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

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

This was the first time Duncan had come into contact with Morris, but even from his first impression, he could tell that the old gentleman had extraordinary academic attainments. He was a true expert who could accurately identify an antique from a pile of debris at first glance and accurately tell its year and historical background. An expert like him would be more than qualified to work in a university in the upper city.

To be honest, all his knowledge is a complete waste in the public school in the cross street. Nina said that almost no students in her class care about what the old man teaches. They are considered respecting the teacher if they can stay awake during the class.

What's more, Mr. Morris could afford a large sum of money to buy a dagger from a century ago - someone who carries a checkbook with him is not like an ordinary citizen.

Duncan thought about it and thought that asking directly "How come you are so rich" seemed too abrupt, but using the art of language to put it another way would be natural:

"Actually, I'm a little curious. How come a scholar like you would stay in a public school in the Cross Street area to be a teacher?"

"...You're not the first one to ask that." Morris seemed to have long been accustomed to other people's questions in this regard. He just smiled faintly and said while carefully putting away his things, "It's nothing. I'm just old and tired of the overly tense academic atmosphere in those universities in the upper city. Instead of competing with young people for the limited resources, it's better to find a quieter place to complete my research... And in my later years, I can pass on my knowledge to more young people. Isn't that great?"

The old man didn't seem to tell the whole truth, but Duncan saw that he didn't want to go into too much detail, so he didn't ask any more questions. He just casually said, "But I heard from Nina that her classmates don't really value the knowledge you taught them... In this difficult Lower City, isn't it a little too far-fetched to pursue the glory of the ancient Kingdom of Crete?"

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

“The life span of mortals is very short. It is the inheritance and respect for history that allows the life span of civilization to far exceed the limit of individuals. This is also the key difference between us and those strange and blind things in the deep sea - they are long-lived, but they do not know how to record civilization, so they will never be able to destroy us.

"Of course, Mr. Duncan, you are right. In this downtown area, few people are willing to listen to my long speeches... But even if I can only teach one student, I feel that my time over the years has not been wasted."

Morris spoke slowly, and then seemed to suddenly realize something, revealing a gentle and apologetic smile: "Sorry, it's professional habit, I was a little preachy."

"It's okay. I think it's a valuable sermon." Duncan waved his hand immediately. "In fact, I'm happy to talk to you. You see, you are a history expert, and I am an antique dealer. In a sense, we are in the same industry."

From the perspective of "teachers", we are also colleagues - Duncan added silently in his heart.

"Honestly, if I only look at your first impression of this antique shop... I really don't believe the word 'colleague' you mentioned," Morris spread his hands, "but now I believe it a little bit - at least you still have a real item."

Duncan's expression was very calm, thinking that there was more than one genuine product - the moment the old man filled out the check, he had already mapped out all the warehouses of Lost Hometown in his mind. If he hadn't been worried about the impact on the market, he would have even planned the decoration style of the eighth branch...

After calming himself down, Duncan continued to maintain a calm and smiling attitude: "I heard from Nina that you are better at 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 Ancient Kingdom of Crete is the beginning of civilization in the Deep Sea Age. Before the Ancient Kingdom was the Great Extinction Event, which was the melting point of civilization. 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 pondered: "The melting point of civilization... is like a 'horizon limit' that lies across the river of history..."

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

"As for the concept of the 'Great Annihilation' event, you can think of it as an invisible time wall. All information on the other side of the wall cannot be transmitted to the other side. Whether it is optical observation or the cause and effect relationship of things, they are all cut off at that boundary. You can never stand on one side of the boundary and know what happened on the other side. It's as if the timeline of all things suddenly appeared from that boundary."

"A very interesting statement!" Old Mr. Morris slightly widened his eyes, and there was even a slight glow in his eyes. "The limit of the horizon in history... a wall of time... indeed, very appropriate! Mr. Duncan, please forgive my initial wrong impression and... contempt for you. 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 come up with some wonderful metaphors sometimes," Duncan said modestly. He knew he should act ignorant now. "But I am really curious about the Great Oblivion... You mentioned earlier that the orthodox academic community has not yet recognized the history before the Great Oblivion, but there are many contradictory records in the "unofficial history" of various city-states? What are these records like?"

"It's just anecdotes... But I have indeed studied some of them," Morris thought and spoke slowly, "For example, there was a record in the city-state of Plande, a manuscript in 1069 of the New City-State Calendar. The original copy is no longer available. The 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 embellishing the night sky. There is a sun in the sky and three moons. Humans occupy three continents, one of which is frozen all year round. Therefore, people built a device called "dome" to cover the continent to create "eternal spring". The energy source of this dome imitates the sun in the sky and uses a certain component in the sea water as fuel. It is almost eternal..."

Morris paused here, as if to give Duncan some time to think, remember, and organize, and then continued:

"On an island near Cold Harbor, explorers discovered a record engraved on a rock. That record also described the world before the Great Oblivion. After scholars put in a lot of effort to decipher it, they were left with great confusion.

"The slate describes that a homeland called the 'Mother Star' has dried up, and all the people in the world are on a huge ship called the 'Abynics'. This ship can cross the sea of ​​stars and uses dust and gas captured from the void as fuel. The ship sailed for 47,000 days and nights, and was suddenly caught in a 'huge flash and whirlpool'. The ship then disintegrated and disappeared in the whirlpool, and the descendants survived from the sea, leaving behind memories of their homeland in the cave.

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

"Elves have a lifespan of a thousand years, so their history should be more detailed and reliable than that of other short-lived races. But for some reason, the history of Light Wind Harbor is the most fragmented and absurd of all the city-state histories. Many of their volumes have even been twisted by unknown forces into unreadable 'lost volumes', which have to be sealed due to severe pollution. In the elves' oral record poems, the world before the Great Oblivion is described as follows:

"The world is a dream, a breath of the great demon god Sasloka between half-sleep and half-wakefulness. The elves were born in the dream to maintain Sasloka's sleep. But one day, the demon god suddenly dreamed of a flood. He woke up with a start. Then the flood leaked from his dream into the real world, and the elves were swept into reality by the flood... The demon god Sasloka disappeared because of his awakening. The elves could no longer return to that peaceful and harmonious home, so they settled down in the deep sea era after the flood."