively promote your body's recovery and maintenance." The middle-aged nobleman used a tepid tone, but Thales can feel the urging meaning in it.

"And," Gilbert blinked in a friendly manner and smiled: "For the sake of his Majesty, our first class will begin in late afternoon."

"I think you must have a lot of questions, and I am happy to answer them."

With half-opened eyes, Thales yawned while he took off the uncomfortable silk pajama, groping, and arbitrarily putting on the aristocratic clothes that Gilbert had prepared.

“Very nice,” he said lazily, still with half- opened eyes. “Class is what I like the most.”

Also, Thales closed his eyes and thought quietly: I slept very well, who put me back from the ground to the bed?

“Mister Thales, you must really like this pant."

"What?"

"Because you are putting it on your head."

"What? My moral integrity, this is a pant?"

"Mister Thales, it seems you also have a soft spot for that button coat."

"Oh, it's a coat that's worn outside."

"Mister Thales, I think you will need the belt next to your left hand."

"Ah, well, thank you, no wonder why this always fell."

An eternity later.

"Mister Gilbert."

"Yes?"

"Please help me put on this damn clothes."

"Very happy to comply, my honored little gentleman."

End of chapter II – Next chapter: The scarlet Star

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Translator’s note: Now you have it, a chapter full of scientific analysis thanks to our author being a social science student.

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) was a German philosopher who is a central figure in modern philosophy. You could check out the principals of his works here: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/#Bib  He proposed some ‘interesting’ theories about human morality and rationality (which seems to be lacking in many transmigrating protagonists ha ha)

John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 8 May 1873), usually cited as J. S. Mill, was a British philosopher, political economist, and civil servant. He’s the author of “A System of Logic”, a book in which he formulated the five principles of inductive reasoning that are known as Mill's Methods (which were used by Thales in this chapter)

Paul-Michel Foucault (15 October 1926 – 25 June 1984), generally known as Michel Foucault (French: [miʃɛl fuko]), was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, social theorist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions.

Martin Heidegger (26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher and a seminal thinker in the Continental tradition and philosophical hermeneutics, and is "widely acknowledged to be one of the most original and important philosophers of the 20th century."

Dasia olivacea is a species of skink-lizard native to Southeast Asia.