Then, there was light.

And that was a very, very long time ago—or perhaps just an instant ago.

After all, if the astrologers of Argeirde are correct in their theories, the birth of this universe may have only just occurred—although, on the timescale of the beings within the universe, it may already be an "event from billions of years ago," but on another timescale higher than all things in the universe, the span of billions of years is just an insignificant parameter.

But who would care? In any case, a senior who is busy completing his biology thesis every day and whose sleep time has been compressed to less than six hours certainly wouldn't care about such "heavenly matters"—the astronomy club next door might care; that's another matter, as their grades are tied to it.

Borno, carrying a large stack of materials he had just borrowed from the library, hurried across the grand promenade on the top floor of the academy city, as if a gust of wind could be stirred up behind him.

He ran past a disheveled-haired elven gentleman who seemed severely sleep-deprived, nearly bumping into him.

"Running is not allowed on the upper promenade!" the disheveled-haired elven gentleman staggered and loudly reminded the short young man who suddenly appeared—judging from his size and the distinctive feline ears, this should be a Jipulu student; this race is always so reckless.

"I'm sorry, sir!" Borno hurriedly stopped, turned around, and bowed so deeply that he almost threw the stack of books in his arms onto the gentleman in front of him. "I'm in a hurry to see my mentor—I was delayed at the library for too long, and when I looked at the time, I realized I was almost half an hour late! I'm very sorry, did I hurt you?"

The Jipulu youth's sincerity and anxious attitude worked, and the elven gentleman waved his hand helplessly: "Alright, hurry up and go, standing up your mentor is no small matter—but don't rush around like this again; the world won't end just because you're a little slow."

"Yes... Thank you, sir! Goodbye, sir! I'm leaving, sir!"

Borno bowed repeatedly, then hurriedly caught the books that were about to slip out of his arms before turning and walking quickly towards the other end of the promenade.

The disheveled-haired elven man with dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep watched the reckless young man run away, shaking his head helplessly.

Footsteps came from the side. He looked up in the direction of the sound and saw a familiar figure who had arrived nearby at some point. A smile appeared on his face as he raised his hand to greet the other person: "Ted, it's rare to see you have time to take a walk at this hour."

"It's even rarer to see you willing to come out of your lab and breathe the outside air," Ted Lear said, glancing at the elven scholar in front of him. "Didn't you say that elves only need to ingest basic vital substances and maintain fifteen minutes of sunlight and two minutes of outdoor activity every day to maintain their life signs?"

"That's what I think—but my doctor doesn't think so," Talan Er shrugged. "He kicked me out of the lab."

"...Good kick," Ted Lear rolled his eyes. "If no one is watching your body, you won't live past two thousand and will die young—seriously, the world is so good, don't you want to live a few more years and see the world properly before you die? Do you have to be so self-destructive?"

Listening to his old friend's blunt teasing and advice, Talan Er just smiled sheepishly, touching his nose without retort.

"Yes... so good..."

He murmured softly, then slowly raised his head, looking towards the end of the promenade, his gaze passing over the spires of the academy towers, over the high walls, over the vast plains and hills outside the city, towards the horizon.

There was a magnificent mountain range of green undulating on the earth, huge tree shadows standing at the end of the horizon, and the light green phantom light emanating from the top of the tree crown was like aurora borealis, spreading across the sky, turning into rivers of light flowing towards the plains, the green like veins, winding and flowing on the earth, some flowing on the surface, and some seeping into the ground, disappearing at the end of some tributaries.

Those energy flows, called "Loka's Touch," went deep, deep underground, and intertwined near the mantle to form a larger network, enveloping the entire planet between the crust and the mantle—and wherever the energy flow reached, it was a blessed place of Sylanthis.

This "academy city" was built on the largest energy focus on the Lightwind Plains.

But in fact, these "energy focuses" are not very useful for the operation of the city itself—the city needs electricity and fuel to operate, and the only function of the energy focus deep underground is to allow the elves to establish more direct communication with Sylanthis.

Sylanthis likes to chat with people—Sasloka also likes to; He is also online during patrol breaks.

Talan Er narrowed his eyes, the bright sunlight shining on his face, bringing a warm heat that made people drowsy.

"Did you hear about that matter?" Ted Lear's voice came from the side, waking Talan Er from his drowsiness. "The astrologers of Argeirde—they learned some incredible things."

"...There is always a variety of intelligence circulating in the Borderlands, and there is a long-term and stable exchange between Terra and the Borderlands, and moreover... the Argeirde people are a race very sensitive to the stars," Talan Er said unhurriedly. "I don't think this is a big problem—if the world is like this, then it should be like this. Since they have noticed it, then let them know. After all... there are so many equally sensitive and intelligent races living in the depths of such a vast and boundless starry sky, and what we can touch and influence is always only the smallest part..."

As the scholar spoke, he slowly stretched in the sunlight, as if he wanted to suck the sunlight into his lungs, taking a deep breath, and then slowly exhaling.

"Ted, don't think so much, enjoy the air and the breeze like me, and the warm sunshine... seriously, I'm starting to like being outdoors a little; it turns out that sunbathing is such a good thing."

Ted Lear glanced at Talan, then also seemed to suddenly relax. He smiled and shook his head, also squinting his eyes like Talan, letting the warm sunlight shine on his face.

But after a while, he seemed to suddenly remember something and couldn't help but mutter in a low voice: "Then again, what do you think 'He' would think about this? Native intelligent beings in the stars are spontaneously beginning to perceive some of the mysteries in the birth process of this world..."

Talan Er shrugged: "He? He has no opinion."

"...How do you know?"

"Ms. Lucretia told me when she came back last time—'He' has a lot of things to do now, and for all kinds of situations that occur in the development of native intelligent beings in the stars... 'He' adheres to only one principle: as long as they don't tear the house down, He doesn't care."

"...Isn't that a little too lenient?"

"Who knows?" Talan Er said casually. "What's that saying... oh, do your best to ensure the 'possibilities' that this world has, that's roughly the meaning."

Ted Lear thought about it and felt that there were very profound and persuasive reasons in it, so he decided not to dwell on this topic, but asked a little curiously: "Do you know what 'He' is busy with now?"

"Then I don't know even more; anyway... such a big place, He must have a lot of things to do."

As Talan Er spoke, he looked up at the distant sky.

He seemed to be staring at an infinitely distant place—outside the planet, outside the galaxy, in the ripples of space and time, in the depths of some infinite space-time structure that has already exceeded human intelligence.

He had only briefly revisited that place in a few guided visions.

Visited that ship.

The place where the "ancient holy spirits" gathered in the oldest and most obscure legends of the Bamosa people—

...

"The situation is like this," the tall Vanna stood up—in some stories in the depths of the starry sky, she is also known as "Sword-Wielding Saintess," or "Star-Smasher," "Starfall Lady"—and said with a serious face, "It's a bit tricky, we may have to go there in person."

The tall and majestic figure at the end of the long table remained silent, while Shirley across the table had already buried her head in her arms—since who-knows-when, she had been called "Lady Who Surveys the Sky" or "Star-Thrower" by the Bamosa people: "But I just just just just got off work yesterday!"

"We have to save them, right?" Agatha (Shadow), the "Twin Stars" and "Guardian in the Mirror," sitting at the corner of the long table, shook her head. "At least she's on the ship..."

"Just don't spread the word," Maurice, with a pipe in his mouth, glanced at the tall figure at the end of the long table—he had too many titles, sometimes even he himself didn't remember them—and said with a subtle expression, "Mainly don't let the Leviathans hear about it; they've protested three times..."

The tall figure at the end of the long table finally moved, and the discussions on both sides of the table finally quieted down slightly.

One after another expectant gazes fell on the captain.

The figure rose from the darkness—Duncan Zhou Ming looked around at the followers gathered here. After a long silence with a complex expression, he finally let out a sigh, his expression gradually becoming frantic:

"So, can someone first explain what it means that 'Lei Nora, while traveling, tricked the runaway Leviathan Queen into admiring the Great Cosmic Flower, resulting in both of them being trapped in a spatial rift due to gravitational collapse and having to send a distress signal to ask someone to help them get out'—and then briefly explain why this is the fourth time?! What happened the previous three times?!"

Nina next to him immediately looked around cautiously, muttering, "Shouldn't we first explain what the Great Cosmic Flower is? It sounds very interesting..."

As soon as Nina finished speaking, the goat head on the table immediately raised its neck, its tone particularly excited: "Oh, I know this. I went to see it during the last patrol mission; it's when a quasar encounters..."

As soon as it said this, everyone around the table immediately said in unison: "Shut up!"

"...Oh."

(The End)

(That's right, the Depth 0 of the last chapter is indeed the ending of Deep Sea, but even if the era of Deep Sea has ended, their story continues, so—

Depth -1

The Shiyang continues its voyage.)