Chapter 55: Who Writes a Diary Anyway
【Current historical resonance is “Calamity Resonance”, entry limited to Third Tier travelers and below】
【Mission Objective: Find a way to leave Frozen Water Town, or be buried here forever】
【Detected that your rank is at the critical level, and the resonance corresponds with your sequence, initiating promotion task】
【Promotion Task “Tower”: Uncover the truth of Frozen Water Town shrouded in fog.】
【Tip: There is no time limit for task completion in this resonance, cannot leave Night World through time limit】
【Tip: Night Travelers acquire reasonable identities in historical resonance, proficient in the basic universal language of this world】
These are the prompts the Night World provides to travelers?
Rast’s mind examined the azure words one by one.
According to the Night World materials he had researched over the past few days at Starry University, the resonant world of the Night World spanned almost all the lost histories prior to the “Pale Era.”
These fragments of lost history were interlinked in some cases, with clear sequences, while others were completely independent, seemingly from different civilization epochs.
By organizing, summarizing, and analyzing the fragmented information brought back by various travelers from the Night World resonance…
In the end, a complete historical trajectory was reconstructed before the “Pale Era”, dividing epochs based on the rise and fall of civilizations, and writing a reliable chronicle.
This has always been the goal of the Ruins Institute.
Whether it is fortunate or unfortunate.
According to the background introduction of the Night World, the calamity resonance they had entered this time was from the same era as the Deep Blue Harbor that trapped Rast for three hundred years, separated by only a hundred years.
But a mere hundred years could make a world of difference.
Although Deep Blue Harbor was still at the tail end of the steam era, everything was on the rise, and new technologies were already budding.
Given time, they would soon enter the electrical age, even the information age.
However, the outbreak of the Iron Cross Plague became the turning point for civilization’s decline.
To this day, the spark of civilization had already wavered, barely surviving under the scrutiny of external enemies by relying on trade routes.
“According to the Ruins Institute’s classification, this is the history of the Sixth Epoch.” Rast murmured.
Before the Pale Era, the last known civilization epoch, the era closest to the current time point.
At the same time, it was also the epoch with the least understanding and the most fragmented chronicle by the Ruins Institute and the travelers.
While pondering, Rast’s gaze suddenly paused.
Following that, it fixated on an inconspicuous term.
…
“So it turns out it’s a calamity resonance that cannot automatically return after the time limit is reached, no wonder the previous reconnaissance team was completely wiped out here.”
“Moreover, it actually belongs to the same Sixth Epoch as the Deep Blue Harbor resonance.”
“The Ruins Institute had previously speculated that the sequence in which the Night World appears in the current world is based on the chronological order of the epochs.”
“In this light, perhaps the Ruins Institute’s conjecture about the seventy-two Night Worlds is quite credible. The Night Worlds of the first five epochs have already been mostly conquered; what remains are the Sixth Epochs that appeared the least, about which we also know very little.”
Hiltina’s voice rang out, clearly she too had noticed the era information provided by the Night World.
However, her tone suddenly paused.
“Guardian?”
Hiltina glanced at Rast: “If I remember correctly, the internal code for the obelisk file you submitted is ‘Guardian’, right?”
“How fortunate.” Rast chuckled: “I didn’t expect Miss Hiltina would take the time to pay attention to my enrollment progress amidst your busy schedule.”
“However, it must be a coincidence.” He said: “That was just a name I overheard in Deep Blue Harbor, and I filled it in casually when submitting the obelisk file.”
“Is that so?”
Hiltina’s gaze lingered on Rast’s calm face for a moment, ultimately letting out a sigh of resignation.
Isda had already proved with a blood-soaked lesson that wanting to peek into Rast’s true heart… this idea itself was a fantasy.
“However, your explanation does make sense.”
Hiltina seemed deep in thought: “Since this organization called ‘Guardian’ is so mysterious, even bearing the mission of watching over trade routes and maintaining the sparks of civilization.”
“Then perhaps ‘Guardian’ has existed for hundreds of years, lurking behind the scenes, unnoticed by the world… it would explain why you heard mere fragments about this organization in Deep Blue Harbor.”
“However, discussing these matters now is pointless.”
“If we manage to survive and complete the task, we can leave the research to those people at the Ruins Institute.”
Her gaze slightly moved as she surveyed the narrow space inside the lighthouse.
There wasn’t much here; aside from an oil lamp, two messy beds, some simple furniture, and piles of cans and broken wine bottles…
What remained were just two silver badges on the wooden table and an ancient diary.
The silver badges bore rough lines depicting waves.
Not far from the lines, there was a pair of simple silver wings, surrounding the coastline within.
“Watchers of the Coast”
Looking at these two silver wing badges, Rast instantly understood the meaning of the design.
He pinned one Guardian wing badge to his chest and then handed the other one to Hiltina.
On the other side, Hiltina had already flipped open the ancient diary.
The weak glow of the oil lamp illuminated the yellowed pages with black ink writing.
【Catastrophic Era Year 93, December 15】
【As a member of the Guardians, this is my first day in Frozen Water Town, watching over the Broken Coast.】
【Of course, while I say I’ve arrived in Frozen Water Town, I must remain stationed atop the lighthouse outside the town, observing any anomalies that may appear on the sea surface and maintaining the normal operation of the navigation light.】
【My daily life is on the lighthouse, and food and supplies depend on the regular resupply from headquarters every six months, so I won’t have much interaction with the residents of Frozen Water Town.】
【I heard that ten years ago, the lighthouse keepers along the Broken Coast were paired in groups of two… later reduced to one, supposedly due to the destruction of another surviving human kingdom, leading to a serious shortage of manpower.】
【Sometimes, I fantasize about how nice it would be if time could rewind twenty years, to have a beautiful partner while keeping the tower, though even if there was a companion, it would likely be a rugged man.】
【As a serious person, I never write diaries; it’s just that according to headquarters’ regulations, lighthouse keepers need to record logs regularly.】
【It seems like it would be a hassle, forget it, I can fill it in when it’s time to collect the logs (scratched out).】
(End of Chapter)