Anaxa did not answer immediately. He stood up, walked to the edge of the hanging garden, and looked down at the vibrant yet withering garden below.
At that moment, he seemed to stand on the boundary between life and death, movement and stillness, the finite and the infinite.
" Eternity..." he uttered the word again, his voice echoing in the empty corridor, carrying an unprecedented weight.
"If ' Eternity ' merely means solidification and immutability, like a flying insect preserved in amber, then it is nothing more than another form of 'death.'"
"This is the end of time, the grave of change."
At that Anaxa turned around, her gaze refocusing on Lygus, her eyes flashing with an almost fanatical light:
"But true ' Eternity '... shouldn't be dead, it should be... alive."
"It must accommodate birth and death, accommodate flow, accommodate the ceaseless and endless change itself. Otherwise, ' Eternity ' is meaningless."
"Then..." Anaxa's voice was resolute, proclaiming the truth, "Who will provide proof for this 'living Eternity '?"
Who will mark this boundless flow, making this concept, so vast it's almost " Nihility," perceptible, understandable, and even "experienced"?
As soon as he finished speaking, Anaxa pointed to the void, to the location where the star map had once existed, to the " Fourth Moment " brewing above Amphoreus.
"In my opinion, it is this ' Titan ' named the Nous." Anaxa's words were full of power.
"It is the ever-burning engine of ' Erudition ' that ceaselessly leaves its mark called 'moment' in the endless river of time."
Every calculation, every solution, every anchoring step is a pulse being injected into that vast and boundless " Eternity."
"That Eternity imprisonment and labor are precisely the Cornerstone upon which ' Eternity ' can be recognized."
"Without ' Erudition,'" Anaxa's voice resonated in the Garden of Life, uttering his conclusion. "' Eternity ' will lose all measurable measures."
"Oh?" ' Lygus ' raised his head and looked at Anaxa.
According to his theory, without " Erudition," " Eternity " would become a boundless stagnant pool, Nihility devours everything.
Hmm... getting associated with " Nihility " isn't a good thing.
Through its continuous process of seeking solutions and anchoring, the Nous endowed " Eternity " with a coordinate system that could be recognized by the world.
From Ye Yan's perspective, this is a very interesting deduction.
With the cold chisel of "moment," marks were carved on the giant monument called " Eternity," proving its "life."
In other words, without His ceaseless markings, " Eternity " is nothing more than a vast but unconscious shell, devoid of breath and heartbeat.
In the " Eternity " audience seats, after listening to Ye Yan's story, the Fool's Mask suddenly flew up.
" Aha ~ This is hilarious! Isn't this basically saying that without that lump of scrap metal, you ' Eternity ' are nothing but a rotting corpse!"
"And he mentioned prisoners?"
The Fool's Mask jerked back, emitting a piercing laugh, and bounced up on the leather sofa:
" Aha ~ Well said, that's brilliant! That piece of scrap metal is just a fool who locked himself in a cage!"
"Constantly calculating and focusing on this moment and that moment, he's made himself the world's number one prisoner!"
"Oh~ It's decided, Aha will award Him the 'Best Prisoner Award'!"
"Looking at it this way, he's even less interesting than that idiot ' Preservation,' at least he can watch the show while he's building the wall!"
Ye Yan ignored Aha's chatter. He held his teacup, his gaze clearly reflecting Anaxa's passionate figure and resounding words in the Garden of Life.
At that Anaxa's assertion about 'prisoners' and his joint explanation of 'scale' stirred deep ripples in the depths of his eyes, which reflected the vast galaxy.
" The Eternity prisoner... etching the pulse of ' Eternity '..."
Ye Yan repeated in a low voice, his fingertips lightly tracing the rim of the cup, creating a barely perceptible ripple.
An invisible chain seemed to flash by in the void, making a heavy grinding sound, before disappearing into Eternity silence.
"He touched upon the essence of certain things using the language of ordinary people."
What if the existence of the " Erudition " Nous is indeed the core mechanism by which " Eternity " manifests its dynamism?
Haha~ If that's really the case, then Zandar is truly a god, creating Aeon, indirectly influencing a Aeon, and even getting Pure Child of Anāsrava to take action later on.
Hmm... " First Genius " is still too much of a stretch.
Ye Yan's gaze swept downwards, piercing through the universe, and he saw the threads of fate being gathered and woven, surging madly toward the anchored " Fourth Moment " node.
In layman's terms, a "moment" is the instant that determines one's fate in the eyes of ordinary people.
In a higher dimension, it is merely a signpost left by the Nous on the path of Eternity quest, a mark proving his prisoner status and Eternity 'labor'.
Ye Yan picked up his teacup and looked at the seemingly cold, shimmering light flowing beneath the surface of the water. Suddenly, he thought of something interesting.
According to that Anaxa's reasoning, wouldn't the Nous be His natural hired hand? " Eternity " is still too prestigious; why is everything so smooth sailing? Because " Erudition " is carrying the burden for you...
Without His ceaseless markings, the " Eternity " we speak of is merely a heartless sea of Nihility.
" Aha ~ Then just admit it openly, my friend!"
A Fool's Mask, frozen in a maniacal laugh, was suddenly thrust in front of Ye Yan, its interior swirling with countless tiny, colorful vortexes screaming.
"The ' Eternity ' you love is only kept from turning into stagnant water because of this pile of scrap metal, sob sob~ Don't you think that's pathetic?"
"One locks himself away to do calculations, while the other sits outside watching—it's utterly boring."
" Aha ~ As expected, in the end, ' Elation ' is still the best. Aha, I can do whatever I want!"
The Fool's Mask snapped his fingers, and a silent cloud of colorful smoke exploded in the corner of the audience, instantly disappearing without a trace, leaving only a fleeting, cloying sweet smell.
Ye Yan glanced at the brief commotion created by Aha, then returned to his lower position.
That Anaxa's assertion can be a key that unlocks a deeper understanding of the relationship between " Erudition " and " Eternity ".
However, it is important to Nous the prisoner's nature is not a tragedy. Regardless of whether he is associated with " Eternity," it is ultimately an indispensable point in maintaining his Path.
This understanding itself has become a new topic worth pondering in the " Eternity " audience.