Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 645: Were there three moons in the sky?
"Can magic also cause pollution?" It was the first time Lingge heard this and was a little surprised.

"That's only natural, Mr. Ling. Pollution is a relative concept. If we only use an environment suitable for life as a reference standard, then any substance in the world has the potential to cause pollution. For example, an oxygen-rich environment with excessive concentration is pollution to some microorganisms, and the red algae that proliferates wildly in the sea is pollution to the fish on the seabed... That's it. Magic power can also cause pollution under certain specific circumstances, but its manifestation is more hidden, so except for those who pay special attention, others will basically not notice the abnormality."

Rolena paused for a moment, thinking for a moment before asking, "Mr. Ling, have you ever heard of the phenomenon of magic surge?"

"No." Linger shook his head and said, "But it sounds like it has something to do with the movement of ocean tides."

"exactly."

Rolena said, "If we regard the magic concentration of the entire Mirror Star World as a standard environment, then after a long period of data collection, research, and verification, you will find that this concentration is not constant. Sometimes it surges and becomes more active. We call that period the magic high tide season; and sometimes it sinks and becomes relatively quiet. We call that period the magic low tide season."

"High tide and low tide? That's quite appropriate." Linger forgot his intention to leave for a moment and discussed this amazing phenomenon of magical activity with Rorona: "Then what determines the high tide season and low tide season? Could it be that, like the tidal activity of the sea, it is locked, captured and pulled by the moon in the night sky?"

During the Renaissance, the philosopher Galileo and the Society for the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres he founded not only developed a celestial calendar, observed and drew a star map of the universe, and named each constellation, but also revealed the relationship between the moon and tidal activity, making people of that era realize that the universe is closely related to the planet beneath their feet. Therefore, they truly valued the existence of various astronomical phenomena and no longer regarded them as distant illusions.

Although Linger now knows that "Galileo" is a philosopher of the Witch Society, and the real purpose of his putting forward these views is to guide history onto their ideal track. But no matter what, the technological and ideological progress brought to the world by the Renaissance philosophers is real and will not become illusory because of other purposes.

"Yes, you are right!"

Lorena snapped her fingers and said with a smile, "A long time ago, our ancestors of the mirror elves observed a phenomenon that the change of the moon phase would cause the change of ocean magic, and its law was similar to the tidal activity. Just as the priests established a strict timetable based on the waxing and waning of the moonlight and the degree of tidal changes, scholars also recorded this imagination and preserved it in ancient documents, which I later found. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, many observation records were lost, so I only remember part of them."

She stretched out her finger and drew a line in the air, saying, "The librarians use the height of the moon in spring and autumn as the standard, which is called the parallel moon season. In summer, the moon begins to rise above the standard parallel line, and magic becomes active at this time. After reaching the peak, it gradually falls back to the standard parallel line, which is the high tide period of magic. This is called the ascending moon season. In winter, the moon begins to sink below the standard parallel line, and magic becomes quiet at this time. After reaching the bottom, it gradually rises back to the standard parallel line, which is the low tide period of magic. This is called the descending moon season."

"Thus, throughout the year, the concentration of magic in the world will cycle back and forth according to the rules of parallel roses - ascending roses - parallel roses - descending roses, and will be in a frequent cycle of change. This is the phenomenon of magic surges."

It turned out to be the case.

Linger nodded slightly. This explanation was easy to understand, even Alice could understand it. The law it reflected was also very obvious, but... the young man suddenly realized that something was wrong. He frowned and questioned, "It is indeed intuitive to define the ebb and flow of magic power by the rising or falling of the moon, but the problem is that the moon does not move, Lorena."

That's right, from the time Linger had memories until now, or from the birth of civilization until now, from the beginning of astronomy until now, the position of the silver moon in the night sky has always been fixed, and no one has ever observed its movement, let alone its obvious rise and fall. If this phenomenon really existed, not only the mirror elves on the seabed, but also the scientists of the Society for the Movement of Celestial Bodies or the Royal Astronomical Society should have observed and recorded it.

"Yes, the royal court's librarians were also very confused about this. They discussed it intensely for a long time, and put forward countless opinions to support their own ideas. They also refuted each other and regarded each other's opinions as heresy. But in the end, there was a point of view that was recognized by everyone, and that was the only reasonable explanation -"

Rorona looked at Linger with a serious expression and said word by word: "That view holds that there is more than one moon in the world."

Ling's pupils suddenly contracted, and a conversation with Countess Neveria long ago emerged in his mind. It should be the night when they fled from the Shikilia Peninsula. When Neveria explained to them Leticia's immortality and curse, she mentioned the three moons in ancient times, but Ling did not take it to heart at the time. After all, there were too many similar legends and it was difficult to distinguish the truth from the false.

But, is there a similar record in Mirror Elves?
"It seems that you are not completely ignorant of this matter."

The girl put away her serious expression and said with a smile: "Scholars believe that in the most ancient times, perhaps even in the period when all races were still in the ignorant period and had not yet begun to compete for the hegemony of the continent, in addition to the silver moon that symbolizes fertility, there was at least one moon in the night sky. Of course, it is more likely that there were two moons. This is inferred based on some records handed down and the records of the moon phases at that time. According to their legends and meanings, the two moons should be the red moon that symbolizes destruction and the blue moon that symbolizes harvest. At the same time, only one moon can appear in the full moon state. Fertility, harvest, and destruction constitute a cycle in the sense of mysticism, and it is also a complete change of the moon phases."

"The position of the Silver Moon is certainly unchanging, but the Blue Moon and the Red Moon are not. Therefore, the standard for parallel roses is not the moon's height during the Spring and Autumn period, but the fixed position of the Silver Moon. Based on this premise, the two moons rise in the summer, forming an ascending rose; and the two moons sink in the winter, forming a descending rose."

"But later, due to unknown reasons, the other two moons except the silver moon mysteriously disappeared, causing the surge of magic power to lose the standard that can be observed by the naked eye. The relevant records and observations were lost in the subsequent wars, resulting in later scholars being able to only speculate on the situation at the time through clues, which inevitably resulted in many errors and contradictions."

At this point, Rolena smiled gently. "Of course, I know what you want to ask, Mr. Ling. Unfortunately, I don't know the answers to the questions either: Why did the Blue Moon and the Red Moon disappear? Where did they go? Was it man-made or natural? If it was man-made, who could do such a thing? And what was the purpose? To be honest, I am as curious and confused as you about these questions."

Lingge was silent. For some reason, he was not as confused as Rorona said. He had a vague premonition in his heart that this matter might not be far away. On the contrary, it was actually very close.

If the disappearance of Shuangyue has nothing to do with the era of natural disasters caused by the struggle between the young royal powers, then it must be related to the Witch Society.

He thought so purely out of intuition.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)