Deep Sea Embers

The so-called "public schools" in the city-state of Puland are completely different from the real universities in the upper city - these schools funded by the city hall are not institutions of education that cultivate real scholars. Their greater role is to provide factories in the lower city. As well as training skilled workers for the church's steam engines, and in the process providing basic literacy education to the masses.

Under this premise, the resource level of the public school in the Cross Street neighborhood can naturally be imagined.

This was Duncan's first contact with Morris, but even from his first impression, he could see that this old gentleman had extraordinary academic attainments. This was a man who could accurately identify him from a pile of clutter at first glance. A real expert who can identify an ancient object and accurately tell its year and historical background is more than enough to be placed in a university in the uptown area.

Speaking matter-of-factly, all his knowledge was completely wasted in the public school in the Cross Street District. Nina has already said that few students in her class care about the content taught by the old man. Sleeping is considered as respecting the teacher.

What's more, this Mr. Morris can also spend a large sum of money to buy a dagger from a century ago - someone who carries a checkbook is not like an ordinary citizen.

Duncan thought for a while, and it seemed too abrupt to directly ask, "Why are you so rich?" But using the art of language, it was natural to say it another way:

"Actually, I'm a little curious, how could a scholar like you stay as a teacher in a public school in Cross Street?"

"...You're not the first to ask this," Morris seemed to have been used to other people's questions in this regard. He just smiled faintly and said while carefully putting away his things, "Actually, it's nothing, I'm just older. I am tired of the overly tense academic atmosphere in the universities in the uptown area. Instead of competing with young people for the few resources, I might as well find a cleaner place to complete my research... and pass on my knowledge to others in my later years. There are so many young people, isn’t that great?”

The old man didn't seem to tell all the truth, but Duncan saw that the other party didn't want to go into too much detail, so he didn't ask further questions. He just mentioned casually: "But I heard from Nina that her classmates don't value the knowledge you teach them. …In this urban area where survival is difficult, is it too far to pursue the glory of the ancient kingdom of Crete?”

"Even in the deepest and darkest sewers and alleys, as long as the spiritual mind is still thinking, 'history' will always be valuable," Morris shook his head. "It is precisely with the history of the past thousands of years that we Only then can we get to where we are today.

"The lifespan of mortals is very short. It is the inheritance and reverence for history that allows the lifespan of civilization to far exceed the limits of individuals, and this is also the key to distinguishing us from those strange and blind things in the deep sea - they are long-lasting, but If we don’t know how to record civilization, we will never be able to eliminate us.

"Of course, Mr. Duncan, you are right. In this lower town, few people are willing to listen to my long speeches... But even if I only teach one student, I feel that my time has not been in vain."

Morris spoke unhurriedly, and then seemed to suddenly realize something, showing a gentle and apologetic smile: "Sorry, professional habit, I was a bit preachy."

"It doesn't matter, I think it is a valuable 'preaching'," Duncan waved his hand immediately, "In fact, I am happy to talk to you - you see, you are a history expert, and I am an antique dealer. In a sense, we are peers.”

From the perspective of "teacher", he is also a peer - Duncan added silently in his mind.

"To be honest, if I just look at the first impression of walking into this antique store... I really don't believe the word 'companion' you said," Morris spread his hands, "but now I somewhat believe it - —You still have a genuine item after all.”

Duncan had a very calm expression on his face, thinking that there was more than one genuine item - the moment the old man filled out the check, he had already crossed all the warehouses of the Lost Home in his mind. If he hadn't been worried about impacting the market, he would have Even the decoration style of the eighth branch has been planned...

After calming down in his heart, Duncan continued to maintain a calm attitude with a smile: "I heard from Nina that what you are better at is actually ancient history, especially the history before and after the ancient kingdom of Crete?"

"Strictly speaking, there is only 'after' and no 'before'," Morris immediately corrected. "The Ancient Kingdom of Crete was the beginning of civilization in the Deep Sea Age. Before the Ancient Kingdom was the Great Annihilation Event, which was the meltdown of civilization. Here, no one can tell what the world was like before that point in time - there are only contradictory statements in the wilderness legends circulated in various city-states."

Duncan thoughtfully said: "The melting point of civilization... is like a 'horizon limit' across the river of history..."

Morris was apparently hearing the term for the first time: "Horizontal limit?"

"As a concept, if you put it on the 'Great Annihilation' event, you can think of it as an invisible wall of time. All information on the other side of the wall cannot be transmitted to the other side of the wall, whether it is optical observation or The causal connections of things are cut off at that boundary. You can never stand on one side of the boundary and understand what is happening on the other side. It is as if the timeline of everything suddenly appears starting from that boundary. "

"Quite an interesting statement!" Mr. Morris opened his eyes slightly, and his eyes even shone slightly, "The limit of horizon in history...a wall of time...indeed, very appropriate! Duncan Sir, forgive me for my wrong impression and...contempt towards you at the beginning, you are more professional than I thought. Do you also often study ancient history?"

"No, I don't know much about ancient history. I just have a flexible mind and can sometimes think of some wonderful metaphors," Duncan said humbly. He knew that he should act ignorant now, "but I am really curious." What happened during the Great Annihilation... You just mentioned that there is no consensus on the history before the Great Annihilation, but there are many conflicting records in the 'unofficial histories' of various city-states. What are these records like?"

"It's just strange stories from wild history...but I have indeed researched some," Morris thought, and slowly said, "For example, the city-state of Pland once had a record, which was a manuscript in 1069 of the new city-state's calendar. The original It is no longer possible to test, but the manuscript described the world before the Great Annihilation as follows:

"The world is a sphere, floating in the vast sea of ​​stars. There are countless celestial bodies dotting the night sky as stars. There is a sun and three moons in the sky. Human beings occupy three continents, one of which is frozen all year round, so they built a A device called a 'dome' covers the continent to create an 'eternal spring'. The energy of this dome imitates the sun in the sky and uses a certain component in the sea water as fuel. It is almost eternal..."

When Morris said this, he paused for a moment, as if to give Duncan some time to think, remember, and organize, and then continued:

"On an island near Cold Harbor, explorers found a record carved on a rock. That record also described the world before the Great Annihilation. Scholars struggled to decipher it but were greatly confused - —

"The slate describes that a hometown called the 'Mother Star' has been exhausted, and everyone in the world is riding on a huge ship called 'Abinix'. This giant ship can cross the sea of ​​stars and capture dust from nothingness. and gas as fuel, the giant ship sailed for 47,000 days and nights, and was suddenly caught in a "huge flash and whirlpool". Then the ship disintegrated and disappeared in the whirlpool. The descendants survived from the sea water, leaving behind a story in the cave. Memories of hometown.

“Of course, these records are not as bizarre as the legends left by the elves of Breeze Port.

"Elves have a life span of thousands of years, and their history should be more detailed and reliable than other short-lived races. However, for some reason, the history of Qingfeng Port is the most fragmented, absurd and bizarre of all city-state histories. Many of their files have even been The unknown force twisted it into an unreadable 'Lost Scroll', which had to be sealed due to serious pollution. In the narrative poem passed down by the elves orally, the world before the Great Annihilation was described as follows:

"The world is a dream, a call from the great demon Sasloka while he was half asleep. The spirits were born in the dream to maintain Sasloka's sleep. But one day, the demon suddenly dreamed of the great demon. When the flood came, he woke up, and the flood leaked from his dream into the real world. The elves were also swept into reality by the flood... The demon Saslokar disappeared because of his awakening, and the elves could never return. That peaceful and peaceful home was settled in the deep sea era after the flood. "