The so-called "public schools" of the city-state of Plain were not the same as the real universities in the upper city, which were not schools for the production of real scholars, but were more important for training skilled workers for the factories of the lower city and for the steam offices of the church, and in the process to educate the masses in basic literacy.

Under this premise, the level of resources of the public school in the cross block is naturally conceivable.

Duncan was in contact with Morris for the first time, but even at first impression, he could tell that the old gentleman was a man of great scholarship, a true expert who could accurately identify an antiquity from a pile of debris at first glance, and accurately tell its age and historical background, an expert of his kind that would be more than enough in a university in Uptown.

As far as the facts are concerned, it is a complete waste of his knowledge to be in the public school in the cross block, Nina said that few students in her class care about the content taught by the old gentleman, and everyone can keep a class without sleeping.

What's more, this Mr. Morris was able to come up with a large sum of money to buy a dagger from a century ago—the man who carried the checkbook with him was not like an ordinary citizen.

Duncan thought for a moment, and directly asked, "Why are you so rich?" seems too abrupt, but it is natural to use the art of language to put it in another way:

"Actually, I'm a little curious, how can a scholar like you stay in a public school in the cross block as a teacher?"

“…… You're not the first to ask," Morris seemed to be accustomed to the questioning of others in this regard, he just smiled faintly, and said as he carefully put away his things, "Actually, it's nothing, it's just that I'm old and tired of the overly tense academic atmosphere in those universities in Uptown, and instead of competing with young people for the few resources, it's better to find a cleaner place to complete my research...... And wouldn't it be nice to be able to pass on your knowledge to more young people in your later years? ”

The old man didn't seem to tell the truth, but Duncan saw that the other party didn't want to talk too much, so he didn't ask questions, but just casually said, "But I heard Nina say that her classmates don't value what you teach very much...... In this struggling Lower Town, is it a little too far to retrace the glory of the Old Kingdom of Crete? ”

"Even in the deepest and darkest gutters, as long as the spiritual mind is still thinking, 'history' will always be valuable," Morris shook his head, "and it is because of the history of the past thousand years that we have come to this point."

"The life span of mortals is very short, and it is the inheritance and reverence of history that allows civilization to live far beyond the limits of individuals, and this is the key to distinguishing us from those strange and blind things in the deep sea - they are long, but if they do not know how to record civilization, they will never be able to destroy us.

"Of course, Mr. Duncan, you're right, very few people in this lower town will want to listen to my tirade...... But even if I only taught one student, I feel that my years have not been in vain. ”

Morris said unhurriedly like this, and then seemed to suddenly react to something, revealing a gentle and apologetic smile: "Sorry, professional habits, I have been a little preachy." ”

"It's okay, I think it's a valuable 'preaching,'" Duncan immediately waved his hand, "and I'd actually be happy to talk to you—you see, you're a historian, I'm an antique dealer, and in a sense, we're peers." ”

From the aspect of "teacher", it is also a peer - Duncan silently added in his heart.

"Seriously, if only from the first impression of walking into this antique store...... I really don't believe the word 'peer,' Maurice said," Morris spread his hands, "but now I'm somewhat convinced—you still have a real thing." ”

Duncan's face was very calm, and he said in his heart that it was more than a genuine product - the moment the old man filled in the check, he had already drawn all the warehouses in his mind, and if he wasn't worried about impacting the market, he would have even planned the decoration style of the eighth branch at this time......

With his heart settled, Duncan continued to maintain a smiling and indifferent attitude: "I heard Nina say, 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', not 'before,'" Morris corrected immediately, "The Old Kingdom of Crete was the beginning of civilization in the Deep Sea Age, and before the Old Kingdom was the Great Annihilation Event, which was the circuit breaker of civilization, and no one can tell what the world was like before that point in time—there are only contradictory expressions in the wild tales that circulate in various city-states." ”

Duncan pondered: "Where is the circuit breaker of civilization...... It's like a 'horizon limit' in the river of history......"

Morris apparently heard the phrase for the first time: "The limit of the horizon? ”

"A concept, if you put it in the event of 'annihilation', you can think of it as an invisible wall of time, all the 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 connection of things, it is cut off in front of that boundary, and you can never stand on one side of the boundary and know what is happening on the other side, as if the timeline of everything starts from that boundary and suddenly appears."

"Quite an interesting statement!" Old Mr. Morris's eyes widened slightly, and there was even a slight light in his eyes, "The limit of horizons lies across history...... A wall of time...... Indeed, very apt! Mr. Duncan, forgive me for my mistaken impressions and ...... about you at the beginning Contempt, you are more professional than I thought, do you also study ancient history from time to time? ”

"No, I don't know much about ancient history, but I'm more flexible in my thinking, and sometimes I can think of some wonderful metaphors," Duncan said modestly at once, knowing that he should be a little ignorant now, "but I'm curious about the time of annihilation...... You just mentioned that there is no recognized history before the Great Annihilation in orthodox scholarship, but there are many contradictory records in the 'wild histories' of various city-states? What do these records look like? ”

"It's just a strange story...... But I did study a few," Morris thought as he spoke slowly, "for example, there was a record in the city-state of Purland, a manuscript from the year 1069 of the New City State, the original of which is no longer available, and that manuscript describes 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 as stars dotting the night sky, there is a sun in the sky, and there are three moons, human beings occupy three continents, one of which is frozen all year round, so people have built a device called a 'dome', let it envelop the continent, in order to create the 'eternal spring', the energy of this dome is modeled after the sun in the sky, with a certain component in the sea water as fuel, almost eternal......"

Morris said this, paused, 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 into the rock, which also described the world before the Great Annihilation, and scholars were puzzled by the efforts they had to decode—

"The slate book describes a homeland called the 'Mother Star' that has dried up, and the world is on a huge ship called 'Abenix', which can cross the sea of stars, fueled by dust and gas captured in nothingness, and the giant ship sails for 47,000 days and nights, and is suddenly swept into a 'great flash and whirlpool', and then the ship disintegrates and disappears in the whirlpool, and the descendants survive from the sea, leaving memories of their homeland in the cave.

"Of course, none of these records are as bizarre as the legends left behind by the elves of Breeze.

"The elves have a thousand-year lifespan, and their history should be more detailed and reliable than that of other short-lived races, but for some reason, the history of Breezehaven is the most fragmented and absurd of all the city-state histories, and many of their files have even been twisted by unknown forces into unreadable 'lost scrolls', which have to be sealed due to pollution, and the world before the Great Annihilation is described in the elven oral narrative poems:

"The world is a dream, it is a call of the great demon god Saslova in a half-dream, and the spirits were born in the dream, maintaining the sleep of Sasloka, but one day, the demon god suddenly dreamed that the flood was coming, and he woke up, so the flood leaked out of his dream to the real world, and the elves were also swept into reality by the flood...... The demon god Saslova disappeared due to his awakening, and the elves could never return to that peaceful home, so they settled in the deep sea age after the Flood. ”