Chapter 1 A Mysterious Sphere

A strange word, one never heard before, entered his ears. Its mysterious, stilted pronunciation didn't even resemble any language Tirian knew!

In astonishment, he glanced down at the document, studying the sketch of the so-called "Stone Sphere" rendered with meticulous strokes. After a long while, he looked up. "Father? What did you just say? Moon... is that thing's name? You recognize this mysterious sphere?"

Duncan, however, seemed not to hear him, still staring intently at the image of the moon on the paper, an image that was exceptionally familiar to him. It wasn't until Tirian asked twice in succession that...

...he seemed to wake up with a start, looking at Tirian and quickly asking, "What did you say about Lucretia just now?"

"Um... this is information she sent from the Radiant Star," Tirian said hesitantly.

His father's unusual reaction made him uneasy, but under that intensely pressuring gaze, he told everything he knew.

Some time ago, a mysterious luminous object fell from the border region and was discovered by Lucy. She had been studying it ever since. This strange sphere was the core of the fallen object. Tirian recounted the entire story, including the Harbor of Gentle Breeze scholars' judgment that the fallen object came from Anomaly 001, all their research progress on the Stone Sphere, and the difficulties they had encountered!

During his narration, Duncan didn't interrupt once. He simply listened quietly with an unusually serious silence that made Tirian feel pressured, as if he wanted to engrave every word deeply in his mind and dissect each character a thousand times!

After more than ten minutes, the domed office fell silent again.

Duncan was silent for a long time, finally taking a light breath before the air gradually solidified:

"Why didn't you mention this to me before?"

"Lucy wanted to contact you after the research had made some progress, and more importantly... it was during the Frost Crisis!"

After a while, Duncan felt his pounding heart slowly calm down. Listening to Tirian's words, he finally nodded slightly. "This thing is now in the Harbor of Gentle Breeze, is it?"

"Um... yes," Tirian quickly nodded. He felt his lips were a little dry, and at the same time, he paid more attention to the changes in his father's expression, hesitating several times before he couldn't help but ask again.

"Do you recognize this mysterious sphere?"

"It's called the moon—at least, it looks like it. But the moon I know isn't ten meters in diameter, nor could it possibly float on the sea, to be dragged back to the city-state by a ship with steel cables," Duncan said slowly.

Perhaps it's just a man-made object that imitates the shape, or perhaps it's just the ancient Cretan Kingdom...

He stopped halfway through his sentence. The great sense of contradiction and the conflicting thoughts in his mind made it impossible for him to explain this matter with a guess. In any case, one thing was certain...

The image in the document in Tirian's hand was indeed the moon, and regardless of whether the Stone Sphere that Lucretia picked up at sea was the "real" moon or an artificial flying object made by the Cretan Kingdom to imitate the moon,

one question always remained: why would the image of the moon that he was familiar with appear here? Why would it appear in this strange and twisted otherworld?

Lost in thought, he frowned and looked at Tirian. "You just said... the Harbor of Gentle Breeze scholars have confirmed that the mysterious luminous object fell from the runic ring of Anomaly 001?"

"Yes!"

"They have confirmed the shape of the gap in the solar runic ring," Tirian said.

Then another question popped up: "You said it's called the moon... then what exactly is the moon?"

Duncan hesitated for a moment, suddenly realizing that he didn't have suitable words to explain such a simple name to Tirian.

After thinking for a long time, he could only blurt out, "It's a planet!"

When Tirian heard this, the confusion on his face became even more obvious: "What is a planet?"

Duncan fell silent!

After a long time, he heard Tirian's voice sound again: "Is this a taboo question? Am I asking too much?"

"No, this isn't a taboo—it... should be the simplest question, but I can't explain it to you," Duncan shook his head gently, looking at the opposite side of the mirror with a complex expression. "I'm sorry, Tirian, the answer to this question is very simple... but making you understand it is the greatest difficulty!"

Tirian was a little dazed!

Looking at his father's complex and apologetic expression in the mirror, he vaguely felt... that this scene seemed to have happened a long, long time ago, in the depths of that distant and hazy memory, on a faded afternoon...

That day, he and Lucretia stood on the deck of the Lost Township for the last time, asking his father, who was determined to cross the border, what was beyond the border!

At that time, his father's reaction was exactly the same as it was now, it was the look of someone who knew a very simple truth but didn't know how to explain it to others!

Just then, Duncan's voice suddenly came from the mirror, interrupting Tirian's gradually sinking memories: "I've changed my plans. Next, the Lost Township will go to the Harbor of Gentle Breeze!"

As expected.

When his father showed such a reaction when facing the sphere called the moon, Tirian knew things would develop this way!

"I understand—I'll explain the situation to Lucy."

Nina looked worriedly at Duncan, who was standing on the edge of the deck in the distance, looking out at the sea. Alice passed by her, and she stopped her!

"What's wrong with Uncle Duncan?"

Nina lowered her voice. He had been looking into the distance since just now, and he seemed to have a lot on his mind...

"I don't know," Alice looked up and shook her head blankly.

"Captain came out of the captain's room like this, he said he needed to think about something."

Think about something?

Nina blinked her eyes in confusion.

"Did something happen?" Alice thought about it seriously and nodded: "He contacted Tirian, but I don't know what they said!"

"Mr. Tirian?" Nina was stunned, and then began to use her full imagination, her expression gradually becoming strange. "Is it because Mr. Tirian isn't getting married either?"

Alice looked blank: "Huh? What does that mean?"

Nina thought for a while and began to analyze seriously: "I heard Mr. Morris say that he often worries about Heidi's marriage, and Mr. Tirian is older than Miss Heidi, so the captain must be even more worried about this."

Alice was stunned, nodding confusedly!

As soon as she finished speaking, Duncan's voice suddenly came from beside them: "That's enough, Nina, you can't tease Alice like that, she'll take it seriously."

Nina was startled, only then did she notice that Uncle Duncan had come to her side at some point, while Alice scratched her head a little confusedly, looking at Nina suspiciously: "You were teasing me just now?"

"In short, don't take what she just said seriously," Duncan said helplessly, then his eyes fell on Nina. "Don't worry, nothing happened!"

Nina stuck out her tongue, but then showed a worried look.

"Uncle Duncan, what happened? You rarely look so worried..."

Duncan didn't know how to answer the girl's question for a moment. What appeared in his mind was still the picture he had seen in Tirian's office before,

and the strange sphere that Lucretia had "picked up" at sea. He raised his hand and pinched his aching brow,

but the next second, his movements suddenly stopped, instead, he stared at the girl in front of him. Nina stood there obediently, with a look of concern on her face.

Duncan looked at her, at this still, gentle, and obedient little Yoel, under the shell of that human girl.

He seemed to be able to directly see the bright light left after the star shattered, see the dazzling plasma heat flow that once gushed out in the universe... Little Yoel tilted her head and stretched out her hand, stroking Duncan's furrowed brow, seemingly wanting to smooth out those deep ravines.

"Uncle Duncan, are you really okay?"

Duncan didn't speak, just gently grabbed Nina's hand, put it on his forehead, and then slowly took a breath. He understood some things again. Behind the thick curtain, the world once again showed him a corner of the truth, but he couldn't share this corner of the truth with anyone!

"Don't worry, Nina—everything is fine."

He said slowly, gradually returning to his usual calm appearance. "I've encountered some difficulties, but it's still difficult to explain to you at the moment. When I solve the difficulties, I'll tell you properly!"

Nina listened seriously, and then nodded vigorously: "Okay!"

"Very good, then let's go back to the cabin first. We should set off, but before we set off, we have to make a detour to the Sea Mist Fleet's station. We have to help Tirian bring something..."

In the Frost City-State, in the Consul's domed office, with a slight hum, the crystal ball gradually lit up, and the figure of the "Sea Witch" emerged in the faint light.

"Brother?" Lucretia looked curiously at this side. "Are you done with your work? Is everything going well?"

"If you're talking about the inauguration ceremony, it ended in the morning. Everything went smoothly,"

Tirian said, his expression gradually becoming a little complicated. "But I'm looking for you about something else!"

Lucretia frowned: "Something else?"

"Two things," Tirian hesitated, and then opened his mouth, "First, the spirit world lens you wanted, I've already prepared it for you. I got the best quality and highest precision lens device through the city-state's legal channels!"

In the crystal ball, Lucretia's face instantly showed a happy look: "Ah, that's great! You're quite reliable. What's the second thing?"

"The second thing... guess who's going to deliver the lens to you?"

"Is it a transport ship under your command?" Tirian didn't say anything. Lucretia's expression finally gradually changed: "It's a transport ship under your command, right?"

Tirian still didn't say anything!

Lucretia realized: "It's Dad."

"Yes!"