Above The Sky
Chapter 151 - 151 140 Broken Moon

151: 140 Broken Moon 151: 140 Broken Moon Late at night.

After teaching Elan literacy and other basic education, and watching the other fall asleep, Ian cleaned up the trash in the house.

He didn’t practice Origin Quality training today, so the young man went to the rooftop of his house, looking up at the almost pitch-black starry sky above.

The weather today was unusually clear, with not much cloud or fog, a rare case for Harrison Port, and precisely because of this, he felt in the mood for stargazing.

The reason it’s said to be almost dark is that Terra has twin moons and eleven stars, so even when the entire sky is dim, these thirteen celestial bodies still shine with their own light.

If everything were normal, aside from the twin moons, the eleven stars would be the eleven planets orbiting “the sun” within the Terra Starfield… but even so, it is quite difficult to see all the planets at once, as tonight’s sky only revealed six stars.

The white-haired young man’s aqua eyes were fixed on the sparse starlight above his head.

After a long absence, he took a monocular telescope from within his bosom.

The telescope wasn’t large, just a gift given to a child, but in terms of craftsmanship, it was unmatched by many professional shops.

“Since the teacher gave you to me, I’ve hardly used you to look at the stars…

After all, you’re not exactly a proper stargazing telescope, how much of the distant truth can you really see?”

With a somewhat complicated expression, Ian stared at the wooden-barrel telescope in his hand, and couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh, “Yeah, there’s not much to see in the skies of this world anyway.”

“The disasters and wars above the earth are already numerous enough, and the distant starlight has been fading for a thousand years… why is that?”

“Although I’m not sure if this is still the same universe I originally lived in, or whether the starry sky is the Star Sea World I imagine, what exactly happened in the distant universe to cause such mystical phenomena?

And what impact will such phenomena have on the world I now live in?”

Gazing at the telescope before him, the young man was silent for a long time, then instead revealed a faint smile, “It’s a question.”

He slowly stood up, raised his head, and gazed at the canopy of the sky, “And I will find the answer.”

“It’s that simple.”

Ian picked up the telescope gifted to him by Hiliard—the scaling precision of the lenses hand-polished by the old knight was no less accurate than any high-precision instrument.

Although the magnification was not high, his eyes were far from ordinary.

He gazed into the distant faraway, looking at the heavens above with his teacher’s gift.

Then, his expression suddenly froze.

Followed almost immediately by an incredulous bewilderment.

“Wait…”

Ian’s eyes widened, his pupils dilating, clearly shocked to the extreme, “Because the starry sky has vanished, I never paid too much attention to the moon, but…

how is this possible?!”

The Illusory Moon and New Moon, the twin moons, rarely appeared together; creatures most often saw the Illusory Moon, a bright and exceedingly beautiful moon that waxed and waned.

The New Moon rarely appeared, and each time it did, it showed itself as incomplete.

Ian had thought that it was probably due to the New Moon’s peculiar orbit which caused it to be obscured every time it appeared…

To be honest, he hadn’t given it much thought, considering this world was filled with Spirit Energy and Origin Quality, who knows what the starry sky was like.

But this time, during the rare clear skies of Harrison Port.

The moment Ian first picked up the telescope and aimed it at the New Moon.

He understood…

why the Terra People would call a clearly visible moon ‘New Moon.’

—— When the moon’s orbit lies between the sun and the earth, and the dark side faces the earth, making the true face of the moon invisible, it is called ‘New.’

And at this moment, Ian saw…

such a dim, obscured moon.

It was a moon whose surface had been completely scorched, with many melting traces, a wholly shattered body, split into several pieces of debris!

A ‘wreckage’ that seemed to have been thoroughly melted and then cooled!

Merely because of gravity, it did not disperse but clung together weakly, the remaining fragments of the shattered moon, now enshrouded in a layer of dim mist, appeared particularly inconspicuous in the sky…

If it were a thousand years ago, when the starlight of Terra was still brilliant, perhaps it would have been an almost imperceptible ‘darkness’ in the sky, known as ‘New.’

But now, with all the stars dimmed, even the dark New Moon was compelled to reveal its True Form.

“Even the moon has shattered…

That was a satellite…”

Staring at this shocking scene in awe, Ian held his breath.

He focused once more, peering at the distant moon through his telescope, hoping to spot some details.

Then, he froze again.

Because this time, in front of the young man’s left eye, a series of dense silver characters lit up.

[Gaze upon the Moon/New Moon (Shattered)]

[Shattering time, 1665 years ago]

The Silver Chip, once thought by Ian to be a pinnacle creation of a previous era’s civilization, faithfully displayed information related to the New Moon overhead.

Although rudimentary, it was crystal clear, making one’s heartbeat intensify even further.

“1665…”

Gazing at the words emerging on the caption, Ian swallowed, muttering to himself, “This year is Tara Calendar 768, November 25th…

There’s still a gap of 877 years.”

“The Calamity of Heavenly Fall is a disaster that occurred a millennium ago, but no one knows the exact number of years—it’s the so-called ‘Lost Epoch’.”

“Scholars surmise that the Lost Epoch was definitely more than three hundred years long, most likely over four hundred years, but less than six hundred years…

But now it seems, the duration of the Lost Epoch is far longer than any of us imagined…”

Taking a deep breath, Ian calmed himself down.

He put down his telescope and looked up at the dim shattered moon: “Interesting, the Calamity of Heavenly Fall probably includes, in part, the shattering of the New Moon, its fragments falling to the earth.”

“But what, exactly, is the force that could shatter a moon, causing the extinction of a former civilization’s era?!”

This was a question.

A question that was destined to plague one person, and had indeed troubled countless others for a lifetime.

Therefore.

That was why Ian looked up at the moon and slowly, revealed a smile that came from deep within.

“It might take a very, very long time, perhaps a lifetime…”

He spoke thus, the young man with white hair firmly vowed, “But I will find the answer.”

An equation waits for an answer, a question waits for a result.

A curious heart will find its own way to the distant path.

It’s that simple.

So, no matter what, those reborn in this world will eventually embark on their journey.

After that night, it seemed there was no change in Ian; he continued his day-to-day life.

Learning, exercising, accumulating, building reputation among the White Folks, displaying his talents before Viscount Grant, meeting more people, obtaining more books…

Caring for his brother, educating his brother, summarizing alchemy insights, practicing Inscription skills…

The youth persistently honed his crafts, enhanced his powers, day after day, year after year.

And so, time flowed with the rising and setting sun and the waxing and waning moon.

Four years passed by.

Now, it is the Tara Calendar 773, April 9th.