Chapter 176: Chapter 180: Historians Speak of History
What’s the problem? This is a huge problem!!
Duncan stared at the old man before him, and quickly realized that Maurice did not understand what the jetting flame stream he saw meant—this scholar did not know about the Sun Shard, and he very likely mistook Nina for another “Transcendent being,” such as Duncan’s own follower, or something else that had escaped from Subspace.
Indeed, that’s what Maurice thought. The moment he saw the jetting flame stream, he regarded his “student” as a being similar to Duncan. As to why this “Subspace family” looked like a giant in one instance and like a flame in another, he didn’t think too deeply about it—Subspace oddities were the norm, after all, and that place wasn’t known to have any living people; the big shots could look however they wanted…
However, now that he saw Duncan’s reaction, Maurice finally started to vaguely realize that the situation might be different from what he had guessed.
“Nina, she…” The old man hesitated to speak. After experiencing that kind of fear and shock just now, he actually felt a trace of worry—worry for his student.
He even found this concern a bit laughable because that jetting flame stream… whatever it was, clearly seemed powerful beyond belief. Such a powerful entity could not possibly still be his fragile and ordinary student.
Duncan shook his head.
“Nina is different from me—she’s a normal person, always has been,” he said slowly, his expression very serious, “She doesn’t know that there’s anything special about her. As for the flame stream you mentioned… that might be ‘something else.’”
“I… don’t quite understand.”
Duncan looked at Maurice for a while before deciding not to bring up the Sun Shard directly. Instead, he abruptly changed the subject, “Do you know about the so-called ‘True Sun God’ worshipped by the Sun Cultists?”
“True Sun God?” Maurice frowned, not understanding why the other party suddenly steered the conversation in this direction, but he quickly responded, “Of course, I have some understanding. After all, those Heretics have been around for a long time, and many of their sacrificial activities are actually part of historical research.
“The True Sun God is how they refer to their deity, but usually, followers of the orthodox gods don’t speak of it that way—we call it the ‘Black Sun’ or ‘Dark Sun God,’ and in some older texts, ancient scholars referred to Him as the ‘Wriggling Solar Disk.’”
“Wriggling Solar Disk?” Duncan raised his eyebrows. He had heard of the Black Sun, but this name was new to him, and it instantly reminded him of the sight he once saw through that Sun Mask—an impressive corona covering decaying limbs, a burning, bizarre ancient god.
“Yes, outside the professional field, this name is rarely mentioned because it’s a record passed down from the time of the Ancient Kingdom, and the original manuscript was written in Cretan script. This led to the name ‘Wriggling Solar Disk’ having an esoteric inclination, and widespread dissemination among common folks might have detrimental effects.”
Maurice nodded, detailing this aspect while discussing academic field matters. It was as if he had forgotten the terrifying “reality” behind Duncan and had returned to the days when he had visited the antique shop, conversing joyfully with the shopkeeper.
He even felt as if the buzzing noise in his head had unwittingly disappeared.
“Ancient Crete Kingdom…” Duncan exclaimed in surprise, “Those Heretics who worship the Sun God have such a long history?!”
“…Yes, although it’s unbelievable, those who worship the Wriggling Solar Disk can even be traced back to the heyday of the Ancient Kingdom. And considering that the phenomenon 001-True Sun rose from the sea after the collapse of the Ancient Crete Kingdom…” Maurice paused for a moment, seemingly conflicted for a few seconds before he continued, “The truth is, the orthodox academic world and the Church of the Four Gods have always been reluctant to discuss this issue directly—considering the time period when the phenomenon sun rose, the faith in the Black Sun actually pre-dates the history of phenomenon 001…”
Duncan didn’t make a sound for a while.
The history of the Black Sun being older than the history of the phenomenon sun is a very logical fact, yet one that even the Church of the Four Gods is reluctant to acknowledge.
Acknowledging this fact meant acknowledging another—the claim made by the Sun Cultists was true:
“The True Sun God was the real sun in the Ancient Era, and the later veiled sun was a ‘blasphemous creation’ that had stolen the sun’s sovereignty.”
“…So, what those Sun Cultists say is true, before the Deep Sea Era, it was their ‘Lord’ who illuminated this world,” after remaining silent for half a minute, Duncan suddenly spoke, “If we go by the standard of ‘antiquity equates legitimacy,’ they are the orthodox.”
“The academic community is riddled with factions and manifold theories, and this is the most heretical of all—theories so heretical they almost step into the realm of apostasy,” Maurice sighed, “but the existence of many manuscripts from the Ancient Crete Kingdom makes this issue unavoidable.”
“Let’s just say those heretics possess some truth,” Duncan shook his head slightly, “but this doesn’t change the fact that their beliefs are now very dangerous to the world, after all, regardless of what their Lord was like before the Deep Sea Era, His current state… tsk tsk.”
Maurice listened, then suddenly realized.
He woke from the calm aura of discussing academic matters with an acquaintance, looked at Duncan with uncertainty, and asked, “Wait, are you implying… could it be that you…”
“I happened to have seen Him once,” Duncan thought for a moment, feeling it was necessary to share some substantial information with the old gentleman, as he had freeloaded so much knowledge from the scholar, “How should I put it… it was so pitiful that I couldn’t bear to look, and there was no hope of recovery. I don’t believe the actions of those Sun Cultists can save their Lord—rather, I think they’re pushing their Lord towards an even more deranged and distorted direction.”
He paused, then looked at the opposite gentleman, “Would you like me to describe what He looks like now? Maybe you could have some spiritual…”
Maurice had felt his mind trembling since Duncan had started speaking, and now, seizing the brief pause, he suddenly exclaimed, “No need!”
Then, as if he felt this was somewhat offensive, he quickly coughed twice, and said with a serious and reverent face, “This is not the knowledge I should come into contact with.”
“… Oh right, sorry,” Duncan was taken aback, realizing his mistake, and quickly waved his hand, “Let’s not discuss this subject anymore. Let’s talk about the Black Sun belief in the real world—those heretics are always trying to resurrect their master, but their crude and brutal human sacrifices never work. Historically, have they ever achieved any ‘results’?”
“The havoc wrought by the Sun Heretics is not small, but to truly speak of ‘resurrecting the Sun,’ how could such a thing be within mortal power?” Maurice recalled, speaking slowly, “To my knowledge, there are only a few instances on record where the power of the Black Sun has manifested on a large scale in history.
“The earliest record is from the end of the Chaotic Dynasty, after the collapse of the Ancient Crete Kingdom, when many City-States were constantly breaking out in turmoil and famine. The Sun Heretics took advantage of the chaos and created a bloody great sacrifice in a City-State called ‘Charon’; later, they summoned a giant living Fireball that floated above Charon for five days before dissipating, ultimately melting the entire City-State into a slab of glass.
“Another incident occurred during the Classical City-State Era, with the specific causes now unclear. The result was that several small City-States on the edge of civilization disappeared overnight—eyewitness records indicate that a gigantic glowing rift appeared in the sky, with a sun-wheel rising from within; the City-States were pulled out of the sea by tremendous gravity, torn into thin strips, and then fell into it.
“The most recent incident occurred at the beginning of the New City-State Era and is the most mysterious one, because that disaster left no eyewitness reports, no damage reports, no evidence, no records, no one knew or remembered it, and it’s even uncertain in what year and where exactly it happened…”
Duncan listened with astonishment until he couldn’t resist speaking up, “Nobody knows it happened? How can it be called a large-scale manifestation of the Black Sun’s power? Do people even know which City-State was attacked?”
“Yes, it’s that eerie. It goes beyond the realm that a regular scholar would study, but my position at the Academy of Truth has allowed me access to some relevant documents,” Maurice nodded, speaking with grave sincerity, “That incident did indeed happen, because one morning, the most sacred ‘Pillar of Annals’ in the Fire Transmitter Church suddenly bore a line of text.
“That line referred to a City-State that didn’t exist at all, consisting of just one sentence:
‘Wilhelm’s final message, the Black Sun descends from the annals of history, we have failed.’”