Scholars in this world have always had many speculations about the origin of the current deep sea era and the world before the Great Annihilation. They have also tried to explain the phenomenon of historical fragmentation, cultural relics interruption, and inheritance contradictions in the city-states of the Boundless Sea, just like any group that has formed a civilization system will do when facing history -

As long as there is history, there will be people studying history. As long as there are people studying history, there will be people trying to explain the contradictions. There will never be a shortage of conjectures. Things that a layman can think of, professional scholars have probably already thought of them, and may even have constructed a complete theoretical model.

Scholars actually have many theoretical models that can explain the formation of the current deep sea era - including this one conjectured by Duncan, and each of them makes sense.

The only problem is that every theoretical model cannot find sufficient "evidence" to support it. The Big Annihilation is like a majestic wall that blocks everything before that time point. No information or relics can be passed down from before that time point.

Now, Duncan believes he has found a key piece of evidence and extracted key information that supports one of his conjectures:

The fragments left behind by the destruction of a distant and strange world - and a "memory" that accurately describes the doomsday scene.

Of course, for a truly rigorous scholar, this single piece of evidence may not be enough to fully and irrefutably explain the current situation of the deep sea era.

"World Aggregation Theory..." Ted Riel muttered to himself, "I know that my mentor has always been a supporter of this theory. He believes that the current deep sea era is formed by the stacking and reorganization of a large number of worlds that were originally isolated from each other. This stacking and reorganization may be caused by a great disaster that befell several worlds at the same time. The so-called "Great Annihilation" is not a disaster, but a series of disasters that occurred at the same time. Therefore, the historical records of various races in the vast sea are so contradictory, and some ancient legends are also seriously torn apart...

"This theory also explains why we can't find the 'original appearance of the world' before the Great Oblivion, and we can't find any 'ancient artifacts' that can support any historical records - because those original appearances have long been reorganized. From the perspective of the timeline, the current 'world' did not exist before the Great Oblivion."

He paused, exhaled lightly, and then continued.

"The entire Infinite Ocean was born at the moment of the Great Annihilation. 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 Aggregation Theory is the best in terms of 'explanation' among all the origin theories, and it explains almost all the problems we face.

"But at the same time, it is also considered the most fantastic and the most difficult to verify, because it fundamentally denies the point that 'history can be traced back' and attributes everything to 'it has disappeared anyway'. Therefore, although this theory is good, it has few supporters. My mentor... is one of its few supporters."

After Ted Lear finished speaking with an exclamation, Duncan finally broke the silence: "Now, we have evidence."

Ted Riel's eyes fell on the long sword. After thinking for a long time with a serious expression, he shook his head and said, "A single piece of evidence is not enough to prove anything. This piece of evidence is indeed very likely to support the 'world aggregation theory', but a single piece of evidence has its flaws. Unless we can find a second definite 'world fragment' that is from a different world than the 'physical evidence' in your hand..."

When saying this, the secret keeper's tone seemed very difficult and conflicted. Obviously, from an emotional point of view, he hoped more than anyone else that an unresolved conjecture could be confirmed, and hoped that he had finally found the "answer." But from a scholar's perspective, he had to be rigorous, and even showed inhumane "strictness" when he saw the first "evidence."

However, after he finished speaking, Duncan simply replied with one word: "Yes."

Ted Lear didn't react for a moment, and even Lucrecia beside him didn't react. After a moment, they said in unison: "Do you have other evidence?!"

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

"That 'stone ball'..." Lucrecia reacted instantly, "You mean, it is..."

"It is another 'fragment'," Duncan nodded gently, "It comes from another world - a world completely different from the home of this longsword. Although I don't know what happened to it to become what it is now, I am sure that it is...

He suddenly stopped, as if there was a force preventing him from expressing that conclusion. This restraining force surged in his mind, howling like a storm, as a strong emotion, fighting against his rational part.

He instinctively rejected this conclusion.

Lucrecia noticed something and looked at her father with confusion and worry.

Duncan finally spoke, finishing the second half of his sentence: "...it is the remnant of 'that world'."

In the end, reason triumphed over emotion.

When he said this conclusion, he even had an illusion of "relief".

In fact, after he first saw the "Moon" and talked to Alice on the Lost Homeland, he already had some guesses about this.

Since the "moon" appeared in this world, it is very likely that this world is his "hometown", a "hometown" that has undergone severe mutation and distortion.

However, there were no "elves" and "Sen'jin" in his hometown, there were no humans in the elves' own legends, and the word "Earth" had never appeared in the historical records of the city-states of the Infinite Sea. The "historical tear" problem that troubled many scholars was particularly obvious in Duncan's eyes.

So...how was this boundless ocean formed?

The most likely explanation is that there may be a hometown here, but only a part of it.

To confirm this speculation, we only need to find a second fragment of another world similar to the "moon".

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

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

It turned out that there were already two pieces of evidence - no wonder the greatest explorer of all time declared so confidently and without hesitation that the world today was made up of piles of ruins.

Lucrecia did not ask Duncan where he got his knowledge about the "moon".

Because she knew that the answers to these questions would eventually point to the subspace - no matter in what form, her father had completed his own reshaping and transformation in that "deepest and darkest place", and every piece of knowledge and ability he possessed now that she could not understand was part of those imprints.

She shouldn't have to uncover them repeatedly.

Ted Lear had been thinking silently, but suddenly, he raised his head as if he sensed something.

The "secret keeper" quickly opened the thick book in his hand, summoned the "stethoscope" from the pages, and rushed to the side of the "living metal" on the central platform.

He placed the stethoscope on the surface of the "living metal" and his expression suddenly became very serious.

An extremely weak and slow heartbeat could be heard in the room. Each heartbeat was slower and weaker than the previous one.

“He’s dying.”

Ted Lear raised his head and said with a complicated look.

For the first time in his life, this "Truth Keeper" whose duty is to protect the city-state actually had extremely complicated emotions when facing an "alien" invading the real world.

Because he suddenly realized that this indescribable "horrible thing" that brought panic to many people in the market... was actually most likely a being like humans, elves, and Sen'jin - a "homeless person" who arrived in the Deep Sea Age from the Great Oblivion.

Unfortunately, his world was destroyed more completely, and those tiny fragments... were far from enough to support him and his race to survive.

The deep sea era left no place for homeless people like him. Under the influence of some unexplained mechanism, he became like this and was about to die.

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

With his heartbeat gradually getting lower and slower, Duncan finally walked forward slowly. He looked at the "living metal" that no longer looked like a human being, but another picture emerged 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, carrying the best swords and armor, the best scrolls and sigils made in the kingdom, and with the king's blessing and trust, they headed towards the distant wilderness together - just as described in the ancient poems, a team of brave men was going to save their world.

Duncan reached out and gently pressed on the cold, hard "steel".

"We are all lost people... Now, you are home."

The low and slow "thump" sound finally stopped, and after an extremely weak and slow beat, there was no more heartbeat in the room.

The last heartbeat was like a sigh.

Ted Riel turned around, as if announcing to the deep sea era—

"He's dead."