Chapter 134: Berries and Raven

If you were to look for the most suitable place to travel within the North, you could not avoid the area surrounding Westmin Fortress.

Perhaps describing this chosen land as "just right" is itself just right. The pleasant climate features distinct seasonal changes; while avoiding year-round unchanging scenery, it maintains comfortable temperatures for the vast majority of days.

The middle reaches of the Tem River, abundant and gentle in flow, like the softest, smoothest part of a silk ribbon, spread between the forest and the meadows, dotted with jewels polished by the Northmen over centuries.

Westmin Fortress is precisely one of the most dazzling among them, even showing a trend of overshadowing Dunling, the place where the throne is kept.

Speaking of this name, perhaps the vast majority would associate it with the twin towers and sloped wall patterns on gold coins, thinking it represents a set of architecture embodying the peak of the kingdom's military might.

Admittedly, this notion is not wrong, but the title "Westmin" has been generously shared with the city that rose around the century-long project, and the range encompassing several days of carriage travel around it, becoming a synonym for the region.

In short, places with Westmin Fortress as the administrative center can basically be called the Westmin region.

In fact, after several stops, the ship had already approached the outskirts of this region; some fruits brought back each time the ship docked, which were somewhat primitive in form but tasted good, became the outsiders' first impression of the local rich natural gifts. Among them, blueberries and a summer specialty berry, probably related to raspberries, were especially popular.

In this season when the weather is gradually warming, the warm, slightly scalding sunlight paired with the river breeze and water vapor on the deck, complemented by the green vegetation on both banks, is the best summer combination. Add a lounge chair and a platter of berries, and a dull journey becomes an enjoyment.

One can imagine that after arriving at Westmin Fortress, carrying out activities under the shade of trees on green lawns would be a very pleasant experience.

The bumps of river navigation are indeed much less than those of sea routes; the wide river surface does not greatly restrict the width of the hull, which makes the deck a very suitable place for setting up tables, chairs, and miscellaneous personnel. Kraft spread out his books and fruit platter here, and both his spirit and his eyes got some rest.

In this happy time, he chatted with Martin, who was equally idle, about the local natural scenery of Westmin, the location and architecture of Rivers University, and how much less suitable the North is for survival by comparison. He also listened to the other party seriously explain the blood relationship between the "Duke of Westmin" and the royal family, and the inevitability and legitimacy of controlling this military and shipping strategic point not far from Dunling.

Although with Kraft's country bumpkin level of understanding, he only understood that the one sitting on the throne and Westmin were at most cousins, the greater value lay in discovering that this fellow Martin was indeed not simple.

A palm calloused enough to grip freshly washed, slippery fruit; that sword at his side was probably not just for show.

Who knows, he might have some connection to Westmin Fortress, yet he was also delivering letters to the university's academic gatherings; his background was very complex.

How did such a person get dispatched to deliver a letter? Kraft did not want to delve too deeply into this question; anyway, it had nothing to do with him for the time being. He just wanted to maintain a good mood and temporarily forget the dull pain coming from his left arm, or whatever other sensations.

In that chaotic intersection of layers, something that might or might not be called an accident occurred. As the center of the storm, that stone prism was affected in the same way, collapsing and disintegrating into small pieces.

Then, just like a New Year's product feature from a certain Vortex Mark company, it clipped through the model and got stuck in his left arm. Because it was not a violent piercing from ordinary trauma, Kraft found that these things fused with the tissue could not be forcibly pulled out, and they displayed an utterly outrageous affinity.

The body naturally accepted them, like sesamoid bones that had always been placed there, without any rejection reaction, just as it was when it was intact, placed in the core of the writhing deep creature.

Although miraculously, no large-scale inflammation, blood vessel obstruction, or similar things that Kraft feared most occurred, this still caused a certain degree of mobility impairment and abnormality in pain and temperature sensation, and resulted in never being able to wear short sleeves in summer again.

He often felt electric-shock-like pain triggered from somewhere, or like ice spikes or needle tips burned red by candle flames wandering through his muscles and bones. He could overcome their impact on gross and fine motor skills through willpower, but... chronic illness is indeed tormenting.

He needed to consciously control the irritability brought by frequent symptoms so that it would not transfer to his attitude towards other people and things.

Unless he temporarily put aside a pile of troubling matters and gained rare tranquility on a trip taken on a whim—like now—would he obtain some pleasure snatched from a busy schedule.

Kraft was indeed very happy, but according to the law of conservation, happiness and energy are constant; when someone gains happiness in leisure, his excess energy might make others less happy.

Kup and Yin Feng believed the ghost story that "someone invited us on a free trip," packed their luggage, stuffed the money they had saved, and prepared to experience a relatively relaxed and pleasant journey. As a result, just a few days after boarding the ship, they found that things were a little different from what they imagined.

Kraft, having put down his surgical work, was suddenly as empty as a newly retired old man; the sense of unaccustomedness made him need to devote an appropriate amount of time and energy to any random proper matter.

Very fortunately, or rather unfortunately, this matter was an education and upbringing issue.

You cannot expect a person accustomed to "lifelong learning" to change their mindset just because the environment changed; the habit of regular teaching activities had already merged into the soul. Thus, two people experienced contemporary high-quality education, with academic pressure suddenly rising.

Because Yin Feng and Kup's foundations were at the same level, only one lesson plan needed to be prepared for two people with an age gap of half.

After unifying the content and increasing the load, some things that were originally vague intuitions were gradually quantified. Kraft had long had this feeling and finally confirmed the existence of the phenomenon: Kup's learning ability was actually a bit better than Yin Feng's.

【Strange.】

Kraft reviewed the results of the past month and discovered the existence of this difference. Compared with Kup, Yin Feng showed a slight weakness in memory and was slightly behind in the ability to accept new knowledge.

This matter quickly raised his vigilance; various negative cases regarding growth and development and child psychology lit up brightly in his mind.

Before Kraft arrived, Yin Feng's living state belonged to the counter-example of counter-examples. From a material perspective, she was malnourished and happened to hit the second growth spurt of puberty; no one knew how long it had lasted.

Psychologically, as she entered puberty, the changes would also be huge, but then immediately came the major life event of her only relative falling seriously ill and passing away.

In child neuropsychological development, she basically stepped on every mine that social factors could possibly be; problems were highly probable, and no problems would be an accident. This scared someone into immediately reviewing whether he had paid attention to nutrition issues recently; besides that, he rummaged through his memory overnight and hand-drew a "Raven."

Um, the full name is "Raven Progressive Matrices," commonly used to test intelligence levels.

"Yin Feng, could you come over for a moment? There's a little game; do you want to try it?"

"Of course, Mr. Kraft." Hearing the summons, Yin Feng put down the spelling homework in her hands and came to his side very obediently.

"Here's the thing: look, there is a big picture here, but a piece is missing." Putting on a work attitude, Kraft used the gentle attitude he had accumulated over the past few days, imitating the patience he learned from pediatric teachers, ensuring minimal interference from external factors. "You need to choose one piece from the six small pieces below to fill the gap."

"I understand. I choose the fourth one." The girl's eyes moved back and forth between his expression and the paper several times; after a slight hesitation, she chose that very obvious correct answer, simple enough to make one suspect if there was some trap hidden within.

The study during this period had placed quite a bit of pressure on her, especially after discovering that only with extra effort could she catch up to Kup; if possible, she did not want to disappoint Kraft.

Children's feelings are actually quite sensitive; limitations in experience do not prevent them from noticing the irritability that adults inadvertently display, which is not directed at them.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. I promise you, this is not a little test, okay? It's just a game; there are no right or wrong answers."

【This is a lie.】

White coats use this kind of excuse every day to trick children into taking tests, then hand out prizes to them on one side while discussing privately with the parents on the other.

And Yin Feng's situation was more complicated; there were no parents to talk to. Kraft's confidence in his own practice of psychological counseling and growth and development correction was basically zero. He could only silently pray that it was definitely not a neuropsychological development abnormality.

Yin Feng believed him; she just believed him... This trust made Kraft leave with a slight sense of guilt, waiting for her to complete the test independently.

About the time it took to squeeze out another paragraph of manuscript next door, Yin Feng handed the stack of papers back to him, offering a compliment that might or might not have been considered for his self-esteem.

"It was quite fun."

About thirty-plus minutes; in terms of experience, the completion time was on the long side.

"Thank you; you've been a great help."

The tester smiled, saw Yin Feng off, closed the door, and with some unease, flipped through the results, calculated the scores according to age, and inexplicably somewhat understood the mood of parents waiting outside for examination results.

Comparing age and raw scores, the result was above the 75th percentile, categorized as a good level. Not bad, huh? Kraft touched his chin, which hadn't been shaved in a few days; short stubble was emerging, not very obvious.

At least the rough intelligence test result was satisfactory; from her usual performance, there were no signs of bad behavior or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Was the comparison object the problem?

Considering Kup's huge transformation in impression from a lazy dog to his current state after experiencing the Salt Tide Zone incident, perhaps what changed was not just his personality. There is reason to speculate that without needing deeper contact, merely facing the impact of deep-layer events on the first layer could produce early beneficial changes to intelligence.

"Interesting." Kraft put away the scale, recorded this discovery in his notes, and hoped there would be no opportunity to collect a large sample to verify it.

That was unimportant for now; what was important was ruling out a terrible possibility. He stretched his body, stood up, returned to the small table on the deck, sat down, and continued to enjoy the blueberries and raspberry relatives he hadn't finished earlier.

His hand reached for the fruit platter, picked up a berry, and was about to throw it into his mouth, but stopped at his lips. Kraft held this blueberry up to his eyes, curiously observing its skin, which was darker and cleaner compared to its peers, and the difference in texture.

A deep purple, almost black color; the shape and size were also similar.

He examined the fruit platter closely; in the time it took for this back-and-forth, the berries inside had not only gone uneaten but had increased in number.

"Martin, do you still have stock?"

"Ah?" Mr. Messenger's equally bewildered voice came from below. He climbed onto the deck and took the slightly overripe blueberry.

The face, which had not been very expressive all along, took on a heavy and solemn look like summer skies rapidly filling with cumulonimbus clouds once he saw what he had been handed.

"Who gave you this 'blueberry'?"