Chapter 660: The Scholar of the Diffuse Star

"Is it about the prophecy of the Red Moon?" Misanxing asked as he sat down.

"That's part of it. Since you mentioned it, let's start with that," the young king said with a smile as he got up to pour him a cup of tea. The scholar was quite flattered by this gesture. Compared to his few meetings with Tifieke, Roland was undoubtedly much more approachable.

"The rumors about the Red Moon date back more than a thousand years, when there was neither Graycastle nor the Wimbledon family."

"But, Your Majesty, the history recorded in documents is only four hundred and fifty years or so..."

"It's not that it hasn't been recorded, but that it's been deliberately concealed," Roland said, shifting to a more comfortable position in his seat. "There's plenty of time, let me tell you slowly."

Next, the scholar heard an incredible and shocking story.

It crossed the desolate wilderness and traced back to Dawn, thousands of years ago, the endless war between humans and devils, the symbol of the Red Moon and the Witch Empire, and the origins of the Four Kingdoms and the Church… If the person who said these words wasn't the king, he would have dismissed them as absurd.

But there wasn't a hint of jest in the other person's expression.

When Roland finished his account, Misanxing felt his breathing become difficult. He had always thought that the apocalypse was a divine punishment—the sea rising in huge waves, the earth shaking and cracking, with fire and thunder intertwined. Though terrifying, it wouldn't completely destroy humanity. As long as preparations were made in advance, a considerable portion of cities could even be saved.

But in His Majesty's account, the Red Moon was actually a signal for the devils to launch an attack?

Moreover, in this war that had lasted for thousands of years, humans had already failed twice. If they lost a third time, they would be completely wiped out?

"Your Majesty..." Misanxing's voice was hoarse, "Where did you learn all this?"

"The Witch Empire and the Church," Roland held up two fingers, "The establishment of the Four Kingdoms is related to them, and Graycastle is no exception. Also, I've already dealt with devils west of the Western Region—they have their own civilization and army, and are truly aliens."

"Then... what is the Smile of the Gods?"

"No one knows. Perhaps the answer can only be found after the Battle of Divine Will ends."

Misanxing fell silent. He didn't know whether to believe this shocking story, but he soon realized that it concerned the survival of Graycastle and the continuation of the Wimbledon family. As the ruler, Roland shouldn't be deceiving him.

Because it would be meaningless.

If all of this were true, then His Majesty's attitude towards witches would be completely understandable.

If their power didn't come from the devils, then they naturally wouldn't be enemies of mankind.

In this light, the theory of witch innocence that had spread in the Old King's City was just a small part of the truth emerging. His Majesty didn't release all the information, but rather cautiously concealed the facts that could easily cause panic. This approach was undoubtedly correct and wise.

But he still couldn't understand how the Red Moon in the sky was connected to the gates of hell.

"Your Majesty, what can I do for you?"

Misanxing faintly realized that the king's repeated requests for the Astrological Society to move to the Western Region might not have been for the purpose of astrology—he knew far more about the Star of Destruction than the astrologers did. If he hadn't revealed this long-sealed secret, the scholar would never have imagined what had happened thousands of years ago.

"This is the second issue I want to discuss with you. It's even more important than the first," Roland said with a smile, taking a notebook from the desk and handing it to him. "Take a look at this first."

Misanxing took the notebook and found that the title on the cover was a series of combined words he had never seen before.

"Analytical... Geometry?"

It sounded very awkward, and the pigment used for the title was actually blue—such smooth and delicate indigo couldn't be cheap.

"Just flip through it. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it. There's a lot you'll need to learn in the future."

Misanxing didn't want to read at night. Although he didn't see any candles in His Majesty's room, and the light source overhead was exceptionally stable, the brightness was still not as good as during the day… It still caused some damage to eyesight.

The most important thing for an observer of the stars was to protect their eyes.

However, the other person was the king, after all, and he really couldn't refuse. He decided to pretend to casually flip through it and read it seriously tomorrow.

But as soon as he opened the first page and glanced at the preface, he forgot his original plan.

Describing the trajectory of an object with arithmetic formulas? As long as you know the key parameters, you can deduce the entire trajectory?

Next was a series of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines, with a simple graphic drawn on each intersection pattern. Some were slanted straight lines, some were curves, and some were ellipses and multi-segment curves. At first glance, there was nothing strange about them, but his gaze was drawn to the arithmetic formulas on the side of the graphics.

That should be an arithmetic formula.

Misanxing thought. It had plus signs, equal signs, started with the same symbol, and ended with the same symbol. Even though he didn't understand the meaning, he felt a strange beauty. This sense of coordination seemed innate, and each symbol had a unique charm.

Moreover, even though each graphic was vastly different, such as straight lines and ellipses, which didn't seem to be in the same category of trajectories, their arithmetic formulas weren't that different.

An uncontrollable idea suddenly rose in his heart.

Could it be that all the graphics in the world can be expressed by a calculation formula?

With excitement, the scholar eagerly opened the second page.

……

When Misanxing closed the notebook, he realized that his neck was extremely sore, obviously he had read for more than half an hour, and His Majesty had not disturbed him, but continued to write his manuscript, with a very serious expression.

"Sorry, Your Majesty, I..."

"Finished reading?" Roland looked up and smiled, "There are many places you can't understand, right?"

"Yes, the symbols above, and some of the ways of expressing them, are not what is taught in the palace..." Nine out of ten palace tutors came from the Astrological Society, but what His Majesty wrote completely exceeded his imagination, "It's very interesting, but I really can't figure out the mutual changes of the calculation formulas."

"Because you haven't been exposed to equations, if you want to understand the analytical part, you have to learn these first," the king drew another stack of notebooks from the desk as if by magic and handed them to him. Some of the titles were blue and some were green, and the names were still strange and awkward.

Misanxing's hands trembled slightly, "Can I take them back to read?"

"Of course," Roland nodded, "In fact, it's not just you, I hope all astrologers and disciples can jointly study these contents." He paused, "The second thing I want to say is this, you don't have to worry too much about the Red Moon. Only by mastering them all can the Astrological Society play an irreplaceable role in the future war against the devils. This part of the book is just an enlightenment, and there will be more profound content later. It's not just about the trajectory of movement, they can even describe a blade of grass, a tree, the stars in the sky, and everything you see. How about it, are you willing to accept it?"

"I am willing, Your Majesty!"

The little loss of the Star of Destruction being ignored had long been thrown to the back of his mind, and Scholar Misanxing agreed without hesitation.

He seemed to see the image of thousands of stars running along his writing.

The young king also showed a smile, a smile that was slightly strange. For some reason, it reminded him of a hunter watching his prey fall into a trap.

"Then that's good, but it may be a bit difficult, and it's normal to encounter some setbacks... Don't be discouraged, I believe you will eventually understand them."

Ermu said

Flowers are scattered! It's exactly the first anniversary of Release That Witch from the upload of the first chapter to today! Thank you for your support this year, Ermu loves you all forever!