Anomaly and Phenomenon

The Great Annihilation was the turning point for all history in this world, and the beginning of what is now called the "Deep Sea Era."

Based on what Nina had explained, Duncan finally had a general understanding of the tremendous upheaval that had once occurred in this world. He also realized that this world had not always been as bizarre and dangerous as it was now—

According to historical records, the world before the Great Annihilation was a paradise of prosperity and safety.

Back then, the ocean wasn't the "Boundless Sea." The limited seawater hadn't yet covered over ninety-five percent of the world's surface as it did today. Humanity still lived on vast and safe landmasses, and even within the ocean, there were no dangerous phenomena like the Spirit World, the Deep, or subspace.

The "Order Era" recorded in history books felt more like the world Duncan was familiar with. Although modern people would look back at that ancient era, where "anomalies" didn't exist, with wonder and disbelief, to Duncan, the current state of the world was entirely wrong.

History books did not provide a detailed explanation for the "Great Annihilation." Although the archaeological community had been making efforts in this regard, significant disagreements in ancient history persisted among various city-states and ethnic groups. No one knew how the Great Annihilation actually happened, nor what the entity of that disaster truly was—a great chaos and fog enveloped that cataclysm, and beyond that mist was the current Deep Sea Era.

Seawater from an unknown source submerged over ninety percent of the land. Survivors of the remnants of civilization established city-states and fleets on the remaining archipelagos and small landmasses. The Boundless Sea and the sea mists brought strange things called "anomalies" and "phenomena," which continue to threaten the survival of civilization to this day.

Nina, however, was unaware that a Ghost Captain from a foreign land was absorbing knowledge from her words. She only thought her uncle was testing her on her homework. Her uncle hadn't been in such a good mood for a long time, and she felt very happy, even cherishing this moment. She was worried that Uncle Duncan might revert to his previous state at any moment. Based on past experience, this was almost inevitable.

As soon as the strong liquor lost its effect, or the painkillers ran out, her uncle would become extremely irritable, prone to anger, and hysterical.

So, before Uncle Duncan had another episode, she wanted to show him all her progress. Perhaps this could keep him in a good mood for another day or two.

"...Mr. Morris is very interested in the history of the Kingdom of Crete; he's an expert in this field. He told us that although the Ancient Kingdom of Crete only lasted for a century, it was the first civilization to rise from the ruins and resist anomalies and phenomena after the advent of the Deep Sea Era. The experience they gained over a hundred years still guides most people in the world today—the most important of which is their method of classifying 'anomalies' and 'phenomena'..."

"A method for classifying 'anomalies' and 'phenomena'? You've learned that already?" Duncan raised an eyebrow, his words still guiding her.

He had been paying close attention while listening earlier and was now even more certain that, in the eyes of ordinary people in this world, those illogical things should have a strict classification system. Some things were called "anomalies," even having numbers, but other things... seemed to be called "phenomena" separately, unlike his previous impression where everything was broadly categorized as "anomalies."

He had never heard such detailed knowledge from Goat Head on the Lost Homeland. Now, what Nina had learned in school could finally fill the gaps in his common knowledge.

Nina nodded, recalling what she had heard in class, and said, "Mr. Morris taught us the simplest way to distinguish between anomalies and phenomena, which is by scale.

"Generally speaking, anomalies are smaller in scale, often confined to an object, an animal, or even a 'person.'

"Most anomalies can be moved by humans, and their range of influence is limited. Many anomalies even affect only one target at a time, and with specific methods, most anomalies can be safely sealed or isolated—some of the more harmless anomalies can even be 'utilized' like tools through specific methods.

"Phenomena are much larger in scale than anomalies. The smallest phenomena are as large as a house, while larger ones can cover an entire city-state, or even larger... unimaginably so.

"A considerable number of phenomena cannot be moved by humans. They are either fixed in place or operate according to their own will, and their influence far exceeds that of anomalies. Under normal circumstances, phenomena can affect an infinite number of targets within their effective range, to the point where they are almost equivalent to 'natural phenomena,' hence the name 'phenomena.'

"Unlike anomalies, almost all 'phenomena' cannot be sealed or controlled. They exist in the world like natural phenomena, operating without external interference, and naturally affecting all eligible targets within their range. Since most phenomena are dangerous, all people can do is stay away from these dangerous phenomena, or use specific methods to avoid becoming targets of their effects...

"Fortunately, the most dangerous phenomena usually do not move. The pioneers have helped us identify these dangers, so we can safely maintain our distance from them..."

Nina said this very seriously, then suddenly seemed to remember something and quickly added, "Oh, right. The old gentleman specifically mentioned that these judgment methods and characteristics are only 'usually effective'—anomalies and phenomena are illogical things, so no matter how people summarize their experiences, there will always be anomalies or phenomena that don't fit the definitions that suddenly appear. Sometimes, anomalies and phenomena even switch roles, and there are cases where phenomena are interfered with and eliminated by human effort.

"For example, in the 1830th year of the New City-State Calendar, an anomaly called 'Mycelium' in the Lensa City-State went out of control. The Church Guardians there spent a great deal of resources to banish this out-of-control anomaly to a nearby island. That island was recognized as having been promoted to a phenomenon in 1835, becoming the Fungal Island thereafter—but in 1844, the great Saint Paladin sacrificed his life to contain the Fungal Island within his urn. Thus, the phenomenon 'Fungal Island' was delisted that same year, and it became an 'anomaly' again, known as the 'Paladin's Mushroom Bottle,' which is now sealed in the holy relic vault beneath the Grand Cathedral of the Lensa City-State..."

Duncan listened intently to everything Nina was saying, his mind racing, while his calm expression concealed his inner emotional fluctuations.

In this short breakfast, the intelligence he had gathered exceeded the sum of his efforts over the past many days on the Lost Homeland!

Establishing contact with the mainland and setting up an outpost in a surface city-state was indeed the correct approach—civilized society was the hub of most worldly information!

He instinctively looked at the girl still speaking before him, feeling quite enlightened.

A civilization that had developed normally to the industrial stage would definitely find ways to compress and summarize the foundational knowledge of social operation within its education system. A child living within this system might find it difficult to realize what a treasure trove their everyday textbooks were:

It was knowledge accumulated by countless people over countless years, then refined and integrated into the most easily learnable structure through years of effort. Those books constructed the most exquisite "nutrient compressed packages" in the world, all to ensure that a blank slate of a person could quickly become a cog in the machinery of society with the minimum cost of time and energy.

Even Nina, who loved to learn, couldn't grasp this—only Duncan, the "outsider," could realize how precious and how easily absorbable this knowledge was.

Nina, however, didn't notice what Duncan was thinking. She just remembered what her respected history teacher had said in class—

"...So, at the end of the last lesson, Mr. Morris told us something. He said that people had summarized countless rules in their dealings with 'anomalies' and 'phenomena,' but only one rule was truly eternally effective: 'No matter how many rules we summarize, there will always be anomalies or phenomena that do not conform to the rules appearing in the world.'

"This rule is also known by scholars as the 'Eternal Zero Rule,' and it is by default placed at the very beginning of all books and papers in related fields. Based on this, people proposed the famous 'Law of Permanent Anomaly and Phenomenon Inaccuracy,' and this law has not been broken to this day..."