History

This feeling is quite peculiar.

Duncan could clearly perceive things happening far away—he could feel the Lost Homeland drifting on the vast Boundless Sea, the living ghost ship charting new routes on the map under the control of a Goat Head, and a somewhat unstable cursed doll wandering around the ship's cabins as if exploring, familiarizing itself with the environment. The deep, dark sea swelled slowly around them, hiding countless strange creatures within its depths.

Yet, through another line of sight, he saw himself sitting in an antique shop in the lower city district of Pland City-State. The sounds of people and vehicles from the street reached his ears, only accentuating the quiet within the shop. A human girl named Nina sat opposite him, taking small bites of the cheapest cake from the lower city district.

He was Captain Duncan, the master of the Lost Homeland, a mobile disaster on the Boundless Sea—yet here he sat like an ordinary person, eating his breakfast, immersed in the peaceful depths of the city.

Whether it was an illusion or not, he felt a part of him that had always been suspended, always uneasy, was slowly settling down. Perhaps it was the long-strung nerves on the ghost ship, or perhaps something else, but he felt it was ultimately a good thing.

As if noticing the gaze from beside her, Nina, who was eating cake, suddenly looked up. She glanced curiously at Duncan and asked, "Uncle Duncan, aren't you eating?"

Duncan glanced at the food on her plate. "Is that enough for you?"

"It's enough. Eating too much sweet stuff isn't good."

"Mm."

Duncan nodded, picked up a cake, and took a bite. He seriously savored the rich flavor he hadn't tasted in so long, feeling the coarse sweetness slowly melt in his mouth—then, he clearly perceived this body beginning to process the food he had eaten.

His heart settled a little, knowing things were as he expected.

This body was more "usable" than the first temporary shell he had occupied—its "parts" were all intact, and it hadn't been dead for long. His soul's takeover had almost seamlessly restarted the vitality within the body, which was completely different from the previous open-chested corpse.

He was breathing now, blood was flowing, and his heart was beating—though the beating seemed a bit slow, it should still be within the range of a normal person.

He probably didn't need to worry about the body decaying, saving him the trouble of calculating preservative solutions. Moreover, this way, it would be less likely to expose him in front of ordinary people.

However, there was one point Duncan was still uncertain about.

He knew this body should have had an illness—in the memories he had absorbed, the negative impressions of chronic illness were more profound than all other memories. The strong liquor and painkillers he found in the cabinet earlier were also evidence.

He didn't know what illness this body had previously suffered from, as the timing and triggers of the illness seemed to be memories from a long time ago, already blurred and unclear. But one thing was obvious: at this very moment, apart from the weakness brought by a normal human physique, he hadn't sensed any problems with this body.

Had the illness disappeared? Had this body healed itself due to Spirit World Walk? Or was it that the projected soul's perception was ultimately limited, preventing him from sensing the body's issues, and the body's health was actually continuously deteriorating?

Duncan ate his meal unhurriedly while thinking, then suddenly glanced at Nina, who was eating opposite him. "Don't you have school today?"

Nina lived in the lower city district, and her economic conditions weren't great, but Pland City-State had clearly developed to a point where basic education was quite widespread. She now attended a school jointly run by the Church and City Hall, specializing in steam engines. This type of school could be considered a "vocational high school," primarily aimed at supplying skilled steam mechanics to factories and churches.

Half of Nina's tuition was paid by her uncle, and the other half came from City Hall subsidies.

For a city-state that had reached the industrial age, training mechanics in this field, even with official subsidies, was quite worthwhile. And undeniably, schools with such clear objectives also solved the basic literacy problem for commoners.

Nina was studious. In her uncle's memories, this girl had achieved relatively good grades in all her subjects.

"I don't have classes this morning," Nina nodded. "Only two history classes in the afternoon. Also, I need to inform Mrs. White this afternoon that I won't be staying in the dormitory for the next few days..."

Duncan suddenly stopped what he was doing. He looked at Nina very seriously and asked, "Don't you think staying here to take care of someone like me will delay many things? You could live in the school long-term, which might be more beneficial for your studies."

Nina froze. She stared blankly at her "Uncle Duncan," then suddenly became annoyed. "You shouldn't talk like that! You're just sick, just take your medicine as the doctor recommended—Mom and Dad entrusted you to me..."

"It was your Mom and Dad who entrusted you to me," Duncan corrected her very seriously, organizing his thoughts using the memories in his mind. "You were only six years old then."

"But I'm seventeen now," Nina puffed out her cheeks, forcefully stabbing the last small piece of cake with her fork. "You're less capable of taking care of yourself than I am—if I really moved out, you'd mess up the room in three days. In fact, you could even let me help manage the shop, at least clean up a bit. The display window is so dirty it's hard to see clearly..."

Duncan listened helplessly to the girl's nagging "lecture." He hadn't expected his casual "test" to elicit such a reaction from her.

But slowly, he couldn't help but smile.

He felt a warmth from this girl named "Nina"—a warm, sun-drenched warmth.

"Alright, I was just saying," he shook his head, stirring the last bit of soup in his bowl. "History class in the afternoon... How's your history class going lately?"

"Uncle Duncan, are you really okay?" Nina's eyes widened in surprise. "You never... well, at least not in the last two years, you never asked about my school matters."

Duncan opened his mouth, about to say something, but the girl in front of him continued on her own. "We're currently studying ancient history. Old Mr. Morris is telling us about the events after the Great Annihilation... Honestly, it's quite interesting. Ancient history sounds like many parts are like stories, much more interesting than modern and contemporary history."

Duncan thought for a moment, then said with a serious expression, "Sounds like you're learning well? Then let me test you. What are the related concepts of the Great Annihilation?"

Uncle Duncan was very strange today. Though he couldn't pinpoint why, he was just different from usual.

But Nina didn't think too much about it. Compared to her uncle's slightly odd words and actions, this simple girl was happier that Uncle Duncan had finally perked up and seemed to be in a good mood.

She was delighted that Uncle Duncan's question happened to be about something she had just learned.

So, with a proud smile, she began to explain the knowledge she had just acquired to Duncan:

"The Great Annihilation happened about ten thousand years ago. Although for unknown reasons, minority ethnic groups with unique cultural heritages like the Elves, Senjin people, and Gipro people record inconsistent dates in their own calendars, generally, the archaeological community agrees that the Great Annihilation occurred ten thousand years ago, at the end of the Order Era..."

Duncan listened with a calm expression.

His mind was full of questions.

Elves? Senjin people? Gipro people? What was going on? So, the land wasn't only inhabited by humans as a wise race? And Elves... was this the same concept as the "Elves" he understood? Were there Elf city-states in the Boundless Sea that still existed in the steam industrial era?

Certain bizarrely drawn scenes flashed through his mind, while Nina's voice continued from across the table:

"...There are some discrepancies in the records of the Great Annihilation among various city-states, but a common point is that the Order Era before the Great Annihilation was a far more prosperous, stable, and safe era than the present. At that time, there was a vast continent, and the ocean area was far from the boundless expanse it is today. Furthermore, both the oceans and the land had no end, no so-called 'real borders'...

"The era after the Great Annihilation is called the 'Deep Sea Era,' which continues to this day and shows no signs of ending. The most prominent characteristic of the Deep Sea Era is that the Boundless Sea covers almost the entire world, with only less than ten percent of the old world remaining as land, all divided into large and small islands or 'Misty Otherworlds.' Many of today's city-states are built on relatively stable islands, and various ocean-going ships have become the means of inter-island communication and connection.

"In the early stages of the Deep Sea Era, the survivors of the old world suffered heavy blows, and almost all of the old civilization was destroyed. The 'Ancient Kingdom of Crete,' which rose from the ruins, is the earliest known ancestor of civilization in the Deep Sea Era. Although this ancient kingdom lasted less than a century, it left behind a vast legacy that profoundly influenced later generations. This included the most primitive and rudimentary classification methods for many anomalies and phenomena of the Deep Sea Era, as well as valuable experience for surviving in the Deep Sea Era..."