Arcane Era-Chapter 77: To Sarvos (Part 2)

The grand ship set sail, and was now traversing the vast waters of the Central Oceans.

Many who boarded the ship stayed on the deck, witnessing the glorious might of the large body of water or conversing with one another. Soon, there was nothing to see for miles, so very few indulged in sightseeing—save for a few who occasionally spotted something fascinating in the water.

However, considering this part of the Central Ocean was relatively safe and only had common aquatic animals, there really wasn’t much to see.

Theo figured as much, so he brought out a book and wanted to resume reading.

It was the Divine Chronicles of Antiquity.

’Might as well continue from where I left off last night.’ He began tracing his fingers through the pages, seated among his teammates in the deck. His action was too conspicuous, and the book was too bulky, for those around him not to notice.

Liyah looked a little surprised to see Theo reading it, since he hadn’t mentioned his purchase of the book to her. "The Divine Chronicles... I didn’t know you were interested in that stuff, Theo."

He shrugged at her question and smiled.

Before he could respond, though, he noticed Kaycee and Arlet also focusing their attention on him. Not too long after the ship took off, Kamara had left them, telling all of them to stick together and relax while she sorted out their accommodation.

This was the main reason they were all on the deck, with nothing much to do.

Only Theo seemed to be engaged in something, which naturally prompted a reaction from everyone and kick-started a long overdue conversation .

"When did you get it?"

"A few days ago."

"You’re quite a slow reader. You’ve only reached Tale 19?"

"Nah, I only just started. Tale 19 is my first, actually." Theo’s response surprised Liyah, but it quickly made sense to her.

Theo probably only read the Divine Chronicles of Antiquity during moments he had nothing to do, but since he was always up to one thing or the other, he probably had very little free time to himself.

"Well, I’ve actually read the whole thing." Liyah beamed with pride as she said this.

"Really?" Theo alternated glances between Liyah and the book in his hand. The Divine Chronicles was pretty bulky, so it was amazing that someone had actually completed the whole thing.

"It’s no big deal." Liyah shrugged nonchalantly, trying her best to seem casual about the whole thing. "I’m sure Kaycee also finished it."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah..." Kaycee sighed and nodded.

It was one of the books that were studied in the Ak’ashi Academy when it came to history/mythology. Even though only a small portion of the book was involved in the curriculum, students like Liyah and Kaycee ended up reading the whole thing anyway.

Theo’s horizons were broadened after hearing this, and he assimilated the information seamlessly. He was still curious about a few things, so he didn’t hesitate to ask.

Liyah, who had been bored out of her mind, answered them enthusiastically. Kaycee also did his best to chip in here and there. Only Arlet remained silent, choosing instead to watch everyone else talk while he maintained an air of silence.

"Do you think the events recorded in this book actually happened?" Theo asked with curious eyes. "Because, right now, I’m reading about this guy named Endless Ambition and it feels real, but also absurd at the same time."

Liyah and Kaycee exchanged glances when they heard the question, before the former decided to answer the question first.

"The Divine Chronicles of Antiquity is simply a compilation of several stories that people have heard and told over the millennia. No one knows if they’re completely true or not, but the general consensus is that many of the things written in it should not be taken literally."

"Oh? Is that the case?" Theo mumbled.

"Yeah, it’s all about context." Kaycee continued in Liyah’s place. "Some stories have more historical connotations, which make it more likely that they happened, but many of them contain too many abstract concepts and symbolism that it’s best to take them metaphorically..."

"There are people who take them literally, though. The Purists will die on the hill that everything that is stated there is actually true and definitely happened." Liyah sighed, shaking her head.

"Right? But it’s also not a good choice to pick and choose which ones you’d like to be true and which ones you’d treat as metaphorical. In the end, I think the ones who know this whole thing best are those in the Ancient Divine Temple."

"Ancient Divine Temple... they’re the ones who compiled the stories, right?" Theo was familiar with the name.

There were quite a few religions in the Mainland, all based around the interpretations of people regarding the Divine Ones, but the most popular one was the ’Divine Ancestral Faith’, overseen by the Ancient Divine Temple.

This was the mainstream, and almost everyone—even those who weren’t affiliated with the Temple—practiced the Equinox Traditions every year.

Naturally, this meant the Ancient Divine Temple had a lot of wealth and influence in the Mainland. They had branches in almost every Nation and their headquarters was in the Holy City Eiael—a place recognized as a Nation despite having no direct public affiliation with any Great Nation.

That just went to show how powerful the Ancient Divine Temple was.

"Yeah. They’re the best authority to interpret the Divine Chronicles." Kaycee responded to Theo’s question. "After all, they’re the keepers of the canon."

"Canon?"

"There are a lot of stories that weren’t included in the Divine Chronicles of Antiquity because the Ancient Divine Temple didn’t consider them to be canon—essentially proclaiming them to most likely be false and have very little significance on reality." He went on to explain how only canon stories were regarded as legitimate Tales.

"Some are more metaphorical, others are more realistic... but they all have some sort of bearing on reality and follow the ultimate will of the Divine Ones."

Theo nodded, absorbing all of this information with a smile. "I didn’t know you were religious, Kaycee."

"Haha! I wouldn’t call myself religious. I just find the teachings fascinating, so I sort of learned a lot about them."

"Fair enough." He mumbled. "Ancient Divine Temple, huh...?"