Chapter 1 Talan Eyal

Talan Eyal, a brilliant elven scholar, expert in mathematics, mechanics, and natural history, and recipient of four lifetime honors from the Academy of Truth.

A person who immersed himself in scholarship, a diligent person, a person who could stay in the laboratory day and night, a person who worried Lucretia constantly about him collapsing from exhaustion at the research site. Now, this erudite scholar announced to everyone that he was helpless against the geometric light beam that had fallen from the sky.

Lucretia raised her head, her gaze passing over the crystal ball in front of her and falling on the window outside. The magnificent light was spreading from that direction. Even though it was midnight, the entire sea seemed to be bathed in "sunlight." And within the light, the mountain-like luminous geometric object still floated quietly on the sea surface, its smooth, luminous walls like cliffs, stretching across the sky and sea.

Another small boat crossed the luminous sea, heading towards the interior of the luminous geometric object, ready to pick up the research team near the "stone sphere" that had completed its shift. Lucretia sighed, withdrawing her gaze from the window and looking at the table beside her—a strange, gray sphere was placed on a架子 on the table.

The surface of the sphere had a rough, rock-like texture, and bizarre, irregular patterns covered its surface. It was unremarkable in appearance, yet it was filled with an unspeakable sense of mystery.

At the center of the huge geometric light object floating on the sea surface was a strange "stone sphere" with a diameter of ten meters, and the one in front of Lucretia... was a scaled-down, precise replica of the stone sphere. It was practically the only "result" of a large group of experts and scholars after so much research.

"Master Talan Eyal has now returned to Lightwind Harbor to rest; strictly speaking, he was 'kidnapped' back to Lightwind Harbor by his students," Lucretia shook her head, speaking to her brother across the crystal ball. "If he doesn't rest, he'll probably collapse from exhaustion out there—as an elf, collapsing at the age of five hundred would be far too premature.

"When he left, he seemed very frustrated, because this 'heaven-sent object' is simply beyond our understanding. Both the luminous area around it and the essence of the sphere at its center are a mystery to us.

"The researchers scraped some samples from the 'stone sphere,' but the analysis results showed that they seemed to be just fine stone powder. The exploration of the interior of the stone sphere, however, made no progress—all methods failed, including supernatural powers. The thing seemed to be wrapped in a dense 'shell,' hiding all its secrets, and at least until now, we haven't decided to conduct any destructive... 'tests' on it.

"After all this effort, we've only reached one consensus, and that is... this huge geometric light object should indeed be something that fell off the rune circle around Anomaly 001. This conclusion comes from the 'Tower' in Lightwind Harbor. They carefully observed the gap in the edge of Anomaly 001 and found that the damaged part matched the 'geometric light object.'"

Lucretia said a lot in one breath, and it was clear that she had accumulated a lot of frustration during this time. Tirian was a good listener, and did not interrupt his sister's story. Only when Lucretia finished speaking did he slowly open his mouth: "It has been confirmed that it is a part that fell off from Anomaly 001? Lucy, Father had previously issued a warning to the Four Gods Church in this regard, saying that the 'Sun' may be declining."

"I heard about this," Lucretia nodded gently. "The warning from 'Captain Duncan' is not something anyone dares to ignore, although most people's first reaction after hearing this warning is tension and fear towards the *Sea of the Lost*..."

Tirian twitched the corner of his mouth. As someone who had been meeting with "Duncan Abnomal" frequently recently, and had personally witnessed his father's new methods, he didn't know what to say at this time, so he could only change the subject: "Then what are your follow-up plans? Regarding the 'Sun' issue...?"

"What kind of plan can there be? Throw this big stone ball back into the sky? Re-embed it in the sun's rune circle?" Lucretia shrugged. "I'm afraid only the ancient Cretan kingdom knew how to repair the sun in the sky."

Tirian did not speak.

After a moment of silence, Lucretia suddenly asked, "Does Father know about my 'research' here?"

"I haven't told him," Tirian shook his head. "I wouldn't be so talkative without asking for your opinion... what? Do you want to ask him for help?"

Lucretia hesitated obviously, seeming to be a little tempted, but she quickly shook her head: "I'll think about it—Father may not be able to help with this kind of thing, and... okay, I'm just a little afraid of him."

"Actually, he's really easy to talk to now," Tirian laughed. "But since you're not willing, then I won't interfere. But let me say in advance, even if I don't say it, this news may reach his ears at any time. After all, he now has connections with the Church and the city-states. If he really becomes interested by then, then I won't dare to stop him."

Lucretia waved her hand with a look of annoyance. This "Sea Witch," who was shrouded in a mysterious halo in the eyes of outsiders, never concealed her emotions much in front of her family: "I know, I know—don't talk about this. When exactly can you give me the Spirit Realm Lens I mentioned before?"

Tirian: "..."

Two seconds later, Lucretia's dissatisfied scream rang out sharply from the crystal ball: "You forgot again?!?!?"

"Tirian, you don't look well."

Early in the morning, Duncan came to South Port, and couldn't help but say this after seeing the slight fatigue between Tirian's expressions. Tirian rubbed his forehead and sighed helplessly: "There are too many things to worry about recently."

This was not an excuse. There were indeed many things to worry about recently. The mental effort required to manage a city-state was obviously far greater than managing a fleet, but then again... the impact of being nagged by his sister for two hours at high intensity on his complexion was obviously also a factor that could not be ignored.

However, Tirian quickly bypassed this slightly awkward topic. He did not mention Lucretia's matter, but straightened his expression: "The reason I called you here so early today is to tell you—the submersible is ready."

Duncan raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "So fast?"

"Considering that the occupant does not need to breathe, many preparations can be accelerated," Tirian nodded. "Moreover, the submersible secretly built by the former Frost government was built based on the blueprints of the Queen's era. Although there have been many improvements, the basic principle has not changed much. If you just want to figure out how to operate it, it is actually a very simple matter."

Duncan looked at Tirian for a while, and nodded with satisfaction after withdrawing his gaze: "Very good, take me there."

"Are you going to start immediately?" Tirian was a little surprised. "We can do some more tests. I invited you here today just to let you see it with your own eyes..." Duncan interrupted him: "You should have already done some tests, right?"

"...A little bit," Tirian hesitated. "After completing the system verification, I arranged for two undead sailors to make a short dive of several dozen meters last night, mainly to confirm the operating procedures and working status of the submersible. Nothing went wrong..."

"That's enough," Duncan nodded, and turned to walk towards the warehouse leading to the underground facility. "Let me personally complete the subsequent testing process, anyway, the official deep-sea operation will still be carried out by me." Tirian was stunned for a moment, and could only hurry to keep up with Duncan's pace. On the way to the facility, he couldn't help but feel a little confused in his heart.

He didn't know if it was just his imagination... He always felt that his father looked a little preoccupied today, and this urgency was also different from the past.

It was as if he had suddenly noticed some clues, or touched some great secret, and a feeling of eagerness to uncover the mystery and explore the truth was driving him. And this hurried look... vaguely gave Tirian a sense of familiarity.

The burly figure in the black coat was walking quickly in front, and Tirian was also walking quickly, trying his best to keep up behind. The latter looked at the former's back, and in this step-by-step following, he suddenly realized the source of this familiarity—

This feeling was like many years ago.

When some ancient relic clues were found, when a brand new sea route appeared on the chart, when news about the border area and mysterious anomalies suddenly reached the civilized world, that was how his father would be. This was how he looked when he was preparing to embark on a long voyage.

Distant, yellowed memories floated up from the depths of his mind uncontrollably. The scene of following his father to set sail in the past appeared before his eyes. In the overlapping scenes, Tirian's footsteps slowed down unconsciously. Duncan stopped and turned his head to look over here with a puzzled look.

"Tirian, what are you daydreaming about—hurry up and follow me."

Tirian was stunned, and quickly stepped forward while hurriedly agreeing: "Ah... oh, okay, Father!" Duncan turned around and continued walking forward, not paying too much attention to Tirian's reaction just now.

Because a sense of urgency to explore this world once again surged up, constantly urging him on.

This urgency stemmed from his gains from exploring the brass key yesterday, from the corner of the mysterious veil of this world that was suddenly lifted—

The huge spaceship that crashed into this world in a lost era, the ancient civilization creation called "Profane Prototype" that originated from hidden history, the deep secrets that even a great scholar like Morris had never touched. There were too many unknown things, and the occasional clues only made people realize that the secrets of this world were intricately intertwined, like layers of curtains.

Therefore, any opportunity to explore the truth of the world seemed extremely precious. An explorer should be like this.