Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 852: Depth -1, To the New World

below mtl, be careful!

***

then, there was light.

and that was a long, long time ago—or maybe just a moment ago.

after all, if the algrade astrologers' theory is correct, the birth of this universe may have happened only recently—although for the time scale of all beings in the universe, it may have been an “event billions of years ago”, but for another time scale higher than all things in the universe, the time span of billions of years is just an insignificant parameter.

but who cares? after all, a senior who has to finish his biology thesis all day and sleeps less than six hours a day will definitely not care about such “things in the sky”—the astronomy school next door may care, but that's another matter, their credits are tied to this.

borno was holding a large stack of materials he had just borrowed from the library, and he ran hurriedly across the large walkway on the top floor of the academy city, as if he could bring up a gust of wind behind him.

he ran past an elf gentleman with messy hair and who looked severely sleep-deprived, and almost bumped into him.

“no running on the upper trail!” the messy-haired elf staggered and loudly reminded the short guy who came out of nowhere—judging from his body size and the distinctive, cat-like ears, he should be a student of the gypro tribe, a race that is always so reckless.

“i'm sorry, sir!” borno stopped in a hurry, turned around, and bent down to apologize in a posture that seemed like he was about to throw the pile of books in his arms at the gentleman opposite him. “i was in a hurry to see my tutor. i stayed in the library for too long. i looked up at the watch and found that i was almost half an hour late! i'm very sorry. did i hurt you?”

the sincerity and nervousness of the young man jipro worked, and mr. elf waved his hand helplessly: “okay, go ahead. it's no small matter to stand up your mentor - but don't rush around like this. the world won't be destroyed just because you run a little slower.”

“yes... thank you sir! goodbye sir! i'm leaving sir!”

borno bowed repeatedly, and hurriedly caught the book that was about to slip out of his arms. then he turned around and walked quickly to the other end of the trail.

the elf man with messy hair and dark circles under his eyes due to lack of sleep looked at the young man who ran away recklessly and shook his head helplessly.

he heard footsteps coming from the side. he looked up in the direction of the sound and saw a familiar figure approaching nearby. he smiled and raised his hand to greet the other person: “ted, it's rare to see you have time to take a walk at this time.”

“it's even rarer to see you willing to come out of your lab and breathe the air outside,” ted lill glanced at the elf scholar in front of him and said jokingly, “didn't you say that elves only need to take in basic vitamins and maintain fifteen minutes of sunlight and two minutes of outdoor activities every day to maintain their vital signs?”

“i thought so—but my doctor didn’t,” taran eyre shrugged. “he kicked me out of the lab.”

“...good job,” ted lear rolled his eyes. “if no one is watching over your body, you will die young before 2,000 years old. honestly, the world is so good, don't you want to live a few more years, take a good look at it before you die? why are you so rude?”

listening to the unceremonious teasing and teachings from his long-time friend, taran el just smiled awkwardly and touched his nose without any rebuttal.

“yeah... that's good...”

he muttered softly, then slowly raised his head and looked towards the end of the promenade, his eyes passing over the spire of the academy's tower, over the high walls, over the vast plains and hills outside the city, looking towards the horizon.

he had revisited the place only briefly in a few guided visions.

visited the ship.

that place where the “old holy spirits” gather in the oldest and most obscure legends of the patmosans -

......

“this is the situation,” the tall vanna stood up. in some stories deep in the starry sky, she was also called the “saintess with the sword,” or “the one who shoots down the stars,” or “the lady of falling stars.” she said seriously, “it's a little tricky. maybe we have to go there in person.”

the tall and majestic figure at the end of the long table remained silent, while shirley, who was sitting opposite the table, had already slumped down with her head in her hands. she had been called “the lady who patrols the sky” or “the star thrower” by the bamosas since some time ago. “but i just had a day off yesterday!”

“we have to save them at least,” agatha (shadow), the “gemini stars” and “the protector in the mirror” who was sitting at a corner of the long table, shook her head, “at least they are on the ship...”

“just don't let this get out,” morris said with a delicate expression, smoking his pipe and glancing at the tall figure at the end of the long table—he had so many titles that sometimes even he couldn't remember them all. “the main thing is to make sure it doesn't get to the leviathans. 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 a little.

all eyes fell on the captain with expectation.

the figure stood up from the darkness—duncan zhou ming looked around at the followers gathered here, and after a long period of silence with a complicated expression, he finally sighed, his expression gradually going crazy:

“so, who can first explain what 'while traveling, lenoira tricked the leviathan queen who ran away from home to go and admire the cosmic explosion, but they were both stuck in a space crack due to gravitational collapse and had to send a distress signal to find someone to help get them out' means—and then briefly explain why it was the fourth time?! what about the first three times?!”

nina, who was standing by, immediately raised her head and looked around carefully, muttering, “shouldn't you explain what the big bang is first? it sounds very interesting...”

as soon as nina finished speaking, the goat head on the table immediately raised its neck and said excitedly, “hey, i know this. i went to see it during the last patrol mission. it was when the quasar encountered...”

as soon as it started to speak, everyone around the table said in unison: “shut up!”

“......oh.”

***

(season finale!)

(yes, the depth 0 in the previous chapter is indeed the finale of the deep sea, but even if the era of the deep sea ends, their story continues, so -

depth -1

the lost homeland is still sailing.)