With two guests arriving at once, Ethan took the opportunity to entertain them.
He didn't need to worry about Sheryl. She had come with Modred and hadn't met Ethan before today. Greeting Ethan, the host, was enough. After that, she followed Modred to tour her ship.
Unlike Sheryl, Hermione was an old acquaintance of Ethan's. Although Ethan looked a little unfamiliar now, a big reason she had come to visit "her home" with Illya this time was to see Ethan.
"So this is where you live."
"Yes. Isn't it different from what you imagined?"
"I thought a god would live on a mountain peak inaccessible to ordinary people, or some other magical and beautiful place..."
The interior of the Artemis was filled with cabins for various purposes. For Hermione, the only highlight was the incredible futuristic technology.
Many things she had only seen in novels or movies. She never expected to find even more advanced real-life versions here. Speaking of which, what kind of combination was "god" and "high-tech"?
The most special sight on the ship was viewing the endless cosmic starry sky through the glass in the cockpit. Being in the vast universe, surrounded by boundless dark starry space, felt quite unique.
Ethan and the others were tired of seeing it, but for Hermione, it was very novel.
"Okay, the view here is also amazing."
"You get tired of it after looking at it for a long time, because it hardly ever changes."
"Do you stay in the same place all the time? Isn't this a spaceship?"
"Even when sailing, the view outside the window doesn't change much, because the universe is too vast."
While showing Hermione around, he briefly described how vast the universe was.
Although Hermione was a top student, she was still quite young. Plus, she had been suddenly drawn into the magical world. The sheer amount of new knowledge about magic was enough for her to learn, leaving her no time or energy to broaden her horizons. Furthermore, the era Hermione lived in hadn't entered the new century yet and wasn't in the age of information explosion, unlike later generations who could access all sorts of information online.
After getting a general idea of the vastness of the universe, Hermione finally understood what Ethan meant. After watching the view outside the window for a while longer, she followed Ethan to tour the island.
This island, which was being converted into a divine realm, had rather abnormal weather recently, with constantly changing rain, snow, wind, and thunder.
The turbulent orange ocean seemed to be brewing something, and the sun that occasionally illuminated the entire world emitted vigorous life energy. Ethan noticed that the plants on the island had also become more vibrant.
In addition, after Ethan had "created" the first living creature, several more types of animals had gradually appeared on the island.
This included a new unicorn, two pegasi, and common animals like rabbits and deer.
Perhaps after some time, this world would complete its transformation. The ocean would return to its original blue color, and by then, more creatures should appear in this world.
However, for now, this was a strange place with erratic weather, which could even be described as going crazy.
"You didn't come at the best time. This place is undergoing some changes recently, so the weather is a bit strange."
Hermione had only been touring for a short while when she encountered strong winds, heavy snow, and a thunderstorm. Even as a witch, she was somewhat disheveled. Fortunately, Ethan was there to protect her. Otherwise, it would have been more than just disheveled.
After touring for a bit, Ethan realized that Illya and the others who had been following behind had disappeared at some point. There was nothing strange about this. This was their home. What was there to tour in their own house?
Hermione looked around some more. Although the Artemis was large, it didn't take long to tour it all at once.
"Do you feel like the place isn't very big?"
"Much smaller than I imagined."
The Artemis wasn't really that large a spaceship. Subtracting the engine room and other cabins, and with private bedrooms off-limits, there weren't many places to see.
Even letting Hermione experience some of the equipment on the ship didn't take too much time, and she had seen everything there was to see.
"So when you're bored here, you go to other worlds through that room? Just like you came to mine before."
"Not necessarily just when bored, sometimes there's something we want to get. For example, the magical knowledge from your world is quite interesting."
"So what kind of worlds have you been to?"
Ethan thought for a moment and briefly described the worlds he had visited.
Worlds where humans had turned into mindless zombies due to a virus.
Worlds where humans were caught between the two major forces due to the conflict between Heaven and Hell.
Worlds that looked like modern cities but had various amazing powerful individuals, and these people would uphold justice as heroes.
And high-tech worlds equivalent to future civilizations.
"The blonde girl you saw when you arrived is from a world with relatively advanced technology. There, humans have already entered space and formed immigrant fleets to explore and colonize various parts of the galaxy."
"That girl isn't someone from the ship?"
"The one with the ponytail is a member of our crew. The other one with slightly pink hair is a friend she invited."
As Ethan said this, he suddenly remembered that Hermione was British.
"What are you thinking?"
Hermione had been paying attention to Ethan's expression. When he suddenly paused and stopped talking, with a slightly strange look on his face, she knew he must have thought of something. And looking at that odd expression...
"Did Illya mention that person's name to you?"
"Which one? The one with pink-blonde hair or the one with the ponytail?"
"The blonde one with the ponytail."
"No."
Ethan suddenly found this quite interesting, wondering if Hermione recognized the famous "Filial Son of Britain."
"Her name is Modred."
"Modred? That name sounds familiar..." Hermione didn't immediately think of it, but Miss Know-it-all had read plenty of books, and she quickly remembered why the name sounded familiar. "Modred wasn't the Knight of the Round Table who caused King Arthur's death?"
She hadn't considered that possibility. After all, Modred was a figure from legend. Whether such a person even existed in reality was uncertain. Even if they did, it was from who knows how many years ago.
Also, this Modred was a girl. She didn't recall any female Knights of the Round Table.
"That's the one."
"Oh!"
Hermione's first reaction was that she just had the same name as that Knight of the Round Table. But she noticed Ethan's expression and finally understood the true meaning of his words.
"You mean... she is that Modred?"
"Back then, I had just started training in magic not long before, and I went to the era of King Arthur..." He briefly described his relationship with Arthur, and Hermione finally understood why Modred was a girl and why she appeared in this place.
However, compared to that, it was more noteworthy that Ethan had actually studied magic with the renowned Merlin.
At the same time, from the experiences Ethan described, she also got a general idea of his past, including how he went from an ordinary person to a mage with some skill, then ascended his life level, and became a true god.
"That's incredible."
"I've talked so much about myself, what about you? How have you been doing recently?"
When Ethan left, Hermione was in her fourth year. He left right at the end of the fourth year.
Illya and the others went back for another year, and Hermione coming to visit at the end of this school year meant she had finished her fifth year.
Hogwarts has seven years in total. Finishing the fifth year means wizards have completed all basic and intermediate courses. The next two years are for advanced study and improvement.
In the original storyline, Hermione's next two years would not have been peaceful at all, spent almost entirely in chaos and fighting.
As for now...
Voldemort was finished, and the magical world underwent a very thorough reshuffle. Hogwarts was not affected by this turmoil at all. After Ethan provided help and appropriate reminders, Dumbledore made calm arrangements and successfully resolved all problems.
Only the fact that Voldemort's last Horcrux turned out to be Harry Potter was a bit surprising to everyone. But Harry showed the protagonist's extraordinary nature and successfully survived this ordeal, contributing his strength in the great battle against Voldemort.
Aside from Harry, ordinary students like Hermione didn't have much chance to participate in this major event and could only stay in school and study obediently.
This meant that Hermione's current book and theoretical knowledge surpassed that of her counterpart in the original plot at the same time, but her practical skills might be slightly lower, because there weren't as many opportunities for real combat.
"Sounds like things are going well."
It was good that that world had stabilized. Ethan and the others now had another world they could wander around in when they were bored.
"Also, I'm learning some things from Illya and Rin..."
Hermione glanced at Ethan next to her, observing his reaction.
"You don't mind, do you?"
"Of course not."
Ethan's expression remained largely unchanged from beginning to end. This discovery made Hermione a little disappointed, but after the disappointment, she was also a bit confused. Did she want him to mind or not mind? Or did she just want to see more of a reaction?
She decided not to think about that question for now and followed Ethan to visit other worlds. Ethan had just mentioned building a new spaceship in a certain world, and she really wanted to see what kind of world that was.
Also, she wanted to confirm some things.
(To be continued.)
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