Chapter 听完塔兰·艾尔这番漫长的讲解 Thinking

Having listened to Talan Eyl's lengthy explanation, Duncan pondered for a long time.

Without a doubt, the ancient legends of the elves were special and even unique in this world. For no other reason than their—completeness.

In the Deep Sea Era after the Great Annihilation, the old world collapsed and was overturned, and the new civilization's inheritance was interrupted and reshaped. Communication between city-states was cut off for a long time, coupled with the impact of the Dark Ages. This led to the fragmentation of historical records in almost all city-states on the boundless sea, and almost no complete heritage was preserved by any race.

The Four Gods faith, which emerged after the beginning of the Deep Sea Era, developed rapidly in such circumstances, where the heritage of each city-state was cut off and the myths were blank.

However, among the elves, ancient myths have been preserved and inherited. Even today, when the Four Gods faith covers the entire world and the old belief system is denounced as heresy, these things are still retained—limited by population, the city-states occupied by the elves account for only a small part of the entire boundless sea, and their distribution is extremely scattered, but even within these limited and scattered elven city-states, their culture, customs, and mythological system still have consistency.

And did they manage to do this simply by relying on "longevity"?

"Such a complete mythological system… perhaps it really reveals some truths from before the advent of the Great Annihilation," Duncan muttered to himself in a low voice.

"Many scholars have always believed this. The elves are the only race that has preserved a complete ancient belief system. Although many of our ancient books have been 'contaminated,' our orally transmitted myths… largely retain their original appearance," Talan Eyl said, spreading his hands helplessly. "But even so, we can only study them as 'stories,' and cannot directly regard them as historical data from before the Great Annihilation."

Duncan frowned. Some of the words Maurice had said to him a long time ago involuntarily surfaced in his mind: "...because of the huge contradictions between history and reality."

"Yes, every scholar who tries to trace the Great Annihilation will face the cruel blow of 'contradiction,'" Talan Eyl sighed. "We feel this most deeply. The more complete the elven mythological system, the more unable it is to explain the current state of the world. The biggest contradiction lies in… the process of Saslocha creating the world did not include the position of humans and Sen people."

Duncan did not speak, but pondered with a serious expression.

Talan Eyl continued, "Not only in the legends of Saslocha's creation of the world, but also in some of our other less complete legends, whenever there is a description of the world, there is no mention of the two species 'humans' and 'Sen people' at all. You should understand that this is very abnormal."

Duncan slowly nodded, but for some reason, what emerged in his mind at this moment was another picture he had seen before—

The moon.

He looked up at the window. Pale golden "sunlight" filled the sea, and amidst the distant waves, he could vaguely see a luminous boundary like a cliff standing in the sea.

That was the wreckage that Lucrezia had picked up from the "border," that was the location of that "mysterious stone sphere."

"Are you going to see that thing?" Lucrezia noticed Duncan's gaze immediately and took the initiative to speak. "There is currently a temporary research facility established by Light Wind Harbor. I have already greeted the people there, and they can evacuate irrelevant personnel from the core area."

Duncan hesitated for a moment and nodded lightly, "Make arrangements. That's why I'm here."

"Okay, I'll contact the research facility first and have them evacuate the people."

Lucrezia responded, then got up and left the room.

Not long after she left, Duncan noticed that the Brilliant Star was slowly turning its bow and began to sail towards the distant luminous body.

For a time, only Duncan and the elven scholar were left in the room. After a moment of silence, Talan Eyl visibly became nervous and uneasy again.

Fortunately, this time his uneasiness did not last too long—Duncan took the initiative to break the silence before the awkward atmosphere could build up again: "I heard that you tried to observe the surface of Anomaly 001 when the sun went out?"

"Yes," Talan Eyl nervously placed his hands on the table, fiddling with his thumbs. "And Ms. Lucrezia always believes that my sleep is related to observing the sun, although I don't think that's the case…"

"What did you see?" Duncan asked again.

"...I recorded the scene at that time. The paper is now in Ms. Lucrezia's hands, but many of its key details have been smeared—I smeared it myself, but I don't remember it myself. If you're interested, later…"

Talan Eyl was only halfway through speaking when the door of the parlor was opened, and Lucrezia, who had left not long ago, returned to the room. "That paper is in my hands."

As she spoke, she stepped back to the table, took out the crumpled draft paper from her arms, and said to Duncan, "I've temporarily handed over the helm to Rabbi—he's another one of my 'crew members.' This is the sketch Master Eyl drew at the time. You can take a look."

Duncan immediately took the paper handed over by the other party with a serious expression, flattened it on the table, and scanned the rough pattern drawn on it.

However, at first glance, he only felt that this was a pile of meaningless, random lines—apart from the circular outline on the edge showing that this was indeed a pattern of Anomaly 001, the serious smearing inside the circle almost completely destroyed its original real structure.

But after carefully distinguishing it for a while, he vaguely felt a sense of familiarity from behind those messy smeared lines.

As if in the depths of those smudged traces, there was something he had seen, even something he had a deep impression of.

Duncan frowned, looked carefully for a long time, then raised his head and looked at Talan Eyl, "You don't remember at all?"

"I don't remember at all," Talan Eyl said awkwardly. "My mind automatically erased that part of the memory. I think… it must be very dangerous information."

"The paper itself does not carry any contamination, but rashly restoring its 'true version' may bring danger," Lucrezia added from the side. "I originally planned to hand it over to the scholars of Light Wind Harbor, but after realizing the risk, I thought it would be more appropriate to give it to you."

"Very good," Duncan breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile suddenly appeared on his face. "You've begun to rebuild your trust in me?"

Lucrezia suddenly became a little nervous: "...I just think… you're more suitable… Of course, I trust you. My brother said that you are now…"

"No need to say more, Lucy," Duncan shook his head with a smile, then solemnly put the paper away. "I'll take it back first, and then I'll find a way to uncover its secrets—if there's any progress, I'll notify you as soon as possible."

Lucrezia seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and even… looked a little happy.

Duncan didn't say anything more. After putting away the draft paper, he got up and came to the window, quietly watching the undulating sea outside, and the "sunlight" that was gradually approaching from the corner of the porthole.

…

After a not-too-long voyage, the Brilliant Star gradually approached the "luminous wreckage" floating on the sea near Light Wind Harbor.

Now, the ship was passing by the temporary port.

Duncan came to the deck at the bow of the ship, watching the magnificent golden light, like an oncoming towering cliff, constantly magnifying in his vision.

This was the first time he had seen this "wreckage" that had previously only existed in Tyrian's descriptions with his own eyes, and at such a close distance—the oppressive feeling of the approaching giant and the mystery brought by the indistinguishable light screen were intertwined, and he even felt a moment of suffocation.

He could completely imagine how much of an impact it had on the elves here when Lucrezia dragged this thing near Light Wind Harbor.

But now, the elves have obviously adapted to this "neighbor."

"Is this port the 'research facility' you mentioned earlier?" Duncan raised his arm, pointing to the temporary floating port on the nearby sea, and asked Lucrezia beside him.

"Yes," Lucrezia nodded. "Because we were worried that some of the things in the 'wreckage' might be dangerous, we put all the research work on the sea. Master Talan Eyl is one of the main persons in charge of this port. In addition, there is also a small permanent station in the central area of the wreckage, but the people there have now been withdrawn."

"Understandable—after all, not everyone can adapt to close contact with a 'subspace shadow,'" Duncan laughed. "That Mr. Talan Eyl has performed very well."

When Lucrezia heard this, she hurriedly explained, "Actually, it's not entirely like this. The way you are now… I mean, after suppressing the flames, is not much different from ordinary people. Most people don't recognize your face… I'm mainly worried that irrelevant personnel will disturb you…"

"It's okay, don't always be so nervous," Duncan waved his hand with a smile. "It's normal for some people to be afraid. I'm used to it."

Lucrezia nodded quickly, then raised her eyes to look at the huge light wall that was approaching, "We're about to enter the interior of the light body. We need to be careful navigating next. I have to go steer the ship myself."

"Okay, go."

Lucrezia nodded, and then suddenly turned into countless colorful paper pieces, swirling and flying towards the bridge.

Duncan was immediately amazed by this scene. It was the first time he had seen Lucrezia's magical power—watching the paper pieces flying in front of him, he reached out and grabbed one, looking at it curiously in front of his eyes.

The next second, he heard an exclamation in the air, and then the paper pieces that had flown out suddenly reunited into Lucrezia's appearance.

The witch landed on the deck in a mess.

And slid out a long way.

(End of this chapter)