Gun of Ashes

”Human mythology?”

Bluebird apparently did not understand the meaning of what Lorenzo said. Beside him, Joey also gave a puzzled look. To them, this was just a strange warehouse storing worthless things.

Mythology itself is even more difficult to comprehend. It is the transmission of those mysterious and grand stories, but when did mythology ever have a connection with mortals?

”Approach it from a different perspective.”

Lorenzo’s gaze carried a hint of disdain, as if mocking their intelligence. He then moved to another side, to a cabinet lavishly decorated, but inside it was an ancient slate, with simple drawings of beasts on it, but more prominently, there were numerous scratches.

”Do you know the analysis scholars have regarding human history?”

Lorenzo did not give these few spectators a chance to answer. He asked and answered himself.

”Human history began from zero, like a great building constructed stone by stone, and didn’t appear out of thin air.”

”So how did someone count their hunted prey before ’numbers’ appeared?”

Lorenzo stared at the slate behind the glass, seeming to travel back to the distant past.

”He engraved the likeness of prey on the slate until one day he found it too cumbersome and replaced complex images with a single scratch.”

The voice was soft, yet like a thunderbolt of the day.

One scratch replaced all complexity.

”This is the embryonic form of numbers, a qualitative change from zero to one... a great moment worthy of being recorded.”

Bluebird and Joey’s expressions shifted slightly, seemingly touched by Lorenzo’s unremarkable words, yet it seems they could not truly feel that great moment, with their faces showing some hesitation.

”Or take this for example.”

Lorenzo picked up the wooden wheel from the other side.

”Is this also one of the great moments? We no longer need to carry goods by hand but use wheels?”

Bluebird said, trying to catch up with Lorenzo’s thinking, but Lorenzo shook his head.

”You only saw the surface; its true significance is the increased efficiency in the use of energy,” Lorenzo said. ”With the same amount of energy, with the wheel, we can transport more objects farther, the beginning of all means of transport.”

Bluebird was slightly awestruck as he began to understand what Lorenzo intended to convey.

”Merlin is really something, he’s a madman for knowledge.”

Lorenzo couldn’t help but praise, and then picked up the scattered papers to continue.

”Rather than calling it ’paper,’ it’s more of an ’information carrier.’ With it, we have conquered time, human knowledge won’t be lost with the death of an individual, it will be continuously passed down, even time finds it hard to erase, and they gather layer upon layer, until erecting that grand architecture.”

”Look at this again!”

Lorenzo’s voice could not help but rise, the abandoned warehouse at this moment was like a sacred temple, ordinary objects transformed into something unfamiliar and solemn.

He casually picked up the heavy code book, wiping off the dust, its weight akin to a solid rock.

”A common Ingwig Code, right?”

Lorenzo asked.

Bluebird and Joey nodded, their minds a bit numbed. Perhaps this was the difference between them and Lorenzo. They knew this item held special meaning, but before Lorenzo explained, they couldn’t comprehend it.

”A heavy, commonplace code book, one could say it represents order, is a rule. From the moment humans established ’laws,’ we used this invisible force to bind ourselves, distinguishing humans from beasts.”

”Therefore, we are no longer the beasts howling and fighting. We are humans, able to control ourselves.”

Lorenzo picked up an inconspicuous coin in his hand.

”As I thought before, does it still represent money or wealth? No, its material is worthless, its true value lies in its meaning; it’s a ’credential of credit’ between humans.”

These credentials of credit spurred the world’s economy, acting as a medium of all things valuable, like an equivalent scale to facilitate trade.

”And this as well.”

Lorenzo lifted the heavy lock, its solid iron surface gleaming with a cold light.

”This is the encryption and protection of information... It’s important to note that what’s crucial is not the lock itself, but what it represents, the concepts it encompasses.”

”Or, say, this!”

Lorenzo gently picked up an unassuming stone.

When this stone appeared here, it ceased to be just a stone, it could be a stone, a stick, a warhammer, an iron sword.

”From this moment, humanity gained the power to protect themselves.”

The power to fight against monsters in the darkness.

The air seemed to solidify, as gray and heavy as cold iron, difficult for fragile lungs to breathe in.

Lorenzo’s gaze swept across like a sharp blade causing avoidance. They had never considered things from this level or viewed these objects from such a majestic perspective.

As if Watson’s words were whispering by the ear, when humans observe themselves from the perspective of an ant, the picture is beyond imagination.

”Of course, more crucially, there’s this.”

Returning to the wooden table where he sat before, Lorenzo looked down at the blueprint.

”Do you know your own position?”

”What position?”

Bluebird asked cautiously.

”Your physical position.”

Lorenzo looked upward, where the light fell, and the sky was boundless.