Immortal Kingdoms

A young uncle in his early twenties with plain white clothes, waist-length silver hair, moreover bare feet walked along the wide sidewalks of one of many opulent, marble-sculptured streets while ignoring the weird looks directed at him.

He was holding a small booklet containing the laws,  regulations, and codes of conduct in the city. The first step to avoiding making trouble was naturally having preconceived knowledge of what to do and what not to do.

Flight is permitted individually and on flying mounts, whereas flying treasures such as carriages and chariots, or anything of mechanical nature is restricted by a flight certificate.

It is not too rare for chariots to clash in the sky, the resulting shockwaves to the readers harming the innocent below. Thus, the skies are a restricted area.

Boom!

"Ah! My eyes!"

A loud explosion blasted in the sky, chaotic energy waves intermixed with high ether radiations rippled from the sky, most people immediately going blind as ether carried too much visual information that couldn't be digested by normal brains.

Of course, protective gear such as lenses, sunglasses, and visors was a common commodity, most people withholding their use would either be very poor or simply too strong.

Leonardo looked up to see two massive vessels reminiscent of pirate ships crashing into one another, various blue waves of energy exploding consecutively as massive shards of metal and wooden planks descended like falling stars.

His pupils rippled and dilated, filling up his eyes completely black as he focused his martial intent on the descending shards, immediately calculating that their trajectory didn't place him into any immediate threats.

As he was curiously tracing the trajectories, his eyes landed on a level 16 woman with the aesthetics of a bookworm nerd. She was hugging a stack of massive books, her round face confused while looking all around in a panic.

This is but a natural reaction for everyone on this street was in a panic. However, the unnatural thing was that she wore massive, round, frameless spectacles.

Those weren't protective glasses with anti-radiation filters, but ordinary lenses for short eyesight and reading. What intrigued Leonardo was that this woman was behaving as though she was certain of her death, not panicking like a headless chicken, but a trace of regret and reluctance was in her eyes amidst the panic.

Boom!

A massive metal slab smashed down on her head

Only, when she shut her eyes awaiting death, even though she shouldn't have been aware of the timing of impact, she felt a powerful gust of wind smashing into her fragile figure and sending her stumbling back a few steps.

A young uncle with long silver hair stood in front of her while raising one hand that blocked the massive metal slab, and this uncle was now looking at her with a faint smile and a trace of curiosity.

"How did you know?"

He asked her directly.

"Eh? Know what?"

She responded in a timid voice, understanding the concept of the required strength needed to stop something so large and fast with one hand.

"You looked like you were resigned to your death, how did you know that you were going to die?" Leonardo placed down the heavy slab with a deep thud, though it barely left a mark on the wide sidewalk.

"Oh that, it was simple…" The woman breathed out in relief, thinking this uncle asked her a silly question.

She pointed at a newspaper on the pile of books, "This page highlights the scheduled flight routes and the designated airships with flight permits for today, I was on my way to report that the models of the two vessels are too far apart, and the speed of one of them will compensate for the delayed departure time, effortlessly catching up and overtaking the other vessel… Only, my house is too far, and I didn't expect to be caught in sudden traffic when the collision happened."

"Judging from the base model, altitude, wind resistance, impact force prior, during, and after the collision… If we take in the pure mass of the vessels and the cargo based on the statistics of both trade companies, it is easy to calculate how much of the aftershocks will be consumed by these parameters, and whatever is left will propel the shards from a free fall state into indiscriminate projectiles."

"Moreover, it is easy to determine which areas are being compressed with energy by simply looking around, you can see people struggling to get up or move, presumably since there isn't anything blocking the ether radiations from reaching their bodies. On the flip side, if you happen to feel like there weren't any ether radiations pressing on your body, that could only mean something large and durable enough is blocking them. Still, that could also only mean that whatever coming your way isn't intangible energy but imminent death…"

"Uncle is powerful and you have probably built some resistance to ether, your body gradually treating ether in the environment as something natural. However, too weak people like us, ether in the atmosphere is something unnatural; too unnatural it might as well be deadly…" The woman took a deep breath, patting her chest. "It's a pity, no one believed me when I said a crash will definitely happen, so many people died…"

Leonardo stared blankly at this woman who was on the verge of breaking into tears.

He had always prided himself on being smart, but he might need to take a few hundred steps back and allow this woman to take the pedestal instead. Just because she didn't feel any abnormal ether fluctuations in her immediate surroundings, she was certain that she'd die.

Even if she tried to run away, with her strength, no matter how far she was from the point of impact, she judged that the falling object was massive enough to engulf her in the radius of shockwaves, blasting her to death. Thus, she simply stood there in a panic awaiting death.

Were mortals even perceptive of ether? How does her brain even work?

This woman was to his shoulders in height, a bit chubby in the face, with shoulder-length green hair, and a pair of spirited hazel eyes.

She wasn't exceptionally beautiful but not ordinary either. Sure, as a level 16, no one would even pay her any mind in a sea of people. However, the processing speed of her brain was a bit too much wasn't it?

"What do you do for a living?" Leonardo suddenly asked, which was somewhat rude given her current mental state of grief.

Like, thousands of people just died, and she was blaming herself for having the ability to stop it but failing to do so. Thus, she stared blankly for a bit before regaining her senses, "I… I used to teach physics and research ancient texts about magic theories, but the donations to the school were cut short to support other practical research facilities, so I am now jobless…"

Her voice then became a soft whisper, "… Kinda homeless too…"

She was living in her research laboratory to cut up on spending funds, so it couldn't be helped. Just now, she spent most of her savings to rush to the teleportation hall and report the looming disaster, she never expected to make it late though.

Thinking about it, she felt like crying bitterly.

"Come work for me, then." Leonardo smiled faintly, as he didn't care about her weak strength, her brain was irreplaceable.

The woman was stunned.

She looked him up and down, doubtfully asking, "Don't you look broke and homeless too?…"

Leonardo's lips twitched, and he sighed, "I had some rough days outside, but I'm not homeless! I am actually a shopkeeper with my own house and property, you can work for me and I'll fund your magic theory research…"

Leonardo looked around and whispered to her ears, "Actually, I know a real magician, she taught me a little bit about magic theory too… You know, I can help you gain one or two enlightenments."

The woman gasped in disbelief...