The Legendary Method Actor

They walked in comfortable silence until they reached the heavy outer doors and stepped out to the outside world in Solhaven City.

A sturdy travel carriage with reinforced wooden siding and a team of four strong horses was waiting for them near the curb. The driver offered a respectful nod. Svane immediately moved to the back of the carriage, effortlessly hoisting the massive chest onto the reinforced roof rack and securing it with thick leather straps.

But the chest was only the beginning. For the next ten minutes, Svane systematically dismantled the towering mountain of Rina's shopping haul, strapping lockboxes, frost-silk garment bags, and oversized parcels to practically every available surface of the vehicle. By the time the Gold Aegis was finished, the carriage had undergone a comical transformation.

It no longer looked like the sleek, sturdy transport of a nobleman, but rather the overflowing, over-encumbered wagon of a traveling merchant. Bags hung from the side lanterns, the roof rack was stacked three tiers high, and the heavy carriage suspension visibly groaned and sank an inch or two under the sheer volume of baggage.

Rina practically bounced on her heels as she climbed into the passenger cabin, already chattering about how much she missed the fresh air of the Greywood Domain.

Before Ray followed her inside, he paused. He kept one hand resting on the wooden frame of the carriage door and slowly turned around.

He looked up at the mundane, physical facade of the Solhaven Academy building. To the common folk of the city, it looked like an elite, unapproachable fortress of knowledge.

Ray thought back to his very first day in this city. He remembered walking up to those imposing gates as a sick boy from a minor noble house from the countryside, who was only admitted due his perfect score in the academic part of the entrance exams. Now, he was leaving as someone with loyal companions and a reforged body that can take on a Gold Aegis.

Goodbye for now, I will be back soon.

Ray thought silently, staring at the stone walls.

He stepped into the carriage, pulling the door shut behind him. The driver cracked the reins, the horses surged forward, and the long journey back to the Greywood Domain finally began.

The rhythmic, swaying clatter of the carriage wheels against cobblestone slowly gave way to the softer, uneven thud of packed dirt roads. The transition marked the official end of the capital’s paved infrastructure and the true beginning of the untamed wilderness stretching across the kingdom of Eldoria.

Sitting in the high quality velvet-lined interior of the carriage, Ray looked out the window at the rolling plains passing by.

He couldn't help but reflect on the stark contrast between this journey and his last. When he first traveled this exact route months ago, heading toward Solhaven City, he had been a weak, anxious boy crammed into a modest, rattling transport, praying to whatever gods listened that they wouldn't be ambushed by bandits or feral beasts. Now, he was traveling in absolute luxury, flanked by a fiercely loyal attendant and guarded by a certified Gold Aegis. The wilderness outside no longer felt like a looming threat; it was simply scenery.

To pass the long, monotonous hours of the first few days, Ray utilized the heavy travel desk built into the carriage wall. He unrolled the crumbling, old-world parchments Master Elias had shoved into his chest at the gate.

Looking at the completely disorganized stack, Ray deduced that Master Elias had likely just grabbed a random handful of un-deciphered parchments from his many stacks in his study, assuming it would be a good busy-work assignment to keep Ray occupied.

System. Initiate Partial Immersion: Eccentric Scholar.

Ray’s eyes took on a highly analytical gleam. He activated the Eccentric Scholar's Pattern Recognition and Cryptic Acuity skills.

Staring down at the archaic, faded ink. It was a slow, frustrating puzzle, but with his heightened ability to intuitively identify patterns in ciphers, the ancient script slowly began to unravel in his mind.

The first few parchments proved to be agonizingly mundane. Ray spent an hour translating what amounted to nothing more than ancient shipping manifests and grain ledgers.

However, the fourth parchment was different.

It wasn't a ledger, but a torn page from an old-world traveler's journal. As Ray deciphered the text, his eyebrows rose in surprise. The author casually wrote about trading rare ores with Dwarves, drinking in subterranean taverns with Orcs, and working together with a band of Beastkin mercenaries to guard the caravan they were escorting against Elven rangers.

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Ray paused, lowering the parchment. It hit him suddenly. He had been transmigrated into this world for four years now, yet he had never encountered a single person from another race. Not a dwarf, not an elf, not a beastkin. Only humans.

Scholar,What happened to other races in this world?

Ray projected his question into the Ambient Presence of his mind.

Scholar: "They existed, my dear boy. There are many mentions of them in the older texts. However, within the borders of the Kingdom of Eldoria, it is recorded that these races were either systematically wiped out or suddenly vanished entirely."

The Eccentric Scholar answered immediately, drawing upon the vast web of knowledge Ray had absorbed from the Academy Library and the Royal Archives.

What about the rest of the continent?

Ray asked.

Scholar: "The Aethelguard continent is dominated by the three major human powers: Eldoria, Valoria, and the Free Marches of Solara. There are records of half-breed Elves and Dwarves operating within the borders of the Solara. However, verified sightings of pure-blooded non-human races have grown exceedingly rare since the end of the Unification Wars over two thousand years ago. To the modern Eldorian citizen, they are little more than myth."

The Eccentric Scholar explained, his phantom form pacing the mental chamber.

Fascinated by the historical context, Ray set the journal page aside and eagerly unrolled the next parchment.

This one was heavily damaged, but as Ray used Pattern Recognition to fill in the missing information, his jaw nearly dropped.

It was a theoretical research paper detailing an ongoing experiment to create "portable warp technology."

Ray stared at the translated text in disbelief. Modern arcane technology in the Kingdom of Eldoria was impressive, but spatial transport was massively restricted. Current teleportation required colossal, immovable gate structures, like the ones in major cities and the Academy, that consumed astronomical amounts of energy by directly tapping into the continent's leylines. The idea of a portable, localized warp device defied modern magical physics.

It led Ray to a staggering realization: the old world might have been a chaotic, untamed era, but their arcane technology was vastly superior to the current age. Humanity had regressed.

Eager to see the schematic, Ray quickly scanned down the page, only to let out a heavy sigh of disappointment.

It was only the introductory page. It detailed the theory and the initial power requirements, but the actual runic array and the rest of the experiment were missing, lost to time or buried in another of Master Elias's dusty piles.

Ray carefully rolled the ancient documents back up, his mind buzzing with the implications of lost races and forgotten technologies. By the time he packed his desk away, the sun had dipped below the horizon, and the chill of the open road had begun to set in. Their nights on the road, however, were a stark departure from standard mercenary camping.

During their first evening stop by the roadside, Svane began gathering dry wood, fully expecting a meager meal of hardtack and dried rations. Instead, Ray casually pulled the glowing, ivory Magic Vessel from his Bag of Holding. With a whispered command, he filled the hollowed horn to the brim with rich, premium Mead, handing the overflowing vessel to a highly bewildered Gold Aegis. Meanwhile, Ray uncorked his Bottle of Boundless Tea, pouring a steaming, perfectly brewed cup of herbal tea for Rina, while activating the Thermal Cube to bathe their campsite in a balmy, comfortable heat.

Traveling as a wealthy noble certainly had its perks.

By the seventh day of their journey, the carriage pulled into a wide, secluded clearing surrounded by a thick copse of trees to rest the horses during the midday sun.

Taking advantage of the break, Ray stood in the center of the clearing, acting as an instructor while Rina ran through her combat forms.

"You are overcommitting on your attack, Rina. Your speed is excellent, but your footwork needs to anchor your weight. If you miss a strike like that against a seasoned combatant, your center of gravity is completely exposed."

Ray advised, easily sidestepping her aggressive lunge and tapping the back of her knee with his foot.

Rina nodded, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead, and immediately reset her stance. She launched another flurry of strikes, this time keeping her steps tight and grounded. Ray blocked the incoming blows with his forearms, noting with quiet pride just how much faster and more precise she had become since they started training together in his personal training room in the Spire of Sages.

After a few more exchanges, Ray called a halt to her drills. He rolled his shoulders, feeling the heavy, restless vitality pulsing through his core.

With no Academy instructors or watching nobles hovering nearby, Ray decided it was finally time to test the true limits of his reforged body. He turned his attention to his vanguard, who was quietly maintaining his armor near the carriage.

"Svane, Can you be my sparring partner?"

Ray asked.

Svane looked up, slightly surprised.

"My Lord? Are you certain? I do not wish to accidentally injure you."

Svane responded respectfully.

"Hand-to-hand only. No weapons, no magic. I need to know exactly where I stand. Do not hold back completely, or this exercise is useless."

Ray said as he rolled up his sleeves.

Svane offered a respectful bow, setting his gauntlets aside and stepping into the center of the clearing.

As they squared off, the sheer physical contrast between the two was staggering. The Aetheric reforging and relentless cultivation had triggered a sudden, explosive growth spurt in Ray over the last couple of months. At only thirteen years old, he had recently grown a full inch taller than Rina, who was twenty. He possessed a lean, tightly coiled physique that buzzed with hidden density.

Yet, standing across from the Gold Aegis, Ray still looked entirely outmatched. Svane was a veritable mountain of a thick battle hardened physique. Even with Ray’s recent growth spurt, the top of the young lord’s head barely reached the center of the towering vanguard's broad chest.

The veteran warrior took a relaxed, defensive stance, clearly intending to let Ray lead the exchange so he could gently deflect the boy’s strikes.