The so-called "public schools" in the Prand City State are completely different from those real universities in the Upper Town - these schools supported by the City Hall are not institutions that cultivate real scholars, but their greater role is to train skilled workers for factories in the Lower Town and the steam organs of the church, and in the process, provide basic literacy education to the public.

Under this premise, the resource level of that public school in the Crossblock is naturally imaginable.

It was Duncan's first contact with Morris, but even for his first impression, he could see that the old man had extraordinary academic achievements. This was a real expert who could accurately identify an antique from a pile of debris and accurately describe his year and historical background by just the first glance. An expert like him was more than enough in colleges in the Upper Town.

As for matters, his knowledge was completely wasted in public schools in the cross-block area. Nina said that almost few students in her class cared about the content taught by the old man. It would be considered respectful to everyone if they could keep a class without sleeping.

What's more, Mr. Morris could take out a lot of money to buy a dagger from a century ago - the person carrying a checkbook with him was not like an ordinary citizen.

Duncan thought about it and asked directly, "Why are you so rich?", which seems too abrupt, but it is natural to use the art of language to describe it in other words:

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

"...You are 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 packing things up. "It's nothing, it's just that I'm old and tired of the overly tense academic atmosphere in the universities in the upper city. Instead of competing with young people for resources that are not much, it's better to find a cleaner place to complete your own research... and in my later years, Isn't that great?"

The old man seemed not to tell the truth, but Duncan saw that the other party didn't want to talk too carefully, so he didn't ask, but just said casually: "But I heard from Nina that her classmates don't value the knowledge you taught very much... In this downtown area where survival is difficult, is it too far to pursue the glory of the ancient Crete Kingdom?"

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

"The lifespan of mortals is very short, and it is the inheritance and awe of history, which allows the lifespan of civilization to far exceed the individual's limits. This is also the key to distinguishing us from those strange and blind things in the deep sea - they are long-lasting but do not know how to record civilization, and they will never be able to destroy us.

"Of course, Mr. Duncan, you are right. In this city, few people would like to listen to my long speech... But even if I only taught one student, I feel that my years have not been in vain."

Morris said slowly, then seemed to suddenly react to something and smiled gently and apologetically: "Sorry, I've been preaching a little about my professional habits."

"It's okay, I think it's a valuable 'preaching'," Duncan waved his hand immediately. "In fact, I'm happy to talk to you-you see, you're a history expert, I'm an antique businessman, and in a sense, we're a peer."

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

"To be honest, if you only have the first impression of entering this antique shop... I really don't believe the word "come" you mentioned," Morris spread his hands, "but now I believe it a little - you still have a real thing."

Duncan's expression was very calm, thinking that it was more than just a real thing - the moment the old man filled out the check, he had already scratched all the warehouses of the Lost Village in his mind. If he hadn't been worried about impacting the market, he would have planned the decoration style of the eighth branch at this time...

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 Crete kingdom?"

"Strictly speaking, there is only 'back', no 'front'," Morris corrected immediately. "The ancient Crete Kingdom was the beginning of civilization in the deep-sea era. Before the ancient kingdom, it was a great annihilation event. It was the fuse of civilization. No one could tell what the world looked like before that point in time - it was just a contradictory statement in the wilderness talks circulating in various city-states."

Duncan thought: "Is the fuse of civilization... like a 'vision limit' that stretches across the river of history..."

It was obviously the first time Morris heard the word: "The limit of the horizon?"

"A concept, if you put it on the 'Great Annihilation' event, you can regard it as an invisible time wall. All information opposite 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. You will never stand on one side of the boundary to understand what happened on the other side, just as if the timeline of everything suddenly appears from that boundary."

"A pretty interesting statement!" Mr. Morris opened his eyes slightly, and even light came out of his eyes. "The limit of the horizon in history... a wall of time... is indeed very appropriate! Mr. Duncan, forgive me for my initial impression of you and...slight contempt. You are more professional than I thought. Do you also study ancient history often?"

"No, I don't know much about ancient history, but my thinking is relatively flexible. Sometimes I can think of some wonderful metaphors," Duncan said immediately modestly. He knew that he should be a little ignorant now. "But I am really curious about the events of the Great Annihilation Period... You mentioned just now that the orthodox academic community has no universal recognition of the history before the Great Annihilation, but there are many contradictory records in the "unofficial histories" of various city-states? What are these records?"

"It's just a strange story...but I did study some," Morris thought, and said slowly, "For example, there was a record in the Plander City State that was a manuscript from the New City State calendar in 1069. The original is no longer verified. The manuscript described the world before the Great Annihilation in this way:

"The world is a sphere, floating in the vast sea of ​​stars, with countless celestial bodies as stars to embellish the night sky. There is a sun and three moons in the sky. Humans occupy three continents, one of which is frozen all year round. Therefore, people built a device called the "Dome" to cover 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, which can be almost eternal..."

Morris paused for a moment when he said this, as if he was giving Duncan some thoughts, memories, and time to sort out, and then continued:

"And on an island near Cold Harbor, explorers found a record engraved on a rock, which also describes the world before the Great Annihilation. After the scholars tried their best to crack it, they were confused-

"The stone book describes that a hometown called the 'mother star' has dried up. People all ride on a huge ship called the 'Abinix'. This giant ship can cross the starry sea and use dust and gas captured in nothingness as fuel. The giant ship sailed for 47,000 days and nights, and was suddenly caught in the 'huge flash and vortex'. Then the ship disintegrated and disappeared in the vortex, and the descendants survived from the sea and left memories of their hometown in the cave.

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

"Elf has a thousand years of life. Their history should be more detailed and reliable than other short-lived races. But for some reason, the history of Qingfeng Harbor is the most fragmented and absurd and bizarre of all city-state history. Many of their files are even twisted by unknown forces into unreadable "lost books" and have to be sealed due to serious pollution. In the elves' word-of-mouth poems, the world before the great annihilation is described in this way:

"The world is a dream. It was a dream that the great demon Sasloka was born in a dream and maintained Sasloka's sleep. But one day, the demon suddenly dreamed of a flood coming. He woke up, and the flood leaked from his dream to the real world, and the elves were swept into reality by the flood... The demon Sasloka disappeared because of his awakening. The elves could no longer return to that peaceful and peaceful home, so they settled in the deep-sea era after the flood."
Chapter completed!