For a long time, scholars in this world have had many conjectures about the origin of the current deep-sea age and the world before the Great Annihilation, and they have also tried to explain the phenomenon of historical fragmentation, cultural relics and inheritance contradictions in the city-states of the Infinite Sea, just as any ethnic group that formed a civilization system would do when facing history--

If there is history, there will be people who will study history, and some people will study history, and there will be people who will try to explain those contradictions, and there will never be a shortage of conjectures, and most of the professional scholars have already thought about it, and may even have built a complete theoretical model.

Scholars actually have a number of theoretical models that explain the formation of the current deep-sea age – including the one Duncan speculated, and each of them makes sense.

The only problem is that every theoretical model cannot find enough "empirical evidence" to support it, and the Great Annihilation is like a magnificent high wall, blocking everything before that point in time, and no information or relics can be handed down from before that node.

Now, Duncan believes he has found a key piece of "evidence" and extracted enough information to support one of the conjectures:

A fragment of the destruction of a distant and strange world—and a "memory" that accurately describes the apocalyptic landscape.

Of course, in the face of a truly rigorous scholar, this isolated evidence may not be enough to provide a complete and irrefutable explanation of the current state of the deep-sea age.

"The ..... of the World Convergence Theory," Ted Learle whispered to himself, "I know that my mentor has always been a supporter of this theory - he believes that the current deep sea age is formed by the stacking and reorganization of a large number of worlds that were originally isolated from each other, and that this stacking and reorganization may be caused by a catastrophe that befell several worlds at the same time, and the so-called 'Great Annihilation' is not a catastrophe, but a series of disasters that occur at the same time, so the various races on the infinite sea will have such a big contradiction in the record of history, Certain old legends and stories can also be badly torn

"This theory also explains why we can't find the 'original world' before the Great Annihilation, and we can't find any kind of historical record that can support any kind of historical record, because those original appearances have long since been reorganized, and from the perspective of the timeline, the 'world' did not exist before the Great Annihilation."

He paused, exhaled softly, and continued.

"The entire Infinite Sea was born at the moment of the Great Annihilation, and before that moment there was no 'Old World' that could be fully and accurately described and understood, only countless fragments of the Old World were piled up as 'raw materials' at the time of the Great Annihilation - the World Convergence Theory, of all the theories of origins, is the most 'explanatory' and explains almost all the problems we face.

"But at the same time, it is also considered the most whimsical and the most difficult to prove, because it fundamentally denies the idea that history can be traced back to it, and reduces everything to 'it is gone anyway', so that while this theory is good, there are very few supporters, my mentor..... is one of its few supporters."

After Ted Lille finished with a sigh, Duncan finally broke the silence: "Now, we have the proof."

Ted Lear's gaze fell on the sword, and after thinking for a long time with a solemn expression, he shook his head: "Isolated evidence - this evidence is indeed very likely to support the 'world convergence theory', but a single piece of evidence is flawed unless we can find a second unequivocal 'world fragment', and the 'physical evidence' in your hand is from a different world.....

Obviously, from an emotional point of view, he hopes that an unsolved conjecture can be confirmed, that he has finally found the "answer", but from the perspective of a scholar, he must be rigorous, and even when he sees the first "evidence", he has to show an unsympathetic "harshness".

However, after his words fell, Duncan only replied lightly, "Yes."

Ted Lille didn't react for a moment, not even Lucrecia next to him, and after a few moments, they were in agreement

"Do you have any other evidence?!"

Duncan was silent for two or three seconds, then turned his head and looked deeply into Lucrecia's eyes: "Moon."

"The 'stone ball'..... Lucrecia reacted instantly, "You mean, it's ......"

"It's just another 'shard,'" Duncan nodded slightly, "it's from another world—another world completely different from where this sword came from. I don't know what happened to it to make it what it is, but I'm pretty sure it is.....

He stopped abruptly, as if there was a force preventing him from speaking that conclusion, and this stopping force surged in his mind like a storm, as a strong emotion, against his rational part.

He instinctively rejects this conclusion.

Lucrecia noticed something, and she looked at her father in confusion and concern.

Duncan finally spoke, and finished the second half of the sentence: ".... It's the remnants of 'that world.'"

Ultimately, reason triumphs over emotion.

When this conclusion was made, he even had the illusion of "liberation".

In fact, after seeing the "Moon" for the first time at that time and returning to the Lost Country to talk to Alice, he already had a guess in this regard-

Since the "moon" appeared in this world, it is very likely that this world is his "hometown", the "hometown" after serious mutation and distortion.

However, there are no "elves" and "senjin people" in his hometown, there are no humans in the legends of the elves themselves, and the word "earth" never appears in the historical records of the city-states of the Infinite Sea, and the problem of "historical tearing" that plagues many scholars is particularly obvious in Duncan's eyes.

So..... How did this boundless sea come to be?

The most likely explanation is that it may have its own homeland, but only partially.

To confirm this suspicion, it is only necessary to find a second, "moon-like", fragment from another world.

The only thing he didn't expect was that the second piece of evidence would come so quickly and so directly.

Ted Lear and Lucretia looked at each other, and after a brief hesitation, they realized that Duncan had no reason to fool them about it.

There were already two pieces of evidence – no wonder the greatest explorer of all time would have been so convinced, so unhesitatingly declared, that the world was now made up of ruins.

Lucrecia didn't ask Duncan where he got his knowledge of the Moon.

Because she knew that the answers to these questions would eventually lead to the subspace - no matter what form it takes, her father has completed his own reinvention and transformation in that "deepest and darkest place", and every knowledge and ability he has now that he cannot understand is part of those imprints.

She shouldn't have uncovered them over and over again.

Ted Lear, on the other hand, had been thinking in silence, but suddenly, he jerked his head up, as if sensing something.

The "Secret Keeper" quickly opened the heavy book in his hand, summoned the "stethoscope" from the page, and rushed to the side of the "living metal" on the central platform with a single lunge.

He placed the stethoscope on the surface of the "living metal", and his face suddenly became very solemn.

There was a very weak, slow heartbeat in the room, each of which was slower and weaker than the last.

"Ta's dying."

Ted Lear looked up and said with a complicated look.

For the first time in his life, the "Keeper of Truth", whose duty is to protect the city-state, has developed extremely mixed emotions when confronted with a "foreign object" that has invaded the real world. ap.

For he suddenly realized that this unspeakable mass of "terrible things" that had caused panic among many in the bazaar..... In fact, it is very likely that it is the same existence as humans, elves, and Senjin people - a "homeless person" who has reached the deep sea age from the Great Annihilation.

And unfortunately, the world of TA was destroyed even more completely, that tiny fragment. Far from enough to sustain him and his race for survival.

The Deep Sea Age has left no place for homeless people like Ta, who have become this way under the influence of some unexplained mechanism, and are dying.

Nina and Shirley subconsciously grabbed each other's hands, not knowing what to do for a while, and Lucrecia could only watch this scene with complicated eyes, because she knew that this was no longer something that could be reversed by man.

In the sound of a slowly slowing heartbeat, Duncan finally walked forward slowly, he looked at the mass of "living metal" that could not be seen at all now, but another image appeared in his mind-

The stubborn warrior, the silent magician, the ever-energetic hunter and ranger, the confident knights, the pessimistic psychic, and the confident and proud, red-haired Groska woman.....

They set out on a sunny afternoon, armed with the best swords and armor the kingdom had ever made, the best scrolls and sigils, and with the blessing and trust of the king, and went together into the distant wilderness—a party of brave men to save their world, as described in an old poem.

Duncan reached out and pressed lightly against the cold, hard piece of "steel". "We are all landcasts...... Now, you're home."

The low, slow "pop" sound finally stopped, and after an exceptionally faint and sluggish throb, there was no more heartbeat in the room.

The last heartbeat, like a sigh.

Ted Lear turned, as if announcing to the deep-sea age—"Ta is dead."