No one knew how much time had passed.
Shawn awoke.
When he walked out of the little room, the Butcher was eating, a plate of broccoli, a plate of greens, and sliced boiled potatoes. The main course was wheat porridge.
"Eat." The Butcher gestured beside him.
Shawn's breakfast was set aside, placed on an iron plate, with a piece of sausage, some vegetables, sliced tomatoes, a small piece of smoked meat, and a slice of bread as the main course.
He was hungry.
Shawn sat down, took a bite of the bread, looking at the other's food, all vegetarian. He didn't touch the sausage and smoked meat in front of him, merely finished the bread and vegetables silently.
The Butcher didn't mind.
He stood up, pulled a rope, a crisp bell rang out, followed by the door opening. A maid walked in.
As this expressionless middle-aged maid passed by Shawn's side, he caught a faint scent of preservatives, almost identical to the smell in a morgue.
Breakfast was over.
Shawn cleaned up, avoiding looking at the maid's back, and softly said, "What should I do next?"
The Butcher's work was already completed.
On the massive iron rack beside him were blood-stained hooks. He seemed to like drinking, taking a swig, and said deeply, "Class."
"I will first arrange a teacher for you."
"However, she has a very bad temper and isn't in the tower right now, so for now, I'll teach you some general knowledge."
Class?
Shawn was silent for a moment, smiled wryly, nodding, "Alright."
This person had one good trait, he was open to advice.
The Butcher took out a pen and a sheet of white paper, drew a circle, extremely round, as if made with a compass, followed by twelve scales, divided into twenty-four sections, resembling a clock. He marked the position from 8 to 10, and drew a triangle, beginning to speak, "Here is the Dorne Kingdom."
"This is the place where this body once lived."
"The function of the Soul Resonance is to fully fuse the Otherworld soul with the native's memories, making you part of the world, not so easily found by those monsters."
"This process takes about three days; you are now on the first day."
In fact, Shawn had already noticed that the memories in his mind were completely different from everything he saw before him, that feeling of discord was so abrupt. Because in Sean's memory, the world was completely normal, probably at the level of civilization of the industrial revolution, with steam trains, factories, great cities, and countless diligent, hardworking, ordinary people striving for their livelihoods.
But everything he saw now was vastly different from the images in his memory.
"Here is where we are located."
The Butcher drew another circle outside the initial one, and continued, "Here is the real world, and here is the Illusion Realm."
Seeing it like this made it look more and more like a clock, because many who drew clocks didn't stop at just one circle, the outer layer had another circle surrounding it. The Butcher even drew solid lines between the two circles, fully forming a clock pattern with the earlier scales.
"Reality? Illusion?" Shawn asked in puzzlement.
The Butcher didn't care about Shawn's changes and continued, "This is the Bizarre Realm."
He had a rough, massive hand that was very steady, drawing what looked like a continental plate's outline, then dotting it with some clouds and mist, saying heavily, "This is the grey mist."
"It's everywhere in the world outside the high walls."
"This is our planet, Terra, Gaia, Blue Star, whichever you want to call it."
The Butcher's voice was somewhat heavy, and finally drew a planet encompassing everything, slowly saying, "This planet was once overrun, devoured by those monsters you saw before, and even more terrifying ones."
Shawn opened his mouth to ask something, but the Butcher interrupted him.
He pointed at the scales on the clock, continuing, "Do you know about the Zodiac in astrology?"
Shawn nodded slightly, saying, "I know a little."
The Butcher chuckled, his face full of rugged flesh, saying deeply, "Then it's much simpler."
"Our position is here, representing Scorpio of the Zodiac, symbolizing Death."
"These twelve scales form the 'Clockwork Nirvana Twelve Realms.'
"It is the miracle of destiny."
"And also the miracle of humanity."
"These things shouldn't be told to you now, but you are different from the others. Someone like you, who has to rely on the 'Confusion' to survive, certainly cannot live an ordinary life anymore."
"So consider this as an advanced start to your course on the Transcendent."
This information shocked Shawn's brain, entirely different from the memory knowledge acquired in the Soul Resonance.
Even more bizarrely, after learning this mysterious knowledge unknown to ordinary people, he actually felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.
He craved knowledge!
Damn it.
Shawn sensed something wasn't quite right.
"You've encountered the great detective, Morty Laine, it won't let you off easily."
"Given the robustness of your abilities, the more you know, the higher your chances of survival." The Butcher seemingly knew what happened yesterday and continued, "You must, to the extent of restraining excessive curiosity, learn as much as you possibly can."
"You can ask me questions now, but only about the content I mentioned just now."
"I killed a Soul-Sucking Monster yesterday."
"Indescribable illusions, they've already set their sights on you."
Shawn's head buzzed, as if suddenly experiencing tinnitus when Morty Laine was brought up again.
"This world was overrun once before?" Shawn gradually calmed down and began to ask questions.